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Megatokyo

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Megatokyo
Megatokyo volume 1, 1st edition
Author(s)Fred Gallagher, Rodney Caston
Websitehttp://www.megatokyo.com
Current status/scheduleMonday, Wednesday & Friday
Launch dateAugust 14 2000[1]
Genre(s)Comedy, Drama, Action, Romance
For other uses, see Megatokyo (disambiguation).

Megatokyo is a popular webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, though now written and illustrated solely by Gallagher. Its writing and art styles are heavily influenced by Japanese manga. The comic was started on August 14 2000.[1] The contents and comic strip of Megatokyo are available on its official website at no charge to readers, with updates generally occurring every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the event that a proper strip cannot be completed on schedule, filler art and gag strips are often published in their stead. Officially, Megatokyo is only available in English; unofficial translations into other languages are available elsewhere on the Internet, although the French and German translations are the only ones close to matching the original's update schedule.

Megatokyo centers around Piro, a man in his twenties who is an anime and manga fanatic; his friend Largo, a gaming enthusiast; and their adventures in a fanciful version of Tokyo, Japan. The comic was originally presented in the gag-a-day format, and continuity, while present, took a back seat to the daily humor. As it progressed, however, it became increasingly based around a more distinct and complex plot, while regularly exploring and developing many of its characters. This was largely due to Gallagher's increased control over Megatokyo, which eventually led to Caston's removal from the project.[2][3] This event has been the center of controversy in the past.[3]

Critical reception to Megatokyo is largely positive, being praised by such sources as The New York Times[4] and Silver Bullet Comics.[5] However, the comic has its criticisms - many stemming from the new direction the comic took after the departure of Rodney Caston.[6][7]

On occasion, Megatokyo directly references aspects of anime and manga works, such as Great Teacher Onizuka and Haibane Renmei, in addition to computer and video games, examples of which being the Baldur's Gate and Metal Gear Solid series. Under the same theme, Megatokyo's name is derived from its Internet domain, itself a reference to the Bubblegum Crisis anime series, which had hosted a short-lived news site of Caston's before the start of the comic. In one of Caston's more visible and long-lived themes, the comic frequently uses English-based "L33t speak" as a spoken dialect separate from the comic's other commonly used languages, preventing some L33t-speaking characters from effectively conversing with non-speakers. For artistic and branding purposes, Megatokyo's title is also rendered as "メガトーキョー" on the official website, the books and some merchandise.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler

Plot

Megatokyo follows the story of two Americans, Piro and Largo, who are stuck in Tokyo and unable to return home. The two protagonists are based on Megatokyo's two creators, but are fictional characters with lives of their own. Piro, as an otaku, is a shy and somewhat under-confident person who cherishes Japanese popular culture such as manga, anime, and dating sim games. Largo, the more extroverted of the pair, is obsessed with computers and gaming; somewhat unable to distinguish between the fictional and the real world, he sees elements from his games in everything around him like a modern day Don Quixote.

The two arrive in Tokyo after an incident at the E³ gaming exposition and find themselves without money to buy plane tickets home. After living for several weeks in the apartment of a Japanese friend of Piro's, they are eventually forced out onto the streets, and much of the early plot details their attempts to make an independent living in Japan. Piro begins work at a store called "Megagamers," which specializes in anime, manga, and video games; while Largo takes on somewhat irregular jobs, such as becoming a teacher at a local high school, where he adopts the alias "Great Teacher Largo" (a reference to the anime and manga Great Teacher Onizuka) and instructs his students in L33t, video games, and computing. He also enjoys a brief stint as a member of the "Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division." As the series progresses, Piro and Largo begin shaky relationships with women they meet and grow as individuals, becoming deeper and more serious characters than the stereotypes they first represented.

Another plot thread includes the character Kimiko Nanasawa's sudden rise to idol status, fueled by her outburst on a radio talk show. Angered by the hosts' derisive comments about fanboys, she comes to the defense of her audience, immediately (and unintentionally) securing their obsessive adoration. In addition, the enigmatic Miho Tohya's involvement with Piro and Largo commonly arises as a significant subplot; before the events of the comic, Miho had known them from past experiences in a massively multi-player online role-playing game. Flashback sequences and discussions of the events suggest that Miho was abusing a hidden statistic in order to manipulate large amounts of player characters. Piro later defeated her, presumably through turning the system against her. This event seems to be Miho's motivation for becoming closer to Piro and Largo, though her ultimate intentions are unknown.

