Megatokyo, Volume 5

MegaTokyo #5

by Fred Gallagher

Piro, an anime obsessed fan, and Largo, an American gamer, are stranded in Japan and must earn enough money for plane tickets home while they explore the Japanese world of gaming and the cute locals.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Webcomic, Fiction, Fantasy, Humor

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kinsey Breland .: avid_midnight_reader :. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was nice to see Largo having a more serious storyline for a change. Instead of simply running around battling these zombies and other monsters that are in his head, he actually was dealing with more emotional, internal problems. This “relationship” with Erika is bringing a new dynamic for Largo to the table and I’m enjoying it.

Kimiko being treated like a sex object by her so called “fans” was disgusting. I’m glad Piro was there to help try and stop the majority of the perverts from using their cameras in the attempts to get panty shots.

I love this relationship that is building between Kimiko and Piro. I really like the two of them together.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this volume is a lot of fun. Gallagher is great at choreographing chaos, at having several things happening in one small space, or period of time, or both.

The story is grappling with some rather heavy issues, some which are rather specific to Japanese culture, and some which are more universal. Purity culture surrounding female entertainers, and the parasocial desire--largely by men--to vicariously sully that purity by enjoying upskirt shots of them, and so on. Erika's been on the receiving end of that, and tries to warn Kimiko, but sometimes you have to experience something yourself to believe it, it seems.

(Recently I've heard about an internet scandal involving a woman author getting publicly and uncomfortably sexual about a real-life hockey player, so hooray for equality, I guess?)

Another theme is women asserting themselves as human in the face of others' fetishizing them. Being of the fem persuasion myself, there's been a fair amount of "well, duh" as I've gone through this story. And I can't help but notice that while lampshading these aspects of fannishness and fan service, it leans into them, too. For example, Ping's boobs getting bigger as a result of her programming, or a fairly long sequence featuring Erika and Kimiko in their underwear. (The narrative even mentions grounding gizmos like wrist bands that prevent static discharge when dealing with electronic equipment.)

This title remains a little too lugubrious for its own good, with devastating emotional crises lurking around every corner. I get it, it comes with the territory, ask me how I know. The "Largo exists somewhere, and things blow up" sequences are my least favorite parts of the story, and mopey longing and existential crises are much of what there is aside from that.

Mild sarcasm aside, Megatokyo does hit me at the heart at times, not enough to cause tears, but there are occasional pangs of recognition there, especially ol' glum Piro wanting to place the blame for an argument on himself, but eventually getting scolded into recognizing that making up entails forgiving the other person as much as it does apologizing for your own wrongs.

Largo and Piro each get their girl, on the very same evening no less, which would seem to indicate that this story's heading to its conclusion if romance was the reader's main focus, which can't be helped considering its influences, imo, but there's another whole volume to go. The most recent comic was posted in Sept. 2024, so it seems we aren't quite in ASOIAF territory, though I do wonder if the end is anywhere near in sight.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Megatokyo Volume five contains chapters seven and eight of the popular webcomic series. However, like the volumes that precede it, this volume also contains a ton of bonus materials such as one-shots, single artworks (mostly of the characters or their gamer equivalent), and a readers guide.
There’s quite a lot going on in this volume, and it isn’t all the romantic interests running around each other (though that happens quite a bit as well). I sort of feel like this volume really perfected the stride of the series; with a steady flow and regular updates and new tidbits of information to keep things rolling along smoothly.



The more I re-read this series, the more I remember what I loved so much about it. This volume really gets us into the thick of all the plots, revealing information that’s both shocking and logical to the plot. I’m starting to remember the rest as a read, but I’m trying really hard not to, so I can have a fresh re-reading opportunity.
I feel like they spent more time developing the other characters in this issue. While there is still some focus on Largo and Piro (of course), I feel like the secondary and tertiary characters were allowed to show more emotions and character development. And honestly, that’s really where this series shines. The character interactions are priceless, and I don’t just mean that I love seeing all of the romantic leads try and sort themselves out. Even the characters with no interest in each other have interesting interactions here, and I loved every moment of it.
I’m sure we all have our favorite plots and focuses; for example up until this volume I was most interested in Piro and all of the romantic confusion he was dealing with. However, my curiosity quickly flipped to Erika and her plot progression (and everything that entails). I’m anxious to see how all of that plays out, in the end.
There’s still one volume left to Megatokyo, but you can sort of get the feeling even now that we’re starting to head towards the conclusion of the series. I’ll be sad to see it go (again) of course, but it’s nice seeing a series that knows when and how it wants to end.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Britt Halliburton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is around the time I ceased reading online and switched to just purchasing the books. For me, being able to consume the whole thing in one go is wonderful - I am too old to wait around for new strips. By this point, the comic works really well as books.

