#Criminal Mangaka

[weebookey]

Criminal Manga Authors | a thread 🧵

with the controversial release of Rurouni Kenshin next week its an important time to shed light on Mangaka within the industry who have broken the law—varying from humorous to truly despicable… enjoy!

Nobuhiro Watsuki, possession of CSEM (Child Exploitation Material).

Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, violating Child Pr0stituti0n Laws.

Tatsuya Matsuki, Sexual-Assault against a Minor.

Kenya Suzuki, possession of CSEM (Child Exploitation Material).

Mamora Gouda, Assault & Indecent Behaviour against a Woman.

Kyarakyara Macchiato, Segsual-Assault towards a Minor.

Dodai Shouji, Seggual-Assault against a Minor.

Taro Ichikuira, distribution of CSEM (Child Exploitation Material).

Issei Sagawa; M*rder, R*pe, C*nnib*lism.

Toyokazu Matsunaga, Political Death Threats.

Kazuichi Hanawa, possession of modified weaponry.

Takeshi Obata, unlawful driving + illegal possession of knife.

END OF THREAD!

[saltytearsofjoy]

My god Jigokuraku did a much better job sympathizing with the criminals and writing them good endings than BNHA did 😭😭 jgkrk’s ending always felt surprising cause it was much happier than any other dark shonen I’d read, and now it has a more hopeful ending than My Corny Academia???

[bayleafpaprika]

thinking about how Oda chosing Luffy, a pirate, to be the protagonist of One Piece may be one of the most brilliant story moves by any shonen mangaka ever. by virtue of its main character being an in-world criminal, OP naturally lends itself to becoming a story about the exposure of a society festering with corruption for what it really is, and the dismantling of a dystopia and its propagandist facade. you simply do not get a story like that with a shonen protagonist who conforms to or tolerates the shitty system they're born into

[sherylhooper]

Now that BNHA is ending, I can finally say.... I didn't care about LoV at all, lmao. I didn't care about Shigaraki (kinda pitied little Tenko, sure), didn't care about Toga at all, didn't care about Spinner, Dabi, Compress, etc. Mind you Overhaul was more interesting with his "end the quirks cuz they are desease (kinda turned out true from AFO and Yoichi's backstory)".

People calling mangaka bad writer just because most of the criminals died and faced consequncws of their action and weren't "integrated into the society" (as if they hadn't killed hundreds of people) to live their "sunshine and rainbow lives" and how dare mangaka only make it seem like only children deserve to be saved and not villains...

How delusional are you, people? They were fucking murderers! Young or not, abused or not, shamed or not, discarded or not, they killed people! Do ya'll know how many serial killers had horrible childhood and were abused as children? Should we make it okay for them to roam the street juat for that and discard all the crimes they did?

"Just because it's realistic, doesn't mean that mangaka wrote it well, they deserved better" 🙄

And I say death for most of them was mercy and deserved to rot in Tartaros, end of story.

(LOV lovers dni, cuz I see one word and I'm gonna block your delusional selves)

[evercelle]

hey ever, just curious if you've ever been into assassination classroom bc i would say karmagisa is basically Knife Romance but are criminally underrated. tbf, the entire plot involves getting stabby but i think you might love them a lot (this is not a ploy to get you to cook up food for a niche fandom... i swear)

ive heard of assassination classroom but havent read it! koro-sensei has a very distinctive design, so it's always been slightly on my radar lol. actually, i've been watching elusive samurai this season, so i've also just been informed it's the same mangaka...?!

i'll put it on the to-watch list! can't resist a good stabbing, though no promises on cooking any food :')

[stackslip]

Something I’ve noticed on Twitter wrt mangaka is how people will either completely deny they’re into xyz thing they obviously have a kink for because they think it taints the work (Fujimoto being a prime example of this) or completely reduce them to Epstein and Diddy jokes.

it's because people don't see irl incest and csa as forms of oppression and harm that make the world a worse place and destroy lives, but as objects of primarily moral disgust that they can joke about to distance themselves from as an "ewww, everyone look at this and groan with us" point not an actual harm to combat. alternatively, it's because they think incestuous abuse and csa only happen because someone has Weird Kinks or has written a bad fic or something, not bc the nuclear family and the legal/cultural status of minors allows young people to be easily abused and discarded with little fear of repercussions. as for the jokes about diddy and epstein, wait til people find out that most abusers don't get away with it because they're rich conspirators, but because their friends and family will cover for them and pressure victims--you don't want daddy/the pastor/cousin robbie to go to jail, do you? hell, most trafficking victims in these cases have been sold by their families. it's almost like most csa happens via people the child already knows and trusts.

when it comes to people like fujimoto they think it's impossible for an author to have a kink AND to think of the real life implications of the abuses depicted, but mysteriously everyone knows that just because kojima thinks military shit is cool as hell it doesn't do anything to diminish the anti imperialist and anti war messages in his work. and besides they love making jokes about their favourite fictional war criminals bc sexual abuse is a Real And Serious Thing That Happens as opposed to war crimes apparently which Never Happens To Anyone.

anyhow i've already complained about these kind of losers. they'll happily go after some rando trans person online for tweeting/posting a fantasy about a fictional sister and cry about how she's single handedly responsible for incestuous abuse while combing through her sexual life to have her exposed and shamed to thousands, and that apparently doesn't count as sexual harassment in any way. and then maybe they'll hear she's a csa victim and a few of them will go "oh wow i'm sowwy i didn't know she was a *victim* trying to *cope*, but nevertheless couldn't she have done so more privately? why didn't she get therapy? it's not like that art LOOKED like vent art it looked like fetish" after having told their minor followers to go gawk at her sexual life and gasp in shock with them at how much of a freak she supposedly is.

