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hyeahgaku · 9 months

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Jump Festa 2024 SAKAMOTO DAYS Special Stage

(Part 2) Here are some of the things that were discussed, & exchanges that the guests had, which i manage to understand from the panel. I did not include those that i couldn't quite catch. Apologise if i misheard anything cuz my listening for Japanese isn't top-notch 🙏

3rd Segment - Behind the Scenes Footage, featuring Suzuki-sensei's Workdesk & Manga Collections

Ishikawa-san managed to get these exclusive photos from Suzuki-sensei, with permission, & shared them with the audience.

Ishikawa-san generously provided a walkthrough of some of the stuff here. The handgun replica & sniper rifle replica are those that Sakamoto's gun and Heisuke's rifle were modelled after. The white drawer on the left is where Sensei keeps the fans' letters that he receives. He also has Vaundy's "Replica" limited edition album which he joyfully talked about in one of his weekly comments (the orange one on the top shelf above his drawing board). There's also a bunch of manga collection on the right shelf -includes Dōmu by Katsuhiro Otomo-sensei, who is one of Sensei's favourite mangaka, as well as Mugen no Juunin, etc.

Ishikawa-san told the audience abit about the story behind Sensei's drawing desk (those who have read the manga would already know it, he said). This desk was originally used by his wife back when she was a junior high school student. Suzuki-sensei felt that it was just right for him so he has been using it from then on until today. Additionally, Ishikawa-san also shared a cool story behind Sensei's drawing board. Suzuki-sensei went to the hardware store to buy one but he found this piece of wood apparently thrown away. So he took a look & thought it'd be a good fit if he used it as a drawing board and so he took it home. Ishikawa-san added that it costed Sensei 0 yen! The host commented, "That's what we call Recycling!" Suzuki-san later praised Suzuki-sensei for being such a talented person & he proudly stated that he's a fan of Suzuki-sensei.

A funny bit: When the host pointed out about the elbow rest pads on the sides of the drawing board as she wasn't sure if they were, Ishikawa-san answered, "Yes they are elbow rest pads. It's for you to rest your elbows on them." and then Suzuki-san just burst out laughing & he said, "That's why they're called elbow rest pads! You're supposed to rest your elbows on them!" lmaoooo.

Moving on to the left photo first, Ishikawa-san stated that those tools that Suzuki-sensei labelled '1st Military Set' are the ones that Sensei very often uses to draw the manga. There are different types of pens, which include G pen, Maru pen, Milli pen, etc). I'm not sure if I got this right but I thought Ishikawa shared that originally, Suzuki-sensei drew the series using G pens but now he has changed to use Milli pen.

When the host asked about the coins on the ruler, Ishikawa-san explained that some artists might tape coins especially to the underside of a flat ruler to help create a gap or a bridge so as to prevent the ink from bleeding onto the edge thus messing one's artwork.

As for the right photo, Suzuki-sensei's bookshelf is filled with manga series like Naruto, One Punch Man, Hunter x Hunter & so on. There's also a long, black stick on the right but none of them knew what it was lol. Suzuki-san wondered if it was the opponent's rifle (Kamihate's sniper rifle) but then they all just brushed it off as just a stick lmaooo even though all of them are curious what it actually is. (Idk, I thought it was a katana haha)

Suzuki-san once again praised Suzuki-sensei for arranging his manga & JUMP magazines so neatly while the host personally feels that Sensei really knows how to take good care of his belongings & use them with great care.

At the end of the photo-showcase, Suzuki-san asked Ishikawa-san if he had by any chance accidentally said anything weird or odd to him, but Ishikawa-san responded that if Suzuki-san had done so, then he would have imagined killing him. Suzuki-san was like, "Scaaary" & then immediately went full mode in-character & spoke Shin's dialogue, "Why did you imagine killing me?!" And then he went on, "I had to say it." lmaooo

4th Segment - Lucky Draw

(left photo) So the 5 Lucky Draw winners have won this entire set of SAKAMOTO DAYS original goods. Yea, each person gets the entire set! Congratulations to them!

(right photo) As for those who did not win the Lucky Draw, they also received a gift (bonus, rare sticker) for attending the SakaDays panel!

5th Segment - Collaborations

Collaboration with Bandai Candy. SAKAMOTO DAYS wafers, with special metallic cards, will be available in Japan stores in June 2024. There will be a total of 28 types of cards, 6 of which are the rare cards. Please look forward to further information in the future!

Suzuki-san revealed that he used to buy a lot of wafer cards & it made him so happy. This time he has to be careful not to eat too much wafers, to which Ishikawa-san responded that he's already thinking of going on a diet just to get himself prepared for June 2024 lmaooo.

Collaboration with Tower Records Cafe. The collaboration cafe is set to open some time in 2024 & Ishikawa-san stated that he could not reveal any further information yet so kindly look forward to future updates!

Final Segment - Volume 15 Reveal

Volume 15 features Kumanomi, and it will be released in Japan stores Thursday, January 4, 2024.

Suzuki-san commented that the cover is amazing & he love the colour choices, whereas Ishikawa-san was kinda fanboying over Kumanomi; he said she's really beautiful! (Ishikawa-san is a man of culture indeed.)

Closing

Message from Ishikawa-san: Thank you to those that came today & those who watch this broadcast. Thank you very much also for always looking forward to & reading SAKAMOTO DAYS. Suzuki-sensei & the entire team are deeply motivated by everyone's support! From here on out, SAKAMOTO DAYS will be more action-packed & have interesting developments as the final battle against the formidable enemy, Slur, is about to begin. Kindly look forward to it! And as always we look forward to your continued support. Thank you very much!

Message from Suzuki-san: I, Ryōta Suzuki, am truly honoured to be on stage here today, as one of the fans of the series. I can really feel how great SAKAMOTO DAYS is, seeing how so many people have gathered here today to watch the event & we also got to know a lot of things, even stuff from behind-the-scenes. Thank you very much for having me!

《 back to pt.1

#サカモトデイズ #SAKAMOTO DAYS #jump festa 2024 #sakadays jf2024 #official media #yūto suzuki #sakadays jf2024 guests comments #jaen

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honmakurara · 4 years

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Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru: extensive manga review

Tormented and explicit, sharp and sophisticated: what Mizushiro Setona's masterpiece really is.

Warning: minor spoilers ahead. "I want to read something erotic and violent": this is what Mizushiro Setona's editor asked her, echoing the request of their chief editor when assigning to the mangaka a story for the supplement of the Josei magazine Judy, meant to be read by an adult female target: "I don't expect you to write a nice story. You have other skills you can count on. You can narrate about gay people, for instance, or about sadomasochism."

Starting from the first casual incursion of Mizushiro-sensei into the world of Boys' Love, between the years 2004 and 2006 Kyūso wa Cheese no Yume o Miru (窮鼠はチーズの夢を見 - The cornered mouse dreams of cheese) was born and defined; it is one of the most beautiful and intense stories ever written about such a genre and beyond, which did even receive excellent notes from the well acclaimed Takemiya Keiko-sensei of the renowned Group 24. Starting with these premises, one can already understand how Mizushiro-sensei, who was not a master of Boys' Love back then, has nonetheless been able to offer an excellent tale that transcends the borders of genres and ranges over way beyond what it had been asked her: the story had been initially conceived as a few chapters later compiled in one tankobon, but it eventually came back on the pages of Judy with a new series of chapters. These ones have also been later published, three years later, in a sequel tankobon titled Sōjo no Koi wa Nido Haneru (俎上の鯉は二度跳ねる - The carp on the chopping block jumps twice). After the renewed interest offered to Otomo and to the cunning Imagase's story, that the live action movie announcement awakened, the new manga chapter Hummingbird Rhapsody has been added to the whole franchise, which is included in the recently revised Japanese edition of the manga.

"Imagase... I'm scared of you...!"

"And I'm... scared of you, too." There's however not only violence and eroticism in this intricate story, and such a definition would actually mean to simplify way too much what it portrays, not to mention it would not fit exactly what the author was actually able to convey into it; other than the most obvious themes and elements, many others way more implicit and elaborate ones can be found there. We can even have a hint of that by peeking at the cover illustration of the volume, where a languid surface does not betray the contradiction of the soul. We can see an elegant portrait of the two main characters, who both hide all but dignified emotions inside them; a very accurate mirror of such a picture, which graphically reminds us of the previous editions of the manga, is the mind of the thirty years old Otomo Kyoichi after his encounter with Imagase. Otomo is a married adult man, leading an apparently impeccable life: he has good looks, polite manners and a nice job. He is gentle and esteemed by his colleagues and is able to make the many women crossing his path sigh from expectation. He cannot resist women either, that is why his life is an endless sequence of cheating on his wife. He reckons they are of no importance, at least until his wife hires the private eye Imagase Wataru to investigate upon his possible infidelities. Imagase is no new man in Otomos' life, being a kohai within the tennis club at university: he proposes to Otomo to be silent with his wife, in exchange for the heated make-out session that he never dared asking before, despite his being a unprejudiced homosexual guy having a crush on Otomo since forever. After the end of Otomo's wedding, though, the intimate encounters between the two men do not stop at all; they are pushed towards a fierce depth instead, symbols of a spiral of lust and psychological turmoil from which Otomo cannot willingly go back any more. "I am no good one."

"I know this. Bad natured men like you are the worst. Do you think that everyone is looking for that perfect person? You can't fall in love with anyone but that one person?"

"Someday, you'll find true love, too. The time will come when you can't help the feelings that well up inside you and you'll be carried away."

