#shinpei sakamoto

[goldenkamuyhunting]

While anon's ask about the GK women isn't wrong about love being a central part of their character arc/plot, I personally think it's very surface level to say love is the only big part of the female character's arcs in Golden Kamuy. Personally when I think of the most important characteristics of charas like Asirpa, Inkarmat, Sophia, etc etc I don't think of how they show/depict love right away (though no doubt it's a big part of their character and arguably what distinguishes them from the men/male charas), but more their own personality and strengths/abilities, which help support how they give and receive love. It's a lot more indepth than most female characters would give in most shounen stories so I appreciate Oda writing female characters with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Hum...

credits when it's due, anon said and I quote ""love" be a part (or central) to their character plot", not just that 'love is central to their plot'.

Note how central not only is the second option but it's also between brakets. I might be wrong but I think not even anon meant to imply love is all there is to those girls (anon is free to correct me though).

As I've linked in that same reply my rather long and detailed view on female characters, I didn't feel necessary to rewrite all their respective strenghts. As I said in the past, I think that for being a Seinen GK does well enough in regard to characterizing female characters.

It's also worth to note that shonen are aimed to a younger audience compared to seinen, so characters aren't necessarily expected to have the same depth (mind you, I'm not saying they can't be deep and well characterized, just that there's often less request for it... but in the end it depends on the author).

Now, just to put things into perspective on why people has disappointed by the way females seems not to exist independently by males, there are 30 female characters (sort of) in GK which, as I've said in the past are many, diverse and well characterized but yes they're almost all tied to 1 or more male characters and, if they weren't, they wouldn't be in the story.

Let's see how they're split.

They've no name and are just some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother

1 Nihei's female populated family

2 Kiroranke's wife

3 Hidoro's wife

4 Edogai's mother

5 Tanigaki's mother

6 Ogata's grandmother

7 Youichirou's wife

8 Tanigaki's daughter

9 Makanakkuru's wife

They've a name but they're in the story because they're some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother/love interest/sister

1 Kenmochi Umeko (Sugimoto's initial love interest, Toraji's wife)

2 Chiyoko (Hidoro Tamotsu's lover and love interest of Hidoro Shinpei)

3 Inkarmat (feels one sided love for Wilk, will become Tanigaki's wife)

4 Tanigaki Fumi (Tanigaki's sister, Aoyama Kenkichi's wife)

5 O-gin (Sakamoto's lover/wife)

6 Ogata Tome (Ogata's mother, Hanazawa's ex-lover)

7 Harumi Chiyo (Tsukishima's love interest)

8 Hasegawa Fina (Tsurumi's wife)

9 Hasegawa Olga (Tsurumi's daughter)

10 Koito Yuki (Koito Otonoshin's mother, Koito Heiji's wife)

11 Noriko (Heita's brother's wife)

12 Hanazawa Hiro (Hanazawa's wife and Yuusaku's mother)

13 Kaneko Kaeko (Yuusaku's arranged fiance, she gets a crush on Sugimoto)

They are strongly connected to a male and won't be in the story without said male but they've also a goal/role that's independant from male characters

1 Asirpa (Wilk's daughter... she's dragged into the gold quest because first she wants to avenge her father and then discover his role in the Ainu slaughtering, she's also Sugimoto's partner... but through the story she manages to develop a goal that's independant from males, aka protect the Ainu culture)

2 Riratte (Wilk's wife... though yes, she's also Asirpa's mom which is more important.. though Asirpa doesn't know her if not for what her father told her)

3 Sofia (one sided love for Wilk which lead Kiro to think she's the best to give them info about Wilk that might help them solve the code, Kiroranke's love interest... but she's also a revolutionary who wants improve Russia... too bad she sacrifices her goal to fulfill the one of Wilk and Kiro)

4 Svetlana (leaves her family to follow a male but wants to see Saint Petersburg)

5 Sister Miyazawa (Shiraishi's idealized love interest, she doesn't even know of his existance and wants just to do her role as a nun)