anyhow nobody owes you an explanation for their Bad Kinks. there's horny stuff i find tasteless and dislike (ask me about why i didn't bother to go past the first chapter of dandandan), as long as they are not materially harming anybody--who cares. your moral disgust and shock is not actual inflicted harm! you acting on said disgust to try to ruin lives and convince your teen followers that they are surrounded by sex pests and that sexual predators can be spotted bc of their weird kinks/tastes in fiction and nothing else is doing more harm than anything a so-called "weirdo" who enjoys momson hentai doujinshi in a corner ever will and i stand on that

[oshiawaseni]

Trails of Love Hori's been paving down in the build up for the series' ending

Part II: Decoding the love story being told through other characters

Part One | II. Compress | Part Two -> KiriMina

.•° ✿ 2. Gentle & La Brava ೋღ

Gentle and La Brava are classic portrayals of the archetype known in Japan as "baka couple" - a couple that dotes on each other and are very openly affectionate. By juxtaposing the baka couple with Izuku and Katsuki, who keep their true feelings for each other close to their chests, Horikoshi is highlighting the tension and ambiguity going on between bkdk even more.

This tale is the evolution of my feelings towards Gentle/La Brava.

Their introduction was, very... unexpected. Izuku had just finished his tough fight against Overhaul. Nothing much was going on at the time and it had been quite a while since Izuku and Katsuki had interacted with each other.

Shortly after Gentle and La Brava's introduction to the series, BkDk development ramps up and Izuku's "Control your heart" character arc begins. Isn't that interesting..?

The very first time I watched Gentle/La Brava's story in Season Four, something seemed so... misplaced about them.

Their vibe felt filler-ish and because of the school festival side plot going on, their appearance was more like a filler inside of a filler. Yet, Horikoshi had indeed written them into BNHA. These two characters felt so strange when compared with Hori's usual characters. Even downright silly. They were criminals, but they weren't even that bad..? Tea? U.A? They loved each other?

I just couldn't quite work out their purpose in the grand scheme of things and I quickly gave up trying to.

Izuku has no regard for himself? He's crazy? Don't get entangled with him? These lines scream out KATSUKI KATSUKI KATSUKI and how he had felt towards Izuku for years. It seems Hori projected Katsuki's issues with Izuku onto LB/G over 100 chapters before Katsuki verbalised them himself. Going back, now knowing they were written for BkDk is a new experience in and of itself.

Around the time of Katsuki's death, a few theories were floating around on twitter, saying that Gentle and La Brava were put in the manga to highlight what's going on with BkDk. At the time of hearing these theories, I never expected they'd be making a return to the story in the final arc, it had broke my brain thinking about them the first time, so I didn't give this theory too much thought... but when they showed up a second time, in the final act, I really wish I had.

Because as I was reading the things they were now saying the second time around, and being more open to this theory about them, all I could see in my head were visions of everything Izuku and Katsuki had ever done for each other. It had finally clicked:

God, Hori did invent these characters to be the voice of BkDk.

These were the new lines in question that sent my head spiralling about the magnificent truth of this theory:

"Are you still fighting to protect someone's smile?!" It made me think of Katsuki, how Izuku was fighting for Katsuki's sake! To keep him safe, so he'll come back to him, energetic, alive, red eyes shining again with the passion that Izuku loves so much, and his face brimming with confidence and that wonderful, infectious smile of his that tells, no, shouts to everyone that he knows he's a winner.

"My only happiness was the thought of you at my side" Immediately made me think of Katsuki's last moments and thinking of Izuku when he knew, he just KNEW he was going to die. And his thoughts of Izuku - wanting to be the hero that Izuku loves, so he could feel that love when he needed it most, these feelings surrounded and filled his entire heart like a comforting, soft, warm blanket. These feelings are what got him through everything until the end.

This one made me cry because Izuku was his happiness at his very end. And I finally saw Horikoshi, the mangaka who cares about BkDk more than anyone! I saw what he was doing!

"The time we spent apart made our love even stronger." was like a ray of hope for me because every time they had a separation, BkDk's love grew even stronger. It meant that this separation caused by Kacchan's death would some day have an end too, where afterwards, they would be free to love each other for all the world to see.

Can you see it? Katsuki and Izuku were always meant to end up together, and La Brava and Gentle were meant to help show readers what they feel, without BkDk necessarily saying it themselves.

If Izuku's love of Kacchan is what got him a power up every time (OFA, Black Whip, Danger Sense), then this ultimate power of La Brava's must be the same for Katsuki too. Because it is his love for Izuku that gave him a quirk awakening. (And there's another great theory that their deep bond and immense love for each other is what connected Katsuki to Izuku's OFA, as well. So Gentle La Brava are connected via Love... and Katsuki and Izuku are connected via love!)

Let's say from the very beginning of BNHA, Horikoshi's idea was to gradually bring BkDk closer and closer, adding in little details here and there that don't make much sense on their own and are never expanded upon. Because he couldn't make their feelings known in the early/mid game... but he wanted to have them romance-ready at the end game.

Hori would have had a basic outline for the ways he was going to develop BkDk's relationship and he knew he needed a lot of 3rd party help to really spell out their relation to each other in the future. So Hori created Gentle and La Brava for this singular purpose. They exist to help verbalise Katsuki and Izuku's unsaid feelings! It's a perfect marriage between Gentle/La Brava's words and BkDk's actions.