The themes and the premises are taken from various undoubtedly not new Boys' Love clichés; Mizushiro-sensei makes skillfully use of them to plumb the human soul as she does in many other works of her, making the story evolve quickly into something way different and way wider than what the numerous and explicit sex scenes might make us think at first. It takes a doting and obsessive homosexual guy into the life of some apparently happy man like Otomo in order to make the latter understand that his marriage is merely an empty shell, built with no true nor deep feelings to live an ordinary life. The encounter with Imagase, though, forces Otomo to think back deeply about his own actions and the meaning to give to his own life, until he gets to understand that despite his true gentleness, he has never cared for other people's feelings at all.

The relationship with Imagase makes his worst side come to the surface: jealous impulses, selfishness and possessiveness, unsuspected masochistic and yet dominating preferences, obscure compulsions and a never missing inclination towards all sorts of temptations. Otomo is no role model nor someone to praise and yet, he's neither a man whose submissive personality can be easily blamed. Such a personality is a spectrum of a lid hiding a lot of things, a reflection of our own fearful and insecure behaviour, our own incapability of getting to call ourselves into question until the moments, those surprising and unexpected moments, that are to change life for real. That these two lovers embody a strong universal value is further suggested by the choice of the Japanese kanjis with which their names are written: Mizushiro-sensei identifies Otomo Kyoichi (大伴恭一) with the definition of 'partner' itself, a potential alter ego of each of us; she entrusts Imagase Wataru (今ヶ瀬渉, from the kanjis of 'quickness', 'crossing', 'involvement' and 'human relations') with the importance of getting to catch the 'carpe diem', the fleeting moment. Should we were to play with the language a little bit, we would find out that the union of the two main characters would lead us to the meaning of a 'relationship with a partner', the play of the cat with its little mouse happening here and now, the moment that we are to live in every single instant.

"You're kidding?! I cannot believe it… You can't decide?! Between a woman... or a man?!” - Natsuki -

"Maybe Imagase is right... maybe I still have to know what true love it. Next month, I’ll turn 30."

Otomo meets a long series of women, each of whom is identified by a definite face and a marked, strong personality. Each of them leaves a vivid notch into Otomo's life; and yet, no one of these figures is able to open a gash into his soul. The true Otomo is unfathomable to anyone, himself included, just like he himself can finally understand after the new encounter with Imagase breaks the quiet surface of his existence. The desirable man that Otomo is in his colleagues' eyes, through Imagase's cynical and revealing gaze he proves to be none other than a failed seducer, a man devoid of lash and decisiveness, a figure suddenly insecure even about what the true and intense physical pleasure is and how to gain it. It is Imagase who makes the miracle, intercepting his senpai's emotional black hole, and the latter finally manages to find out where the borders of his own self lay and how to humbly face his own limitations and inner being. This does not happen thanks to a man, nor thanks to a good guy, but rather because of a tempting snake who exploits Otomo's weaknesses with a cheeky and direct attitude towards him; by acting like so, Imagase takes a vengeance towards his own young self, first of all, the one who had been unable to face with sincerity the object of his adoration, back then. "No matter how sweet he might be, he is war away, like the moon."

His impetuous whims and his sensual attentions take the lid off Otomo's soul in the deep and they produce the most unexpected of effects, by reversing the parts of this play: Otomo, the one who never even thought he would were to find himself one day on the verge of turning 30 years old by asking himself about the true nature of love, becomes fond of the weird daily life established with Imagase, and he adapts himself to such cohabitation with surprising rapidity. He becomes more and more aware of a homosexual relationship in which he, however not knowing how to move, goes on with the cautiousness, the tenderness and the care he had never reserved to any other person before, in his whole life. He even gets to question himself what it is that truly determines the happiness of a couple, both in the short and medium-long term. As for Imagase, he teaches his senpai how to increase the physical pleasure in a more and more intense way, making him find out what offering someone unconditional love means. Someone who is clearly an imperfect one in all his weaknesses, but at the same time someone who is loved for the one he is, and not just because he embodies the ideal of an unattainable perfect man.

As the relationship with Otomo evolves, though, it is Imagase slowly losing the control he had on the whole situation, as he lavishes his spasmodic need for affection -also made up of a sometimes exasperating and childish attitude- on a story born out of a youthful crush later evolved in true and heartbreaking love, against every possible prevision.

"I'm just eating away your current existence. I can't make you happy."

"I'll decide whether or not I'm happy. We're both so selfish."

That is why within the play of the cunning black cat with his naive mouse, it is no obvious at all who the real prey or the predator are; quite on the contrary, the roles are repeatedly overturned, both on a psychological and on a sexual level, in a turn-up which is mostly unprecedented as for what Boys' Love works are concerned: as the pages become more daring, there's a parallel growth of the sexual purse power that each of these main characters can use towards one another. A strong and undermining power. Playing tag, letting go, keeping on running after each other once again: all of those are demonstration of a love both childish and adult-like in its elements, a overwhelming love taken to the limit of the obsession, a deep affection that while looking straight into reality, forces both men to ask themselves how much they are willing to leave back of their own selfishness in exchange for an improper relationship, and yet a fulfilling and indispensable one. That is why it is equally truly fitting, the choice of borrowing the name of animals for the titles of the chapters, and these very same animals appears as 'guest-stars' inside the story itself: from a frame hanging at a restaurant to a lighter herald of jealousies, there is no similarity more proper than fish, cats, snakes, owls and butterflies to suggest us behaviours that are to recall the most primeval and animal-like instincts of the human beings. Weaving traps and spider webs: those mean, sleazy and petty acts that people also do when they're in love. "The obstacle is you. And so am I." The frame of this symbolism closes with a gaze looking up at the cover illustration, where the portraits of animals silently stand out in the background behind the main characters. At the same time, such a gaze looks suggestively up at the moon: the Romeo and Juliet described by Shakespeare invoked the moon for an eternal oath, while the Japanese writer Natsume Soseki in his famous 'Tsuki ga kirei, desu ne?' (the moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?) metaphorically used the moon for a declaration of love. Mizushiro-sensei entrusts the white satellite with Otomo and Imagase's most unspeakable thoughts, for which the moon so becomes a silent leitmotif, as if it was a sensual tokonoma opening inside the story for all those people who can see beyond it: a sort of a story in the story, like a delicate, deep, subtle and intimate alcove. It goes beyond saying that every single dialogue of Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru manga is either enigmatic and cheeky and equally provoking and misleading: what we do reckon we understand about Otomo and Imagase, through their own words, gets later regularly denied by other facts. With thick lines and dialogues that are to tell us the very contrary of what they actually intend to convey, we cannot help but rely then on the inner voices of the many Otomos in his mind, in order to understand the nude truth: the white Otomo, the black and the grey one can maybe remind us of the concept behind the Pixar movie Inside Out, but Kyuso's one is by far forerunner of the latter. Mizushiro-sensei will make excellent use of such theme again by exploring it fully, and not without a subtle humour, in her following Nōnai Poison Berry manga; at the same time, the intricate juxtaposition of human beings and animals comes back to life in the well appreciated Shoujo manga Afterschool Nightmare, while the ultimate aim to attribute to ourselves and to love becomes the core of the romantic comedy Shitsuren Chocolatier, winner of the 36th Kodansha Manga Award - Shojo/Josei and also nominated for the Tezuka Award in 2014. Other than a fully substantial work per se, Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru can be also seen as a sort of effective experimental testing ground for the mangaka herself and her various best works.

"You think that's acceptable?!"

"Acceptable to whom?"

"To society!"

"You're overly self-conscious, as usual... society doesn't care about your sex life."

Mizushiro-sensei's style distinguishes itself for a modern and state-of-the-art graphic, an elegant and refined one, and Kyuso makes no exception: the peculiar design, so clean without any trace of deburring, gets softened as time and years passing by, as we can see by comparing the drawings made for the first chapters of the story with those from the Melancholy Butterfly onwards, and until the recent Hummingbird Rhapsody. Here the lines are so delicate and thin that they almost suggest us they could literally flake off under the piercing gaze of the reader. By leafing through the tankobon, all we can see are tidy pages, sometimes with no balloons at all, thus resulting in a huge expressive performance. The design is sharp and essential as for what details are concerned, but it is no minimalistic one; it is accurate in the depiction of bodies in every detail and characterized by a certain subtle sensuality, this latter marking not only the most rated scenes but also able to permeate the whole work instead. As used as she is in narrating with extraordinary ability about twisted and askew themes and exploring the human psyche with related sexual and gender identity issues, Mizushiro Setona offers us pages with highly aesthetic value, thrilling and bold ones, not without a sort of a certain aesthete voyeurism when depicting lovemaking scenes, however never vulgar at all. They manage to effectively evoke with a surprising visual impact, instead, the devastating passions from which both the characters and the readers end up being shaken and overwhelmed from. The violence this manga is impregnated with is mostly about its psychological insight, rather than the physical one, sex being however undoubtedly an inescapable element of the complicated events binding Otomo to Imagase: it is a key of the story but no ultimate reason of it. That is why we cannot help but follow, almost in a state of trance, how this couple is eventually able to get to intimately know each other by starting from a kiss born out of a blackmail, and thenquickly slackening every inhibition under the sheets through reversal of positions, seme/uke roles and sadomasochistic implications.

"Do you love me? Or after you got a taste of being loved so passionately are you pretending to be my lover as compensation for my feelings?"

How such a sentimental-psychological tangle can be outlined into a story constantly in balance between drama and comedy, keeping a perfect balance between each of its many faces always, without ever falling nor losing a thing, the reader can find it one page after another, surprising himself together with Otomo and Imagase in a thick and tormented love story, terribly authentic as much as its complicated and complex characters are. The pressing storyboard does now allow any rest nor break nor peace: accusations and skirmishes rebound from one man to the other in a never-ending evolution and involution of the personalities of the characters, that is until the unsettling ending; when the time of the games finishes and infantilism stops, another moment inevitably comes. The moment when the face of the adult we want to show to other people outside, goes finally and fully matching the inner essence of us as human beings. That very moment when one can take responsibility towards its own self.

