We Appreciate Manga™

Is this the final episode of ‘We Appreciate Manga'? I guess we will have to see… Either way James has an announcement to make but first we give a quick review of Godzilla minus one and talk about side chapters of Petshop of Horrors. Skip chapter summaries @ 15:01   Intro music courtesy of Liam Bradbury Outro music courtesy of Rifti Beats - Youtube     Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   136: Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   In the additional chapters, young Chris Orcot treks out into the labyrinthine back rooms of the petshop to find out Q-Chan's human form. Unlike the rest of the Pets in Count D's shop, who appear as human to Chris, Q-Chan only appears as a Wolperdinger, a horned rabbit like creature with wings. As Chris explores the hidden rooms, he meets a grim looking figure who obliges him but unfortunately for Chris, the remedy he acquires has no such desired effect on Q-Chan.   Another chapter shows a Totetsu (a mixed goat and tiger creature) by the name of T-Chan. T-Chan is looking down in the dumps before Leon finds out that it is because he is in love with one of D's new pets. Leon and the gang help him pluck up the courage but because of T-Chan's proclivity to eat the one he loves it results in T-Chan being rejected. It becomes a bonding experience for both Leon and T-chan.   The Flowers and detective chapters feature the police detective Leon Orcot, D does not trust Leon enough to take care of pets so he gifts him a gatolatto plant.  The plant grows well thanks to Leon's appreciation and care but eventually Leon is wounded from a gunshot and is hospitalized. On his miraculous recovery he asks D to water his plant for him, only to be told that the flower has already bloomed and withered to death in his place. Was it really the plant that saved Leon? D has given people stranger things.   Part two, has D playing matchmaker only for Leon to interfere and end up winning the affection of beautiful creatures. What Leon does not realise is that he is being used to pollinate women. Like a honey bee!   Part three includes a strange kimono arriving at the pet shop. With the Kimono's colour representing Sakura (cherry blossom) but being made from the blood of insects. And in the last chapter that we speak of today, we see Chris sent on an errand but D and Leon spy on him using cameras and disguises, very much like the Reality TV show ‘Old Enough!' (a.k.a. its literal translation ‘My First Errand') Afterwards they spend the night gazing at the full moon and D tells Chris of the rabbit in the moon, and the princess whose kingdom has become extinct. Chris tells D that maybe the rabbit princess is still on the moon and is just hiding.   Topics:   ·       Thoughts on Godzilla Minus One and Hollywood. ·       Pareidolia, do you see a rabbit, a woman, or a man when you look at the moon? ·       The future of the We Appreciate Manga Podcast.       Historical, scientific, and cultural references:     ·       The cherry blossom looking dye in one story is often used as a food colouring can trigger allergies, look for anything labelled carminic acid, carmine or cochineal on red coloured foods. ·       Unlike the west Chinese and Asians countries tend to say there is a rabbit in the moon, not a man in the moon. Some when they look at a full moon, say the image is a silhouette of a rabbit hunched over and is mixing herbs, creating an elixir for immortality. (Personally, I like to think that its churning butter but some Japanese may say it is pounding rice cake mixture - J) Depending on the sun's position and your position on the earth if you were to Look at the dark spots of the moon you will find that the sea of fertility and the sea of nectar are the tips of its ears.   Osamu Tezuka retells the origin story in the first volume of his 1972-1983 manga ‘Buddha' where an old man asks three animals to help him find food. One of the three animals then dives into fire and gives its life so that the old man does not starve. Because of its sacrifice it is then honoured by the God Indra and immortalised by having its image drawn on the moon.   ·       Chang'e the Chinese moon goddess is a figure that dates to Zhou Dynasty, and having had poems written about her during the Tang Dynasty.   ·       The rabbit princess or moon princess also has similarities to princess Kaguya, the main character who appears in ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter' a late 9th of 10 century story with no attributed author. Sailor Moon is also based on this character and because of the tale's use of space travel, it is considered an early form of science fiction.   ·       The story of the shamanistic princess Himeko is not necessarily pre-historic as Will states but certainly an ancient Japanese one, having dated back to years between 220 and 270 (Yayoi period). As a legendary figure Himeko appears in the first volume of Osamu Tezuka's ‘Phoenix' and the Yoshiki Okamoto (Buroson) manga ‘Lord'.   ·       Utsuro – Bune (Hollow Boat) is a legendary account of an unidentified object arriving on the shores of the Hitachi province of Japan in 1803.   Facebook Instagram X Official Website   Email     To see “Jim make a manga” follow the Mastodon or you can try…   …Instagram (Jim_makes_a_manga)   …Bluesky   …And Twitter / X (@RealJamesFitton)

Author Matsuri closes out the final chapters and leaves no stone unturned, Chris speaks, Q-Chan shows off their human form and a climatic meeting with D's father finally happens.  In a clever way, Matsuri switches from an episodic structure to a serial form, bringing the narrative home!     Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   135: Petshop of Horrors vol. 10 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   The story advances to its conclusion when Chris Orcot's extended family arrive. Chris knowing that he is adopted by his aunty and uncle forgives them and his cousins, but in a moment of crisis he learns to speak up and call for them, Chris' voice is heard by his cousins and he is taken home, even if the pets at the shop did not want Chris to leave them, Chris makes his own decision to live in peace with his real family. When Chris looks back at what he had with D in the pet shop he finds they no longer resemble the humanoids he once had a relationship with, they truly seem like animals now.   Afterwards D mysteriously leaves and closes shop upon getting heat from the FBI. Agent Vesca Howell teams up with Chris' older brother, the detective Leon Orcot to track D down. The two share what they know about D before they go their separate ways. Afterwards D appears to Leon and leads him to a high-rise penthouse to discuss things over tea and sweets. But Leon is not fooled since the imposter is Count D, the father of the missing D. Although this raises many questions as to why he looks like he in his twenties and is the spitting image of his son. Leon however falls for Count D's trap. And like in previous chapters, Leon must once again fight in the wilderness of a mythological dreamscape.   Meanwhile Agent Howell confronts the real D and loses the fight to apprehend him. D realises that Howell is only after his lookalike father and so he takes him to Count D. Both agent Howell and D arrive in time to help save Leon. It is at this point that D's personal pet, Q-chan transforms into his human form, revealing himself to be D's grandfather.  Just in time for the existential crisis that is Count D's plan to spread a virus that causes human extinction. However, Count D is shot dead and Howell dies in the confrontation, The OG Count, Grandfather D takes his son's remains so that he can reincarnate him and Leon takes a leap of faith with D to safely escape the tower. Soon afterwards, D parts ways with Leon.   Eventually after twenty years pass, the pet shop is re-opened and mysterious deaths occur. Detective Orcot makes his way there to meet D, but this is not a reunion, in fact this is a meeting between the adult Chris Orcot and D's son, the reincarnated Count D who died twenty years ago.     Topics:     ·       Aino Matsuri's switch from an episodic style of storytelling to a serial one. ·       Chris' dilemma ·       Chris' unrealistic form of mutism. ·       Is Count D human or not? ·       The Misanthropic villain.   ·       The final chapter relies heavily on specific tropes so to create a feel of finality. The Tower itself is symbolic, appearing as a Tarot card after the Devil card. The Tower is almost always depicted having been struck by lightning or facing some sort of explosion or fire at the top. It represents, divination, to reach heaven and God and to experience a great revelation but one with an arduous cost. In many stories it is the protagonist's greatest challenge before they confront the truth that waits for them above, and usually by defeating the villain above it causes the tower to collapse, this is symbolic of a return to status quo, to humble and “ground” the heroes but also render the challenge of ever climbing it again to be mute. Also, like the biblical “Tower of Babel” anyone who attempts to climb or build it always comes to a misunderstanding when they meet someone at the top.   ·       Another symbolic scene is Leon becoming trapped in the forest, like “Jonah and the whale” Leon must face penance/consequence for his lack of faith and suspicion of D, it is a purgatory and womb like state that once he escapes from, he gets more purpose. It is also a traumatic instance of being isolated from society and one's tribe and in such stories those who survive the proverbial whale get a chance to better themselves or do better in the next life.   Historical, scientific, and cultural references:   ·       The Mountains of Kunlun China is specifically a belt of mountains that stetches through the centre and around parts of China, from the Tibetan plateau to the Tarim Basin, bordering on the Gobi Desert. It has mythical properties and is analogous to the Greek's Mount Olympus and the Tower of Babel, in that many creationist stories revolve around the mountains, which are deemed as the birthplace of China as a nation.   Facebook Instagram X/Twitter Official Website   Email

Listen with discretion and care since on today's episode we speak about intergenerational trauma, modern slavery, and human trafficking. Pretty intense stuff for a fantasy manga but Akino Matsuri is an expert anthologist when it comes to episodic storytelling. Skip plot summaries @ 7:17   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   134: Petshop of Horrors vol. 9 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   Dreams: A young woman pines over D, having recognised him from her dreams. D tries to find one of his supernatural pets for her but fails upon realizing that she already has such a spiritual companion. A Phoenix has given Monica the chance to constantly reincarnate herself and move to the next life if she fails to achieve her wish in one life. Her wish to win the heart of D. Monica's dreams are in fact flashbacks to a past life where she had met one of D's ancestors. D begins to feel sorry for Monica and decides to date her, he regretfully informs her that he cannot love someone who is human albeit very cryptic as to his reasons why.   In the end Monica decides to take a plane home but D sees the plane blow up in a fatal accident. The Phoenix appears to D once more and claims that she will no longer be reincarnated. The reason being that D did have feelings for her, thus Monica's wish came true, even if he chose not to pursue a relationship and her life was cut short after it.   Desire: A criminal working his way into the ranks of an organisation needs to acquire a pet tiger from D so that he can be king of the concrete jungle that is China town. The man sends a little girl, Xiao Hua, as a mediator so that she can butter up D with gifts to win the man's approval. However, the Xiao Hua notices a hanging wall scroll painting in D's tea room, and in that painting is a tiger.  The tiger only appears in the painting upon greeting its master.  Learning that Xiao Hua is destined to own the tiger, D gives Xiao Hua the painting.  Afterwards D learns of Xiao Hua's lifeless body appearing in a back alley.  D takes it upon himself to find justice for her and retrieve the painting.  A fight ensues as D intrudes into the triad's house but D has a trick under his sleeve that turns the tables on Xiao Hua's killer.   Death: A mother comes to the pet shop after the death of her daughter's pet, she buys a new one only for it to be mysteriously killed.  As D investigates the deaths of the pets, he finds a family that has inter-generational trauma and the making of a serial killer.   Desperation: D and Chris are abducted by a woman who, mourning the loss of her dead lover, intends to exact revenge on the police detective Leon Orcot.  T-Chan, the Totetsu is shot in the struggle to prevent D and Chris from being taken. However, their captor does not know that she is pregnant.   Topics:   ·       The Power dynamic we see in the ‘Desire' chapter implies that Xiao Hua is a child slave who may have arrived in the U.S. due to human trafficking. At the time of this podcast episode being published, Modern slavery and human trafficking seems to be more prevalent in the U.K. according to this Vice article by Amandas Ong and the BBC. ·       If you are a witness to human trafficking and modern slavery you can use this website and the “stop app” to report it and gain support. Please be aware that this no substitute for contacting the police, and if possible, one should contact the police, be it 911 (or 999 for U.K.) otherwise use the following website as a second choice and download their app, if for some reason you are afraid of contacting the police. https://www.stopthetraffik.org/   ·       The International Salvation Army is a charity organisation that also intends to abolish slavery and human trafficking, they can provide resources such as housing and protection for those in need. https://www.salvationarmy.org/isjc/MSHTR     ·       It is guaranteed that 1 in 3 serial killers have abused animals, with it being the same chance as a coin toss in finding 2 in 3 killers being animal abusers. As an experiment feel free to research it yourself. Hopefully three serial killers have already came to mind and it will come as no surprise that one of them hurt animals. In fact, there was a true-crime documentary inspired by the phenomena that exemplifies this trope, Netflix's ‘Don't F**k with Cats'. As of 2016 the Unites State's FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) added animal abuse cases to its National Incident-Based Reporting System.  John Thompson of the national sheriff's association said animal abuse is not just a crime that harms animals but to people as well, claiming it “a crime against society,” and “By paying attention to [these crimes], we are benefiting all of society.” ·       But there is also another factor that facilitates the development of serial killers, that being child abuse. In his 1989 book Serial Killers, Joel Norris describes the cycles of violence as generational: “Parents who abuse their children, physically as well as psychologically, instil in them an almost instinctive reliance upon violence as a first resort to any challenge.” For a good article on the matter there is ‘From Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder' written by Nicola Davies for Psychiatry Advisor.     Historical, scientific, and cultural references:   ·       The mythical Phoenix goes by the name Ho-oh in Japanese and Feng Huang in Chinese, since the Yuan Dynasty the name Feng Huang is gender neutral, as it combines the word for both female and male Phoenix. They have Chinese origins. ·       The Tiger is an endangered animal according to the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened species. Multiple subspecies of the tiger is also considered extinct.   Facebook Instagram X Official Website   Email

Come join our book club and listen as we read Akino Matsuri's horror stories, one that is about a mermaid. Another about a family that move into a house that has a dark history. And a woman who seems to have looks, fame and fortune, as well as mysterious past. Skip plot synopsis @3:34   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   133: Petshop of Horrors vol. 8 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien     D goes to a beach resort with Leon and Chris. Leon is there only to pick up ladies but when Chris and D help a girl find a lost ear-ring they are rewarded a boat trip by the girl's grandfather, a man who spends his years chasing a mermaid he once saw at a young age.   A violent wave hits the boat causing D to fall overboard, when they find D washed up on shore, he does not seem to be his usual self.  D only recognises the girl's grandfather, calling him Shido, which is odd because Shido did not give out his name.  The next day D predicts a volcano erupting, all islanders set out to sea but they lose D once again. The next time they find D he is with a mermaid, having had a body swap experience, D is now back into his own body.  Having been saved previously by the mermaid, he was able to repay the favour by letting her reunite with her long-lost love, Shido, whom had no memory of her, since the only way he can keep his memories is if he stays with the mermaid. They leave Shido behind with her, but unfortunately for Leon this means he will forget the existence of mermaids.   The second story involves an entire family who have recently moved in to a new house. The family enter the pet shop looking to buy one however they do not seem to agree on what pet they want. The Count ends up choosing a pet for them that just so happens to appear to each family member as the pet that they originally wanted, for example, to the grandmother it appears as a cat but to the youngest son it appears as a gecko, D names the pet Tenko (or Tiān hú / Ten-chan depending on whichever translation) but the rest of the family bicker about what new name to give it.   One lonely girl in the family sees Ten-chan as a human, and it becomes clear that the pet favours this girl who seems down in spirit and isolated from the family. In truth the girl is a ghost, a part of the family that previously owned the house. D, having a sense of what's up checks with the police and visits the house. When he arrives, there is a house fire, the family escape except for their pet, who stays inside with the ghost. D comes to save Ten-chan who as it turns out, is a kitsune (a mythical nine-tailed fox), but not before they exorcise the ghost and let her pass on to the other side.   In the story “Deja-vu” D lets Chris decide what pet to give to a woman who seems to have everything. Searching the pet shop, he sees the child like ghosts of twin sisters, Meanwhile the detective Leon discovers the woman patron to be a missing person, long thought to be dead and intends to reunite the woman with her sister. When the time comes for the woman to meet her pet, she is forced to confront her inner child. Or as D calls it, a beautiful bird.     Note: The bonus chapter ‘Flowers, Detective and the Detective's Little Brother' will be spoken about on a later episode of our podcast which will cover all bonus chapters.   Topics:   ·       The mute character Chris and the use of children and other side characters functioning as plot devices. ·       For more Mermaid lore, check out A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits, a treatise by Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim) The 1819 French fantasy novella, Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and ‘The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Anderson, and there is also Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics. ·       Video that shows the Cresta mall mermaid incident in Johannesburg ·       https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Mary-Mirror-Psychoanalytic-Folkloristics/dp/1604731877  Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics   Historical, scientific, and cultural references:   ·       Shido as a character is an homage to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Shido is chasing a mermaid believing it to be a portent of doom, its appearance being a bad omen. In truth the mermaid has pre-cognition and the power to change a person's memory as well as save those from the disasters she predicts. They are very similar in that Captain Ahab and Shido both own boats, have scars that remind them of a perceived injustice and an obsession that leads them to chase. For Ahab it is the white whale, for Shido it is the mermaid. ·       The Déjà vu story shares a certain similarity to Truman Capote's novel ‘Breakfast at Tiffany's' in that Holly Golightly is a woman who flees her family to become a wealthy socialite in New York. Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe too, who was born Norma Jean Mortensen with her natural hair being a curly red and not her iconic straight blonde, she would defy her husband Jim Dougherty to pursue a career in showbusiness, albeit (and by his own account) he was initially supportive of her ambition until it became clear that she had to be single to get a contract in Hollywood.     Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

Today we talk about the importance of character-based story telling superseding social and political commentary, be it human trafficking, weight loss and police brutality. Albeit a fantasy story, there is an argument that a character's catharsis through such heavy and controversial topics can bring catharsis to the reader. Skip plot synopsis @ 3:37   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   132: Petshop of Horrors vol. 7 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   The first chapter, ‘Doom' has the detective Leon get involved with the killing of his partner and co-worker Max whilst apprehending his childhood friend who is also killed in the incident. To ease Leon's mind, D gives him a butterfly as a pet, however this butterfly can travel through Leon's dreams and show him his desires. This results in Leon experience time travel where upon dreaming of what things could be like, he then experiences the reality within a waking nightmare, thus experiencing the butterfly effect.   In ‘Donor' we see that Leon is assigned to find a missing donor heart whilst D is surprised by the arrival of his sister. A sister whom is willing to give her own organs so to donate to D, eventually the sister poses an existential threat that results in D killing the woman in his defence. When Leon finds a bloodied-up D, we see that D holds not the body of his sister but instead of an orangutan.   In ‘Duty' a child soldier, on the run from assassinating a mafioso, hides in the Pet shop and takes D and Christopher as his hostage.   Whilst in the final chapter, ‘Diet' shows us three characters. A catwalk model by the name of Irene who is given alternate medicine / diet pills from D. Plus two other patrons which include a boxer by the name of Nash and young girl by the name of Em (Emerelda). All three of them have issues with their weight and intend to make sure they lose a few pounds.       Context:   ·       Arguably the most famous of all Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu) stories—"Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly"—appears at the end of the second chapter of his work, named "On the Equality of Things". This is the main inspiration for the Petshop of Horrors chapter ‘Doom' although there is a sort of time travel aspect, the logic depicted however is that Leon is experiencing a dream of how things could be different. ·       ‘The Butterfly Effect' is a metaphor that has its roots in deterministic philosophy and chaos theory. It describes how small-scale disturbances can cause large-scale events. Attributed to mathematician and meteorologist  Edward Norton Lorenz. when describing the cause of Tornados. ·       Many diets and fads revolving around weight loss took place during the 80's and 90's as gyms and “super-models” grew in popularity. Most of this was influenced by the controversial 1972 book ‘Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever' which promotes a high cholesterol diet which results in heart disease. In Chris Van Tulleken's book ‘Ultra-Processed People' he explains how caloric restriction is not a long-term solution to weight loss as it is an evolutionary, survival and genetic advantage for weight loss to reduce when starved for long periods. Chris however does explain that an increase in obesity over the years after the 1950's is due to highly processed and chemically augmented foods. Specifically designed not to satiate hunger but sell for profit. Anyone who is willing to go a drastic change in diet should always consult their doctor beforehand. Sadly, many eating disorders exist due to such diets, the social mores, and the ever-changing landscape of nutritional research.   Historical, scientific, and cultural references:   ·       Xenotransplantation is the name of the procedure where animals are used for organ donor transplantation in humans. Currently pigs are being used in clinical trials as of the date of this podcast being uploaded. The idea of “transgenic pigs” first being used going as far back as 1995. ·       Naomi Campbell, a British supermodel most famous during the 1990's, considered a muse by designers like Jean Paul Gaultier with her contemporary Kate Moss. She is often mistaken to be the first black woman to appear on the front cover of Time magazine in September 16th 1991, in fact singers Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price and Aretha Franklin predate her by a few decades. With Marian Anderson appearing on the December 30th 1946 issue. ·       It is possible and dangerous to lose weight from a parasite. Often caused by eating raw meats and a lack of hygiene. Of course, parasites that take the identity of their host is still just the stuff of science-fiction.   Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

Continuing with their book club podcast, Will and James talk about volume 6 of the surreal fantasy horror josei manga, Petshop of Horrors! Today's stories are very much a reflection on the chaos of childhood and the pressures that family can sometimes put upon us. Skip chapter summaries @ 4:22   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 6 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   When Leon and D get abducted by terrorists they are forced to partake on the quest to the legendary city of El Dorado and its lost gold. In the end the leader of the group faces a dilemma as to wherever or not he should sacrifice his mystical jaguar for the gold.   On December, the night before Christmas, Christopher's uncle and aunty come to the pet shop to take the young Christopher as their adopted child. However, Christopher refuses and hides down the basement where he meets something that can only be described as King Ghidorah, with an earthquake inducing dissociative identity disorder.   In the chapter ‘Distance' the youngest daughter of a family of musicians, Catherine, is raised as such but has no talent. She distracts herself when the family dog has puppies and takes the runt of the litter to see D, although D is no veterinary doctor he decides to look after it for her. Once the Puppy recovers, she takes it for walks and lets it sit whilst she plays sports. When the time comes for her big piano recital performance the puppy bites her finger, rendering her index finger muscle useless. A sense of relief comes over Catherine as she no longer needs to play. It becomes to Catherine that she can now choose what path she wants in life as her talents clearly lie more so in sports than music.

