#this is not for only any manga authors but writers in general who write controversial things and they bashed for it

[lupamoe]

It's always "haha ruby loves her brother thats incest"

but never "ruby lacks any emotional love and support in her entire life as a bed-ridden kid and skipped the emotional developmental stages of her childhood so she dosen't know whats normal or disgusting, likewise, this makes her like gorou. it's a sign that she will cling desperately to anyone who cares for her the slightest because ruby's 'love for her doctor' is a coping mechanism formed to forget and shield everything she's been through and because she has no options. this makes her genuinely not know the difference between platonic and romantic love as she has never experienced either in her miserable life."

[aihoshiino]

Hi! I've really enjoyed reading all your writing about OnK. I'm curious if you think the general reception of the manga and it's ending in Japan are similar to your feelings? I read analysis more than I contribute myself, but reading all of your posts really makes me want to see how many people felt similarly and also makes me wanna hear what the author felt about this ending. Aqua was always a self-sacrificial character, but was the ending really always meant to be this?

I'm actually not really sure, unfortunately! The only JP fan space I've spent a ton of time in was the Oshi no Ko Community, basically an official centralized fandom hub run by the folks managing the franchise. You'll note the official part there - which means that any really anti-Akasaka or anti-OnK in general takes probably don't stay up long if people even bother to post them in the first place.

I do remember hearing that the backlash on Twitter was pretty nasty and a quick scan of the replies to Aka's final tweet (back in November! sheesh!) do show some people getting, uh, heated. Aka also seems to have ducked off Twitter in the wake of it, but he's also never been a particularly prolific Twitter guy (Tweeter????) so I don't necessarily know that it indicates anything.

As for Aka's thoughts on the ending, BennoSubs recently took the bullet for me and translated Aka's post-ending interview with Shueisha Online. He and the interviewer chat about a few things (I rec the whole interview honestly, it's really interesting) and there's this exchange specifically about the ending:

You've said you were sure 【OSHI NO KO】 would be a big project from the beginning. Could you clarify this? Did things go as you expected until the end? Aka: Yes, the ending went as I expected. But there are parts of 【OSHI NO KO】 that I had and had not decided at the beginning. I used to be the type of writer who could plan everything from the start and follow through with it, but I changed after "Kaguya-sama". There are occasions when a character's hidden side, which even the writer hadn't noticed initially, would suddenly come to light. And I wanted to be the kind of writer who could treat such discoveries as important aspects of the character's personality. As a result, it became impossible for me to decide every single aspect of the story beforehand. I thought of 【OSHI NO KO】 as a manga in which I placed huge importance on the characters despite having already decided on its ending. Perhaps this has become a quirk of mine?

Even if only accidentally, I think this confirms something I've kind of criticized Aka for before, that he tends to get distracted by his New Shiny Ideas in the writing process and then not really know how to adjust for their inclusion in the story. Since his ending was pre-planned but he was making all these wild improvisations, it was inevitable that it would feel mismatched.

Other than that, he seems satisfied enough with the ending, which... as much as I personally don't like it, I actually think it's really cool that a franchise as huge as OnK was able to end on the author's own terms. With as much fandom hype (and thus money) churning around this brand, I can imagine that Aka was under a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure to deliver a 'safe' ending that didn't alienate anyone but he ultimately stuck to his guns with an ending that he wanted, even if he knew it would be controversial.

And idk. In a world where so much shit is aggressively focus tested into beige mush before it gets forcefed to us, I would much rather read a work like OnK that is messy and maybe not entirely what I wanted but is at least a representation of an author getting to tell a story they want their own terms.

[k-s-morgan]

︎This is the first time ever I'm writing to a writer as I'm a lil anxious about my English. But after many years of reading your flawless work (TGSTLTH), I really couldn't hold myself anymore; if I stay silent one more second, I'm going to explode from repressed emotions.XD

I'm absolutely going crazy over your storytelling. I think nobody -and I do mean NOBODY- was this close to perfection with the characterization of Sebastian and Ciel. It's like you are working together with Yana herself. You've really managed to catch every aspect of their relationship that made this whole storyline (manga and anime) the way it's been, which seems to be the entire reason why I still can't get over Kuroshitsuji. It's just so dark and dramatic... the bitter power struggle between these two and the way they compete for control —which is pretty entertaining to see when you think about it because both parties are unable to maintain any type of control or authority over the other.

From what I see, this fandom has mixed feelings about S2 of the anime. Some love it, some ignore its whole existence, and some people are okay with it. Unfortunately, I'm the second one. I like the story arcs that are canon to the manga. When I first started to read TGSTLTH, I really thought that fanfic would follow the storyline without S2 in it since you reflect the complexity of the bond they share as a human and demon so prettily. I've always wondered if Ciel, as-twelve-years-old brat, managed to become Sebastian's living hell, how much of a pain in the ass he would be as he grows older. And the plot has several unresolved mysteries that have not been addressed yet. That's why I'm not a big fan of S2; it closes off all the possible ways this story can go as its ending. However, you are the only one who could warm me up to S2; I trust you.

