#author: naoki urasawa

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

TOP 10 personal Favorite Manga.

Here's just a couple of manga that I love & just think are top-notch.

NUMBER: 1 : TOKYO GHOUL

A series that means a lot to me in many ways. When I first got into Tokyo Ghoul it was by the very first season of the anime during 2014 and upon hearing the opening theme of Unravel and seeing the first episode, I was hooked and went into the manga series right after. A nuanced morally compelling storytelling with an array of so many cool and great characters and narratives, incredible art progression from Ishida Sui, and overall just a satisfyingly great conclusion to boot.

NUMBER: 2 : J NO SUBETE

On the surface, looks like a regular BL series, but underneath an emotional-roller-coaster and pretty heavy story about a transwoman named J. Set in the 40s /50s, you fellow J childhood and the awful, rough bullshit she deals with in life as well as her love & massive admiration of Marilyn Monroe. Really such a good story that deals with some real heavy shit...but still so good.

NUMBER: 3 : MONSTER

Not only one of my favorite anime adaptations but also equally as wonderfully engaging & just as well done as a manga as well. Monster is such a captivating, intense story and truly one of my favorites from Urasawa's works. Following Dr. Tenma, a talented neurosurgeon who has grips with the moral dilemma of either saving the Mayor or saving a young boy who was shot in a murder. Tenma chose to save the boy instead and while it costs him being demoted he still believes he did the right thing. Unfortunately years later discovering the boy he saves...turns out to be a killer. This series is such a banger from its storytelling to the characters and just one of the best from Urasawa's.

NUMBER: 4 : GOODNIGHT PUNPUN

At first glance of this manga, you might think of it as something of a cute slice-of-life story about a cute cartoony bird. But actually when reading it...IT'S WAY MORE DARKER and GETS A LOT MORE FUCK UP! For real Goodnight Punpun is one of those series that's start-up pretty light-hearted and a little bit goofy with Punpun being a cartoony-drawn bird amongst very average-looking humans as a young kid in the first volumes of the series. But as things move forward within the story as Punpun gets older and his family situation gets more unstable as well as his life, the tone gets more depressing as a whole. Love the dark psychological storytelling, although it definitely the type of story you can only read once in awhile or in a good headspace because it definitely can be a hard read.

NUMBER: 5 : BERSERK

Seriously, what can I say about Berserk that already hasn't been said on some level. But this manga is seriously, I feel one of the most top iconic series within manga as well as one of the most engaging, moving, fantastic, epic storyline I've read thus far. I know the series itself is still ongoing, and I've been keeping up-to-date with this story since reading the very first chapter. Hearing about Kentaro Miura death....was tough, I knew he had serious health issues, which is why volumes would tend to go on pretty long hatiuses... but man. Another influential iconic figure in manga gone, Berserk is definitely a series any manga-lover or anime fan should read once in awhile.

NUMBER: 6 : SHOUWA GENROKU RAKUGO SHINJUU

Not only one of the most beautifully mature, well-written, compelling storytelling I've seen thus far in an anime series. But as a manga, even more so, a well-crafted story on the life and times of a sad, burden-ridden, slightly bitter, depressed, old man known as Yakumo Yurakutei, who is a highly skilled and experienced master of Rakugo, which for those who don't know is an traditional Japanese verbal form of entertainment. Think of it as something like a form of Improv done by only one person playing different characters to tell a story, This series has many layers to its storytelling that's is done so well dealing with Yakumo and those in his life that has impacted him as to the type of pained almost broken old man he is within the present time. Just a overall good & bittersweet but fantastic story that's deserves to be check out more.

NUMBER: 7 : INNOCENT

It is one of the most beautifully drawn manga series that I have read so far while also being equally gruesome as well. Innocent is a fictionalized historical manga set during 18th century France about the story and legacy of Charles Henri Sanson (actual real historical figure), who is the fourth generation of a family of Executioners known as the Sanson family who are the royal Executioners of Paris. The story follows Charles rough journey towards his path of becoming the Monsieur De Paris. This absolutely such a fantastic piece of work, both in terms of the visually amazing stunning artwork and along with the historical storytelling of Charles coming to terms with his hated lineage and becoming Executioner of Paris but also showcasing the societal/political chaotic changes and upheaval of France slowly leading up to the French revolution. Although some historical aspects are obviously fictionalized, but still such a good series.