A poignant volume that introduces a new character to the lore and explores feelings around death and childhood. And it may come as no surprise that even a horror Shoujo manga somehow has to reference ballet, we all seen Black Swan right? Skip plot summaries @ 6:11   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 5 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   In the first chapter, ‘Dual' a congressman appears to D asking for the legendary Kirin. At first D denies the existence of such a creature deeming it as a myth, but in truth it is the Kirin who chooses the owner. The Kirin can make the dreams of its owner come true, granting them great power but at an extreme cost. In the end the Kirin chooses the congressman's aide/assistant and so he makes the greatest sacrifice.   In ‘Day Nursery' we are introduced to Leon Orcot's little brother, named Christopher, a mute child who stays at the Petshop under D's care. It comes as a surprise when Christopher sees the pets as humanoids, the same as D and can converse with them telepathically. Christopher has survivor's guilt due to his mom dying from a complicated pregnancy and a feeling of being unloved from his brother Leon. Yet he finds a mother figure in the elderly black bird, Madame Sultana. On the day that Leon is injured he has a near death experience where he dreams of his mother who coincidentally looks like Sultana, or at least the way Christopher sees Sultana. In this realm both Leon and his mother talk about Christopher. On the same day Madame Sultana dies and D can sense the disturbance in the air. Soon enough Leon is apprehensive to be sending Christopher to a specialist school, his stoic nature hides it, but he gives his little brother a hug before he drops him off.   Continued in ‘Darling' Christopher brings in a missing runaway Cat with emerald green eyes and a necklace for a collar, the cat feeling as if she is unloved and only valued for her necklace. The necklace being crown jewels and whomsoever wins the affection of the cat is owner of the jewels and in turn the next heir to the throne. With the cat choosing to stay with D she wishes for a life of a commoner and D trims her fur/ hair at her request, he then claims sovereignty due to possessing the necklace and holds the cat ransom. However, D's plan is to see if the rightful prince Saleem can recognise their cat. But like how a prince recognised Cinderalla, so does the prince recognise his cat. D sees how much the cat and the prince love each other and so he gives the necklace back. Christopher however gets his first taste of jealousy.   The last chapter of this volume reads a lot like, Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Jeanne Lecroix, jealous of not being able to play the lead role of Swan Lake spends the afternoon at D's pet shop. There he shows her many of his pets all performing for her, including a bloody cockfight. Through comparing the performance with her abilities, she feels inadequate. Therefore, D gifts her a blade, telling her that with it she will achieve her desire. Later D takes detective Leon to see Swan Lake and we find out that Jeanne has torn apart her rival's black swan costume, it is then decided that Jeanne will play the black swan and her rival Dominique will play the white swan. By the end of the second act Jeanne gets an ovation and it becomes clear that she is wanted for the third act, However Jeanne goes missing, having won the heart of her prince co-star she is never seen again after that performance.   Context:   ·       In Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake the role of both the black swan and the white swan is conventionally played by the same person. This is why in the chapter ‘Dance' Jeanne is jealous of Dominique since it is a dual character role. ·       Depending on the translation you are reading, the country that Saleem is prince of is either fictional or based on the country of Yemen.   Historical, scientific, and cultural references:     ·       A Kirin (Qilin) is based on Chinese mythology, often mistaken for a giraffe in eastern languages but can also be mistaken for a Shishi in the west, the mythical Chinese lion like dog. A Kirin is more like a deer mixed with a dragon in that it has hooves and antlers along with scales. If someone from the Ming dynasty saw a giraffe then they may have mistaken it for a Kirin. They even share the same name. ·       Madame Sultana is a Myna, which is a Starling bird native to India, it can talk like a parrot, even going for lower frequencies of speech than the average parrot. Although symbolically it is more representative of a crow in how it is a pomgeist or conduit for the deceased. ·       The Cat in the chapter ‘Darling' is named Pandora. It means “all giving” and “gifted” named from the Greek creationist myth. ·       The Dying Swan solo dance was created by Mikhail Fokine for Camille Saint-Saëns's ‘The Swan' for the Ballerina Anna Pavlova, having premiered in 1907 as a special occasion piece, It is inspired by the Alfred Tennyson poem of the same name and of course it would be adapted and used for future Swan Lake performances. In the words of Fokine's granddaughter, Isabelle: "The Dying Swan does not make enormous technical demands, but rather enormous artistic ones because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience, which is emerging from someone who is attempting to escape death." ·       La Syphide is a dance original choreographed by Filipo Taglioni in 1833 but Sadly, the 1836 August Bournonville choreography is the only one to have survived, since Bournonville did not have the rights to the original music thus he created a new version of the dance. It is not to be confused with the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides, another ballet involving a mythical sylph. A Sylph being a spirit of the air. ·       “Pas de deux” is a ballet term for a dance duet. Literally translated from French as “Step of two”   Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

Does anyone remember Tamagotchi? Or maybe you had a Giga-Pet growing up? Whatever the case a virtual pet goes by many brand names and today we read one story that is both inspired by the virtual pet craze of the 90's and the lore behind hermaphrodites (that's intersex people for those in the know).  We also have one story inspired by Dracula and another involving race horses. This is gonna be a fun one! Skip synopsis @ 9:44   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   129: Petshop of Horrors vol. 4 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   Synopsis:   When the only witnesses to a murder seems to be to fishes, detective Leon Orcot has D, the mysterious and bohemian Petshop manager take care of them. During the investigation they hunt for one suspect a woman who perhaps dated the murder victim. As things develop D works the case with Leon as an advisor and they soon come across a new witness. A cyber-pet in the form of a digital fish, they learn that like the fishes the murder victim themself was a hermaphrodite, someone capable of changing their gender or at the very least be able to pass as both genders. It becomes clear that the murderer was possibly transphobic. But luckily the cyber-pet had cameras connected and was able to record the crime, although Leon finds it hard for a pet's words to be admissible in court. D assures him that machines are valued in court, because machines do not lie.   In Dark-Horse, Leon and D are on a film set and witness one of the stunt women, Betty, having an accident. The horse breaks its leg, meaning that it will need to be put down, which upsets Betty. D comforts her and learns that she is working part time as a stunt woman, with plans of becoming a jockey and using her own horse to compete in a derby. Betty takes D to her stable and finds she has one horse named sudden death, much to her surprise D recognises that the horse is deaf as well as very calm around the man.   Not long after this Betty's father ends up in hospital, and to pay for his hospital bills she goes to visit D and see what horses he can make a deal with. Of course, it is no surprise D has one called Nightmare, but Betty is taken back to see that the horse that broke their leg is now recovered and being looked after by D.   In the end Betty decides not to sell her horse, and instead use Sudden Death to compete in the derby. D promises to help her win and plans to make a miracle happen.   On the day of the race, D attends with Leon to support Betty and Sudden Death. He gives Leon a whistle to cheer on Sudden Death. And Leon, because he is an idiot uses the whistle. Because of this Sudden Death wins the race. And in turn it proves D's theory that the horse is a thoroughbred descendent of Matchem, and thus recognises the legendary and somewhat enchanted whistle.   Leon finally has a reason to arrest D since he rigged the game. However, D makes it clear, since they both placed a generous bet on the horse and Leon did blow the whistle, this means Leon is an accessory to the crime.   The last story of this volume is a sort of ‘X-files' meets ‘Murder She Wrote' style chapter called ‘Dracula,' which tells the story of a vampire on the loose in America who is specifically targeting east Asian men that fits the description of D.   Leon is assigned to protect D as he is partnered with FBI profiler, Norma Langley. She protests the theory of a vampire and explains the cause of death is poison made to look like a vampire attack. But things get tense when leaves Leon to look out on D whilst she decides to catch their unsubdued vampire by herself. Leon gets into a fight with one man, suspecting him of wanting to poison D with his gifts of cake and wine.   But the two make up and Leon gets him a beer, he learns that the man is named Alex, still mourning the loss of his dead lover. In the climax of the story Leon decides that the safest place to hide D is by locking him up in a cell at the police station. Leon then investigates D's home and finds a photo of what appears to be D, Norma, and Alex in the same room. Even if one denies the existence of vampires the correlation is too strong to be coincidence.   In a twist of fate. Norma shows up at the station and mortally wounds D, then she waits for the vampire to show. And he does show, Alex flies in and comes just in time to protect D but first he drinks the blood from D's wound, “ending the contract” as he claims. By drinking D's blood Alex turns into vapor and dies leaving no corpse. Norma tells D she lost the bet, thinking that Alex would move on the from the death of his lover and instead reunite with her, but Alex chose to reject Norma and unite with his lost love in death.   When Leon makes it back to the station, he finds the coffee pots are laced with tranquilizer and sees that D is accompanied by a bat within his prison cell. The bat flies out through the bars and out the window. D is the last person to see Norma, who turned out to be a fake FBI agent after all. Leon refuses to believe that she was a vampire.   ·       The chapters “Flowers and the Detective” will be talked about in a separate episode since these chapters share one continuity and act as a lore building side story to the plot. Having three parts and an additional chapter or two.   Context:   ·       Cyber-Pets (or Virtual-Pets) are pocket sized electronic toys that can be carried on a key ring. They were popular in the mid to late 90's with Bandai's Tamagotchi being the most famous (itself a portmanteau of the Japanese words “egg” and “watch”). Tamagotchi were also a precursor to Pokémon's rival Digimon, Whilst Giga-pets were a western competitor to Tamagotchi, released by Tiger Electronics with licensed deals to make Giga-Pets tie-in merchandise for existing franchises, such as Rugrats™ for one.     Historical, scientific, and cultural references:     ·       The term “Hermaphrodite” has origins in Greek mythology. Hermaphroditus being the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, whose story is told in Ovid's metamorphoses. ·       There are two types of hermaphroditism, Sequential and Simultaneous, the most common in fish is sequential, meaning it can only be one gender at one time. A Clown Fish, (think of titular character of Finding Nemo) will become male first, even becoming sexual but since these fishes exist in a hierarchy, they serve the sexually dominant female. If the female dies, the sexual male, becomes a female. So, it is male first, then maybe it will become female when it gets higher up and become the alpha of the group. They are not polygamous; males tend to stick by one female. ·       Humans do not experience hermaphrodism like animals. They do not change sex as some sort of Darwinist response to their environment or their age. However, intersex people do exist. At birth you either have male or female sex organs but some are born with both sex organs. Studies have claimed that in terms of fertility the biology of intersex people favoured motherhood more than fatherhood, (although fatherhood could be possible, the studies show it is rare) [Peculiar in that it supports that women are the “default” gender, with males having nipples develop in the womb before they develop gonads, women too may have an enlarged clitoris which may be mistaken for male genitalia, of course this is supposition. – James] ·       Although not mentioned by James and Will, a person defined as an intersex person could be someone whose puberty is halted or interrupted by underlying conditions, such as, Turner syndrome, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) or XYY (Klinefelter) Syndrome to name a few.   ·       The coronation of Victoria as Queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, she was 19 years old at the time. According to Lucy Worsley's book, ‘Queen Victoria - Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow' the coronation was a bit messy as far as coronations go; the royal treasurer threw silver medals commemorating the event at the crowd which caused quite a ruckus.   ·       Matchem is a famous thoroughbred horse who was used for breeding between 1758 and 1781. Eclipse and Herod are also famous horses for the same reason. ·       His many offspring, include Pumpkin, won up to 1,000 racing matches. And another of Matchem's offspring, Conductor, gave off a good family tree of winners, including Trumpator who begot, Sorcerer, who then begot Smolensko and Wizard. Why do horses have crazy cool names?   ·       One of D's horses is a clear a reference to Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting of the same name. The image of the horse in the manga is based on the same horse in Fuseli's 1791 rendition, because of its popularity Fuseli made multiple versions of the painting. All of them depict a woman sleeping, with a demon resting on top of her and a horse peering into the room behind a curtain. A lot do consider it the first depiction of sleep paralysis in an oil painting.   ·       Alex has a bottle of Tokaj (Tokay) wine as a gift to D. Named after its vineyards in Hungary. It is the same wine that Dracula gives to Johnathan Harker in Bram Stoker's famous novel!       Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

Dog lovers will love this one yet we are now seeing author Akino experiment with the characters. She also explores some social commentary and posing morally difficult questions. It goes without saying, today is a heavy episode about the horrors of fascism and war. Skip synopsis @ 7:23   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   128: Petshop of Horrors vol. 3 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien     The first story Diamonde, involves D taking a pro-active stance on preventing artificial insemination. However, the story leaves one to wonder if the sperm was even human to begin with.    Second story, Desire, has D confront a little girl named Maggie who abuses her pet dog. D offers her to trade her dog for a younger sister of her choice. In doing so the sister she and her family fosters quickly becomes more popular and loved than Maggie. Consumed by jealousy Maggie then must deal with the horror of abandonment. But not to worry, this one does have a happy ending, bonus points if you are a dog lover.   Third story, Dessert, has a serial killer on the loose, meanwhile D falls in love with a man's cooking. But what D does not realise is that he is next on the menu.   The fourth story which we will unpack a lot today is “Devil, which is about an old woman named Rosemary. Rosemary has dementia but through a chance meeting with D her memories of the second world war are triggered. She mistakes D for his grandfather who gave her a teddy bear which acted as a charm that would protect her. D identifies the teddy which helps to bring her lost memories back. Once again, the teddy saves her life when a bullet from a neo-Nazi almost hits her chest. The episode raises the question on wherever it is the right thing to ask dementia sufferers to remember war.     Context   ·         ·       Are there people really have poodles with their noodles? For the sake of avoiding any semblance of prejudice we won't provide the source to such facts, however desperate times can call for desperate dietary measures. ·       Since “Count D” is a lover of all animals, he does not fit the offensive Asian stereotype of someone who eats dogmeat and is in fact vegetarian.   ·       The chapter ‘Devil' refers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the manga was printed in 1996 the conflict evolved from the late 80's, with the events surrounding the Palestinian declaration of independence and “the first intifada”. There is a more convoluted history, with Israeli independence pre-dating many events but this is historical information that does not serve today's episode.   ·       As of the date of the upload, November 5th 2023, we are dealing with another wave of emotional charged misinformation and propaganda. U.S. President Joe Biden seems to have retracted his statement, or at the very least his words have been used as misinformation regarding the death and circumstances of 40 babies.   ·       People are reposting the attacks that happened a while back in Syria as if they were happening in Gaza today. And we are truly seeing an unprecedented amount of war crimes posted on social media 24/7 in HD. Which are not only taking a toll on our emotional wellbeing but are influencing us to respond in brash ways.     ·       Despite the division between Jewish and Islamic communities surrounding the conflict around Gaza, there is evidence that both parties have more in common than one would think.   ·       In the story we have Rosemary (Born Elizabeth Schneider) who ends up hiding from Nazi forces. If you are interested in the testimony of such people in real-life, please go to the following website:  https://www.het.org.uk/education/outreach-programme/survivor-stories     Fascism (As defined by Merriam-Webster) 1: A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition   2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control   ·       It is important to note that the word “fascist” has become a slur, a fascist is not simply someone who disagrees with you, it is someone who profits from the subjugation and opposition of an individual, believing it to profit their nation. ·       For more information, ‘Stuff You Should Know' podcast made good episode about fascism, and one that is highly recommended for beginners on the subject.       Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

Cat lovers will enjoy the continuation of our spooky season read along, as James and Will experience multiple stories from the Petshop of Horror. There's one about a dangerous mermaid that resembles someone's dead wife, another about jumping into someone else's dream and a white cat that grants its owner good luck! Skip synopsis @ 7:40   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   127: Petshop of Horrors vol. 2 By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   Continuing from the previous volume, we have four episodic chapters revolving around D's Petshop and the detective Leon Orcot, who suspect the store manager of criminal activity.   The first story, "Dragon" involves D accidentally giving a customer a dragon's egg. With the help of detective Orcot they race before christmas day to retreive it before it hatches.   In the second story, we have William Foster, a man down on his luck, he takes a cat that gives him good luck! To him it appears as a young girl who calls him daddy, her name is Lady. When the man breaks his contract and makes her cry, D force his hand and challenges him for Lady through a game of dice. Can William win back Lady's love without her luck on his side?   The third story "Delicious", revolves around the death of the pop star Evangeline Blue and D finding another exotic cryptid creature in the same ocean that Blue died in. Blue's widow, Jason, finds out that she bought a pet at the shop before her death, the pet itself, a mermaid who looks just like the dead Evangeline Blue. An assiistant manager from Blue's record label, Louise, confesses to the police and Orcot. Explaining how the marriage was a sham and a PR stunt, when Blue found out she became suicidal on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, Jason has mistook guilt for love and has fallen for the mermaid that resembles Blue. By the time police investigate, he is eaten by the fish monster and they find the remains of Blue inside the monster's stomach. Was it guilt that made him think the fish looked like the dead Evangeline Blue? Or was somehow the fish monster a mystical agent, avenging the scorned Blue?   The Final story revolves around D whom after trouble sleeping spends the night at the natural history musuem. Detective Leon Orcot spies on him after seeing him buy off the security, expecting D of making narcotics trade he instead finds him asleep surrounded by a cloud of incense. Soon Leon finds himself breathing in the substance and ends up un a magical trance where he finds he has fallen into D's dream. In the dream spell, both D and Leon experience a pre historical time where animals that are extinct walk the land once more. Leon is willing to kill the animals to survive mucch to the annoyance of D. But D leaves the dream world before Leon does and Leon is left alone to fend for himself. Eventually the two come back to the real world, and D invites him round his home for tea, knowing that Leon has changed a bit and that Leon may know a little bit more about D than he did before.     ·       During the “Delicious” chapter we see a noticeable plot hole. How could Evangeline Blue purchase a pet if the pet itself was the one that killed her? One theory James and Will did not discuss is the possibility that D deliberately gave a different pet to Jason, knowing that Blue died. Another is that D is lying and is merely avenging Blue's death.   ·       The Destruction chapter which shows one character in another's dream is an interesting twist on the type of episodic plot that is made where two antagonising characters develop intimacy.Usually there is body swapping, but in a non-fantasy setting you have characters survive a plane crash or ship wreck and get stranded, an urban setting would involve characters getting stuck in an elevator or trapped because of a cave-in from an earthquake, upon where we learn the hard man character may have a fear of confined spaces or darkness, or one confesses their feelings of love or attraction. Sitcoms tend to involve one character nursing a sick one when doing this story, although sommetimes characters will just be in a confined space so that they become cannon fodder for jokes. Whatever the case, the goal is that the characters know more about eachother then they did before the episode. The destruction chapter is notable for its use of liminal space in telling such a story, without resorting to something like a "spirit walk".   References throughout the manga   ·       5 octave range, is a very large range of pitch. The most famous example of such a singer with this vocal range is Mariah Carey. Some vocalists can do a 6-octave range, but this is rare with only a handful in the world being able to so. ·       Evangeline Blue has won a Grammy. Where as in reality, Beyonce is the artist with the most grammys won, having 32, with 88 nomiations and earning 6 in one night, the name “grammy” is given because the trophy is shaped like a gramophone and they are given from the Recording Academy. They are basically to music what oscars are to film.         Facebook Instagram Twitter/X Official Website   Email

It is horror season on our book club podcast, so it is horror manga time! Today's manga is about a pet shop in Chinatown, where the mysterious manager sells mythical creatures and cryptids for pets, but the people who get their pets here cannot help but see these creatures as more human than animal; a mistake that will lead them to their downfall! Skip plot summary @ 7:05   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   126: Petshop of Horrors By Akino Matsuri Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones Lettering by Nunu Ngien   Synopsis:   In the heart of L.A.'s chinatown rests a pet shop owned by the mysterious Count D. The grandson to Count D, (who we shall just call D for now) is a mysterious, somewhat effeminate, and eccentric person who acts as the store manager whilst the count is away on business. When the wealthier clientele ask for exotic and rare pets D takes them to the back and sells them cryptids and strange supernatural, sometimes mythological creatures that resemble humans. But before he sells them D has them sign a contract with specific clauses. Something more akin to rules that if broken have dire consequences that D himself refuses to be liable for, but D will on occasion offer advice to those who are troubled enough to have broken them.   Often the rules come in threes, with one mostly telling owners only to feed their pets with fresh water and vegetables, but a rule that almost always occurs tells them to never show their pets to anyone.   Each chapter tells a tale about the owners that sometimes revolves around a moral. Such as the husband and wife who buy what D claims to be a rabbit, which then replaces their dead daughter. Only for their parents to repeat the same behaviour that led to their daughter's demise.   After numerous episodes of owners losing control of their so-called pets; it sparks an investigation from the detective, Leon Orcolt, whom suspects D of using the petshop as a front for drug or human trafficking but Little does the detective know about the surreal nature of the monsters inside the shop.   ·       Petshop of Horror being a Josei manga, not shojo, implies it is a story for women and not young girls (perhaps young adult, teen audience) Tokyopop publishing gave it 13+ age rating.   ·       Originally published 1996 in Japan and 2003 in English by Tokyopop, although today Tokyopop is known for its Disney Licenses and manga aimed at young girls, the publishers have not been the same since losing the License to Kodansha manga in 2008, with Kodansha seizing control of their English publication instead of outsourcing it through Tokyopop.   ·       The spin offs/sequels to the manga include shin petshop (2005), Passage-Hen (2013) and Ark Adrift (2018) It had a short 4-episode anime adaptation in 1999 by the Production studio Madhouse. At the time of this podcast episode being uploaded, Petshop of Horrors: Ark Adrift is still being made, with Akino Matsuri having worked continuously on the franchise from its inception.   ·       Episodic stories only work when focused on character, but you can also have the recurring character fit into a basic monomyth like template and just have your recurring character take a base role. In this case D is almost always the supernatural aide or the sage role. As the pets he gives are guised in being remedial to the episodic character's problems but are in fact tests of character.   ·       Episodic plots tend to have a gimmick in this case, it is the pet which acts as a monster of the week plot.   ·       Female power fantasy aimed at a more adult audience tends to have men be servents to the female protagonist and the male figure is an extension of the woman's power and influence. The woman is defined by her cabality, or lack of cabality to romantically love such a character whilst maintaining power and influence. At the time of the manga's release the Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner movie, The Bodyguard (1992) was popular. That movie is also like the relationship dynamic seen in Chapter 4 with Dreizhein (a.k.a. Dora-Chan) and Karen. At first Karen feels disrespected and being overly protected by Dreizhen she feels her identity and independency as a mature woman is threatened, Dreizhein is a sexual threat since he is an overprotective man. In such stories the woman learns to accept the man, love him, and trust him, whilst at the same time another suitor betrays her trust. And as often the case, the mythical protector is unable to or at least struggles to love the woman back as it creates fear in the man that it will diminish his ability as a bodyguard.  Sometime, in love stories targeted to males, the male figure is only around long enough that so the woman can learn something about herself and the male then goes on to new adventures. Petshop of Horrors has a more fairy tale approach. By having the man become a literal doberman dog by the end of the story the male figure loses their sexuality, it is as if the woman has tamed the man, but only after eliminating all her threats. The bodyguard is no longer seen as a sexual threat and the woman remains virginal for the time being, or at the very least remains motherly to her new pet who has saved her life.       ·       The store manager has his own animal companion named Q-Chan. Q-Chan is a Wolperdinger (written as Valvertinger in the 2003 English Tokyopop translation). This animal is from German folklore and is a hybrid of a squirrel or rabbit combined with horns and wings. Interestingly Q-Chan looks more like Moogles (or Mogs) from the Final Fantasy videogames, due to having bat like wings. An American version of this creature is the jackelope, a jackrabbit with antelope horns, and unlike deer, antelope do not shed their horns. Hunters and Taxidermists have made ornamental Jackelopes and Wolperdinger. So just because you see one stuffed and on the shelf of a pub does not make them real.   ·       One of the pets is a reference to Medusa of Greek myth, Medusa was cursed for her vanity, when the jealous goddess Athena decided to make it so that Medusa's gaze could turn people into stone. One interpretation could say she was cursed with good looks prior to this, as to not blame Medusa since in myth she did not accept the advances of the god Poseidon. Now Medusa is seen as a feminist symbol of female rage. Her head is used as an apotropaic symbol (a magical charm to ward off threats) especially on the accessories by Versace.   ·       Alice is named after the protagonist of Lewis Carol's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” Notable for entering a surreal world by chasing a white rabbit.   ·       Dreizhein (Dora-Chan) has his ears clipped and explains this is standard procedure for those who serve the military (he never explains more than that). There is a history with Doberman dogs being cosmetically altered, having their tails surgically shortened and their ears cut. It is thought that the ears would help them hear better but due the illegality of doing this there has not been a thorough study.       Facebook Instagram X Official Website   Email

Steven, James and Will group up to talk about the latest one-shot manga from Tatsuki Fujimoto. Most famous for Chainsaw Man, Fujimoto flexes his storytelling muscles by occasional doing shorter stories. Perhaps this is the key to him being a good storyteller overall.  In 'Goodbye, Eri' we get a meditation on how stories are powerful and reality defining. Fujimoto also experiments with a meta-narrative as we see the main character Yuta make his own story up through the course of the pages. Skip synopsis @ 6:46   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   125: Goodbye, Eri By Tatsuki Fujimoto Translation by Amanda Healy Lettering by Snir Aharon   Synopsis:   The story starts with 12 years old Yuta receiving a smart phone for his birthday. His mom makes a request towards him, that he must use his smartphone to record her through her sickness, so that he may have something to remember her by when she is gone. The days go by and his mom's health declines as Yuta keeps a cool detachment towards his assignment. But in her last moments, Yuta breaks, running away from the hospital and choosing not to film his mom's final moments. As he runs away, the hospital behind him blows up like an action movie setpiece.   Yuta edited his video footage of his mom into a short film, and after presenting it to his school he gets a class clown reputation and is condemned for mocking his mother. Feeling suicidal, Yuta goes to the hospital his mother died in and thinks of jumping off the roof. He is in terrupted by a school mate, a girl who after seeing the film thinks highly of Yuta's talents and considers the film as something awe inspiring, Eri. Eri decides to show her film collection off to Yuta and school him on how to make a good movie. After a lot of movie watching, the two decide to make one togeather with Eri playing as a terminally ill vampire.   The lines between the two narratives begin to blur, Eri does become terminally ill, just like Yuta's mother and the planned story of the film. But Yuta again gets cold feet, and instead of going to school and facing Eri he hides in his room all day. Yuta's father speaks to him, he reveals that he recorded his mom's final moments and decides to show Yuta the video. In the video, unlike Yuta's film, where we saw a saintly and good mother, we see a side of her that was narcissistic, ungreatful, unloving and abusive. Only wanting Yuta to film her as part of a documentary she wanted to produce, in the hopes that she would survive her illness. Yuta's dad, tells him that he has a gift. That he can choose how to remember someone and portray the goodness in people.   Yuta finishes the film, and it proves a sucess with his school, moving them to tears. But years go by and Yuta dissastified with his film ceaselessly re edits and re cuts it. A much older and once again suicidal Yuta, returns to Eri's den / make-shift theatre after losing his wife and child in a car crash. A familiar voice speaks to him and Yuta finally gets some satisfaction. He finds a way to film a new ending but first he has to say goodbye to Eri.       Topics:   ·       Zoe thorogood's 'It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth' and meta-narrative storytelling. ·       Fujimoto and dominant women. ·       Similarities to 'Sundome' and 'Your Lie in April'.   ·       Fujimoto's way of dividing panels to convey the passage of time. ·       Foreshadowing the ending, the unreliable narrator. ·       the message, the importancee in story telling, andd how it shapes reality or becomes and how it can be a coping mechanism towards making sense and understanding a senseless world. sometimes escapism. e.g. neil gaiman's death.   ·       Who out of our hosts is the most like Eri or Yuta? ·       Character pastime activity as an excuse to find love and or a driving force for character     Cultural References:   ·       David fincher's 'Fight Club' (1996), based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuck.         Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

