We Appreciate Manga (We Appreciate Manga™)
Explore every episode of We Appreciate Manga
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun 2021 | 058 - Chobits Vol. 1 | 00:48:37 | |
Do Androids need love? Will and James return from the doldrums and kickstart the cyborg season with CLAMP’s Chobits. Boy finds a discarded PC in the trash and falls in love with said PC. It’s a story for the ages. But who is CLAMP and how did they make this manga? Chobits vol. 1 By CLAMP English translation by Shirley Kubo Plot Summary Set in a world where Personal Computers are beautiful doll like androids. It’s in this world that we are introduced to Hideki Motosuwa, a 19-year-old student, who is doing his best working a job whilst cramming for exams. Hideki finds what he at first thinks is a beautiful young woman but turns out to be a PC that has been thrown out in the trash. He takes this poor PC home and reboots her but finds that she has no Operating System, and lacks basic skills and talents. Hideki names her Chi, since it’s the only word that she can speak. He gets his fellow student and friend, Shimbo to help him understand Chi. Shimbo uses his own PC, the laptop doll Sumomo, who ends up damaging herself by linking to Chi and making a diagnostic exam, Hideki then turns to the prodigious Minoru Kokubungi, who, despite his young age, is an expert on all things PC. Kokubungi, through his knowledge of message boards and forums, reveals that Chi maybe a Chobit, a state-of-the-art android. Hideki grows fond of Chi and buys a children’s book so to treat her, but Hideki is perturbed one night when his good-looking teacher, Takako Shimizu, visits him. She brings food and beer and takes advantage of Hideki’s hospitality and kindness. She asks Hideki to go out and buy booze and he obliges, taking Chi with him. On their return home, Chi chooses to stay outside for a moment alone as Hideki goes inside to Shimizu. Before we continue... To clear up a discrepancy in the last episode, there were in fact 2 Uzumaki Games made for the Wonder-swan. The first was an interactive novel then a month later they released the curse simulator. Who is CLAMP? CLAMP originally started as twelve to ten students who made a fanzine. It was at least six them that would take the professional step of turning an open plan apartment into a studio and become the artists that we know them as of today, an all-girl group of Mangaka, However, since the late 90’s the group has dwindled to just four members. With possibly seven members working on their professional debut manga, RG Veda, one member of which left during the production of RG Veda. Two more members would have left due to the stress and wanting to do their own things. These two members, Akiyama and Leeza left before Chobits was published. This means that CLAMP has, for the longest of time, consisted of one writer and three artists. The writer and main story teller is Ohkawa. Ohkawa always writes with the end of the plot already decided beforehand. The main artist is Mokona, she is responsible for the panels and composition, Nekoi and Igurashi act as assistants, Nekoi is good at drawing animals and does the toning and Igurashi does the inking. They all participate in character design and depending on the work, the role of art director is chosen by Ohkawa. Since they are a group, they do not hire assistants, because it would be a detriment to their finances and their established work flow. Solo mangaka would obviously hire assistants or “ghost staff” but this not the case with CLAMP. The idea behind Chobits came from the women having trouble transitioning their work methods to computers. During that time computers seemed alien to them so that became the gateway into a boy’s mind when it comes to having inexperience with women. This is a concept used many times, Neil Gaiman explores this theme in his short story, ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’. As does the Manga Dears by Peach-Pit, which is heavily inspired by Chobits and is about a boy falling in love with an alien, it doesn’t have to be an alien as in the case of Chobits. It’s an android love interest that CLAMP uses to tell the story, but it could also be done with an Angel or a Mermaid. You can also flip the genders, the movies ‘Edward Scissorhands’ directed by Tim Burton and ‘The Shape of Water’ by Guilermo Del Toro are from the point of view from a woman, with the male representing the alien, outsider or the other. Other References Hideki’s “Precious line” is a nod to Smeagol from 'Lord of the Rings', a popular movie at the time of the manga’s release, based on the novels by Tolkien. Component Video connecting to a TV. Is how Hideki is able to connect Chi to a monitor. They are also known as Y’PbPr or “Yipper” Cables for short. Component video consists of 3 cables, phono like RCA plugs, that are color coded green, red and blue. The colours are only used to identify the video signal that runs from one end to another, they do not refer to sound cables which are color coded white and red for stereo Nattō is Fermented soy bean (Looks like “baby batter” due to its sticky and slimy texture, hence why Hideki is aroused when he sees Chi eat it and making a mess) Sources for this information and further material can be found in the following website, CLAMP Interviews | Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs and this video... CLAMP TV interview 2005 - YouTube
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – https://weappreciatemangapodcast.libsyn.com/ Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 29 Feb 2020 | 039 - DNA² ~ File 2 | 01:00:53 | |
Trigger warning: talk of physical/sexual abuse. We have a shape shifting villain! In a romance manga! Will and James talk about the horror of the villain, when "friends" cross the line and jealousy in relationships. Skip plot summary @ 14:08 | |||
| 10 Dec 2023 | 133 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 8 | 00:38:30 | |
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.
| |||
| 18 Sep 2021 | 068 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 3 | 00:49:40 | |
Alita demonstrates more of her badassity in the beginning of the 'Motorball' arc, which featured prominently in the James Cameron/Robert Rodriquez movie. Skip synopsis @ 4:04 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 068: Battle Angel Alita vol. 3 Chapters 13 to 17 ‘Killing Angel’ and ‘Second Stage’ By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown
Synopsis: Devastated by her loss, Alita runs away from Dr. Ido. Ido spends days as a wanderer and intends to put his work on hold in order to find her. When he hears the cries and screams of a girl coming from a back alley, he knows too well that it is not the Alita he is searching for. Luckily for her, Dr. Ido finds himself a weapon and obliges to save her. In doing so she rewards him by taking him to see Alita. The girl, named Shumira, buys Ido a ticket to a sporting event, there we see that Alita is competing in the deadly sport of Motorball. When Ido reaches out to Alita, he is greeted coldly, she turns her back on him and walks towards her next destination. Through Shumira, Ido meets the reigning Motorball champion, Jasugun. Ido works with Jasugun as his personal tuner in order to defeat Alita and make her question her career path. But to Ido’s terror, Alita is not one to back down. Their paths cross on the market, and the both Alita and Jasugun begin to compete in an arm wrestle. Alita wagers her cybernetic heart and literally puts it out onto the table. Jasugun forfeits the arm wrestle but not before blowing out Alita’s arm actuators. The two decide to settle things in Motorball, where Alita must assemble a team in order to compete with him. Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 10 Jul 2021 | 059 - Chobits vol. 2 | 00:57:27 | |
Explicit content ahead, talk about peep shows and pin up models. Also expect James to mispronounce Yumi's name, a lot! Why is that even possible? Skip plot summary @4:29 059: Chobits vol. 2 Chapters 13 to 24 By CLAMP Translation by Shirley Kubo With Lettering by John Clark Explicit content ahead, talk about peep shows and pin up models. Also expect James to mispronounce Yumi's name, a lot! Why is that even possible? Skip plot summary @4:29
Plot Summary Shimizu leaves in the morning and Hideki's landlady, Chitose Hibiya, who had given Chi several outfits, takes Chi to her room. After giving Chi a dress that she claims was hers, Chitose tells her to find a person just for her. Meanwhile Hideki's coworker, Yumi Oumura, asks him on a date. After reading the next volume of A City With No People, Chi hears a voice calling her; inside her mind she sees a version of herself that echoes Chitose's words. Seeing that Hideki is broke, Chi sets out to find a job, only to be tricked into doing a peep show. The owner asks Chi to touch her vagina and Chi refuses, since that is the location of her reset switch. At the same time, Hideki learns that his friend Shimbo and Shimizu are in a romantic relationship, and that Chi is in a peep show. Hideki rushes over to find that Chi has fled and the persocoms of the city have disconnected. Chi topples into his arms Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 30 May 2020 | 050 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 8 | 00:49:29 | |
Since the main character is in a coma, we get to explore the rest of the characters and their relationships. James talks about being in love with the “wrong” person, the “they’re not good for you” type, skip synopsis @5:18 email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail
050: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 8 Chapters 49 to 50, “…Kiss” and “of Jealousy” By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen, William Flanagan and David Ury
Topics:
Other references: Mcdonalds’ (Kaji brings the popular fast food to Misato)
Synopsis: Shinji remains trapped within Eva unit 1, experiencing dreams of his mother and wishes to not leave. A month passes and Rei begs the unit 1 to release him, through Misato’s words Shinji eventually rematerializes outside of the Eva. As Shinji recovers the sub-commander of NERV Fuyutski is kidnapped by SEELE, his interrogation prompts a flashback where we learn how NERV was created and that Shinji’s mother lost her soul to the unit 1. Kaji frees Fuyutski but Kaji is eventually killed for spying on NERV. Misato mourns his death. Soon afterwards Dr. Ritsuko Akagi notices that Rei has changed due to her companionship for Shinji replacing her love for Gendo. Ritsuko falls under a spell of jealous rage and hurts Rei. She apologises quickly and realises that she has acted like her mother and predecessor, whom killed herself before her work at NERV was complete.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 17 May 2020 | 048 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 6 | 00:41:11 | |
In this volume characters start to come across points of no return, with plenty talk on quantum theory and Bento boxes! Skip plot summary @ 3:46
048: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 6 Chapters 34 to 40 (‘the fourth child’ to ‘staining the twilight black’) By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Adapted to English by Fred burke, Carl Gustav Horn, William Flanagan and David Ury
Topics:
Super solenoid (electromagnetic coil)
Other references and Product Placement
Within Zorastrianism or Mazdayasna they are mages. Gospel of Matthew calls them kings and wise men. Never named in the new testament but are known as the saints, Malchior, Casper and Balthazar.
