Anime Central was fantastic! Thanks to everyone who came out to my table and said hello. It was great meeting everyone. 😀
In America, you go on 'shrooms. In Sarnoth, 'shrooms go on you.
Anime Central was fantastic! Thanks to everyone who came out to my table and said hello. It was great meeting everyone. 😀
Does anyone else ship Suko and Selkie?
Not me. They are little kids with a big age gap who will probably grow up together. I see them much more likely to have a relationship like cousins or siblings than anything else.
Uh, they’re kind of young, don’t you think?
Especially Suko, despite what his significant size might make you think. They’re at completely different stages of development: Selkie speakses almost perfects English, just has a speech disorders rooting ins the gammars ofs her mother tongue. Suko mostly goes Bababababalalalaba-uppa-ba and has only recently started making somewhat structured short sentences in either language.
While children do have romantic feelings, these two probably do not consider each other potential partners.
Thinking like that is a little ageist, don’t you think?
They’re young, but their souls are capable of feeling and expressing love. To me, their interactions suggest a romantic attraction forming.
While I don’t find it impossible, your comment is a little like seeing a story in which there are a bunch of children and only two of them are Asian (one a toddler, the other 9), and they happen to get along well, and someone says “Oh! Two Asian characters who happen to get along well! They are so cute together that they must be headed for a romantic relationship!”
Without, y’know, the sarcasm.
Not only is it weird to ship people that young (I’m trying not to think of Rule 34 and the recent retirement of Hayao Miyazaki over this sort of thing), not only is it potentially offensive to say that the only two people who share X characteristic (*especially* race/species) are going to get together, but it also speaks to the cultural bias that says platonic friendships are not only rare but actually less desirable than romantic relationships.
And since I love seeing close, even intimate relationships that don’t have a romantic or sexual component, it bugs me whenever someone jumps straight past friendship to romance.
Wow, that’s incredibly offensive that you’d imply I’m racist because I believe two characters that HAPPEN to share the same race are romantically interested in each other. I don’t care whatsoever what races or species they are – their interactions scream potential romantic interest, and I judge SOLELY off of that.
Also, the fact that you would bring up rule 34 is pretty f****d up, if I say so myself. Shipping is not the same thing as pornography. That’s really perverted you’d even suggest something like that.
Finally, this says nothing at all of platonic relationships. I just don’t see one existing between Selkie and Suko – I see a beautiful romantic relationship where they will one day spend the rest of their lives (however long those are) together, and maybe start a family.
I’m not implying that you’re racist, I’m saying that this is how a ship like that sounds. It doesn’t matter how innocent the ship may be in your head, it *sounds like* it’s based entirely on the two characters being from the same group.
Dotcom’s right: The Westermarck effect is probably going to drastically reduce the chances of these two characters getting together, if only because he’s pretty much the only Sarnothi character she knows who’s even close to her age. (Unless of course the Westermarck effect doesn’t occur in Sarnothi to begin with.)
I’m sorry for offensive given; in re-reading my comment it does seem a little worse than I meant it, but that’s kind of the nature of comments on the internet (inflection doesn’t come across so well in pure text).
You’re right that shipping isn’t Rule 34-ing. It’s just that I recently read some comments from Miyazaki about how offended he was by the way people used his (very underage) characters in adult ways — part of the reason he retired — and I think my brain tied that in to people pairing off characters too young for romance in the first place. (Like I said, I *was* trying not to think in that vein. Wasn’t working very well, obviously.)
Back when Dave gave us a “teaser” drawing of the family (and confirmed that the youngster was a boy), I immediately wondered if he was close to Selkie’s age, and a potential romantic interest — not for *current* Selkie, but for *future teen/adult* Selkie.
I’ve always been annoyed that comic authors completely forget that little kids generally start out in the “[opposite sex kids] are *icky* and have *cooties*” phase. “Little Archie” is perhaps one of the worst offenders, where the main characters are apparently written to be identical to their teen versions, only shorter.
Not shipping them, yet. But in a couple of years, I can see Selkie having a lot of fun babysitting Suko and his younger sister.