Themes and structure

Strip #619, used to detail the style in which Megatokyo is presented, as well as give examples of several of the comic's themes. It depicts Piro, Largo, Yuki Sonoda and Kimiko Nanasawa.

Megatokyo's pace and style indirectly correspond to the history of the comic itself. Much of the early humor consists of video game culture jokes, as well as culture-clash issues. During this early phase, the story moved along at a haphazard pace[8] and was often interrupted by pure gag episodes[9][10][11] and "dead piro" filler-art days. This changed over time, however; as Fred Gallagher gradually gained more control over Megatokyo, the comic began to gain more similarities to the Japanese shōjo manga that Gallagher himself is a fan of, utilizing such elements as detailed character interaction, a focus on the romantic relationships of characters, a free-form panel layout, less frequent and more subtle humor, slower and more careful pacing, and a lack of clear punchlines in every strip - elements commonly seen in many Japanese manga works. Following Gallagher's complete takeover of Megatokyo, the comic's thematic relation to Japanese manga continued to grow - something which Gallagher himself has commented on in the past.[12] "Dead piro" days still occasionally appear as stand-in material when Gallagher is unable to produce a strip, as do gag strips, albeit in fewer cases.

The comic features aspects from a number of different anime and manga archetypes, usually making light of the medium's various clichés: Junpei, a ninja who takes on Largo as his "L33t master"; giant saurians (such as "Rent-A-Zilla") roaming the streets; the "Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division," which fights the monsters with giant robots and supervises the systematic destruction and reconstruction of predesignated areas of the city; Ping, a robot girl who becomes friends with Piro; and a school girl, Yuki Sonoda, who possibly is in love with Piro and starts taking art lessons from him. In addition, Dom and Ed, hitmen employed by Sega and Sony, respectively, are characters associated with the Japanese stereotype that all Americans are armed to the teeth. Other characters include Seraphim and Boo, the "conscience enforcement agents" of Piro and Largo, respectively, who try to assist their clients in making morally correct decisions, while Asmodeus, Piro's "anti-conscience," attempts to undo their help.

Characters in Megatokyo usually speak Japanese, although some speak English or L33t (subtitled). Under most circumstances, when a character is speaking in Japanese, it is signified by the English text being enclosed between angle brackets. Not every character speaks every language, so occasionally characters are unable to understand one another; in several scenes, a character's speech is written entirely in rōmaji Japanese to emphasize this. Largo, for instance, speaks no Japanese at all, and thus cannot converse with some of the characters without the help of an interpreter.

Megatokyo is divided into chapters which each consist of approximately 100 pages. Chapter 0, which subsumes all of the comic's early experimental phase, covers a time span in the comic of about six weeks. Each of the subsequent chapters chronicles the events of a single day. Chapter 0 was originally not given a title, although the book version retroactively dubbed it "Relax, we understand j00." Chapter 0 began during September 2000 (1 - 129), with chapters 1 through 7 beginning in June 2001 ("Do You Want to Save Before You Quit?" 134 - 192), November 2001 ("Things Change Little By Little..." 196 - 301), October 2002 ("Am I Your Number One Fan?" 307 - 397), April 2003 ("Low Ping Rate" 402 - 514), February 2004 ("Color Depth" 526 - 633), November 2004 ("Operational Insecurity" 639 - 729) and September 2005 ("Known Bugs and Security Flaws" 743 - 872), respectively. The eighth and current chapter, titled Defect Mapping (#875), started during June 2006.

Main characters

Main article: Main characters of Megatokyo


Piro

File:Mt piro.jpg
Piro

Piro is the protagonist, an author surrogate of Fred Gallagher. Gallagher has stated that Piro is an idealized version of himself when he was in college.[13] As a character, he is socially inept and frequently depressed or morose, as well as fluent in English and Japanese, and possessing an understanding of L33t. In addition, he is a fairly skilled artist who refuses to believe in his own talent - an exaggerated parallel of Gallagher himself. From a design standpoint, he was originally conceived as a parody of the character Ruri Hoshino, from the Martian Successor Nadesico anime series.[14] Piro's facing of trials and tribulations as he struggles with his unconfident nature is one of Megatokyo's major ongoing themes.

In the story, Piro's feelings of insecurity cause him to have extreme difficulty reading Megatokyo's female characters, and as such he does not realize the feelings the character Kimiko has for him. Early in the comic, he usually read shōjo manga to try to work out the "correct" way to deal with women and life in general. However, this philosophy changes over time, as he spends more time with Kimiko and other female characters, and more frequently heeds the advice of his "conscience enforcement agent," Seraphim.