And once people realised that Hori was doing this, they could then go back to the dialogues and connect the dots with other BkDk scenes as well, for example, Katsuki's abduction by the LOV in season three.

In a scene where Katsuki is taken away, Izuku's emotional pain is palpable. His deafening scream shocks not only his classmates, but a lot of viewers too. Because of his deeply emotional reaction and later scenes displaying symptoms of PTSD, this seemingly one-sided affection that Izuku has towards Katsuki, raised so many questions about their relationship for me. And as the series progressed, the mystery of Izuku's powerful feelings and need for Katsuki only deepened further. It feels like La Brava's dialogues were written into the series, just to verbalise what these overwhelming moments were truly like for Izuku.

This can't be just a coincidence. There are just too many parallels between BkDk and Gentle/La Brava to even count.

If you've read my twitter thread on the Gentle/La Brava vs BkDk parallels and how incredibly similar Izuku and La Brava's backgrounds are, but you're still sceptical about this theory, then going on this journey of Hori's trails with me may help convince you that Hori was going to make BkDk canon no matter what and that he's been using other characters to narrate the feelings of BkDk's actions.

In the future, I hope to show you how instrumental Gentle and La Brava were in expressing Horikoshi's vision.

Because there are more layers to Gentle and La Brava's arc than a damn rainbow cake. And I'm still not finished with these two yet, but that is a topic for a later post. Next up, KiriMina!

Part Two -> KiriMina

II. Compress Back to Part One

[codenamesazanka]

im gonna blow up like legitimately what was the point of this manga... this is so bleak

I'm willing to give Horikoshi some slack because he has stated numerous times he wanted to finish the story, he was literally destroying his arm drawing every week, if he wanted to choose the quickest way out of the resolution that's his call. But not too much slack.

Point of the manga is to sell copies of the magazines by hooking readers on week after week with chapters that generate buzz, and do so by overworking mangakas and their assistants. So I think that definitely contributes. But probably not that much.

But I think ultimately the point of the story was to uphold Good Guys Heroes not matter what, and center the saving less on the villains/victims and their needs and more on how brave and cool and compassionate Heroes are for willing to save evil scum. But they can't be too evil, or they don't deserved to be saved. But they also can't be saved too much else that's letting criminals off the hook. So we're left with 'I will hold your hand to comfort you to let you know I don't think you're an evil freak because you're pitiful, but you gotta die after this.'

[merakiui]

Oooh now that we are talking about mangakas, what about a TWST boy who writes novels under a pseudonym. They are essentially erotic thrillers and your friends always joke that the main love interest is very similar to you. Of course, there’s lots of people who live alone in a dingy apartment and work as a barista, but the similarities don’t stop there. The love interest has a similar personality and appearance with you. (1/2)

(2/2) what is most eerie is that they share a particular mark on your skin that ppl wouldn’t see when you have your clothes on, your preferred sleeping position, even the exact type of laundry detergent you use. Sometimes you wonder if all of this is truly just a weird coincidence…Also! I’ve sent so many concepts and asks recently (I think some might have gotten eaten by tumblr 😞) so could I be 🌸anon? (If there isn’t one already)

Oh no, I just checked to it anon list and there already is a 🌸 anon 😞 Hmmm, could I be Amethyst anon instead?

- - -

OOOOO THIS CONCEPT WITH ROLLO........ imagine he's taken a dozen pictures of you so that he can better describe you in his novels. Memory isn't nearly as helpful as photographs. They're all pinned on a board above his desk, each one taken at various times and days. Sometimes you're fully clothed and sitting on a park bench reading. Other times you're making the commute home from your barista job. A lot of the photos are taken at covert angles, and some of them even depict you naked or getting dressed. Rollo treasures these the most. Not only do they help him write better sex scenes with you, they're also very nice to look at (and masturbate to, but that's neither here nor there).

Omg and maybe for his next upcoming novel he intends to kidnap you so he'll be able to better portray the dynamic between the kidnapper and the kidnapped. >:) aaaaaaa and he's so good at writing creepy, erotic thrillers. So many people enjoy his work, but Rollo's only doing it to sate his own desires so he won't act rashly or criminally. But it's so difficult to peer in on your life and not be part of it. :( he wants to touch you for real instead of penning such a desire on the page.

(And you may absolutely be amethyst anon!!! :D I look forward to seeing you in my inbox. <3 hopefully tumblr won't eat more of your asks and that they will always send through!!!)

[dramatcha]

No, the Netflix live action (adaptation) doesn't butcher Chishiya's backstory. The two different backstories are relevant in explaining apathy.

(And as a manga reader who respects the mangaka (edit: and the scriptwriters), I see Live Action Chishiya and Manga Chishiya as two separate yet equally cool characters).

Apathy is rooted from a damaging childhood and a traumatizing adulthood.

This apathy is the reason why both Manga Chishiya and Live Action Chishiya seemed "unbothered", when they were actually almost mentally numb.

For apathy to start (with no neurological causes), one must be either an abused kid, or a traumatized and burned out adult, or both.

The emotional abuse that Manga Chishiya had to endure was killing him on the inside. So much that he chose medicine out of spite (although he said otherwise), and deteriorated.

While we don't know what made Live Action Chishiya chose medicine, the fact remains that he didn't do anything to save his patients from being manslaughtered and let it slide as an everyday decision.

