Sodium Eyes

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Sodium Eyes (first strip) is a Slice of Life Web Comic centered on the day-to-day activities of four girls living in a City with No Name. Like many Slice of Life series, it's not about anything in particular, but rather simply jumps from one Seinfeldian Conversation to the next, with occasional short story arcs. The main characters are:

• Kaela Paulsen, a masseuse and a part-time model. Something of a Yamato Nadeshiko, Kaela is extremely empathetic and insightful, and her status as Team Mom lends her an air of maturity and sophistication. Kaela is also the only one of the girls who seems to have a job.
• Lumina Rosendahl, a sweet, innocent artist-girl with glasses and green hair. In one of the few artistic liberties the author has allowed himself, Lumina is a literal Friend to All Living Things, and early in the comic made the decision to stop eating meat. She went to high school with Kaela, since which time she has harbored some not-so-secret feelings for Kaela (see previous comments regarding Kaela's empathy and intuition).
• Miya Chapman, a wordsmith and verbal fencer of the highest caliber. Some might find her speech patterns eerily similar to those of Tycho Brahe. She's a quick thinker and is always ready with a joke, no matter the topic of conversation. Miya is also an Otaku, with a particular fondness for Haruhi Suzumiya.
• Neiko Sayuki, the last of the girls to join the main cast, is an introverted and sarcastic girl of Japanese ancestry. While at first seemingly reluctant to admit to anyone (including herself) that she was actually coming to consider the other three friends, she's since come out of her shell a bit and softened up a bit. Neiko's good with computers and is something of a gamer.

This webcomic went on a hiatus between July 2011 and November 2013 while the author was working on Logigun, a Puzzle Platformer released on Desura and later on Steam.

The post-hiatus comic strips are quite different from the old ones: they focus on Neiko and Miya and are drawn in a different style.

Use the comic archive for reference.

Tropes used in Sodium Eyes include:

• Aborted Arc: At one point, Lumina receives a message from her sister on her cellphone... and then it's never mentioned again.
• American Accents: Sherry has a Southern accent; Miya deliberately excised hers to avoid preconceptions about her level of intelligence.
• Animesque
• Art Evolution: Although the art has always been quite good, the style has evolved and changed over the course of the comic.
• Buffy Speak: (Princessesque)

Lumina: (To Neiko) "There's an elegance to [Kaela], you know? She has an almost princess-like quality. She's very princess...esque."

• By "No" I Mean "Yes": (Consolation Pride)

Miya: (To Lumina) Alright, so your best friend and first love is hurtling away at mach speeds, and now you have to live with your shorter, uglier friends. But look on the bright side: Now you're the tallest! In some ancient tribes, that would have made you chief! Not here though. This is a democracy.

• City with No Name: Other than the fact that it's located somewhere north of the Deep South, and that it's probably somewhere in the continental US, nothing about the setting is really known.
• Cutaway Gag:
  • (#91 - Steeped in Sunshine) In reaction to Lumina moving with Kaela (and loving it), Miya imagines an "anti-sitcom" starring the two friends.
  • (Retrovindication) Neiko doesn't believe in leaving her genetic mark on the world.

Neiko: Honestly, I think kids are just insurance for a missed chance to leave a lasting mark on mankind for the better. Kaela: Well not everyone gets to be Edison or Rembrant. Sometimes all we get is a gamble on a sixth-degree to some post-mortem achievement. (Cut to a drawing of the waiting room of Heaven. An old man sits in a couch, waiting.) Old man: (To the angel) My great-grandson just invented denim leg-warmers. Angel: (sighs) ...Allright, come in.

• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Neiko, also The Snark Knight.
  • Miya, when she's not a Large Ham.
• Downer Ending: The last update of the new comic ends with Neiko's game only selling one copy (the one Miya bought).
• Generic Cuteness
• Genius Bonus: Miya once compared her progress in a high school class, next to her classmates, to an asymptote.
• Grammar Nazi: Miya. She apparently got Kaela to stop using "txt spk" in text messages.
• Growing the Beard: The series started featuring more witty and smart humour in its later strips.
• Halloween Episode: For a few strips around Halloween, the characters are dressed up, often in referential costumes.
• Head Pet: Rao
• Inelegant Blubbering: (Best Bye) Lumina can't help but sob in Kaela's shoulder, before her best friend leaves for France.
• Inherently Funny Words: "Diaper."
  • Miya later on criticizes this approach to humor, considering it generally lazy and uncreative.
• Irony: (Majestic) In winter, with Keala,

Neiko: I've found that the most interesting things in life are usually right under your feet. (Neiko finds a quarter on the ground, not noticing a deer on the field.)

• Large Ham: Miya, during some of her rants.
• Local Hangout: The Lucky Star cafe (the name turns out to be a coincidence). Lampshaded, as the cast specifically goes looking for a local coffee shop to serve as a "designated meeting place."
• Me Love You Long Time: Anton and Torri, sort of. Anton specifically prefers Asian girls, and while they're self-admittedly have some Belligerent Sexual Tension, they complement each other nicely.
• Non Sequitur: In #143: Model Citizen,

Neiko: I try not to be superficial, but as someone who's completely plain in all aspects, it's hard not to be intimidated by [Kaela's beauty]. Miya: (Looking at her fingers) It's also hard to move your pinky without moving your finger. Neiko: Noted.

• Seinfeldian Conversation: The comic mostly jumps from one to the next.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Miya sometimes approaches this, but hasn't really crossed the line. She does have a distinctly educated way of speaking, though.
• Sophisticated As Hell: #144: Neikover

Neiko: (While Miya is touching Neiko's hair) You know, it is the local custom to not touch my goddamned hair.

• Technicolor Eyes: Red, green, yellow, blue, and purple. It's even in the title.
• Tempting Fate: (In creasing rage)

Lumina: (Thinking, while erasing imperfections from a drawing on a piece of paper) Hey, this is turning out pretty well! Not bad, kid. Not bad at- (The eraser rips the paper, ruining the drawing.)

• Vitriolic Best Buds: Miya and Neiko, at first. It was really more "finally, a Worthy Opponent" than anything else.