This is (finally) the last strip of the flashback, since there’s only one circumstance left to explain: why are our heroes attending such a distinctly Japanese flavored high-school, despite Lillytown being canonically located somewhere in North America?
As you can see, I didn’t force that decision on them simply for having consumed such a lot of manga and anime recently: I gave them a choice. (Which is way more than kids in that situation usually get.) They could chose whether they wanted to deal with the circumstances of a stereotypical US high-school, or a typical Japanese one. I didn’t influence their decision in any way!
…I didn’t have to, of course, since that really wasn’t much of a choice. Stereotypical Japanese high schools are quirky, but still quite livable places. Stereotypical American high schools are dystopiian hellscapes of tribal warfare among the ruins of a crumbling empire – pretty similar to the Warhammer 40K universe, but made worse by the presence of teachers.* Full disclosure: I’ve attended high-school in neither of those places, so I’ve got nothing but those stereotypes to work with. I would tend to believe that Japanese high-schools are a bit worse in real life than their depiction in media, and that American high schools are a bit better…but in the context of this webcomic I prefer stereotypes to reality on a matter of principle, so I didn’t look into the matter any further.
With those stereotypes being what they are, the decision is unanimous in favor of the Japanese model, so that’s what they got.
More on Thursday.
* I hope I’m not giving Games Workshop any ideas here…for something like “Space Marine Instructores“…
You mean Imperial Guard Commissars?
I admit they are similar, but teachers are still a bit worse. After all, Commissars at least know how to operate technology and sometimes do some of the dirty work themselves. XD