"Poking holes in happiness makes you unhappy.

Nobody understands what I'm going through.

No one knows about the happiness I got to feel despite navigating into an ocean of doubts."

Otomo' sexism, while appreciating what Imagase offers him despite never intimately accepting it’s a man providing him with such a pleasure, vanishes in the very moment he gives his lover a vintage Château Pétrus bottle: it is one of the finest French wines in the whole world, thus suggesting his precious man the implicit idea of being an equally unique and irreplaceable one. Carrying on with a relationship where people can look at each other's eye and discuss, offering our whole self not in order to give back something we received but rather to go beyond our own self, it is then something quite different from seeking the pleasure of a night without any involvement: it is not the same indecisive man he was before, the one for whom appearances in society stops being an excuse, the man suddenly questioning himself how it might be wooing a man rather than a woman, or whether the relationship between two homosexual guys might even be more complete and deep than the one a heterosexual man might start with someone belonging to a ‘different’ universe from his own one.

What is love, then, if not the innate strength that allows us to see beyond our stiff self-esteem and pride, in order to overcome our limitations and arrive and reach the most intimate recesses of the one soul we naturally tend? And it is not only the Boys' Love theme per se to be central in this story, quite rather something that transcends every gender limitation to virtually embrace every kind of love, regardless of any possible colour or legitimacy. And that is because a different way of loving is no inadequate love nor a "less" love. However merely brushing LGBTQ+ themes, however never aspiring to become a gender manifesto, the Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru manga is able to outline some of these aspects with great perspicacity; there's then the excellent portrait offered to the weaknesses of the human being, slave of a need for affection as much hidden as obscure and here translated into the relentlessness of a physical and lacerating love. It does confirm to us how much the social and psychological themes are here treated with crude realism and keen sensibility. In a perfect synthesis of the Yin and Yang elements, Otomo and Imagase's greedy, mean and liar characters are flecked in a sometimes merciless way, not to mention the moment they mean to hurt other people but end up cleaving their own self instead first: it is a couple of uncomfortable characters the one we have here, someone with whom it is definitely not a pleasure to identify ourselves with, someone we wish never to meet, if any. Someone that nonetheless chooses never to give up when in front of human frailty, and that is why these characters end up being unusually authentic, charming and unforgettable ones. " I was hoping, someday, that by sharing my way of loving with you, you would have done the same to me one day." - Imagase -

"Ugh... I don't lose my temper like this with women." - Otomo -

The new revised All in One Edition reunites the two original volumes into one, which comes with a few color pages in the introduction and the brand new extra Hummingbird Rhapsody chapter. As for what the censorship is concerned, the original pages have actually been partially edited in a very few graphic details: it has been Mizushiro-sensei herself to provide them at the request of the Japanese publisher for the revised edition, which is meant to remove every explicit content starting from 28th January 2020. That happens in order to make the manga available also to a younger target, as the live action movie received a R15+ rating. Censorship involves however only the depiction of male genitals in a few specific, small and delimited portions of the pages, mainly in the first chapters of the story, and does not apply anywhere else. Female nipples and breasts, naked bodies and rated love making are left totally untouched, and so are the original dialogues, the true quintessence of this manga. Even the revised edition presents the harsh and explicit tones of the original pages and there is none of the messages conveyed by the manga that has been damaged or watered down by the re-print. "Love is divine punishment."

Carrying a perfect balance between seduction and feelings, the Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru manga is a challenging, demanding and intense reading. It is a mature story filled with issues, a complex and provoking one; it is compulsory to get near this story with the utmost attention, receiving though a crescendo of emotions that the reader will feel entangled with until the very last page. The Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi would have probably defined it a "matto e disperatissimo" love, a 'mad and utterly desperate' one. Like a river in flood sweeping everything away, the need for getting to know how to slacken control of ourselves and how to gain it back: educating the passion in a relationship is complicated to the point of seeming almost unmanageable.

Love in daily life is quite a different issue from the feelings of a romance novel, an engagement that forces people to swallow bitter bites sometimes, an endless tension towards the other and towards ourselves. In this story that happens to painfully disturbs the deepest part of the heart, we do not know who is the one leading the game; both characters here overthrow the typical Boys' Love canons, an audacious, cocky and authentic couple ready to question itself always.

A story that cannot be missed for all the lovers of the Boys' Love genre, Kyuso wa cheese no yume wo miru is also quite appropriate for all those one searching for an atypical love story, a strong and nonetheless sensual one, sublimated by a masterful introspection and a very welcome hint of subtle and stinging humour. It is a work dealing with many interesting and complicated issues, though never boasting about none of its many qualities.

A story that knows no limitation and no borders. One of those volumes to keep on the shelf of our own personal bookcase with the utmost care, to take up every now and then in our hands and find new shades of meaning after every new re-reading.

Originally written and posted in Italian @ Animeclick

#the cornered mouse dreams of cheese #Il Gioco del Gatto e del Topo #review #my poor feels

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risottostitties · 5 years

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Hi! It's me again sorry I just love ur blog so much please don't slice my body in 26 pts.😂 Jk! qwq any Headcanons for La squadra with an Aspiring mangaka S/O? Like she really REALLY Love to make a comic so much? (Take note she's not sassy as Rohan lmao)

ur lucky none of my knives are sharp. (lmao jk jk I’m so happy you like my dumb blog aaaaa)

Risotto

Intrigued but hesitant. Hopefully you don’t plan on incorporating his likeness into your manga at all. He’d be antsy about a character inspired by him, even if it bore no resemblance to the real thing at all.

He has a habit of throwing himself into his own work, so he doesn’t often ask you to take breaks or remind you about things like food and sleep. More or less leaves you alone if he sees you’re really deep into your work.

Enjoys working on his own stuff in the same room as you. There’s something to be said about enjoying each other’s company in silence.

Really likes looking over your shoulder as you draw. He was never artistic so watching how rough sketches become inked panels is fascinating to him.

Gifts you fancy pens often, even if they aren’t the best practicality wise. He would be thankful if you gave him specific names and thicknesses you liked.

Prosciutto

He’s another one that doesn’t drag you out to take breaks, but unlike Risotto he’d at least bring you coffee. He’d like to sit with you too, instead of leaving you be.

If he sees you’re becoming exceptionally tired Prosciutto would kindly (and firmly) suggest that the two of you retire for the night.

If you ask him for his opinion on something he’ll be honest with you. Prosciutto doesn’t sugarcoat his words, but he does make sure to reiterate that he’s proud of your work no matter what.

Great at pep talks and surprisingly good at brainstorming ideas with you too if you find yourself stuck on how to advance the plot.

Of a similar mind to Risotto when it comes to ‘cameos’ in the manga. But if he sees a character wearing something that looks suspiciously like Grateful Dead’s eyes he’d be flattered.

Pesci

He’s a nice middle ground between Prosciutto and Fromaggio in terms of getting you to take a break. He’s not as annoying as Fromaggio is but more insistent than Prosciutto.

Pesci is already a fan of anime and manga. He’s read enough manga to know a bit about panel composition and the general process of writing one and if you ask he’d hesitantly offer up what he thinks are good suggestions.

He doesn’t want his opinions to get in the way with your creative process so he’d be hesitant about sharing unless you assured him you really wanted him to.

Would never ask you to draw him in your manga, or pester you for art but if you drew him in the background of a page he’d be incredibly flustered and happy.

If you get fustrated and throw away a page he’ll take it out of the trash and keep it.

Fromaggio

Please make him the star of your manga, he won’t stop pestering you about it.

Also please draw him in your style, he will pester you about that too.

Don’t tell him how the plot is going to go, he’ll spoil it somehow.

He gets antsy if you work for too long, especially if he’s just come back from a job and he hasn’t seen you in a while. He’s gone enough for his work anyway, why would he want to spend his limited free time in silence watching you draw when you two could be doing something fun?

Despite his habit of trying to pull you from your work, he’s actually very supportive of this. He’d help you mail off copies of your work to publishing companies and is the first to suggest a massive party when one of them inevitably offers to publish your work.

If he catches wind of people talking shit on line he can and will make a throwaway account and debate them.

Illuso

watching you work from the mirror world because he prefers to do everything from the mirror world. If you invite him in though, he won’t decline.

Not too familiar with the process of manga writing but enjoys watching it anyway. He’s pretty low maintenance so he doesn’t mind passing the time with only the sound of your pens and pencils breaking up the silence.

Takes note of the type of pens you like to use and what they’re primarily used for (shading, line work, blocking, detail, etc) and those will sometimes appear on your desk.

Likes listening to you talk about your work, the fire in your eyes is endearing to him.

He’s not an artist himself but if you ask him for an opinion on something he’ll give it to you no holds barred.

Never realized how much of a technical aspect there was to manga writing and finds himself fascinated by all the little things you might not notice when reading like text formatting and panel composition.

Melone

another one that wants to be in your manga

while he certainly has a preference for certain genre if you write something outside of his typical favorites he’d be happy to read it anyway.

spitballs character concepts and power ideas with you for funsies.

Enjoys hanging over your shoulders to watch you work even if it gets in the way.

Would 100% cosplay the main character of your manga and make it weird by hitting on you the whole time.

Would also make it weird by asking you to draw what you think your kid together would look like.

Genuinely treasures any art you give him though. He frames it and keeps it in a place he can see every day.

Would get misty eyed if you made a character inspired by his older sister and gave her a happy family.

