Dialogues can be challenging to write; monologues are even harder…!
 

His spider suyori senses are tingling!
 

They vary in size quite a bit, ranging from “can’t really swallow Hana whole” (i.e. comparable to real life lions and tigers) to “could swallow Ethan whole.” The big ones tend to be slightly less agile than the small ones.

Since I’ve posted two extra updates, I’ll be taking this coming Thursday and the following Monday off. The story will continue on Thursday, June 4th. See you guys around!

Hey! It’s that catnip letter!
 

Although perfectly in-character given the situation, I don’t like how this scene makes Angdu look like a hotheaded cardboard cutout anime chick. It’s not a fair representation of her character. She does have a tendency to act before she thinks when under duress… But she’s not entirely incapable of thinking, listening or yielding. (The trick is to get her to calm down first. XD)

And that’s the biggest reason why I’m posting a big triple update today. Even though the other two strips don’t really show her doing much, I’m hoping the sheer quantity will dilute the “whoa what the hell is her problem” thing a bit?

Actually, if the question had been simply “what the hell is her problem,” I’d be okay — as was the case with the voluptuous blonde in the previous chapter. What I’d really like to avoid is “what is happening with this comic? Are the characters turning into anime stereotypes?”

Ethan spies with his eyes a pair of goat ears flopping about…

There’s a triple update coming up soon, and the giveaway is still open, of course. Lots of excitement!

“❤️”

-Hana

Rather pleased with how this one came out. ^_^ I want my love for clean ponds, lakes, streams, etc. to show through this comic.
 

Chapter 6 begins with a double update!

This one consists entirely of old art, so it might look a little weird even though it’s aged better than most of the old stuff.

Longest update ever? So far it is.

This is actually two updates in one go. I didn’t want to cut off at the “Thwiffsh” panel because that would have been the lamest cliffhanger ever. So here it is, both today’s and Monday’s update. Chapter 6 will begin on Thursday, May 14th.

On another site, some people have expressed their disapproval on the girl’s huge breasts and her outfit. Here’s a part of my responses on that other site, which contains information about the world/culture of HoK and may be of interest to other readers:

—

1. Notice how, so far, Danbi takes off his purple outer layer only when he’s home? Walking around in public without an outer layer is seen as an uncultured, unlearned behavior. The farmers don’t care, but anyone who’s supposed to be, or wants to be seen as, an educated/ “important” person will never step out of their home without an outer layer. This girl too has a favored outer layer, which we’ll be seeing soon. In this scene, she’d just taken it off while taking a break from the hiking.

2. Female breasts are sexualized, but not nearly as much as they are in our culture. Breastfeeding mothers often walk around with their breasts entirely exposed, even when not feeding their babies! (of course, unless she’s supposed to be educated. Then her chest would be covered with the outer layer.)

Interesting tidbit: A girl’s legs are considered to be much more sexual than her breasts in this culture. No female would wear a skirt without underpants that come below her knees. The above-the-knees underpants that Angdu is seen wearing in chapter 4 would have been unacceptable if they weren’t so poofy (and thus form-concealing), and not paired with knee-high socks.

A prostitute would advertise herself by wearing seethru underpants, typically under a skirt with a prominent slit — or even just a seethru underSKIRT with no underpants at all. They also do something interesting with their hair. Now, this girl’s skirt has a VERY prominent slit, but her pants are opaque and come below her knees, so she gets a pass. :3 Her outerwear also helps, and so does her non-prostitute-y hair.

The stereotypes surrounding her race/species is also an important factor, but I don’t know if I can talk about that at this time…!

—

I’m open to feedback, discussions and disagreements, so feel free to voice them! I’m not gonna go back and change the girl’s design or anything, but I’m (almost) always up for a civil exchange of opinions about my work. For instance, when I specified that her outfit actually has a rigid, built-in boob shelf under the soft fabric, one person said that it doesn’t look the way it should. Maybe that means I need to study how real life boob shelves work/look. Stuff like that.

Even though I’m not aiming to be 100% realistic with her outfit/ gravity, I would like to be at least semi-reasonable? The tricky part is that everyone has their own idea of what “semi-reasonable” is. I have my own, and I’m not going to change it just because some people don’t agree with it; but at the same time, I would like to keep an open mind and learn.

PS. Oh wow, a long comic update plus a long comment. Double whammy!