|
Tsunami Channel is a manga-style
web comic authored by
Akira Hasegawa that updates 5 days a week.
The name Tsunami Channel is actually a group header
for Akira's, as well as his sister Romy's various works, especially the
on-going series Experimental Comic Kotone and
Magical Mina.
Experimental Comic Kotone
Experimental Comic Kotone (or ExCoKo) follows the
story of Kotone, a young android girl designed by Professor Hasegawa, who
is attempting to fit into society and does so very well.
The comic originally started as a series of 14 scripts in a
semi-interactive format created between
June 26 and
September 14,
2001, designed in such a way as to resemble a dating game. The comic
now has more than 300 strips.
Main Characters
- Kotone is the lead protagonist in the comic (as
stated by Hasegawa himself, and hinted at by the name of the comic). She
claims to be 18 years old, but is generally considered 12 by most of the
other characters in the comic, due to both her apparent mental age, as
well as her appearance. She has an extensive collection of stuffed
animals that she enjoys playing with.
- Onii-chan or Player is the
secondary protagonist in the comic (and it often appears as if he is the
true lead character in many of the comics), and is well-known for his
powers of quick healing, his clueless nature around girls, and his "Love
Sim Syndrome", which causes him to attract girls to him without his
knowledge. He currently attends
Carnegie Mellon University and is majoring in
Computer Science and works on projects for Professor Hasegawa.
- Laika is a Japanese girl who is an expert
swordswoman. In earlier comics, she was extremely violent. She is part
oni, causing her to occasionally lose control and potentially go on
a murderous rampage if not kept in check with an oni seal on her arm,
and she works on the same projects that Onii-chan does for Professor
Hasegawa. Her incentive for doing so, however, is a promise by Professor
Hasegawa to remove her Oni genes following the successful completion of
the project, thus fueling her continual insistence that Onii-chan help
her complete the project as quickly as possible.
- Konstantin, one of two characters in the comic with
real life equivalents, is well-known for his
bishounen appearance and
hentai personality. He is often quoted for his attraction to
"anything that moves." His weakness however are catgirls, eternally
causing problems with his relationship with Anya. It is because of
Konstantin and his comrade-in-arms Professor Hasegawa that Tsunami
Channel has a large cliquish following of hentai-lovers.
- Haruna is the daughter of two beatniks, but was
raised by her traditional Japanese grandmother, owner of the large
Japanese conglomerate Kurahashi Corporation. Because of Professor
Hasegawa's desire for funding while in Japan, he barters with the
Kurahashi family for Onii-chan to marry Haruna in exchange for money.
Haruna is extremely traditional and cannot speak English. This does not
cause any problems with Onii-chan any more however, despite the fact
that he knows no
Japanese. Initially, Haruna fell in love with Onii-chan due to his
similarity to her dead fiancee Mamoru, but she now loves him for who he
is, and not for who he resembles.
- Anya is a
catgirl who, after having been saved by Konstantin from being run
over by a truck, has now fallen helplessly in love with Konstantin.
Konstantin's fear of cats, however, has repeatedly caused problems with
their relationship, and he often must make a quick escape when she
appears.
- Lisa, Anya's sister, is a
kitsune, and true to form, she is a trickster, often playing tricks
on various characters, particularly Onii-chan, who must be careful to
avoid her occasional attacks. She often shapeshifts into other forms,
but has recently become rather confused, as most of the characters have
been able to identify who she is, despite her being in a different form.
This has caused problems, due to an old animal-people legend that states
that one's true lover can tell who the animal-person is regardless of
the form they take.
- Alex is a young boy who also loves stuffed animals,
and in this fashion has quickly become one of Kotone's good friends. He
often has problems asserting his manhood, as he looks quite androgynous.
- Shion is a ghost girl who Professor Hasegawa sent
to America to haunt Onii-chan as another potential girlfriend. She first
met Onii-chan in the Carnegie Mellon anime club and has her own fan club
consisting of many of its members. While Onii-chan does not know that
she is a ghost, Konstantin may suspect something.