Might want to write a children’s book with you one day. He’d supply the text while you drew the pictures. But he wouldn’t mention it until after you finished your manga. Doesn’t want to distract you from your primary focus.

Ghiaccio

He’s kind of like a built in editor which is either really great or awful depending on how well you take Ghiaccio level ‘critique’ because while he might love you, that doesn’t mean he’s going to go easy on you.

Ghiaccio is more a stickler for writing rather than the art or panel composition of your manga. If you’re going to let him read it while its still unfinished you’re going to have to be careful which idioms or turn of phrase you use.

He’s supportive though, and while it might not be possible to cut him off once he’s started picking apart an idiom you used that he took issue with at least he apologizes later about it.

One of the ones who makes sure you take a break weather you want to or not.

Enjoys the quiet moments together where you’re working on your manga and he’s reading in the same room and you two are just spending time together like that.

Surprise him one day with a ‘candid’ drawing of him reading with you and he’ll be a mess.

#risotto nero #prosciutto #pesci #melone #illuso #fromaggio #ghiaccio #jjba writing blog #jjba headcanons #vento aureo #jjba part 5 #jojo kimyou na bouken #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #la squadra #la squadra hcs #im not dead #just suffering because school #and back problems rip

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sciathainairgid · 4 years

Text

Introduction to Comico

Comico is a website/app where you can read comics for free (mostly, there’s a catch to it). Specifically, ReLIFE, How to Keep a Mummy, and Momokuri are all officially published and available on Comico for free (mostly). The comics are all in Chinese (the ones by Japanese mangaka are translated), but Google translate can take care of you from there!

So here’s a guide on how to register for an account on Comico. (It’s a bit long.)

First, go to Comico (TW)’s website: http://comico.com.tw/

The webpage looks like this. The button I’ve circled in blue in the login button; click on it.

It’ll bring you to this page. Once you’ve set up your account, just fill in your email and password and click on the big red button to log in. If you’ve lost your password, click on the link circled in light blue--fill in your email at the page it leads to, and comico should send you the link to reset your password. (I haven’t been receiving these emails though, not even in my spam folder, so...don’t lose your password.)

Scroll down, and you’ll see the option to log in with Facebook, or register a free account.

Fill in the information needed. Comico provides a random set of numbers as a nickname; you’re free to change it. Uncheck the box if you don’t want to receive news and updates in your email from comico, and hit the big red button.

And you’re done! The grey button circled in light blue allows to you confirm your email address--this lets you leave comments or take part in merchandise lotteries, but you can read manga on comico without doing any of that.

If you click on the button, you should receive an email that looks something like this:

Check your spam folder if you don’t see it. Also, mine will probably look different from yours because I mistyped my email address in the beginning, so my confirmation email doubles as a email address change notice.

Go back to the homepage and log in.

Where the login button was, you’ll see a drop-down menu. Click on the (currently) empty profile picture to access your profile.

Here, you can change your profile picture, nickname, check your inbox and items, and check your coin purchase history.

You can also confirm/change your email and add a phone number. The text beside my email address (circled in purple) is green because I’ve confirmed my email; it’ll be red if it isn’t confirmed. Click on the arrows on the right to confirm if necessary. (You can choose a country code in the phone confirmation screen; they should send you a code to type in--but I’ve never actually tried with a non-Taiwanese phone.)

You can add manga to your favorites list for easy searching later.

This is the page you see once you choose a manga. You can change the order the chapters are listed in, from newest to oldest or the other way around. If you click on the mangaka’s name, you’ll see all the works they have on comico.

Now, remember I said there was a catch to reading manga on comico for free.

It’s not completely free. You get a certain amount of rental tickets that you can use to unlock chapters for 8 days, after which you’ll have to unlock it again. It makes binge reading difficult.

When the red bar is full, that means you have (at least) one rental ticket to use. The little text under the chapter name (circled in blue) indicates that you can unlock the chapter with a ticket. (Not all chapters can be unlocked with a rental ticket.)

Choosing a chapter will bring you to this page:

You can unlock the chapter permanently with coins (bought with real-world money), or unlock the chapter with either points or rental tickets. You’ll most likely be using rental tickets, since points are only given out on special occasions and have time limits.

Here’s the menu at the bottom of the chapters.

And I’ve used up my rental tickets, so I have to wait 24 hours for it to regenerate. Unless comico gifts extra rental tickets, you’ll only have one at one time (you won’t get 2 tickets if you wait 48 hours, it’s still only 1). The unlocked chapters will show the time left to read them.

The first few chapters of the manga are typically completely free--how many chapters depends on the length of the manga itself.

Also, the newest updates will often be locked--you have to use coins to read them. They’ll be available to rental tickets after a week to a month after they are uploaded.

That should be mostly it. Here are some manga to get you started:

ReLIFE: http://www.comico.com.tw/1/

How to Keep a Mummy: http://www.comico.com.tw/articleList.nhn?titleNo=628

Edible Bunnies: http://www.comico.com.tw/articleList.nhn?titleNo=3197

Feel free to send me a message if you run into something that I’ve missed and Google Translate can’t solve.

#comico #how to keep a mummy #miira no kaikata #relife

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yyh-revival · 6 years

Text

Doujinshi Credits Page

Hi guys, @yyhcuties did the amazing work of finding credits for many of the Doujinshi that had been floating around the internet. Links are dead to the guides and downloads that are posted under these sites, but here’s a list of at least a few of the groups who did the scans and translations back in the day. When I have time I’ll go back and add the credits to individual posts, but for now, to get this out quickly, here’s the list under the cut.

https://yuyu-doujin.livejournal.com/47726.html

https://www.mangaupdates.com/releases.html?search=yu+yu+hakusho&act=archive&page=1&orderby=date&asc=asc

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Dream Crime

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - A Space Closed in Secrecy

1-2

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hiyaku 1 - Seperation

Aestheticism

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Paradise

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Costume Play

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Purification

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Date

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Snow Drop

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Romantic

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - White Memories

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - The Secret Minamino Fanclub

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hiei & Kurama's Love Coloring Book

Makai-Nights

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - It must be love

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - You Brute

Doujinshi Snow

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - You Brute

b-Jin vs Yuusuke

Doujinshi Snow

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Getting Used to It

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Argument

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - With me

1-With me

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - With me

2-Catch

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Crystal Nights - Snow is Made of Pure Things Only

Arigatomina

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Declaration of Youth

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Shuuichi-kun's Doctor

YYH Manga Translation Project

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Pigeon's Blood

Cathi'on

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Opium

Arigatomina & B-chan

Unknown

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Amatou

YYH Manga Translation Project

12/31/03

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hiyaku 2 - Conviction

Parts 1-4

Nakama

06/14/05

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Angel's Bite

Makai-Nights

03/12/06

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hourglass

Nakama

09/16/07

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hiyaku 3 - The Farthest Limits of Love

Parts 1-3 (end)

Nakama

12/22/07Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Lonely Butterfly1Arigatomina

12/30/07Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hana Ga SumiArigatomina

01/26/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Calling

Arigatomina

01/26/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - A Friend's Value

yuyu_doujin

01/29/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Inyoku

Arigatomina

01/29/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Jin x Toya Special

Arigatomina

01/29/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Toki no Hana

Arigatomina

02/10/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hisoka

Nakama

02/14/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - La Vie en Rose

Arigatomina

05/04/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - With me

3-Kingyo

Arigatomina

05/22/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Psycho

Arigatomina & Sir Psycho Sexy

08/18/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - La Vie en rose

3-Wednesday Moon

Arigatomina

08/28/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Sickness

Boxer and Rice & Arigatomina

12/25/08

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Alphard

Arigatomina

03/05/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - P0rn0graphy

Arigatomina & B-chan

Date

Title

Vol

Chp

Groups

03/23/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Don't Touch This

Part A

Arigatomina

03/31/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Kiss Me, Kill Me

Part A

Sir Psycho Sexy & Kohaku Hoshi

03/31/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Kiss Me, Kill Me

Part B (end)

Sir Psycho Sexy & Kohaku Hoshi

05/09/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Howling

1-One Night Stand

Arigatomina

05/11/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Don't Touch This

Part B

Arigatomina

06/05/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Daydream

Doujinshi Snow

06/23/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - SM28

Part 1

Stier421 & Ayuki & Cicada

07/07/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Dune

Arigatomina & B-chan

08/15/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - San

1-2

Boxer and Rice & Arigatomina

09/06/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - SM28

Parts 2-3

Stier421 & Ayuki & Cicada

09/06/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hide and Seek

Stier421 & Ayuki & Cicada

11/07/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Fragrance of Innocence

Arigatomina & Sellie

11/27/09

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Goodbye Is the Beginning of the Future

Arigatomina

02/06/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Don't Touch This

1v2

Arigatomina

02/06/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Don't Touch This

2-6

Arigatomina

02/23/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Quest

Arigatomina & Amadriade

03/17/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Quest

Arigatomina & Amadriade

06/08/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Shogun

Sobdasha

09/02/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Ankoku Datenshi

Greynonentity & Sir Psycho Sexy

11/01/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - SM28

Part 4 (end)

Stier421 & Ayuki & Cicada

12/20/10

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Beryl

Arigatomina

02/13/11

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Suisou no Naka no Sakana

Arigatomina

06/30/11

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Humiliate Me More Darlin'

Blue! & Arigatomina

08/27/11

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Suisou no Naka no Sakana

Arigatomina

10/05/11

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Harenochi Pikan!

