Sokora Refugees

Infobox comic strip
title= Sokora Refugees


caption= The cover of Sokora Refugees,Volume 1.
author= Segamu, Melissa Dejesus
url= http://www.sokora.com/
rss=
atom=
status= On haitus
syndicate=
publisher= TOKYOPOP
first= 2004-12-31
last= 2006-11-10
genre= Comedy/Adventure
rating= Teen
preceded by=
followed by=

"Sokora Refugees" is an amerimanga webcomic by Segamu and Melissa DeJesus started on 2004-12-31. "Sokora Refugees" was an ongoing webcomic updating every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, although the webcomic has been on hiatus since 2006-11-10. All comic strips on their website were available for free. They also had some fanservice contents to amuse and excite their readers.

This webcomic is also published in trade paperback by Tokyopop. According to Nielsen BookScan, "Sokora Refugees" is one of the publisher's best-selling amerimanga. The relevancy of this sales success was called into question in March 2005 in the comics newsblog "The Beat", due to a perceived conflict-of-interest involving the author. [http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2005/03/kurt_hassler_revealed.html] . In its 2005-03-21 issue, "Publishers Weekly" identified the writer of "Sokora Refugees" as Kurt Hassler, who was the Borders and Waldenbooks buyer for graphic novels; "Segamu" is presumably Hassler's pseudonym. [http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA511813] . Hassler left this position in November 2006. [http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/9582.html] .

Note that the website for this webcomic was offline from 2007-01-13 to 2007-03-29, then back online with no new content. The website is back offline as of 2007-04-18.

Plot

Kana's life is normal if not bad due to her bad habits. Her life only changes for the worse when elf boy Tien comes along and he thinks Kana is an elf too! Tien gets Kana into a trap in the girl bathroom, which is a portal to his home world Sokora. It is now under siege by a demonic army. Then she gets herself into more mishaps, when her body is time-shared by a powerful elf sorceress. Along the way, Kana meet Tien's brother and the Nymph girl, Salome. She now has the job of saving Sokora. She didn't really want to save Sokora, but Kana may be the only hope for Sokora, if only she can stop being so lazy.

Characters

*Kana : She is the main character of the story. Known for her over-sleeping, lack of homework completion, and junk food eating habits, she will do anything to get her old life back. She "time-shares" her body with Veila; blushing turns her into the much more attractive elf.
*Tamara : One of Kana's roommates, this athletic girl will take any challenge that crosses her path.
*Veila : A powerful elf sorceress forced to enter and time-share Kana's body. Veila is also extremely attractive and wears scanty clothing. Veila's goal is to save Sokora from evil forces. She is very mature and sensible, a direct opposite to Kana, and is often of no help in difficult situations.
*Tien : An arrogant, talented elf refugee from Sokora. Tien thinks Kana is an elf too. Tristan envies his magical talents. He is very self-centered and has made is very clear he dislikes the human girls and Salome. He is constantly put down by others, who are very aware of his magical talents.
*Griever : This goyle serves the demonic army that invaded the Sokora. He wears bandages around his hands. If his hands touch the bare skin of any mortal, the mortal turns to stone.
*Julie: Another one of Kana's roommates, she is patient, intelligent, and is prone to have an unusually positive attitude, even in bad situations. Julie is almost a mother figure to her roommates.
*Salome: A raccoon nymph girl who only wanted to cozy up Tien's older brother, Tristan. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to return the love. She's very protective of Tristan, and will attack any girl who acts too friendly towards him, even if they're trying to help him out. She usually ends her sentences with the sound "tk."
*Tristan: He is a rather weak elf compared to his enemies, though he can use a sword and a bow. He prefers to die than lose his “honor”. He is the older, bossy brother of Tien. He saw Kana (in Veilas body) topless and has since done all he can to win the affection of his 'Lady Veila'. Kana has led him to believe that Viela is creating a master spell to save Sokora.
*Kogurai: A vampire who wants to return to his homeland. Has an interest in Kana.
*Horink, Xhel, Sklos: Three demons who want to get the Heart of Sokora, which is the source of all of Sokora's power. To get it, they have to open a door that holds it

Books

On November 2, 2004, Tokyopop announced plans to publish Sokora Refugees before the comic was actually a webcomic. [http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/5947.html] The first volume of Sokora Refugees debuted on March 12, 2005 at #7 in the top ten on the BookScan list of Graphic novels. [http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/6950.html]
* "Sokora Refugees, Volume 1" ISBN 1-59532-736-3
* "Sokora Refugees, Volume 2" ISBN 1-59816-551-8

References

# [http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=SOK&categorycode=BMG&page=characterinfo Tokyopop's Characters Summary] (Retrieved July 6, 2005)
# [http://www.sokora.com/characters.shtml Sokora Characters Summary] (Retrieved July 7, 2005)
# [http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?page=product&productid=3084 Tokyopop's Volume One plot summary] (Retrieved July 13, 2005)
# [http://www.sokora.com/about.shtml Sokora Plot summary] (Retrieved July 13, 2005)

External links

* [http://www.sokora.com Sokora Refugees website (offline as of April 18, 2007)]
* [http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1203/ TOKYOPOP's "Sokora Refugees" page]