| 2010/3/10 - "Chivalry Is All Wet" |     |
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Odori Park is the webcomic story of Japanese Arisa Nishimori, from snowy Hokkaido, Japan, and American Colin Easton, from Suburbia, U.S.A., navigating the culture shocks of romance, parenthood, family, friends, and making a living in an ever shrinking world. A tale of east marries west by comic artist Chris Watkins.
I’ve been unburying myself lately from some time absorbers, and finally getting back on top of reading my favorite comics and sites. I came across a handful of very kind mentions of Odori Park that I wanted to share: Delos, proprietor of the webcomic news and review blog ArtPatient, gave OP a very favorable review in his What Did I Learn feature. I was really flattered by the attention Delos paid in diving into the inner workings of my comic. Thanks for taking the time, Delos. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the comic! Also, way back in November, Tim Dempsey (of the family comedy webcomic My Life in the Trenches) gave OP a positive nod in his Everybody Else is Too Loud podcast. Thanks, Tim, and although we’ve chatted in the interim, here’s a belated welcome aboard! Last but not least, I caught mention of OP in a recent episode of the fun Digital Strips podcast. Steve and Jason mentioned the possibility of a future OP review, which I’ll be excited to hear if it comes to pass, and in the meantime, guys, thanks for the link! On a completely unrelated note, let me just remind everyone that, if you’re interested in putting together a guest strip to help me celebrate Odori Park’s first anniversary (and I’d love to post it!) please plan on sending it to me by 3/15 (a couple day extension there; I realized my actual anniversary of 3/13 falls inconveniently on a Saturday)
Valentine’s Day is a big giri event in Japan. As suggested in Monday’s comic, giri (as in “giri chocolate”) means roughly “obligation.” At its most mundane, the giri feeling rears its head in the plate of holiday cookies you give to the neighbor you hardly ever see, or the jar of macadamia nuts you bring back to the office from your trip to Hawaii, all because you don’t want to be that guy. The feeling of unspoken expectation is so integral to life in Japan that they make stage shows about it. Mobsters lose fingers over it. And somewhere, on Valentine’s Day, captains of the chocolate and gift industry twiddle their fingers and cackle insidiously.
On March 13th, Odori Park will be officially one year old. That is to say, on March 13, 2009, I posted the first Odori Park strip on the Web. At the risk of solo horn tooting, I’m pretty proud of making it a full year without a missed update, and I’d like to do something to celebrate: I’d like to take a nap. Actually, there are three things I’d like to do:
To accomplish these tasks, I’d like to enlist your help. If you dig Odori Park, and you think you have a fun idea for a strip, would you please consider drawing it up and sending it along for me to post? Any guest strips I receive between now and March 13th will–barring any inappropriate naughtiness (I think this comic does a pretty good job of establishing its own boundaries, if you need guidance)–be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until I run out of guest strips. At which point, I will stop slacking off, reshackle myself to my drawing tablet, and give you more new comics. You can email strips, in GIF, JPG, or PNG format at 900 pixels wide, to chris@odoripark.com Let me know if you have questions, and thank you in advance! My family will thank you, too. |
 
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Thanks in advance!