Arigatomina

11/04/11

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Suisou no Naka no Sakana

Arigatomina

08/12/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Forest of Solitude

Arigatomina

08/19/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Quest

Arigatomina

08/21/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Hiei's Revenge

Arigatomina

09/04/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Jealousy

Arigatomina

09/08/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - I Love You with a Tail

Arigatomina

09/20/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Phantom

Part 1

Arigatomina

09/26/12

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Me Tender

Arigatomina

10/15/13

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Nerves Dulled by the Cold Night

Arigatomina

12/22/13

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Love Phantom

Part 2

Arigatomina

01/01/14

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Joy

Arigatomina

02/14/14

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Flame and Aqua

Arigatomina

05/05/14

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Yumegatari

Arigatomina

05/31/14

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Yumegatari

Arigatomina

09/20/14

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Overture

Arigatomina

01/01/15

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - To the Girl in the Snow

Arigatomina

06/04/15

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Yuuwaku no Mirai

Arigatomina

07/26/15

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - NAIYB'SSONGS

SaHa

05/21/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Self Control

Arigatomina

07/04/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Rain Noise

Arigatomina

08/06/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Yuhaku + Boyfriend

Urameshi Yusuke

Arigatomina

11/04/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - La Vie en Rose

Arigatomina

11/24/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Building Within a Dream

Arigatomina

12/04/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Soul Flight

Snow Walk 2

Arigatomina

12/10/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Spirits Dance

Snowy Night

Arigatomina

12/11/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Yuhaku + Boyfriend

Kuwabara Kazuma

Arigatomina

12/25/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Living Inside the Shell

Happy Happy Christmas

Arigatomina

12/25/16

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Living Inside the Shell

Cake War

Arigatomina

09/12/18

Yu Yu Hakusho dj - Psycho

Neptise Scans

https://yuyu-doujin.livejournal.com/48278.html

This file, copied from the YYH Manga Translation Project site, contains three documents which (1) will explain every japanese word/sfx & character used in the doujinshis, (2) provide a rating system and (3) a short review for each doujinshi they've done. I'll paste the short review for One-shots and rating according to it. --------------------------- Author: A-PAA Rating: R Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: - Info: These scanse are raw and they're not complete. They were up at the site which was known as Yaoi Shrine but unfortunately went down due to some issues. The art looks similiar to Maya Kaoruko, A-PAA is probably her circle's name. Confession Egoiste One-Zero Samsara --------------------------- Author: Anayu Rating: PG (funny) Pairing: None Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: The legendary redheads face off. It's in Chinese but there's a translation included Kurama vs. Kenshin --------------------------- Author: Akemi Rating: PG Pairing: KarasuxKuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: - Info: It's in Portuguese so if anyone can translate it into English, I'd be forever grateful. Title unknown --------------------------- Author: Hashiba Shinobu Rating: PG (funny, playful) Pairing: KuramaxYuusuke in "Idiot parent" Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: - Ordinary people Idiot parent --------------------------- Author: Kido Wataru Rating: PG (playful) Pairing: KuwabaraxYuusuke Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: Kuwa and Yuusuke argue over sentimentality in this character piece. Tokyo Love Specialist --------------------------- Author: Kobayashi Sato Rating: R Pairing: YuusukexKurama Scans & Trans: ? Info: Supposedly part 2, I don't own part 1. Let me hear words of love 2 --------------------------- Author: Maririn Rating: PG (sweet, poetic) Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: Kurama and Hiei are the only ones awake on a rainy night, and Kurama's in a mood to reminisce. Rain --------------------------- Author: MIG21SP Rating: PG (funny) Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Don't let Hiei leave the house --------------------------- Author: Mikoyan Nakajyo & Gurevich Kurihara Rating: PG Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: Fluff Fox and Bunny How to spend Christmas --------------------------- Author: Mizukane Ryo Rating: R Pairing: HieixKurama Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: - Silent Call --------------------------- Author: Moriyama Yumi Rating: R Pairing: KoenmaxKurama Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Shuuichi-kun's doctor --------------------------- Author: Narushima Yuri Rating: R Pairing: Younger ToguroxYuusuke in "Crazy cloud" & KuramaxYuusuke in "Pigeon's blood" Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project & Translated treasure Info: - Crazy cloud Masochism beast Pigeon's blood --------------------------- Author: Pepper Vivio Rating: R Pairing: HieixKurama Scans & Trans: - Info: This file is raw Title unknown --------------------------- Author: Sagawa Kano Rating: PG (playful) Pairing: KuramaxHieixBui Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: We knew it was a mistake for Hiei to leave Bui alive. Hiei vs. Bui --------------------------- Author: Saiha Midori Rating: PG (playful, funny) Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Master of sex --------------------------- Author: Susumu Kizaki Rating: R (angsty, poetic, spicy) Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: Kurama wants to bind Hiei forever--with love or hate. More dear than I can say --------------------------- Author: TIDE Rating: R Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Breathless --------------------------- Author: Toba Iori Rating: PG (funny) Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: - Kurokichi's family stories The jagan master's boredom --------------------------- Author: Tokugawa Ranko Rating: PG Pairing: KuramaxKoenma Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Cicada shell --------------------------- Author: Unknown Rating: R Pairing: KuwabaraxYuusuke Scans & Trans: ? Info: I'm not sure if the translation is correct or if it's just a re-interpretation of the story. It's kind of strange, read it and you'll know what I mean. Tsuhatsugai --------------------------- Author: Yutaka Miyabi Rating: R Pairing: KuramaxHiei Scans & Trans: ? Info: - Lustful Heart What do you want --------------------------- Author: Unknown Rating: R Pairing: YuusukexKurama Scans & Trans:Translated treasure Info: - Muzukashi soko ni umi ga atta --------------------------- Author: Touru Azumi Rating: PG Pairing: Various Scans & Trans: YYH Manga Translation Project Info: I zipped all of Touru Azumi's works into one folder since they're all short stories. Touru Azumi collection

https://yuyu-doujin.livejournal.com/48117.html

#doujinshi #cd #credits #credits page #doujinshi credits

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citruspeel · 6 years

Text

to gold be the gory

How Golden Kamuy Outshines Competition

A Review

“GORUDEEEEEEN KAMUUUUUUY!”

That’s how I first heard of Golden Kamuy – a male voice screaming its title in around 2-minute intervals. I was busy slurping ramen in the communal eating tent in Odori Park when it blared in my ear. All through the day, they played its trailer on the tent TVs over and over again. It seemed interesting, and it was quite apt to see it being promoted there - after all, we were surrounded by snow, in Hokkaido, where the story was set. I kept seeing it in bookstores and its artwas eye-catching. But as soon as I was back on home soil, my interest was gone.

Life caught right back up with me, so I forgot about Golden Kamuy completely. Not until I saw some artists I follow post amazing fan art of it on Twitter. They were all singing it praises and the official art was beautiful, so I thought, ‘aw heck, why not?’

Let me tell you: there are no reasons not to.

SUGIMOTO, THIS ISN’T SHOUNEN ANYMORE

I’m what you call a…sporadic manga reader. I’m not up to speed with manga trends and it can take me a while to catch up. I read stuff that get my attention and when they’re recommended by my friends (I still haven’t touched Boku no Hero Academia or Shokugeki no Soma, though). I also don’t limit myself to just one genre. There are months that I devour shoujo/josei manga, like Hana Nochi Hare and Dame na Watashi ni Koi wo Kudasai. Then I’d switch over to read through volumes upon volumes of shounen manga (hi, Gintama, Haikyuu). Then there are periods wherein I just don’t read at all, devoting my time to other activities instead.

Golden Kamuy, brainchild of artist Noda Satoru, is probably my first real foray into the seinen manga territory. The art, the storyline, the comedy, the stakes – every page told me that I wasn’t reading shounen anymore. Dick jokes weren’t dealt with caution. Gore was done with no shame. Raw Japanese scans didn’t have the hiragana reading aids. Strangely enough, it brought me back to all the titles I used to read when I was young. It made me realize all the stuff I was reading back then were very edgelord-esque and middle-school-syndrome-ish - the stuff of nightmares. Body horror, violence, gore, debauchery – CLAMP and Kaori Yuuki had primed my teenage self for all of them.

But at least, now, the edginess was dealt with a more mature hand.

Hence it was no surprise that Kamuy ignited a sense of familiarity. I had mellowed down when I grew up (it saddens me that I really am quite a grown-up now) and, in turn, settled for fun, cheerful, romantic manga (to keep the dreariness of everyday life away, I guess haha). I got used to leisurely pacing and lighthearted comedy. Reading Golden Kamuy felt like I skydived into the unforgiving arena I had left – an arena that had been made fresher, better.

SO FRESH, YOU’RE EATING IT RAW

What makes Kamuy an instant hit is its interesting combination of rarely-used elements. Post-War, Meiji-Era historical, early 1900s, hunting, Hokkaido, Ainu culture: can you really find another title that uses said mix? It’s no wonder people are attracted to the series.

It also helps that the art is just spectacular. Noda’s artistic skill shines through every page, chapter, and volume cover. His poses are dynamic, his coloring brave. Sometimes the color combinations he uses just scream modern, serving as nice contrasts to the story’s historical, traditional setting. His character designs are unique and fresh – more so their personalities. Sugimoto’s facial scars are refreshing to the eye; Tsurumi’s half-corrupted face paired with a metal plate is a design I’ve never seen before. His art style brings out his designs to life in a way only he can – we’ve all seen cross-dressing men and shaved-bald convicts before, but still he was able to make Ienaga and Shiraishi look striking.

The research that he has done to make the story believable is commendable. He even has his own Ainu and Russian language consultants. Each detail he adds in shows that every page is a product of hard work. He even features real buildings in Hokkaido and Otaru (I’ve also been to Otaru and it was nice to see it in the manga!). The information we learn from Noda’s usage of the Ainu culture, hunting practices, and military details – all of this, weaved in with an intricate, explosive plot, give us a series that feels…whole. Complete.