James and Steven discuss the concluding adult arc of the manga, breaking it down using Joseph Campbell's monomyth template. And even speak of the bonus skull kid chapters, which separate from the full story also acts as a good rendition of the hero's journey formula. Skip synopsis @ 5:14   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   124: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vol. 2 Story and Art by Akira Himekawa Based upon the work of Yoshiaki Koizuma, Tôru Ôsawa, Kensuke Tanabe, Yusuke Nakano and Shigeru Miyamoto Translation by Jon Werry and Steven Brown Lettering by John Hunt   Synopsis:   Previously the young Link used the Ocarina of Time gifted to him by Zelda to unlock the temple of time. In doing so he sees the legendary master sword, and just like Arthurian legend, Link is worthy to wield it, although there is a twist in that Link is only worthy to wield it as an adult, hence forth he falls under a sleepy spell within the sanctum of the temple only to awake as an adult. Raul (or Rauru depending on the translation you read) greets him. Raul is the spirit of the sagely owl that has watched over the young Link and appears to him in spirit as an elderly man. He tells Link that the world is a harsh place now since Ganondorf rules but hope exists so long as Link finds the remaining six sages who can banish Ganondorf.   On this quest Link revisits places he travelled to as a child all whilst being tracked down by the sentient shadow of Ganondorf. He finds that the children of the Kokiri forest do not age nor do they recognise Link. The baby dragon he once fostered has become the beastly creature Volvagia, an agent of evil. The young girls he met are now women looking for suitors but one thing is different. Sheik, a mysterious man who helps Link turns out to be the one who is working for Ganondorf and so seemingly betrays Link.   Through being captured Link can find the final sage and free her mind from Twinrova, the soothsaying witch who works for Ganondorf. This brings Twinrova out from the shadows and Sheik shows their true allegiance by attacking the witch. We learn that Sheik is cloaked in a magical spell and is in fact the princess Zelda in disguise. After Zelda reveals herself to Link Gandorf captures Zelda. And so, the final battle between Link and Ganondorf commences, but this time Link has the sages on his side.   In the end Link puts an end to Ganandorf's reign. But heroes are not needed in peace time and Zelda decides to deal with the consequences alone. Zelda uses the Ocarina of Time to send Link back to his childhood, back to the moment before he touched the master sword and before he first met Zelda. Although Link may not look it, he has changed, branded by the experience it is now with a younger Zelda that he may find a better way to save Hyrule.       Topics:     ·       The symbolism and archetypes of Zelda. ·       The refusal of the call, how it is often ignored in some stories and how it is a player's choice in terms of videogames. ·       women representing the final test for boyhood to manhood, winning the boon of love. And what it means to be an adult. ·       the skull kid chapters and the monomyth... the forest is the belly of the beast, the heart of hell. Whilst skull kid is what link may become but he is also the supernatural aid to link. link must prove his worth to his tribe. ·       The time travel aspect, the refusal to return.     ·       Setting up the stakes in the adult arc later rather than earlier, and the effects that has on a plot. ·       Why the volvagia fight is not set up very well, relying on flashback. ·       OsamuTezuka's ideology is used by Akira Himekawa. This being that any single image in a manga must be striking and be able to stand on its own, this is true but it can be negated if the page itself does not stand on its own. The page must have panels that flow cohesively and be easy to read or else the images look ugly and clash no matter how good a single panel is.   Differences and references to the game:   ·       The Baga tree is an original character to the manga. ·       The fairy Goddess does not make an appearance in the manga. ·       In the game Link never rides Epona as a small pony, where as in the manga he does. ·       The Skull Kid gets his mask from Link as he does in the game however in the manga the mask is home made and cut from the wood of the Deku tree. Unlike the game where Link (in a side quest of course) becomes a vendor for the mask merchant. ·       The chapter that involves Link and a disguised Zelda playing in the Hyrulean square is filled with easter egg sightings of references to the game, be it the Bombchus and the mask shop. ·       Unlike the videogame, Ganondorf appears aged during the climax as he fights adult Link. His hair is no longer red and short but thin, long, and white. ·       Link never wears an ear ring in the videogame, however the promotional illustrations by Yusuke Nakano shows him wearing an ear ring, the manga elaborates on this as a gift from Impa. Ear rings was also fashionable amongst young men and boys in the 1990's. ·       The sword technique that Link uses to defeat the shadow is the spin attack. In the game Link has two version of this attack, one being accessible only as an adult.       Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

The seminal videogame was given the manga treatment in 1999, a lot has changed since then, yet it tells an ancient form of myth that permeates all cultures and spurs on our talk today.   Skip synopsis @ 6:52   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   123: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Story and Art by Akira Himekawa Based upon the work of Yoshiaki Koizuma, Tôru Ôsawa, Kensuke Tanabe, Yusuke Nakano and Shigeru Miyamoto Translation by John Werry, Honkyaku Center inc. and Steven “Stan!” Brown Lettering by John Hunt   A young boy by the name of Link lives in the elusive kokiri forest, he feels himself to be not like the other elf like inhabitants of his home. At a certain age the Kokiri receive a guardian fairy yet link is often bullied for not having one. It is only when the tribe leader and elder of the forest falls ill that he sends the fairy Navi to Link. Link heeds the call of Navi so to help the leader of his tribe, the great Deku tree.   Although Link defeats the monster residing within the Deku tree, he is unable to save the tree's life. Before it withers, Link is given one of three sacred stones, the stone of   He is also told that the nightmares that plague him are visions of an impending doom and that an evil force has made its move by successfully attacking the Deku tree. Link is also told that he is born of Hylian parents, that he must go to his people and warn the princess of Hyrule, Princess Zelda. And so, Link is given a sword from his former bully, and carves a wooden shield from the remains of the Deku Tree before he sets out on his journey.   Zelda tends to enjoy the company of her subjects by disguising herself as a commoner. She finds Link and sees he is not accustomed to the hustle and bustle of a town square, but they depart when shady types seek out and try to harm the girl, in her haste she drops an ocarina. Eventually Link trespasses on royal grounds and discovers that the girl whom befriended him earlier is in fact Zelda. Link returns the Ocarina that Zelda left behind and she explains to Link how the ocarina is a valuable heirloom.   She tells Link of the nefarious Ganandorf, leader of the Gerudo, who she suspects of conspiracy against her father, the king. She sends Link on a journey to find other sacred stones. If Link succeeds then he will fulfil the prophecy of unlocking the temple of time, and with Zelda's help he will become the hero of time. She also explains the Triforce to Link, three magical relics that allows who ever touches them to recreate the world so that it reflects their heart, or their hatred. She believes this is what Ganondorf is seeking.   Link succeeds in acquiring the stones but on his return to Hyrule, his nightmares have come true. The Kingdom is being attacked on a stormy night. Zelda flees with her bodyguard on horseback. She throws the Ocarina at Link as she is being chased by Ganondorf, whom treats Link with disregard, not knowing the power Zelda has bestowed upon the young boy.     Context:     ·       According to official sources (Hyrule Historia), ‘Ocarina of Time' is a prequel to ‘A Link to the Past' and all previous games in the franchise before 1998. ‘Skyward Sword' which was released in 2011 would replace Ocarina of Time as the new starting point in the franchise. Some games feature the same Link where as others are more so re-incarnations of Link as he appears in ‘Ocarina of Time' an example of this is ‘Wind Waker' where boys wear green when they come of age and the events of Ocarina of Time are mere legend. ·       The videogame crash of the 80's is often described by the legendary anecdote that Atari buried thousands of unsold E.T. cartridges out in a New Mexico desert. On another note, the videogame cartridge was invented by Jerry Lawson for the channel F game console, before Atari's console. ·       Nintendo's revival of the videogame industry from 1983 to 1988 saw them dominate 80% of the market. Whilst in the UK videogames were more of a cottage industry, with Sinclair's ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and the Amiga from Amstrad being successful. BBC Micro from Acorn was an educational device made to teach computer literacy to children, albeit it had games, it was never made to compete with Nintendo. 1990: NINTENDO and the JAPANESE SOFTWARE boom | The Money Programme | Retro Computing | BBC Archive - YouTube ·       Nintendo 64, stepping up to the Playstation (released 93/94) in 1996, shown 3D videogaming done right and with intellectual properties/brands that people notice and care about. Although in Japan Sony was neck and neck competing with Sega. Nintendo's innovation came from its analogue controller and high spec hardware that had a slot for upgrading RAM. However, the weakness of the Nintendo 64 was down to the manufacturing cost of software. With the cartridge format being outdated for the time.   Topics:   ·       What Zelda meant to children in the 90's and our history with the game.   ·       In the game Link is an avatar for us as players, but does the novel take the opportunity to flesh out the character and make him his own person?   ·       Link's popularity with girl characters seems like a heavy male power fantasy then something that has anything worthwhile to say but there is a symbolic take to this too; before Link is ready to be perceived as a capable man, he serves these girls and their affection illustrates him being tested on his growth towards manhood. In other words, a chivalrous man is a heroic one is the perceived message. Link needs to be brave to be loved, and he needs to be loved to succeed.

 Now that the first-generation arcs of Pokémon Adventures are over, James and Will talk about the all action finale. The brilliance of getting us to root for girls in what many consider to be a shonen manga. And we even talk about the Mewtwo versus Lance fight and Pikachu and friends versus Lance! Perhaps there is a bit too many people fighting Lance in this volume but overall, we get a satisfying conclusion. Skip plot summary @ 9:55   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   122: Pokémon Adventures vol. 7 Chapters 79 'Airing Out Aerodactyl' and 90 'The Legend' Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Annaliese Christman      Yellow's journey to reunite Pika the Pikachu with the Pokémon trainer Red finally comes to an end, but not before a climactic battle on a remote Island with the Elite Four.   Lorelei cuts the arm of Green only to find it was a trick Ditto in disguise, her real arm, being hidden in her jacket. The Ditto confines and arrests Lorelei and her Pokémon Jynx. Sabrina is not too happy to find that was she handicapped and partnered to a secret ditto throughout the fight, but it worked non the less. One down, three to go.   Agatha's haunter is tricked into attacking the severed body of an Arbok, which can still move even without its head. Blue can counter attack it, in turn Agatha flees as it was the last of her Pokémon. That is two down and two to go.   And Bruce, no longer influenced by Agatha's spell accepts defeat from Red graciously. Afterwards Red seeks out Pika once Bill tells him that Pika is on the island with Yellow. Now Lance is the last one left standing.   Blaine uses Mewtwo to fight Lance but having a psychic link with Mewtwo means he becomes unconscuous during the fight. Mewtwo is also unique as a pokémon since they become weaker with every passing second once out of the master ball and their culture tank. Because of this Mewtwo is not able to defeat Lance and instead retreats it's special master ball not only to protect its own life but the life of Blaine aswell. This leaves Yellow to a showdown within the heart of an active volcano, where she learns that Lance has the same powers as her. Lance also learns of Yellow too by reading Pika's mind. Both Yellow and Lance are from Viridian Forest as is their Pokémon and both have the same powers to heal and read the thoughts of Pokémon.   From Learning how Mewtwo fought previously, Yellow uses Pika's surf move to lure Lance to the lava and generate a whirlpool to trap him. Once Lance is gone, she is helped by her Pokémon and exits the mouth of the volcano. But the recess from battle is short as Lance rises from the volcano with a bubble shield formed by his Gyrados. Yellow gets her hand broken by the Gyrados' bubble beam attack, which is invisible in the bright light of the sun. However Yellow retaliates by having her caterpie form a string net, her Omanyte wets the net and and her Raticate uses it to sense any bubbles that hit it. Pika charges the wet net with ellectricity, making sure to counter attack Lance and trapping him inside it. Once Yellow senses an opening she has her Doduo attack Lance. Sadly, Doduo and the rest of her Pokémon are not strong enough to defeat Lance's. It is at this point another Viridian Pokémon user arrives to assist. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, but in doing so he  loses his gym badge to Lance. With Lance having all badges his master plan is active and the island becomes the altar to which it will summon a legendary dragon Pokémon. One that Lance plans to capture and use to conquer the world. In Lance's eagerness he does not realise how weak and worn out from battle his Pokémon are. In the end the powers that he summons becomes a double edged sword for Lance. Yellow's Pokémon have evolved and so she makes her last stand.   Topics:   ·       The climax and battles of the Yellow arc. ·       Giving context as to why Yellow Caballero is revealed to be a girl later in the manga. ·       How too many twists can spoil the drama if they zig zag back and forth between similar scenes, often a common flaw in shonen battle manga. ·       Giovanni and his son.   References and Trivia:   ·       Although Lugia looks like a dragon it is in fact the highest Pokémon on the hierarchy of the Legendary bird Pokémon. It is a flying and psychic type. Lugia is also original to the second Pokémon movie (Pokémon 2000) having made their first appearance in that movie. Lugia's place in the wider franchise came as a surprise to writer and creator Takeshi Shudo, according to this ‘Did You Know Gaming' video, and Dr. Lava's blog.   ·       Arbok's body being able to move without its head is a real-life phenomenon seen with snakes. Like chickens, snakes and most reptiles have a pre-programmed nervous system that works in response to shock. Especially a shock induced by beheading, according to an article from National Geographic snakes can recover from this, albeit with permanent brain damage. There is also this video of a decapitated snake still being able to bite.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Coming close to the end of the yellow arc, we finally get answers to long standing questions and see an old character return in time for the final battle. Skip plot summary @ 4:25   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   121: Pokémon Adventures vol. 6 Chapters 66 'Punching Poliwrath' and 78 'Victim of Venusaur' Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              Red has disappeared and it is up to his Pikachu (nicknamed Pika in the manga) with the help of Yellow Caballero to find him. In the search for Red they to team up with Pokémon experts and members of the Rocket gang, this leads them to encounter with Bruno, Lorelei, Agatha and Lance, a.k.a. the Elite Four.   Sabrina of Team Rocket uses her psychic "spoons of fate" trick to decide on how to best the four. The spoons bend towards the best partner, Koga teams up with Blue, Sabrina with Green, Lt. Surge teams up with Bill and Yellow with Blaine.   Blue wants to fight Agatha due to the history they share, but paralyzed by her Gengar it is Koga who defeats her in a Arbok versus Arbok fight after having a Golbat versus Golbat fight! Koga revives Blue by hiding a paralyzed heal in one of his shuriken shaped Pokéballs. Agatha has the last laugh by trapping them in a maze of fallen stalactites and having a Gengar shadow them as she lays unconscious.   Lorelei fights Green and Sabrina, making magical voodoo like dolls from ice. Lorelei has the two ladies stuck together in cuffs of ice. As a tactician Lorelei knocks out Green first but Sabrina attacks her cloyster which hides the dolls. Lorelei tells Sabrina that it is useless since all Cloyster must do is shield itself and withdraw. Good thing Sabrina is not trying to steal back the dolls through force. Instead, she uses her venomoth to leech out the life of the Cloyster, much to Lorelei's surprise.   Bill and Lt. Surge find themself fighting on the back of a wild Onyx; Yellow and Blaine notice them through a one-sided mirror, a strange barrier that makes it hopeless for them to help. At this moment Red appears in time to rematch with Bruno, and although Blaine, Yellow and Pikachu can see Red, the barrier prevents Red as well as Lt. Surge and Bill from Seeing them. On top of this, Electrode's self-destruct move has caused a torrent of water to seep into the cave, one that threatens to drown Blaine, Yellow and Pikachu. We also discover what Yellow is hiding under that straw hat!   Topics:   ·       The opening battle with Red and Bruno, Pikachu's trauma. ·       Each of the battles between shown through the volumes. ·       The idea of a  Pokédex  from 1996 in a modern age of Wikipedia and online search engines. ·       Religious references and censorship in regards to manga and videogames.   References:   ·       Misty's use of Starmie as a guiding light /emergency flare is an allusion to the Christian Bible, where three kings (in some translations "three wise men") used a star to guide them to the birthplace of their messiah.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email  

Does Pikachu have a stand? The manga has a unique take on how and why Pikachu can surf. Did you know you could teach Pikachu to surf? Sip plot summary @ 6:40 We also talk about the inconsistent looks of Blaine the fire Pokémon gym leader.   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   120: Pokémon Adventures vol. 5 Chapters 53 to 65, ‘Can't Catch Caterpie' and ‘Karate Machomp' Story by Hidenori Kusaka Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              With the disappearance of trainer Red it is now Yellow Caballero's job to team up with Pikachu and find him. Along the way Red's rival, Blue, teaches Yellow the ways of a Pokémon trainer before they head off on their journey. Soon Yellow has a short run in with members of a fractured team Rocket and eventually Yellow traces Red's previous steps to a hidden Tentacool nest within the ocean, a pocket of air holds the treasure of evolutionary stones and Yellow finds that three of the stones have already been taken.    Meanwhile an old ally of Red and Yellow's is the young Lady, trainer Green. She breaks in to Bill's house (the man who invented the Pokémon to PC transport system, remember?) and tries to find records of Red's Pokémon use, both Bill and Green learn that Red took out an Eevee, but before they learn anymore, they become attacked by Bruno of the elite four. With the use of Green's Blastoise they learn that the fight has been a distraction from the danger that Yellow is in.   Lance, the dragon pokemon expert and member of the elite four attacks Vermillion city whilst Yellow is at a surfing competition. Pikachu is almost abducted by Lance but uses the substitute move and learns how to surf, overpowering Lance which causes him to flee. After learning of Lance's manifesto of destroying humans for the benefit of Pokémon. Yellow asks Pikachu if siding with humans is something they want to do. Of course, Pikachu agrees to side with humans, because Pikachu is cool like that.   The Elite Four have spread out individually to make their attack. Bruno attacks Pewter city, Agatha attacks Cerulean city and Lorelei attacks Celadon city. Lance's whereabouts are unknown but Yellow teams up with Blaine to check out Cerise Island and see if Lance is there. Blaine intentionally gets to the island before Yellow and teams up with Blue at the shore. Once they travel inside the caves the two are ambushed, not by Lance but by the triad leaders of the Rocket gang. Lt. Surge, Sabrina and Koga! Yellow has yet to arrive.   Topics:   ·       Why Yellow Caballero works as a character!   ·       The “enemy mine” trope that James refers to pre-dates Star Trek, James talks about the third season finale of Voyager titled “Scorpion” where the crew need the help of an enemy in order to navigate Borg territory. The actual trope namer/codifier could be the 1985 Dennis Quad movie ‘Enemy Mine' adapted from a Barry Longyear novella. That story also involves a war between humans and an alien race.   ·       A mention to Red's Poliwhirl evolving in previous chapters brings cohesion to an otherwise bizarre quest for Yellow. Poliwhirl is unique to the manga as Red's first Pokémon, where as in the anime and the Dengeki Pikachu (Electric Tale of Pikachu) manga it is Pikachu who is the first Pokémon that our hero owns. The reasoning behind this is that the lead creative designer of the '96 game, Satoshi Tajiri, considers Poliwhirl to be his favorite Pokémon. Which is unsurprising since Red is based on Satoshi Tajiri.   ·       The surfing Pikachu is a hidden feature in a few of the games in the series. When certain criteria are met, such as acquiring HM03 for example, you can teach Pikachu surf. There is also a hidden surfing Pikachu mini-game in Pokémon Yellow Edition.     Differences and Comparisons to other Media:   ·       Lance of the Elite Four has the name "Wataru" in his native Japanese appearance. Possibly derived from the word "Watatsumi", an ocean deity of Japanese creationist myth.  In German translations he is given the name Siegfried, named after the dragon slaying hero of norse myth, mostly famous due to Wagner's Nebelunglied Opera. (Which you would have heard of if you watched the movie 'Apocalypse Now'). In English translations he is named after a weapon that medieval knights used.   ·       In this manga Blaine has it as a disguise but in the anime, he prefers to wear a short-sleeved shirt with hair on his sides sans the usual shades that cover the eyes. This is how Blaine was illustrated and looked like in the manual and early concept art. Blaine also has hair in the anime but will wear a wig and shades to disguise himself. In the '96 Gameboy game and later appearances on the trading cards he is fully bald and wears shades, like his first appearance in the manga. According to... Blaine's design is recycled from unused pixel art of what was supposed to be the president and head scientist/researcher of Silph co. The theory was that you would have a Pokémon battle with this character but it may have been scrapped since the goal was to save them, since when you first meet them, they are a hostage during Rocket's takeover of the Silph building, thus defeating the purpose of seeing them in battle graphics. On top of this, Blaine's original design has a military motif and may have been too much like Lt. Surge. In other words Blaine's disguise in the manga is a nod to his scrapped design. The Obsessive Gamer on Youtube has a video which goes in to better detail.   Blaine was a unique gym leader in that he would have his gym members battle you if you got his Pokémon trivia questions wrong and so he would test the players intelligence. In the anime he would test Ash by speaking in riddles.       Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

 James and Will talk about volume 4 of the Pokémon Adventures manga. Including the new and original “Yellow” who is perhaps the first gender neutral looking character we have seen in an otherwise shonen manga. Skip summary of the plot @ 5:15   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   119: Pokémon Adventures vol. 4 Chapters 41 to 52, ‘Ponyta Tale' and ‘Growing out of Gengar' Story by Hidenori Kusaka Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              Two years have passed since the events of Volume 3 and the protagonist Red is now missing. A concerned Misty contacts Professor Oak and their talk is interrupted by Red's Pikachu, a bruised, bloody Pokémon dragging its feet as it enters Oak's place. A new and mysterious protagonist arrives to pick the Pikachu up and take it with them as they journey to find Red. Much to Oak's dismay.   Red was last seen after he was invited to Battle with Bruno of the Elite Four. A group of Pokémon trainers who are stronger than the Pokémon gym leaders. It is not long until Lorelei of the Elite Four tracks down the Pikachu it's new trainer. The trainer proudly states their name as Amarillo, the Spanish word for Yellow. Lorelei also learns that Yellow has telepathic powers towards Pokémon, a sort of Pokémon whisperer that can heal Pokémon with a touch and express great empathy for them, even seeing through them.   Eventually Yellow escapes Lorelei and along the journey meets Red's friends, whom only want to see Pika (Red's Pikachu) be reunited with its owner. Albeit they do not have faith in Yellow. Questioning if Yellow is fit for being Red's substitute. During such a conversation, Pika hears that Red is nearby and tracks his old trainer's scent. In a twist of fate, Pika falls for an imposter Red. A “Super Nerd” who works for the Elite Four. Desperate, friends of Red and Pokémon gym leaders call Blaine for help. Yellow with the help of the gym leaders defeats the nerd but in doing so a Gastly Pokémon appears to spirit the nerd away. Blue appears and makes a decisive strike that ends the Gastly. Blue tells everyone that the ghostly gas Pokémon most likely belongs to Agatha of the Elite Four. He also tells them of his previous encounter with Agatha and how he found the strength to fight a ghost Pokémon. Blue even criticises Yellow for saving a Caterpie (caterpillar Pokémon) during the battle with the super nerd. Saying that Red could have saved it without putting his own life at risk. Blue decides to take Yellow with him and train but not before Yellow is gifted two new Pokémon for protection. Brock's Graveller and Misty's Omanyte.   Topics:   ·       A criticism of volume 4 is how the villains are perhaps too mysterious for their own good. Their motives remain hidden and not having any context for their behaviour we do not know what they are willing to do to achieve their goal. This does not make an entertaining read since by making the villain mysterious you risk making the stakes too vague to understand. It is not enough to know what characters fight for, we also need to know why. Understandably the villains are trying to cover up something but we do not know what as of this volume.   ·       Writing mystery is a good way to entice readers and keep them stuck to the story. But Hidenori reveals information too soon, making the sense of mystery trite.   ·       Yellow as a character is first time we see a gender-neutral looking hero in the franchise. Although addressed as male by others in the story, there is no signifier or trait to tell us that they are male, they also lack traits that tell us there are female. The straw hat and tunic add to this warm, innocent and naïve appearance of a child, a contrast to someone like Lorelei who has a more mature and effeminate appearance since she wears high heels and glasses that comb away her thick hair.   ·       The origins of Game Freak from fanzine to game design company and Ken Sugimori's journey from mangaka to designer. For more information on the history of Game Freak and Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri there is the article, The Ultimate Game Freak - TIME and Dr. Lava's twitter as well as their amazing blog on Nintendo History.     Differences and Comparisons to other Media:   ·       The Super Nerd appeared as a trainer class enemy in the original ‘96 game, having a personality between the Pokémon maniac and the Scientist. They are really Geeks who specialise in Poison and Electric Pokémon. They usually have Voltorbs that do the self-destruct move, which in and of itself seems like a commentary on nerd culture. From the original Japanese text their name translates to “Science-man” with the in-game scientist class having a name that translates to “rouge researcher”   ·       The Elite Four are the last bosses of the original '96 game and called the Pokémon masters in some cannon. In the anime Lorelei was named Prima, this was so that she would have the same syllables as her original Japanese name, Kanna, which is written using the Kanji for the word cold and/or dread The name Loreilei comes from a slate rock located on the Rhine River at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, believed to have been haunted by a siren that lured sailors to their death. The etymology behind the name has the words Lurein and the Celtic word Lei, which means murmuring, or whispering rock. Agatha may have possibly got her name from Agatha Christie, the famous murder mystery writer and creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Agatha's Japanese name is Kikuko, and is spelt using the kanji for devil, demon or ghost. Bruno, the fighting type Pokémon master gets his name from the words brawn and brute, his Japanese name, Shiba, is derived from the word, “Shibaku”, which means “to strike”