6 Monoa and the other Ainu women of her village (they were the mothers/wives of the Ainu of their village, who were held captive by escaped Kabato convicts and would want to marry Ushiyama... actually I'm placing them here solely because in the end they carry on living on their own without men but without the Kobato convicts they wouldn't likely be in the story)

7 Osoma (she got a totally unncesssary crush on Tanigaki... that she overcomes thanks to a crush for a boy her age... but she's also Asirpa's cousin and that's more relevant)

8 Enonoka (while she was doing good at being a female character on her own, ultimately the story implies she'll marry Cikapasi once she grows up... and yeah, technically she's in the story to help her grandfather with his job and to carry Sugimoto's group through Karafuto)

They aren't in the story due to a male!

1 Susupo (she's Asirpa's grandmother and while it can be argued she became as such by marrying a male... well, said male is deceased and never seen in flashbacks and it's only worth is it's established early on Susupo is an important figure in the village because her husband was)

2 Kaneko's maid (not only she's not in the story due to a male but encourage Kaneko to not think her worth is tied to how handsome her husband will be)

It's... basically almost the totality of the female cast who's dragged into the story due to male characters who're mostly the focus of the story so that even well rounded characters like Asirpa or Inkarmat or Sofia just feel too tied to the male characters... and the fact the story feels the need to give them unnedessary crushes for male characters (did Asirpa really need to have to crush on Sugimoto? Couldn't she just see him as a brother figure? Especially since Asirpa is rather young? Did Sofia really need to have to crush on Wilk? Couldn't they just be companions? Did Inkarmat really have to crush on Wilk also? Same as Asirpa couldn't she just see him as a brother/father figure?)

So while I think that GK is doing remarkably well in regard to female representation for being a Seinen... well, this is very far for equal opportunities representation and I'm not surprised if someone is annoyed and feel like females are ALWAYS sidelined compared to male characters in manga... especially because in many countries shonen and seinen are the predominant manga which get translated, so if you aren't aware of what's a shonen, shoujo, seinen, josei but collect each story under the umbrella term of manga, the disparity gets even more marked.

That's why my stance is to aknowledge GK for how he's doing better, but also aknowledge that female representation in it is far from perfect.

Also... I think it's just a typo but Oda is "One piece" creator... "Golden Kamuy" was made by Noda... ^_-

Sorry for the long reply you probably didn't ask for.

The whole 'females in GK' would probably deserve a full meta which, at this point, I'm not going to write but, in honor of all those who complain, I wanted to write I also understand why they've problems with them, because indeed there are problems with them, even though I tend to see GK as a work that, for a seinen, deserves more praises than criticisms in that aspects.

Again sorry for the long reply.

[demifiendrsa]

Official English translated author comments featured in Weekly Shonen Jump 2023 issue #4/5

My Hero Academia chapter 376 - Kohei Horikoshi

Mission: Yozakura Family chapter 160 - Hitsuji Gondaira

Witch Watch chapter 91 - Kenta Shinohara

Me & Roboco chapter 119 - Shuhei Miyazaki

One Piece chapter 1070 - Eiichiro Oda

Sakamoto Days chapter 101 - Yuto Suzuki

Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 208 - Gege Akutami

Blue Box chapter 83 - Kouji Miura

Cipher Academy chapter 6 - Yuji Iwasaki

Black Clover chapter 346 - Yuki Tabata

Ichigoki’s Under Control!! chapter 5 - Seiji Hayashi

Fabricant 100 chapter 4 - Daisuke Enoshima

Akane-banashi chapter 44 - Yuki Suenaga

The Ichinose Family’s Deadly Sins chapter 7 - Taizan5

Undead Unluck chapter 141 - Yoshifumi Tozuka

The Elusive Samurai chapter 92 - Yusei Matsui

Hunter x Hunter chapter 400 - Yoshihiro Togashi

Tokyo Demon Bride Story chapter 17 - Tadaichi Nakama

High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku chapter 116 - Ryo Nakama

