Tag: TVTropes

‘Jake and the Dynamo’ TVTropes Page Updated

Whoever is managing the page for Jake and the Dynamo on TVTropes has recently added updates. The cover art for the published version is now posted, and the description has been updated to describe its publication history.

The writer states, “Originally released episodically as a web serial novel, it was eventually published in e-book form.” (It’s also available as a paperback, but hey.)

I see also that the list of tropes has been updated. For example, the villain Chai Square, the tea-drinking statistical troll, is listed as a Pungeon Master, because of his habit of making statistical jokes. (Magical Girl Sword Seamstress could fit this trope also for her sewing puns.)

Funny story about Chai Square: I came up with that character while I was writing up a report on an archaeological project and was doing some of the statistical analysis. I have a bad habit of mispronouncing chi square, which is how I came up with Chai Square’s name. The whole thing evolved from there.

As an added note, I’m pleased to see that, according to TVTropes, the novel qualifies for the trope of “Mood Whiplash,” even if it does not rise to the level of “Cerebus Rollercoaster.” As I’ve explained before, that’s pretty much my storytelling philosophy.

Slow-Rolling ‘Saint Tail’

I’m sorry there has been little in the way of meaningful content here, but I’m coming toward the end of my final term of a master’s program. On Star Wars Day, May the 4th, I’m free … sort of. Or at least I’m free of school. That might not mean more time for blogging, though, at least until I’m more gainfully employed and settled.

So, anyway, in case you’re wondering if I’m just over here binge-watching The Vision of Escaflowne, the answer is, “I wish.” Actually, I haven’t watched that much of it, eager though I am, because I haven’t had the time.

I’ve promised reviews of Saint Tail and Phantom Thief Jeanne, the two magical girl stories about religiously motivated cat burglars. The latter is readily available thanks to a re-translation and re-release from Viz in 2014, but the former is, alas, quite difficult to acquire: it’s one of those early post-Sailor Moon titles, like Corrector Yui or Wedding Peach or Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, many of which subsequently became obscure. I’ve been defeated in my attempt to get DVDs of the Saint Tail anime, and the manga is coming to me slowly, piecemeal. I just got word of another volume that has arrived for me, so I should have it by the end of tomorrow.

Saint Tail a pleasant little title; reading it is like snuggling into a warm blanket. It’s not exactly deep or demanding, but it’s sweet without being cloying. The apparently sincere religious devotion of its Catholic protagonists is actually quite well handled even though the manga-ka wrote in complete ignorance (you’ll find this title listed under “Nuns are Mikos” on TVTropes).

I’ll probably have to move ahead with the discussion even without getting the whole series. As I understand it, Saint Tail hews closely to its formula and doesn’t offer any big surprises, so I’m probably safe giving it a review of sorts if I don’t go into too much detail.

I’ve already penned a draft of that review, but I was waiting for more material before I hit “publish.” It might be up in the next few days.