NUMBER: 8 : THE PROMISED NEVERLAND

While my feelings on the anime are highly mixed due to really, really, really not caring for the way they handled parts of the storytelling from season 2 of the anime series. But the manga, on the other hand, is a totally different story. Seriously, reading this series was a blast and just an enjoyable experience from beginning to end, as well as seeing Emma and Ray also Norman grow & and develop throughout each arc was great to witness including seeing the rest of the kids thrive and survive the outside world. For this manga was a great read, and definitely, I'll say at least personally to me was done far better then the second season flimsy adaptation.

NUMBER: 9 : HOMUNCULUS

Truly an mindfuck of a manga in more ways than one. But still a pretty damned good and wild story, Homunculus is a story about a homeless man named Susumu Nakoshi who ends up meeting a seemingly antagonistic young medical student named Itoh Manabu to do a little experiment on him by drilling a actual hole in his skull for a total of 700,000 ¥en. Itoh, who is very fascinated with studying the human minds and amongst other things such as ghosts and the occult, but ultimately he thinks he can unlock the hidden psychic potential of Susumu brain. Nakoshi goes through the process, and at first, nothing seems to happen after going through the the operation. Until he closes his right eye and starts seeing otherworldly nightmarish monsters and shapes with his left eye when he looks at other people. This series is truly a weird but also such a highly intriguing and fascinating psychological read while at the same time being a bit of a downer, but still an excellent but messed-up good story.

NUMBER : 10 : ATELIER OF WITCH HAT

Okay, so I just recently started reading this manga series not that long ago, about a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm so freaking hooked. Atelier of Witch hat has truly captured my heart and mind with its engaging and creatively fascinating world-building involving witches and magic to the just as highly interesting characters and storytelling. Which centers around our young protagonist Coco ( the girl on the cover) who is this super adorably passionate girl who has such a huge love for all things magical /witches and deeply wishes she could become one as well, but unfortunately normal people or "outsiders" can't become witches, you have to be born into it, but that's doesn't stop Coco from trying her hardest to still wanting to be a witch. One of the things I love most about this world and how it handles dealing with magic and witches is that magic is really normal within this world and how witches tend to uses it to help and serve regular people in need or even for lighting up a cobblestone pathway also I really like how the magic system is structured in this series, such as instead of casting spells or any from of magic with words or a phrase, magic is casted by drawing, Coco here ends up in a pickle with accidentally casting magic that ends up turning her mom into stone & thus Coco journey towards witchood begins.

Seriously, even though I've just recently gotten into this manga & and its ongoing tale it's already has captivated me on so many levels and I just can't get enough of it so far wonderful storytelling and amazingly beautiful drawn artsy apart of it which really adds a lot of this series fantastical elements. Definitely a must to check out!!

Wanted to do a list of a couple of some of my most top favorite manga series and ones were I feel other's should give them a shot at checking out if there into any of these stories. (^ _ ^)

[revindicatedbyhistory]

thinking about it the reason billy bat is good might just be because it was cowritten by another guy other than urasawa lol

[fuckbrained]

my favorite part of monster is that tenma is canonically stinky

[tezuka-brainrot]

Shit, might have to rename this thing Urasawa Brainrot/hj

I'm so obsessed with Pluto rn and I'm tryna get into Monster cause of it... I love it so far.

[evilcatcreature]

The Wrong Universe (OC/Johan Liebert Fic)

I thought I'd do a pinned post for this!

I am writing a fanfiction for Naoki Urasawa's Monster. The plot is something that you'd be able to follow even if you hadn't watched/read Monster.

(this is a fanart by me)

Title: The Wrong Universe

Summary: Michael is a (fairly) normal student, until one day he meets a mysterious stranger called Johan. Michael slowly feels an obsession develop, but doesn't have the social skills to even talk to him. He doesn't realise what world he is wandering into until he finds out who Johan Liebert really is. Can he get over his obsession and save himself?

Content Warnings: Stalking, Murder/Death, Serial Killers, Drugging/Kidnapping, Psychological Themes (morality, philosophy etc.), Sexual Content (but only consensual)

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50365696/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1449486358

(I'm not sure if I'll continue uploading to wattpad unless I can see that it's something people want)

[fatimajpeg]

i think a testament to monster’s quality is that no one even tried to dumb it down for a cutesy family fic where tenma is a single dad raising the twins

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

Why are so many shows always airing new episodes on the same day? Ofm, Jujutsu Kaisen, Dr.Stone and the ancient magus bride new episodes ALL come on thursday. May I mention that I come home at like 17 O'clock from work? So there's always the terrible decison making about the order in which I should watch them.

Not to forget. Apparently a Pluto anime comes out tomorrow? Which I didn't know of till now? Which I'll obviously have to watch tomorrow. So yeah, through the whole day I'll be just thinking about Ofmd and the Pluto anime.