Mashle: Magic and Muscles chapter 138 - Hajime Komoto

PPPPPP chapter 63 - Mapollo 3

Ginka & Glüna chapter 16 - Shinpei Watanabe

[anime-end-cards]

Hajimete no Gal

Episode 10 end card by Ueno Meguru

[ecchifortheplot]

[attractdistract]

that’s an extremely high level of sodium intake

[fudanshidaily]

PERV FRIEND

[leenaevilin]

[Announcement] オンライン朗読劇「それぞれの運命」(online roudokugeki sorozoro no unmei)

you will be able to watch all 14 shows @ Online-Stage

price: ￥6.000 (each) [I’m not quite sure if international credit cards are excepted... but you need a Japanese address & a Japanese phone number to register]

◎ 荒友哉・坂本真一・??? (Ara Tomoya・Sakamoto Shinichi・???) [May 25th, 2020 18:00]

◎ 石綿宏司・坂本真一・吉田邑樹 (Ishiwata Kouji・Sakamoto Shinichi・ Yoshida Yuuki) [May 25th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 坂本真一・テジュ・吉田知央 (Sakamoto Shinichi・Taeju・Yoshida Chihiro) [May 26th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 愛太・吉田知央・??? (Aita・Yoshida Chihiro・???) [May 27th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 橋本真一・古谷大和・吉田邑樹 (Hashimoto Shinichi・Furuya Yamato・Yoshida Yuuki) [May 28th, 2020 18:00] 

◎ テジュ・古谷大和・山本諒雅 (Taeju・Furuya Yamato・Yamamoto Ryouga) [May 28th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 荒友哉・石綿宏司・山本諒雅 (Ara Tomoya・Ishiwata Kouji・Yamamoto Ryouga) [June 5th, 2020 17:00]

◎ テジュ・橋本真一・藤田真平 (Taeju・Hashimoto Shinichi・Fujita Shinpei) [June 5th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 石渡真修・橋本真一・吉田知央 (Ishiwatari Mashuu・Hashimoto Shinichi・Yoshida Chihiro) [June 6th, 2020 14:00]

◎ 石渡真修・橋本真一・吉田邑樹 (Ishiwatari Mashuu・Hashimoto Shinichi・Yoshida Yuuki) [June 6th, 2020 17:00]

◎ 荒友哉・石綿宏司・山本諒雅 (Ara Tomoya・Ishiwata Kouji・Yamamoto Ryouga) [June 6th, 2020 20:00]

◎ 荒友哉・石綿宏司・山本諒雅 (Ara Tomoya・Ishiwata Kouji・Yamamoto Ryouga) [June 7th, 2020 14:00]

◎ 石渡真修・藤田真平・吉田邑樹 (Ishiwatari Mashuu・Fujita Shinpei・Yoshida Yuuki) [June 7th, 2020 17:00]

◎ 石渡真修・テジュ・藤田真平 (Ishiwatari Mashuu・Taeju・Fujita Shinpei) [June 7th, 2020 20:00]

[nyxravessnow]

Seigaku cast ranking

I decided to do my ranking of the Seigaku characters and then their respective actors 