Named after Paul Dirac who created the concept so to unify theories of relativity and quantum theory. It remains as a mathematically sound theory of infinity that exists in our universe. In Eva it’s used as an explanation for why the American base vanished or imploded. “ a hole in the sea of fermions”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfAfQiXqJGo
Plot Summary
Shinji learns that his classmate Hikari has feelings towards his friend, Toji Suzuhara. Asuka intervenes and tries to help to help Hikari in getting Toji’s attention. Later on, Asuka takes her own advice and confesses her love to Kaji, Kaji is quick to condescend but respectfully denies her. Asuka is angry but is more so angry when she discovers who the next eva pilot will be.
Toji is focused on other things, specifically his sister who is hospitalized after an angel attack on Tokyo-3 and the fact that he is chosen to be the new pilot for Eva 3. On his first test run Toji becomes attacked by a new parasitic, almost viral form of an angel which takes full control and assimilation of his eva unit. The remaining Eva pilots gather to fight it until Shinji is left standing. Toji is uncommunicative whilst trapped inside his Eva and Shinji refuses to fight back so not to harm his friend. By his father’s command, Shinji loses control of his Eva as a dummy system takes over. A distraught Shinji can do nothing but be witness to the murderous assault on Toji. Hikari spends the night alone, cooking for Toji and being proud of how much he would love the recipe she made for him.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 21 Aug 2022 | 080 - I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow vol. 2 | 00:51:39 | |
James and will continue reading Shunju Aono’s slice of life manga, reflecting on their own attitudes around women and their fathers. At the end of the episode, they review the conclusion to the Evangelion Rebuild movies ‘Evangelion 3.0 +1.0: Thrice Upon a Time’. Beware of spoilers and sensitive subject matter! Skip the manga’s plot synopsis @ 5:53 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
080: I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow vol. 2 Chapters: 5 to 10 ‘Miracle’ and ‘Master’ with Bonus Chapters ‘Back Then’ parts 1 and 2 By Shunju Aono Translation by Akemi Wegmuller Lettering by Steven Rhyse
42-year-old Shizuo Oguro surmises that to become a successful manga he must make a cry from the heart; or as the French say a ‘Cri De Coeur’ and less of materialistic desire in his work. A manga that only he could draw. So, he makes an autobiography. And he gets rejected. He is also rejected again, when he makes a pass at a female editor. Shizuo makes himself feel better by drinking with his long-time friend Miyata, but Miyata will not let Shizuo stay at his place following a disagreement with his father, deeming it inappropriate for two middle aged friends living together. Instead, the 26-year-old Shuichi Ichinosawa is the one who tolerates Shizuo as a house buddy. Meanwhile, Ichinosawa dyes his hair, possibly due to peer pressure from his workplace peers. He witnesses one of his work colleagues bully the new guy, he punches the bully in the face then loses his job and speaks to Shizuo’s dad who tells him that to fail is normal, and it is what everyone does. Because at the age of 45, Shizuo’s dad set up an Izakaya and seemingly he was able to only make ends meet with it until it went bust after 20 years. Throughout these years Shizuo’s dad would have been a widow, Shizuo was only 15 when she, Sakiko Oguro passed. Later that night, the mention of Shizuo’s mother is enough to make him return home to his dad. In the bonus chapters, we see that Ichinosawa is paid a visit by his sister Yukako and we learn that the two of them have lost a father to suicide as teenagers.
Topics:
Homerun, Curse, Hawaii, Hijiki (edible seaweed), Rejected, Oguro Productions, 4649, 42, Ekke (possibly slang for daydreamer), Paris, Zico (Brazillian football coach), Pele (Brazillian footballer) Other references: Izakaya, a bar or tavern. Most common are the types where a red lantern is outside. Yakitori Shiro, Yakitori is grilled chicken, the “Shiro”, could stand for Shizuo’s dad’s name, as the food Shiro is really Ethiopian cuisine and not traditionally Japanese. Feel free to follow us on our socials and get in touch!
| |||
| 04 Oct 2019 | 025 - Katsuhiro Otomo's Domu: A Child's Dream | 01:04:52 | |
Domu: A Child’s Dream By Katsuhiro Otomo
Way before Stranger Things and before the masterpiece of the Akira anime, there was the psychic horror of 'A Child's Dream' Skip synopsis @ 14:00
Topics:
· The cinematic act Structure · How Otomo creates a sense of fear · Otomo’s aesthetic and attitudes towards gentrification
Notable Product Placement/Pop Culture reference:
· Beeper/pager (patented in 1949 by Alfred J. Gross) · The English translation references GhostBusters (1984 movie)
Synopsis:
Inspector Yamagawa starts an investigation after an alarming rate of deaths occur at the Tsutsumi housing complex. He meets the landlord who tells him of the suspicious types, the drunk Yoshikawa who is still unemployed after a leg injury, Mrs. Tezuka, a mentally unstable woman in apartment 783 who walks around at night pushing the pram of her dead child. A gigantic man with a mind of a child, nicknamed Little Yo, he was accused of child molestation. Then there’s Shojiro a.k.a old sho, an old senile man who sits outside. We also learn about Tsutomu Sasaki, an underachieving student who still lives with his parents. Yamagawa sends two policemen to patrol at night but one goes missing, his gun is never found. Eventually Yamagawa arrives alone at the complex and confronts the killer. Knowing that the killer is collecting trophies, Yamagawa gives him his pager. The killer is petty and breaks the pager using his psychic powers. Yamagawa runs after the psychic killer. He runs up the tower of apartments and hears the killer prying into his mind. Taunting him on every doubt and teasing him. When Yamagawa makes his way to the roof he finds the door is already open and he hesitates to step forward. There he sees Old Cho playing with the gun as if it were a toy.
One morning later, a new kid on the block arrives, her name is Etsuko, during her arrival Old Cho causes a baby to fall from the tower block. The child is saved by Etsuko and having read old cho’s thoughts she tells him off. Etsuko quickly makes friends with the residents but having an affinity for outsiders she chooses to play with Yoshikawa’s son, the lonely Hiroshi and Little Yo. As the sun falls Etsuko quickly makes her way to the shop, during this time Tsutomu Sasaki spends the knife choosing to craft model planes instead of study.
