Contemplating Reiko
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Contemplating Reiko | |
|---|---|
 A sample of the dark humor typical of the strip. |
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| Author(s) | Vincent Grisanti |
| Website | http://www.taintedink.com/ |
| Update schedule | Twice weekly |
| Launch date | July 2004 |
| Genre | Comedy/Horror/Parody |
Contemplating Reiko is a webcomic by New York born artist Vincent Grisanti. A celebration of dark humor, the Contemplating Reiko comics primarily consist of single-panel, black and white cartoon gags, with the notable addition of the sparing use of the color red. There are also some Contemplating Reiko animated flash cartoon shorts, very similar in style to their comic strip counter-parts.
Reiko Mouryou is the primary character of the webcomic. She is a tiny six year old demon girl whose sadistic nature and dry wit never dampen her appeal.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] The Family Mouryou
Reiko's family name is Mouryou, which in the Japanese language refers to an assortment of spirits and demons. Though they have very different personalities, those in the Mouryou family each share an unapologetic and casual sadism and even cannibalism. It seems they'd kill a man and devour his heart as matter-of-factly as anyone else would unwrap a candy bar.
Being a demon girl, Reiko bears many unusual physical characteristics including: large pointed ears, unusually long arms, red eyes, a forked tongue, and horns concealed beneath her bangs. Reiko's family members share similar, though not identical, physical characteristics.
- Mouryou Mitsugu - The father. An imposing figure in a pinstripe suit, Mitsugu is a chain-smoker with a pair of katana at his side. Two missing fingers on his left hand suggest he has performed yubitsume, a ritual associated with the yakuza.
- Mouryou Shihoka (18) The eldest sister, Shihoka is into art and witchcraft. She wears dark glasses which mysteriously cover her eyes.
- Mouryou Shirabe (14) The second sister, Shirabe is the popular girl who likes cheerleading. Boys who go on a date with her generally don't survive the experience.
- Mouryou Shinobu (10) The third sister, Shinobu is the tomboy who is into athletics and is willing to kill the competition. She has a scar below her left eye, and usually has a katana sword in hand.
- Mouryou Reiko (6) The youngest sister and the main protagonist of the comic. She spends most of her time in the first grade dispatching of her classmates and often feeding them to Lucy.
- Lucy - Reiko's enormous pet crocodile. ("Lucy" is short for Lucifer, and the crocodile is actually male.)
[edit] Other characters
- The Tweeling Sisters (11) - Zeni and Nadi Tweeling are a pair of conjoined twin sisters with opposing personalities. Zeni is short for Zenith and Nadi is short for Nadir.
- Irving H. Horseman Junior (7) - Whose name derives from Washington Irving, author of the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Irving's character known as the Headless Horseman, is a boy with no head. To fill in for a head, young Irving uses a jack-o-lantern.
- Ms. Brunt - Reiko's over-weight and faceless classroom teacher.
- Alistair Finch - A nervous mustached fellow who spots Reiko in unsettling places, such as in an office watercooler.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Comic notes
- Reiko (pronounced Ray-ko) is a popular girl's name in Japan. Typically this name means "beautiful child". However, Reiko's name is spelled in an atypical way, with one kanji character referring instead to "spirit" or "ghost", making Reiko's name mean "ghost child".
- "Shinobu", while also a common Japanese girl's name, is phonetically similar to shinobi, a word commonly associated with ninja.
- The number 4 in Japanese, pronounced "shi" is considered bad luck in Japanese superstition because of the word's phonetic similarity to the word for death, "shinu". For this reason there are 4 Mouryou sisters, each 4 years apart. Also in one comic strip a blushing Reiko is seen offering four roses to the Grim Reaper.
- Reiko has a one-eyed plush rabbit doll named Usa-kun. "Usa" is short for usagi, which means "rabbit" in Japanese.
[edit] Sightings
- The Contemplating Reiko comic strip is featured in the Lollipop Magazine website.
- Contemplating Reiko has been published in Zoinks! Magazine.
- The Tainted-Ink.com website itself had a special cameo in one of illwillpress's Neurotically Yours flash animations titled "Bra Bashing".
- Contemplating Reiko can be found competing for the top spots on such webcomic listings as Topwebcomics, buzzComix, and The Webcomics List.
