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Level Up (Comic Book)

184 statements
35 feature instances
8 referencing feature instances

Level Up (Comic Book)	type	TVTItem
Level Up (Comic Book)	label	Level Up (Comic Book)
Level Up (Comic Book)	page	LevelUp
Level Up (Comic Book)	comment	Written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Thien Pham, published in 2011, Level Up is a Graphic Novel about a troubled Chinese-American college student torn between following his father's wishes and his own love of video games.When Dennis is a child, he falls in love with video games, but his strict father always forbids him from playing them. After his father dies of liver cancer while he is in high school, Dennis becomes so addicted to video games that it wrecks his academic performance in college and is about to ruin his chances of getting into med school. But one day, like a miracle from heaven, four angels arrive on the doorstep of his apartment and get the dean to accept him back in. They'll do anything to get him into med school and onto the path of becoming a gastroenterologist. But is this really Dennis' destiny?No relation to the video game or the TV show.
Level Up (Comic Book)	fetched	2023-08-02T06:59:12Z
Level Up (Comic Book)	parsed	2023-08-02T06:59:12Z
Level Up (Comic Book)	processingComment	Dropped link to AnAesop: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Level Up (Comic Book)	isPartOf	DBTropes
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_14ed6ab7	type	Does This Remind You of Anything?
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_14ed6ab7	comment	Does This Remind You of Anything?: The angels act like caring but pushy parents toward Dennis, helping him study and doing his chores but not wanting him to do anything else that would distract him from his studies. Well, they were sent by his father.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_14ed6ab7	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_14ed6ab7	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_14ed6ab7
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1ba8b27c	type	Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1ba8b27c	comment	Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps: Kat is studying to become a doctor, because she was saved by an unknown man with medical knowledge after being shot as a child. This is against her father's wishes that she keep running the family laundromat.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1ba8b27c	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1ba8b27c	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1ba8b27c
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e4a1e0e	type	I Owe You My Life
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e4a1e0e	comment	I Owe You My Life: While Dennis is at an electronics store, the cashier recognizes him from the prostate exam and tells Dennis that he saved his life, having found something bad up there that the doctors were able to remove in time. He gives Dennis a bunch of free merchandise in gratitude.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e4a1e0e	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e4a1e0e	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e4a1e0e
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e8f4221	type	Fingore
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e8f4221	comment	Fingore: When Dennis picks up one of the angels' feathers, he describes the experience of holding it as feeling the same way he did when his kindergarten teacher accidentally sliced off her finger with a paper cutter and it fell into his hand.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e8f4221	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e8f4221	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_1e8f4221
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_294ed981	type	Bilingual Bonus
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_294ed981	comment	Bilingual Bonus: A couple of them in Chinese. The "I'm proud of you" card that Dennis got from his father in high school has the Chinese character "爸" on it. When written twice, it means bàba (father). Dennis' mother uses the word "aiya," an expression of frustration similar to "damn" or "crap." A non-Chinese example with one of the men who exclaims "Ai goo!" while getting a prostate exam from Dennis, a Korean expression similar to "Oh my god!" or "Geez!"
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_294ed981	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_294ed981	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_294ed981
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_38d12399	type	Teens Are Monsters
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_38d12399	comment	Teens Are Monsters: In Kat's backstory, when she was ten, her family's dry-cleaning business was held up by some teenagers who knocked her father unconscious and shot her through the abdomen.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_38d12399	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_38d12399	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_38d12399
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4510b368	type	Ambiguous Gender
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4510b368	comment	Ambiguous Gender: The four angels look like small children of indeterminate gender, although Dennis briefly refers to one of them (the orange-haired one) with "he" pronouns.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4510b368	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4510b368	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4510b368
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e324321	type	Single-Issue Wonk
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e324321	comment	Single-Issue Wonk: The angels do not care about anything that does not involve pushing Dennis to finish medical school and become a gastroenterologist. They literally exist solely for this purpose, because they are the ghosts of unfulfilled promises made by Dennis's father to his family members that he would become a doctor.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e324321	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e324321	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e324321
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536	type	Wham Line
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536	comment	Wham Line: Dennis said this line in the climax, "So if I'm a yellow man in a maze, that means you are ghosts."