The name "Piro" comes from Gallagher's online nickname, which was in turn taken from Makoto Sawatari's cat in the Japanese "dating simulation" game Kanon.[15]

Largo

File:Megatokyo main character largo.png
Largo

Largo is the comic's secondary protagonist, and the comic version of co-creator Rodney Caston. An American computer game fan, he often acts before (or instead of) thinking, speaks L33t fluently and frequently, and is obsessed with beer to an extreme degree, as such being the comic's primary source of humor. Though he is a technically gifted character, he possesses a mania with altering anything remotely technological in nature, which often has explosive consequences.

Largo's opinion on women is strongly divided, at times viewing the comic's female characters as fair game, while at others as evil beings. In spite of this, he has developed a relationship of sorts with the character Erika Hayasaka. Largo, being an energetic and lively character, is a fire to Erika's water. Also, despite noticing Erika's physical attributes, he shows a surprisingly deep and friendly side as the comic progresses. This may lead him to being one of Megatokyo's few characters capable of connecting with Erika beneath her hard shell.

The name "Largo" comes from Caston's online nickname, just as Gallagher is Piro.[15]

Erika Hayasaka

File:Megatokyo main character erika.png
Erika Hayasaka

Erika Hayasaka (早坂 えりか; Hayasaka Erika),[16] the character Kimiko's roommate, is a powerfully popular former Japanese idol (singer) and voice actress. The story puts forth that Erika has been out of the direct spotlight for three years, though she still possesses a considerable fanbase - a mere sighting of her causes riots from fans during Megatokyo's fifth chapter. She is very strong-willed, confident, cynical, and hates being protected by others. She often physically lashes out at both her fans and those who seek to shelter her.

During chapter five of Megatokyo, it is revealed that, at the height of Erika's career as a singer and voice actress, her fiancé claimed to believe that he was holding her back, and broke off their engagement. This was said to have deeply hurt Erika, and that event, combined with exposure to swarms of fanboys and possibly her periodic work as a "booth babe" at fan conventions which is mentioned during the story, causes her to adopt a rather negative outlook on men, herself, and people in general. Despite this, Erika develops a relationship of sorts with Largo.

Kimiko Nanasawa

File:Kimiko.JPG
Kimiko Nanasawa

Kimiko Nanasawa (七澤 希美子; Nanasawa Kimiko), the character Erika's roommate, is a Japanese girl who works as a waitress at an Anna Miller's restaurant. The story puts forth that she is an aspiring voice actress who sometimes finds herself too shy or insecure to take on roles.

Kimiko is kind and soft-spoken, though she has a slightly impulsive nature. Her personality is somewhat similar to the character Piro's in that she has very little self-confidence and becomes extremely upset and flustered when she injures other characters, be it physically or emotionally. At the same time, she is prone to mood-swings, and quite often causes herself embarrassment by saying things she does not mean. In addition, she develops strong feelings for Piro, though she is too shy to admit them.

Miho Tohya

File:Megatokyo main character miho.gif
Miho Tohya

Miho Tohya (Tohya Miho) is an enigmatic and manipulative young goth girl. Over the course of Megatokyo, she proves to be highly intelligent, and adept at both arcade and role-playing games. She is drawn to resemble a "Gothic Lolita" (a Japanese synthesis of goth and lolita subculture), and is often described as "darkly cute," with Gallagher occasionally defining her as a "perkigoth."[17] Miho often acts strangely compared to the other characters, and regularly accomplishes abnormal feats, such as perching herself atop telephone poles.

The story reveals very little regarding Miho's past. It is hinted at that she has problems with her health, and that she was once in severe danger before the events of the comic took place, but no details are revealed as of yet. It is also inferred that she possesses some kind of background story involving Erika's fans. As with the character Piro, Miho speaks English and Japanese fluently, and has no problem understanding L33t - an ability which allows her to speak with equal efficiency to the comic's many characters.

