Poking Around Pt 103 (Patreon)

This part was some rewritten from what I had in mind originally, but I’d be outright lying if I didn’t say certain events around the time I drew this hadn’t gotten to me in some fashion.

Anyway, my great big thank you goes out to everyone who has supported this comic over the years, and who have also conjured viewpoints, thoughts and ideas that I didn’t initially plan for. It was pretty interesting see how much this comic has changed visually (Kuroki’s definitely shrunk since his first appearance) and how far it strayed from being a “This is Alola but better because I did it” story.

Here’s hoping it can continue – fret not, we’ll get back to what’s going on with Tori and Saruto soon enough. I just couldn’t fit what I wanted on this singular page, is all.

TL Notes

• Gameragero-con: A portmanteau of the Japanese name of this toad, ガマゲロゲ Gamageroge and a reference to an amateur/fan-games expo.
• Kemonokichi Strikers: A fictional spoof on this and this. Kemono 獣 means beast.  Kichi キチ means enthusiast/manic, but it sounds similar to the English word kitschy.
• Monster Huntress: should be a rather obvious reference. It had a crossover event with the aforementioned phone game and a (at the time-of-posting-this) recent live-action movie. The character itself is supposed to be a cutesy version of this beast.
• Databaysette: a reference to this song.  Blegh. The character itself is a portmanteau of the in-show character Akatsuki and this frog ninja.
• Sword Heart Orina: Obvious reference is obvious.  I just wanted to clarify Orina is a rare Japanese name made up of 織 ori (meaning woven) and 和 wa (read as na in this instance, meaning harmony). She’s supposed to be a cutesy version of this ghost.
• Henshin Defecta: A spoof on the other aforementioned phone game – henshin 変身 means to transform, defecta is Latin for “to ruin”. The creature is supposed to be a cutesy version of this, in reference to the phone game’s unofficial mascot.
• Love Life’s Ai Doll: A portmanteau of this never-ending franchise and this thing.
• Two-Cannonford Bridge: A portmanteau of the Ford Island Bridge, and this fictional bird.
  
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Past Pages:

• The Beginning Bit: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,  13,
• The Eatery: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. 26, 27 28, 29,
• Interlude: 30, 31,
• All About Albert: 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,
• The Long Road Home: 45,  46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54,
• Another Interlude: 55, 56,
• Saruto vs Tori: 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 70,
• Hinomarusumo: 71, 72, 73,  74, 75, 76, 77. 78, 79 80, 81.  82,  83
• One Immolate Evening: 83 84 85 86 87 88, 89, 90 ,  91 92 93 ,
• The Barefoot Confessor:  94, 95, 96,  97,  98,   99 100,   101,     102