I read the snippets. It was surprising to see Ciel doubting his appearance. I was questioning whether his look-alike was truly superior or if it was just the circumstances influencing his perception. I feel like it's mainly his fear of not being good enough for Sebastian to stay. Which explains his continuous freak-out about the possibility of his soul being unworthy. And I clearly remember Sebastian thinking, "The boy wasn't nearly as pretty" upon seeing him.

Your talent is exceptional and beyond comparison. Please never stop writing. Stay safe...❤❤

B.

Ps. If my English is difficult to read or understand, please feel free to ignore this.

Hi! Please don't worry, your English is absolutely fine! I'm so happy you've been enjoying Those Gentle Slopes so much, and I'm honored that you feel like I did justice to Ciel and Sebastian. They are my favorite characters, and Ciel is probably my most favorite character ever, across all fandoms, so I really treasure the chance to work with them and get such lovely feedback from other readers.

With S2, yes, it created a lot of controversy in the fandom, but also yes, I love it with my whole heart! I always call it a love letter from Sebastian to Ciel. I do have some issues with it, like the exccessive sexualization in general and of Hannah in particular - it feels just awkward sometimes, but the main plot and especially the resolution make me ridiculously happy.

I agree that the bond between a demon and a human is fascinating. I enjoy exploring it a lot, and I so look forward to all the adventures Ciel and Sebastian will have. But I also think that it cannot go on like this forever: even if Ciel got older, sooner or later, something wuld have to give. He'd either die from old age, which would feel like a very underwhelming ending to me, or Sebastian would eat his soul likepromised - but then I'm sure we'd have ended up with the Red Valentine development, where he's lonely, miserable, and missing Ciel. The idea of Ciel becoming a demon in a way that puts such a strain on his relationship with Sebastian - it's like a new life for their bond. So many new conflicts and possibilities could emerge from it - new settings, new events, new power struggles. If you stick around, I really hope you'll like it! And I really appreciate your trust.

And yes, you're absolutely right, Ciel is prettier than his look-alike (at least from how I envision it). Sebastian probably overestimates the difference between them a bit because he's biased in Ciel's favor while Ciel is freaking out because he's been feeling insecure and unworthy for a while at this point, and learning about Sebastian's second contract was just the last blow. These two idiots…

Thank you for your wonderful ask again! I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

[southsidestory]

I generally try to stay out of discourse, but I have to chime in on this one.

@birkastan2018 is getting dragged for suggesting the most preposterous thing: that more readers should comment instead of being silent consumers. The fact that this is actually controversial is blowing my mind. 

I’ve been writing fic for many years, but only posting regularly since about 2014. I jumped into Naruto fandom just a few months before the manga ended with a (then) canon-compliant longfic. In Times of Peace got WAY more feedback than I ever expected it to, and I was absolutely thrilled.

Because you see, in 2011 I posted a SasuSaku drabble, my first ever fic posted to fanfiction.net! I was so excited to share it… and it got one review. ONE. Now, I realize a 600 word drabble isn’t exactly gonna attract a lot of traffic, and I knew that then too, but it was still horribly discouraging. I figured my writing style must not be a very good fit for the fandom, that no one wanted to read it. I gave up, and went back to working on original projects. I want to be clear, I didn’t stop writing because of my one-review story. I kept writing, both on fanfic and original work, but I stopped posting. 

Eventually I came back, obviously, and the success of ITOP bolstered my confidence. Not everyone was leaving me novel-length, glowing reviews. Many were very short, just a simple “thanks!” or “this was good” and let me tell you, that was so, so much better than nothing. Some were also negative or even cruel, which sucked, but the good comments made up for those. If the first few chapters of ITOP hadn’t gotten at least some response, I might not have finished the story. And if I hadn’t finished ITOP, I probably wouldn’t have continued writing Naruto fic. Well, I would have written it, because when I have a story to tell there’s no stopping me, but I wouldn’t have shared it. (The number of WIPs sitting on my Google Drive gathering dust, unposted, even today, is ridiculous.)

Now, on to the point.

I used to think that asking for feedback made me look desperate. That wanting it made me weak. Because there’s this narrative surrounding writing that says, “You should write for yourself. Writing for others is disingenuous, and it means you’re not dedicated to your craft for the sake of your craft, which is the only reason you should write.” I used to believe that, and to some degree there’s value in that sentiment. If you write purely for feedback, then you might stop when you don’t get it, and that’s horrible, because anyone who wants to write should write.

But mostly, that narrative is bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. Writing and reading don’t exist in separate spheres. They’re part of a conversation, and when no one gives you feedback, it’s like the author is talking to a wall. Storytelling by its very nature is a communal activity. My strong, sincere belief in this is also why I’m a huge proponent of Death of the Author. What I think my story means isn’t any more important than what my readers think it means. Neither is the One True Meaning. Because stories are multi-faceted, and part of what gives them value is the conversations we have around them.

