Hitorishizuka

This is another one of the Japanese TV dramas I've got from jpdorama.com. I don't know why I decided to buy this one. The blurb only really refers to episode 1 and doesn't really do the story justice. It must have been the pic of the gorgeous Kaho on the cover.

Hitorishizuka is a kind of shrub, apparently, with small white flowers. But (based on my scant knowledge) I think there might be a sense here of "Shizuka alone" (Shizuka being the name of the protagonist) and also maybe "the quiet one".

Shizuka (Kaho) goes missing after graduating from Junior High and we witness her story obliquely, through a series of murders and untimely deaths that she is implicated in. Over the 6 episodes we build a picture of Shizuka and her motivation. And at the end, she does achieve some kind of redemption. Through love, I guess.

It's a bleak tale, and nobody comes out of it well. There are police who fail to join the dots (wilfully sometimes) and put the organisation before truth. There are petty, cowardly yakuza. Child pornographers and pimps. All human life, as it were.

Kaho puts in a really good performance as Shizuka - I believed in her character's ability to manipulate people to get the results she wanted. She is the only character who appears in all 6 episodes, but she is supported by a whole bunch of really good character actors. I particularly enjoyed Matsushige Yutaka as the vice cop in episodes 3 and 4.

A cracking yarn, and well worth getting hold of if you can.

The Marchers: Number 3.

Doing this as and when I can. I reckon I've got about 20 pages/episodes kind of planned that mostly add up to a story. So I'll keep at it and see if I can get back into a routine.

The Marchers: Number 2.

Had a wee bit of time this evening to move on with this one...

I like Penny's daughter. She hasn't got a name yet. Maybe we won't find out. In my mind Penny just refers to her as "Stupid Girl". She will get her revenge, no doubt.

The Marchers. An everyday story...

While I've beeen struggling to get back into Policy Police, I've kept getting distracted by other ideas. So with a deep bow to Theocritus...

This one has been a long time coming. I originally had the idea for this strip back in the late 70s - and was reminded of it a couple of years ago while rummaging in the attic. I wondered if it had the legs to be resurrected in the here and now - I had a couple of half ideas for some 4 panel strips but I wasn't sure who these people were ... then I found the voices I wanted for a couple of characters  - Penny and Georgie - in Praxinoa and Gorgo in Theocritus' XVth Idyll.

I just needed a hook to pull them into the world of now. So lets see how it pans out. I've decided to run them here cuz you know what they say about the Policy Police. Just when you thought you were out...

A helpful suggestion

I was shopping in Tescos the other day - I normally shop at Asda - and was reminded of their helpful approach to labelling and allergy advice. Following all the recent horse meat unpleasantness, I think they should follow the same model.

So labels on burgers should read:

• No horse
• Not produced in a facility that handles horse
• Cannot guarantee that this product does not contain horse

That should do it.

Merry Christmas 2012

Well, given current events I thought I'd just go ahead and determinedly NOT BE FUNNY. Just good old applied copology.

Not done a printed version this year. What with austerity and all. More like not having the time until it was too late, really.

Too happy

It's like the old saying about banging your head against a wall. Nice when it stops. I guess I was always aware that by working in the state machine, I was wading nose deep in stupid. I just wasn't aware of what a relief independence would be.

The down side is that it's become much more difficult to do the comic. I don't have the same anger any more. The anger of "this time it's personal". We all know that it's not really personal as far as bureaucracy is concerned. In a bureaucracy, we're all worthless. The process is king. But that's what gets the eyeball twitching.

Without my daily dose of bile, I'm left in a state of... happiness. Which dulls the venom a bit. I'm sure I'll get there. I've got a story planned out, but I just feel it lacks a bit of a spark. So I'm holding back until it feels right.