In volume 3 of the Pokémon manga we see many plot points start to resolve towards a satisfying climax, friends from unlikely places come together to fight the Rocket Gang and Red faces off against Mewtwo!   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   118: Pokémon Adventures vol. 3 Chapters 28 to 40, ‘Peace of Mime' and ‘A Charizard… and a Champion' Story by Hidenori Kusaka Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              Continuing from the last chapter, Red's Pikachu uses the substitute move that makes the doppelganger Pikachu break through the barrier, meanwhile Gary's Golduck uses a psychic power to find a Mr.Mime responsible for the barrier and so they defeat it.   Both Pokémon trainers, Green, Red and Blue head to the Silph building to fight Team Rocket, but the three are separated and trapped, Koga fights Gary using a Grimer disguised as armor, Red is trapped in an electrified room, powered by a captured Zapdos, he fights Lt. Surge who has special electric proof underwear. Green fights Sabrina under an illusionary veil and uses her Horsea's smoke screen to black it out, whilst using her scope to see through to Sabrina. Red uses his Ivysaur's Razor leaves to cut Lt.Surge's suit before cutting the cables attached to Zapdos. Surge is electrocuted by calling forth Zapdos' Thunder Shock. Koga is defeated with the Help of Red but Sabrina proves to be a challenge for Green; since Sabrina has personal psychic powers, she is able to predict Green's thoughts and actions. But eventually Sabrina is defeated by the song of Green's Jigglypuff.   The fight is resolved when the Rocket gang flees the chaos of the Silph building and all the good Gym leaders join forces to surround them. Sabrina returns for one last final round but with Red's Ivysaur having evolved into Venusaur this results in all three of the starter Pokémon at their full power joining forces, combining water, fire, and earth to defeat the legendary bird Pokémon and Sabrina.   In chapters 34 and 35, the incredibly destructive clone of Mew, Mewtwo, is on the loose. Red intends to capture Mewtwo but is helped by Blaine, the man who helped create Mewtwo and is bonded by DNA with the Monster. Red is told that if it feels outnumbered it will create tornados, in a one-on-one fight however Mewtwo is just as strong and capable of throwing down physically. Blaine breaks through the tornado and weakens Mewtwo but it costs Blaine an injury towards himself. Red seemingly goes against Blaine's advice and unleashes all his Pokémon on Mewtwo. Mewtwo summons another tornado. But the battle ends with Pikachu entering the eye of the storm, concealing a cheeky gift that is key to Mewtwo's capture. Afterwards, Red gets the final badge from Giovanni, and avenges all the Pokémon that was hurt by the Rocket gang.   Concluding the volume, we have a mini-tournament arc where the trainers enter the Pokémon League, Red and Blue settle their differences and show each other how they have grown. But not before a mysterious figure from the past settles the score mid-tournament and Green is given a chance for redemption. And that concludes the first plot arc of Pokémon Adventures.       Differences and Comparisons to other Media:   ·       Although the Pokémon Golduck and Psyduck can use select psychic moves they are not in fact Psychic Pokémon, they are often believed to be a double elemental type of water and psychic but, they are just a water type. A reason why people believe this is due to other media such as the anime, trading card game and the manga showing them capable of using psychic power.   ·       Like the Anime series and the videogame, Sabrina is not just a user of Psychic Pokémon but she also has Psychic powers of her own.   ·       In the source material (the 1996 Pokémon Gameboy game) Sabrina uses a Venomoth in battle, although it has a psychic move it is only a poison and bug type. A possible reason as to why she uses this Pokémon could be to demonstrate the common “macabre moth motif”  Adding to a theme of connecting to sprits of the deceased, with the moth being a symbol for the after-life and the transformation between death and rebirth. The “death's head” moth has added to this aesthetic/motif thanks to Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker referencing it in their works ‘The Sphinx' and ‘Dracula', A moth also appears in ‘The Silence of the Lambs' by Thomas Harris. According to Kristen. M Stanton of Uniguide, The Japanese use moths to depict wandering spirits.     ·       The Gym badges that Red collects are milestones for progress within the original 1996 videogame. And as mentioned in the manga, holding a badge result in Pokémon of a certain level obeying your commands as well as boosting their stats and allowing them to learn moves from hidden machines depending on the badge itself. Only by collecting all badges can the highest level and legendary Pokémon obey you.   ·       Mewtwo made his first appearance in the anime alongside Mew through the first shot of the anime opening, a shot that would be imitated in the first movie as he flees Giovanni and flies in the air. He would make his canonical appearance in episode 63. Where Giovanni has him cloaked in a mysterious armor and uses him to fight trainers competing for his gym badge. Gary, a.k.a. Blue loses to Giovanni because of Mewtwo. Ash does not battle Mewtwo or Giovanni for reasons that are explained in the tie in movie. Instead, Giovanni allows Team Rocket's Jessie and James to take over as gym leaders only to have Ash defeat them for the badge. Where as in the manga, our hero defeats Giovanni after capturing Mewtwo.   ·       Mew does not speak in his first appearance of the anime (episode 63) nor the game, he would however be shown later to speak telepathically in the first movie and throughout his appearances in the Super Smash Bros. Videogames, specifically the sequel to the original, Super Smash Bros: Melee   References:   ·       The quote from “the Greek” that Gary mentions is “Give me a long enough lever and I can move the world.” This is from the great mathematician, engineer, physicist, and philosopher Archimedes, in context the quote is a boast showing off one's understanding of physics. On another note, Archimedes once discovered how to measure the volume of an object and determine its composition by learning about water displacement. Legend says he was taking a bath at the time and cried “Eureka” taking to the streets naked in excitement at the discovery.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Will and James talk about volume 2 of today's manga and address how the satanic panic spread to Pokémon.   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   117: Pokémon Adventures vol. 2 Chapters 15 to 27, ‘Wartotle Wars' and ‘Kalling Kadabra' Story by Hidenori Kusaka Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              The Pokémon trainer Red is witness to his Bulbasaur evolving into an Ivysaur after fighting a Mankey (basically an angry monkey monster). Red encounters the feminine Pokémon trainer Green who tricks him into buying counterfeit items. On their second encounter he manages to get his money back and learns that her Wartotle is the evolved Squirtle that she stole from Proffesor Oak. But Green gets the last laugh because she manages to steal Red's two Gym Leader badges. (That is what Red gets for showing off)   Once Red realizes what happened to his badges, he finds out that the Rocket gang is chasing after Green, in response he infiltrates the gang's HQ under a casino (sometimes depicted as a pachinko parlour) there he disguises himself as a member. Red learns of Mew's incomplete clone, the powerful psychic bio-weapon Mewtwo and that Green has a data disk on Mew that Rocket is after. Red helps green fight Rocket and with the help of her Trickster Pokémon, Ditto, who can mimic the appearance of any Pokémon, she manages to defeat Rocket and as a favour to Red, gives back the badges she took.   Not long after this we see Red fossil hunting as he cuts through a route with a man named Giovanni, the gym leader of Viridian City. Red does not know that Giovanni is spying on Red. Upon determining that Red is not a threat to him the two then part ways and Giovanni gives Red a Fossil.   After numerous adventures including being stranded in the safari zone with no Pokémon and almost drowning before being saved by Misty. Red ends up having to save the Fire Pokémon expert Blaine from the Rocket gang. Blaine is a researcher who worked on cloning Mew for the Rocket gang but has changed face and is now out to stop them. Blaine learns that Red has a fossil and so he sends him on Rapidash back to his lab.  There Red figures out how to use Blaine's fossil machine to bring life to an extinct Pokémon. And so Red acquires an Aerodactyl and uses it to save Blaine from the Rocket gang. Causing the gang to retreat.   In some way to go anywhere means to go forward and to go far means to return. Red returns to Pallet Town to meet Professor Oak once again, only this time it is an imposter. And no, we will not spoil the identity of the imposter on this podcast.   The volume ends with all the Rocket gang members having captured all three legendary bird Pokémon, Koga has the ice bird Articuno, Sabrina has the fire bird Moltress and Lt. Surge has the electric Pokémon Zapdos. The final battle between the Rocket gang and the trainers will take place in Saffron City. In the meantime, a psychic barrier has been put up on Saffron City until then.       A Little Context:   ·       Satanic panic of the 80's saw a resurgence with Pokémon, the franchise was accused of teaching kids about the occult according to theists. This is due to many things. One is that Kadabra (Sabina's Pokémon) looking suspiciously like Baphomet, a humanoid goat person, with the star on his head indicating a pentagram). ·       But some people have used more outlandish excuses to convince others that Pokémon is a way for the Devil to take control of kids, (note that that the prior link is the full video of which only a small fraction was heard on this episode) albeit the argument is more against Capitalism being aimed at children if anything.   ·       kids had seizures whilst watching an episode of the Pokémon anime. This did in fact happen, although not due to some unexplained magic phenomena. The seizures occurred because there was one specific scene in what is considered a “banned episode” of the anime known as “Electric Soldier Porygon” where because of the flashing lights on screen it induced a seizure in those who had photo-sensitive epilepsy. A positive of this episode is that it helped create awareness of the condition with it now being standard practice not to have scenes like this in TV, at least not without disclaimers.   ·       Did the Pope (John Paul II) actually give Pokémon his blessing? According to a new York Times article the response to the first movie coming out had the Vatican denounce the controversy, Sat2000, a satellite TV station run by the Vatican said “The trading-card and computer game is “full of inventive imagination,” The game did not have “any harmful moral side effects” and was based on “ties of intense friendship”. Sat2000 also said the game told simple stories which allowed children “to enter directly into the story” through role-playing adventures. Also, according to Father Jeffrey V. Romans, his blog states that “oftentimes, these fears and crazes come from a lack of knowledge about a subject or a couple of pieces of sensationalized journalism. Don't fall into the devil's trap! Let's all endeavor to take a close look at these types of subjects before forming a fiery, ironclad opinion”.

Having played the original Gameboy videogame 23 years ago, Will and James take a trip down memory lane and decide to read up on its popular manga adaptation. Does it make us want to play the game or does it make us want to read more manga? Now that is the question!   Skip plot summary @ 10:11   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   116: Pokémon Adventures vol. 1 Chapters 1 to 14, ‘A Glimpse of the Glow' and ‘That Awful Arbok!' Story by Hidenori Kusaka Art by Mato English Translation by Kaori Inoue Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman              Pokémon depicts a world of creatures known as Pocket Monsters, a.k.a. the titular Pokémon. Some use Pokémon as pets, others for fights, and if you are like the Rocket gang, you use them for labour and genetic experimentation.  But the story starts with a boy named Red who is a trainer and catcher of Pokémon, and upon hearing a commotion in the woods, secretly follows the Rocket gang as they hunt the legendary Mew. A Pokémon of great mystery. Red encounters a trainer like himself, Blue, who teaches Red that they are both not ready to catch a Pokémon as strong as Mew.   This prompts Red to visit Proffessor Oak, a Pokémon researcher who can help Red become a better trainer. However, Red makes the mistake of releasing all the monsters in Oak's lab and so he helps Oak find and capture the escaped monsters. In turn Oak gives Red a Pokémon, the grass type Bulbasaur upon seeing red demonstrate good knowledge in harnessing Bulbasaur's talents. Oak also gives Red a Pokedex, an electronic encyclopaedia that is used to log the existence of Pokémon, the same gadget that Blue also has, which is no surprise since Red learns that Blue is Oak's grandson. It's in their second encounter that Red stops Blue from capturing a Kangiskhan, Red remembers Oak's advice that to be a good trainer takes heart, not just brute strength and power. He then heals a wounded Pokémon that is hidden within Kangiskhan's pouch, then goes on his separate path away from Bluem by this point Blue shows a lack of humility whereas Red is the compassionate of the two.   It is on his quest as Oak's protégé that Red learns of a Pikachu terrorising a town, he captures and tames the electric mouse type that is the Pikachu as well as reunite many other characters with their Pokémon. When Red reaches Lavender Town he learns of Blue having entered a haunted tower but never having come out. Red investigates and finds Blue possessed by a Gastly, a ghost type monster resembling a purple ball of gas. Red defeats the Gastly by having Bulbasaur using the bulb on its back as a vacuum sack, sucking up Gastly and spitting him out as a devastating beam that blasts through the tower walls.   Afterwards Red and Blue make their way up the tower only to be attacked by the Ninja Koga and his venomous Pokémon. Red recognises Koga as a Rocket gang leader he fought on Mt. Moon and Koga reveals that the tower is a secret base for the Rocket gang.   A Little Context:   Pokemon was first released on the Gameboy in February 1996 in Japan, in the following years it would see multiple editions released with a special Pikachu Edition (Pokemon: Yellow) released in Japan within the fall of 1998 and finally released for English speaking countries between the fall of 1999 and the summer of 2000.  Pokemon: Yellow would be a tie in with the anime spin-off and coinciding with the release of the franchise's first Theatrical release, unoriginally called Pokemon: The First Movie, but affectionately given the subtitle Mewtwo vs. Mew in Marketing. The games would get a sequel during this time so western audiences could see new Pokemon within the movie, Including Marill who was bizarrely named “Pikablu” by fans.   The Gameboy and the Gameboy Color was a must have toy because it had Pokemon as the dominating app for it. And for many American and European children it was the first anime they grew up watching, thus their first experience with Japanese culture, albeit having undergone heavy localisation by 4Kids entertainment.   Differences from other Media:   ·       Like the game, Pikachu is caught near Viridian City, unlike the TV Anime where Oak gives away his newly caught Pikachu. Dengeki Pikachu follows the plot of the anime however Pikachu is captured upon invading the main character's home and eating it's the electrical wiring. ·       Brock is more representative of his game counterpart, a stoic man and gym leader who does not join the main character on his quest. ·       Ninja Koga is the main Rocket antagonist within the first chapters, where as in the TV Anime series it was original characters, Jessie and James (whom are named after the American outlaw, whilst in Japan they are named after rival samurai). ·       It takes a “Pokéflute” to wake a Snorlax, however in this manga it took the smell of a Bulbasaur drenched in honey to do the trick. ·       Gastly is a far more malicious being in this manga compared to the TV Anime show. It retreats once the sun rises in the show but in the manga, Red uses his Bulbasaur to defeat it.     References:   ·       The introduction to the character Bill is inspired by the 1958 movie, ‘The Fly' (remade in 1986) Based on a short story by James Lagelaan.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

The conclusion to the manga like most Japanese slice of life and coming of age drama adds an expected air of ambiguity. But for one, we could not escape an Evangelion reference and talk musings on (or in Will's case rant on) our nostalgia baiting consumer culture having a harmful effect on us maturing into adults. Skip plot summary @ 3:03   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   115: Welcome to the NHK vol. 8 Chapters 31 to 35, Welcome to the Party! and Welcome to the NHK! Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Misaki decides to have sex with Megumi's brother but in doing so questions if any of her actions will make her happy. She quickly hears Sato's voice and puts her clothes back on. Megumi's brother realises he cannot give Misaki what she wants. Sato, Kaoru and Misaki are all together. Kaoru has a plan to grow seeds to help his revolution, Misaki convinces them to let her join and eventually the seeds turn into flowers. Misaki and Sato begin a relationship, Misaki using a check list to help nurture that relationship but the following pages show a deeply troubled, bizarre, mentally and draining relationship as Sato comes with Misaki who displays BPD. Eventually it all accumulates to Sato and Misaki in the attack of their old apartment building. As its ready to be demolished they talk about their feelings and everything else between them. Sato makes an escape and Misaki follows both of them claiming their hatred and love for one another. Cut to a couple of months later we see Sato trying his hardest to live a decent life, he looks at pictures of everyone he knows and say they are all doing good. One of the pictures is a smiling Misaki holding a degree in her hand to show she graduated.   Topics:   ·       Borderline Personality Disorder. ·       The Hardships of relationships. ·       The ambiguity of relationships at the manga's conclusion. ·       Differences from the manga to the anime. ·       Consumerism and the “Nostalgia baiting” effect as a detriment on growing up.   References:   ·       A reference to ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion' is seen in volume 8, with Sato resembling the main character Shinji Ikari.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Steven and Will talk about the characters near the completion of their developed arcs. Specifically speaking about BPD (borderline personality disorder) and musings on what type of person has romantic affairs. Skip plot summary @ 3:25 You can also follow us on social media @Weapemanga Email: contact@weappreciatemanga.com   114: Welcome to the NHK vol. 7 Chapters 31 to 35, Welcome to the Training! and Welcome to the Desperate Liquor! Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Kashiwa reminisces of her school days with Sato.  Sato and Kashiwa seem to be ok living together until they have a “slap -slap-kiss argument” that makes them decide to make love. Sato in a hurry goes to the shops. During this time Misaki and her school counsellor (Kashiwa's husband) notices Sato.Sato comes back to apartment greeted by an alluring Kashiwa naked on the bed and shows Kashiwa bondage gear, she decides to play but takes the role seriously as she talks about the guilt of being in a loveless marriage.  Sato pulls out a deck of playing cards to cheer her up and proposes to stay friends. Misaki and Kashiwa's husband bust into the room. When Kaoru goes missing both Sato and Misaki go to the inner city to find him. We learn that Kaoru slept with a trans gender woman and eventually became a male escort.     Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Will and Steven are perplexed by the plot as it shuffles along but find time to discuss the characters and their relationships to one and another, be it toxic or not. Skip plot summary @ 3:12 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   113: Welcome to the NHK vol. 6 Chapters 26 to 30, ‘Welcome to the Migrant' and ‘Welcome to the Shuffle' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Sato believes that Misaki is his guardian angel and decides to move back to Tokyo to meet her, taking his parents money however he quickly spends it on games, food and gambling, he soon realises he is homeless and comes to Kaoru for help but Kaoru is busy with his girlfriend and plans to go back to his family home.   Kaoru and his girlfriend have a bizarre break up at the train station, Misaki decides to help and counsel her own school counsellor and Megumi's brother, in doing so he goes to hurt herself in attempting to change Megumi's brother behaviour. This puts Misaki in hospital.   Sato decides to squat in his former apartment, in a bizarre twist of fate kashiwa buys the apartment Sato is squatting in. After a brief surprise encounter Kashiwa decides to let Sato stay there, living together to help one another.   Sato looks at Kashiwa's diary feeling he is a pet project for her and decides to run away, he notices Misaki running to the park and readies his feelings, saying what he wants to say to her in his mind but to his surprise another man is saying those exact words to Misaki, the man being Megumi's brother. Misaki and him hug each other. Sato decides to live with Kashiwa in the hopes they become lovers.       Topics:   Co-habitation Story Pacing Rating character relationships in terms of mental health in the long run.            Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Today's episode contains explicit talk since we are talking about a manga about a porn addict who lives with his parents. It's Welcome to the NHK! Skip plot summary @ 3:10   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   112: Welcome to the NHK vol. 5 Chapters 21 to 25, ‘Welcome to the ARCADIA VILLAGE!' and ‘Welcome to the NEXT STAGE!' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   The gang go to a hot springs sauna to unwind from the drama of the last volume's events however Kaoru has been given drugs that make him have a psychotic episode, leading him into the hospital. Once in hospital Satou's parents have no choice but to take him back to the family home and help him recover from his depression and mental struggles.   Misaki enrols back into high school in the hopes to becoming a better person and Satou also tries his best to finish the game however falls into a slump and once again struggles with his addiction to porn giving us a comical scene of his mom catching him masturbate.   All the side characters we seen in this manga are revealed to be connected to each other one way or another, Kashiwa's now husband is the school counsellor to Misaki and the woman who was in the pyramid schemes brother is an online gaming companion to.   All characters are still dealing and coping with their struggles in life. The ups and downs of it. Kaoru and his crush Nanako argue, Nanako calls Kaoru out on his fear of intimacy and love for real women. Then Nanako decides to seduce and have sex with teary eyed Kaoru.    Satou calls Misaki and hears a man in the background assuming the worst not knowing it's her school counsellor. Kashiwa who is feeling lonely emails Satou wanting intimacy from him. In his sadness Satou comes to terms with his situation and feelings for Misaki. He has another psychotic episode of Misaki as an angel coming to his side.       Topics:   ·         Getting Setbacks on goals. ·         Addiction ·         Living with Parents ·         Coping with love     Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

EXPLICIT CONTENT as we talk about mature themes, you can skip the synopsis @ 3:18 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 111: Welcome to the NHK vol. 4 Chapters 16 to 17 ‘Welcome to the NO FUTURE' and ‘Welcome to the Starry Sky' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Sato becomes afraid of Misaki and shuts himself inside his room. Eventually Kaoru who has been arguing with his parents bursts into Sato's apartment and complains about life.  They decided to play videogames, eat and drink. For a dare Kaoru invites his classmate Nanako so he can confess to her his perverted hobbies and she eventually comes to the apartment. Surprisingly she actually likes that side of Kaoru and seems to have hidden feelings for him, kaoru messes up and insults her, making her leave. Sato who's in denial about Kashiwa's marriage calls Kashiwa to meet and arrange a date. Kashiwa accepts and they meet at a cafe unbeknown to them Misaki is stalking them. Eventually they decide to go to a love hotel and Sato's imagination runs wild. Kashiwa earnestly asks if they want to have an affair, this question makes Sato clear his conscious and he declines making them remain friends. Misaki feels threatened by Kashiwa and Sato's relationship so she organizes a deviant and clever plan to gain Sato's sympathy. Misaki announces how she was abused and made "fragile"  by her past. They eventually go on numerous dates including a fun fare and Sato notices Kashiwa with her fiance. Sato realizes his feelings for Kashiwa and the situational awareness in his life makes him have a emotional mental breakdown that drives him into suicide. Misaki and Kaoru come to help Sato and Misaki States that all that she said about her abusive past was a lie. Sato in shock decides to kill himself by bashing his head into a rock only to knock himself out again. References: 'Rumble Roses' is a videogame released originally for the Playstation 2 in the Fall of 2004, it is comparable to the 'Dead or Alive' franchise for its use of "Fan Service" as it features an all women roster of wrestlers, including mud fighting.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