1. Kaidoh

- Sana Hiroki

- Kujirai Kousuke

- Kimura Tatsunari

- Yanagishita Tomo

- Ikeoka Ryosuke

- Hayashi Akihiro

- Nakajima Takuto

- Makishima Hikaru

- Gomoto Naoya

- Hirata Yuichirou

 2. Eiji

- Honda Reo

- Seto Koji

- Koseki Yuuta

- Kuroba Mario

- Taguchi Tsukasa

- Takasaki Shouta

- Nagayama Takashi

- Osamu Adachi

- Hamao Kyousuke

- Yamazaki Ichitaro

- Nagata Seiichiro

 3. Oishi

- Ishida Shun

- Hiramaki Jin

- Takiguchi Yukihiro

- Yamamoto Ikkei

- Tsujimoto Yuki

- Matsumura Yu

- Todoya Yuuya

- Suzuki Hiroki

- Ezoe Takanori

- Tsuchiya Yuichi

 4. Momo

- Yoshimura Shunsaku

- Mashima Shuuto

- Kamitsuru Toru

- Makita Tetsuya

- Nobuyama Toshihiro

- Shinpei Takagi

- Moriyama Eiji

- Kaji Masaki

- Ishiwatari Mashu

- Okubo Tatsuki

 5. Tezuka

- Zaiki Takuma

- Watanabe Daisuke

- Wada Takuma

- Tawada Hideya

- Baba Ryouma

- Aoki Ryo

- Uno Yuuya

- Shirota Yu

- Minami Keisuke

- Takigawa Eiji

- Okuchi Kengo

 6. Inui

- Teruma

- Tanaka Ryousei

- Takahashi Yuuta

- Nakayama Masei

- Arai Yuusuke

- Kato Sho

- Inagaki Seiya

- Takenouchi Daisuke

- Aoyama Sota

- Araki Hirofumi

 7. Taka-san

- Suzuki Masaya

- Takikawa Koudai

- Watanabe Kouji

- Abe Yoshitsugu

- Kitamura Eiki

- Ogasawara Hiroaki

- Ikkou Chou

- Kon Teyu

- Iwata Tomoki

- Shohei

- Yaguchi Sora

- Kotani Yoshikazu

 8. Echizen

- Sakamoto Shogo

- Takahashi Ryuki

- Furuta Kazuki

- Ogoe Yuuki

- Sakurada Dori

- Yanagi Kotaro

- Nichika Akutsu

- Kimeru

- Endo Yuya

 9. Fuji

- Furukawa Yuuta

- Hashimoto Taito

- Yata Yusuke

- Kamisato Yuki

- Kimeru

- Aiba Hiroki

- Nagayama Takashi

- Ibu Minaki

- Sadamoto Fuuma

- Mitsuya Ryo

 10. Kachiro

- Shinohara Ryu

- Ohira Shunya

- Ito Tsubasa

- Kawamoto Ryo

- Okui Nagato

- Hirai Hiroki

- Mori Yuya

- Toyonaga Toshiyuki

- Mitsui Ryo

- Nakamigawa Toshiki

 11. Katsuo

- Sarashima Arata

- Watanabe Masashi

- Eguchi Koichi

- Takahashi Rio

- Okamoto Yuki

- Hatakeyama Shion

- Ono Mizuki

- Kobayashi Mizuki

- Hotta Masaru

- Okuda Yumeto

 12. Horio

- Shimo Seiya

- Yamada Ryo

- Hara Masaki

- Iwa Yoshito

- Masui Kento

- Maruyama Shun

- Souma Shinta

- Ishibashi Yusuke

- Ryuga

[recentanimenews]

Engage Kiss TV Anime Reveals July 2 Start in 1st Trailer, New Visual

  The original TV anime Engage Kiss, from the minds of Saekano -How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend- author Fumiaki Maruto and Date a Live illustrator Tsunako, announced a slew of information for the series tonight on a live stream, including releasing the series' first full trailer, a new visual and more!

