Fried Chicken and Sushi 325 J's Boss and his new clothes

Sometimes you just gotta let it all go!  It was nice of the boss to show his support of J by dressing in uncomfortably tight Japanese clothing though!  Wish I had a boss like that!  If you've ever put on a kimono before, you know how tight it can be around the middle.  Letting your gut out of it sure feels good!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 324 Dusty Bunny Roomies

Talking dust bunnies.  My brain works in strange ways.  I must admit, I did feel like the dust bunnies in my Japanese apartment were a bit too much.  Maybe I'm just dirty.  Any of you out there can relate to this?  You know those black dust balls in Miyazaki movies?  Now I know what inspired them. ;)

Fried Chicken and Sushi 320 Trying to ask Mai out?

Don't you just hate it when you're out with friends and you're trying to talk to one person you're interested in but you just can't!  I don't know why Hachiro and Yumi didn't get the picture.  Anyway, looks like Karl finally got his chance.  Will he have the courage to go through with asking Mai out?  Stay tuned. ;)

Fried Chicken and Sushi 319 The Faces of J's Culture Shock

Do you remember when Karl went through this?  If not, you should go back to the first few FC&S strips.  It will be fun to see how similar and different J's experiences in Japan will be compared to Karl's.  It's clear that J is  good at looking confident on the outside but it's still a huge opportunity that would make anyone a little scared on the inside. 

Fried Chicken and Sushi 318 Manga Karl can relate to

So Karl gets a manga about an English teacher working in Japan and it turns out to be about making fun of the English teacher working in Japan.  It's a good thing Tanuki could translate to make everything clear! Right?  Or, maybe it would have been better for Karl to think it was a comic similar to his situation.  Oh, well!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 317 There's a limit to manga variety

Tanuki just needs to realize that a manga about him just wouldn't work!  Actually, it would probably become a huge hit.  I'll give it a thought.  I love the variety of manga out there.  It would be so wonderful if we had that kind of variety in American comics.  Things are getting better now that big publishers like Scholastic are putting out creative comics for kids.  As far as Japanese manga, I just started reading BAKUMAN and I love it!  It's so fun to read about how the manga industry works in Japan and how passionate manga creators are about their art and careers. 

Fried Chicken and Sushi 316 Should J go dreadless?

Did you notice that J was wearing a tie?  If so, nice job!  It does stand out on him!  I agree that he should keep his dreads and stop worrying about what the office workers in Japan will think.  It can be difficult to believe in yourself when you really want something badly but others judge you by your looks.  Good thing he has Beverly to help him out. 

Fried Chicken and Sushi 307 Kobe? Oh, Mai!

Not very smooth, Karl.  Oh, well.  Let's hope that Mai is interested in him.  Kobe is a beautiful city.  It was a little difficult to draw the harbor area but I think it came out looking decent.  If you haven't bought my graphic novel Tales of Tritoria:  YOUNGBLOODS yet, you can buy the entire 200 page digital version on GUMROAD for $3.  If you buy it here, I get more of the money than with Amazon.  You can even pay more for it if you want to help support this comic!  Thank you!  CLICK HERE TO BUY THE DIGITAL COPY OF YOUNGBLOODS