What Does It Mean To Be...? - Vol. 1 Ch. 5 - Chapter 5 - Cold

[MangaDex]

 

[MagicOfMalice]

Colds really do suck… they’re not the worst thing in the world, but they’re pretty annoying. It’s interesting that when Angel passes out, they seem to be remembering parts of when they were a boy. That’s what I’d assume based on the use of ‘my son’.

Also, something that’s a bit confusing is that the date blurbs say that this is ‘Year 10’, which I assume means that Angel is 10 years old… but they were only 8 in the beginning, right? How could they have gotten over a year older within the span of 4 months?

Otherwise though, it’s always great to see Jenni being a supportive friend, as well as Angel making some new friends. In particular, it’s nice to see a turnaround with Sarah, given how she treated Angel in the first chapter and Angel seems to be gradually getting more comfortable with their new self… though, it seems like that might be causing the egg in the void to hatch more.

Also, something I only noticed now is that at the end of each chapter, Angel talks to their cousin about what happened — I really like those little epilogues, and it seems like they’re very close to Jake too. I wonder if he’ll make a physical appearance at some point…

 

[YorigamiShion]

Also, something that’s a bit confusing is that the date blurbs say that this is ‘Year 10’, which I assume means that Angel is 10 years old… but they were only 8 in the beginning, right? How could they have gotten over a year older within the span of 4 months?

Oh, the first three chapters took place in August 1998-October 1998, Chapter 4 took place in December 1999, and this chapter takes place in January 2000. I tried to be a bit subtle, masking the year here and there to try to give it an air of timelessness, since I label all the years as just years relative to when Angel was born (which is relevant to the over arching story line, as 1990 is important for lore reasons and Angel also was born at the same time.) But also to help make plot points fit the feel I was going for, since I'm injecting some things I've experienced, but since I was born in the 90's I decided to set it in a late 90's early 00's time frame so as for them to make sense.

Also the plot jumps around a bit in the first 10 or so chapters to keep the story concise, and not add 50 chapters if filler that aren't that relevant to the main plotline if Angel trying to discover "What does it mean to be... myself?".

Also, something I only noticed now is that at the end of each chapter, Angel talks to their cousin about what happened — I really like those little epilogues, and it seems like they’re very close to Jake too. I wonder if he’ll make a physical appearance at some point…

This is a gag based on the Earthbound gag that your dad is a literal telephone because you never see him, and the only time you interact with him is through the phone. What may, or may not happen in a future chapter is yet to come, but I tried adding this gag where I could.



Also thank you for the comments, I'm loving this deep analysis. Makes me feel like my writing isn't comfusing or too subtle.