Cho takes control of Tsutomu and forces him to confront Etsuko on the elevator, failing to kill her with his craft knife, Tsutomu turns the blade onto himself and cuts through his own neck. Etsuko is hospitalised across the street. After seeing Yamagawa’s ghost, inspector Takayama brings a shaman to the housing complex but the shaman becomes overwhelmed by what she feels, unbeknownst to Takayama, Etsuko is making an attempt on empowering Old Cho from her bed window but is easily distracted by her mother.
At night, Yoshikawa is caught under control by Cho and is given the policeman’s gun so to kill Etsuko. Little Yo and Hiroshi do there best to hold him off and protect her whilst she hunts down Old Cho. It becomes clear that Cho struggles to fight her, he decides to create a gas explosion all around the housing complex. Etsuko smashes out the windows but fails to stop one explosion.
She almost kills Old Cho but he flees amongst the fire brigade. The building collapses and the stressed-out Etsuko loses her friends within the chaos. She endures an emotional breakdown and kills a fireman in the process. Cho soon disappears and Etsuko returns to her mother. Inspector Takayama has the chance to question Old Cho, but visions of Yamagawa’s ghost pre-empt him. Takayami decides to set him free and watch him from a safe distance, specifically Old Cho’s usual place, the bench by the play area. He watches Old Cho but no one can see that Etsuko is there sat on the swing doing the same. No one except for Old Cho. With a look from Etsuko the killer’s walking stick explodes and the old man finally dies. There is no sign of Etsuko, it’s as if she was never there that day.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 29 Jan 2023 | 101 - Death Note 2020 Special One-Shot | 00:40:16 | |
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:
Differences from the original 2003/’06 manga run and the 2015 NTV Mini Series:
Other references:
| |||
| 10 Sep 2022 | 083 - I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow vol. 5 | 00:56:04 | |
James and Will talk about the concluding volume of Shunju Aono’s adult slice of life manga. Although the manga itself has some upsetting themes, and the genre isn’t as popular compared to shonen stories, it however proves to be a genuinely heart-warming experience that deserves to be read and talked about. Skip synopsis @ 4:35
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
083: I’ll Give It My All Tomorrow… vol. 5 Chapters 23 and 28, ‘Goodbye for Today’ and ‘Suzuko’ By Shunju Aono Translation by Akemi Wegmuller Lettering by Steven Rhyse
The final volume begins by recapping previous events. Where Shizuo Oguro, a middle-aged man who makes the decision to devote himself to making manga, his daughter is nonplussed by the decision but his father is the one who berates him for it. His editor would butter him up with compliments on his manga despite the rejections. When his editor leaves, he gets a new one, Aya Unami, and she is more brutal with her criticism. Shizuo becomes friends with a young man, Ichinosawa and his best friend, Osamu Miyata sets up a bakery with Ichinosawa’s help. Through his days of playing videogames, playing football in the park with kids and working part time at a burger joint he still pushes through towards making manga. Hoping to get published. Aya Unami tells Shizuo that because of his age, the stakes are too high for him to get published. He lacks the hope and future growth that an 18-year-old may bring, yet she also tells him that he has potential to tell better stories because of his age and that life experience can be a benefit for him. She suggests to him that in order to write better stories he should think as if he was writing a letter to someone, to treat his manga making process with the same respect and consideration as if he was saying something to someone special. Soon afterwards Ichinosawa arrives to the bakery to find that Miyata has disappeared, leaving letters addressed to both his friends and the business within Ichinosawa’s hands. This adds an incredible amount of stress on Shizuo now that he has to help Ichinosawa with the bakery, but he does so with determination and grace in the hopes that he will see Miyata return. Shizuo also manages to make a manga for Miyata, one that not only tells Miyata’s story but gives it hope and a happy ending that both Shizuo and Miyata so desperately need. In the final chapter, we see an epilogue that takes place from Suzuko’s point of view, where we ultimately find out what she thinks of her dad, Shizuo Oguro. Topics:
Other references:
Official Website
| |||
| 12 Aug 2022 | 079 - I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow vol. 1 | 00:53:20 | |
Continuing with our season of manga about being a manga artist, we talk about the first volume of Shunju Aono’s fictional story ‘I’ll Give It My All.. Tomorrow’, (Orewamada Honkidashitenaidake). Where a 42 year-old Salaryman quits his job to become a successful manga artist. How delusional is such a man is something we will find out. Skip synopsis @ 5:08 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
079: I’ll Give It My all… Tomorrow vol. 1 By Shunju Aono Translation by Akemi Wegmuller Lettering by Steven Rhyse
Synopsis: The middle aged Shizuo Oguro quits his fulltime job as a salary man to become a manga artist, or colloquially speaking a mangaka. Much to the malaise of his father and his teenage daughter, Suzuko, who he lives with. In between drawing manga and meeting publishers he works part time slinging burgers and serving fries. Shizuo is an easily distracted man, he likes spending time drinking with his long-time friend Miyata and playing videogames at home, during one of his distractions he discovers that Suzuko is a sex worker, as a favour he asks her to leave and instead to focus on her exams. He is also quickly swayed by the influence of others, he’ll do stunts on his bike when he sees kids are off school, simply to gain some semblance of glory. Shizuo will also project his insecurities onto Miyata and when he sleeps, he dreams of a person, presumably the voice of God if not Shizuo’s subconscious, confronting Shizuo on his laziness. When Shizuo meets the 26-year-old Shuichi Ichinosawa he finds inspiration to draw up a hard-boiled delinquent manga. In a bonus chapter we are also introduced to Yukiko, a young woman who struggles to find purpose and meaning in her life. And it seems that by befriending Shizuo it has in some ways saved her life. Topics:
Other references:
| |||
| 28 Aug 2021 | 066 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 1 | 00:41:14 | |
Our Cyborg season continues as we cover ‘Battle Angel Alita’, also known by its original Japanese title ‘Gunnm’. This manga would go on to inspire James Cameron to produce a Hollywood adaptation. Skip synopsis @ 4:32 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
066: Battle Angel Alita vol. 1 Chapters 1 to 6, ‘Rusty Angel’ and ‘Battle Angel’ By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown
Dr Ido finds the broken body of a mechanical girl, he revives her, names her Alita and over time acquires new limbs for her, Soon Alita begins to suspect that Ido is killing cyborg women and giving their mechanical parts to Alita, unsettled by this, she sneaks out during the night to find out that Ido is not a killer but in fact a part of a bounty hunter society, one that represents the justice system of their junkyard town. Their paths cross as they run into the vicious mutant, the true culprit of the killings. Alita is able to kill the mutant through her instinctual use of a martial art known as ‘Panzer Kunst’ and soon she decides to become a bounty hunter like Ido. Yet unknown to Alita, Ido himself is a vigilante killing for his own satisfaction. Which is the case when he manages to kill a servant of Makaku, a giant cyborg who eats the brains of dogs and humans so to consume the Beta Endorphins within. Luckily one dog, Fang gets to live another day. But some humans, not so much. It’s not long until Alita faces a challenge in apprehending the vile Makaku, although Alita is able to cripple Makaku, his head is able to flee from the rest of his body akin to a worm. Due to the battle Ido manages to replace Alita’s injured body with a humanoid war machine known as a Berseker. Meanwhile Makaku attacks the gladiator Kinuba, steals his body and claims his powers as his own, especially his retractable grind cutter claws. Alita and Ido go to the Kansas bar to request help from bounty hunters, When Alita calls them out for their cowardice a fight breaks out, with Alita being the victorious one. Soon Makaku shows up looking for Alita and the two continue their fight, Makaku takes a baby and breaks a hole through the floor of the bar, he goads Alita to chase him down into the sewer system. Dr Ido is afraid for Alita and Makaku threatens to cripple and wear Alita as his own personal screaming pendant. Makaku refers to the sewers as his home and shows jealousy towards the baby. But Fang the dog comes to attack Makaku, and whilst disorientated Alita gets Fang to carry the baby and run to safety, then ready for battle, she dips her fingers in tar and makes war paint for her face. Topics:
Trivia:
Other references: Hunt for Red October (1990) both the “caterpillar drive” in that movie and the Alita’s body use a Magnetohydromic Drive or an MHD accelerator for short. This mechanic is a type of conductive liquid or gas that is used as a propellant.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 17 Jun 2023 | 118 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 3 | 00:52:39 | |
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.
| |||
| 07 Mar 2020 | 040 - DNA² ~ File 3 | 00:53:48 | |
Ryuji transforms exactly like a Devil Man cum Dragonball Z villain, this certainly didn’t make it into the anime! Did Ryuji ever really love Tomoko or was he so jacked on DNA changing testosterone that no one could tell the difference? Skip summary @ 10:30 DNA² ~ File 3
By Masakazu Katsura
Topics:
Plot Summary
Junta hones his psychic powers so that he can battle Ryuji and yet Ryuji waits in his library and spends the time reading books on gargoyles. He keeps Aoi Karin trapped in his basement since she was too eager to fight Ryuji before Junta gets to him. As Karin fights off Ryuji’s goons, Junta is given an invitation to fight, by Ryuji himself, clothed in superhero attire. Ami overhears this conversation and uses her bike to give him a ride to Ryuji’s estate.