EXPLICIT CONTENT! Today's episode, Will and Steve talk about videogame addiction and Hikikomori culture as it pertains to this volume 3 Welcome to the NHK. Our protagonist falls for a Pyramid scheme and Misaki's tortuous methods to cure him do no good (no surprises there) skip plot summary @ 4:45   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   110: Welcome to the NHK vol. 3 Chapters 11 to 15 ‘Welcome to the ONLINE!' and ‘Welcome to the REFRAIN!' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. One day a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara who eventually helps him from becoming a social shut-in as they do weekly therapy meetings.    Sato's neighbour is an incel and old acquaintance named Kaoru Yamazaki who happens to be a raging otaku and a computer programmer. These two people will help Sato on his journey to change himself.   Sato becomes addicted and wastes his time playing an online videogame also known as a MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online game). Misaki enters his apartment and is shocked at Sato's decaying health. Misaki tries to seduce and distract him but to no avail. Sato only snaps back to reality when a player asks if they can meet in real life making Sato run back to Misaki begging forgiveness.    Misaki decides to do a psychological torture technique by binding, blinding and imprisoning Sato in his body whilst in his apartment in the hopes of changing his way of thinking. This does not work as planned and eventually Misaki decides to live with Sato as a live-in carer. This makes Sato feel depressed and he attempts to kill himself by falling out of the window, an ankle sprain and hospital visit later Sato bumps into an old female classmate from school who eventually tricks him into a cult like pyramid scheme.   Misaki is worried and confronts the woman but in doing so gets tricked into the pyramid scheme too.     Topics:     Gaming addiction has become more prevalent since the use of the internet, players now having the ability to invest their time in virtual stock and reward systems. It is also classified as a serious disorder under the World Health Organisation, under the term “Gaming Disorder”. Some reports have gathered resources in order to help those with addiction but there are also many sensational horror stories having been reported too. ·         As an example of videogames having a positive sense of community, actor Lance Reddick, famous for his role in the ‘John Wick' movies and the videogame ‘Destiny 2' had many of his fans set up vigils within the game's virtual space of Zavala after reports of the actor's death which occurred on March 16, 2023. Reddick was also a fan of the game and played it often.   ·         Psychological torture differs from that of physical and interrogational torture, which Neuroscientist Shane O'Mara's argues on the efficacy in his book ‘Why Torture Doesn't Work', saying compelling arguments such as for one, the damage to memory and recall that torture can have on individuals. However Psychological torture still has its criticism and its tactics and strategies have been applied to “conversion therapy”; a torture that cares less about what is true and serves only to subjugate and deconstruct an individual's sense of identity from the mistaken belief that it can “cure” the recipient. Psychological torture and abuse are one and the same, there is no evidence that supports the practice having a healthy outcome on the recipient. ·         Con artists and pyramid schemes go hand in hand, at first, the “pyramid scheme” seems like a multi-level marketing plan but the profits of such a scheme do not come from selling a product but instead from hiring workers, who in turn get a profit from those they hire. This is an unsustainable business practice since only those who are at the top will ever get a benefit from it. For example, if six individuals were at the top of the pyramid and to make profit, they need to individually hire six more, then that makes a total number of thirty-six for the second layer. By layer twelve, workers would need to hire a total of individuals greater than the earth's estimated population. In practice Sato needs to sell ‘Mouse Road' products to vendors and get a percentage from their sales if he is ever to make his money back, and depending on how low he is on the pyramid, it means the more people he needs to recruit, the odds would not be in his favour, especially if he is below the third layer. ·         Misaki's true intentions       Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

EXPLICIT CONTENT! Inspired by today's manga, Will talks to Steven about his own personal ordeal with depression and suicidal ideation. They speak about their own relationship troubles. As well as how easy it is for people to become dependent on that which is not healthy for them. All in all, ‘Welcome to the NHK' shows us that manga can deal with real, dark and murky issues albeit easily digestible when it is done with a humorous tone. Skip synopsis @ 4:19  Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   109: Welcome to the NHK vol. 2 Chapters 6 to 10 ‘Welcome to the Moratorium' and ‘Welcome to the Heaven' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers   Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. One day a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara who eventually helps him from becoming a social shut-in as they do weekly therapy meetings. Sato's neighbour is an incel and old acquaintance named Kaoru Yamazaki who happens to be a raging otaku and a computer programmer. These two people will help Satou on his journey to change himself. Satou is being distracted on the game project he is making as he fantasizes about Misaki being in a porno. Kaoru helps him snap out of it by saying how women will cause them trouble. Kaoru talks about his past lost love and how a girl broke his heart only for his female classmate to call him saying she Is free to see the fire-works festival that night. Kaoru (like a “simp”) runs to her. Misaki knocks on Satou's window and invites him to the festival too. The fire-works festival brings back memories for both Satou and his old school friend Kashiwa-san who happens to call him and come to his apartment the following night. They drink heavily and Satou invites Kashiwa San for a vacation, misinterpreting and assuming something else, Kashiwa San thinks Satou Is talking about the offline group meeting that is planned for the summer so she decides to take him. Unfortunately for Satou this is a meeting of suicidal people who plan to kill themselves once they spend some time on a private island owned by one of the suicide pact members. Misaki who has secretly bugged Sato's apartment over hears of the offline meeting. Misaki becomes visibly scared once she realises what is going on and goes to Kaoru for help to find and stop Satou. During this time Misaki tells her feelings for Sato to Kaoru and that she wants to be an angel to help him. Eventually the suicide pact members change their mind and find reasons to live but this makes Satou become suicidal. Satou tries to kill himself but manages to knock himself out, he wakes up with Kawashi telling him he is safe and they are all going home. Satou returns home and meets with Misaki.   Topics:     First love and bad luck in relationships ·         Chasing girls ·         Suicide pacts ·         Depression  ·         Drug dependency        Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Will gets Steven to read one of his fave mangas, a story that revolves around the lives of several young adults all living in or around the city of Tokyo. Many different lifestyles are shown but most of the time the story focuses on the concept of being a hikikomori (a reclusive individual who withdraws from society) and chooses to surround themselves in the comfort of all that is anime and otaku. Most of the characters experience intense feelings of depression and loneliness. You better believe this one is for adults only. Skip synopsis @ 3:47   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   108: Welcome to the NHK vol. 1 Chapters 1 to 5 Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kenji Oiwa   Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. When a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara. Sato eventually goes for a job interview where he bumps into Misaki again and eventually Misaki choses Sato to help her with a personal social project for the purpose to stop him from being a hikikomori social shut in, she does this by having regular meetings and counselling sessions with Sato. Sato's neighbour is annoyingly playing anime music, Sato has enough and breaks into his neighbour's apartment to berate him only to find out to his surprise his neighbour is an old college acquaintance Kaoru Yamazaki who is now an otaku. During a project meeting and counselling session Sato lies to Misaki that he is a game programmer, to keep up with the lie he seeks the help of Kaoru and so they decide to make an erotic “Ero” dating simulator style videogame as Kaoru mentors him in the ways of otaku degeneracy. During his game research Sato goes shopping and an old high school friend named Hitomi Kashiwa spots him, they briefly have a conversation about drugs, social anxiety and being Hikikomori. Hitomi wishes to Sato again as she says farewell to him for now. Kaoru gives Sato some illegal and dangerous research to the point Kaoru becomes addicted to porn and is digressing into a pervert by taking pictures of cute school girls. Misaki comes out of nowhere and this snaps Sato out of it. Sato then gets a phone call from his mom, he lies to her about his job and a girlfriend, thus Sato seeks the help of Misaki and they decide to play the role of a couple, this gives them a chance to get to know each other.     References:   ·       Hikikomori Is the Japanese word for post-graduates who become socially reclusive shut-ins, like NEET (not employed, in education or training) or Hermits, the widespread growth of such people has become a worldwide phenomenon but has been for the most part well documented in Japan. It is possibly a response, albeit one in the form of a silent protest, to the stress and pressures of youth entering a society that lacks employment security or is extremely competitive when it comes to the workplace.   ·       Moe and Lolita culture Has a large presence throughout ‘Welcome to the NHK'. Although the etymology behind the word “moe” is a slang word from the 90's that defines the aesthetic of a lot of Heisei era anime, to the point that it is often referred to by non-Japanese as “anime style” The idea behind it is to make characters as adorable and cute as aesthetically possible, so to appeal to emotions of love, care and sometimes to illicit a sort of parasocial relationship or paraphillia. This often results in characters or people looking younger than their supposed age and all anime itself to be mistaken for being aimed at and consumed by children. Basically a moe character is a young woman, “adorably cute, just a bit sexually appealing, and self-conscious but not yet cynical”. With maid-cafés being a prime example and manifestation of this. A genre of (or extension of this aesthetic) is the controversial Lolicon which depicts budding romances between children, even being sexual in nature. The consumption of such media being psychologically harmful is debatable and certainly illegal in parts of the world. ·         Gravure Models (Idols) Not to be confused with the word “Rotogravure”, these are swimsuit and underwear models, basically magazine glamour idols, softcore pornography. Regardless of what Will says, Gravure idols are not in any form sexualized children, although the sentiment around idolising schoolgirls and pornographic content about schoolgirls is a great concern within Japan, which leads us to…         Laws regarding Age of Consent Within Japan is no longer granted to people aged 13, as of the upload date for this podcast it has instead risen to 16 and up, similar to Britain and South Korea. As has the statute of limitations reporting such crimes, which has also been raised by 5  more years, we will not discuss when this law passed or what is considered “Romeo and Juliet laws” which is laws wherever consent between 2 children and their parent's permission results in a different sentence, simply because we are not experts on this topic.  Ultimately, we at ‘We Appreciate Manga' think that this is a good thing. We do not judge people by their culture but we do celebrate Japan's progressive stance towards bettering their own justice system.   ·       30GB of imagery Consisting of compressed JPEG files is between the worth of 15258 and 5755 images (removing the last digit of both figures calculates for raw uncompressed files) according to Western Digital. This does not sound like a lot in terms of data but for the standards of the time this amount of images would have taken over 50% of an average Drive, with the most expensive USB Drives only going as high as 16GB.   ·       Lexotan Is one of many brand names for Bromazepam. A drug for treating anxiety.     Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

We talk about the conclusion to the Phantom Blood arc and how author Hirohiko Araki avoids “resetting to zero” in order to have a handle on the power creep of his heroes and villains. Skip synopsis @ 5:29   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   107: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 5 By Hirohiko Araki Chapters 38 to 44, The Three from a Faraway part Land part 3 and Fire and Ice part 6 Translation by Evan Galloway Lettering by Mark Mcmurray   In the final volume of Phantom Blood, the Joestar group including new members Dire, Straizo and Tonpetty confront Dio. Dire makes his first strike only to be flash frozen and dismembered by Dio. Dire's head is thrown away and lands near a rose, in his final moment a conscious Dire uses his mouth to sling a Hamon infused rose at Dio and blind him in one eye.   Jojo then strikes Dio with a sword, splitting the body in twain, yet Dio reforms his body and grabs Jojo by the carotid artery, with the sword still attached. Dio attempts to freeze Jojo's feet in place as he uses his vampire venom on Jojo and keep him alive so to leach Jojo's life energy. The two form an impasse of physical dominance over each other. Yet the fast-thinking Jojo twists the sword towards a naked flame behind Dio. The thermal energy is channelled as Hamon and is used to free Jojo and defeat Dio, blasting the vampire out into the ocean. Jojo uses Hamon to push Dio's venom from out of his neck whilst Tonpetty and Straizo fight off the rest of Dio's zombies and save Pocco's sister in the process. Afterwards they destroy the stone mask that gave Dio his vampire powers.   Time passes and Jojo is on a cruise ship to America with his new wife Erina. He is alarmed when he sees Dio's servant Wang Chan on board, soon he discovers that Dio is on the ship now surviving as a head in a jar. Dio reveals his plan to turn everyone on the ship into his zombies and behead Jojo so that he can gain a new body. Believing that if destiny forces him not to beat Jojo then he may as well literally join him, Dio's brain to Jojo's flesh!   A desperate and cornered Jojo manages to infuse Hamon into Wang Chan, making the Chinaman a puppet to Jojo's will. Wang Chan's body is then used to block up the steam engine on the boat with Jojo's plan being to blow the ship with Dio and himself on it. Erina wishes to die with Jojo until Jojo asks Erina to live so that she may save the life of an orphan baby on board. This is Jojo's dying wish as an orphan whose mother also died cradling her child.   Jojo dies on the ship with Dio's head in his arms. Their fight finally at its conclusion.     Topics:   ·       Impressions and technical aspects of the manga. ·       Original scene in the studio David anime, the chess scene. ·       The “man vs man” conflict of shonen manga compared to the  “vs nature” style of plot. ·       “Never return to Zero” Hirohiko Araki's rule on storytelling, and how he compromises this by having his “heroes pass on the torch” a clever way on avoiding “power creep” settling in on his heroes and villains. ·       Spin offs and media tie ins:   -        The 2007 animated movie based on the manga has parts of the story, power element explanations, famous lines, and characters omitted from it. Since there are too many to list here you can instead read up on the differences on the dedicated Jojo Wiki.   -        In 2006 there was a videogame adaptation for the Playstation 2, a sort of spiritual sequel to the previous 2003 game that was an adaptation of part 5 of the manga series. Considering the release date, it is fair to say that this was meant to tie in with the film release.   -        A 2013 videogame, ‘All Star Battle' originally for the Playstation 3 features characters from Phantom Blood as well as the rest of the series.   -        A 2015 videogame called ‘Eyes of Heaven' was originally released for both PS3 and PS4 Playstation platforms. The main antagonist of the game is “Heavenly Ascension Dio” a Dio from another reality that is able to use interdimensional travel as he fights multiple generations of the Joestar family. This version of Dio was made specifically for the story of this videogame.     Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

We talk about author Hirohiko Araki's flaws and success with the Phantom Blood arc of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Bringing up his issue with pacing the manga against multiple set pieces and fights spanning multiple environments but also praise his use of writing brave characters that inspire empathy, as well as his ability to use real world science to explain the most bizarre parts of the action.  Skip synopsis @ 5: 11   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   106: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 4 Chapters 28 and 37 ‘Tarkus and the Dark Knight Blufford' Part 3 and ‘The Three from a Faraway Land' part 2 By Hirohiko Araki Translation by Evan Galloway Lettering by Mark Mcmurray   The Joestar group fight Dio, in response Dio summons the undead Tarkus and Bluford. Bluford fights as if his hair is a third arm, he can also drain blood from each strand of his hair.   Through the power of Hamon, Jojo sloughs off at the undead flesh of Bluford and in turn restores his nervous system. Meaning Bluford feels pain. Bluford restrains his strike and realizes that Jojo is not fighting back, he shows honour and gratitude for being able to feel again, then yields before turning into dust. Tarkus is less sympathetic, he stomps on what remains of Bluford and then blasts the Joestar group a large distance, Zepelli defends himself from the blast by keeping himself horizontal to it, minimizing himself as a target and lessening the surface area of the damage.   Poco, having previously been hypnotized by Dio, returns with the help of two men, however they do not believe Poco and thus torment the young boy. Tarkus appears and kills the two men. The Joestar group close the distance on Tarkus and save Poco, both Jojo and Zepelli use Hamon and static electricity to form a parachute of fallen leaves and parasail to safety. During their journey Zepelli tells Speedwagon of his training with master Tonpetty, but keeps the prophecy that he will die saving Jojo a secret.   They land on the roof a castle which leads Jojo into a trap room with Tarkus, unable to effectively use Hamon. Poco remembers what his sister taught him about bravery and breaks into the room, he opens it up from inside so that Zepelli can fight Tarkus and although Zepelli is fatally wounded by Tarkus, he is able to give the last of his Hamon energy to Jojo, setting Jojo free and passing on the figurative torch to him.   Upon defeating Tarkus in a spectacular fashion they journey towards the town Dio enslaved. They are joined by a new group of men also ready to help finish what Zepelli started. The men are Dire, Straizo, and Zepelli's teacher, Master Tonpetty. Dio awaits them with Poco's sister as his prisoner, she is refusing any temptation of immortality that Dio offers her.       Topics:   ·       “Bravery begets empathy”: Hirohiko Araki has a brilliant technique in that he has characters do brave things for us to feel empathy for them. Both the flashback with Poco and Zepelli set up later events that call for both characters to be brave. ·       A criticism of Phantom Blood is how one fight can be prolonged over vast distances in multiple settings. One can suspect that if opinion polls/ratings had dropped in reader surveys that Dio would have appeared in the same castle as the “Two-Headed Dragon room” however we are introduced to new characters, Dire and Straizo before this time. Poco himself is reintroduced during the fight with Tarkus. This has a detrimental effect on the pacing of the manga.   Other references:   ·       “Turgor pressure” think of the word turgid, which is opposite to flaccid. Something turgid is swollen with water whilst something flaccid just has water sloshing around, there is no build-up of pressure in it. It is often used to describe the build-up of water pressure in the cells of a plant, in this manga it is used to explain the reasoning as to how Bluford can flex and move his hair. This implies that there is a sort of blood plasma in his hair that Bluford has full control over. Until Araki introduced the idea of “stand power” villains in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure gained their powers through their full cellular level control. It is also fair to say that Bluford's hair is not normal and perhaps does resemble that of a plant or a hair cell found in one's ears. In reality; the hair on your head is dead, only the follicles count as a living part of your body and needs blood flow from your skin to be able to generate the keratin that makes your hair strands. ·       Minimising surface area for damage is a technique used by Zepelli and is applied in real circumstances. For example, if someone were to be in a gunfight then laying in a prone position will shrink you as a target to your enemy and avoid splash damage from shrapnel, unless the enemy is on higher ground than yourself of course. An inverse example is if you were to hit the ground in a falling elevator, you would have to spread out the surface damage so as not to break your bones, so laying down in a prone position means your body can better distribute the force of the hit. ·       “To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.”  - William Makepeace Thackeray, Thackery himself was a Victorian era English writer, known for social satire. His most well-known book is arguably Vanity Fair, "Mother is the name for God" appears in the 1994 movie The Crow. ·       Salween River Tibet, implies Tonpetty is a Tibetan monk and that he is Buddhist.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Continuing our read along of Phantom Blood we get our first appearance of the Yoda figure and Jobro Mr. Zepelli! A man who is willing to teach Jojo all the vegan chi powers he can muster (that's Hamon energy to Jojoites). Now a lot of sagely teacher characters can come off dull and boring but not in Jojo's world! We also talk about how brave characters can beget empathy from the reader and fact check the historical fantasy of the manga.   Skip synopsis @ 6:47   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   105: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 3 Chapters 18 to 27, ‘Jack the Ripper and Zeppeli the Strange part 1' and ‘Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford part 2' By Hirohiko Araki Translation by Evan Galloway Lettering by Mark Mcmurray Our hero Jojo, having fought a vampire who killed his dad has recovered well from his injuries. It is at this time he meets a new mentor, the odd and mysterious Baron Will Anthonio Zeppeli or Mr. Zeppeli for short. He helps Jojo's arm heal faster with the use of Hamon, translated literally as ripple or wave energy. He teaches Jojo Sendo, the way of the hermit, a martial art that will allow him to harness the power of Hamon, in return he asks that Jojo helps him find and destroy the stone mask that birthed the vampire Dio. Since the once young Zeppeli himself had an unfortunate encounter with the stone mask.   One of Dio's agents attacks Jojo during his training but it serves only as a demonstration of Jojo's power, soon Jojo, Zeppeli and Speedwagon track the follower of Dio to a tunnel where they are attacked by another servant of Dio, the infamous Jack the Ripper. During the fight Jack flees into the darkness of a hidden cavern, Zeppeli gives Jojo a glass of wine and tells him that if he is to train in future with him then he must defeat Jack on his own without spilling a single drop. Turns out the glass of wine acts as a conduit of Hamon and thus reacts to the presence of Jack, avoiding any surprises, Jojo uses the Hamon to blast jack to his demise, all thanks to Zeppeli's loaded weapon of a wine glass.   Afterwards a boy steals the men's bags and lures them to a trap encounter with Dio amongst a sun set, having hypnotized the boy to do his bidding. Zeppeli makes his attack. Dio however has found a way to avoid Hamon strikes by using the laws of thermodynamics in conjunction with his vampire body. Heat is absorbed by Dio's body and in turn causing Hamon users to get frost bitten if they make physical contact with him. Dio summons two warriors from their graves to take his place in the fight with Jojo and the injured Zeppeli. These are Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford, former retainers to the deceased Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart. Topics: ·       We have the first appearance of a Yoda figure, the “Jobro” Zeppeli, and we talk about what makes him such an entertaining teacher for our hero. ·       Author Hirohiko Araki demonstrates his ability to incite empathy through the  bravery of his characters, in the next volume he'll go on to set up and pay off certain events by having characters become brave enough to face their fate. ·       The new Rohan Kishibe movie will be released on May 26, 2023 (James is mistaken to believe it is in March 2023) For those who do not know, Rohan Kishibe is a character who first appears in the fourth part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, ‘Diamond is Unbreakable'. The film itself ‘Rohan au Louvre' can be viewed as a sequel to the live action TV series (which is currently on its third season), this is also based of the manga spin off ‘Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan' which tells the story of manga artist Kishibe's travels as he satiates his voracious curiosity for a need to seek new inspiration, often encountering dangerous and supernatural threats.   Other references: ·       Jack the ripper was a real and unidentified serial killer active in the London district of Whitechapel in 1888. The name comes from the historical letters claiming to be the killer. The events revolving around the Zodiac killer are similar to Jack the ripper in terms of the communication between the alleged killer and authorities, but it's also important to note that the Unabomber was caught because he published a manifesto which was key in his brother identifying him to the FBI.   ·       The Highlander movie starring Sean Connery was released in the summer of 1986, since the Phantom Blood manga was first published in the winter of 1987 it is a fair assumption to say that Araki was inspired by the movie. ·       Unlike the manga, Mary, Queen of Scots has no blood relation to the Tudors, belonging from house Stewart of the Stewart dynasty. She was also in fact executed in 1587 at the age of 44, where as the manga shows her executed at the age of 23 in 1565. Her retainers in the manga are also fictitious. Her execution was a result of her complicity in treason against the Tudor queen, Elizabeth I. ·       Zeppeli's name is a reference to Led Zeppelin. A band whose contemporaries would have been the bands Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. English bands that were undoubtedly the progenitor for heavy rock and metal, and are historically significant because of it. ·       Dio's name is also a reference to ex-lead singer of Black Sabbath, whom recorded the ‘Heaven and Hell' album in 1980 after Ozzie Osbourne was fired, Ronnie James Dio, formed a band with the name of Dio in 1982, one of his most famous songs from that era being ‘Holy Diver'. He died in 2010.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

James and Steven continue their read-a-long of the Phantom Blood manga. Where the author Araki pays off the last volume by having lots of gore and shirtless action.  104: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 2 Chapters 9 and 17, ‘The Stone Mask part 2' and 'The Birth of DIO' By Hirohiko Araki After striking a dagger at Jojo's dad, Dio is “fatally” shot by the police. The police captain expresses guilt, knowing that Dio's father was a dishonourable thief, he remembers when Jojo's father dropped charges of the theft, giving Dio's father mercy and compassion, something that he believes George Joestar, Jojo's dad should never had done. Either way, Dio is now, to everyone's surprise, a new born vampire, and so he smashes in the police captain's head from behind. Dio obliterates the cops and manages to turn one into a ghoul, Jojo retorts by grabbing a spear from one of the old armour suits and defeats the ghoul but Dio snaps the spear and stabs Jojo in the shoulder with it. Whilst Dio gloats he turns his back on the last men standing, Jojo and Speedwagon. The game of hide and seek does not last long when an oil lamp is smashed into Dio. Luckily for Dio he can regrow his skin whilst it is in flames. Jojo leads Dio away from Speedwagon to higher ground, He strikes Speedwagon sending him flying backward to safety.  Dio then throws a flaming chair at Jojo but Jojo grabs a sword, stabs it into the floor and jumps off the hilt to reach the balcony above. Jojo leaves his dead father to burn in the flames whilst Speedwagon believes that Jojo intends to fight Dio on the roof, all whilst the flames eat away the building sending them both to their death. When Dio knocks Jojo through the collapsed roof Jojo uses the spear that was impaled in his shoulder to give himself leverage, then in the middle of his jump he takes of his belt and lassos Dio's ankle. He sends Dio falling, Jojo jumps into Dio and drives the dagger that was used to kill his dad into Dio, who is then impaled after falling onto a statue below. A badly burnt Jojo survives by using Dio's body to break his fall. When Speedwagon goes to visit the injured Jojo but is refused by the nurse. Later in the night Speedwagon breaks in to the hospital and sees that Jojo awakens to the nurse at his bedside. The nurse is Jojo's first love and long-lost sweetheart Erina. Speedwagon then leaves without giving away his presence, his heart warmed by what he has seen. Meanwhile the Chinaman who provided Dio with the poison scavenges the ruins of the Joestar home. A charred arm reaches from out of the rumble, grabs the Chinaman's wrist and drains the man of his life force. Araki was relatively young and still new to storytelling as a mangaka when he made Phantom Blood. And because of this there are things in it he clearly would not do today, but in spite of this Araki tends to immerse as much twists in his action scenes as possible and this is what makes any action scene great. The problem arises however is that he struggles to build a sense of escalation, where the stakes increase the longer the fight goes on. He does a noble attempt at this by having the house on fire but the fire itself doesn't seem to have an effect on the fight itself. Jojo never coughs or struggles to breathe nor is he or Dio blinded by any smoke, then again perhaps it would have prolonged the fight to unrealistic proportions if he did that. In any case Araki chose to focus more on the props in the environment, the dagger, the spear, the flaming chair and when there seemed to be no more props left he wrote in Jojo to use his belt. If props are foreshadowed well in advance then this creates a satisfying and cohesive story. For every twist to be a surprise you have to hide the setup, but so not to confuse your reader you have to give a moment to explain what happened. Araki gets better at this with age. A detriment towards depicting fantastic fight scenes, especially against the supernatural, is the difficulty in reading and having the reader immersed. Manga as an art form is wholly suggestive in depicting action. In the second volume of Phantom Blood, we see Johnathan Joestar can grab items in the middle of a fall and take off his belt in the middle of a jump, sadly such scenes create a poor depiction of time as characters never feel like they are climbing or falling, more like they are floating in space as they act. Other references: Another scene reminiscent to the novel Les Misérables (Victor Hugo, 1862) is when we see Dario Brando in prison for stealing from George Joestar. The interaction is very similar to the characters Jean Valjean and Bishop Myriel. DIO scaling the walls and coming in through the window is like the mannerisms of Dracula (Bram Stoker, 1897), who was also able to do such type of activity. Erina and Jojo's romance exhibits an all-too-common trope, the ‘Florence Nightingale Effect' named after the famous nurse and statistician who in reality was a chaste character. It's also a common phenomena too, known as “Florence Nightingale Syndrome” It is an easy way for a romance to bloom in Shonen action and battle manga, since the hero tends to be in a lot of fights the love interest builds intimacy by nursing them.