      Alongside the previous announcement of Fumiaki Maruto writing the series composition and Tsunako drawing the original character designs, it was confirmed that Tomoya Tanaka (Visual Prison) will be directing Engage Kiss at A-1 Pictures with the following staff and companies:

  Original: Bayron City Express

World View Setting: 
Shunsaku Yano (Try Knights)

Animation Character Designer, Co-Chief Animation Director
: Masaaki Takiyama (Tokyo ESP)


Sub-Character Designer, Co-Chief Animation Director: Chiaki Furuzumi 
(Sword Art Online: Alicization)

Original Demon Designs
: Ikumi Katagiri (Visual Prison character designer)


Animation Demon Designer, Prop Designer: 
Shinpei Wada (Design Assistant on The Rising of the Shield Hero
)

Firearm Designer
: Kenji Teraoka (Mech Designer on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Code Geass)


Action Design: 
Yoshihiro Kanno (Sword Art Online: Alicization)


Action Director
: Hirokatsu Maruyama (Sword Art Online: Alicization)


Background Art Director
: Nobuhisa Ogiso (Wonder Egg Priority)


Background Art: 
Kusanagi (Wonder Egg Priority)


Color Design: 
Nanako Okazaki (Deca-Dence)


Director of Photography
: Yohei Miyawaki (Interviews with Monster Girls)


Editor
: Kumiko Sakamoto (My Hero Academia)


Sound Director: 
Takeshi Takadera (To Your Eternity)


Music: 
Yoshiaki Fujisawa (Revue Starlight)


Production Committee: 
Project Engage


  RELATED: Project Engage Revealed as Engage Kiss TV Anime, Premieres in July 2022

  The opening theme song and its singer were also confirmed tonight, with halca performing "Dare Kare Scramble (He Who Scrambles)." The single is previewed in the trailer above.

  The live stream also revealed two new character designs, one being the demon version of the previously announced Kisara, as well as a new character, Sharon Holygrail, who features in the new visual and is voiced by Rumi Okubo, best known as the voice of Chinatsu Yoshikawa in YuruYuri.

    ／ オリジナルTVアニメーション 「Engage Kiss」 キサラの悪魔バージョンのビジュアル初公開✨ ＼#つなこ の原案とアニメビジュアルを公開しました！???? ▼第１弾PVのご視聴はこちらhttps://t.co/9BtRRElKUk ▼公式サイトはこちらhttps://t.co/ZYvEOIMxMW #エンゲージキス pic.twitter.com/rGpPQPQmnP

— Engage Kiss（エンゲージ・キス） (@engage_kiss) April 24, 2022

      ／ オリジナルTVアニメーション 「Engage Kiss」 追加キャラクター＆キャストを公開???? ＼ ■シャロン・ホーリーグレイル役：#大久保瑠美 ▼第１弾PVのご視聴はこちらhttps://t.co/9BtRRElKUk ▼公式サイトはこちらhttps://t.co/ZYvEOIMxMW #エンゲージキス pic.twitter.com/MvMVtk0WQD

— Engage Kiss（エンゲージ・キス） (@engage_kiss) April 24, 2022

    Engage Kiss is an original TV anime that is set on an artificial island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with a slightly unusual romantic comedy occurring between the three main characters. It is scheduled to begin on July 2.

  Source: Engage Kiss official website

  ----

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding

[newsintheshell]

Novità dall’AnimeJapan 2019 - Parte 8

Annunci e aggiornamenti direttamente dall’edizione 2019 dell’AnimeJapan.

Kitsutsuki Tantei-Dokoro

Annunciato allo stage di Kimikoe Project all’AnimeJapan di quest’anno che la novel di mistero “Kitsutsuki Tantei-Dokoro” (Woodpecker Detective's Office) scritta da Kei Ii sarà adattata in una serie anime tv che andrà in onda televisiva nella stagione primaverile 2020 nei canali Tokyo MX, BS Fuji, and CS Family Gekijou.

Un fantasma è stato visto al 12 ° piano dell'edificio Asakusa Juunikai. Un articolo di giornale con l'avvistamento ha riunito Takuboku Ishikawa, che gestisce un'agenzia investigativa privata per sostenere la sua famiglia, e il suo assistente Kyosuke Kindaichi per risolvere il caso.