As Ryuji returns to Karin, he finds that she has defeated all his goons and is ready to fight Ryuji.
Karin loses the fight against Ryuji and in turn Ryuji grafts her DNA on to himself, becoming more powerful. Afterwards, he sets things up so that he can have the kidnapped Tomoko be placed inside a private cottage/hall where he will fight Junta amongst witnesses, all under the guise that he is defending Tomoko’s honour from Junta. Most of the witnesses are previous dates that Ryuji cheated on in spite of Tomoko, basically fan girls.
During the fight Ryuji is angered when Tomoko is in support of Junta winning, the weakened Ryuji decides to attack his entourage of witnesses and graft their DNA on to his. This causes his blood pressure to rise and his veins explode. It looks as though he will be defeated under the weight of the transformation and yet he transforms into a gargoyle like demon. Rejuvenated into a monstrous form. Cue exposition dump when Karin deduces that his transformation is an exoskeletal psychic jacket.
Ryuji knocks Junta unconscious* but when Ami releases Tomoko she reasons with Ryuji, knowing that Tomoko loves Junta Ryuji attacks Tomoko and thus awakens the mega-playboy in Junta. Junta is able to cripple Ryuji and when Junta attempts to use his teleportation power to get the girls to safety, Ryuji holds Tomoko hostage. If Junta doesn’t save Ryuji then Tomoko may die however Junta calls Ryuji’s bluff and goes to attack Ryuji and Tomoko. This frees Tomoko thanks to Ryuji’s mercy but Ryuji is maimed in the attack.
Ryuji is the last person Junta teleports to safety. Ryu is defeated, weakened and rapidly aged from the battle. And its Junta that demands that Tomoko go with Ryuji to the hospital. Ryuji sees the error of his ways but has nothing but hate for Junta. The Mega-playboy person doesn’t stay for long either, seeing the ravaged Karin, he gets sick from looking at her exposed breast.
*By the way, after Ryuji’s transformation a thunderbolt causes a fire!
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 01 Jul 2023 | 120 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 5 | 00:36:53 | |
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.
| |||
| 20 Sep 2019 | 024 - X-Day vol. 2 | 00:51:58 | |
Suicidal schoolkids (one with PTSD) meet online with their teacher and plan to blow up their school. In short, Steve finds the plot doesn't gel with Rika's emotional arc, but Rika sleeps with Ryo! Can finding love stop someone from causing terrorism? X-Day (vol. 2) (X-Day of her and the others / Kanajo tachi no x-day)
By Setsuna Mizushiro Translation by Lisa Blank
Synopsis:
Rika’s plans seemingly come to fruition, the school blows up in an explosion of fire, sending debris everywhere as Rika watches on. Amongst the rubble she finds Kako begging for help. Rika, being responsible for the explosion is cruel and refuses to aid Kako.
X-day was all a dream and Rika wakes up in the bed of Kako’s boyfriend. She goes home ashamed and upset. She logs in to the chat room to contact her friends and feel better. Mr. Money notices that Rika is upset but the next morning he tells Jangalien, that despite his feelings for Rika, he is afraid of women. In another room Polaris is riddled with anxiety as the class vote her to be the swimming anchor.
Later, they conspire to blow up the school, Rika holds Mr. Money’s hand, however he flinches, knocking Rika’s bag and spilling the school journals. Rika accidentally takes Mr. Money’s journal home with her. She calls but gets no answer, then uses the address in his journal to go find him. She finds him at home living with a violent and abusive mother.
The next day Jangalien doesn’t go to class and instead buries his dead pet, Polaris skips her class to help him. Soon Jangalien’s stalker shows up to visit, Polaris pushes her out, and the well-meaning stalker falls down the apartment steps. Both Polaris and Jangalien flee the crime scene. They spend the afternoon at an amusement park before hiding at a hotel. With Polaris full of hopelessness, Jangalien prevents her from jumping off the hotel roof and the two embrace each other.
Ryo calls Rika, he tells her he has the house to himself but rejects Ryo. Rika starts to worry about Mr. Money, she leaves her place to go and meet him. Once there she confronts Mr. Money’s mother. He tells her that unhappy people do terrible things, and so Rika and Mr. Money spend the night together. The next day Jangalien is informed by the school chancellor, the father of his stalker, that she is well and has only sustained a mild concussion. Jangalien confesses to the chancellor that he has no feelings for his daughter and wishes to be left alone. Jangalien thinks it best he resigns due to his relationship with Polaris. In the meantime, the chancellor delays such action so not to cause harm to the school’s reputation. The next time Rika meets up with Polaris, Jangalien and Mr. Money they decide to light fireworks from the school roof, postponing their plan to collect gun powder and to bomb the school.
In Rika’s dreams, she sees Kako and Ryo on the school roof, she runs past through them, forward and goes for the high jump, a record-breaking jump over the bar. She lands safely in bed with Mr. Money. X-Day has been delayed, at least for now.
Topics: · The delay of X-Day (Using the fireworks as a cathartic release of celebration instead of blowing up the school) · Rika sleeps with Ryo. · Mr. Money and his abusive mother. · The “stalker” of the story being a plot device. · Is X-Day a coming of age story?
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 02 May 2020 | 047 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 5 | 00:52:48 | |
The Manga starts to differentiate itself from the anime, now that all characters come together. Shinji experiences his first late night party and when the lights go off, things also get a bit steamy! Skip synop @3:49 Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 5 Chapters 27 to 33 “If this be the work of man, it will come to naught”
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen
Topics
E.g. Someone with Depression and anxiety, as well as over-sensitivity to others and an inability to assert their own needs. Vogel, L. Z., & Savva, S. (1993). Atlas personality. British Journal of Medical Psychology
Other References
The first Indiana Jones movie, it was the highest grossing movie of that year and was a collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
a.k.a Cladocera, a freshwater creature that can reproduce sexually and asexually, not to be confused with ZooPlankton. James is talking about a specific pest, be it a tick or louse.
Otherwise known as “The Powerhouse of the Cells”, it is responsible for providing chemical energy to our cells. James and Steven talk briefly about the Endosymbiotic Theory, another branch of Creationism. What James refers to as the “primordial soup” is the Proto-Mitochondrion, the ancestor that which begot mitochondria and the majority of species on earth.