The first part of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (Phantom Blood) is best described as Dracula starring Jean Claude Van Damme with costume design by Jean Paul Gaultier, and you know something? It is a good read! Blending Shonen anime spectacle with the influence of classical literature. We see if the manga has stood the test of time since its 80's debut. Skip synopsis @ 6:32 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   103: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 1 Chapters 1 to 8, ‘Prologue' and ‘The Stone Mask part 1' By Hirohiko Araki Translation by Evan Galloway Lettering by Mark Mcmurray   Phantom Blood is the first part of the epic Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and tells the tale of two young men, Johnathan “Jojo” Joestar and Dio Brando. It starts in south America during the reign of the Aztecs, where a king has used a magical death mask like object to gain supernatural power, then we are taken to the 80's, the 1880's to be precise. where Dio arrives at the home of the Joestars after the death of his father, Dario.   Jojo's father, George Joestar, becomes Godfather to Dio and so they welcome the young man under their roof, all whilst Dio plans to rob Jojo of his status and make him suffer. Dio does this whilst maintaining the guise of a step brother but when he discovers Jojo has a girlfriend, he torments him further by forcing a kiss on the poor girl. Dio sadistically claiming, “You wanted Jojo to be your first kiss, but it was I, Dio”.   So, Jojo attempts to kick his ass and in doing so spills blood on the mask that hangs in their home. That same magical mask used by the Aztecs now activated by the touch of blood and designed to penetrate the wearer's brain upon doing so.   Years pass by but Dio takes it further when Jojo infers that Dio had poisoned his father, Dario Brando and has been doing the same to George Joestar.   Jojo sets up new care for his father and sets out on a journey to discover the origin of the poison and get evidence, or at least a cure for his father. Meanwhile Dio investigates the mask to use as a potential murder weapon against Jojo only to discover that it can turn its wearer into a vampire.   As Dio returns to the Joestar residence he is ambushed by Jojo who has gained new allies on his journey, meanwhile Dio, with mask in hand, has a plan.     ·       The theme of Jojo is one of becoming a “peon to humanity”, Jojo aspires to become a true gentleman. Meanwhile Dio himself aspires for greatness albeit through horrific ways, and at the cost of his own humanity.   ·       Phantom Blood was first published on January 1987 in Shuesha's weekly Shonen.  Alongside the original run of Dragonball (not Z), Ultimate Muscle and Saint Seiya. Like Saint Seiya, Phantom Blood is a very fashion-conscious manga, as we'll see in later episodes. This was to appeal to the readers at the time.   ·       At the time the manga was published Arnold Schwarzenneger, Slyvester Stallone and Jean Claude Van Damme were dominating Hollywood. Their action movies were a response to feminism at the time, with men being celebrated for their physical strength and stamina. So naturally Araki has his hero be the same way, which makes more sense knowing that Jojo needs to be exaggerated physically in order to fight the supernaturally powerfully Dio.   ·       Physically masculine heroes aren't an action movie ideal either, Jojo takes more influence from ancient styles of stories, where mythological characters show further supernatural feats of masculinity, such as the greek Demi-god Hercules, the Olympics itself being a demonstration of competitive power and indiviualism.     ·       One of the manga's most iconic scenes is Dio's “kick the dog” moment. A now popular trope for villains, the oldest examples being seen in Anne Brontë's novel, ‘Agnes Grey ‘(1847) where upon Mr. Hatfield kicks not just a dog but also a cat, Anne's sister, Emily went one step further by having Heathcliff hang a puppy in Wuthering Heights, which was published within that same month and year. In Stephen King's novel, ‘The Dead Zone' (1979), the villain of that story also kicks a dog. It is important to note that the trope isn't about kicking dogs but instead is a shorthand way to tell the audience immediately that a character is despicable.   Other references:   ·       The manga opens during the reign of the Aztec Empire, the empire itself was taken over by Spanish conquistadors and their allies in 1521. The Aztecs, also known as the ancient Mexica were the ancestors of the Nahua people of Mexico.   ·       A nod to Charles Darwin is mentioned, Jojo having a passion for archeology compares his studies to Darwin's and wishes to make breakthroughs like himself. Darwin himself changed academia with his ‘Origin of Species' published in 1859. Although incredibly abstract for its time, Darwin's theories still have a lot of credit to them in contemporary times. The phrase “survival of the fittest” is sometimes mistaken as Darwin's words but comes from Herbert Spencer, responding to Darwin. For Jojo to speak of Darwin, is no different than millennials speaking of Carl Sagan or Jordan Peterson, of which the latter's academic legacy has arguably not reached apotheosis as of writing this article. But who knows what the future will bring?   ·       Dario Brando actions resemble that of the character Thénardier in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, they both inadvertently save a man whilst trying to rob them.   ·       Speedwagon looks suspiciously like Australian actor and film director Mel Gibson, especially in his mullet wearing Lethal Weapon days.   ·       The mysterious mask in Phantom Blood resembles the mask seen in the Italian horror movie ‘Demons' (1985), that mask has the power to turn someone into a ghoulish demon. Although it may be coincidence, it could also have been a possible inspiration for Araki.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

We delve into Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto's coming of age one shot. A story that explores budding rivalry and companionship, as well as the artist's calling in a cruel and random world. Skip synopsis @ 9:52   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   102: Look Back By Tatsuki Fujimoto Translation by Amanda Haley Lettering by Snir Aharon Edited for English by Alexis Kirsch     Fujino is the manga artist of the school newspaper until it becomes apparent that a girl by the name of Kyomoto, whom she hardly knows, is beginning to turn heads by having manga skills that out do even the talented Fujino.   Fujino is fired up and begins to make manga that rivals Kyomoto's work. But the competition sooner or later takes its toll on Fujino, and she decides to quit manga in order to spend time with her friends and pursue different hobbies, such as martial arts for example. Months go by, Fujino is a graduate and is asked to do one last task from her teacher. Deliver Kyomoto's diploma.   Kyomoto is a recluse, a shut-in, or as the Japanese say, a Hikikomori. When Fujino enters her home, she is compelled to make a manga on the spot, it drops underneath the door, across the threshold of Kyomoto's room. And soon enough this goads Kyomoto from out of her room. She meets Fujino and praises her manga abilities, saying how much she was inspired by her, asks for Fujino to sign the back of her and asks her why she stopped making manga. Fujino tells her that she decided to focus on getting professionally published. Afterwards, Fujino does not walk home in the rain, instead she dances in the rain, once again inspired to take up a pencil.   Soon the two girls decide to work together to make a manga. On the day that their work is published, Fujino gets Kyomoto out of her house and the two brave the winter weather to their nearest 7/11 and proudly read their own manga from off the rack, a manga they both got paid for. But later, tensions rise when Kyomoto decides to become more independent, choosing to study at art college. Something that Fujino does not agree on, as it means that she will not have the person who fuels her artistry as she goes pro.   On January 2016, Kyomoto is killed when an art student terrorises the college. After the funeral Fujino goes back to her room, guilty for having made that manga that passed the threshold, she finds the manga, then tears it up, a piece of it falls and a gentle breeze sweeps it under the door. This time Kyomoto is on the other side of the door, a Kyomoto from an alternate time, she reads the manga and believes it was sent to her by a ghost. On the other side of the door, we see Fujimoto, still mourning the death of her friend, but she notices a strip of manga pass from inside the room back to her. The manga depicts Fujino, using martial arts to save the life of her friend. When Fujino opens the door, she sees no one is inside but the window is left open, sending a breeze in. It is important to know that Fujino does not actually enjoy making manga but when she looks back, she realises what her calling is.     Topics:    ·       We cannot talk about the author without mentioning the success of Chainsaw Man. The appeal of Denji (the main character of Chainsaw Man) is that his life goals are simple to the point of being pathetic (he just wants to touch boobs, lose his virginity, and have his toast buttered), but what makes Denji a good hero is not the reason why he does something but instead the fact that he needs a reason, any reason in order to survive, it's this desperation and pathos that makes him a perfect fit for shonen manga. However, there is a double-edged sword to such characters, and that is the tendency to romanticise pathetic traits. Being a horny and dumb shonen hero is like the male equivalent to Dahme aesthetic. Think Moe girls with toast in their mouth and incidentally exposing their panties all the time, that's Dahme. Fujimoto is great at writing characters like this.   ·       Look Back was published in July 19, 2021. This was between the two series of Chainsaw Man, with Chainsaw Man starting its school arc after the release of Look Back. During this time Fujimoto would allegedly be between the age of 27 and 30 years old. By this time Fujimoto would be a successful manga artist, having made and released Look Back during a pandemic and before he moved home. Fujimoto has stated that making a serialised work in comparison to a short story demands a different mode of thinking. Like a different brain almost.   ·       Look Back is not based on any specific life experience or personal account of the artist. Although the two characters have names based on Fujimoto, the decision to give these characters such names were from Yuji Kaku, a fellow manga artist, assistant, and friend of Fujimoto. Kaku felt that the author did have something in common with these characters. One of the characters would have been called Nonose.   ·       Kyomoto is a hikikomori, the Japanese term for a shut-in/recluse. Often the word is interchangeable with the word NEET, an acronym for someone who is not in education, employment, or training. Kyomoto is someone who suffers from a sort of agoraphobia/social anxiety, a common trait shared between hikikomori.   ·       Terrorism, or at least the threat of domestic terrorism at this point is a common theme in Fujimoto's works. But there is an argument to me made if school massacres are the same as terrorist attacks and if the two can be treated in the same manner.   ·       Will Storr in his book, ‘the status game' makes compelling statements of the correlation between our social status and school/workplace massacres. His book is currently available in all good book stores, and there is an audiobook version available on audible/amazon and itunes.   ·       In the original publication of the story, the killer was schizophrenic, in the English viz media first edition the killer's motive is that they were plagiarized.  There maybe version where the killer's motive is never known. That is because the first change came about to avoid stigma and discrimination of the mentally ill, while the second change (at least for the Japanese readers) would have been done to avoid allusions to the Kyoto anime studio arson of 2019.   Other references:   Here is the list of books that we see on Fujino's shelf, just follow the links if you want to buy them from Amazon:     ·       J Sheppard, fundamentals of figure drawing ·         ·       Jack Hamm, Drawing the head and figure   ·       David Chelsea, the manga guide to perspective   James' recommendations of books that will go well with the above:   ·       Scott Mcloud's Understanding comics: The Invisible Art   ·       Andrew Loomis figure drawing for all it's worth   ·       Andrew Loomis drawing the head and hands       Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

14 years after the original Death Note run ended, we were blessed with the return of familiar characters and introduced with a new one, Minoru Tanaka. A character whose ingenious actions causes the Shinigami king to create a new rule. This will be the last Death Note related episode between the boys as they discuss the manga's legacy and more. Skip synopsis @ 6:52   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   101: Death Note 2020 Special One-Shot Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata   Plot Synopsis:   The Death god Ryuk is bored as usual and hungry for some more delicious apples, he goes back to the human world and finds someone who is intelligent enough to use the Death Note in new ways.   Ryuk gives Minoru Tanaka the same Death Note that Light Yagami used in exchange for apples, Of course Minoru knows of Light as the tyrannical Kira. A person who he now studies in his ethics class as a terrorist albeit Kira was successful at preventing wars and lowering crime rates, using the Death Note to rid the world of whomever he deemed as evil.   Minoru is different, in that he decides not to murder anyone but instead to sell the Death Note, he tells Ryuk that the world has changed since Kira had the Death Note and that to become like the next Kira would be more so difficult in a world where cameras are on every street corner and in everyone's pocket. Plus, people are aware of the existence of Ryuk and can identify him and the Death Note now.   Minoru hatches the plan that Ryuk goes to Sakura TV station so to announce the bid and have people use twitter and the hashtag “Power of Kira”   Ryuk will be untraceable so long as he travels underground, under earth, much to the chagrin of L, the surviving members of the NPA and the SPK.   It becomes apparent that the money for the bid is reaching beyond that of any individual to be able to afford, Minoru sends out Ryuk to relay the message that government and world leaders must use their PR representatives to announce their bid. Eventually the winner is announced to be the government of the United States of America.   To make the transfer of money discreet, Minoru has the US government transfer the winning amount worth 10 trillion dollars divided in equal parts to people under the age of 70, living in Tokyo and who also own a Yotsuba bank of Japan account.   Once Minoru deems the plan a success, he gives Ryuk the Death Note to pass on and tells him that he no longer wants to see him again, and that he will live his life happily thanks to the fortune from the U.S. government.   The plot twist, as Ryuk knows, is that the Death Note brings misfortune to those who touch it, and that is still the case. Before Ryuk gives the Death note to the US he is summoned by the Shinigami King, afterwards he tells the current US president of the time, Donald Trump that the rules of the Death Note have now changed.   Anyone who buys and sells the Death Note will die as punishment. The buyer dies upon receiving the Death Note and the seller upon receiving their currency.   Ryuk explains to Trump that although he will die upon acquiring the Death Note, the Death Note itself will still be owned by his second in command, and thus will become the property of the U.S. government. Trump however decides to abandon the Death Note but pretend that he still has it so that people will see him as a hero. Very Shrewd.   Topics and Facts:   The one shot made its public debut during Takeshi Obata's art exhibition, named Never Complete, before being published on Viz Media's website. It is now available as part of an anthology of short stories, released under Viz media. The main character Minoru is an intelligent character as was Light Yagami, unprecedented for a Death Note user is his pacifism, in terms of capitalist ideology you can consider Minoru a far better hero if not a better man than Light Yagami but what makes the series so good as a story is how it presents owning the Death Note as a moral dilemma.   We also talk about Near, who makes another appearance in this one-shot, having previously appeared in the 2008 ‘C – Kira' one-shot story.   Although this one-shot manga is satire it is important to note that when this was published the world was in the middle of a pandemic which threatened the economy and the lives of those from all walks of life. Tsugumi Ohba did not write this manga as a response to the pandemic nor the January 6 U.S. capitol attack, but one can still see it as a response to Trumpism. During president Donald Trumps' service, the country was (and as of 2023 still is) culturally divided. Possibly due to the newness of social media platforms propagating disinformation and propaganda. As of this episode air date January 28, 2023, political discourse worldwide is still dangerously tense.   “The Gold Standard” that James refers to is a monetary system that provides a fixed international exchange rate. James is correct in assuming that under such a standard the transaction for the Death Note is not feasible however, both countries would need to share the same kind of standard, and the buying country would need to be the larger provider of gold stock for the transaction to be completely beneficial to Japan. The U.S. does have the larger supply of gold stock compared to Japan, however as steven mentions, the U.S. has not used the standard since 1971, a decision dubbed the “Nixon Shock”. Because of this the U.S. can prevent a drastic economic deflation, which would happen if the U.S. if they were to buy the Death Note under a gold standard. There is also the “The Silver standard” which is more feasible of a monetary system because of silver having widespread stock worldwide, in retrospect it may seem absurd to consider gold stock as a fixed rate for international exchange, but one must keep in mind that the gold standard was after all created by the world dominating English empire.   Although it certainly seems Minoru did the right thing in comparison to his predecessor Light Yagami, one can wonder if such an auction could be successful to an economic boom, after all a country could place sanctions on the trading of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) but then again what country could be powerful enough to threaten sanctions on the U.S. and Japan? Especially after the transfer of Kira's power?   A new (supposedly Netflix) adaptation Is to be written and executively produced by Halia Abdel-Meguid, it will be made by the ‘Upside Down pictures' production company. The same company responsible for ‘Stranger Things' created by the Duffer brothers.     Differences from the original 2003/'06 manga run and the 2015 NTV Mini Series:   L appears in all white clothing, more so like the character of Near in the manga. He also wears buttoned linen shirts, which Watari has multiples of ready whenever L wants to change. The Death Note that Gellus owns before Misa is coloured red, it appears black in the manga, however the manga explains that there are red and white coloured Death Notes that Shinigami own within the rules section. The Eraldo Coil character/alias that L uses is absent from the story but otherwise replaced with the name “Babel” which is possibly derived from the Hebrew word בָּלַל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse. It also comes from the name “Tower of Babel” which is referred to in the bible as a tower reaching God, with its construction itself being mentioned in an origin myth for the world's languages. In the miniseries, Babel is not an alias of but is instead an associate of L. The real identity of Babel is Near a.k.a Nate River.   Near appears earlier in the story, before L dies. Near's appearance is also different, instead of wearing white pyjamas Near wears something that is a mix between a tailored suit and dungarees. They do however have a white bob hair style, albeit less curly than the manga. There is no SPK (Special Provision for Kira), instead after the death of L Near joins the same task force as the NPA, becoming the new L.   Teru Mikami appears much earlier in the story; he spies on Misa, then attacks and steals her Death Note after Light instructs her to dig it up in the woods. Like the manga this event happens after Light regains his memories of the Death Note. Rem does not kill L, instead Teru Mikami, having sided with Light and acquiring the Shinigami eyes, is the one to kill L whilst Rem remains passive throughout. Rem does not die through the events of the series and neither risks their life to save Misa. L's death occurs after he pulls off a desperate and crude tactic to frame Light. L gets Light alone and proceeds to write Light's name in the Death Note. Through the ordeal Light receives a text message from Mikami that shows L's real name. Light attacks L, then takes the Death Note and writes L's name down as a form of self-defence. This does not kill L, since L had Watari create a fake Death Note in order to trick and goad Light into using the note on L. Before L manages to use the fake note as evidence, he is killed by Mikami's Death Note and Light tells the task force that L told him his real name in order to goad him into an attack.   Mello is not a legitimate heir to L, instead he is a character that is trapped within the body of Near. Near having what is known as Disassociate Identity Disorder, otherwise known as “split personalities”. Sometimes Near keeps Mello at bay by having Mello talk through a ventriloquists' doll. Mello ends up taking full control later without the need for a doll, and dresses just like their anime/manga counterpart. Near/Mello are both male characters but they are played by a woman, Mio Yuki. Ryuk does not write Light's name in his Death Note, instead Light dies in a warehouse on fire trying to grab his Death Note, he begs Ryuk to make the eye trade with him but the book is already in flames at that moment and soon Light himself burns. (If my memory is correct, Light is so deluded at that point he forgets the death note is fake - J) Mikami is the one who starts the fire, in order to prevent the task force from arresting Light. Near is the dominant personality when Light is captured as Kira, and remains dominant throughout most of the episodes. Watari does not die; he survives to the end and assists Near after L's death.       Other references:     Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Today's episode has Will, James and Steven talk about the pilot chapter to Death Note, this would have been the first one shot published, and although it may not have too much in common with the Light vs. L story it did pave the way for it. The boys also review the recent Simpsons' Tree House of Horror special that paid homage to Death Note as well as talk about the Death Note videogame spin offs and crossovers. Skip synopsis @ 3:55   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   100: Death Note Pilot ⁓ The Taro Kagami Story Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata   Whoever's name is written in this note shall die, that is the power of the Death Note, and so a bored Shinigami by the name of Ryuk, travels from the realm of death gods to the human realm. He leaves a Death Note for a human to find.   A 13-year-old Japanese schoolboy by the name of Taro Kagami comes upon the Death Note, Not understanding the English language very well he believes the Death Note to be a simple journal. When he uses it as a personal diary, he writes the names of those who bully him at school, the next day at school he receives news that the boys are dead from heart attacks. Taro suspects the Death Note is what killed them and Ryuk appears to Taro to explain its power to him. After Taro is questioned by the detectives Yamanaka and Takagi, he experiences nightmares over the boys he had killed.   Ryuk presents the death eraser to Taro, upon using it Taro can bring back life to those who have been killed by the Death Note, so long as their body remains intact. The next day Yamanaka and Takagi visits Taro's class and question the revived students.   The revived students and the two detectives are killed by a heart attack, The next day Taro watches TV and sees a discussion around the murders, the people on the TV die except for the one using an obvious pen name. Ryuk confirms Taro's suspicion that there is another Death Note user out there. Taro, believing the other user is his classmate Miura, goes to stop the killing spree and presents Miura with the Death Eraser. They then head to the police station to meet the revived detectives and show them Miura's Death Note and the death eraser before they destroy Miura's Death Note.   Seven years pass and Taro still has his Death Note, with Ryuk waiting to see how he will use it next.   Trivia:   The Death Eraser makes its appearance in the Pilot and is never seen again in the franchise (as of 2023 at least). Because of this, the Taro Kagami story is largely seen as non-canonical, even the author has stated (in the supplementary Death Note vol. 13) that they did not like the idea of the Death Eraser. The Simpsons has parodied Death Note in both comic books and animation with the 2008 comic book story "Murder, He Wrote" in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #14, where Bart receives the notebook from the Ryuk-ified ghost of Krusty the Clown, and the "Death Tome" segment of the 2022 television episode "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII", with Lisa receiving the titular book.   ‘L: Change the World' was the sequel/spin-off to the Japanese 2006 movies. Viz media also has the English translation rights to the novelisation. L: File No. 15 was a book/promotional tie in with ‘L: change the world'. And is the first time the chapters of Wammy's House/One Day (A Day in L's life) were publicised, most of the book features photographs of L as played by Kenichi Matsuyama. Whom played L in the 2006 movies.   The first two Death Note Videogames made for the Nintendo DS were the Mafia type games Death Note: Kira Game, released on February 15, 2007 andDeath Note: Successors to L, which was released on July 12, 2007. The first game is based on the Yotsuba arc whilst the second game is based on the second part of the manga, featuring characters such as Mello and Near. For those who do not know, Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a social deduction game, created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986. A third, Escape room type game called ‘L the Prologue to Death Note -Spiraling Trap' was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on February 7, 2008   Various videogame Death Note appearances and crossovers include the Shonen Jump fighting games, such as Jump Force and Identity V (a game that plays very much like Dead by Daylight)   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Listen in on James, Will and Steven as they talk all about the final chapters of Death Note, discussing their favorite tricks that the characters utilised and more. What was your favorite trick? But beware! there are spoilers of both the 2006 Japanese two-part movie as well as the manga and the anime! Otherwise come and listen in! Skip synopsis @ 5:02   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 099: Death Note vol. 12 ⁓ Finis Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki Lettering by Gia Cam Luc   Light Yagami, the boy gifted with the magical and powerful Death Note was able to reshape the world as the god like Kira. A battle of wits began with Light and the prodigy detective L but Light successfully kills L and becomes the “the second L”; four years pass only for Light to be faced by the arrival of L's heirs, Near and Mello. Both of L's heirs know of the existence of Light's murder weapon, the titular Death Note. Near and Light agree to meet each other at a warehouse, where Near claims to have proof of who the serial killer known as Kira is. Near knows that Japan's NPA (National Police Agency) has had no leads on Kira upon L's death, he also knows that they acquired a death note before L's death and had acquired a second death note upon losing the first to Mello. Near also knows that Kira has made no threat or demand in order to retrieve the existing death note from the NPA branch. And finally, one actual god of death, Ryuk resides amongst the NPA task force. These facts support that Kira has planted himself among the task force. Mello revealed to Near the existence of the fake 13-day-rule, and NPA task force agent Aizawa revealed to Near that Light was a suspect until the discovery of this 13-day-rule. These facts support that Light is Kira. Before their meeting Mello abducts one of the two Kira proxies, Kiyomi Takada. Mello dies from Takada's hidden death note scrap and soon Takada along with any evidence of the death note is killed off by Light's own hidden death note, since you can rip pieces from the note book and still use them to kill. Near has organised the warehouse meeting so that the last living Kira proxy, Teru Mikami can be tricked into secretly writing all names down in a fake copy of Kira's death note. If Teru is arrested and Light's name is absent from this fake death note. Then Near wins, having all the evidence he needs on Light/Kira. The only issue for Near however is that Light already knows about Near's fake death note plan. Comparisons from how the ending of the anime differs from that of the manga: Teru Mikami dies on screen, after Light is caught by Near in the Yellow box warehouse, Mikami, whilst under arrest, grabs a pen and stabs himself in the chest with it. The image of Near's finger puppets being reflected in Light's eye is absent in the anime. Ryuk is not in the warehouse after Light is shot and injured, Ryuk is alone outside when he writes Light's name in the Death Note. Misa attempts suicide by jumping, the implication that she intuitively knows that Light has now been caught as Kira. Light flees the warehouse; he runs past an apparition of a schoolboy walking in the opposite direction. It is himself as a teenager, before he became Kira. When Light finds a place to hide, he soon dies. Possibly alone if it were not for L's ghost appearing in the same room. The final scene of the manga makes no appearance in the anime, the one where a large cult of Kira followers making a candle light vigil. Notable differences from the manga and the 2006 movie adaptations:   The first movie covers the events of volumes 1 to 3 and the sequel covers volumes 4 and 7. L is seen stirring his tea with a small lollipop. Near's mask resembles L but in the 06 movie L did wear a mask, the mask of the Hyottoko. Lind L. Tailor pronounces Kira, with the R syllable replaced entirely with the letter L and a slight emphasis on the first vowel. As in saying the word “killer” but with “ah” replacing “er”. Raye Penber is Japanese and has the surname changed to Iwamatsu. This is due to the movie casting local actors, as is usually the case for most film studios. Foreign agencies do exist, but finding an actor who is both a good performer, bilingual and foreign is a challenge for most, with actors like Anupam Tripathi (famous for Netflix's Squid Game) being an outlier. In the first movie Naomi Misora confronts Light Yagami, this proves to be her undoing as she reveals to Light that she is Raye's fiancé. And in a late plot twist, Light tells Ryuk that he sought out and found her name on a church's register. The climax in the first movie ends with a more dramatic version of Naomi's death. Kiyomi Takada appears in the second movie, she fulfils the role of Higuchi with an abridged version of the events in the Yotsuba arc. Takada never attends university with Light and Light never dates her. Takada is a news anchor who kills her rival in order to become a fully-fledged news presenter. As she raises suspicion the task force bugs her home and use Matsuda to blackmail her. Matsuda does not fake his death, instead when confronting the Higuchi/Takada character he presents himself with a fake business card and name whilst wearing a disguise. This leads to the bait-and switch-tactic of using the TV broadcast, which in turn forces Takada to make the eye trade and kill a policeman whilst making her way to the TV station. The conclusion to the sequel ‘Death Note: The Last Name' is perhaps the biggest difference in comparison to the manga, the anime adaptation and even the Netflix movie. As with the manga, L suggests having Americans on death row test the Death Note rules, however once a trend in Kira deaths occur L tells Soichiro that he has written his own name in the death note and has decided to test the 13-day rule on himself, by doing this he is invulnerable to an attack from Rem and L has Soichiro pretend to leave for America so to make a surprise ambush on Light. Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

