Like ToastyFrog, Yukiko took a side job as a website mascot back in the heady days of the Internet bubble at the behest of her parents, who insisted she get some real-world experience under her belt while spending time in America as an exchange student. Much to her dismay, she was hired and immediately given the alter-ego “Sailor Rorita,” purportedly as an incisive critique of Japanese culture — but more likely, she suspects, because it required her to run around with a short skirt and bare midriff. In any case, she eventually outgrew the alias (literally) sometime in high school and decided to continue her education in the U.S. She’s a child of two worlds, reared in Japan yet having matured in America, and it’s made her cynical — a pessimist by nature, she’s mostly come appreciate the worst things about both cultures.
Currently, Yuki attends college with the intent to become a teacher; her rather grand self-prescribed mission in life is to guide a generation of young adults away from the follies of modern society. She thus spends a lot of time studying pop culture to better familiarize herself with its shortcomings, and it’s for this reason she continues to let her former coworker freeload off her. ToastyFrog is a sort of media sponge, adroitly soaking up televised inanities, and is a sort of living case study. He gets on her nerves (albeit unintentionally) like few others, especially since he still calls her “Rorita,” but even if she wanted to get rid of him she’s simply too hard-wired with passive politeness to lay down the law. And so does their uneasy relationship wobble into its second decade.
As her continued penchant for bubblegum pink hair dye and nearly genetic addiction to cigarettes suggests, she’s probably not as immune to society’s bad habits as she’d like to think.
I want to make up a word here so I can say something concise, like “nicely continuity-ized”.
Well, this is basically a distillation of the hundreds of pages of unpublished notes, sketches, bios, timelines, outlines, and comics I’ve created for these two over the past ten years. They’ve been evolving steadily over time, except that no one knows about it because I’ve never managed to parlay all my development effort into something worth a damn.
Presumably then the chances of all those old comics and inserts from way back when finding an official home other than the internet wayback machine are slim and none.
And does this summary mean the Klonoa-esque Rorita circa 2003-04 was just a phase or some such thing?
Yippee!
I like that she’s reading Twilight…
So can we expect to, I don’t know, see a bit more of all the ol’ T.F. stuff again, or is this just a short lived by-product of shaking off the drawing rust?
why did maturing in the US while being reared in japan make her cynical?
Wait wait wait. Her name is Yuki? I always thought it was Rorita…..I must not have been paying as much attention to ToastyFrog as I thought.
when did she start smoking?
She’s Japanese, so… in utero, probably?
Isn’t the best way to guide someone away from X to to be unfamiliar with X and very familiar with Y? For example, I don’t know squat about rap or football, so nobody who’s hung out with me got more into those things.
I hope that I’m not the only one with this opinion, but I think gamespite has gone far off the rails. I loved this site for being the best source of video games commentary on the internet as of yesterday. I admire your creative freedom, jparish, but this isn’t doing it for me. Is there a more appropriate place for this new content?
please tell me you’re being sarcastic.
You’re right, Steve. I’ll be sure to keep it safely away on my personal bl– oh, wait.
I’m pretty sure the comment before this (by “A”) is gonna get wiped by the comments glitch. So, to respond less glibly: these characters have been a part of the site for more than a decade. Also, I manage a couple of gaming blogs and develop gaming features at work, and edit and publish a quarterly gaming journal in my spare time. I would like to think I am allowed the latitude to do something more than that with my life.
Steve, it might help to take notice of the part where Toasty Frog was the core of this site originally, itself a personal website frequently but not always dealing with video games. Perhaps you were looking for Parish’s 1UP blog, or perhaps a site originally called ‘ToastyFrog.com’ might indeed be the ‘appropriate’ place for this ‘new’ content?
It’s actually really nice to see these familiar faces again. The multi-author blog was a good read and all, but it’s a widely available format, and I kind of missed having a site where I always had a nonzero chance of learning about a games journalist’s perspective on breakfast cereal mascots and prog rock.
So splash pages are comin’ back too, right?
This may sound kind of tangential (considering the amazing resurgence of artwork and characters in your blog), but is the “Cafe Mon” on the coffee holder a reference to the awesome, fair trade “Cafe Mam”? It’s possibly the best coffee on the planet. I know you’re more of a tea drinker (oohh I’m creepy) but it’s really good. And this is coming from a Portlander who has been inundated with hipsters claiming Stumptown coffee is the only liquid humans can consume.
… what happened here? Seriously, This is… um… toasty’s site and he can do what he damn well pleases with it.
Looks like Yuki got some new glasses?
And the wonderful thing about having your own website is that it can be whatever you want it to be. Because… err, it’s yours?
Rorita’s never-ending patience with Parish’s alter-ego Toasty Frog is a sure sign of a deep, unrequited sexual love for the guy.
(I kid, I keeeeeed)
Here’s a test, because every time in the last week I’ve tried to comment here, I’ve been taken to a screen asking me not to spam.
I think Parish should hold a vote to decide what to do with his personal blog. It only seems fair.
And then post a top 10 list of the highest-ranking results of the vote. This is the Internet!
I thought being an ironic jerk had been phased out on the Internet in the last few years, to be simply be replaced by the “jerk?” This is a sad devolution.
Is Rorita getting her coffee from the Apple Store or the Muni underground stop? ;)
BTW I’m glad your artwork is returning in force Parish. It adds to this place’s unique vibe.
This return to regular sketching and drawing pleases us greatly. It’s just like when I first discovered the site!