Page 17
mlai on Aug. 23, 2007
Drawn by me. Text by Ed Bangalan.
Top page banner coloured by Whirlwynd.
Read the sister series FIGHT 1; each series follows a different group of characters in the same world.
Light is shed on their character makeup. Nuada is… that. Chase is… “lawful good,” gee big surprise.
Nevermind the role of main hero vs sidekick; you'll be hard pressed to find a woman in the role of lawful-good straight-man, rather than snarky devil-may-care rogue. This is because female main heroes are supposed to display sexual charisma for the benefit of the reader. You're not supposed to have an uptight frigid librarian type be the heroine!
That's why a series like Guardian of the Sacred Spirit is so good. Good writing defies stereotypes of “what sells,” as long as you're resigned to forgoing the 13 y/o audience group.
(No offense to any 13 y/o who actually reads my comics, I wuv you all!)
Darth Mongoose at 3:54AM, Aug. 25, 2007
The shy straight girl character is often a heroine in books, ie. Hermione in Harry Potter, Susan Sto-Helit of the Discworld books and Sophie in the original book of 'Howl's Moving Castle' (even as a Miyazaki fan, I find the film version disappointing). They're less prevalent in comics and anime, particularly in a Fantasy setting. I always play that kind of character in online RPGs myself! The Lawful Good paladin girl with shiny armour, a big sword and unflinching morals is always more fun than the 'I'm soooo rebellious' rogue or whatever.
oneminutecomics at 3:50AM, Aug. 25, 2007
man, you serously can draw! I couldnt tell it appart from a real manga out there.
mlai at 9:39PM, Aug. 24, 2007
If that makes you a loser, then what does that say about me lol? I've never seen/read the visual novel, though. I have read the translated scripts.
Stabbyness at 8:35PM, Aug. 24, 2007
Reading this brings back memories. Mostly of reading through a visual novel with my broken, broken Japanese. And an anime in which the characters screamed their "Noble Phantasm" attacks in broken English. Ugh. I'm such a loser.
mlai at 8:12PM, Aug. 24, 2007
@ JNP: Oh noes, I suck with panel layout. All I do are squares and rectangles. And sooner or later EEN will show up and lament the use of another "eyeless" panel. I have been overusing them in these several pages. Just so you know: The anime you speak of has concepts very similar to FIGHT, but I created FIGHT first (in 2001).
JustNoPoint at 7:30PM, Aug. 24, 2007
I hope you don't mind me continuously looking over your art, camera angles, and panel layouts to learn from them. Cause I am and have been =P I love her calm demeanor. I need to check out the anime she comes from sometime.
RapidoBlue at 4:39PM, Aug. 24, 2007
cool as always :D