On today's episode we compare the manga to the anime, specifically some key scenes set before the final chapters. As well as share some facts on the setting of Death Note and compare them to the real-world place they are based on. Skip synopsis @ 4:01   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   098: Death Note vol. 11 ⁓ Kindred Spirits Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki Lettering by Gia Cam Luc   With the battle now set to end in Japan, Near organises a face-to-face meeting with Light and vows to have proof on Kira's identity. In doing so he will avenge the Death of his predecessor, L. Plot twist, Light is Kira! But chances are you already knew that!   Before a date is set by Near, he must first determine who could be a Kira proxy, whom he titles as X-Kira. Making a time line of events and scanning multiple video records he suspects Teru Mikami. But only when Near's team discover that he has a Death Note do they respond, first they determine where ever or not a god of death is following Mikami, that way they can safely copy and or tamper with the Death Note without being noticed. Takada and Misa have dinner together only to fight over their love for Light Yagami. Afterwards Near decides to capture and detain Misa, knowing that she was once a proxy for Kira, Misa having no memories of the Death Note agrees to de detained following a belief that Light wants to capture Kira and a willingness to cut any plans made with Takada.   Near contacts Light, and establishes that they will meet in the yellow box warehouse within Daikoku Wharf on January 28th 1p.m. Light meets Takada so to inform Mikami on the location of the final confrontation between Kira and Near. The question still stands, if Kira can kill Near and his agents then what will be the fate of Near's rival and the second successor to L? Mello himself not being one to stick to the shadows for too long comes out and abducts Takada.   What will Kira's next move be?     Fun Facts:   Tetsuro Araki directed the anime to Death Note, having worked on the first episode he helped establish the tone of the series alongside the series musician/composer Hideki Taniuchi and Yoshihisa Hirano. It was Masato Bessho who directed and storyboarded the infamous “potato chip scene”   Real World Settings of Death Note:   Daikoku Wharf, or Daikoku Pier is known as 大黒埠頭, Daikokufutō, located around the port of Yokohama. Light studied at To-oh University, which is possibly analogous to the real-life Tokyo University, a notable clue being that they share the nickname Todai, short for Tokyo Daigaku University and the place is referenced using the nickname Todai. Not to be confused with the real-life Toho University, which has a similar sounding name. The hotel that Light and Takada have their meetings in is Teito Hotel, possibly named after a real hotel, previously known as Hotel Teito it was then merged with and is known as the Imperial Hotel. Located in Marunouchi nearby the Imperial Palace. Episode 12 of ‘I love Lucy' was set in this hotel. The anime adaptation uses this hotel's exterior as the model however in the Death Note manga the hotel maybe based more so on the Prince Park Hotel and/or the Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza Premier. This is because outside the window of Light and Takada's room we can see a noteworthy view of the Tokyo Tower, at the very least, the interior maybe based on the latter. The Tokyo Tower is certainly one of one of Tokyo's most iconic landmarks alongside the Sensoji temple and the Hachiko statue, especially since many pictures show it beside the landmark that is Mt. Fuji. It also makes an appearance in the 2006 Death Note movie, ‘The Last Name', the final shot of the movie is outside Misa's window, where we can see Ryuk flying around the Tokyo Tower. The New York headquarters of the SPK is located near Nick. St. Station however most inner-city streets in New York favour numbers and not names for their streets. LAX is a real place, an abbreviation of Los Angeles International Airport. NHN is based on NHK, short for ‘Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai' or ‘Japanese Broadcasting Corporation' in English. It is similar to the BBC in England. Sakura TV is not based on any TV station. In the 2006 movie, the exterior is depicted as an outdoor food court with a giant TV screen assembled with multiple monitors. For further reading on locations more so specific to the anime you can check this tourism blog and this similar tourism page Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

The two friends brace themselves for the final volumes of Death Note and James compares Near's/Ohba's comments on the Kira worshippers to that of the most avid of Trump supporters, albeit such riot scenes are all too common in the real world. Skip synopsis @ 4:31 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 097: Death Note vol. 10 ⁓ Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki Lettering by Gia Cam Luc After Near and Mogi escape an attack from Kira worshippers, he suspects that the new L, Light Yagami, is Kira and lies about Mogi so to stir distrust amongst Light's team. Light permits his task force to see Near, Aizawa does so and picks up Mogi, in return they share clues and Aizawa and Mogi begin to suspect Light. Mogi, Mello and Matt, spy on Misa in order to determine if she has a Death Note. Light knows he is under suspicion. And has given Misa's Death Note to one of his supporters, Teru Mikami. Light is wary that with Teru being the hand of Kira his ideologies in time will start to differ from his own. Through coincidence, Teru has replaced the Kira spokesperson Demegawa with Light's university acquaintance. The news reporter Kiyomi Takada. Light contacts Takada whilst maintaining the guise that he is investigating Takada as part of the Kira investigation. In truth Light is using Takada so to pass messages on to Mikami. Fun Facts: In the supplementary volume 13 of Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba states that Matt, who accompanies Mello late in the story, is one of the orphans from Wammy's house. Which means he would have been in the line of succession as L's heir. Teru Mikami's design is originally based on Taro Kagami, the main protagonist of the one-shot pilot Death Note. Near's design is based on an early sketch of L. L was to have no bags under his eyes and have white hair. Near and Mello's design was originally switched. As Obata wanted Near to be more feminine and Mello to have the iconic pyjama look. It was Ohba who had the final say on the designs. During the events of the Near and Mello arc, Mello is age 20 and Near is age 18.   For those wondering why cellphones look unusual, the manga finished its original run nearly a year before the release of the apple iphone. What we see in the manga is Obata's idea on what a cellphone would have looked like from a 2006 perspective. Most likely if Obata knew what future smartphones would have looked like he would not have drawn so many buttons.   The creators, Ohba and Obata never met in person whilst making Death Note, merely using their editor to pass information, you could say their editor was the Kiyomi Takada Death Note's production.   Death Note as a series tends to be more like an espionage thriller. As characters are never in contact or near those they are in allegiance with, but at the same time those characters also compromise the existence of the other. Multiple times in the story, Light has been compromised by Misa, Mello, and Takada. Fortunately for Light he met Misa before she was captured and Light was able to meet Takada without giving himself away. Mello is an interesting outlier, as Light tries to prevent Mello meeting Near, since Mello knows about the fake 13-day rule. Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

James tells Steven all about the Netflix Death Note movie whilst sharing opinions on volume 9 of the manga. And some talk around the effects of the Death Note and the how it functions as a magical almost Lovecraftian object of cosmic or psychological horror. Skip synopsis @ 4:25 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   096: Death Note vol. 9 ⁓ Contact Chapters 71 and 79 ‘Contact' and ‘Lies' Story by Tsugumi Ohba Artwork by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc Light repeats his tactic of controlling one of Mello's gangs in order to gain information on Mello's hideout.  This time, he sends Ryuk with a spare Death Note and tells him to work with the Japanese task force in order to help them find and kill Mello as well as return Mello's Death Note to Sidoh, the original owner and death god. During this point onward Light decides to hide Misa's Death Note on his person and banks on Matsuda making the Shinigami eye deal, instead Soichiro makes the deal, with Light himself prepared to kill Soichiro so to support the belief in the fake 13-day rule that he fabricated so to maintain his innocence. After a conflict with Mello and his men, Soichiro learns of Melo's real name and recovers a Death Note but soon dies of his injuries. Light returns the Death Note to Sidoh and sends him away. Soon the U.S. Government pardons Kira and officially disbands Near's team, the SPK.  Mello, having survived the conflict with Soichiro, holds SPK agent Hal as a hostage and intrudes on Near's Headquarters. Near gives Mello his photo and in return Mello gives Near clues by telling him of the existence of Shinigami and saying that there is a fake Death Note rule. Near works with Light (who he knows as the new L) over Kira- and Mello-related matters while suspecting Light is Kira. Near determines the 13-day rule written in the Death Note is fake and suspects Kira is the new L. Then Mello contacts the Japanese task force agent Mogi, managing to get Mogi under Near's interrogation but also leaking Near's headquarters to Light. Afterwards, Light spreads the information to Kira worshippers so to orchestrate an attack on Near.   Topics: Because of how Syndar was manipulated by Light in the previous volume we are seeing Light use the same tactic again. Clearly the Death Note has the power to change fate but it seems like it can also inflict insanity on the target, as we have seen with Kal Snydar and Naomi. The powers of the Death Note along with the Shinigami are Lovecraftian in nature. Meaning Ohba leaves it to our imagination where ever we want to rationalise their actions or take the Death Note on face value. Also, if you are to go by James' analysis that the mind itself is a box not unlike that of the Schrodinger's Cat experiment then the Death Note has the power to either change minds or be a catalyst for a pre-destined fate. In strange ways memories can often rewrite reality and as of the year 2022 CE we cannot prove what goes on inside someone's head metaphysically, and we cannot prove, certainly not to the layman, if you can hold multiple thoughts at one time. It is important to note that James only states theories as to what Naomi and Syndar was thinking whilst under the Death Note's influence. Mello has been vocal on how stupid he thinks the Japanese police are and as of volume 9 Near suspects that Kira is working under the Japanese police as L. The events after Death Note arguably take a turn for the implausible since Light suspiciously leads the Kira case as a part of the NPA, even after being suspected of being Kira. Ergo he should remain a suspect in terms of real-world logic. Additionally, Soichiro Yagami and Light lose the Death Note to Mello in order to protect Sayu Yagami. A demonstration of their biases due to having a personal involvement in the Kira case. It is most certainly a bad idea to have Light on the Death Note case, however for reasons that are actually known in the manga Light becomes the new L despite these fallacies. Major differences between the manga and the Netflix live action movie. Light Yagami is named Light Turner, an interesting translation since it keeps to a pun, in the manga Light spells his English sounding name “Raito” with the Kanji for Moon, this creates a dual meaning of his name being “Moonlight” but Moon can be read as “Tsuki”. With his surname being Yagami and when you spell out the individual Kanji it sounds very much like Yorukami Tsuki, or “Loving Night God” or “Loving Dark God” But the implication is that Light's name refers to moonlight or night. The Kira killings are outlandish and gory spectacles disguised as accidents, a la 2000's Final Destination. How anyone deduces that Kira is a person from this is not explained, where as the manga clearly outlines the Kira Modus Operandi as a heart attack, meaning Kira wants to be recognised for his killings and is successful in doing so. Misa Amane, is named Mia and is played by Margaret Qualley. Mia is a cheerleader who attends the same school as Light and has a love for horror movies. Both Mia and Light establish their relationship after Light gets the Death Note but before news of Kira becomes viral. Meaning both Mia and Light are culpable in the creation of Kira. Where as the manga clearly had a one-sided relationship where Light was the more manipulative one out of the two, and was a lot more secretive of the Death Note in the manga. Ryuk says how his name is pronounced, it is not “Raiuk” or “Rook” he is the only Shinigami who makes an appearance and there is no Rem. The Shinigami eyes are mentioned but no such deal is made throughout the movie. Light himself creates the term Kira and spreads that name using the internet and such forums (obviously this makes him suspicious but that matter is not addressed by L). L discovers Light as a suspect by deliberately leaking information of criminals. (This is flawed logically because if L is responsible for the leaks he cannot stop the proliferation of such information, meaning any supporter of Kira or amateur sleuth would be a suspect by this logic)   In the movie there is no Lind L. Tailor, which is a notable plot point in the manga because L needs to determine if Kira wants him dead before he can deduce wherever or not Kira can kill him. However, L does address Kira through a live broadcast and public press event. Unlike the manga he makes his statement L is in public wearing a mask, and does not hide behind a monitor. But like the manga L uses this event to determine that Kira can not kill without knowing the targets name and face. But again, L's logic in the movie is flawed. Although it is a correct hypothesis that Kira does indeed need a name and face to kill, L, has not determined a motive or a reason for Kira to choose him as a target. L is flawed because he does not factor in wherever Kira wants him dead or not, this is because Kira has not killed law enforcement at this point. L is merely guessing that Kira wants him dead because he antagonised Kira and lived. Whereas the manga has Lind L. Tailor antagonising Kira, as L, only to die in doing so. This is how L proves that Kira is not only willing to kill law enforcement but would kill L if he could do so. L does not show his reasoning on how he is able to deduce that Light is Kira, we are never privy to L's thought process as an audience. And there is no voice over.   Light threatens Ryuk with the Death Note. And Ryuk entertains the thought. Saying “there are four letters in my name, most anyone ever gotten were two” this is not possible to do in the manga. It is also unusual because a message in Light's Death Note clearly reads “Don't trust Ryuk”. Perhaps it was a misspelling? Or maybe Ryuk is bluffing? Light writes Watari's name in the Death Note, manipulating him to acquire L's real. This means that Watari is the real name of L's representative, instead of it being Quillish Wammy like the manga. A new rule exclusive to the Netflix movie is that you can burn a page of the Death Note effectively making any name written down in the destroyed page null and void to the effects of the Death Note. Another Netflix movie only rule is you can write someone's name in the Death Note and only have them die once the target's actions meet a set of pre-conceived requirements. E.g. “Mia dies upon touching the Death Note”. This obviously disregards the first rule “whoever's name is written in this note shall die” because so long as you do not meet the requirements, you can still live a long life without any passive effect of the Death Note.   By breaking and entering L finds a Death Note, or at least usable scraps of it. The implication is that L has evidence on Light, although how L can deduct that the note is the murder weapon is never explored.     Feel free to follow us through the following links: Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Did you know there was a musical based on the Death Note manga? And that Demon Kaka (formerly Kogure) made a Death Note tribute song? James tests Steven by seeing if he can connect the characters to their respective songs. As well as giving their impression and thoughts on volume 8 of the Shonen masterpiece. This episode also marks the reveal of one lucky manga winner. So come and appreciate manga with us! Skip synopsis @ 3:43 095: Death Note vol. 8 ⁓ Target Chapters 62 and 70 ‘Decision' and ‘Tremble' Story by Tsugumi Ohba Artwork by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc Light's goal of world domination as Kira is threatened by the existence of L's heirs, Near and Mello. Mello makes the first move and abducts Light's sister, Sayu Yagami, demanding her life in exchange for the Death Note that the Japanese task force own. With the help of Light and the task force, Soichiro Yagami tries to rescue his daughter without involving the police. Matsuda claims to be the new L, to shield Light's identity. Mello acquires a Death Note and soon afterwards Mello threatens the life of the US President, demanding amnesty, resources, and info on Near's team in order to detain Kira himself. In return he promises to give Kira's Death Note to the president once Kira is defeated. Fearing Mello's powers, the President of the United States seeks help from the new L, Light Yagami. The president grants him a special force unit so to attack Mello's hideout. Light was able to find Mello's hideout by finding one of Mello's mafia goons and the current owner of the Death Note, Kal Snydar, having access to FBI records, Misa can use her Shinigami eyes to see that Snydar's lifespan is not visible, a clue which means he holds a Death Note. With Misa's help Light uses his own Death Note to control Snydar and has him give away his position to Misa before he dies. Mello meets the original Shinigami owner of his Death Note, Sidoh, who has now entered the realm of humans in order to retrieve their Death Note and extend their own lifespan. Snydar, makes the eye trade, giving Sidoh half his lifespan for the ability to know names by looking at the adjoining person's face. When attacked, Sidoh assists Mello's gang, resulting in the death of the Special force unit and the US president.   Similarities between the 2015 Japanese stage musical and other Death Note media: Takeshi Kaga reprises his role of Soichiro Yagami, previously having starred in the 2006 Japanese movies. Light gets Naomi Misora's name in a similar manner to the 2006 movie. L reveals himself to Light and the two have a tennis match before L makes it clear that he suspects L. Major differences between the 2015 Japanese stage musical and manga: Misa herself is already established as a pop idol and supporter of Kira before Lind L.Tailor appears. Both Sayu and Light attend one of Misa's concerts. Sayu is clearly anti-kira. Thus, adding tension towards the sibling relationship between her and Light. The bus jacking scene is omitted, Light Yagami manages to obtain the FBI agents' names through hacking their computer systems. That one “potato chip” scene is omitted but otherwise it is implied through dialog that L has bugged the Yagami home. Soichiro Yagami is much more forward when expressing his disapproval of L's methods. In some scenes L is wearing a coat when walking outside. A sort of green waterproof parker. Mogi dies as a result of spying on Misa and Light, meaning that Misa avoids letting the task force suspect that she has Shinigami eyes, at least until Mogi's death. Rem who is played by Megumi Hamada, wears an eyepatch only for promotional images, otherwise an eyepatch is missing from her costume in the live show. The Yotsuba arc is entirely omitted and Light never gives up the Death Note nor his memories of it and is instead confident that Rem will not harm him and shirks responsibility for Misa's wellbeing on to Rem. This results in Rem successfully killing L without the Yotsuba arc being triggered. Max Von Sydow is an actor best known for his roles in 'Game of Thrones' (2016 ), 'Dune' (1984), 'The Exorcist' (1973), 'Flash Gordon' (1980) and arguably his most iconic role in 'The Seventh Seal' (1957), in the Seventh Seal his character plays a game of Chess with Death, hoping he can bide enough time to find meaning in his life. One has to wonder if Sidoh's name was inpired by the actor. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

A turning point in the manga's original run spurs conversation around what Hirohiko Araki (Author of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) called “a return to zero”, or as the boys like to call it, “the Dragonball problem”, a problem that all long running Shonen authors tend to face. Beware, we got plenty of spoilers in this one! Skip plot synopsis @ 3:15 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 094: Death Note vol. 7 ⁓ Zero Story by Tsugumi Ohba Artwork by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc Upon his arrest, Kyosuke Higuchi tells the investigation team about the Death Note. When they touch the Death Note, they can see the death god Rem at the scene. Light regains his Death Note-related memories by touching the notebook and kills Higuchi by using a piece of Death Note he hid inside his watch. L and the Kira investigation task force study the Death Note and question Rem. Misled by the false rules written in the cover, they remove Light's handcuffs and set Misa free. Misa tries to recall L's real name while continuing Kira's work at Light's instruction. To protect Misa, Rem kills Watari and L, and forfeits her own life by doing so. Five years pass as Light is employed under the NPA whilst working with the task force as the next L. The FBI and CIA form a new team, the Special Provision for Kira (SPK), in order to hunt for Kira, who begins to gain moral support from parts of the world. Topics: “L” as a character, Mello and Near. Hirohiko Araki's thoughts on “returning to zero” is something that is mentioned in his book ‘Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga' ISBN-13 978-1-4215-9407-1 L's real name is unveiled in the official encyclopaedia book, ‘Death Note: How to Read' ISBN- 13 978-1-4215-1888-6, which is the 13th volume of Death Note, not to be confused with the serialised story that ends at the 12th Instead, the 13th volume is more akin to an “omake” and companion book branded under the ‘SJ Profiles' label. You can reach out to us on... Facebook Instagram Twitter Our Official Website   Email