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_5c4e428e	type	Multi-Ethnic Name
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_5c4e428e	comment	Multi-Ethnic Name: Dennis is Chinese-American. His first name is of Greek origin, while his last name, Ouyang, is Chinese.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_5c4e428e	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_5c4e428e	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_5c4e428e
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6159beb1	type	It Tastes Like Feet
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6159beb1	comment	It Tastes Like Feet: When Dennis eats the orange angel/ghost, he apparently tastes "like a mouthful of B.O."
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6159beb1	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6159beb1	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6159beb1
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_630e5e56	type	My New Gift Is Lame
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_630e5e56	comment	My New Gift Is Lame: When Dennis was a kid, he tried hinting to his dad that he wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. He ended up getting a Chem-Magic chemistry set. When his mom noticed that he wasn't playing with it, she suggested that maybe they could get Dennis what he really wanted, but his dad asked, "How will a video game teach him to eat bitterness?"
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_630e5e56	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_630e5e56	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_630e5e56
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: Dennis is a name derived from the Greek god Dionysius, the god of wine, partying and hedonism. Pretty fitting for a guy who just wants to play video games until he's strong-armed by four angels into going to medical school.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6bda9a30	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6bda9a30	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_6bda9a30
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_72246a54	type	Game Face
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_72246a54	comment	Game Face: The red-haired angel has a "scary face" that they use twice, once on Dr. Rodriguez while convincing her to let Dennis re-enroll, and once on Dennis while grounding him when he says he wants to quit med school. It looks very similar to the one they have in their true form as a Pac-Man ghost.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_72246a54	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_72246a54	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_72246a54
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_725583e8	type	Good Feels Good
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_725583e8	comment	Good Feels Good: After leaving med school, Dennis realizes that he felt good when he was saving lives as a trainee gastroenterologist. Even though he enjoys playing video games as a career, he doesn't feel fulfilled or like he's making a difference the way he did as a doctor.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_725583e8	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_725583e8	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_725583e8
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_7464705c	type	Arc Words
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_7464705c	comment	Arc Words: "Eating bitterness," "destiny," and "will to endure."
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_7464705c	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_7464705c	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_7464705c
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_8163e2bb	type	Dramatic Drop
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_8163e2bb	comment	Dramatic Drop: When Dennis makes a comment about maybe wanting to switch from gastroenterology to another medical field, one of the angels drops the dish he's washing and it shatters on the floor.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_8163e2bb	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_8163e2bb	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_8163e2bb
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_87f5a0c	type	Bandage Mummy
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_87f5a0c	comment	Bandage Mummy: Before he decided to go to med school, Hector got into a bad car accident and ended up in a body cast for a year, looking like that.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_87f5a0c	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_87f5a0c	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_87f5a0c
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3	type	Rule of Symbolism
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3	comment	Rule of Symbolism: Every time Dennis gives up something precious to him, the panel briefly turns into a video game display and he loses one "life." He loses his first life when he decides, with encouragement from the blue-haired angel, that going to medical school is his destiny and throws away three tokens from Hades Arcade, his favorite video game hangout. He loses his second life when he decides to reclaim his life and quit med school, folds Ipsha's drawing of Poopooramu into a paper airplane, and throws it away. He loses his third life when he quits his video game testing career to return to med school, but on his own terms this time, and gives his Big Boy Electronics jacket to a little boy.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_950bbfa7	type	Take a Third Option
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_950bbfa7	comment	Take a Third Option: Dennis has the option of finishing medical school to become a gastroenterologist like his late father wanted, or to go into a career involving video games, which he's really good at. He drops out of med school to pursue a video game testing career that makes good money, but finds that he's not really happy with it, because he enjoyed saving lives as a trainee gastroenterologist. In the end, he goes back to med school and decides that whatever he chooses to pursue in his field, it'll be his decision, not anyone else's.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_950bbfa7	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_950bbfa7	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_950bbfa7
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_962e6260	type	You Are Grounded!