- Professor Hasegawa is the not-often-seen force
behind the scenes, often causing problems for Onii-chan, such as leaving
Kotone behind upon his leaving of the
United States for
Japan, sending Haruna to marry Onii-chan, and other similar things.
Professor Hasegawa is based on the real-life author, except that he is
much more
hentai than the real Akira is.
- Tsunami, who is Professor Hasegawa's
computer, is not only the namesake of Tsunami Channel, but she also
serves as a "computer fairy" who helps him design computer programs and
other projects. Together with Konstantin, the Professor seeks to corrupt
Tsunami, and she constantly hammers the Professor with mallets for his
ecchi and otherwise meddling behavior.
Other Characters
- Fuuka is Laika's older sister and gave Onii-chan
the first oni seal that Laika wears.
- Mamoru is Haruna's previous fiance who died soon
before her arrival to Onii-chan's house. In order to soothe her sorrow,
an agreement was made between Professor Hasegawa and Haruna's parents to
send Haruna to America to meet Onii-chan.
- Junichi is another bishounen who has a popular
fanbase, who appeared during the Haruna's Parents arc as Haruna's
planned fiance after the Mamoru debacle.
Magical Mina
Magical Mina (or MaMi) is an action/magical girl
manga that follows the story of Mina, a girl who has gained
magical girl powers from creatures programmed by Professor Hasegawa.
Mina, however, is hardly your normal magical girl, as she is cool,
calculated, and quite smart and strong.
It was originally codenamed Magical Project H, and
currently has four chapters. Many aspects are taken from such manga as
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Main Characters
- Mina is a 12-year-old girl who is rather smart and
has gained magical girl powers from various programs programmed by the
Professor and his students Onii-chan and Laika. She often fights battles
to gain powers, but these battles are consistently against stronger
creatures than expected, often causing problems for Mina.
- Mulder is Mina's stuffed animal sidekick who almost
never gives Mina accurate information about her enemies, thanks to the
supposed overzealous programming attitudes of Onii-chan and Laika.
- Arc is Mina's sidekick who has also received
magical powers from Professor Hasegawa. He helps Mina defeat Fire by
using a Light spell. His powers utilize Japanese
kanji, requiring knowledge of the kanji in order to do his spells.
- Scarlet is another magical girl who will be
introduced in the near future. She possesses four fairies that are her
magical catalysts: Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.
Other Characters
- Professor Hasegawa and Tsunami
both appear in the first chapter.
- Sarah, a character created by Akira for the
scripting section of the Tsunami Channel site will supposedly appear
later on in the series.
Mina's Monsters
(Note: These are all in order of Mina's acquisition)
- Sword is made of plants and can be as sharp as
necessary. It has no initial form.
- Armor is the first creature Mina acquires through
defeat. Its initial form is that of a bug. Armor provides a shield for
Mina.
- Wind is the first creature Mina acquires in battle.
Its initial form iss that of an imp with wings. Wind provides Mina with
the ability to cast wind attacks, as well as to grow bat wings to glide
in the air (she is not strong enough to fly from a standing start).
- Water is the next creature Mina acquires. Its
initial form is that of a shark. It has been mainly used for the
finishing blow against Fire.
- Fire is the most recent creature Mina has acquired.
Its initial form is that of a dragon, enhanced with powers from Armor
and Wind.
Other Projects
Initially, Tsunami Channel was also known for the ability of fans to
create their own adventures with the characters through the Script Writer
Akira had used in part for the initial Tsunami Channel scripts. In
addition, Akira had previously scripted several
Japanese language lessons.
Tsunami Channel also includes a art contest that is independant from
the comics, but is still quite popular.
Tsunami Channel also has a number of fan-led projects, including a
project to animate an Anime-like opening theme song, a fan-fiction site, a
voice acting project (including a radio drama, Ask the Professor
(a series in which people can ask questions of Professor Hasegawa, played
by Xuanwu), and Dr. Konstantin (a planned series in which people
can ask relationship questions of Konstantin, played by RivaL.)).
|