Steven and James share their thoughts on the Yotsuba arc of Death Note. Particularly showing appreciation on how character's thoughts can create plenty of twists and turns, in what is an undoubtedly seminal non-battle manga. skip plot synopsis @ 3: 00   093: Death Note vol. 6 ⁓ Give-and-Take Story by Tsugumi Ohba Artwork by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc With evidence gathered by Aiber and Wedy, the Kira investigation team learn that one of the seven Yotsuba members is the new Kira. L asks the team not to arrest them until their powers are known. Desperate for more evidence, L sends Misa to investigate. Rem tells Misa about her and Light's previous identities as Kira and helps her produce a confession from Yotsuba's Kyosuke Higuchi. Allied with the other Yotsuba members, Light devises a plan to make Higuchi watch a TV program, during which Matsuda is supposed to reveal Kira's identity. When Higuchi tries to kill Matsuda, the investigation team ambushes and arrests him. Topics: Shinigami's cannot have sex. The way Death Note handles, twists, tension, and suspense through the minds of the characters alone. E.g. Higuchi Ambush Misa Amane L's Suspicion of Light   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Ever wondered why the English names in Death Note sound so odd? Well today's episode has Steven and James talk about why that is as well as the “Yotsuba arc” of Death Note, besides expressing their thoughts and opinions on the art and pacing of the story. Beware of spoilers! Skip synopsis @ 3:10 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   092: Death Note vol. 5 ⁓ Whiteout Chapters 35 to 43 “Whiteout” and “Black” Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc   After a week in prison, Light Yagami forfeits the Death Note and his memories associated with it. Light and Misa's life are seemingly threatened in order to get a confession from them but the bluff leaves L at an impasse. L then decides to set up a new base of operation, putting Misa under surveillance and having Light always be handcuffed to him as they both seek out the truth around Kira.   Light finds a new lead on the case whereupon the new suspects are the Yotsuba Corporation, Light also deduces that Kira can kill in ways other than a heart attack. The Shinigami Rem has given her Death Note to one of the members so to remove suspicion from Light and Misa. However, this new Kira is killing white collar criminals involved in corporate demeanours as well as making bribes to the Japanese government. The police refuse to chase Kira further, forcing task force members to resign as police and work under L. All except one detective Aizawa, who despises L's methods, he instead chooses to be closer to his family investigate Kira on his own terms. L hires a conman and burglar, Aiber and Wedy to infiltrate the Yotsuba corporation. But the detective Matsuda acts alone as Misa's manager and is soon caught eavesdropping on their meetings. L devises a plan to fake Matsuda's death and soon afterwards they bug the Yotsuba meeting room.   Topics: Ever wondered why the English names in Death Note sound so weird? The potential of Eraldo Coil, having been a new character to rival L has us wondering. We must take a moment and praise Takeshi Obata's illustration work. Considering how “wordy” the manga can be. Obata's use of expressions and the way he capitalizes on L's quirks for visual appeal demonstrates a mangaka who is a master at his craft! The dudes speculate on which of the Yotsuba members have a Death Note, isn't it strange how one of them looks uncannily like Light Yagami? The 90's TV shows James mentions, ‘X–Files' and ‘Twin Peaks' are thematically like Death Note in that they involve an open-minded detective trying to catch a supernatural killer, but unlike the detectives in Death Note the characters are FBI agents instead.   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Today the guys talk about the impressions they have from the characters Rem and Misa Amane, the latter arguably being the most iconic alternative emo / gothic chick to ever step off from the pages of manga and into a hot topic. Skip synopsis @ 3:13 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 091: Death Note vol. 4 - Love Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Alexis Kirsch Lettering by Gia Cam Luc   The detective L has Light Yagami join him on the investigation of the fake Kira. Light, realising he is suspected as the real Kira, cannot afford to say anything but tell L that he thinks there are two Kiras. Light soon figures out the hidden meaning behind the second Kira's message to the real Kira and heads to Aoyama in hopes of more information but is unexpectedly discovered by the second Kira, a young woman by the name of Misa Amane. After gathering enough information on Light, Misa watches a broadcast from the police, addressing the second Kira and begging for her own safety not to contact the real Kira. Upon seeing this Misa walks out of her house and goes to visit Light. She reveals her death God, Rem, to him and the fact that she has the sight of a death God (a.k.a. Shinigami eyes). Which means she can see anyone's name by looking at their face except for other Death Note users. Misa declares her love for Light and soon both Light and Misa make a truce in order to kill L. Before L retreats he spends time with Light at his university. To Light's surprise, Misa makes an appearance and Light introduces Misa to L as Hideki Ryuga. Once separate from them, Light uses a private cellphone to call Misa and acquire L's real name to put in his Death Note with the intention of killing him. However, the person who answers the phone is none other than L, having pick-pocketed Misa before she left. Misa is arrested and detained on suspicion as the second Kira. Whilst restrained Misa, relinquishes her ownership of her Death Note to Rem and in turn her memories of anything related to the Death Note are taken from her. Rem visits Light, informing him of the situation and demanding that he save Misa from suspicion. (And when a god death starts making demands; that is when you should really listen) In response Light hands himself in to be detained and put under surveillance. Telling L that he may be unconsciously acting as Kira. suspects that this is all an act from Light and some sort of ploy in order to prove that his innocence. Yet L obliges, deeming it as the best course of action despite it being Light's wish. Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

The dudes talk about the Death Note's impact as a “non-battle” manga and their feelings to what can be best described as the “Dragonball problem” James and Will also describe the very first panels they saw of the manga and how it convinced them to buy the manga, panels that appeared in volume 3. Skip synopsis @ 7:19 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   Death Note vol. 3 ­- Hard Run Chapters 17 to 25 ‘Trash' and ‘Fool' Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Pookie Rolf Lettering by Gia Cam Luc   The genius detective “L” plants sixty-four microphone and camera bugs in Light Yagami's bedroom. All in the hopes of catching him in the act of murder and solving the Kira case. For L the move is a failure as Light hides a pen, Death-Note and portable TV within a bag of snacks, and thus is able to kill criminals, however with the compromise that these be killed for minor crimes, all whilst studying for exams. Mindful of this, Light allows himself to be seen watching the news so that he can memorize the name of minor criminals that can be killed later. It's not long after this that L ups the ante, and after removing the bugs he decides to not only enrol at the same university as Light but he also outright tells him that he is L. Further putting pressure on Light, the two speak about the Kira case. L speaks to him as if he knows the details behind the deaths of twelve FBI agents, but Light does not fall for it. Light does however fall for one trick; L deliberately withholds a fake piece of evidence, only presenting it once Light refuses to infer that L has more evidence or acknowledge that L does not need to show him all the evidence. The mind games are quickly put on hold when Light attends a family emergency. And in a twist of fate, a second death-note user makes themselves known by holding live TV stations hostage. They demand that the director-general of the NPA or L make a televised appearance. And the most threatening fact about this second Kira, is that they only need to see someone's face to kill them. Topics: At this point in the manga L knows that Light is intelligent and that Light maybe a sociopath with a god complex. (Page 36) Although Light has not been caught, he is now even more suspicious since he killed a purse snatcher, and a suspect, possibly of embezzlement. L also knows that there is a second Kira, that does not need a name to kill, only their face. How Death Note changed the game? The manga is an early example of what would be called “Non-Battle Battle Manga”, Light and L would battle only with their minds, causing the other to give away information that would be decisive in their own victory and never with forceful subjugation or powerful displays of physical violence. It barely passes as Shueisha style Shonen manga because of its “Good vs Evil” plot, but even then, both characters are morally dubious. What makes it passable as Shonen manga is that the rivalry on both sides demonstrate equal amounts of intelligence, courage, tenacity, will and determination. These are traits which are virtues to a Shonen audience and is shared by the Shonen heroes of past works. Ohba has stated that they were not thinking of a theme when writing the story. And really the thought process was about putting Light in increasingly antagonistic circumstances for the sake of entertainment. However, there is a theme, and that is “Ideological Conflict”. It's a non-didactic manga, in comparison to other Shonen works, and is not interested in telling readers what is morally right or wrong. It came out the same time Bleach and Naruto was running. Since then, it has codified and formulated a genre of manga where rivals compete to the best of their abilities and test out who has the most indominable will. And the competition can be over anything. In Bakuman, its over who has the most well received manga, in the Drops of God its about who is the best wine taster, and Food Wars about chefs. Death Note is also a response to manga such as YuGiOh and Hikaru No Go, in that they are both manga that does not use physical battles but with the exception that Death Note demonstrates a darker tone in comparison. Albeit YuGiOh could be very dark at times! Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Will, James and Steven talk about the controversy around Death Note at the time of its translation as well as the character Naomi Misora. Skip synopsis @ 7:47 Listeners and readers may also find the following subject matter upsetting. Discretion is advised. If you would like to enter for our chance prize manga giveaway and support the podcast simply follow the links below to our social media pages. Offer ends on 10th of December 2022.   Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   089: Death Note vol. 2 By Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba Translation by Pookie Rolf Lettering and Touch-Up by Gia Cam Luc The criminal Kira, a.k.a. Light Yagami, possessor of the titular Death Note, manages to kill off the few FBI agents tasked to spy on him. By simply holding the agent Rey Penber hostage he exploits the rules of the Death Note which include the facts that you can influence the victim's behaviour in their last moments by what is written, you can also have someone use sheets from the Death Note without knowledge of its power and you can pre-emptively write the cause and details of a death before putting any name to it. Meanwhile the detective L, teams up with the last remaining members of a Japanese task force formed to capture Kira, this includes Light's father Soichiro Yagami. L bravely exposes his face as a show of trust but chastises the force for giving him their real names. As L has already established. A name and a face are all Kira needs to kill. L interrogates each of the members before deducing they are not Kira and so L vows to the team that they will show Kira that “the good guys always win”. Unbeknownst to Light, Rey's Widow Naomi Misora has a lead on Kira and goes to contact L and the task force. But since the task force are too busy meeting L it results in no one being in the office. Through happenstance Light meets Naomi at the reception desk of the task force HQ, seeing her as a threat, he manages to convince her that he is a member of the task force. Naomi buys into Light's lies, since Naomi has worked on a case with L in the past, she finds that Light reminds her of L. Light asks for her I.D. and manages to write her name in a spare piece of the Death Note, her cause of death being suicide, After the note takes effect Light reveals to Naomi that he is Kira and so Naomi walks away never to be seen again. Four days later, news of Naomi's disappearance reaches L. In response L narrows his investigation to the last people Raye was probing before Kira started experimenting with his victims. L begins to bug the homes of the deputy Kitamura and Detective Superintendant Soichiro Yagami. And now L can monitor Light within his own home. What L does not know is that Ryuk, the Death God that accompanies Light, cannot be seen by humans without a Death Note. Topics: The earliest signs of controversy around Death Note occurred in China before reaching the U.S. Curse tablets existed between 500BCE and 300BCE in Greece. The Los Angeles BB murder case is referenced again in a light novel spin off by Nishio Ishin. With a character called Mello being the narrator, it tells the story of Naomi Misora and L trying to catch a serial killer with “Shinigami eyes.” Ryuk, the Death God. What does L know?   Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

For the Halloween holidays all 3 dudes, James, Will and Steven talk about one of the most successful manga of all time, and that is Death Note! Wherein a bored schoolboy picks up the grim reaper's notebook. It reads “The Human whose name is written in this note shall die” Skip synopsis @ 7:07 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 88:  Death Note vol. 1 ~ Boredom Story by Tsugumi Ohba Art by Takeshi Obata Translation by Pookie Rolf Lettering by Gia Cam Luc “The Human whose name is written in this note shall die” is the first rule written in a mysterious notebook. One that the ace student Light Yagami finds. Light is popular with the ladies of his class and has great prospects yet he is bored. Five days later he is met with the original owner of the titular notebook, The Death-God, Ryuk who tells him more about its rules. Specifically, that the face of the name must be in the writer's mind when written, that the cause of death must be written in under 40 seconds or else it will default to a heart attack, and that details of the death can be written in under 6 minutes and 40 seconds, to name just a few. Also, only those who have touched the death­-note can witness the original owner that is the phantom like Ryuk. Light shows Ryuk that he has been using the death­-note towards a campaign for his own brand of justice, believing he is making the world a better place, Light has been killing a vast multitude of criminals with the default heart attack adding to his Modus Operandi. Soon Light's action no longer resembles coincidence and people catch on and claim Light's actions as divine intervention, dubbing Light as the mysterious god “Kira” (the Japanese mispronunciation for Killer). Interpol finds the deaths suspicious and hire the mysterious sleuth known only as “L” to determine who is Kira and arrest him for murder if it is at all possible. L confronts Kira/Light from a regional TV broadcast, a fake L and death-row inmate called Lind L.Taylor stands in as bait so to goad Light into committing another murder. Light kills Lind L.Taylor confirming to L that Kira is Japanese and is able to kill someone without direct contact. A change in Light's killing patterns leads L to suspect that Kira has links to the NPA. Light is confident that this will only cause in-fighting between the NPA and L and hopes that he can use the NPA to uncover L's identity for him. Ryuk, who notices that Light is being spied upon tells him of a deal, if Light trades half of his lifespan he will be able to get “Shinigami eyes”, eyes that show the name of any individual he sees as well as their lifespan. Light refuses the offer, claiming that the legacy of Kira must last as long as possible so to make an impact on the world. Light then decides to bait the spy that is shadowing him, he does this by influencing the last moments of a wanted criminal's life. He makes himself a hostage for a bus hijacker by going on a date, he writes a note to his date saying he will confront the hijacker knowing that his shadow will see this. The shadow begs him not to do so, Light demands proof that the man is not an accomplice to the hijacker, so the man reveals himself as the FBI agent Raye Penber. The Hijacker dies, running off the bus and into a car after seeing a phantom as detailed in the death­-note. All Light did during this time was drop a scrap of the death­-note, which lead to the hijacker picking it up and seeing Ryuk. And everything goes according to plan for Light. Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email

Steven and James return to talk about Takeshi Obata's vision of ‘All You Need is Kill', and in turn compare the changes to the original light novel as well as the Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt movie adaptation, ‘The Edge of Tomorrow' a.k.a. ‘Live, Die, Repeat'. Both measuring the pros and cons of the differing plot points. Skip synopsis @ 5:00 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com   087: All You Need is Kill vol .2 Original Story by Hiroshi Sakurazaka Art by Takeshi Obata With Storyboards by Ryosuke Takeuchi And additional illustrations by Yoshitoshi Abe Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki Lettering and touch up art by Evan Walldinger   Rita Vratsky joins the war against the alien invaders, the mimics, so to avenge the deaths of her parents. In one battle she is helped out by first lieutenant Arthur Hendricks, she kills a mimic that has an antenna. By killing it she is thrown into a loop that resets time before the battle starts. Through a conversation with Shasta, Rita discovers her data is separate from the main sever and is specifically backed up for the war effort. It's here Rita develops the epiphany that the antenna mimic she kills is not enough to prevent the time loop, she must factor in the whole network and kill them in a specific sequence. A mimic with an antenna is able to send signals to the mimics in the past, this one strategy is why the mimics are so incredibly threatening. Yet it is through some glitch of sorts that a human mind can be caught in the radius of their signals. On her 211 try she succeeds in winning the battle and breaks through the loop. Hendricks however did not survive the battle.   Rita takes this news to heart, not only because she can't loop back now, but since in every loop she experienced Hendricks was never killed. Rita determines his sacrifice as a sombre inevitability of war. On arriving at the Boso peninsula Rita makes the effort to prepare seemingly arbitrary questions, a tactic so to deduce if someone is going through a loop as she did. If someone answered her question before she asked it, then that's how she would know they were looping through time. She finds him, Kiriya Keiji, who pre-emptively answers two of her questions, one being the number of times he has looped. The conversation is enough to move Rita to tears and the two spend the entire day together. Now the stage is set for the final battle, both Rita and Keiji understand the rules of the time loop. As with a network they must prevent the mimic recording the battle, and destroy the back-ups before they kill the main server. Making the mimics unable to telegraph to the past. And the mimics themselves are getting desperate seeing Rita and Keiji as anomalies in their battle. Yet there is one final twist in the tale, defeating the mimics is easy now that Keiji is with Rita, but what about that unaccounted for feedback loop?   Trivia:   The nicknames and titles that Rita has in all forms of English translated media are as follows: The Full Metal Bitch, The Valkyrie, The Angel of Verdun, Mad Margherita   About Tachyon Signals: Tachyon signals are a big part of the story. But what is a Tachyon signal? First one must understand that time and space travel are scientifically synonymous. If you draw a graph, you can divide space and time along an X and Y line but the two can't exist without the other. You need space to measure time. The Speed of light is a Z line that runs on a 45 degree angle through time and space. When you look at the stars in the night sky you are already seeing into the past of that star's life. By the time the light travels to earth and you see it twinkle that star may already be dying or be dead. Stars are massive balls of energy but when we see them, we may as well call them ghosts or after-images. Consider that the observable universe is expanding it indeed takes a very, very long time for light to travel to us. And anything that has mass, can't travel faster than light, which essentially means nothing is faster than light. Now when scientists talk about the theory of time travel, they are not talking hypothetically but more of suppositions. Now suppose there are particles that can travel faster than the speed of light. If you could travel faster than light then you could travel to the ends of the universe, land on some distant planet that may be a match for earth, get your telescope out and look in the same direction of earth and what you would see is the dinosaurs living and breathing. You need space to “time travel”, the more space means more you can see through time. Specifically seeing the past. Keiji and Rita do not actually travel through time, they get visions from a tachyon signal to their brains, which are traveling from space. Now I explained how you can see visions of the past, but how do these people see visions of the future? This is where we get timey whimey loopy doopy, and leads to the paradox. One is Rita and Keiji did die, and what we are seeing is ghosts. They are ghosts, they are already dead and they just don't know it. They either exist on another dimension, the universe is broken and so we got the glitch that is this story. That's what happens when aliens use cheat codes lie time travel signals. You break the universe, but if you believe in the holographic universe theory then you know it's not a stretch. If such a thing was to happen it would create the concept of anti-time, as with something like anti-matter. The Christopher Nolan movie ‘Tenet' illustrates this well by having the universe contain a reverse entropy, with the values of time running through the negatives. Realistically Keiji and Rita would never know where the signal is coming from, and that's scary. Because the mimics are on earth, they themselves are too close to the action to send a clear signal. It would be some other being that is sending the signal, which supports the theory that somewhere, out there in space, they are being watched by mysterious aliens who the mimics themselves are agents of. What they succeed in doing is cutting off their antennas so that they never receive the signal (experience the loop again). But Rita figures out she's emitting tachyon signals, which is the most implausible part of the story. Not only because she's human but because there would only be a short distance to emit the signal. After all it's only one day before the battle, that's a full rotation of the earth. Regardless it's enough space for the signal to travel and we never find out how many tachyon signals are being sent, it's not impossible if an unseen force is using signals faster than the ones Rita and Keiji receive. One thing to keep in mind, as of the upload date there is no proof of tachyons or such particles to have existed or ever exist.   Differences between the 2004 Light Novel and the manga: For the most part the manga is an incredibly accurate adaptation of the novel, but the differences are listed here… Mimics appear as short and stout creatures that resemble barrels or the “bloated carcass of a dead frog” on a detailed biological level they are most like star fish. They shoot javelins from vents on their bodies. In the manga they appear as spherical shaped levitating beings with gaping mouths. This is most likely because Takeshi Obata would have found it easier to draw the creatures with such a design, especially from multiple angles. A scene omitted in the manga has Shasta show off the Gachapon toys she bought. Shasta is an avid collector of Gachapon and is keen to show Rita that a toy was made of her, The Rita toy does not actually resemble her but the actor who is playing her in a movie. A glamourous curly hair blonde, at least her suit is painted red. Rachel Kisaragi the cook dies where as in the manga there is no such scene. One wouldn't be able to tell from reading the manga but Shasta is a mix of native American lineage. (James does not know the details of her ancestry, and it is not an important subject in the story) In the manga most of Keiji's squad survives, Jin Yonabaru flees the base at one point and Ferrell survives too even if he does get killed once during one of Keiji's loops.   Differences between the 2014 American movie and the manga:   Mimics appear as dark tentacled monsters with glowing faces. Very much reminiscent to the hunter killer machines in the 1999 movie, ‘The Matrix'. During P.T. Keiji and his squad are doing isometric push-ups, the exercise more or less describes that of “planking”, where you hold your position for a specific time. In the movie they do push-ups. The Japanese Kiriya Keji is named William Cage and played by Tom Cruise. Cage is an older and more cowardly American character, played like an anti-hero for comedic effect but goes towards a more redemptive arc. Jin Yonabaru makes no appearance, instead we get the J-Squad characters who fulfil that role. Rita is played by the British Emily Blunt. She's a much more stoic character than in the manga. She is never seen crying and never shown seeking any looper, of all the questions she could ask Cage, it's merely the “Have I got something on my face” line, at one point she even takes Cage's battery without asking him a single question. Rita is also very quick to kill Cage (in order to reset the time loop) if she deems his efforts a failure. Rita has blonde hair in the movie, in the manga and like the novel Rita has red hair. Rita has the distinct characteristic of carrying a sword to battle (similar to the buster sword of Cloud Strife in the Final Fantasy 7 games). In the manga she carries an axe, Keiji himself acquires a similar axe weapon. The explanation given is that they don't need ammo to fight. No explanation is given in the movie. Rita and Cage join forces before Cage has properly trained. Instead of being trained by Ferrell it is Rita who trains Cage. The character Arthur Hendricks is mentioned by name, but makes no appearance in the movie. Unlike the manga, Rita experiences Hendrik's death 300 times through all of her looping, both the manga and the movie are similar in that his death affects Rita. Rachel Kisaragi makes no appearance. Unlike the Manga, Cage has what appears to be visions of the future and is clued in on how to defeat the Mimics. Later in the movie this turns out to be a red herring. The mimics are sending Cage mixed and jumbled up messages so to throw him off the battle. The manga keeps it vague as to how the time loop is triggered, simply killing a mimic with an antenna is enough to experience a loop. The movie has it caused by blood contamination with a mimic. Rita and Cage exit the time loop through receiving a medical blood transfusion. This vastly changes the climax of the story, creating higher stakes but also gives the ending more of an upbeat note. The effects of the tachyon particles are not permanent. The word “Tachyon” is never mentioned in the movie. In one particularly tense scene, a mimic can tell the difference between someone who is looping and not looping through observing their blood. In the manga they rely on just experience to deduce Keiji and Rita's looping and have no strategy on how to prevent Rita and keiji's loops. The romantic aspects of the story are underplayed to say the least, but unlike the manga, Rita does passionately kiss Cage during the climax of the movie. Cage never earns the nickname Killer Cage, nor does he paint his suit sky blue. The movie ends with the mimics resetting the time loop further back and retreating from their invasion of earth. The record of the movie's events is shared only between Cage and the mimics. Cage is able to meet Rita after her loops, but relatively for Rita it is their first meeting. Other references: “Kiri Oboeru” – “strike your enemy down and learn” Hagakure, samurai Shogi – Is the Japanese variant of chess, “Jitterbugging” - The Executioner's style book - Coffee – Facebook Instagram Twitter   Email

Takeshi Obata of Death Note fame does his take on ‘All You Need is Kill', which spawned the Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt Hollywood movie ‘The Edge of Tomorrow' a.k.a. ‘Live, Die, Repeat'. On this episode James and Steve talk about the characters, themes and more!  Skip synopsis @ 9:14 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 086: All You Need is Kill vol .1 Original Story by Hiroshi Sakurazaka Art by Takeshi Obata With Storyboards by Ryosuke Takeuchi And additional illustrations by Yoshitoshi Abe Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki Lettering and touch up art by Evan Walldinger The story begins with Keiji Kiriya, a soldier whom wakes from a dream upon experiencing his own death in battle, the dream ends with a young female soldier staying by Keiji as he dies and asking him something that only he would know the answer to, on waking Keiji finds out that his battle is to begin tomorrow, and it will be his first whilst participating in a war against alien invaders; monstrous beings called Mimics. As Keiji goes to retake the Boso Peninsula from the Mimics, he is joined by US special forces, which include Rita Vratski. A young woman of remarkable combat skill. Keiji is familiar with this woman, not because he dreamt about her but because he is experiencing a time loop, where upon his death triggers back to the day before the battle. As Keiji becomes conscious of this situation he goes through a gamut of emotions, from cowardice to suicide, it all results in him repeating the same day. Keiji has no choice but to fight and survive so that he can see it to the day after. He learns that his actions have a butterfly effect depending on what he does after each reset. And so, he vows to use as much time loops as he can in order to improve his combat skills. He does this by having Shasta Rayle craft him a weapon similar to Rita's Battle-axe and by training with Bartolome Ferrell. He is so resolute in his actions that he avoids the temptation of a date with the beautiful cook Rachel. But this is not the only woman whose attention he captures. On the battlefield Rita asks Keiji one simple question. “How many loops is this for you?” ….and the answer to that is 158! Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website   Email