This is something I especially love about fanfiction. Transformative works build on one another, and fanfic writers learn together, write together, give each other prompts, beta for each other, comment on each other’s work, etc. There are so many stories I never would have told without engaging in fandom, especially with other writers. And isn’t that the whole point of fanfiction? To take a known story and create something new, to jump into the middle of a fictional conversation and say what comes next?

Stories are communicative. We share them, and we talk about them, and the things writers hear from our readers help shape the stories we tell next.

Something a lot of writers feel but don’t often talk about is how lonely a process this is. Yes, I love writing for its own sake. Putting together words and taking them apart, losing myself in my stories. It’s fun, it’s difficult, it’s challenging, it’s thrilling. But it’s also very, very isolating when you have no one to share your stories with. Or worse, you share them only to be met with silence.

I don’t expect all readers to comment on every single fic they click on. I read a lot of fanfic, and I certainly don’t do that. But when something truly moves me, I tell the writer why. When something is just a lot of fun and it brightened my day, I usually tell the writer that too. Some days I don’t have the energy for it, but I try. And let me tell you, the hits to comments ratio on my fics paints a very obvious picture: the vast majority of people are not trying. Hell, even the hits to kudos ratio on Ao3 shows that, and kudos take one second and zero effort to leave.

Fanfiction writers aren’t getting paid for this. We put our blood, sweat, tears, and time into writing for a mostly silent audience. Those of you who do speak up matter more than I can possibly express.

The main reason I’ve returned to writing The Valley of the End after such a long hiatus, apart from just wanting to finish it, is because of the outflow of support it has received over the years. Even without new chapters being posted, people kept leaving me encouraging reviews. It made me feel like TVOTE was a story worth telling, worth hanging onto. When I finally felt the urge to dive back into Naruto fandom, that fic was the first thing I revisited, in part because I knew it was the one people were waiting for.

And you know whose kind, thoughtful feedback on my Naruto fics made me really miss writing SasuSaku? You guessed it: birkastan2018. I likely wouldn’t be back if not for her.

So if you read a fic, and you enjoyed it, and you have thirty seconds to type “Thanks for sharing this story, I really liked it!” please do so. It means more to most writers than we can say. And who knows, your little comment might be the thing that makes a difference in an author leaving and staying in a fandom.

[murasaki-murasame]

With chapter 54, Ao no Flag is finally, officially over, and even though I think this finale is going to be extremely controversial in many different ways, I think I . . . kinda loved it? Mostly. There’s at least one big Thing [tm] that bugs me about it but anyway the rest of this will be under a cut because spoilers lmao.

Anyway TL;DR: it has it’s flaws, but this series is basically revolutionary when it comes to LGBT representation in shonen manga, and I think that’s worthy of respect in it’s own right. Also the physical volumes are gonna start coming out at the end of this month in English and this is basically gonna be my last chance to shill for it :)

Oh boy where do I even start with this ending, lmao. So much shit went down and a lot of people on all sides are probably gonna be upset and disappointed for one reason or another.

Just to get my main complaint out the way, I’m really not a big fan of Masumi ending up married to a man [especially one that she seems to not even really like that much]. On the one hand yes I don’t want to be biphobic about it, but on the other hand it just feels like another instance of this whole cliche of a character being set up as pretty explicitly gay, with it being made clear that they aren’t attracted to the opposite sex, but then they end up in an m/f relationship at the very end and I guess we’re meant to think they were bi all along. I feel like it does bi people a disservice to basically portray them as ‘gay people that just eventually find the right man/woman to end up in an m/f relationship with’. But it’s not really my place to talk about it one way or another. In general I just think Masumi deserved more screen-time and development to flesh out her own character growth, but one way or another it feels like this series ended a bit earlier than it was probably intended to, and I think she just got the short end of the narrative stick when it came to prioritizing which characters to focus on in the second half.

I’m also still not really a fan of how little of a voice Touma got as the series goes on, to the point of there being multiple chapters where he straight up doesn’t get any dialogue even if he’s the perspective character for most of it. At least there’s a sense of artistic intention and merit to it, but in the grand scheme of things I just wish he could have gotten to DO stuff more as the series went on.

I did at least end up liking how that set up the big ‘twist’ of this finale, though, and there’s no other way the same twist could have been pulled off, but I almost just kinda wish that the author had chosen to write this finale in an entirely different way if it meant we actually got to see Touma, lmao.

But anyway that brings us to the other big reveal that’ll probably dominate at least half of the discussions about this finale and the series as a whole, that being that not only did Taichi and Touma end up in a relationship, they’re actually married. And honestly the inner writer in me can’t help but respect how effective the set-up for it was, with us seeing everything through Touma’s eyes without anyone referring to him by name, and him writing his family name in the wedding registry thing as ‘Ichinose’, to lead the reader to think that we’re just seeing things through Taichi’s eyes as a literal cypher protagonist situation. But then you get the scene at the end where Touma meets back up with Taichi, who was at an entirely different wedding, and we get the whole final scene that paints a pretty clear picture of them being a happily married couple living together in their own house. Which also kinda has to be taken in the broader societal context of how Japan more or less still hasn’t legalized gay marriage yet, which makes the twist even more effective. And also goes to show how much of a message this is trying to send.

