Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Stag Beetle

Stag Beetle

Ready to Wrestle!!!

Sketchbook_v06_ch77_p057

I don’t know how small is the Stag Beetle in the first photo but you can start by searching Wikipedia for

Rhinoceros Beetle

4 comments:

  1. I think Daichi is surprisingly enthusiastic in this comic, I guess partly because he is lucky enough to be able to randomly find fighting beetles in the art room. That stag beetle does indeed seem to be pretty tiny, but I had no idea that the sizes of stag beetles varied that much.

    In any event, I do not think Nagisa is the type to fight beetles anyway. I feel like she is more of the "explore everything you can while leaving it all in harmony" type. I would be interested to hear if you feel the same way.

    On a somewhat related note, I have to think Kobako has an absurd degree of knowledge about wildlife, especially bugs. I would not be surprised if certain aspects of Nagisa's (and Sora's) personality were based on those of the author.

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  2. Well, Daichi does like 'fighting' as evident from the art club clay-modelling event when Asaka & Daichi go at it with their respective clay-monsters: "Kamiyagon" & "Negishigon".

    Ya, I feel the same way about Nagisa despite her 'obsessive bug-hunting'. She explains this to Ueno (I guess that's his name) about the importance of 'disturbing' them to learn about how they can be protected which would help in conservation of nature. Also, the anime has a monologue by her (in episode 9, I think) about her desire to build biotopes around the world.

    Definitely, Kobako (or his assistant(s) but let's stick with him for the moment!) must have such knowledge & personality. Even if he doesn't, he has some damn good ability to conjure up weird but believable personalities. His 'displays' his personality much more in his other 1 volume work: Scorebook. I guess you are following that also but unfortunately, there hasn't been any new releases lately.

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  3. Yep, I guess Daichi does have a certain kind of "fighting spirit" or something. Maybe that is why Kokage imagined him challenging Ujou for the presidency. If his tree-climbing skills are any indication, I guess he is a pretty good athlete too.

    I think Scorebook is pretty interesting too, especially since it revolves around baseball and cows.

    As for the weird but believable personalities (which I think is a good description of the characters in Sketchbook), I feel like some of Kobako's comments add even more to the "believable" part of that. If I remember correctly, Kobako says something about Kokage acting strangely because she is somewhat shy. I think stuff like that really adds to what is just a normal four panel comic.

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  4. Indeed, Kokage telling her imagined fight between the two guys to Ooba was hilarious, to say the least.

    Yes, Kobako's notes do illuminate some parts of this strip-styled manga. Like the introduction of Minamo where the particular strip about timing contained a deep 'pun' in it!

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