Aren't these two the cases of apathy? Aren't these two backstories enough to explain that both Chishiyas are morally complicated?

No? Then let me explain more.

The post-Borderland consequences of the two different backstories matter in different ways for Chishiya.

Manga Chishiya would have to heal his inner wounded child and make up for his immoral act against his dying patient (the letter throwing), and for disregarding life (his and others). Maybe he would quit medicine as he rediscovers himself. Maybe he would be a better med student and then doctor. Maybe he would cut ties with his family. I don't know.

Meanwhile, Live Action Chishiya would have to come to terms with the fact that he was a gaslit, powerless adult who conspired with criminals in a series of manslaughter. Maybe he'd be a whistleblower. Possibly jailed. Made an outcast. Hated by the public and the patients. Or, he could become an anonymous whistleblower while recovering. Again, I don't know.

And the point is they both matter.

Also, no, the live action doesn't try to "make Chishiya more palatable to the public" as accused by some fellow manga readers, imho.

Because even in real life, complicit whistleblowers are shunned. Let alone a criminal. And what Chishiya did in the live action, no matter how decent a doctor he might've seemed at the start, was immoral and criminal.

So how can you call Live Action Chishiya "more morally palatable", when he did worse things than Manga Chishiya?

Instead of chasing palatability, the live action inserts an ongoing social problem into the character. There's a current debate in the ethics, medical and social research circles (for example in Germany) whether manipulation of organ transplant waitlist is considered manslaughter or organizational deviance. People actually die while waiting for their organ transplants, so when the waitlist is manipulated, isn't that a crime? I'm thankful that the show attached this complicated real time issue to Chishiya.

Child abuse and its long-lasting effects on children (the case of Manga Chishiya) will always be relevant. But so will the moral weight of taking lives (the case of Live Action Chishiya).

Last but not least, at the end of the day, didn't both Manga Chishiya and Live Action Chishiya want to change? Didn't they both save an innocent life? Why must it matter how they started out as long as they both emerged in the light?

Thanking user @kinnsporsche for their post.

Edited for grammatical reasons, clarity and more arguments.

[magpiesbones]

I’ve never read or watched bnha (mostly because fanservice give me hives) but I am adjacent enough and have friends who are obsessed with it and. FRANKLY. it is CRIMINAL that bnha has the Most Interesting Character Setup Of All Time and then wastes her.

I am talking about Todoroki Fuyumi, of course. She should, logically, be the main character.

She should be the main character, for ease of writing and plot, because she is THE CLOSEST to almost all themes while being enough of an outsider to allow for some exposition. She also lives a thematically insane life. And she’s a side character! At best! HOW.

like okay first off: she has been a failure since birth, and not for gender reasons but for OTHER REASONS inherent to her genetics. Fantastic setup to explore parental neglect. She has been the mother figure in a survival mode family since her mother was institutionalized. How old could she really have been, ten? Thirteen at the most? THESE THINGS FUCK PEOPLE UP. You could have explored the ways in which Fuyumi believes that because she is ignored, if everyone else tried they too could escape physical abuse, which is, you know, a fucked up way to think. Eldest daughter syndrome to the maximum. Not only that but she literally knows her father is capable of pushing her siblings so hard they die. This is fucked up knowledge to have. We could have explored atypical responses to abuse.

She has very close experience with the idea that actually not all Heroes are good people, yet still believes in the institution. Incredibly thematically dense there. We can also connect this back to her home dynamic— Heroism isn’t a flawed system, criminals just need to try harder, like her siblings maybe, and Not Get Attention. This could be INCREDIBLY GOOD.

I’m frankly unclear on whether or not Dabi is her twin or not. Either way, what better plot twist is ‘our father’s abuse made my brother a villain and almost killed him’ I think this would definitely fuck her up a little. Or a lot. More than she was already, you see. Also, the sheer amount of parallels you could make in this situation. None of them were ever considered because the mangaka thinks women are ineffective and More Background Of Characters Than Men, but the possibilities are endless. I’m envisioning a situation where she realizes that Dabi does the same shit as her father thus rendering the hero/villain dichotomy essentially meaningless, and/or confronts Either Of Them with this information. That would require Fuyumi to have had character development enough to confront someone, and bc she is Fawn Response The Character, probably unlikely.

I am Very Much Aware that Fuyumi has a quirk and the quirk is Ice, not very powerful, etc. but how fucked up would it be if SHE got all for one and kept it Very Much A Secret. Fuyumi is now pitted against her littlest brother and discovering her Inner Potential For Extreme Violence at the same time, something that has no potential at all for going very very badly. Please picture this with me: Fuyumi is making dinner for the brother who they BOTH know is pitted against All Mights Successor, whoever they may be, and he is telling her all about his quirkless friend who is breaking records at his school etc etc. and she knows that once he graduates their father will put him against her in the publicity battle to the death, which she has decided she is Very Very Mad About. However I honestly think this shouldn’t happen. Quirk transference should be treated like a Later plot twist after you really get Used to the idea that a quirk is Inherent and unchangeable. This should shake her DEEPLY and ideally she should learn About All For One after the Hawks Reveal (child trafficking).

I don’t know if it’s canon whether or not Natsuo has a quirk. If he doesn’t this effectively renders Midoriya’s character moot, because here is a MUCH closer way to talk about quirklessness in this society. What’s Fuyumi’s take on this as de facto mother. What’s Fuyumi’s take on this as abused child? lots to think about.