I think it’s 100% valid to be upset about how things ended up with Masumi, but honestly if you think that Taichi and Touma ending up together is completely out of nowhere and not set up at all then lmao get over yourselves. To be perfectly blunt I think like 90% of the people who are upset about this part of the ending are just bitter that the gay dude got to have a happy ending and wasn’t just subjected to live in single misery forever. Let’s just say that after all the gloating I saw straight people do in the last chapter about how ‘things don’t always end up happily for gay people’ and ‘this series was always about the cruel realities of life’, I feel pretty fucking vindicated now, lmao.

In general I’ve got mad respect for Kaito for pulling off the galaxy brain scheme of having a shonen romance manga where the protagonist gets a girlfriend halfway into the story, then right at the end of the penultimate chapter we find out that they broke up, and then we find out that the protagonist ended up married to his gay best friend instead. I can see why people are mad about it, but I’ve always wanted to see this sort of thing happen in a manga like this. I just wish that Masumi could have also gotten a happier ending, but oh well.

Sadly I have a feeling that the whole twist of this finale also means it’s going to be even more unlikely for them to ever make an anime adaptation of this series, even though I think it could work really nicely if they made one.

I feel like I’m gonna have to reread the series at least once now that it’s over and we know exactly what everything was building toward, since it really changes a lot of things in hindsight, especially all of the various hints about Taichi’s own feelings for Touma which I always thought was just wishful thinking on my part but now seems like genuine foreshadowing. I think even this final chapter itself might feel a bit different if I go back and reread it knowing the twist, especially with how it changes the context of Masumi’s husband talking to Touma about his relationship insecurities, and what he indirectly says about Touma and Taichi’s own relationship.

In a lot of ways I think this series was a master-class in visual storytelling, and leaving things unsaid. But unlike a lot of stories that relegate the LGBT thematic arcs to metaphors or hints or unspoken words, this lead to a really concrete ending that gives you a lot to look back on and re-examine the story with. I’m honestly a lot more willing to excuse how little of a voice Touma got as the series went on now that he actually got his happy ending, one way or another.

There’s also a lot to be said about editorial censorship and pressure to keep certain story elements unstated and implied, if not removed entirely, which has to be taken into account for pretty much everything like this. Not like it’s an excuse for everything, but we all remember stuff like the censorship and whatnot that went on behind the scenes with Yuri on Ice from the various higher-ups.

I really hope that series like this can slowly pave the way for more straightforward and explicit LGBT narratives within mainstream shonen manga, but these things take time, and for now I’ll take what I can get.

Anyway I’m at least definitely going to be buying the series in English even though I already own it all in Japanese already, lol.

[smokeybrand]

Widening Margins

The US comic industry is dying. I, personally, don’t think it will ever truly disappear but it needs to change, it needs to evolve, in order to stay relevant in the modern age. The fact that manga is killing everything coming out of domestic comic houses proves that. This very issue has commanded a great deal of the discourse among the industry, most people feeling that manga doesn’t deserve any of the credit or sales it’s getting, but there are a few out there who say otherwise. Chuck Dixon, legendary Batman writer and general legend in tcomics, chimed in with his support of manga popularity and people are hot about. Dude said, “It’s not too hard to figure out, really. There’s a lot of dedication, passion, and craft in manga comics. And that’s missing, almost entirely, from the Big Two.” He’s right. That, right there, in a nutshell, is exactly why the US comic industry is getting throttled by imports.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the big publishers overseas aren’t stifling creatives like they do here. I’m a huge fan of Kubo Tite and the way Jump worked him to death, to the point he wanted to quit altogether, only to relent with the promise of letting him end his narrative the way he wanted, immediately followed by them pulling the rug out from under him with a ten chapter deadline, is f*cked up. That sh*t happens all the time here. It’s happening to Hickman and his X-Men run right now. The issue with the US comic industry is, unlike overseas where this type of sh*t isn’t all that common, it’s everyday business here. I can’t tell you how many stories I've read that had creatives bail on titles because executives wanted something specifically, only communicated to the creator after the fact. Listen, I'm a Spider-Man fan. I‘ve been feeling the sting of executive meddling for fourteen years, ever since Queseda forced One More Day on the fandom. I can’t tell you how many artists and writers quit because of that crusade against creativity. Looking overseas, it’s definitely there, but you don’t have much of it overall.

