| Megatokyo: down to its last shred |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|01:21 pm] |
I've mentioned this before, but here we go again.
Megatokyo, that grandpappy of indie web comics that broke the mold and showed how commercially successful an indie web comic could become, keeps falling off at an increasing pace. This really makes me sad to say, but it's finally reaching the point where I guess I am going to have to stop reading it.
I remember starting to read it in early 2002. Back then, it was a quick, light 4-panel affair. There was a plot of sorts: a pretentious and awkward otaku (Piro) and a pseudo-macho gamer with a drinking problem (Largo) end up on a sudden flight to Japan after too much booze creates a mysterious and embarrassing incident at E3. The Japan they arrive in is a satire of gamer and otaku culture...a place that expresses and gently mocks the immature ideas you hear so many gamers and anime fans express about Japan. l33t is an international auxiliary language for the technologically obsessed. The world started to take on a sort of absurd magical realism that picked on just about anything about anime, manga, gaming, tech, and web comics imaginable, and in doing so, it developed a little language all its own. That's what a good comic does.
I still remember the strips when Piro and Largo first encountered their consciences. Piro's was a little angel who sat on his shoulder. Largo...well, he didn't have one, and the "conscience agency" couldn't afford to hire one, so they found a temp worker. Largo's conscience was, and remains, a small hamster with a pair of wings strapped to its back. Hilarious.
But, when the strip's co-creator left, the sense of humor slowly deflated from the strip. It always had a plot, but the plot got heavier and started to take the stupid tropes of manga seriously. But, there was still humor at least once a week...or they'd have a week of being whiny and awkward followed by a week of comic relief. It was enough. At least, it was enough for a while. Then Largo started losing his edge. He sobered up somewhat and started hallucinating less. He stopped burning things as frequently. He stopped being the Dr. Gonzo of the story, which meant he no longer motivated activity by being a complete lunatic at all times. In short, he became Piro's second fiddle. This was a horrible thing to do, since it means that he's playing second fiddle to an whiny emotional cripple who believes the solutions to life's problems are in manga books marketed to Japanese schoolgirls. Piro is the most archetypal wet noodle I can imagine. He never motivates the plot; he just responds to it as awkwardly and ineffectually as possible.
Even that wouldn't be such a problem, though, if Megatokyo creator Fred Gallagher would just fucking figure out what the fucking story is. At first, it seemed like he was going to play the "too many girls" card, and started introducing the stereotypical female love interests at a fairly steady clip. There was the actress...the cynical game store worker...the goth...the robot...the schoolgirl. It's frequently impossible to remember which of them is which. Two of the women in the story differ only in hairstyle, and many people have admitted to never remembering which is which. Gallagher decided the well-worn path of the "too many girls" manga was a little too well-worn, though, so now each one of these introduced characters seems to, at times, get their own complete story arc. Yes...I would prefer the women in a story get proper first-class treatment; my complaint here is instead that a roster of characters that's already quite large keeps on getting bigger and bigger. The core characters I know and love keep getting less and less time in the strip. Largo, especially. It takes time and more characters to support more stories.
What used to be a "buddy flick" romp through a satirical Japan then set itself up to be a stereotypical comedic manga, then took a left-turn and Albuquerque and wandered off into a land where it tried to become some sort of more legitimate story, creating some weird, jangling automaton that lumbers along, making a terrible mess and racket, confusing all it passes as to how it remains upright. And, much like one would gaze upon the Iron Giant and wonder for what purpose it was made, one can now gaze upon Megatokyo and wonder what the story is. And like one could never gaze upon the Iron Giant and know its origin, Megatokyo is so far off its original plot that I have no idea where in the story I am any more.
Megatokyo has lost its McGuffin. I might have some old-fashioned ideas about writing, but I think McGuffins are important. For the uninitiated, these are the devices, introduced early in the plot, that motivate the characters along the story. For example, the McGuffin of Star Wars Episode IV is the secret plans for the Death Star. For Megatokyo, the McGuffin was a simple one-- Piro and Largo wind up in Japan and have no money to get back home, so they find work at a gamer store. Fairly simple premise (and simple premises work well for comic strips), and it gives the story a beginning, a middle, and an end. Piro and Largo will have to survive in this strange world, get enough money to go home, and then say goodbye to the friends they made along the way.
The thing is...that was the plot device they set up in 2002. It's now 2009, and according to the Megatokyo site, 2 months of in-world time have passed. So, what in the hell? Piro has a job at a store and Largo is teaching. When do they get paid? Don't they want to go home? If they don't, why not write it into the story? I have been reading the story for 7 years now, and I don't believe the plot has moved an inch. Nothing gets resolved, and every dangling matter seems subject to the creation of another extraneous plot arc that brings in more characters that take more time away from the core starting point. No shock...my official reason for continuing to read Megatokyo is because I've done so for years and want to see how Piro and Largo get home (or go native). I want to see an ending because I've been waiting for one.
Years go by, and I still see no sign that it's moving for the exits. In fact, it just keeps on lumbering along, becoming increasingly ponderous. To make it worse, Gallagher's rate of production seems to be slowing significantly. It seems like he's spent the last couple months on nothing but Piro describing how he used to play an online game with Miho (the goth). It's so far out in the weeds that I'm not even sure what the relevance is to the immediate storyline, let alone the overarching plot.
It's basically down to the last shred now. I loved Megatokyo, but it's being run into the ground so far that, despite my being an attentive and regular reader, I don't even know what's going on anymore. I really want to see the story tied up into a neat end, but how many more years am I going to keep reading, each time a little more lost than the one before, before I give up?
It's sad to say, but it's basically over already. |
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