The whole Eugenics Thing that endeavor is doing is pretty glossed over in the manga to my understanding. It is however SO fucked up, first of all, and second of all. The Implications this has on Fuyumi as endeavors only child (Canonically) capable of bearing children. How powerful is her quirk actually? Is she as powerful as Dabi but with ice? Would she ever let her father know if she was (was she hiding her power deliberately or subconsciously)? Do we think he was arranging her marriage before Shouto was born and he had his own success. What are Fuyumi’s thoughts on this whole Thing. I think Fuyumi would have a VERY nuanced take on abortion rights and no fault divorce.

What does Midoriya Izuku have? Plot armour? The power of friendship? A heroics hyperfixation? Does canon have a singular consistent theme tied to Midoriya, In Particular?

I realize that most of the fandom fucking hates Fuyumi, sometimes more than endeavor (why?), but she seems to be someone both Very selfless (she’s a teacher (I think), presumably salaried, who still lives in her parents house with her underage and severely abused brother and the abusive father, despite having the means and the societal pressure to move out) and VERY aware of the Power Dynamics in that house. Whether or not she genuinely believes that her brothers could manage to make peace with their father or if that is a peacemaking tactic, she’s clearly got Some Thoughts about her duty, responsibility in general, et cetera, that would have been literally fascinating to explore. Storytellingwise, I think it would be fascinating if this started as a genuine beleif that she had some character development about and then began using as a coping mechanism until she got enough character development to actually experience anger.

Just HOW do you accidentally create a character with THIS MUCH potential and then completely ignore her except as (it sounds like) a minor antagonist to a secondary protagonist. When she is SO perfectly placed to be the protagonist, in a fun little antihero type of way.

[faketokufan]

Now that we’re finally to the premier of King-Ohger, I think it’s time I gave my piece on what DonBrothers was really about... Every season has it’s themes and Donbrothers is a little hard to pin down, but I think I got it nailed down.

Donbrothers is about bonds. More specifically it’s about Taro’s bonds, and how he grows them from passing acquaintances into the true family he desperately wants.

In the beginning. All Taro had were superficial and surface level. His coworkers, the old man at the Oden stand... and the people he would deliver packages to.

This was all he had. These small bonds that he would put so much weight behind because he didn’t know that they weren’t real. He was naïve and fully ready to believe that these were what real bonds were. Surface level and transient. 

But now lets look at the bonds of the other Donbrothes at the start of the series.

Haruka’s entire social standing was based on her manga. Once that fell through, all of her bonds broke. Her friends, her fans, even her boyfriend all turned on her overnight. Her bonds were shallow and spread thin, all balanced precariously on her status as a mangaka.

Saruhara didn’t really have any bonds, though for him it was by design. His Wabi Sabi lifestyle and detachment from the world around him left him isolated and alone. Alone in his big house (which like... how did he afford that?) Sure he had customers who came to him for advice but... no friends, no family, no bonds. 

Kijino only had his Miho. His one and only bond that consumed his entire being. Kijino gave everything he was and everything he had to the one person he had in his life. He lived for his bond with Miho... Which left him utterly alone otherwise. His coworkers hardly noticed him. He had no friends to speak of. Without Miho he was nothing... And when it turned out there was no Miho, there really wasn’t a Kijino.

On the other hand there’s Tsubasa, the other side of Kijino’s coin. Like Kijino he gave everything for one bond. One connection that he lived his life for. Only unlike Kijino, his was real and he lost it. While Kijino reveled in something he found, Tsubasa languished in something he lost. Tsubasa is broken, just as broken as his bond.

Then there’s Jiro...

... yeah...

Each of them either lost their bonds to those they held closest to their hearts, or they were never real to begin with. These are all broken and lonely people separated by circumstance and misfortune. 

Then, along came a peach.

Floating down the riverbend.

And inside that peach was a young boy.

That young boy was raised by a kind old man and grew into a fine hero...

Who forged many bonds.

And touched many lives. 

Donbrothers is a mess of a story about extra dimensional beings that eat human thoughts and the age old civil war that now spills into the human world. About monsters taking human skin and about twisted desires running out of control... Its about Don Killers, Don Killer Killers, Shark Swords, True Heroes, The Dragon Fires, First Love Heroes, Wabi Sabi, run away criminals, delivery men, cafe’s, true love, fated rivalries, the Nato and the Donbrothers...

And it’s also about 6 broken people who found a way to be a little less broken by fitting their pieces together. 

A true win for the ages.

[bluehairlaunch]

7 Dragon Ball Villains that could've carried their own arc

Honorable mention, Sorbet. So I enjoy Frieza as much as the next guy, but his wacky and colorful Frieza Force is what firmly places the Namek Saga over the Cell Saga in my mind. Like they're all such memorable characters that I even like Cui ffs. However, let's be real, none of these guys could carry their own arc. At their heart, they're all followers (all except good ol' Geets). Maybe before their recruitment they had more ambition and determination, but when faced with Frieza's insurmountable power, they ultimately all bent over and bowed.

Sorbet is an odd example, because he is definitely a follower as well, although when the power vacuum that is Frieza and King Cold's death opened up, he didn't turn away. He instead took charge and kept the Planet Trade Organization afloat for DECADES, despite being a koala-man with a power level that I'm sure rivals Appule at best.

The only reason he's not on the list proper is because when we finally get to see Sorbet in action, he's trying to pass the torch back to Frieza. He still gets major points tho for leading as long as he did

Spoilers: no one else from Super is on this list, even though a filler character is

Monster Beast Giran

Look, I'm not saying Giran could've carried his own saga, but if Dragon Ball had been written by a more traditional shonen mangaka instead of a gag artist, he probably would've been the Big Bad of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. And yes, I'm using his added characterization from filler scenes in the anime to make my point.