[yaraaltrospace]

Feel free to add/remember other artists/authors that could give us some interesting treatments as well!

[astroboyart]

The Pluto anime is here!

At 4 PM Japan Standard Time, October 26, 2023, a brand new Astro Boy series debuted! The anime adaptation of the Pluto manga authored by Naoki Urasawa! All 8 episodes have been released at one time, so watch it at your own leisure! Each episode is about 1 hour, each covering 1 volume from the manga.

Enjoy this experience everyone!

You can watch Pluto on Netflix:

[obligatorymorningfart]

Do you have any tips on how to start doing comics?

I hate to be a normie here but both Scott McCloud’s Making Comics and Understanding Comics are great resources to help to give you some basic foundational knowledge.

Another overstated but nevertheless real and honest piece of advice is just to draw some comics and never stop. I struggle with this a lot and it’s even worse when you finally sit down and all you can produce is garbage. But you just have to keep going and keep sifting and stomping through the trenches until you find something you’re proud of and then years later you’ll look back on it and see everything you did wrong BUT that just means you’ve gotten better than you were.

Invest in a ruler and lettering guide, get some 11x17 Bristol board, make 1 inch margins top and bottom, half inch margins on the left and right, and 1/4 inch gutters between panels. Read any manga by Naoki Urasawa. Read Cross Game. Read Slam Dunk. Or just read your favorite authors and pick out everything you like about what they do and try to emulate it. Doesn’t even have to be comics. Listen to music and try to translate what you like about it into comics. Hang out with other artists and draw. It’s important to see how other people do things. Draw from reference, don’t just draw cartoons. I ignored everyone who told me to practice drawing from reference bc I thought it was cheating/boring and I kick myself every day for it! It’s a real eat your vegetables kind of thing. Like still draw as many cartoons as you want but also draw your hands every now and again. A tree or a bench, maybe.

Anyway, hope this helps and good luck with making comics. I need to go make some more as well.

[aspoonofsugar]

you wrote such a beautiful rwby analysis but unfortunately I think you put more thought into the plot than the entire writers room

Hi!

Thank you, I am happy you found my analysis beautiful!

That said, I am sorry, but I disagree with your statement. It is fine if you dislike the series and even if you criticize it, but as for me, I think the writing is rather strong.

Here are some thoughts, which aren't really directed at you, but rather are born by me seeing a tendency going around where it is somehow "cool" to outloud state RWBY is badly written. I even saw people like... "apologizing" because they enjoy the series. Newsflash...RWBY is good.

RWBY is a series with a writing that goes from decent to very good depending on the moment. I would give it from 7 to 8.5 or even 9 in some scenes. More importantly, it is a story the writers are clearly enjoying writing, as for now. This is why I like watching it. It is genuine, upfront in what it wants to say and it takes risks. Ironically, a series with limited resources shows much more freedom in execution than many other stories, which are economically backed up.

I would also add people keep talking about good writing, but never really elaborate on it... And like, trust me, I do think there is good writing and bad writing. The problem is that people just take examples of "well written series" and decide a series written differently must be bad. This isn't really the case.

First of all, let's focus only on a specific type of story, which is the kind most modern movies, books and series are. This type of story is built on 3 (4) factors:

Plot

Characters

Themes

(Worldbuilding)

I would say the first 3 are more important usually, but there are some stories where the worldbuilding is so strong it becomes its own selling point.

Now, a good story is usually strong in all these departments. The perfect story is top notch in all 3 (4). That is because a good plot usually lets you develop the characters better, which in turns helps exploring the theme.

However, here comes the amazing truth... even the most incredible stories. Even the masterpieces loved by everybody... even them... end up choosing only 1 or 2 of these aspects and sacrifice a little bit of the 3rd (and 4th) one.

Naoki Urasawa's Monster? Its focus is themes. He chooses to go all out on this department, which is why the story is so powerful and resonates so much with people. Still, to do so, he chooses to sacrifice some parts of the plot to the point... some mysteries are not really solved. Some people may be annoyed by it, but I would not call it a flaw. It is a choice. Leaving some things open enriches the themes.

Death Note? If the story has to choose between characters, themes and plot, it goes for plot. This is why despite having so many well liked characters, it is difficult to think of outstanding character arcs in it. The same goes for the themes, which are only touched superficially. This is why btw Death Note is not a fave of mine, really.

Now obviously, many examples can be done and we could discuss forever on some because there is always always always a subjective component. What I am trying to say is... there are different ways to write a story. Not all people would like the same. Luckily, we have tons of stories.