Kamuy also spreads word about the Ainu culture in a fun and entertaining way. I haven’t heard a lot about them in the series I’ve encountered – I’ve only heard of them through Rurouni Kenshin. Nothing since then. To see them in the spotlight is a breath of fresh air. Even the Ainu themselves feel the same way – apparently they told Noda that they didn’t want to be portrayed as discriminated anymore. They wanted strong Ainu characters, and boy, did Noda deliver.

NO-PARDON PLOTTING

Because of its seinen status, you can tell that Noda has no qualms about plotting and story structure. We’re given heavy-hitting story elements right off the bat: war vet undertakes a legendary treasure hunt to help the (stolen-by-his-friend) love of his life, requiring him to track down 24 of the most dangerous insane criminals to have ever walked Japan. It’s throwing punches right from the get-go. Kamuy doesn’t baby anyone (except for bear cubs). With its pacing, convoluted plot and bevy of interesting characters, it challenges the reader to not just enjoy, but to keep up. It’s unapologetic in everything that it does – character, story, and art.

CHARACTERS

Immortal War Vet, Morality Pet Minority Action Girl, Escape Sweet-tooth King, and so forth. They somehow fulfill stereotypes but at the same time, Noda manages to twist things to a whole new light. His milieu, too, aids in solidifying the characters he writes – the setting itself makes them unforgettable.

It is also in his cast that we see how unapologetic Noda is. Considering that Sugimoto is to track 24 of the most dangerous criminals in the country, Noda doesn’t shy away from showcasing every kind of evil that can exist within humans. We tackle lust, greed, wrath, and avarice with a dash more reality compared to the caricatures we often see in shounen manga. Those faint of heart and innocent countenance will have a hard time stomaching Noda’s cast as it unfolds. The more I read, the more I believe Noda probably has a subscription to the Crime Investigation channel (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Truth be told, humans are very much capable of evil, and I’m not surprised that some of his villains are actually modeled after real-life criminals.

Notable characters:

IENAGA - a cross between Erszebet Bathory (a countess who was known to kill virgins and bathed in their blood to remain beautiful) and of H.H. Holmes, a real-life owner of an actual murder hotel in the US during the 19th century. Ienaga’s first dungeon appearance made me flashback to some of mangaka Kaori Yuki’s ornate gorefests such as Count Cain, Angel Sanctuary, and Ludwig Revolution. Noda felt no shame when he drew each and every one of Ienaga’s murderscapes.

HENMI KAZUO – this one really made me blink when I was reading it. Serial killer Henmi Kazuo is an exploration of the depths of human depravity. Imagine, being stimulated by gore and the act of clinging to life the same way his brother did when a bear ate him. Damn, writing that sentence made me realize Noda just straight up doesn’t baby his audience. This is the stuff Netflix series Mindhunter would kill to have. This also would really need some real guts (pardon the pun) to execute.

SHITON – he also made me stop in my tracks. Shiton, a full-on bestiality-practicing scientist, was something I’ve never read about in any other manga at all. I’ve read about murderers and criminals and incestuous personalities (Kaori Yuki and George RR Martin weren’t shy about it at all), but this character was just sick. He’s a special type of crazy (although to be perfectly honest I am sure that somewhere in the world some sick human is partaking in stuff like this), and for Noda to actually use him in his manga just takes courage. He just has the balls to make you think twice, but hey, when you’re in seinen territory, everything seems to be a free-for-all. And let’s be real frank here – there’s just another level of human debauchery in real life that most people won’t even be able to stomach hearing about.

TSURUMI – Tsurumi is the stuff of legend. He reminds me the most of Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, but with his insanity turned up into eleven. He also has shades of Leonardo’s character in Django Unchained, as well as other manic-type ‘villains’ that we’ve seen in other series. But his impulsiveness and flamboyant nature places him a cut above the rest. Noda also draws him so dynamically (seriously!) that whenever he appears, your eyes are just drawn to him.

Plus, I have to say that I’m really impressed with the level of real-world research that Noda uses in developing his characters. Tsurumi says that he has lost a part of his frontal lobe, which in turn affects his temper and his violent tendencies. This is actually true in real life, and has been seen in a high-profile murder case involving a famous football player in the United States. Because of the repetitive head injuries that the player received playing the sport, his own personality/temper had changed, and resulted him in killing his girlfriend in cold blood.

Of course we have the holy trinity of Sugimoto (classic lovable romantic badass war vet protagonist), Asirpa (butt-kicking girl-child) and Shiraishi (adorable slinky/comic relief), all gems in their own right. Noda has endeared them to us with the heartwarming dynamic between Sugimoto + Asirpa, plus Shiraishi’s antics. Character-wise, they seem to follow a specific trio formula that works in almost anything. Harry-Hermione-Ron, Gintoki-Kagura-Shinpachi, Naruto-Sakura-Sasuke. While his main character trio wins people over, his supporting cast can also shine bright on their own. Some great examples that come to mind are Ogata, Tanigaki, and Monkey-Scream Guy Otonoshin (even Tsukishima is memorable! He even has the Voldemort nose, doesn't he?).

Noda’s principle of mixing reality with caricature is also evident in his character designs. With every cast member we meet, it’s clear that Noda is far from being a sufferer of the six-faces-only syndrome. His designs do sometimes border on the impossible (Monkey-Scream guy’s eyebrows, really?), but it’s not a bad thing. If anything, it makes the visual experience of reading the comic even more worthwhile.

THE ART

Noda is a great manga artist. Let’s start with that.

Just look at these covers!

This coloring + color schemes!

This character design!!

I’ve been raving about his character designs for a few paragraphs now but it’s just really that good. I love his eye for composition and his impeccable framing for action and comedy. I’ve always thought that framing comics need special planning – especially action + comedy ones. You have to ensure that the first thing the reader sees in the next panel will make the action/joke understandable and clear. It takes great skill to decide what the reader sees and doesn’t see. Through Golden Kamuy’s 158 chapters, he makes use of this skill to make us laugh whenever Asirpa’s badgering them to make citatap, or when there’s a new animal part to eat, or when Tanigaki’s out showing nudes of himself to people. If the pages weren’t framed well, the jokes would’ve fallen flat. Let’s also not forget his adeptness in drawing facial expressions. This manga just does faces so well.

(Just look at Asirpa! collage c/o the Golden Kamuy reddit)

His fight scenes are also top-notch. You just know that Noda, as a mangaka, isn’t knocking about. The flow of action in every page is just downright superb. It also shows his mastery of human anatomy – and his courage when it comes to gore. His use of crisp blacks and whites, solid lineart, thick, expressive color give us pages that are fresh and clean...I’d be a fool to dismiss his technique, because his (and his studio’s, I guess?) skill just shines through every page.

He’s also not shy when it comes to details – which is admirable. After all, it takes some great dedication for someone to give his main character distinct facial scars that will require repeated drawings in almost every single page (and give his heroine a detailed headband). It makes me wonder just how he does it with a weekly schedule. His color pages look like they were done digitally, but I still have doubts whether or not he does his chapters by hand.

THE HEART

It took me just a few days to wolf down Kamuy. It was a romp right from the start – nail-biting, stomach-clutching, hair-raising. A truly entertaining piece, if you will. But if there’s one thing I’ve noticed with Kamuy, it’s that it somehow lacks heart.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s great! I love it. It’s superbly crafted, beautifully drawn, amazingly detailed. It’s one of the rare titles that I’m actually thinking of collecting. But it’s also a title that seems to drip technique. Like the author made it for the sake of drawing an intense, gripping title, but somehow solely for that purpose. It’s a career-conscious showcase of ability, a manufactured adventure in the truest sense. I couldn’t see the earnestness I found in Sorachi Hideaki’s Gintama, or the relatability of Nakahara Aya’s Dame na Watashi wo Koishite Kudasai. Full Metal Alchemist showed Arakawa Hiromu’s passion for muscled men, her interest in alchemy, and views on family, while Haruichi Furudate’s love for volleyball, sportsmanship and camaraderie is undeniable in Haikyuu!!. While I do like the backstory that Sugimoto is somehow based on his real-life war-vet grandfather, I find it a bit sad that it seems to lack that personal touch I’ve always liked seeing in other manga.

But it doesn’t mean that it’s not great. I will still recommend it to everyone I know. Awesome story, great art, refreshing comedy. By all means, read it! (Not sure about the anime, but I keep hearing reviews that we’re better off with the manga). Golden Kamuy is a title of both style and substance – whether it’s about the gore or the gold, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Then let me know if you agree with my upcoming post, an analysis of Sugimoto and Asirpa.

Photos c/o reddit + our lovely scanlators + Satoru Noda

#Golden Kamuy #Sugimoto Saichi #Sugimoto the Immortal #Asirpa #Noda Satoru #Manga #Review

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recentanimenews · 6 years

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Shonen est Incroyable: The First French Shonen Anime

While many tend to think of manga as being strictly a strictly Japanese medium of storytelling, others would argue that it's more about the method of storytelling and art itself. It's safe to say the way a story unfolds in manga (and anime) is unlike that of any other medium out there. It's unique in it's presentation and holds a instantly recognizable style that almost beckons imitation.

Non-Japanese creators creating manga isn’t a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. When it was still alive and kicking, Tokyopop had an OEL (original English) manga initiative called The Rising Stars of Manga which saw artist Felipe Smith eventually serialize his own manga, Peepo Choo, in Japan.

Similarly, French comics artist (or dare I say mangaka) Tony Valente took his love of anime and manga, including Dragon Ball, Berserk, and Naruto, and created Radiant, which follows a young sorcerer by the name of Seth whose goal is to become the best sorcerer he can be, and destroy the nest of the monsters terrorizing the world.