Plot Summary Asuka moves into Misato’s apartment with Shinji, Shinji’s friends Toji and Aida, notice that Misato is promoted and so they throw a party in celebration. This leads to a night a of drinking for Misato and Kaji followed by the admission of why they broke up and who was responsible. After this night the EVAs are deployed to fight a new angel that has appeared in satellite form Over Tokyo 3, it uses its own mass as a weapon so to target NERV HQ. To fight the angel, all 3 pilots work together to overcome it. After this a power failure leads to the revelation of a few secrets and an intimate moment for our characters.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 16 Oct 2021 | 071 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 6 | 00:56:15 | |
Volume 6 a.k.a. the TUNED arc follows Alita as she joins a ragtag group of mercenaries. And James and Steve can't help but compare it to films like Aliens, War movies and Westerns, not bad for a cyberpunk story, no? Skip summary @6:27 071: Battle Angel Alita vol. 6 Chapters 30 to 35 “Judgement Day” and “Rainmaker” By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown
Synopsis After the defeat of Zapan, Alita is condemned to disposal for the crime of using a firearm. However, she is saved by a man known as the Director Bigott Eizenburg, he communicates to her via a dream in the middle of her disposal procedure before saving her, Alita is hesitant to believe him, but when Bigott reveals that he is after Desty Nova it is then that Alita decides to work for his group TUNED, in the hopes that she can find Ido by tracking Nova. We head towards an ambiguous time in the future where the authority of the scrapyard a.k.a. ‘the Factory’ hires mercenaries to protect their cargo from a gang of bandits. A man called Figure Four Joins them, his most distinctive trait is that he is an organic flesh and blood man who is able to fight machines and cyborgs through his Qi and Hertza Hauen martial arts. He meets another mercenary, Yorg, who warns him about the dangerous woman on the other carriage. Alita. Figure Four introduces himself to Alita by pinching her harmonica and playing it badly! Luckily for him Alita finds him charming. The train is attacked by Bandits. Their leader being Knuclehead. Alita manages to extinguish this threat and keep Knuclehead detained, cutting his vocal cord so that he can no longer make verbal threats. During the attack the nuclear-powered train went into meltdown, both Figure Four, Yorg and Alita survive the fallout by ditching the train; but it becomes apparent that the two men only slow Alita down. This leads to a tense discussion with Bigott on deciding the fate of the men. Figure chooses to settle things by fighting Alita. He loses. And he wakes finding out Alita has left him with Yorg and took off in a Dune Buggy. A lot happens during these events, Alita obviously has a conscience, and Yorg has a family back home so she returns to pick up the men, but a cyclone creates the contrivance of losing Knuckehead and Alita and the mercenaries stubble upon ruins of a city not knowing at first that it is a military base owned by Barjack. The whole cyclone ordeal has Figure tie up Alita and scavenge for rations until he can trust her again. And although Alita is very happy to be fed by Figure Four, the man isn’t exactly a smooth operator when it comes to winning Alita over. A repaired Knucklehead returns with reinforcements, a party of the Barjack rebellion lead by Colonel Bozzle. Alita gives away her position by screaming and shooting at a butterfly, apparently the appearance of beady eyes on its wings creep her out. A shot from a tank targets them. Alita manages to save them due to the wall that falls having smashed out windows. Bozzle is an old friend of Yorg’s and so Yorg sides with Bozzle in order to save his himself, this brings confusion to the fight and Alita is apprehended whilst Figure Four is left for dead. Alita loses her legs and is interrogated by Bozzle yet Knuclehead is angry at being used as bait for the attack on Alita, Knuckehead attacks Bozzle and his socket soldiers. He kidnaps Alita and in their final showdown Figure manages to make a surprise attack and save Alita. Alita goes to give Figure a kiss until she is interrupted by gunfire. Bozzle and an unknown socket soldier have survived and seem to want to settle the score. In a twist of fate, the soldier is Yorg, and his final act of redemption is to rebel against Bozzle. Yorg dies in the arms of Figure and Bozzle dies too. After burying Yorg, Alita and Figure travel on foot through the desert wasteland, with one last bastion of hope being that Figure thinks he can make it rain by singing. And you know what? By some miracle it does. Why fish is pouring from the Sky has yet to explained. Topics
Other references
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 23 Apr 2023 | 111 - Welcome to the NHK vol. 4 | 00:36:12 | |
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
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:
| |||
| 12 Nov 2023 | 129 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 4 | 00:48:13 | |
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!
| |||
| 26 Jul 2019 | 012 - Battle Royale vol. 5 | 00:35:02 | |
012 Battle Royale vol. 5 The chapter begins with Yutaka in a street fight. Mimura saves him from the attack and the two become friends. When Mimura questions Yutaka he finds that his fight was made so to protect a stray dog from bullies. The two decide on working together to help the dog find a home. Fast forward to their Battle Royale and they are still working together. This time making a bomb with the intentions to attack their captors and escape the Battle Royale program. Since the game began Sho Tsukioka has been spying on Kiriyama. Sho is waiting until he is strong enough to win the end game. However, he struggles to keep up with Kiriyama since they are loitering in a soon to be no man’s land. Meanwhile Noriko wakes up from her fever dream. Hirono is dehydrated after being shot by Nori. Eventually she finds a well only to be pushed down it. Her attacker having played dead thanks to his body armour. Mimura appreciation: · Dale Carnegie's 'How to win friends and influence people' · Positive reinforcement and apologies. · Mimura can fight? We also talk about the importance of having a mental/psychological crutch for when times get tough. Product Placement in the manga includes Audi Volkswagon and Party/Helium Spray | |||
| 12 Mar 2023 | 106 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 4 | 00:32:51 | |
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.
| |||
| 26 Nov 2023 | 131 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 6 | 00:34:33 | |
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. | |||
| 10 Jan 2020 | 034 - Sundome vol. 5 | 00:55:58 | |
Is it okay to be called daddy? Healthy kink or just plain creepy? How about mommy? We talk about it and more on our review of this (very lewd) coming of age comedy. Skip synopsis @ 10:03 email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
Sundome vol. 5 By Kazuto Okada English Translation: Christine Schilling English Lettering: Abigail Blackman
Topics:
Note how the love interest, Kurumi, seems to be escaping her problems and masking her issues with sex. Meanwhile the sex scenes are used as filler or as the main action set piece.
Synopsis:
Hideo Aiba sees that Kurumi has a cold and hopes that it will pass away from her and over to him. As expected, Hideo gets sick and luckily Kurumi is over it. The roman’s club ex-president visits Hideo and is all too excited to give him suppositories in order to make Hideo feel better, yet the ex-president, being the pervert that he is, gets kicked out. When Kurumi visits Hideo she nurses him. She finds the suppositories and puts one inside Hideo, bringing him a new sexual experience.
Another time, another day, Hideo takes the ex-president to the hospital and ends up encountering Kurumi there. She asks him why he is there but Hideo senses anger in her voice and cowardly runs away from her. He can’t help but think of her, even at his workplace, Kurumi arrives to return his bag that he left behind and it seems she is not angry and is as affectionate to Hideo as ever. But Hideo can’t help but have nightmares about Kurumi whilst at that hospital.
Eventually, the ex-president and Yatsu get suspicious of Kyouko and Kurumi since, Hideo and Katsu always spend time with them when they divide into groups. This is not a good thing due to the club rules being to remain virgins and that club alumni will send an “assassin” to test the boys. To remedy this issue the two, decide on another activity. To play at night during after-school hours, Yatsu and the ex-president spend time alone with the girls whilst Hideo and Katsu dress as Shinigami so to find and scare them. Unfortunately, it only takes less than 2 minutes for Kurumi and Kyouko to be scared out, not by the Shinigami costumes but by the perverts that are Yatsu and the ex-president.
When Hideo’s mother finds Kurumi’s underwear in his room, she demands answers. In an act of defiance Hideo runs away from home. It’s only when Hideo stays the night at Katsu’s He finds that Katsu is stashing away a soiled photo of Kyouko.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 25 Apr 2020 | 046 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 4 | 00:50:05 | |
Asuka comes to Japan! The definitive red haired tsundere shakes things up. We talk about the human genome, freudian stuff and the politics of a break up because of Misato x Kaji.
Skip synopsis @ 8:23
Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 4 Chapters 20 to 26
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen
Topics
Other References
Synopsis
Asuka Langley Soryu makes her way to Tokyo 3, she is the second child to have piloted Eva before Shinji Ikari. On her way she is attacked by an Angel yet manages to defeat it. Shinji sees video of her fight and it becomes clear that she is extremely well trained and talented.
After School Shinji spots a red-haired girl with his friends, Kensuke Aida and Toji. She is loud and boisterous, and a sore loser when it comes to playing crane claw games seen in arcades. The boys watch her until she starts accusing them of perving on her. The attention brings round a gang of thugs, the girl is ready to fight and does well defending herself but Shinji is weakest of the two and manages to get punched in the face. The police are called in and they all scatter.