-STAFF-

Chief Director: Shinpei Ezaki 

Series Composition: Taku Kishimoto 

Producer: Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, LIDENFILMS

-CAST-

Kenjirou Tsuda

Rikiya Hayashi

Hayato Furusawa 

I personaggi della storia sono ispirati a personaggi reali: Takuboku Ishikawa è un famoso poeta giapponese, Kyosuke Kindaichi è un famoso linguista giapponese.La storia del romanzo è ambienta nell’era Meiji ed è pubblicato da Tokyo Sogensha nel 1999.

Il progetto KimiKoe è un'iniziativa per indire audizioni di aspiranti doppiatori e doppiatrici,i vincitori poi hanno la possibilità di doppiare una serie anime. La prima audizione, che contava 3.000 candidati, era rivolta a doppiatrici. I sei vincitori di quell'audizione formarono il gruppo  "Now on Air" che recitò nel film Kimi no Koe wo Todoketai . La seconda audizione è stata annunciata all’AnimeJapan lo scorso anno, ed è stata per doppiatori di sesso maschile.

Sito ufficiale Twitter ufficiale

Soukou Musume Senki

L'etichetta di produzione di animazione DMM pictures  ha annunciato che animerà “Soukou Musume” un gioco online di role-playing simoulation. L'anime, intitolato “Soukou Musume Senki”,sarà ambientato in un mondo parallelo a quello del videogioco. 

Soukou Musume è stato rilasciato per la prima volta per PC nel gennaio 2018, ma il servizio è stato sospeso a giugno in seguito a un prolungato periodo di manutenzione. Attualmente è in programma il rilancio nell'estate 2019. Il progetto fa parte della serie di giochi di ruolo di Danball Senki creata da Level-5, ma è più strettamente legata al mondo di Danball Senki W , il secondo gioco della serie. Danball Senki , Danball Senki W e la loro terza iterazione Danball Senki Wars  hanno tutti ricevuto adattamenti per anime televisivi tra il 2011 e il 2013.

Oltre al videogioco e agli anime, il progetto Soukou Musume comprende anche manga ed action figure basati sui personaggi della serie . La serie manga disegnata da Hiroshi Kawamoto è attualmente in serializzazione nella rivista CoroCoro Aniki . 

Sito ufficiale Twitter ufficiale   

number 24

Annunciato un anime originale sul rugby, intitolato "number 24″.

Natsusa Yuzuki è entrato all'università aspettandosi di essere l'asso del club di rugby, ma a causa di determinate circostanze non può più giocare a rugby. Ibuki Ueoka è un senior che ha smesso di giocare a rugby. C'è anche Yasunari Tsuru, lo junior di Natsusa che lo trova sgradevole. Un altro junior, Yuu Mashiro guarda  Natsusa e ne segue le orme. Infine, c'è Seiichirou Shingyouji, il migliore amico d'infanzia di Natsusa. Questo è un anime originale sul rugby di ex compagni di squadra che combattono insieme nelle partite della lega di rugby dell'università del Kansai. 

-STAFF- 

Piano originale: Kei Mori ( Verrocchio Agency )

Piano originale della storia:Movic

 Character Design originale dei personaggi principali: Yukikana 

Regista: Shigeru Kimiya 

Composizione della serie, Sceneggiatura: Rika Nakase 

Character design: Saori Sakiguchi 

Art Setting: Tsukasa Oohira 

Direttore artistico: Scott MacDonald 

Direttore della fotografia: Atsushi Kanou 

Produttore di animazione: Shinobu Nakagawa 

Studio: PRA

Produttore di animazione: Yoshiki Sakamoto 

Sito ufficiale Twitter ufficiale

Africa no Salaryman

Annuncaito un nuovo adattamento anime televisivo del manga “Africa no Salaryman”; Tetsuya Tatamitani dirigerà la serie.

Il manga comico segue un leone, un tucano e una lucertola mentre vivono la vita degli impiegati in una società capitalista in Giappone, mentre si occupano anche delle loro situazioni particolari come animali che vivono oltre la savana e la catena alimentare. 

