[4.10] Jump In
on June 17, 2019
at 12:53 am
The boop wasn’t necessary, but Kiro wanted it anyway.
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I’m wondering what y’all think about the recent plot developments – does it seem like the story has abruptly changed its tone? I had all this planned out long ago and made some attempts at foreshadowing, but I want to know your opinions. Having said that, I’ve personally been looking forward to this part of the tale 🙂
Thanks for reading, and I promise things shall get even stranger and more interesting!
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4.10 Transcript
[All it takes is a look.]
Daisy: Help!
Kiro: Daisy?
Yeah, it is a bit of a change in tone, but I think the talking seal kinda clued us in to expect some weirdness. 😉
Kinda yes, but when the seal was alive I was never sure if it actually did talk to Kiro or just to itself. And then when it was a seal spirit I just assumed it was dreams or hallucinations.
As it is such a new comic (relatively) I haven’t settled on a “tone” or direction.
I’m just enjoying the ride. 🙂
I wouldn’t call it abrupt. It had a bizarre atmosphere from the beginning, and because you hadn’t established all that much, it seems to me, as someone who had some time for processing, to be fitting. Bulk readers may have a different opinion. Any bulk reader here who can confirm (or deny)?
I thought the change in tone is a bit abrupt. The lunatics running the asylum is one thing. Talking to ghosts is a completely different genre. And a comparatively banal one, compared to the machinations, conspiracies, and relationship drama hinted at before.
At least it is not high fantasy.
I think it feels more… unnecessary, rather than abrupt. This story was easily weird enough without supernatural elements. Then again, as long as it doesn’t leave too many things too unexplained, it will be a great comic anyway.
It’s not like I start reading a webcomic and expecting it to a) not change tone or b) not include supernatural stuff. It’s par for the course.
Hey, it’s YOUR comic! Take it any direction you choose. ^^
As far as the metaphysical stuff goes, you started out with a seal recognizing Kiro as a threat over and above simply being a human, so I don’t see any great stretching of tone, here.
If Kiro’s hair turning white is the only side effect here, she’s getting off pretty lighty….
There has been enough hints about something magical or supernatural, or what you would prefer to call it. So no, no change of tone in my opinion. But it is an interesting touch that Kiro seems to have a gift to see things hidden from others – it now seems to be more than a vivid imagination. I also have to ask… Is Kiro her real name or her nickname (perhaps as an artist)? It is a very unusual name as I am sure you know even better than I do. 🙂
Hmmm… interesting question.
It’s not her pen name, but we’ll explore this eventually. Eccentric parents, misspelled birth certificate, false identity? :3
Ghost Kiro! Looks surprisingly good with white hair.
As for the developments, the supernatural stuff does seem rather abrupt, and if there was foreshadowing, it was probably mistaken for Kiro being a bit weird. However, it does kind of work if one takes the story as someone being plunged headfirst into this new world. Stuff is happening and they’re trying to roll with the punches and figure this out even though it’s almost nothing like what they’ve previously known was “true.”
Also, how old are the campers? Kiro is old enough to be in college, and she seems to be of equivalent age with everyone else, but they were committed by their parents (or something).
They’re actually all around the same age, the difference being that Kiro was sent to camp later than the others.
Having said that, IMO there’s zero mental difference between college freshman/sophomore and HS junior/seniors.
Tone – no, this is roughly in line with earlier chapters. Similar rate of humor, peril in line with plot escalation.
Genre – yes, somewhat. One doesn’t expect supernatural in a tech survival mystery. The seal dream foreshadowed this sensitivity, but I passed it off as dream humor. Good timing though: it looked like Kiro might run low on cards.
Good point, the change is more about genre than tone.
Alaskan Mind Meld?
Not where I would have expected it to go, but not complaining.
This timing feels fine. Thanks to the seal dream and A’s mysterious mission, we’ve been looking around for months for a below-surface layer to the story, and now we seem to have our gateway.
I’m excited for more too; I love your style. =)
What about the fairly unexplained nature of how and why this camp exists? With so very little direct supervision? And why Mom keeps just photographing the absurdity of it all? Why this place was abandoned by its original settlers?
I counted A’s mysterious mission, his and Daisy’s mysterious social status and the open question of other dead or missing or banished among the surface surface layer of the plot. Yet I did not feel the story was at all lacking in the sub-surface layers. On the other hand, if this makes it stick around for decades, I’m all for it – I’m with you on loving the style!
Oh, Kiro… You couldn’t ask for just a LITTLE more detail before you decided to look into Daisy’s eyes? Makes me think that you were hoping that that was the answer… 😀
I’ll admit, there’s some part of me that wants to see Daisy with a black eye or pinkeye or something… A cynical, twisted little part of me.
(Sorry for the timing, I just started reading your comic)
Just another turn in the plot. I barely noticed, I guess because I used to watch X Files and Twilight Zone.