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_962e6260	comment	You Are Grounded!: After Dennis told the angels that he's quitting medical school, the one with the red hair tells him that he is grounded. The red haired angel tells Dennis to study in his room. He didn't took this well, so he ran away.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_962e6260	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_962e6260	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_962e6260
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_97ee3a58	type	Vicariously Ambitious
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_97ee3a58	comment	Vicariously Ambitious: The reason why Dennis' father wanted him to be a gastroenterologist so badly, and even sent the four angels to get him through medical school, was because he himself didn't keep a promise he made to his parents and uncle to become a gastroenterologist. When they died of liver cancer, he promised them separately that he would grow up and become a doctor who could conquer it. He tried really hard, but he couldn't do it, and found his calling as an engineer instead.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_97ee3a58	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_97ee3a58	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_97ee3a58
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9874f2ab	type	All Work vs. All Play
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9874f2ab	comment	Rather than being all work or all play, it is better to choose a lifestyle in-between. Make something of your life, but also take time to enjoy the things you love.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9874f2ab	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9874f2ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9874f2ab
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9a279c3d	type	Bollywood Nerd
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9a279c3d	comment	Bollywood Nerd: Ipsha, an Indian girl and one of Dennis's friends who is also studying gastroenterology. Apparently it's her family's tradition.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9a279c3d	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9a279c3d	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9a279c3d
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1	type	Foreshadowing
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1	comment	Foreshadowing: The four angels' hair colors are the same as the Pac-Man ghosts — red, orange, pink and blue. It's because their true forms are ghosts.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_bac9f95d	type	Sweet Tooth
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_bac9f95d	comment	Sweet Tooth: Mrs. Ouyang apparently likes sweets a bit too much and gets diabetes because of it. She hangs a lampshade on it herself.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_bac9f95d	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_bac9f95d	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_bac9f95d
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c02925f0	type	Wingding Eyes
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c02925f0	comment	Wingding Eyes: When Dennis is a child and sees a Pac-Man machine for the first time, his eyes turn into Pac-Men.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c02925f0	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c02925f0	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c02925f0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c10da874	type	The '80s
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c10da874	comment	The '80s: Based on the presence of a Pac-Man arcade machine and the release of the NES, Dennis' childhood can be inferred to take place during this era.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c10da874	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c10da874	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c10da874
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c45c9fcd	type	Ass Shove
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c45c9fcd	comment	Ass Shove: In medical school, Dennis has to shove his finger up the butts of male patients to do prostate exams. Much later, he finds out he saved one man's life by finding something bad that was up there, and they were able to operate and remove whatever it was that he found.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c45c9fcd	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c45c9fcd	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c45c9fcd
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: Several video games from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s appear or are name-dropped, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Bubble Bobble, Pac-Man, GHOST Squad, Mario Kart, DanceDanceRevolution, and Street Fighter II. Surprisingly, Pokémon isn't mentioned, even though its Nintendo contemporaries Mario and Zelda are, and one scene shows Dennis playing what looks like a Game Boy Advance.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c	type	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c	comment	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When she was shot as a child, Kat's life was randomly saved by a man who showed up at that moment with a medical kit. When he was done, he departed the building, left his jacket behind and she never saw him again. It's never explained if he was some supernatural being like Dennis' angels or just a random guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce6487aa	type	Misery Builds Character
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce6487aa	comment	Misery Builds Character: Dennis' traditional Chinese parents believe that unpleasant experiences help one to grow, and call it "eating bitterness." The other half of the proverb ("eat bitter, taste sweet") is conspicuously never mentioned, symbolizing that they focus too much on the bad parts of life and not enough on the good.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce6487aa	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce6487aa	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce6487aa
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce75a983	type	Screw Destiny
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce75a983	comment	Screw Destiny: Almost in those exact words, Kat bluntly tells Dennis that he shouldn't force himself just to become a gastroenterologist just because his father wanted him to.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce75a983	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce75a983	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_ce75a983
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_d2cd18c0	type	Forbidden Fruit
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_d2cd18c0	comment	Forbidden Fruit: Mr. Ouyang always thought video games were a waste of time and never let Dennis play them when he was a kid. After Mr. Ouyang's death, Dennis becomes a complete video game addict.
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_d2cd18c0	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_d2cd18c0	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_d2cd18c0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name	type	ItemName
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name	comment
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name
Level Up (Comic Book) / int_name	itemName	Level Up (Comic Book)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Asian-American Media / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Ass Shove / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Bollywood Nerd / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Dramatic Drop / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Forbidden Fruit / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Good Feels Good / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	My New Gift Is Lame / int_f32e8fa3
Level Up (Comic Book)	hasFeature	You Are Grounded! / int_f32e8fa3

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