Back to RWBY. I would say RWBY shines when it comes to themes. Characters and plot are good and interesting, but what keeps the story together, despite it playing so much with genre is that it has a very strong thematic core. You can't invent it or fake it btw. See, Death Note's author tries to do it in later works (Platinum End cough cough), but fails. At the same time, there is another department RWBY is top notch and that is symbolism. RWBY has a very rich symbolic system. Again... surely there are coincidences, but like this is a little bit too much...imho.

Now, does it mean, the writers came up with all the patterns I and others find? Probably not, but here is the thing... writing has an unconscious component. If you go earnestly at it, you are bound to unconsciously create patterns. A good writer is able to recognize them (either consciously or unconciously) and to capitalize on them. So far, I think CRWBY has capitalized on the patterns they created. I also think it is clear they are very good at researching and at playing with different sources by going deep into them. Again, you can't come up with the Ever After if you have not read and even studied Alice in Wonderland. It is just impossible. You would end up with a shallow and uninteresting copy cat. The Ever After isn't that because it is used to explore themes, characters and lore in an interesting way. Hence... ladies and gentlemen... it is a fruit of... good writing.

But really, since people are not commenting on it... I would like to point out that in 5 episodes of less than 20 minutes, they have managed to introduce a whole world, with its own lore, set of characters and main story (Alyx's) and to tie it to the protagonists' predicament in a way that hits really hard thematically and psychologically... To do that you need exceptionally thight writing... it is not that simple to do...

Anyway, have a nice day anon and consider watching something else. Thanks God the world is full of stories!

[alitontress]

Q&A: Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto

I’m going to be answering all of your asks about the story under a cut so no one gets spoilers.

Ask about the caretakers’ decision regarding Wassily going to Oslo:

Hi. Idk if you’re still doing Pluto asks but I have a question. I felt a bit confused about why the care worker ladies just let a couple strange men take Wassily away without consulting Epsilon. Maybe I wasn’t fully paying attention and there was some larger unavoidable reason for them giving him up? Did I miss veiled threats or something? Just felt like the ladies were all “oh well, we have to I guess…” Many thanks in advance.

Listen! When I tell you that part of the story makes me rage like a white boy punching drywall I just—! Ugh. Just call Epsilon *dial dial, beep boop bop* 'oh hey Epsi, my boss, the dude who takes care of the orphanage, hey ya listen, I know you're getting grilled right now, but uh there are some wack dudes here who want to take your kid away, you cool wit dat? no? okay. how fast can you get back here??' Done. Easy. Epsilon wouldn't have been put in the situation to go into Abra's trap. *punching drywall

I digress.

Here is my theory as to why they justified letting Mr. Johansen take Wassily without telling Epsilon based upon the circumstances and other factors which might have motivated them.

Of the seven most advanced robots, Epsilon has the most powerful and destructive capability. If he had joined in the war a lot of battles would have ended very, very quickly if he unleashed his photon energy.

The world might have believed a lot of people and robots wouldn't have died if he'd joined the fight. So they could've blamed him for not preventing so many deaths.

In the manga, it's stressed that people around the world very much despised and even abused Epsilon.

Not only did the world hate him for not fighting in the war, but also for raising human children.

Even though the war was over, Epsilon was still contemptible.

What I think is interesting is the false claim Mr. Johansen makes about him and his wife visiting the orphanage before, (in the anime, he says they've visited several times). Perhaps he's implying that Epsilon hadn't let them foster Wassily in the past and he's come back to try again but without Epsilon present to deny him. A child protection service would find Mr. Johansen, "a famous figure", being denied numerous times concerning if he had reported that experience to them. They might even send a representative with Mr. Johansen to see if something could be done about it...

What Ms. Griffith I think has to weigh is whether to deny Wassily being adopted because Epsilon wasn’t there to approve it, which would likely cause further scrutiny and a full investigation into Epsilon's orphanage as to why/if he's preventing children from being adopted and raised in a normal, human family environment possibly resulting in all of his children being taken away and the orphanage being shut down—or let Wassily be taken. They might even want to still take the other children away simply because they finally have enough of an excuse to prevent Epsilon from raising children, no matter how small the excuse was. Ms. Griffith knows the children are cared for by Epsilon more than any human could and she doesn't want that to stop. She could fear that if Epsilon had been there or if they had called him, that he might have denied Wassily being taken by Mr. Johansen which wouldn't have looked good, (unless, of course, Epsilon was given the opportunity to research the man and find out he had a fake identity and was working for Abullah). If the man accompanying Mr. Johansen had the authority to take Wassily away because of being some kind of child service representative, then maybe the caretakers legally didn't have a choice and they really were going to take Wassily no matter what. Letting Wassily be taken away would be beneficial to the orphanage and the children under Epsilon's care financially and maybe even legally.

