Sticking with the theme of comic farce for a little longer, I re-visit Japan, specifically Hinata House, the dwelling-place of the LOVE HINA series.
LOVE HINA is basically a "harem comedy" in which a blundering college-age guy, Keitaro, finds himself in charge of a women's dormitory apartment. Naturally, at first none of the women initially want him there, but soon they're all more or less in love with him. That's how harem comedies always work. But creator Ken Akamatsu does put a fair amount of thought into crafting the harem, and of those, one of the best is Motoko Aoyama, the character seen threatening Keitaro with her sword in an anime clip.
Not to go into huge detail, but Motoko, despite being able split rocks with her blade, is deathly afraid of turtles. It's possible that Akamatsu was making a Freudian play here: he has Motoko flee her family for the dormitory because Motoko has a "primal scene" experience where she witnesses her sister Tsuruko making out with her husband. (Tsuruko says it was just "kissing," but...) On top of that, one or two stories imply that "turtle" is a code-word for "penis."
So when events transpire (in TPB #8) that force the beleaguered Motoko to employ her kendo skills against a gigantic (presumably male) turtle-- can she do it, to save her friends from death?
What do you think?
And she does get more friendly with Keitaro after she conquers this primal fear of, uh, turtles. Very interesting...
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