SUPER LONG JOURNAL ENTRY, GO! Read at your own risk.
My first visual novel has come to an end! ;A; Thanks for all the support on
Xolga and Mr. Toko!
I don't know if most, but some are aware that Xolga and Mr. Toko was originally a comic book story that I wrote when I was 13 years old (Goodness, I miss being that young…) From back then to now, the concept and main characters stayed the same. Aside from the main plot line and ending, here are some of the major differences between the original comic and the visual novel. (I've mentioned the first two before, but I'll list them again…)
In the original story, Mr. Toko eats the locket and they travel world to world looking for a cure rather than chasing the locket.
Instead of traveling to various sim date worlds, the duo traveled to various worlds in my comic books.
The full original title was "The Adventures of Xolga and Mr. Toko". Now it's been shortened to just "Xolga and Mr. Toko".
The moral in the comic went something like this: "Even though if you work really hard, sometimes you just don't get what you want. The moral in the visual novel is more like: "Life can be hard, reality can be scary. But with support and others around you, being strong enough to deal with it all doesn't seem so difficult."
There wasn't the motif of dreams vs. reality.
Xolga's family was not mentioned at all. His mother, Ryoko, his father, Aro, his cousins, Kai and Mako… all didn't exist.
Mr. Toko's past with the gang and guns wasn't mentioned either.
In the original story, Xolga is 18 and Mr. Toko is 20. But then they are both bumped up by one year. Why? So that I could crack drinking jokes with Mr. Toko. (I know that the legal drinking age in places like Alberta is
19 18, but… whatever.)
Walter and Linda didn't have names… or more like their names were never mentioned…
Xolga never swears or cusses. Actually, that's a lie. He does… like once… but it's censored. (Back then, swearing was more offensive, okay?) He used words like "heck" instead. (Now that I look back at the comic, Xolga developed good manners halfway through the story too…)
The comic book has 6 chapters. The visual novel has 9.
Now just for fun, I posted some pictures of the original comic below. I know I was 13 (and 13's not THAT young) but I was still terrible, terrible,
TERRIBLE at drawing. Please do not claw your eyeballs out. Looking back at these pages makes me want to cry too, but remember… this was posted just for fun and reference.
Chapter 1: It's about the same and didn't change much actually. Xolga's a detective, Mr. Toko gets hired as his assistant, Xolga freaks out, they go on a mission to retrieve the stolen locket, they turn into stuffed animal like things…
Chapter 2: Xolga and Mr. Toko first arrive in a weird cloud world. They meet a magician named Mariko. She was from a weird story about her accidently turning a poor boy into a girl. This is where the "rape" scene happens.
Chapter 3: They find themselves in a world where dragons n' shit exist and meet a couple that fight off the monsters. A boulder falls off a cliff and hits Mr. Toko. This is when he pretends that he's dying, except he asks Xolga for a water bed instead of a piggy back around Reton city while wearing a tutu.
Chapter 4: I (the author) make an appearance, but refuse to tell Xolga how to turn back to normal. Apparently I told him "If you want something so badly, then get it with your own hands." Xolga and Mr. Toko don't stay for long and travel to the next world where they meet Veon from
Emerald Moon .
Chapter 5: Turns out Veon's parents were captured so Xolga and Mr. Toko decide to help him out. Things don't go well (both the parents die apparently) and then Mr. Toko and Veon become friends.
Chapter 6: Xolga and Mr. Toko arrive in "heaven" and meet an angel. Xolga looks forward to meeting "God"… but "God" turns out to be the author (me, sadly). I tell Xolga that opening the locket would've turned him back to normal, but he can't because Mr. Toko ate it. Xolga gets mad but then gets over it. Then Xolga and Mr. Toko part ways. Mr. Toko goes back to support Veon (Thus causes his first appearance in Emerald Moon) , Xolga stays in "heaven" (Thus causes his first appearance in another story called Halo's Gate where he's working with angels)
... WHAT A WEIRD STORY. OKAY. I hope nobody requests this, but… NO. I am NOT going to upload or post the whole original comic. NEVER. I… I can't. I'll die. I'm sorry.
In late 2008/early 2009 (about one year later), I attempted to remake Xolga and Mr. Toko. I redrew the first chapter but never got further than that. I did however color some panels and made a video out of it. DON'T LOOK IT UP ON YOUTUBE. Your brain will melt, I swear.
A FAQ for Xolga and Mr. Toko
Q: What inspired this series?
A: Those of you who are familiar with Kingdom Hearts or Tsubasa Chronicles can probably tell that those two things were strong influences on the whole idea of "traveling world to world and meeting familiar characters from works within the same genre/author".
Q: What about Mr. Toko's past? There are still open holes...
A: It's possible that I might... MIGHT make a spin off that covers his back story in the long future... I'm not too sure about that though.
Q: How did you get the episodes out so quickly?
A: I work hard and efficiently.
Q: How do you pronounce Xolga's name?
A: Sometimes an "x" makes a weird "sh" sound, sometimes it makes a "z" sound. In this case, it's a "z" sound so... "Zolga".
Q: What is Xolga's surname?
A: Utsugi. His last name was actually mentioned in the original comic, but not in the visual novel. Another way to figure out his last name is to look at his cousins Kai and Mako. Their fathers were brothers, so they also share the name "Utsugi".
Q: Is Xolga based off of somebody in real life?
A:
You fan girls just want somebody to stalk IRL, right? But, no. Not really. In my mind, Xolga represents the negative feelings that all people naturally feel (example: regret), as well temptations to give into being selfish. Mr. Toko on the other hand, represents the side of feelings that give strong efforts into living life and understanding others. It's... like Yin and Yang?
Q: Why does Mr. Toko like muscular women?
A: Some men like curvy women, some men like women with long hair, some men like women with dark hair, some men like plump women, some men like slender women. It's all about personal preference.
(More questions might be added here later...)
I guess to end this, I'll just post some WIP shots of the visual novel... Remember to stay tuned for the extra short bonus episode! Thanks for reading!
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