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History

Megatokyo was started during August of 2000 as a joint project of Internet acquaintances (and later, business partners) Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, with Caston writing the scripts and Gallagher supplying the artwork.[1] The comic's popularity quickly increased,[18] and eventually rose to levels comparable to some of the most popular webcomics, such as Penny Arcade and PvP.[19] According to Gallagher, it was not intended for Megatokyo to become as popular as it did, and the project was originally an experiment to help him improve his writing and illustrating skills for his future project, Warmth.[20] As a result of its experimental status, the comic has undergone major changes since its creation; for example, the comic was originally laid out in four square panels per strip, in a two-by-two square array - a formatting choice made as a compromise between the horizontal layout of American comic strips and the vertical layout of Japanese comic strips.[21] The limitations of this format soon became apparent, and the comic switched to a manga-style, free-form panel layout, which allows for both large, detailed drawings and small, abstract progressions as the needs of the script require. This change happened in the spring of 2001, during Chapter 0 and the first year of Megatokyo's publication.[22]

In May 2002, Rodney Caston sold off his ownership of the company. Since then, the comic has been managed entirely by Fred Gallagher. In October 2002, Gallagher was laid off from his day job as an architect, and he has since taken the comic as a full time job.[23] Caston's departure from Megatokyo was not fully explained at the time. Initially, Gallagher and Caston only briefly mentioned the split, with the news of it publicly announced when Gallagher made a news post officially announcing Caston's departure.[12] On January 15 2005, Gallagher explained his version of the reasons for the split in response to what he felt was a "mean spirited" comment by Scott Kurtz of PvP, where Kurtz implied that Gallagher had stolen Megatokyo from Caston:

"While things were good at first, over time we found that we were not working well together creatively. There is no fault in this, it happens. I've never blamed Rodney for this creative 'falling out' nor do I blame myself. Not all creative relationships click, ours didn't in the long run."[3]

Four days later, Caston posted his view of the event on his website:

"After this he approached me and said either I would sell him my ownership of MegaTokyo or he would simply stop doing it entirely, and we'd divide up the company's assets and end it all. This was right before the MT was to go into print form, and I really wanted to see it make it into print, rather [than] die on the vine."[2]

Funding

Megatokyo has had a range of different methods of funding over its lifetime. In its early years, it was largely funded by Fred Gallagher's and Rodney Caston's full-time jobs, with the additional support of banner advertisements. A store connected to thinkgeek.com was launched during October of 2000, in order to sell Megatokyo merchandise, and in turn help fund the comic.[24] This store was later replaced by "Megagear," an independent online store created by Fred Gallagher and his wife to be used solely by Megatokyo, although it now also offers Applegeeks and Underpower merchandise. Megagear officially launched on August 1 2004.[25]

Gallagher has made a point of stating that Megatokyo will continue to remain on the Internet free of charge, and that releasing it in book form is simply another way for Megatokyo to reach more readers,[26] as opposed to replacing its webcomic counterpart entirely.[27] He has said in the past that he is against micropayments, as he believes that word of mouth and public attention are powerful property builders, and a "pay-per-click" system would only dampen their effectiveness—indeed, going so far as to state that such systems are a superior option to direct monetary compensation, and that human nature goes against micropayments.[27]

Books

Megatokyo was first published in print form by Studio Ironcat, a partnership announced in September 2002.[28] Following this, the first book, a compilation of Megatokyo strips under the title of Megatokyo Volume One: Chapter Zero, was released by Studio Ironcat in January of 2003. According to Gallagher, Studio Ironcat was unable to meet demand for the book, due to problems the company was facing at the time.[29] On July 7, 2003, Gallagher announced that Ironcat would not continue to publish Megatokyo in book form[30] - an announcement closely followed by another on August 27, 2003, in which Gallagher released that Dark Horse Comics would publish Megatokyo Volume 2, future volumes of Megatokyo and a revised edition of Megatokyo Volume One.[31]

The comic once more changed publishers during February of 2006, moving from Dark Horse Comics to DC Comics under their CMX Manga imprint.[32] Currently, volumes 1-3 are available through Dark Horse Comics, with volume 4 available through DC Comics. As of June 26 2006, four volumes are available for purchase. The Megatokyo books have also been translated into German, Italian, French and Polish.[20]

As of July 2004, Megatokyo is the tenth best-selling manga property in the U.S.[33] Volume 3's highest ranking in Nielsen BookScan is 3, ending February 20 2005.[34] This makes it the best selling Original English Language manga.[34]

Reception

Megatokyo has been subject to much analysis. Some critics, such as Eric Burns of Websnark, dislike Megatokyo's slow pace and apparent lack of clear direction or resolution for the many plot threads that run through the comic's story.[6] This perception is exacerbated by the often-erratic update schedule; in order to prevent the front-page content from becoming stagnant, Gallagher has occasionally resorted to "filler-art days," and strips by other authors and artists that contain no continuity with any storylines - including the "Shirt Guy Dom" stick-figure strips (punchline-driven gag strips written and illustrated by Megatokyo editor Dominic Nguyen), which have been the subject of heavy criticism.[6] Complaints about the speed of updates have even prompted Gallagher to install an update progress bar for readers waiting for the next installment. Gallagher was one of the first webcomic artists to have the ability to convert his hobby into a livelihood, although with his full-time status, there is criticism that updates should be more frequent than when he was only working on the comic part-time.[6]