A milk drinking brute with a voracious appetite and a deep-seated hatred of heroes, this absolute unit was unfortunately no match for Goku in canon, but his hulking appearance and quirky personality (at least in the anime) always stuck out to me. In my generic re-write of this arc, a majorly buffed Giran faces Jackie Chun instead, and defeats him. He then faces and almost defeats Goku in the final, but Goku transforms into a real monster beast for the win, and that's that

Yea I won't be trying to retell the story for the rest of these entries

Raditz

It says a lot about the quality of Toriyama's villains that Goku's evil brother from space is a mere speed bump on the road to the real top dog of the Saiyan Saga. This dude is so fucking sexy and such a piece of shit that I can't help but imagine what he could've gotten himself into if only he had more screentime

Staff Officer Black

I know Toriyama loves subverting expectations and that's one of the things I so greatly enjoy about Dragon Ball, but c'mon. Commander Black of the Black Ribbon Army would've been... so so sooo cool. The dude's a true believer, actually loyal to his men, and idk what Red did to become the leader over him, but he seems to have been the real brains behind the operation. Dragon Ball Online brought back Commander Red as a cyborg and all I'm asking is why not Staff Officer Black instead?

Turles

Aight so Tree of Might isn't the greatest movie, I'd even say it's mid at best, but it also has amazing ideas. The Tree of Might? Neat, inspired, scary, and also drawn from Journey to the West lore. Turles? Sexy tan Goku, what's not to like? His Crusher Corps? Don't get me started on his Crusher Corps, because they all have their own story, which was included in extraneous material, but not the movie itself.

Amond, the big guy? Yea he was an intergalactic criminal that was arrested by the Galactic Patrol until he was freed by Turles. Daiz was the Prince of the Pukimpa Dynasty that led his planet's army against Turles, but was defeated, then recruited for fighting so bravely. Cacao was a cyborg built to fight an interstellar war before he fucked off to become a bounty hunter and eventually join the Crusher Corps. Rasin and Lakasei were fossils resurrected by Turles using extract from the Tree of Might.

Fuck, Turles himself is a low-class Saiyan warrior that somehow found or stole the holy Seeds of Might, which were reserved for Kai. When I was a kid my older brother told me (read, lied to me lol) that Saiyans were all test tube babies grown from different strains and that's the difference between low medium and elite saiyans and why he and Goku are almost identical. Like, that's not true, but there's a lotta fleshing out you could do with Turles to make him and his potential saga more compelling

Demon King Dabura

Ruler of a shadowy demon realm for thousands of years with a power level that equals Perfect Cell, Demon King Dabura is also... the bitch of a tiny bitchy wizard? Yup, that's Toriyama all right.

So lemme start by saying that this guy gets so little credit he's not even in Fighterz, despite having a cool sword and a huge canon moveset. He also looks... well tbh, he doesn't look as awesome to adult me as he did to kid me, but he's still neat looking. I like his horns and his funky glamrock outfit. He also probably had his own Dabura Force filled with edgy evul henchmen (including Shula from that filler episode, who I'm pretty sure inspired Dabura's creation) that could've easily filled an entire saga.

It says a lot that Raditz isn't the lead of his saga, but imo it says way more that Toriyama created an entire evil universe opposite the regular universe ruled over by this baritone Satan and he's just a footnote. It also says a lot about Dragon Ball Heroes that instead of trying it's own thing, it digs up Toriyama's fossilized spittle and creates Mira, Towa, and Kabuto from Naruto.

Mercenary Tao Pai Pai

Ok so I'm biased, because this flamboyant bastard is easily one of my favorite villains, and that's including everything, not just Dragon Ball or comics. He oozes so much style that I'm not even sure how you could stretch him out into an entire arc, but it doesn't matter, because he could make it work. The dude can make watching someone else shop for clothes compelling ffs, so as far as I'm concerned, Tao could've been the villain for the whole of Dragon Ball and it'd be just or almost as good as what we actually got

His shirt says Kill You! he's seriously the best don't @ me

Dr. Gero

Mustache

Yes, I know he was supposed to be the Big Bad, but Toriyama's former editor didn't think an old man in baggy pants and a fat clown could carry their own arc, but they're wrong damn it! Just look at him

[thryth-gaming]

Characters played in TTRPGs since 2000

I'm reposting this to my gaming blog. I'm updating it and I'm also going to mark which ones I've got Hero Forge minis of. I probably won't catch them all, there've been a few games in the last 23 years.

Definitely didn't catch all of them, but here's quite a few.

