ISSUE GUIDE > ISSUE FIVE

"Nothing interesting happens anymore. Nothing surprising..."

"Hello, Goodbye "
Published March 2002
14 pages
Re<Verse date: February 1023

The gang has run out of money, so they've taken up an apartment in Yellow Village. Emri and Kouen have jobs so they can pay the rent and build up sufficient funds to continue their journey. Kouen delivers papers and afterwards receives lessons from a master swordsman. Emri is a barmaid. Shiro spends the time alone, but on her next to last day in town, she meets a couple of very special friends.

ON-LINE EDITION
For details about what was changed for the on-line edition, go to the Revisions section.

NOTES

• In the issue information paragraph is "Happy birthday to me!" March is my birth month.
• The picture above the alarm clock on page 3 is the image used for the credits page at the end of each issue.
• Many months after naming the characters of Unfamiliar Reflection, I watched Gundam 08th MS Team and found out that Shiro is typically a name given to boys. I figured I could turn this oversight on my part into a joke and interesting characterization.
• This issue was the springboard for the first Re<Verse spinoff series, Seven to Seven. That series involves a diner in Yellow Village across the street from Corley's tavern. Corley, Emri, Kouen, Shiro and Souzoku all cameoed in that series. (Its events took place a month before this issue.)

REFERENCES

• Hisu's name was Midoriiro in the original published version of this issue. "Midoriiro" is Japanese for "green." "Hisu" is derived from "hisui," which means "jade." His name was changed because readers had a hard time pronouncing it, and its inflection registered poorly on the character himself.
• Corley is the name of a drunkard from James Joyce's short story, "Two Galants."
• Another Saratoga reference, although a little late...the street clock Shiro passes is similar to one found on Broadway.
• Sitting with Corley, left to right: Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Vash the Stampede, and a happy Legato Bluesummers from Trigun.
• On the wall behind Sensei, among various swords and daggers, is a Klingon ba'leth.
• The currency of this world is gold, as it is in many traditional RPGs.
• Ploo is derived from Plue, the bug/dog creature from Groove Adventure Rave.
• Page 11 panel 1:  Shiro is reading a volume of No Need for Tenchi!
• Page 12 panel 4:  Shiro has switched to reading issue 5 of Unfamiliar Reflection. For the record, she is reading that exact page. So she's reading about herself reading about herself reading about herself... (In the original published issue, the cover illustration was blank because, at the time the page was drawn, the cover hadn't been made yet. All you could see was the trade dress.)

GOOFS

• When Kouen enters Emri and Shiro's room on page 11, the door is missing the peephole first seen on page 2.