So maybe the caretakers made the decision with the best interest of the other children in mind—and even to protect Epsilon.

But in the end, no one could protect Epsilon. Wassily and the other children still lost the one person who loved them more than anyone else in the world ever could...

[cursedvibes]

if you think that a non-black author has the range to write an anti-black character, you are extremely wrong. the way gege draws hakari and miguel is anti-black (hakari’s hair isn’t drawn well or with care and his skin is drawn way too light, and miguel’s lips aren’t as bad as a lot of authors but also not good), so what makes you think he can write about it in a meaningful way?

all that’s come of this is non-black people 1) making jokes about it and 2) relentlessly harassing black people in the fandom even more than before. please don’t piss me off.

I assume with the first sentence you are talking about non-black authors writing about black characters

I never said it was perfect. In fact I criticized Gege's writing and said that if you tackle issues like racism you should do it more carefully and in-depth. But again, this all depends on Gege leaning into those aspects of his character more and exploring it to not have Miguel be the only black person in the manga. That hasn't happened so far and with the manga soon ending I doubt it ever will. I was talking about hypotheticals on how I think things could be improved.

And I don't think there is in principle anything wrong with writing about a demographic you are not part of, otherwise stories would be incredibly monotonous and you lose the variety of real life, which isn't great either. The issue is just that you have to inform yourself before writing about what you don't know, even if it's for example writing about characters from another country. Which is usually part of any writing process, at least if you plan your story ahead. I think Gege initially didn't put much thought into how Miguel or Hakari experience racism. It's there rudimentarily in Vol 0 and Hakari's introduction and background, but I doubt they wanted to go in-depth with it. Technically they still didn't because Miguel telling Gojo once "you're being racist" was more intended as a quick message for the (assumed to not be black) readers than a real impactful moment in the story. Even in the scene itself they brush past it very quickly. But I think overall Gege is perfectly capable of improving their writing, they just need to be advised and have someone look over the work to check for internal biases. So you don't end up with things like Gojo being criticized for one stereotype, while Miguel's rhythm-based CT plays into another. Like, if they wanted to, they could absolutely write more about the experiences of black Japanese people, the source is right there and unlike with someone from Kenya, there is also no language barrier. The resources for it absolutely exist and the Black Lives Matter protest happened only a few years ago, giving their experiences more attention.

Look at the manga Billy Bat for example. Urasawa Naoki and Nagasaki Takashi have characters from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds and write about a variety of historic events including the civil rights movement in the US and it works because they did their research and listened to advisors who can speak from actual experience on this matter. That is a lot harder to accomplish in a weekly format with no co-writer, but again, I was talking about how Gege could theoretically improve things and I think under different circumstances they have absolutely the capability for that, everyone has. Otherwise media would be exactly where it was 20 or 50 years ago in terms of how diversity is handled. If they want to improve it is another thing (definitely not in this manga).

[irohsteaa]

Okay, so I’m still reading Another Monster and something is nagging at me.

It should be noted that I have no way of knowing whether or not the man told me the truth. But I can say this much: the experiment that created Johan still has its adherents. Anyone chasing after Sebe/Poppe/Paroubek will suffer the same fate as Weber.

Perhaps the invisible client used the name of Werner Weber to lure me in and give me a warning: Back off now.

The author of these words is Takashi Nagasaki; he’s Another Monster’s editor and co-author, but in the story he’s a translator of Another Monster.

Nagasaki says that everyone who’s chasing Klaus Poppe will disappear, just like Werner Weber did.

So how can we explain the fact that a few Monster characters chased after Poppe, found him, and didn’t disappear?

Was it Poppe really the reason behind the disappearance of Weber when he tried to find him? Or was it someone else's doing, someone much much higher in the hierarchy than some dude standing in the background while the others have fun and are about to die moments later?

Also, in sympathy and anticipation of Mr. Weber's safe return, the co-author of this book, Mr. Naoki Urasawa, has provided his materials regarding the Johan case. Mr. Urasawa also says that in order to investigate the facts of this case, he is considering going to Bohemia.

It’s very interesting that Urasawa is named as the co-author of this book even though the only thing Weber mentions about Urasawa is the fact that he translated The Nameless Monster from Czech to Japanese.

[thedevilsrain]

naoki urasawa (author of monster) and yasuko aoike talking about led zeppelin's influence in from eroica with love :')