-CAST-

Lion: Akio Ootsuka

Lizard: Kenjirou Tsuda

Toucan: Hiro Shimono

Il manga è attualmente serializzato tramite Gene pixiv di Gum e tre volumi fisici sono stati rilasciati lo scorso gennaio. Il manga in precedenza ha ricevuto un primo adattamento Tate Anime a giugno 2017 per un totale di 10 episodi.

Ougi

FONTE 1 2 3 4 

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I've noticed a kindness/tolerance afforded to children even by adults who've committed horrendous acts. (like Tsurumi & Sakamoto/O-gin's child) Hostility towards children is an oft used shorthand for the depths to which one might sink, so it's refreshing to see it avoided. I think a lot of the subterfuge surrounding Asirpa can be traced back to an unwillingness to use cruelty against a child like they might with an adult. Parental relations/expectations seem to be a very important theme.

Hum…

…actually the question ‘children’ for how I see it is pretty complicate.

In media hostility towards children more than just shorthand for the depths to which one might sink, the trope of ‘would hurt a child’ has been used way too much as ‘Moral Event Horizon’ to prove a particular character to be irredeemably evil to the point it cheapened it but well, it still made it pretty effective.

And here it’s the problem and why you don’t see people hurting children often in Golden Kamuy.

Because Noda doesn’t want to depict characters who can be waved off as irredeemably evil, he wants to depict them as complex human beings and he takes pain to describe how they moved from normal people to monsters. They weren’t ‘born evil’ they just became ‘monsters’ due to circumstances and this is meaningful in that intriguing study of how trauma can reshape a person that GK is.

So it’s not so much that ‘they’re kind to children’, it’s more often that they need to be shown as such to force us to accept they aren’t just monster.

Basically Noda is subverting the trope so that we’ve to say ‘Oh but that character hadn’t sunk to the rock bottom of depravity yet’. It’s a narrative expedient more than a character trait.

And in truth Noda is quite a master at using it to shape and reshape our view of the characters.

Think at Tanigaki.

When he appears he threatens Asirpa… then he even use her as a human shield… quite a terrible person isn’t he? But then he’s friend and caring with Osoma and Huci and even take care of Cikapasi… isn’t he such a sweety?

And Ienaga? She tortured and murdered so many people and even wanted to eat Asirpa and kept on trying to eat Kantarou… but she died protecting Inkarmat and her unborn CHILD, so she can’t be that bad.

And then, as you mentioned, we’ve Sakamoto and O-gin, complete monsters who loved their kid so they can’t be that bad either, can they?

And so on and on.

And in truth it’s just a trope and if we’re careful and read in between the lines Noda knows as well and knows that real humans aren’t defined by merely crossing a moral horizon.

I’m sure Tsurumi loved his child and would have handled her with care. And he had no reasons to harm Sakamoto and O-gin’s child so he was nice with him too. But I’m also sure if pushed he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child or have it killed, he made it clear when he threatened to destroy Ariko’s whole family, when he planned to trap Asirpa in a basement for all the time he needed, even years.

And what about Tsukishima who’s so sweet with Sakamoto’s baby in his arms and yet not only was capable to kidnap Koito but, with his chase to Tanigaki, not only might have caused Inkarmat an abortion or wounded her, killing her baby?

Sakamoto and O-gin loved their kid… but would they have spared someone else’s kid?

Probably not but it doesn’t matter. When those two monsters die, we’re left with the knowledge they loved each other and THEIR KID. While this doesn’t wash away all they’ve done (most of which we didn’t saw so we don’t have a clear image in our mind) the fact they were loving parents psychologically stop many readers from waving them off as just monsters. They could love.

And that’s exactly what Noda wanted, a world of people, a world where there’s no black and white but many shapes of grey.