On his way to NERV, the base of the Evas. Shinji spots the red-haired girl and discovers that she is Asuka, the 2nd child.
Misato Katsuragi’s ex-boyfriend arrives. Acting as Asuka’s supervisor he has secretly delivered a foetus like specimen known as ADAM, the first human, and the possible reason why the Angel attacked Asuka on her journey to Tokyo 3. ADAM now belongs to Gendo Ikari.
As Rei’s Eva is being repaired it forces Asuka and Shinji to team up and fight the next angel. Their lack of team work results in their fight being a complete failure and the Angel duplicating itself into two. Misato puts the two of them into a room together and sets up a training regimen to hopefully sync both Asuka and Shinji’s biorhythms. Asuka tells Shinji that she has no father, and was chosen from a donated sperm by her mother, her raison d’etre is to pilot Eva, defeat the angels and to be acknowledged for it. She says it doesn’t matter if she hasn’t got a father, however, at night, Shinji hears Asuka crying and calling out to her mother in her sleep. Eventually Asuka’s jealous and competitive nature is enough to help inspire the sympathetic Shinji and the two succeed in defeating the angel.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 16 Aug 2019 | 019 - Battle Royale vol. 12 | 00:45:31 | |
Battle Royale vol. 12
Art: Masayuki Taguchi Story/writer: Koushun Takami
English Translation by Keith Giffen
WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT! Kiriyama is "Donald Trump with a semi-automatic" Real talk on the "flow", rolling with the punches and how it can save your life.
Topics:
· Sugimura’s mortality · Indirect dialogue as a story telling technique · Flow and how it can save your life.
Firsts:
Kiriyama has a conversation with a fellow competitor, not done since vol 2.
Pop culture references:
· “Donald Trump with a semi-automatic” Nanahara describing Kiriyama
· Serial Killers, Ted Bundy and Ed Gein
Synopsis:
Sugimura is in the middle of the fight for both his life and the woman he loves, Kayako. How can a man win against someone who is already dead on the inside? How do you fight someone who does not feel pity, remorse, frustration or fear? Sugimura must find answers to these questions if he is to defeat his enemy, Kazuo Kiriyama. A hard task when Kiriyama observes that Sugimura is having the flight or fight instinct kick in. An adrenaline rush has Sugimura vomit but the fight is evened out when Kayako threatens Kiriyama.
Sugimura harnesses the power of chi and enters a flow state, Kiriyama mimics Sugimura’s power and launches him into a tree. As the fight continues Sugimura is launched further, a brutal blow landed from behind. Kiriyama picks his gun up and attempts to kill Kayako only for gunfire to hail down on him. Sugimura literally allowed himself to go with the flow and roll with the punches, so that Kiriyama would launch him far enough to the machine gun that was previously dropped.
Kayako runs to Sugimura and in this moment, he confesses his love to her. Kiriyama creeps up on them. Sugimura is late to realise that Kiriyama acquired body armour before the fight.
Immediately Sugimura regrets confessing his love as Kayako chooses to die by his side. He watches her die and Sugimura dies soon after.
Later that day, Mitsuko Soma finds a house to wash herself and masturbates in the lounge. Kiriyama is in the neighbouring house and suturing a gunshot wound he sustained during Sugimura’s fight.
The remaining contestants, Noriko, Nanahara and Kawada stay together and brace themselves for what’s to come. Kawada draws a Rorschach test consisting of Kanji symbols and philosophises on the nature of evil. He deduces that Soma became sick and would laugh at the test but Kiriyama is different, a sociopath that does not laugh. He hopes that the gunshots he heard was a fight between Soma and Kiriyama. But he also believes that Kiriyama will kill Soma and Sugimura.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 27 Jul 2019 | 013 - Battle Royale vol. 6 | 00:43:05 | |
013: Battle Royale vol. 6 On this episode we talk about the following topics: · Nanahara as a framing device (why is he everywhere!?)
· Kiriyama’s attack on the Nanahara gang
· Kiriyama vs Sugimura
· Nanahara’s philosophy – You win and we all lose, Kiriyama is a waste according to Nanahara and so raises the question if Kiriyama’s life would have any meaning if he survived or not.
· Life/Real talk – Yutaka and Mimura’s relationship stress
We now accept mail! Contact weappreciatemanga@gmail.com You can also find us online at our social media pages including Instagram, Facebook and our website. www.weappreciatemanga.com | |||
| 31 Dec 2023 | 136 - Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective | 00:45:54 | |
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.
To see “Jim make a manga” follow the Mastodon or you can try…
…Instagram (Jim_makes_a_manga)
| |||
| 30 Nov 2019 | 030 - Sundome vol. 1 | 01:01:07 | |
James and Will talk about Incels, what it feels like for a woman to challenge (or belittle you) as a man and also clavicle sucking! Skip synopsis @12:56
Sundome vol. 1
By Kazuto Okada Translation: Christine Schilling Lettering: Rob Flores
Topics
Synopsis
Hideo Aiba’s sexual desires awaken when he meets the new girl in class, Kurumi Sahana. The first of many struggles begin when she puts her table up to his. Aiba gets paranoid when trying not to bring attention to his erection. He decides to quit his geeky school club, the roman club, whose only rule requires that members be virgins. However, Aiba is promoted to club president since the previous leader is kicked out for allegedly losing his virginity. Soon Kurumi decides to join their club, being the first girl to join the club, the boys seem apprehensive. Except for Aiba who is willing to go through masochistic feats in order to humour Kurumi.
The school’s martial arts club invades the roman club’s territory as their own. Kurumi wagers a battle between the two clubs. If Aiba can last long enough in an arm lock then they’ll keep the club room and have Kurumi but also the martial artist will serve to protect the boys. Kurumi prevents Aiba from tapping out, by being close to him during the wrestling, she traps his hand from under her crotch. Poor Aiba can’t hide his erection whilst he gets his arm broken.