Radiant went on to catch the eye of Eyeshield 21 and One Punch Man illustrator Yusuke Murata, who supported and helped Valente bring it over to Japan, which was released under Asukashinsha’s Euromanga Collection imprint, and even caught the eye of Fairy Tail’s Hiro Mashima, who was happy to see a similar type of fantasy story being explored. To this day, nine volumes of what Valente hopes to be a 15-volume series have been released in French. VIZ Media is releasing the manga to English-language audiences starting on September 11th, 2018.

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This French manga was so well-received in Japan that it garnered a two-cour anime adaptation helmed by Seiji Kishi (Assassination Classroom, Asobi Asobase, Persona 4: The Animation, Yuki Yuna is a Hero) over at Lerche, with veteran voice talents such as Aoi Yuki and Romi Park, and theme songs by incredible Japanese rock bands 04 Limited Sazabys and Polkadot Stingray. To say this French manga’s adaptation has a powerhouse team behind it would be an understatement, but what about Radiant resonated so well with Japan that allowed it to become the first shonen anime made by a French mangaka?

Radiant blends many well-known facets of shonen anime and manga with a wonderous and enigmatic world inspired by French fantasy and architecture. Main character Seth is a headstrong go-getter who, despite the prejudice thrown at him, strives to surpass his goals and protect even those who denigrate him. While magic (known as Fantasia) is often looked upon with the same set of fearful eyes as the Nemeses that plague the world, there’s a rich culture of sorcerers atop a floating isle which set out to do good.

Seth has no interest in simply being an incredibly powerful sorcerer, or even destroying the Nemeses that plague the world. Like any good high-achiever, he sets his sights for the Radiant, which legend says to be the home of the Nemeses. Destroying it won't only bring peace to the world, but will show everyone that sorcerers are nothing to be afraid of.

The supporting cast is very much rooted in shonen staples as well. Doc is the smart, yet bumbling fool who finds his skittish self in anxiety-addled situations. Mélie is the aloof female lead who lives to make friends, though stuck with a curse that changes her from cute and bubbly to frightening and foul-mouthed. Alma, his guardian and master, is a no-nonsense witch who disciplines him for his own good despite truly caring for him.

Alongside the sorcerers are The Inquisitors, who are the epitome of the shonen antagonist group. They’re not fans of magic, let alone those who use it, and use their power to try and control what can and cannot be done with magic. Even with no magic of their own to use, this is not a group you want to mess with, as Seth and crew will soon find out.

As a fan of the manga myself, I’ve often thought of Radiant as Tony Valente’s as his love letter to everything shonen. But the more the story moves forward, as we’ll see with the anime this Fall, it’s much more than that. It’s a strong contender for one of the best shonen series out there.

Have you had a chance to check out the Radiant manga? What are your thoughts? What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming anime? Sound off in the comments below!

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Zach Godin is a writer from Canada living in the UK. Feel free to check out his fiction work, or shoot him a hello on Twitter.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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brella · 7 years

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i feel like we always ask you about books so today i wanna ask you some anime recs :)

HOW INTERESTING THAT YOU SHOULD COME TO ME NOW, JUST AFTER I FINISHED ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE A TWITTER MUTUAL WITH A PHYSICAL CAKE SO THAT SHE WOULD WATCH AN ANIME I LOVE. i am always happy to share anime recs.

ping pong: the animation (dir. masaaki yuasa): effusive yutaka “peco” hoshino and reserved makoto “smile” tsukimoto have been best friends since day one, and both of them love to play ping pong. peco, a child prodigy at the sport, loves it with all of his soul, and is so confident in his own talent that he’s become arrogant; while smile, in spite of his natural talent, does not take ping pong seriously, seeing it as nothing more than a way to pass the time. things are shaken up for the boys by the arrival of wenge “china” kong, a chinese player sent to redeem himself in japan after being kicked off the national team, who skunks peco in their first match, sending him spiraling into crisis; meanwhile, smile catches the interest of the school’s coach, a former star player, who is determined to make sure smile does not waste his talent. also joining the cast are manabu “akuma” sakuma, peco’s belligerent rival since childhood, and ryuichi “dragon” kazama, vanguard of the elite ping pong team at kaio academy. when all is said and done, will smile and peco’s friendship—and the love of ping pong that bonds them—remain? i urge everyone to watch this anime; it is perhaps the best i’ve ever seen. a work of art, of joy, of sadness and failure and triumph—a tribute to being alive, and to what it means to love something so much you feel like there’s no point in being alive if you can’t do it. and the animation, voice acting, and score are outstanding! 11 episodes.

the tatami galaxy (dir. masaaki yuasa): an unnamed college student is perpetually dissatisfied with his life, bemoaning the fact that he can never seem to grasp that “rose-colored campus life” he was certain he would have upon attending college in kyoto. just about the only thing he has in his corner is his mischievous frenemy, ozu, who drags him into scheme after scheme that only seem to make his situation worse; and a fellow student, akashi, who the protagonist has feelings for, but can never quite seem to spit it out. after a bad break-up sends him over the edge into total cynicism, he starts to wonder if his college years would have been spent differently (i.e., better) if he had chosen to join a different club on his first day. unbeknownst to him, the desire to go back and do it over again does send him back in time—each episode is an alternate timeline based on which club he joined. no matter how things change, though, he always seems to keep running into ozu, to just miss akashi, and to get involved with a man calling himself higuchi, who claims to be a god of matrimony; a bone-headed popular senior named jougasaki; and a beautiful but intense dental hygienist named hanuki. in the protagonist’s quest for the perfect college life, however, will he miss what’s right in front of him? i really love yuasa as you can probably tell and this, just like ping pong, is beautifully animated, great fun, and unexpectedly moving. a testament to the little things, to seeing the beauty and wonder in what we have. and the opening and ending are GOD TIER. 11 episodes.

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun (dir. mitsue yamazaki): if you somehow haven’t watched this yet, please love yourself and do it. a romantic comedy series that follows 16-year-old chiyo sakura’s attempts to woo her crush, umetarou nozaki, gsnk, contrary to the shoujo form, actually begins with her confessing to him—but he misunderstands and gives her... his autograph?! yes, it turns out nozaki moonlights as a hugely successful shoujo romance mangaka, and he’s been needing an assistant, and sakura is in the art club... convenient! this show has it all—uproarious humor, masterful comedic timing, incredibly charming characters, and just the right dose of heartfelt romance to warm any heart. other cast members include mikoto mikoshiba, nozaki’s best friend, whose flirtatious antics constantly cause him to nearly die of embarrassment; yuzuki seo, chiyo’s best friend, a brash and oblivious jock with a beautiful singing voice; hirotaka wakamatsu, a mild-mannered basketball player constantly aggrieved by seo’s bullying; yuu kashima, star of the drama club and dashing prince of the school; and masayuki hori, drama club president and kashima’s ever-frustrated director. love is in the air not just for sakura, but for a few others, as well—it’s going to be an interesting year! 12 episodes.

kids on the slope (dir. shinchiro watanabe): kaoru nishimi is a shy and depressed honor student, classically trained to play the piano, who has spent his entire life moving from town to town due to the nature of his father’s job. at the beginning of the summer of 1966, he is sent to a small coastal town in kyushu to live with relatives, and is prepared for another year of loneliness until his world is turned on its axis when he meets delinquent sentaro kawabuchi. the two develop a strange and unlikely friendship, and kaoru soon discovers that sentaro, or sen, is an avid fan of jazz, then an emergent form of music in japan, and plays the drums in the basement of a record store owned by the family of his childhood friend, ritsuko mukae, with whom kaoru immediately falls in love. when ritsuko says that she would love to hear kaoru and sen play together, kaoru begins to acquaint himself with jazz, too, and finds that it holds more magic than he expected. part classic coming-of-age drama, part love letter to the jazz genre, this series was, fun fact, directed by the man behind cowboy bebop and samurai champloo—so, like, if that isn’t a testament to its quality, i don’t know what is. it will make you cry, though. just warning you.

silver spoon (dir. tomohiko ito): desperate to escape the pressures of his home life, beleaguered honor student yuugo hachiken foresakes his chances of attending an elite tokyo high school and applies to ezonoo agricultural school in hokkaido. at first holding himself a rung above his peers, due to his perception of them as bumpkins who have never had to work hard academically due to their security as farmers, hachiken quickly learns that there’s a lot he doesn’t know, and he’ll have to work hard if he wants to keep up with his peers. though initially withdrawn, hachiken comes to make many new friends, and soon begins to take his studies seriously, earnestly trying to learn all he can about the world of agriculture and how it affects the lives of his friends. this series is easily something i’d call “the feel-good story of the decade,” but it also has many profound and emotional moments, and a hugely relatable protagonist in hachiken. it’s definitely a comedy, but at its heart, it’s one of those special series that kind of takes your hand and smiles at you and says, “yeah. i get it. i know how you feel. but it’s all right. life’s pretty fun, even if you don’t notice.”