The comic has also been the recipient of praise. Silver Bullet Comics has cited Megatokyo's cast of characters as a high point, commenting that "the reader truly feels connected to the characters, their romantic hijinks, and their wacky misadventures with the personal touches supplied by the author."[5] In addition, Anime News Network has praised the "personal tone" in which the comic is written, stating that much of Megatokyo's appeal comes from its possession of the "friendly and casual feeling of a fan-made production."[39]

As a story-oriented comic, Megatokyo has a large supporting cast, as well as several ongoing storylines at any given point in time. However, there are no on-site aids for the uninitiated, confused, or forgetful; the Megatokyo website has had story and cast pages which have been "under construction" for several years. A number of fans have created their own resource sites, such as Wikitokyo, including plot guides and character pages, indicating a need for such resources.

An article in The New York Times noted that, although Gallagher states early on in Megatokyo Volume Two that he and Rodney Caston "didn't want the humor in Megatokyo to rely too heavily on what might be considered 'obscure knowledge,'" it could not be helped:

"Their work sits at the intersection of several streams of obscure knowledge: gaming and hacking; manga, from which Gallagher lovingly and virtuosically cribs the black-and-white manga style (large, dewy eyes, long soap-operatic story lines that entwine science fiction and teenage romance, and hairstyles of unlikely heft and spikiness); the boom in Web comics over the past few years; and comics themselves."[4]

However, the article also comments, "Gallagher doesn't mean to be exclusive, and he graciously offers translation of the strip's later occasional lapses into L33t; he also explains why the characters are occasionally dressed in knickers or as rabbits."[4] Finally observing:

"The pleasure of a story like Megatokyo comes not in its novelistic coherence, but in its loose ranginess.


It's the pleasure of watching what began as a lark, an exercise in the typical Bloom County kind of four-panel gag, as it literally outgrows its borders into a lushly penciled full page, the story maturing into the exuberant, addictive soap operatics of the manga that inspired it, and becoming an unintentional whole.


This offers a unique kind of intimacy with the work, a sense of being part of its creation in some way."[4]

Megatokyo is often praised for its intricate pencil work (done entirely in grayscale, without either digital or physical "inking"), and inspired character design.[39][40] However, the comic has been criticized for an uniformity of appearance and simple design of its peripheral characters, which have been said to be visually similar to the point of confusion.[41]

The comic was originally known for a frenetic sense of humor, with a greater emphasis on slapstick, video game humor and gag-a-day format. In the years after Rodney Caston left, Megatokyo has evolved into a very different kind of webcomic, focusing less on the types of humor that defined it in the beginning, and more on the romantic relationships between characters, in turn leading some to feeling that Megatokyo was better when Caston was writing it.[7] Additionally, without Caston's input, it has been said that the violent gamer antics of Caston's alter ego, Largo, appear forced and seem to be just an afterthought on Gallagher's part.[6]