Through the following days, Kurumi tests Aiba, who is willing to go to dangerous lengths to get her number but he is fortunately safe with the protection of the martial arts club. Another girl, Kyouko, gets jealous of Kurumi and steals a voodoo doll from the roman club but ends up enjoying her time with the roman club so much that she makes herself a member. When Kurumi falls ill, Aiba can’t help but blame himself and think that in someway her distance is a way of punishing him.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 01 Oct 2022 | 085 - The Osamu Tezuka Story | 01:14:31 | |
Fans of Astro Boy, Buddha and Blackjack will be happy to know that today’s episode is all about the manga god that is Osamu Tezuka! After reading his manga biography we talk about the precedent he set for the industry and detail the process of how the artist makes manga. Besides discussing the all-important issue of him being a furry or not. Skip synopsis @ 8:20 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
084: The Osamu Tezuka Story By Toshio Ban and Tezuka Productions Translation by Frederic L. Schott
Dr. Osamu Tezuka was born the eldest of three children on November 3rd, 1928. Having grown up in a liberal family he was exposed to cartoons from an early age. His father was an avid photographer who would give him comic books upon returning from his travels in America, as well as let him read Akahon, illustrated children’s literature printed with a distinctive red ink. Tezuka was a pioneer due to popularising cartoons as stories “story cartoons”, thus paving the way for the modern manga industry as it stands today. It is why some refer to him as the ‘god of manga’. It was during this post war time and across the world that many cartoonists were looking towards cinema as inspiration for their story telling. Osamu Tezuka himself was a fan of cinema, especially the works of Walt Disney. And by his 30’s he would forego his work as a practicing physician entirely and be the highest paid manga artist in Japan. At the age of 35, using his funds acquired from licensing his intellectual property, earning money from radio drama adaptations and by publishing his manga he was also able to pioneer the first televised anime show within Japan. This being an adaptation of his Manga, ‘Astro Boy’ otherwise known as ‘Mighty Atom’ as well as the first coloured anime show in Japan, ‘Jungle Emperor Leo’. The same studio that produced those shows, Mushi Pro or “Bug Productions”, would challenge their audiences with experimental releases such as the anime movies Belladonna of Sadness, Cleopatra and an adaptation of Arabian Nights before Mushi productions went bankrupt. This however would be just a minor setback in what would be a prolific career, he would continue to make experimental anime and manga throughout the entirety of his life. Having the chance to remake Astro Boy as a coloured TV show and making many successful manga for old and new fans, such as ‘BlackJack’, ‘Message to Adolf’ and what would be considered his longest running manga and life’s work, ‘Phoenix’. Tezuka would die of stomach cancer on February 9th 1989. He was 60 years old. He would leave behind a wife, Etsuko Okada and (according to my sources he had 3 children) Makoto, Rumiko and Chii. As of 2014 Rumiko stated that she unlocked one of her father’s draws and found a half-eaten chocolate, an essay praising Katsuhiro Otomo for the work he did on Akira and some drawings of erotic anthropomorphic animals, including a very sexy white mouse. It’s fair to say that Rumiko was happy her dad didn’t publish those. For further reading you can check out the following website links:
Official Website
| |||
| 30 Oct 2021 | 074 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 9 | 01:03:29 | |
James tells Steven about the two non-cannon endings of Battle Angel Alita, draws comparisons between the James Cameron / Robert Rodriguez movie adaptation and the anime, as well as bring up how much the mangaka suffered from burnout. Over all, this was an amazing cyberpunk treat and it’s fair to say both dudes have a crush on Alita. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 074: Battle Angel Alita vol. 9 Chapters 48 to 51 “No Brainer” and “Epitaph” By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown Topics:
The different endings to Battle Angel Alita. As the majority of readers will know by now, Battle Angel Alita ends on a type of tragic cliff hanger, this was confirmed as canon when the new series ‘Battle Angel Alita: Last Order’ followed from the events of this chapter 51. For a long time, the canonical ending was deemed to be the one in the Playstation videogame ‘Gunnm: Martian Memory (a.k.a. Memories of Mars)’. The following is a brief summary on the two endings, we’ll refer to the original as the Shueisha ending and the other as the Playstation ending. Note that both endings count as non-canonical but start off similar since they take place after chapter 51. The two are similar in that Alita is revived by Nova and wakes up to find herself in the city of Zalem, she recalls some memory of her past life, we discover that prior to meeting Ido she crash landed on earth as she was making an attack on Jeru. The attack was pre-empted by Gerude, who Alita narrowly escapes from. On Jeru, Alita makes it her goal to save Lou from the MIB and liberate both Zalem and Jeru from the control of Melchizedek, with Melchizedek being responsible for cutting off Earth from its space elevator and creating the brain to biochip initiation. It becomes clear that Melchizedek is an AI infected by some sort of virus. Shueisha ending: Melchizedek is suicidal and decides to collapse the space elevator, to save the scrapyard and Zalem from the cataclysm Alita uses the Imaginos body that Nova gave her and fuses herself to the main bolt. Effectively Alita sacrifices her life. A few years later, searching for answers to Alita’s demise is an 18-year-old Koyomi, now a photojournalist. Koyomi travels to Jeru where she finds a much older looking and jaded Figure Four, the two come across a dishevelled and decrepit Nova who leads them to Alita’s grave, now known as the ‘the tree of life’ or the ‘Nanomachine tree’. Which was created when Alita transmuted into the space elevator. Both Koyomi and Figure break the seed of the tree and set free a flesh and blood Alita. She retains all her memories and is happy to be in the arms of Figure again. Playstation ending: Alita leaves Nova to find out what infected Melchizedek. Meanwhile she takes part in the tenth “Zenith of Things” tournament, which involves the strongest fighters in the solar system all competing with each other. It’s during this time that Alita meets Gerude, and although Alita loses a fight to Gerude she is spared because he sees that Alita’s Panzer Kunst is different. And he can see that Alita has now become a defender of Earth and its people. Gerude is eventually killed by another “Kunstler”, the main antagonist of the space arc, known as Zuoh, who calls his martial art “Panzer Faust” a newly developed form of Panzer Kunst. Zuoh intends to terrorise Earth and continue the terraformation war in spite of Melchizedek. Eventually with the help of a spy called Limeira, Zuoh is arrested by Martian authorities, putting an end to Mars’ involvement in the terraformation war. During these events Alita revives a space ship for the sake of frontier exploration. And it’s in this conclusion where Alita is about to set off with her friends and allies on the space ship, known as Leviathan 1, that she finds that due to the absence of Melchizedek, Jeru has been transformed to resemble the likeness of Desty Nova’s face. Alita chooses to stay behind on earth. Making sure that Nova does not make earth a personal playground for his experiments. More Movie related topics:
Comparisons between the Original Video Anime and the Live Action Hollywood movie: Similarities
Differences
Major differences from the Manga:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 13 Jul 2019 | 008 - Battle Royale vol. 1 | 01:10:32 | |
Schoolkids are forced to fight to the death until only one survives. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT THROUGHOUT | |||
| 09 Aug 2019 | 016 - Battle Royale vol. 9 | 00:44:14 | |
016: Battle Royale vol. 9
By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi With English translation by Keith Giffen
Someone plays dead and schoolkids drop like flies.
Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton.
Topics :
· Who is Kayako? · Kazuo Kiriyama · Narrative storytelling technique in this volume, a stream of consciousness a la James Joyce’s Ullyses.
Pop culture references:
Superman / Krypton (Sugimura suspects that “Froggy” has body armour)
Synopsis:
The program continues when Sugimura finds the dead body of Hirono via his tracking device. He continues to look for Kayako only to encounter Yoshitori Oda, a.k.a. Frogboy. Kiriyama breaks up the two, he fires at Yoshi and scares off Sugimura. Yoshi plays dead thanks to the use of his body armour. He cries out in the hopes that Kiriyama can come close enough so that he can make a surprise attack. Kiriyama isn’t fooled. With his machine gun he evasively ducks down and disembowels Yoshi from his groin.
Having previously survived an encounter with Kazuo Kiriyama, Shuya Nanahara is guided by a vision of his recently departed friends. He shortly wakes up realising he’s been nursed by Yukio Utsumi. Utsumi has set up a group of 6 girls with plans to defeat the program. Chisato Matsui, Haruka Tanizawa, Yuka Sakaki, and Satomi Noda. They have taken fort at the island’s light house. However, one girl, Yuko Sakaki, is scared of Nanahara, she is paranoid and deluded enough to believe him to be the devil incarnate. Utsumi locks Nanahara in the bedroom with the promise that she’ll free him once he gains all of the girl’s trust.
Sakaki poisons Nanahara’s food but her go awry when the boisterous Yuka insists on serving the food and tries some for herself. Yuka dies prompting the group into a panic. Satomi takes dominance and holds every one hostage whilst demanding the killer to reveal them self. The cook, Chisato, eventually gets a gun and holds up Satomi only for Satomi to shoot her. In defense of Chisato and the others, Utsumi retaliates and the entire gunfight ends with only one survivor, the person who incidentally started it, Sakaki.
Nanahara breaks out of the bedroom having injured his arm, believing that it is Kiriyama who is responsible for the gunfight.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 04 Jan 2020 | 033 - Sundome vol. 4 | 00:58:05 | |
EXPLICIT CONTENT BTW! A lot of firsts begin to happen, such as getting your first job and bringing your date home to the parents. Originally recorded on 03/12/2019 hence all the xmas talk, ho ho ho! Skip synop: @ 13:00 email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
Sundome vol. 4
By Kazuto Okada Translation by Christine Schilling Lettering by Rob Flores
Topics:
Sex scene recount:
Pop culture references/Product Placement:
Synopsis:
For the first time ever, Hideo Aiba brings a girl home, specifically Kurumi Sahana, who has come to pick up a recorded video tape of a special she missed on TV. Kurumi makes such a good impression on his family that Hideo’s mother offers her own Yukata as a gift to Kurumi. However, Hideo is taken back by finding out that Kurumi is an orphan. Later on, he apologises for his dad having asked about it only for Kurumi to claim that she was lying. Hideo takes umbrage with her lie and in turn Kurumi apologises to him, albeit she is surprised by how quick Hideo reverts back to his submissive self.