Shonen manga, what is closely aligned to superhero comics here, dominate the sales charts in bpth the East and West. Boku no Her Academia, One Piece, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Dragon Ball; All of these titles are incredibly popular across the globe. Goku is as recognizable worldwide as Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man. But those are derivative titles inspired by the US comic industry, to an extent. Other popular works include, for a time, Act-Age; A manga about a f*cking actress pursuing her dream. This was before the author of that work was outed as a pervert but it was on it’s way to being something special. Another genre that thrives in the spotlight is sports. Eyeshield 21 is a US football manga created by the guy who is doing One Punch Man right now. Another, Slam Dunk, was popular when i was young and followed a ginger Japanese basketball player because the author was obsessed with the NBA when he was a kid. How many hoop stories are there coming out of Marvel or DC? Chobits, Mirai Nikki, Princess Jellyfish, Neon Genesis Evangelion; All titles that are incredible reads with immaculate art, but would never get published here. Ever. Because the content is too “controversial” to touch. It would ruffle the feathers of the Twatter mob and that’s the issue. That’s why the US comic industry is dying.

I don’t have a favorite comic being published right now. The writing is too poor, the storytelling is too toothless. I really enjoy what i read of Immortal Hulk at first but it’s began to meander too much for my tastes. I really enjoyed what Hickman was doing with the X-Men up to X of Swords but then i heard Marvel was abandoning his framework and cutting his overarching story short. I enjoyed some of what Spencer brought to my darling Spider-Man, but even he’s leaving on questionable terms. I really liked Renew Your Vows and Amazing Mary Jane but those were limited series so they actually align more with manga in that sense. Most manga has a beginning and end. A start and a finish. Because mangaka, manga creators, have a story to tell. They’re not looking to make money telling it in the way, say, DC is. They want to tell awesome stories and draw dope sh*t. The manga industry supports that. It thrives when that passion is recognized and that uniqueness is celebrated. People gravitate toward how genuine manga truly is and shun how corporate the domestic comic scene has become.

Now, i love comics. I absolutely do. But i tell everyone i meet to give manga and anime a chance. They almost always come back and thank me for showing them the brilliance of import media. The bottom line is manga is better than comics. Just like British crime serials are almost always better than domestic crime dramas. NCIS got nothing on Luther, bud. It’s why almost everything A24 or Neon drops, is substantial;y better than something Warner releases in theaters. It’s why everyone is so upset with Black Widow but can’t wait to see how Loki finishes. Black Widow is a contractual obligation while Loki is a f*cking romp. People pick up on that passion and gravitate toward it over something that was created by professional suits, something that feels like it was thrown together strictly to placate a “broad audience.” People are tired of seeing the same sh*t, over and over. There is no variety with the US comic industry. I can’t read a book about a reincarnated salary man, reborn into a world of magic and monsters, as a slime who eats his way to the top of the power rankings, coming out of f*cking DC, bud. Instead, i get a Jokerized Batman that, somehow, ascends to godhood and destroys the universe? See how absurd that sounds?

Even if cats were allowed to tell stories as wild as TenSura, they’d be policed in how to represent them. I just covered a whole ass situation where cats were upset that Tamaki from Fire Force is so sexualized. So the f*ck what? Fire Force is hugely popular here, in the states. That means people like the content. The creator wanted to portray her as such. If you don’t like it, don’t buy the books. Don’t support the franchise. There’s no reason you should attack the art or the creator, personally, just because you have some misplaced sense of moral conceit. That sh*t is why Carol Danvers traded in her leotard for a high top and i f*cking hate it. That’s why She-Ra ended up in an incestuous lesbian relationship at the end of her newest show. Marvel isn’t dropping Delicious in Dungeon because Izutsumi might offend someone for being naked, even though she’s covered in fur. Delicious in Dungeon is actually created by a woman. I feel like, in this social climate, that needs to be stressed. I literally saw a whole ass controversy over the artist for Miss America drawing the title character with a fat ass. She’s Puerto Rican. They have fat asses. Why would anyone want to create in an industry where creativity is punished? Japan embraces all of that, controversy or not, and let’s it all ride. The US comic industry does not. “It’s not too hard to figure out, really. There’s a lot of dedication, passion, and craft in manga comics. And that’s missing, almost entirely, from the Big Two.” Chuck Dixon knows. People should listen to him. The industry should listen to him. If they don’t, they will eventually find that gap between them and manga a bit too wide to broach.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Widening Margins

The US comic industry is dying. I, personally, don’t think it will ever truly disappear but it needs to change, it needs to evolve, in order to stay relevant in the modern age. The fact that manga is killing everything coming out of domestic comic houses proves that. This very issue has commanded a great deal of the discourse among the industry, most people feeling that manga doesn’t deserve any of the credit or sales it’s getting, but there are a few out there who say otherwise. Chuck Dixon, legendary Batman writer and general legend in tcomics, chimed in with his support of manga popularity and people are hot about. Dude said, “It’s not too hard to figure out, really. There’s a lot of dedication, passion, and craft in manga comics. And that’s missing, almost entirely, from the Big Two.” He’s right. That, right there, in a nutshell, is exactly why the US comic industry is getting throttled by imports.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the big publishers overseas aren’t stifling creatives like they do here. I’m a huge fan of Kubo Tite and the way Jump worked him to death, to the point he wanted to quit altogether, only to relent with the promise of letting him end his narrative the way he wanted, immediately followed by them pulling the rug out from under him with a ten chapter deadline, is f*cked up. That sh*t happens all the time here. It’s happening to Hickman and his X-Men run right now. The issue with the US comic industry is, unlike overseas where this type of sh*t isn’t all that common, it’s everyday business here. I can’t tell you how many stories I've read that had creatives bail on titles because executives wanted something specifically, only communicated to the creator after the fact. Listen, I'm a Spider-Man fan. I‘ve been feeling the sting of executive meddling for fourteen years, ever since Queseda forced One More Day on the fandom. I can’t tell you how many artists and writers quit because of that crusade against creativity. Looking overseas, it’s definitely there, but you don’t have much of it overall.