Arguably, buffering some complaints is the sense of humility Gallagher typically gives off. As Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade notes, "We've gotten on famously ever since I figured out that he legitimately detests himself and is not hoisting some kind of glamour."[42]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Start of Megatokyo (strip #1)". Retrieved September 3. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b Caston, Rodney (January 18, 2005). "The truth about Megatokyo?". Retrieved July 02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)Rodney Caston's version of the events surrounding his departure
  3. ^ a b c Gallagher, Fred (January 15, 2005). "more largos??". Megatokyo. Retrieved August 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher's view of Rodney Caston's departure.
  4. ^ a b c d Hodgman, John (July 18, 2004). "CHRONICLE COMICS; No More Wascally Wabbits". The New York Times. Retrieved April 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  5. ^ a b Murray, Robert (June 28, 2006). "Megatokyo v4 Review". Silver Bullet Comics. Retrieved July 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e Burns, Eric (August 22, 2004). "You Had Me, And You Lost Me: Why I don't read Megatokyo". Websnark. Retrieved August 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  7. ^ a b Sanderson, Brandon (June 18, 2004). "The Official Time-Waster's Guide v3.0". Retrieved July 19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  8. ^ An example of this would be the following segment of Megatokyo's early plot: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
  9. ^ "Megatokyo Strip 45". Retrieved July 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Megatokyo Strip 51". Retrieved July 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Megatokyo Strip 85". Retrieved July 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ a b Gallagher, Fred (June 17, 2002). "the other brick". Megatokyo. Retrieved May 19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Cite error: The named reference "gallaghernews" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ Gallagher, Fred (June 8, 2006). "i'll take my art back now". Megatokyo. Retrieved June 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) A news post by Fred Gallagher in which he states that the character "Piro" is an idealized version of himself (Gallagher) when he was in college.
  14. ^ "An interview with Fred Gallagher". December 18, 2002. Retrieved August 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ a b "Megatokyo Panel at Akon 13". Retrieved July 5. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Note: In Megatokyo, names of Japanese origin are in the Japanese order, with the family name before the given name. Though the first time a Japanese character's full name was revealed in a piece of filler art, aforementioned character's name was written in Western order (given name before the family name),[6] the first time a full Japanese name was mentioned in the actual comic, it was written with Japanese order - a trend which has continued since.
  17. ^ Gallagher, Fred. Megatokyo Volume 1. Dark Horse Books, 2004. Pages 90 and 154.
  18. ^ Reid, Calvin (February 24, 2003). "American Manga Breaks Out". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved July 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  19. ^ Alexa traffic rankings regularly show Megatokyo.com in the top 9,000 most popular sites[7], compared to PvPOnline.com which ranks in the top 4,000[8], and Penny-Arcade.com which ranks in the top 2,000[9]
  20. ^ a b Gallagher, Fred (January 2, 2006). "comiket dreamin'". Megatokyo. Retrieved June 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher comments on Megatokyo's originally experimental status, and mentions that the Megatokyo books have been translated into German, Italian, French and Polish. Cite error: The named reference "popularity/languages" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  21. ^ "Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston's reasoning for the square panel layout". Megatokyo. April 18, 2001. Retrieved May 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  22. ^ Gallagher, Fred (April 23, 2001). "1:1.5". Megatokyo. Retrieved May 9. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher details the change of panel layout.
  23. ^ Gallagher, Fred (October 30, 2002). "full time jitters". Megatokyo. Retrieved August 16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)A news post by Fred Gallagher in which he mentions that he has been laid off from work, and announces that he is now working on Megatokyo full-time.
  24. ^ Gallagher, Fred (October 21, 2000). "we have t-shirts..." Megatokyo. Retrieved May 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher announces first Megatokyo store.
  25. ^ Gallagher, Fred (August 1, 2004). "learning to fly". Megatokyo. Retrieved August 5. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher comments about Megagear's launch status.
  26. ^ "Megatokyo goes to Tokyo - interview with Fred Gallagher". April 26, 2004. Retrieved June 4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  27. ^ a b Curzon, Joe (January 28, 2004). "Interview with Fred Gallagher". Retrieved June 4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Cite error: The named reference "fredinterview" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  28. ^ "Megatokyo Press Release (8/2/2002)". Retrieved June 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Kean, Benjamin. "Fred Gallagher On The Megatokyo Move". Retrieved June 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ Gallagher, Fred (July 7, 2003). "re: megatokyo book 2". Megatokyo. Retrieved June 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher announces that Studio Ironcat will not publish Megatokyo volumes 2 and above.
  31. ^ Gallagher, Fred (August 27, 2003). "Megatokyo joins Dark Horse Comics". Megatokyo. Retrieved June 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Fred Gallagher announces Megatokyo's move to Dark Horse Comics.
  32. ^ "Megatokyo changes publishers to DC Comics / CMX Manga". Retrieved February 26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ "ICv2 Looks at Manga Channel Shift". July 07, 2004. Retrieved April 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  34. ^ a b "Megatokyo Reaches Number 3". March 04, 2005. Retrieved April 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  35. ^ "Darkhorse's product details on Volume One". Retrieved September 1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ "Darkhorse's product details on Volume Two". Retrieved September 1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  37. ^ "Darkhorse's product details on Volume Three". Retrieved September 1. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ "CMX Manga's product details on Volume 4". Retrieved April 9. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ a b "Megatokyo Volume 1 Special Review". Anime News Network. February 8, 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  40. ^ "Manga Review: Megatokyo Volume 1". February 8, 2003. Retrieved July 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  41. ^ Welsh, David. "Comic World News". Retrieved July 19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Flipped" ignored (help)
  42. ^ Holkins, Jerry (March 27, 2006). "The Doujinshi Code". Penny Arcade. Retrieved april 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Megatokyo.
Fan translations

Fan sites

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