Campaign

D&D 3.5

Angwiel - snake-person (elf mechanically) Sorcerer/Cleric

Jhessail Crackstone - wererat (hengeyokai mechanically) Paladin/Rogue

Kya'Rei L'Di'Shinabon - Drow Ranger/Cleric

Yroling Xian'ri - hengeyokai cleric

Teryna - human (reincarnated fox familiar) ranger

Medora - human sorcerer/disciple of Medusa (homebrew prestige class)

Lheru - hengeyokai (spider) druid

D&D 5e

Shui Baenre - half-drow Lore Bard acolyte (child of Liriel Baenre and Fyodor of Rasheman) - Phandelver

Aisha Yethtai - tiefling knight in silver battlemaster - Storm Giant's Thunder/Dragon Heist (Hero Forge mini exists)

Weary - tiefling monster slayer - Curse of Strahd (Hero Forge mini exists)

Zihu - Yuan-ti Celestial Warlock (ancient couatl) Acolyte - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Zohuital - Yuan-ti Celestial Warlock (lillend sisters) Hermit - homebrew

Ranveig - scourge aasimar soldier valor bard - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Kanti Messner - Changeling Lore Bard/Celestial Warlock (Book of Exalted Deeds) - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Aramis Hopps - Harengon Drunken Master/Mastermind Charlatan - homebrew

Caress Melani - Yuan-ti Ancients Paladin, Courtesan of Sharess - Phandelver/Hoard of Dragon Queen (Hero Forge mini exists)

Proper Ruin - Yuan-ti Battlesmith, Lyceum Scholar - Netherdeep, (Hero Forge mini exists)

Mariah the Blue - Variant Human Draconic Sorcerer city investigator

Nesali - yuan-ti archaeologist Beast Barbarian, full of anxiety and self-esteem issues - Candlekeep (Hero Forge mini exists)

Nishan Domine - yuan-ti mercenary Totem Barbarian, tranquil fury, battlefield redecoration

Teena Valle - halfling Inquisitive rogue... died to a vampire in one session

Karen Essakye - Seattle resident githyanki law student turned scout rogue stuck in Ravenloft

Pathfinder 1e

Ide Shika - Human Fighter/Chevalier - Rise of the Runelands (Hero Forge mini exists)

Ahriah - Tiefling Witch - Homebrew

Pathfinder 2e

Sevic Rasitoria - Fetchling Beastkin (Bat) - Swashbuckler (Gymnast), Anathema Vaults

Vihra of Charity - Vishkanya Scalekeeper, Witch (Faith's Flamekeeper), Season of Phoenix - Urban Fantasy merger of Season of Ghosts and Fist of the Ruby Phoenix

Fabula Ultima

Only - Rogue/Tinkerer/Wayfarer - An uplifted harpy trying to uplift her species.

Scion 1e

Sang-Yoon Koga - The Trickster Fox, Las Vegas magician, daughter of Susano'o.

Juri Como - Daughter of Benzaitan, The Great Mangaka, "Social Ninja", Expert at Obfuscating Stupidity (Hero Forge mini exists)

Delilah Samson - Child of Loki, shapeshifter, illusionist, ex-cop, private eye, assistant to Hel (in her guise as a mortal lawyer)

Sa - Dark avenger, brutal slayer of criminals. [redacted]

Scion 2e

Lily Watson - Child of Inari, brat, tomb raider, reckless and selfish

Hilde Sifgard - Child of Sif, youtube daredevil

City of Mist

Patricia Althius - war vet, PTSD, vampire vigilante, daughter to a family of war profiteers and generations of shady dealings. Rift of Count of Monte Cristo/Lamashtu (Hero Forge mini exists)

Random - lab rat, feral teen, Rift of the Movie Monster, non-binary and ace AF (Hero Forge mini exists)

Indira Yi - Rift of Arthur Dent, streaming journalist, improbably lucky.

Fate

Katrina Stnad/Voivode Valeria Draculesti/The Wallachian - doctor, martial artist, ex-terrorist. Steampunk/Dieselpunk game.

Irene Breholm - Divine Blood game, dhampir, sidhe, born to the Breholm Sorcerer family... kinda a big civilian dork in over her head.

Jocasta - Sorceress, librarian, daughter of a Greco-Japanese crime family who just wants out. Constantly getting kidnapped. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Hero System

Megumi Morisato, aka "Greyskin" - dimensional phaser, tank, really damn hard to bring down, geeky fangirl with lots of superhero historical knowledge and trivia. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Cadynce Baker / Nya'd'cebrac - demon of blessings and protection, one sister of a paired set of demons, her sister being the spear to her shield. Professional game designer. (Hero Forge mini exists)

BESM 3rd

The Wallachian - see Fate, that campaign started in BESM and moved to Strands of Fate later.

Himura Tai-Wen - NSFW campaign, oni lady with lots of girlfirends ended up ascending to higher plane of existence.

Water Tribe Swordsman whose name I forget in Avatar game

Shadowrun

Keina Isawa - Oni shinto magician, wanted to be an idol singer, ended up a shadowrunner instead. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Lacey Chambers - human adept (social/pistol) spy, burned (Hero Forge mini exists)

Leyti - Finnish Changeling (foxlady) mystic adept, bar owner, fixer. uncertain on the name

Legend of Five Rings - 4th Edition

Moto Hotaru - born a scorpion, trained a shinobi, married a unicorn, became a diplomat, died to the Kargat, but tricked them into doing things that scuttled their operations in the area.

Chronicles of Darkness

Emma Terreal - Sin-Eater/Geist, bank accountant suffocated in a bank vault during a robbery. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Suzume Armitage - A young woman unknowingly a creation of magic.

Annika Walsh - engineer working on the space elevator

Key 13 - (Shadowrun setting with CofD rules) street samurai with experimental soul-active implants.

Monster of the Week

Niamh Miller - The Searcher, a teenager on the swim team who experienced a cosmic insight and is now eager to explore the supernatural.

One-Shots/Short-Runs

Monster of the Week

Whisp, The Libram of Whispered Prayers - The Talisman, a sentient magical book who can take human form.