Shonen manga, what is closely aligned to superhero comics here, dominate the sales charts in bpth the East and West. Boku no Her Academia, One Piece, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Dragon Ball; All of these titles are incredibly popular across the globe. Goku is as recognizable worldwide as Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man. But those are derivative titles inspired by the US comic industry, to an extent. Other popular works include, for a time, Act-Age; A manga about a f*cking actress pursuing her dream. This was before the author of that work was outed as a pervert but it was on it’s way to being something special. Another genre that thrives in the spotlight is sports. Eyeshield 21 is a US football manga created by the guy who is doing One Punch Man right now. Another, Slam Dunk, was popular when i was young and followed a ginger Japanese basketball player because the author was obsessed with the NBA when he was a kid. How many hoop stories are there coming out of Marvel or DC? Chobits, Mirai Nikki, Princess Jellyfish, Neon Genesis Evangelion; All titles that are incredible reads with immaculate art, but would never get published here. Ever. Because the content is too “controversial” to touch. It would ruffle the feathers of the Twatter mob and that’s the issue. That’s why the US comic industry is dying.

I don’t have a favorite comic being published right now. The writing is too poor, the storytelling is too toothless. I really enjoy what i read of Immortal Hulk at first but it’s began to meander too much for my tastes. I really enjoyed what Hickman was doing with the X-Men up to X of Swords but then i heard Marvel was abandoning his framework and cutting his overarching story short. I enjoyed some of what Spencer brought to my darling Spider-Man, but even he’s leaving on questionable terms. I really liked Renew Your Vows and Amazing Mary Jane but those were limited series so they actually align more with manga in that sense. Most manga has a beginning and end. A start and a finish. Because mangaka, manga creators, have a story to tell. They’re not looking to make money telling it in the way, say, DC is. They want to tell awesome stories and draw dope sh*t. The manga industry supports that. It thrives when that passion is recognized and that uniqueness is celebrated. People gravitate toward how genuine manga truly is and shun how corporate the domestic comic scene has become.

Now, i love comics. I absolutely do. But i tell everyone i meet to give manga and anime a chance. They almost always come back and thank me for showing them the brilliance of import media. The bottom line is manga is better than comics. Just like British crime serials are almost always better than domestic crime dramas. NCIS got nothing on Luther, bud. It’s why almost everything A24 or Neon drops, is substantial;y better than something Warner releases in theaters. It’s why everyone is so upset with Black Widow but can’t wait to see how Loki finishes. Black Widow is a contractual obligation while Loki is a f*cking romp. People pick up on that passion and gravitate toward it over something that was created by professional suits, something that feels like it was thrown together strictly to placate a “broad audience.” People are tired of seeing the same sh*t, over and over. There is no variety with the US comic industry. I can’t read a book about a reincarnated salary man, reborn into a world of magic and monsters, as a slime who eats his way to the top of the power rankings, coming out of f*cking DC, bud. Instead, i get a Jokerized Batman that, somehow, ascends to godhood and destroys the universe? See how absurd that sounds?

Even if cats were allowed to tell stories as wild as TenSura, they’d be policed in how to represent them. I just covered a whole ass situation where cats were upset that Tamaki from Fire Force is so sexualized. So the f*ck what? Fire Force is hugely popular here, in the states. That means people like the content. The creator wanted to portray her as such. If you don’t like it, don’t buy the books. Don’t support the franchise. There’s no reason you should attack the art or the creator, personally, just because you have some misplaced sense of moral conceit. That sh*t is why Carol Danvers traded in her leotard for a high top and i f*cking hate it. That’s why She-Ra ended up in an incestuous lesbian relationship at the end of her newest show. Marvel isn’t dropping Delicious in Dungeon because Izutsumi might offend someone for being naked, even though she’s covered in fur. Delicious in Dungeon is actually created by a woman. I feel like, in this social climate, that needs to be stressed. I literally saw a whole ass controversy over the artist for Miss America drawing the title character with a fat ass. She’s Puerto Rican. They have fat asses. Why would anyone want to create in an industry where creativity is punished? Japan embraces all of that, controversy or not, and let’s it all ride. The US comic industry does not. “It’s not too hard to figure out, really. There’s a lot of dedication, passion, and craft in manga comics. And that’s missing, almost entirely, from the Big Two.” Chuck Dixon knows. People should listen to him. The industry should listen to him. If they don’t, they will eventually find that gap between them and manga a bit too wide to broach.