So for me it’s not really refreshing children aren’t harmed as it’s a mere consequence, what is refreshing is that characters aren’t meant to be black and white but that they’re depicted as humans. Terrible humans, humans who make mistakes, or generally good humans who sometimes screw up, or humans who due to trauma were turned into monsters. But humans, like you and me and with whom we can sympathize.

So this ends up giving Asirpa a VERY STRONG plot armor to the point she doesn’t even get hurt when attacked by a bear and really, I think the only time she got scratched was when she had a whole forest fall over her and Sugimoto.

Otherwise even before, when people weren’t aware she had a code or didn’t care she had it, she never got hurt. She couldn’t.

So well, of course if we analyze this from a Watsonian, in-universe perspective we’re dealing with people who, most of the time, care for children, who wouldn’t hurt them. But from a Doylist point of view we’re merely dealing with an author who wants to make sure his characters won’t be seen as merely evil villains.

You hit a nail when you say ‘parental relations/expectations seem to be a very important theme’ because they are. Noda works a lot on them and on how they shape a human.

In a way you might read his story also as an analysis of society and how it can harm humans.

From Hanazawa who, due to society’s pressure discharges Ogata and, due to his rank, put Yuusaku in the flag bearer position, to Wilk, who fears for the future and therefore wants Asirpa to forge a better future for Ainu, to Ueji’s father who basically broke him with his expectations, to Boutarou and Sugimoto, who lost their beloved family and were ostracized by society due to their sickness, to Tsukishima whose father his ostracized by the islanders who believes him to be a murderer and use this against Tsukishima as well.

We’ve parents of every sort, many of them trying to be good, few of them succeeding because back then there were beliefs about how to handle children that were actually not good.

And in the end we’ve plenty of children, children who often had grown up and became adults, yet carry inside themselves the harm their parents did to them, or their expectation or the loss of them, or the hope to surpass them and become better parents.

Think at Shinpei and Chiyoko or at Tanigaki and Inkarmat, couples who had/are about to have a child and are hoping they’ll be good parents.

In a way it’s a progression from the oldest generations, represented by Hijikata and Huci, to the new ones up till Asirpa and Cikapasi with Enonoka and Osoma with that unnamed Ainu kid.

And maybe it’s just me but this is part of what makes GK a story I love.

Thanks for your ask!

[demifiendrsa]

Official English translated author comments featured in Weekly Shonen Jump 2023 issue #14

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Me & Roboco chapter 127 - Shuhei Miyazaki

Blue Box chapter 91 - Kouji Miura

Mission: Yozakura Family chapter 168 - Hitsuji Gondaira

Witch Watch chapter 99 - Kenta Shinohara

Black Clover chapter 353 - Yuki Tabata

Undead Unluck chapter 149 - Yoshifumi Tozuka

Mashle: Magic and Muscles chapter 146 - Hajime Komoto

The Elusive Samurai chapter 100 - Yusei Matsui

Cipher Academy chapter 14 - Nisioisin

Fabricant 100 chapter 12 - Daisuke Enoshima

Ginka & Glüna chapter 24 - Shinpei Watanabe

Tokyo Demon Bride Story chapter 25 - Tadaichi Nakama

Ichigoki’s Under Control!! chapter 13 - Seiji Hayashi

[anime-end-cards]

My Sister, My Writer

Episode 2 end card by Ueno Meguru

[ecchifortheplot]

after this they didn’t know what to do

[animegadaisukiidesu]

super perver** ops heroes

[ljaesch]

More Cast Members Announced for the Hajimete no Gal Anime

More Cast Members Announced for the Hajimete no Gal Anime

More cast members have been announced for the forthcoming anime adaptation of the Hajimete no Gal manga: Toshiyuki Toyonaga is Shinpei Sakamoto Kenji Akabane is Keigo Ishida Minoru Shiraishi is Minoru Kobayakawa Hiroyuki Furukawa is directing the anime and designing the characters at NAZ. Yūichirō Momose is handling series composition. Yashikin is composing the music at MAGES. Erabareshi will…