Toki no Tanaka is a comedy webcomic first launched in January 2014. The series is set in the fictional Yakushi Town in Japan and follows the exploits of the Tanaka family - consisting of mother Himiko, oft-absent father Akira, teenage son Satoru and young daughter Sakura - and their acquaintances. The series serves as an affectionate parody of Japanese culture with much of the humour derived from the setting and many, many shout outs to various elements of Japanese pop culture (particularly Nintendo games).
The series is split into 'episodes' of 30 pages a piece, each one telling a new, self-contained (though a sense of continuity is maintained) story with the central cast of characters. It is currently in its second episode.
Toki No Tanaka provides examples of:
- Bilingual Bonus: Translating the school signs in this page reveals Sakura's to be called "Tinkle Elementary" and Satoru's "Snow Wood Boarding School".
- Bishie Sparkle: Satoru sees a sparkling pink glow when he looks at Chihiro in this page.
- Book Ends: The first and last pages of episode 1 end with a panel of Sakura sleeping in exactly the same position.
- Cross-Popping Veins: One of these appears on Satoru's teacher when he's yelling at him.
- Nose Bleed: Satoru suffers a (comparatively minor) case of this when Chihiro massages him.
- Sailor Fuku: Chihiro (and the other girls in her school) wears a fuku.
- Shout-Out: Near constant, largely to Nintendo games. EarthBound references seem particularly universal.
- Sweat Drop: Most characters regularly sprout one of these.
- Translation Convention: Although the comic is (almost) entirely in English, we must assume that all of the characters are speaking Japanese. Background writing (eg. signposts, blackboards, etc.) are presented in untranslated Japanese, however.
- Visible Sigh: Himiko lets out one of these.