[arkus-rhapsode]

What is Canon in Fairy Tail?

Hey guys so of recent I’ve had this thought on my mind of the canon of the series of Fairy Tail. Before I dive into discussing fairy tail spefically I want to first establish this idea of what is canon. The definition of canon is “ a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine.” The big point of that is “Genuine”. With many series in popculture having expanded into media in different fields it is often debated over what is genuine article.

Now Fairy Tail started as manga written by Hiro Mashima, and if it had just stayed a manga then the way of accepting what is genuine would be simple, what’s written and drawn is canon. Hiro Mashima is the creator of this world and all these characters, he is it’s god. Whatever he’d write would be considered canon no matter the context, he could very well write that Natsu is the Easter bunny and that be canon, even if it would make no sense in context of everything that had happened up to the point but Natsu is Hiro’s creation he can decide what Natsu is or isn’t.

However, Fairy Tail isn’t only a manga, like many manga, it was adapted into an anime. As well as light novels, movies, and spinoff manga. Well I’ll try to tackle each of these and boy this is going to be tough.

Now let’s first start with the anime, the general idea of an anime is to capitalize on the popularity of a series to make money for a studio, while promoting the original manga. An often underlining rule among anime/Manga fans is the manga is canon and the anime’s job is to adapt it on to the small screen while adding things to immerse yourself into the world such as music, actors, and coloring. Now here’s the biggest problem when discussing anime is filler and to discuss filler we need to define what is filler. Filler is again meant to immerse yourself into the world of the manga, however with filler there’s a very cynical approach to it and that this is a studio that needs to fill a contractional obligation. Be it one slot or a whole arc to build up chapters to adapt so there doesn’t need to be more filler. Now, here’s the issue when talking about filler in fairy tail and it goes to a little arc called key to the starry night.

With other filler arcs such as the eclipse celestial spirit arc and the daphne arc it’s easy to scoff off them as “they don’t count” because there is no reference to them in the manga at all. But with Key to the starry night arc there is a reference by Yukino in the manga. Even calling it “the zentopia incident” and just to make this cock tail of confusion complete, we add creator involvement. Now let’s try and break this down, first, thanks to this reference I now need to introduce readers to something I call “the Shaz Domino principle”, which is no matter how small, no matter how uneventful, and how insignificant, this reference was put in directly by the creator there is no denying that zentopia is a thing in this universe. But now we get into the nitty gritty and zentopia is a thing in the manga, but what do we know about it? Know you could clearly say “I watched the anime, I know what zentopia is” well here’s the thing, does every Fairy Tail fan watch the anime? How do we know that Everyone who is the fandom has been exposed to the whole arc of zentopia. But for those who may only read the manga not having access to the anime or possibly believe it not to be faithful to the source material will have read that panel and not know what zentopia is with no build up before hand or mention afterwards. It’s something they have to take at face value. As well as the creator involvement, We don’t know what Hiro Mashima really contributed to this filler. There is no way for me to transport to him and ask him this question of “what did you do for the anime staff?”

Because creator involvement can range from a number of things, like Eiichiro Oda providing the linework for daddy masterson in the lougetown filler of one piece to Tite Kubo providing a little pre story to set up the Bleach hellverse movie. We don’t know what Hiro Mashima did for this, and even if we go searching there is no way to be certain that our great internet super highway is right. There has been the controversy of Lisanna’s return with many siting he did it for the anime staff or those saying no it was his intention from the start, there is no way of knowing unless directly from the man himself. And how easy would that be? It’s been well documented that and Hiro even stating he wanted Erigor in the oracion seis arc but due to deadlines he cut it but the anime staff put in Erigor. But there has never been a case of Hiro Mashima saying “This filler arc is canon.” It wouldn’t be hard either he does many afterwords in his manga volumes so how hard would it be?

Now another problem is “well wait a minute, how does angel have that new magic then? Yukino said Zentopia that must be canon” Again here’s the problem lack of evidence, there may be a reference but where is Midnight’s Darkness Magic? Why Sawyer seemingly forgetful of the lesson Mirajane imparted on him? Where is Satan Soul: Halphas? We don’t even see the reaction to Zentopia being mentioned to Lucy. Cobra appears in the GMG arc acting as if he was never heard from sense to the Oracion Seis arc. “Well Hiro’s very wishy-washy with the canon already who cares about these plotholes then.” I can understand that Hiro has forgotten things that he’s written like Lucy can use a different star dress even though she didn’t even summon the spirit, Gray didn’t eat Ice lock when it was around his neck. Well if Hiro Mashima is able to care about things such as the whole Grandeeney mentioning Wendy and Natsu have met, Natsu in Avatar looking up at the former destroyed bell tower in tuly that was only verbally mentioned in chapter 1 and 2. So the man has some self awareness of his series and something as big as an arc where lucy is almost removed from existence would kinda need some justification and not one scene.