hyouka (dir. yasehiro takemoto): to this day i’m still a bit stunned that kyoto animation managed to come out with something as good as hyouka, since it’s so different from their other works, but the truth is there. it’s simple, with a cast of only four characters and few recurring side ones; a subdued score using mostly public domain classical pieces, a quiet high school as the backdrop, a close and intimate portrait of the four kids it brings together. the PV actually does a fine job of introducing the characters—apathetic houtarou, inquisitive eru, cheerful satoshi, and caustic mayaka—so i won’t go into that too much. essentially, houtarou is urged by his sister to sign up for the classics club after no one else does, since it will be disbanded if it does not have at least one member. much to his surprise, someone else already has signed up by the time he does—a curious girl named eru with an insatiable appetite for mysteries. though houtarou lives by a philosophy of what he calls “energy conservation,” eru has a power over him (read: he has a big, beautiful crush on her) that compels him to go along with her antics, and his penetrating intellect doesn’t help much. satoshi, houtarou’s best friend, and mayaka, a childhood... acquaintance of houtarou’s, also join the club, and hyouka chronicles all of the things that happen to them over the course of their school year. when asked about the meaning behind the title (”hyouka” means “frozen dessert”), the author of the novels said, “the colour of youth is like ice cream. its many flavours are like the spectrum of a rainbow, but no matter how it tastes, what doesn’t change is its richness and flavour. another distinguishing feature of ice cream is the short time one has to eat it, and how we must take care to avoid polluting it. it’s just like how youth is full of numerous possibilities, but its fragile and limited energy is easily challenged by the outside world.” i think that probably speaks for itself in alluding to the bittersweet tone of the series. it really is one of my favorites.

and, because my fingers are getting tired: yu yu hakusho is my favorite shounen series by a mile and one of the few for which i highly recommend the dub—it’s long though, 100+ episodes, but worth every minute. i’ll be glad to go into why yyh specifically is the best in a separate post if anyone is interested bc hoo boy. uchouten kazoku season 1 is great and one of my favorites but season 2 was kind of eh to me. if you like action and tragic romance, kyoukai no kanata is my second-fave kyoani series after hyouka, though it does have some fanservicey bits and fetishy humor that kind of date it a little bit. and if you haven’t started boku no hero academia yet—PLEASE GET ON THAT; IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

and, of course, the anime of my heart and soul: lovely complex, a romcom about a tall girl and a short boy, and their arduous, hilarious, heart-melting journey from vitriolic best buds to lovers. hits all the right notes. no other shoujo compares. it’s a series that anyone and everyone can AND WILL enjoy.

i hope that’s enough to get you started! :’D pls let me know what you think if you watch any

#long post /#anonymous #ask #Anonymous

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inoue-takehiko-blog · 7 years

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Monthly Mangaka Spotlight 9: Takehiko Inoue

Hey gang, and welcome to the 9th installment of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, featuring Takehiko Inoue!

I will be completely honest starting from here. At first I decided to take Takehiko Inoue for two reasons. Firstly, I really want an excuse to read all the Vagabond again, it's a statement I feel I do not need to justify. Second, he had three famous manga enough to read my book not starting with an animal hunt. Also, Nate has made me read the Slam Dunk for years now and I thought writing an article about it would eventually bring this to the rest.

When you are best known for almost single-handedly popularizing a sport in your country, you can rest assured you probably did something noteworthy. Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk did just that, bringing basketball to national attention in Japan and winning awards from publishers, fans, and the Japanese Basketball Association along the way. A true fan of the sport, Inoue leveraged the popularity into the Slam Dunk Scholarship Program run by its publisher Shueisha. Not bad for only his third best manga.

Inoue spent just less than a year as an assistant, working with Hoko Tsukasa on City Hunter for 11 months. His first published work was Purple Maple in 1988, a simple short about Akagi, a high schooler, whose basketball team challenge his rivals in a regional tournament in a fight over a girl. Although his art was already exceptional, the simple plot was typical of a first work and showcased his obsession with basketball. Although Inoue himself has not confirmed it, many of Inoue’s fans consider Purple Maple the trial run for Slam Dunk.

Slam Dunk, a 31 volume series published between 1990 and 1996 Weekly Shonen Jump, is easily the series most synonymous with Inoue’s name and likely more than a little autobiographical in nature. Much like Inoue himself, the protagonist, Hanamichi Sakuragi, joins his school’s basketball team to impress a girl. Also like Inoue, Sakuragi is egotistical and fancies himself a prodigy at basketball before even playing his first game. Unlike Inoue--probably--he is extremely physically gifted, considered an unbeatable monster among the delinquents from his previous school.

The story of Slam Dunk is one of personal growth. Despite all his advantages, Sakuragi is forced to come to terms with the fact that personal strength will only get you so far and it takes dedicated work to become a great basketball player. Sakuragi learns humility and grows as a person all while the reader enjoys Shohoku’s triumphs, high school hijinks, and Inoue’s artwork during the period he really comes into his own as an artist. Although basketball is the vehicle upon which the story rides, what makes Slam Dunk so iconic is the strong characters and excellent pacing of the manga.

After Slam Dunk, Inoue began work on a manga i like to call “the Japanese Space Jam”. Buzzer Beater, a four volume series originally published in Monthly Shonen Jump, was Inoue’s third--and, in my opinion, last---series to focus on basketball. The manga had a much more flamboyant style and character design than Slam Dunk, taking place in a setting in which intergalactic alien teams dominate the sport of basketball. Hideyoshi Tanaka is an orphan living in New York who makes his living hustling people in street basketball who is drafted into the Earth’s team which may just have a chance at winning a championship.

During his work on Buzzer Beater, Inoue contemplated ending his career as a mangaka, feeling he had nothing else to contribute. One of his editors at Morning recommended he read the novel Miyamoto Musashi by Yoshikawa Eiji. While reading the book, Inoue felt the desire to draw the faces of the characters, which eventually resulted in his decision to write Vagabond. In retrospect, the shift from Slam Dunk to Vagabond seemed almost natural for Inoue. Sakuragi and Musashi are similar protagonists being young, egotistical prodigies, but Inoue’s Musashi is a force of nature.

An ongoing series first published in Weekly Morning in 1998, Vagabond chronicles the early life and development of the legendary Miyamoto Musashi from a wild boy to the greatest philosopher swordsman in the history of Japan. The series has the atmosphere of mythic quest, a series of individual, almost allegorical, lessons that Musashi must overcome to reach the next stage of his odyssey to become “invincible under the sun”. Inoue’s portrayal of Musashi is unique among both fictional and historical works. My personal theory is that Inoue is drawing upon the true archetypical force of Musashi, which must be enormously stressful for him. Inoue has put the series on hiatus a number of times due to health concerns without halting work on REAL.

REAL, an ongoing series published in Weekly Young Jump since 1999, is perhaps the most aptly named manga I have ever read, although Way Too Real may have been better. On the face of it, the manga seems to be about a number of characters related to the wheelchair basketball team named the Tigers, but basketball takes a back seat to the real theme of the series. Describing it as a more serious take on Slam Dunk is simply inaccurate. The closest comparisons I can conjure are to JUST Jude Law’s tumultuous character from the ‘90s science fiction film Gattaca or perhaps a perspective piece placing the reader in the shoes of Robin William’s character in Awakenings.

I don’t often like to discuss themes in manga because my experience studying authors has taught me that almost 100% of the time they are unintended if not entirely opposed to the author’s intentions. Even Inoue will admit that he never has a theme going into a particular work, but they tend to crystalize over the course of his writing and he is able to distinguish them in retrospect. With REAL, it's overcoming personal disaster, and the manga absolutely does not pull punches. In heartfelt series like One Piece, action and drama build to crescendos that crystalize into singular evocative moments, but REAL seems to touch upon that rarity in every chapter as it describes every small tragedy of the characters autonomy being taken away piece by piece and their fight, both with their personal hopelessness and with their new physical and social limitations, to take it back.

Inoue’s is a self-described egoist who endorses that personality type in his own works and therefore has paid close attention to his own development as a mangaka. Like many artists, he looks back at his earlier work with a feeling of embarrassment. He takes pride in his work, both in terms of quality and quantity, saying in one interview “One story is 150 frames. I've been known to make three in five hours”. He feels that in his early days as a mangaka, all he wanted to draw was “cool” things, but as he grew more mature he broadened the scope of his work, becoming drawn to illustrating ugly characters and portraying bad people.

Even early on it was plain to see that Inoue was going to become something special as an artist. The way he captured the movement of Shohoku’s players in action showed both his intrinsic understanding of the movement as a basketball player and a tremendous grasp of anatomy. Many of the most impactful panels in his works would not be possible without his mastery of portraying mood through shading and capturing emotion through expression. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is one of single most gifted artists in the industry. His illustration truly are art and are evocative in their own right, combined with his vivid characters, Inoue has produced some achingly beautiful moments. Inoue credits his use of a brush for the unique appearance of his art, stating that he began using one during Vagabond when he realized Musashi's rival, Kojiro Sasaki, could not be drawn with a pen.

To Inoue, story is second to characters. He has said that truly vivid characters will tell the story all by themselves. Each character requires that he draw something from himself and face the same challenges as them. Once he has a vivid character, he said, the story comes naturally as a result of their struggle. In that way, Inoue attempts to write each manga as if it were their documentary, with all the respect to the individual that entails. It’s easy to see how that may come naturally to him as so many of his characters likely face the same challenges as Inoue himself. Young and confident but uncertain about their futures, talented but forced to confront the fact that they will still have to work hard to succeed. To a one they realize they must overcome challenges to eventually meet the standards demanded by their high opinion of themselves.

With such a transcendent artistic talent, it is truly remarkable that Inoue’s writing could be considered equal to his illustrations. Although he humbly stated that he hadn’t thought himself good enough at art to become a fine artist, Inoue seems to have the opinion that creating manga is more difficult. Unlike artists, who must convey beauty on a canvas, with mangaka beauty is not enough, since they must create stories which must have meaning and entertain. In terms of raw work, only catching two hours of sleep a night when a deadline draws near, despite having a team of five assistants supporting you, Inoue certainly presents a strong argument. Much like his protagonists, Inoue’s ability is likely the result of tremendous talent honed to its absolute potential through an unbelievable amount of work. Only that could produce the works he has created.

Source: crunchyroll

#akehiko inoue

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