I was pleased to see the backstory of the Endgame world expanded on and Largo's relationship with Eirika is truly great to read. Nanasawa is both frustrating and great, a very conflicting character who is, by nature, conflicted in her own feelings. I do think Piro becomes more sympathetic by this point, especially due to his interactions with Nanasawa and that she can actually be terrible to him, but she is also understandable.

Seraphim and the other consciences are featured less in this book, which is fine to me as I don't really like them very much, feeling they detract what is going on. I was interested that Junko had more of a role, though I'm not sure I really like it. Acting as an underage prostitute and Largo just tells her to 'play her game' was uncomfortable and later on she is bullying Ping (albeit not as bad as her friends in the bullying). I hope she gets an arc, at least, to bring her out of this.

Ping gets a great bit of content, especially when she dropped Miho. I really felt her horror an felt so sorry for her. I am not overly fond of the 'growth' arc later on, but I assume it is going somewhere interesting.

Truly, I still love this series with a passion and by book 5, it is surprising that my love of these characters just grows and grows.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I do not think it was that bad and I have finally accepted the new direction the story has taken. The story now focuses more on Piro and Largo's relationships, which I have found to be cute and interesting. It is quite exciting to finally see Largo have normal human interactions, if that is what you can call it. There is a lot of relationship drama going on but every so often there is still some humor that pops out. The beginning pages of the book were much better since they have stopped doing a full recap of the whole story in the beginning and finally have references in the back. I love the improvements to the information provided! I cannot wait till the next book!

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This issue is, by far, the closest to what I'd call an "emotional rollercoaster" in the series. It's about character more than plot, the interactions everyone holds with one another, the actual feelings these characters have. And I'm living for it. I know it's slow going now, there hasn't been a lot of progress, but with there only being one other book out at the moment I'd say this is definitely a climax of the series. You can tell this is the point where a lot of things are starting to come together, definitely for the better.

[Clayton VanLeeuwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is where the series really hits it's stride. Not to say that the previous chapters were bad, infact, quite the opposite. But this volume really delivers. Major advances are made on multiple story fronts. The art continues to improve, especially backgrounds and environments. Overall, this was a pleasure and I'm excited to dive into Volume 6.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still good stuff, though you can tell, with the character revelations and what-not that things are starting to swing towards resolution. We pretty much know what is going to happen to our four lead characters (at least in terms of romantic attachments) but the real question is if Gallagher will be brave enough to saddle some of the beloved secondary characters with any unhappiness. Considering the thread of melancholy that has been running quietly through the series so far, it may be possible. Fingers crossed.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just got volume 6, so I reread this one first. I was reminded of why I wait to read this in print instead of online: it takes a LONG time for plot threads to go anywhere. In book form, this isn't a problem, but when I was reading it online I would often forget what was going on by the time anything important was revealed. The art continues to improve in this one, and the "fantasy" sequences become more obviously relevant to the plot.

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, I wonder if Fred Gallagher knows where he wants to take this comic. Now we have a girl who's supposedly a magical girl, Ping's become something of a transformer... While I still find the funny parts to be really funny, the drama is starting to drown out the funny bits.

It was a long, slow read. Though, I've come to expect that of the Megatokyo books. I'm not sure why they're all so dense, but it always takes a while to read them.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in a few hours. I devoured it. I drank it in, and now I'm left biting my nails for the sixth compilation. I felt the PH34R. Yay for my local library!

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems like a settling of romantic affairs, with minor openings for minor characters. Nanasawa seems to act more like her roommate as an idol when dealing with her managers, and it's getting hard to tell the two apart again. Not as compelling as the previous volume. Perhaps too much fan service?

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read all the comics online, but I was surprised by how much I missed, how much I forgot, and how much more fun it was to read the comics all at one time in a book.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please see my review of the first one, as I feel that, despite the amazing quality of this series, there isn't a whole lot one can say about each individual volume.

[Jesus Pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vol. five has one of the funniest shirt guy dom scenes "Porn King" read it to find out

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows the gaming/fanboy side of modern Japanese culture. Great story and art.