Now, on to spin offs and light novels, this I have a better grasp of due to knowing about the manga industry. When a series can be made into a novel or a spin off it is mandated by the publisher because at the end of the day Kodansha Comics is a business and a business wants to profit off it’s hot sellers. Now obviously Hiro would need to sign off on this as they are using his brand in their work, but at most it’s in the hands of the publisher. Now enough of the business jargon you want to know it’s on the canon or not. Well the spin-offs have been done by a variety of mangaka and to varying success. Well the main idea of the spin off is, like filler, is to enrich the story focus on characters that don’t get the spot light as much, like saber tooth or Gajeel or Laxus, but here’s the thing a lot of these spin offs tend to line up with very gray moments between events in the already established series. Since we never focus on Saber tooth who’s to say that the Abyss Horn fight didn’t happen, we didn’t pay attention to gajeel for a while maybe he was on a mission.

Now Unlike the key to the starry night arc there’s never been a reference to ANY event in the spin offs. We never here from Ichiya about the red princess stuff when he showed up in the alvarez arc, Cobra and Gajeel never think of each other, Sting and Rogue never mention they fought an earth dragon. There is easier ways to dismiss it as actually being relevant. “But what about FT zero? Are you going to say it’s canon because it was drawn and written by HIro?” Well unlike the other spin offs there is more references in the manga series to the events to Zero than there is for the other spin offs. I brought up how a person who only reads the manga would have to take “Zentopia incedent at face value well at face value we do get the flash back chapters about FT’s founding, we do get (prooly) Zeira established before her sudden return. They didn’t have to read the the spin off or watch the anime filler to get that info.

Now on to the light novels which are a little harder to talk about because Hiro contributed all the artwork for them. He even reused the designs of Gajeel and Levy’s kids in the manga series. This is another tough one as we know Hiro Mashima isn’t some monkey who will draw whatever is handed to him by another writer he obviously must have had a dialogue with the writer of “colors residing in the heart”. But here’s something that I question all these spin offs make reference to the manga series but does any other outlet acknowledge they exist? We never get the Anime talking about the return to edolas or onne spin off saying Abyss Horn was part of the Balam alliance. Only reference to fillers like the eclipse zodiac arc appear only in the anime and not the manga. The only one that ever gets to be mentioned in another media is the “trouble twins” with Hiro Mashima using the design of Gajeel and Levy’s kids meaning it’s very likely that the events in that light novel could happen.

Now here’s another problem, Omake. They are all written by the author of the manga and are even adapted into filler episodes so are they canon? Well in Japanese Omake literally means ‘extra’ and what is an extra? Is it a little story that’s told at some unspecific time? Is it a kinda “what if” scenario that the author wants to experement his writing skills in? Does he just want to make you laugh and needs the context to do it?

Well at times it seems to be generally accepted as a “what if” scenario because we know that 1 billion years ago the ancestors of Natsu never molested the ancestor of Lucy, we know there was never and Ichiya epidemic, we know that that Fairy Tail and the Seven Deadly Sins don’t share the same universe. “But hey those are so outlandish what about “Mulan Rouge” or “Natsu vs Mavis” they seem like they could very well happen and they were in both Manga and OVA form.” Well hears another nitty gritty we aren’t really given a point they could’ve occurred in the story.

Well at this point I’m sure everyone is reading this saying “Your just cherry picking everything at this point and your making it sound like anything not written or drawn by Hiro Mashima isn’t canon and all of it is just glorified fanfiction”. Well glorified fanfiction is a good term because I know many writers who actually seem to understand and do more with the universe of Fairy Tail than Mashima himself. And here’s the biggest factor of them all, is the audience.

The audience has a wide variety of what they want to accept as canon for personally reasons. I know many who love the Oracion Sies and want key to the starry night to be canon so all that development they got wasn’t brushed off as “doesn’t count”. I know many who would love to pretend the “stone age” Omake never happened because of the disrespect it shows to favorite characters even though they are Mashima’s. I personally enjoy the Gajeel manga because it focus’s on Gajeel and allows him to  get more shine than either manga or anime have given to him. I know some who for shipping purposes will full heartedly state the christmas omake is canon even though people can find flaws like “Jellal being in magnolia makes no sense”. And here’s another thing the Sabertooth manga I didn’t like but I did something with sabertooth that wasn’t just just Sting or Rogue.

The audience sees the potential in this world and most likely wants to create their own canon. Their own way of accepting the things they want fairy tail to be and brushing off the stuff that hinders their ability to enjoy it. Me personally I find the easiest way to accept is “If it wasn’t in the main manga, it didn’t happen” but someone could say to me “If it didn’t happen in the manga it didn’t happen except for Mulan Rouge that makes sense as canon”. We all make are own acceptance of what we want fairy tail to be. And if that’s the case, then no ones wrong or right because like opinions our views of acceptance are different and like opinions, if you have a different take on canon you’re going to end up butting heads.

Well that’s my take on it. Now if you guys got anything say send me an ask or message. And maybe we can all admire each others canons.