What actions have they made that you see as being romantic? Maybe when they are adults, but that pairing definitely wouldn’t work now. Selkie is 8-9, and Suko is probably 2-4.
One small problem there Sai Fen…unless you are saying that your caste sprouts those mushroom hats, Todd will eventually figure out you are lying because Selkie is the same species.
Of course common sense dictates that Todd SHOULDN’T take anything Sai Fen says at face value.
one problem there, individuals of a species can very wildly depending on things such as subspecies and gender, so again, you will NEVER know.
Gender is covered in this very strip, and as far as subspecies, there is no difference here except skin and hair color. Do you really want to go down that road?
So, yeah, glad I’m not the only one going “Uh, no, Todd, she’s spouting nonsense.”
Of course she is, but it’s just bizarrely plausible enough to briefly mess with Todd’s head, which is exactly what she was after. Messing with people’s heads is her hobby and I get the sense she doesn’t nearly get as many good opportunities for it as she likes.
Ah, Sai Fen, you beautiful, beautiful bastard.
I like that Selkie is giving the Sarnothi greeting in panel 4.
I like that Selkie is doing the closed eyes greeting thing.
I think she’s laughing at their hats, to be honest… XD
Except her hands are up and turned towards herself too. In lovely pink mittens.
I love Sai Fen, she’s so awesome messing with him like that
The De’Madeia family is adorable and wonderful.
I’m gonna go way out on a limb here, and say that the black things behind Selkie’s skirt, in panel 2, are her boots – that she’s jumping for joy?
But I thought her boots, like here shoes, were “cartoony”, not solid black. Not the fish that are on the shoes, but Sue and Kathryn? https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie69/
I am confused – is this part of the school trip or not? Does this mean Selkie will end up going twice (once now, once for school)?
It wasn’t a “school trip”. The teacher suggested they go to the aquarium on the weekend with their families because it was educational. More of a homework thing.
Thanks.
I love Suko…so adorbs on this page <3
@ Sai Fen
It’s good to have a sense of humor.
It’s better to have a good sense of humor.
So has anyone yet told Dave or Selkie she’s gonna pick up more spots as she gets older, as I recall from an old drawing of her as an adult?
You mean Todd? Dave is the writer. I don’t know if he needs to be told. 😉
Yes, I was wondering this, too, though. Chances are, they’ll find out if they haven’t been told already. I can imagine it happens during puberty—just like human children—so that “talk” probably has already happened or will happen in a year or two.
Oop! Yes, Todd! I should not post before I am fully awake!
Sarnothi women/girls appear to be fantastically sarcastic and mischievous.
Sai Fen, you’re such a troll. <3
Poor octofishies; an entire group of predators have arrived!
Have I mentioned that Sai Fen is easily my favorite character here? Grandpa Theo is a close second, but Sai Fen’s sass and timing are going to be the stuff of legend.
Sai Fen, Theo, and Marta walk into a bar…….
^ Comments like this ^ make me wish the “like” feature wasn’t broken. I’m really enjoying my mental image of how that story ends. 🙂
T’would be Sassageddon.
Selkie needs to know that an octopus isn’t a fishy, but a cephalopod.
Hm. I’ve always wondered why the Sarnothi have hair. They’re not mammals, yeah? So…eh? Are there non-mammals with hair?
Yes. Many are extinct like thecodonts but some, like platypi (platypuses?) are… is it Oviviparous? Anyway, they lay eggs and suckle their young yet lay eggs and have fur. Go figure. Spiny echidna, too.
Dave, I just have one critique/question. Sai Fen and family are all green skinned and Selkie is lavendar toned. I understand that the Sarnothi likely have a range of skin tones (as humans do) but was the difference in color meant to be this distinctive? I thought I remembered them being closer in tone to Selkie in earlier strips.
Ok, ignore my earlier comment. I just went back and saw that Pohl has been a vibrant green since we first met him. So new question, is the coloring a racial or tribal thing? I see it’s not based on age (like kids start out lavendar and turn greener as they age) since Selkie’s Mom had her coloring and Suko is green like his parents.
It’s a difference in ethnicities, essentially.