Persia Mason - The Changeling, a teenaged gorgon living at a secret agency for monitoring supernatural things. (Hero Forge mini exists)

D&D 5e

Meesha Canidae - Shifter Merchant Diviner, socially awkward but unaware of it. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Valaine the Morbid - Shifter Swarmkeeper Entertainer, a bat shifter with a swarm of bats she performs shows with

Yuina Kendrick - a bitchy jurogumo (custom lineage) from Urban Arcana who got stuck in Ravenloft... and deserved it.

Kori the Storyteller - dhampir Spirit Bard, a dreaming soul animating her comatose body.

Erased - Variant Human Sage Undying Warlock (angel of death), absent-minded scholar who accidentaly got her name erased from reality.

Eve Niah - Halfling Undying Warlock (amused lich) with a bone whip, weirdly very cheerful

Cael - wood elf gorgon sorceress, former servant with memory problems.

Mutants and Masterminds

Queen Snake - doctor, martial artist, ritual mage, awakened snake-like powers when an experimental treatment mixing magic and medicine was injected into her during a hostage event. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Masks

Serpent Princess - The Beacon, daughter of Queen Snake, very eager to be a great hero and huge flirt.

One-Ring

High elf sorceress pre-gen character, forget the name

Apocalypse World

Nameless - doctor and gunfighter with snake-like mutations, seeking revenge on the one who changed and maimed her.

Fight with Spirit

Maeve Dumas - born to a martial arts family, secretly part of a competitive dance team

[femconstellation]

Your pinned says you have a Yuri Collection, got any recommendations?

I do!

If you like disability representation, The Moon On A Rainy Night is great. It is about a musician and a deaf girl. From what I’ve seen, the mangaka is educated on the Deaf community, and specifically has the one girl be deaf (rather than Deaf) because it relates to her story and how she is as a person. I only have the first volume (I buy in person because I am terrified of getting the original Japanese version instead of the translation 😭) because the bookstores near me barely carry yuri volumes past the first or second volume.

If you like something sweet with juuust a little bit of drama (and something that I believe just became an anime?), Whisper Me a Love Song is a good read. I have the first three volumes and I’m trying to get the available volumes, but I am not having the best luck. It is about a girl who has a platonic crush on her senior after seeing her band perform, and she ‘confesses’, which the senior girl takes as romantic. It is very cute, honestly.

If you like psychological horror, I am controversially recommending Happy Sugar Life. It is controversial because the ‘pair’ is a high schooler and a child. And I cannot stress this enough, I recommend this because the manga goes beyond what the anime ended on and presents trauma in various ways, including the little girl’s trauma moving forward. The pair is presented as vaguely romantic, but it is something you can interpret slightly differently depending on how you read it (and if you watch the anime or not). The pair are NOT presented as a good thing. The only reason this is a yuri recommendation is because yuri isn’t strictly romantic, and the genre is about strong female bonds, which applies here despite the bond being unhealthy and built on criminal activity. I’d recommend looking up trigger warnings before you watch or read because it is full of horrible things.

From a radfeminist perspective, I usually wouldn’t recommend it. However, I think trauma portrayals in media are important, and while there are definitely parts of HSL I dislike (I usually am staunchly against sexual assault as a plot line, but for a story about trauma, I’m not horribly mad), it is a good read if you want something to analyze and think about.

I need to pull my collection out of storage and post what I have, but some of the manga, I don’t like because I buy before I read and don’t realize some of it is weirdddd until after I already own it. 😭

[majycka]

Sharing this lovely article about Kaku-sensei where he basically talks about his influences(lots of horror and mangakas such as Kentaro Miura, Junji Ito, and even CSM's Fujimoto-sensei! he seems friends with him too). He also talks about how he made the characters of Sagirin and Gabimaru where he intentionally wanted them to be unique(me: yes sensei! I whole heatedly agree that you delivered in this one :')). There's also more on the creative process of the series!

This whole interview is definitely a treat to fans/stans of Hell's Paradise. Please give it a read! u.u

(for self-indulgent reasons, under the cut is my fave quotes from the interview!)

Kaku: (About the art mediums he used) I used a combination of Copic markers and acrylic paint for volumes one through five of Hell's Paradise. Before that, I used only Copics. When working analog, you get to enjoy periodically changing what materials you use. Since Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho (fan book published in 2021), I've used a combination of Copics and acrylic. I'll use different paper when working with watercolors and even change up my materials if it's fun. Fun is more important to me than efficiency when it comes to materials.

Kaku: (about his OG draft on the series) I don't often start with the setting. For this work, I started with "several pairs of people whose interests aren't aligned are thrown into an enclosed space and forced to work together." That's the framework. In the very beginning, the story was about children sent to a youth detention center and the lawyers fighting for them. From there, through discussions with my editor, we dropped that setting but kept the framework and applied different characters to it. We kept the framework because I've always liked the way human relationships change and wanted to write a story about it.

Kaku: (About our duo Sagirin and Gabimaru!) This is something I imagined from the start of publication. Both Gabimaru and Sagiri have the same values as someone living in the 2020s. This is also the reason the story is set in the distant past during the late Edo period. The people of that time had totally different ideas about ethics and human rights. Despite condemned criminals and executioners being difficult characters to empathize with, if they share our perspective, then we feel close to them, and they stand out as unique characters in an Edo Period setting. From the very start, I felt that made Gabimaru and Sagiri unique.

Kaku: Yes! "The characters take on a life of their own." When I was a newbie, whenever that phrase came up in interviews with manga artists, I thought, "That can't be possible! After all, you made those characters!" (Laughs) But now I think that really is what happens. In fact, it's more interesting when it does.