Eventually Hideo and Kurumi ditch school to go on a date. Afterwards Kurumi asks Hideo to take her to “Namino flower” someday.
When Kurumi gets hit by a car, he finds that Kurumi is inside with her guardian of sorts. The man with the distinct shoes. The man takes Kurumi and Hideo out for dinner and whilst alone with the man, Hideo takes the chance to explain his sexual relationship with Kurumi. The man is calm and unfazed by this. Hideo is emasculated by this man’s presence and although he wishes to pay for his part in Kurumi’s and his own meal, he sadly can’t afford to.
Hideo decides to work part time at a convenience store. The roman club believe he is seeing a sophomore girl behind their back. But they soon learn about it his workplace and treat it like as their new hang out! Kurumi is proud of Hideo, so much that she gives him her panties and goes full on commando. But when a peeping tom lurks around the shop this causes Hideo to defend the demure qualities of Kurumi and confront the perv.
Hideo saves up enough money to pay back for the meal and buy Kurumi a gift. But the roman club impose on Hideo and force him to treat them to a karaoke night together, in the end Hideo can only afford so much but he does get a gift from Kurumi. With help from a Gatchapon vending machine he buys Kurumi a capsule that, oddly and conveniently contains panties.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 31 Jul 2021 | 062 - Chobits vol. 5 | 00:47:01 | |
Chi finally stands up for herself, expressing the importance of consent! But the way CLAMP handles a more action heavy approach to these chapters gives our hosts a good opportunity to critique the story. Skip plot summary @ 1:55 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
061: Chobits vol. 5 Chapters 49 to 58 By CLAMP English translation by Shirley Kubo
Topics:
Synopsis: Hideki acquires a clue in regards to the kidnapped Chi. With the help of Hideki’s friend, Shimbo, and through the help of Yuzuki and Kokubunji they make cross references and by process of elimination they find Chi. They find her kidnapper, a young man known as “Dragon-fly” already apprehended by an entranced Chi. Dragon-fly was installing new software to Chi before she lashed out. Kotoko, Dragon-fly’s persecom, was witness to a hidden voice emanating from Chi before she too fell into a trance. Hideki takes Kotoko with him as evidence for the kidnapping, her programming allows her to always tell the truth, even at the cost of her master’s wellbeing. Through the ordeal and unbeknownst to Dita, it is implied that Zima was the clue giver.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 30 Oct 2021 | 075 - Junji Ito's Tomie | 00:59:38 | |
What type of podcasters would we be if we didn’t cover horror manga before All Hallow's Morning? So, for this spooky time of Halloween, James and Will talk about the classic horror villain that is Tomie! Skip synopsis @ 8:43 075: Junji Ito’s Tomie By Junji Ito English translation by Naomi Kokubo With Lettering by Eric Erbes After the funeral of one Tomie, an entire classroom is shocked to see her arrive to class. Especially since the class was responsible for murdering Tomie and hiding her severed body parts. Tomie’s presence forces the class to struggle with their feelings of fear, guilt and love for Tomie as they all question their sanity and turn on each other. But it’s through the course of each tale, that Tomie gets more powerful and threatening. Turning her admirers into obsessed zombies that do her bidding. Those who claim to love Tomie eventually succumb to the urge of not just killing her, but decapitating her, shredding her into pieces and granulating her until every fibre of her being becomes one with the environment. Tomie can split into multiple copies of herself when under heavy stress, very much like cell mitosis or the heads of the mythical Hydra. She can even germinate, as each severed body part or blood drop from Tomie can grow and become another Tomie. You kill one Tomie and eventually two will pop up. Such is the case when Tomie’s liver is donated to a young woman. Only for the liver to mutate and birth into a new Tomie. The Hospital staff cut Tomie out of the woman and house her in a culture tank so to study her. Only for Tomie to soon break free. Years afterwards, an entirely new generation of Tomies are created when a mysterious man goes around injecting baby girls with the blood of Tomie. It becomes apparent that the man who infects the children is a past super model by the name of Ryo, having once been disgraced by Tomie, Ryo accidentally burnt his face after killing her, now he seeks revenge on all Tomie beings. Planning to make sure that the infected children live long enough to see old age, in doing so he can spitefully prove to Tomie and to himself that her supernatural beauty isn’t beyond the cruelty of time. And Ryo himself would have the last laugh. When the children come of age and transform into Tomie they do their best to kill each other until there is only one surviving Tomie left. In terms of personality, Tomie is a manipulate psychopath and a narcissist. She has no remorse or respect for anyone but herself. Regardless of how many copies there are of her and who she seduces, they all share the same traits, a beautiful woman with a mole below her left eye claiming to be the true Tomie. Ryo holds the last surviving Tomie prisoner, and encapsulates her within a block of cement. He hears her cries inside the block and waits for years until the sounds from it turn into moans and howls. When Ryo breaks the block, he sees an elderly and physically gnarled woman. The truth is that he’s gone mad and hallucinating. Somehow Tomie escaped thanks to this old crack, the wailing sounds being nothing but blowing wind within the hollow block. A wind that carries a somber note. Topics:
Pop culture references/Product Placement:
Tomie’s appearance in other media:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 25 Jan 2020 | 036 - Sundome vol. 7 | 01:05:50 | |
More ero themes on the penultimate volume. Kurumi becomes sexually aggresive but gets modest when she has a cold. We talk condoms, be them femidoms or glow in the dark and why it's important to have a test run with them. Skip synopsis: @ 13:11
036: Sundome vol. 7
By Kazuto Okada Translation by Christine Schilling (now Christine Dashiell) With Lettering by Abigail Blackman
Topics:
Synopsis:
During their date at the summer festival, Hideo Aiba is separated from Kurumi as she goes to the ladies’ toilets. When alone Hideo meets the older man in Kurumi’s life, Hideo proudly confesses that he drinks Kurumi’s pee and the older man responds by saying it is the reverse case for himself. When Kurumi returns, she sees that Hideo is made to feel uncomfortable and Kurumi makes it clear that the man ought to not bully Hideo. Hideo and Kurumi meet with the rest of the roman club whilst the older man watches on, the man is not alone. A woman arrives at his side and sheds a tear when she sees Kurumi is happy with friends. The next day, Hideo decides to stay over at Kurumi’s and act as her personal pet. He’s ordered to be a good boy and stay seated within his cardboard box. Although once Kurumi leaves him alone, he needs to pee, but he can’t disobey and leave his box. He chooses to wet himself and although nervous at first, Kurumi is able to forgive him and give him a wash.
Katsun takes sick and ends up in hospital. The Roman club makes an effort to visit him although Hideo is apprehensive in taking Kurumi there. On their way back Kurumi thanks Hideo for arranging a holiday with her, as they part, he steals a kiss from her. It becomes their first kiss together. Hideo is surprised that instead of punishing him for being forward, she blushes and kisses him back. Hideo goes through some penance, as Kurumi makes it clear that he can’t touch her until Katsun is out of hospital or else she’ll refuse to speak to him. Katsun eventually does recover but the one who is most glad is Hideo, who stayed up all night praying at the shrine. Katsun himself plans to lose his virginity to Kyouko when he buys condoms, this sparks interest in Hideo, who ends up buying himself his first condoms.
It’s on a camping trip that the Roman Club decide to go UFO spotting, amongst other things. That night Katsun finds out that Kyouko is a Roman Club assassin, on a mission to break Katsun’s vow of celibacy. Both Kyuoko and Katsun discuss their circumstances and resolve that no matter what happens with Katsun’s virginity, his intelligence will be enough to get him into university. Whereas Kyouko would prefer to full fill her mission to so gain roman club privileges. Yet their love making session is completely interrupted when they spot a UFO. It’s a little oddly shaped, but it’ll do. Besides, they don’t know it was Hideo’s glow in the dark condom, too baggy on Hideo, a jerk off session with Kurumi sent it flying in the air.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 08 Oct 2022 | 086 - All You Need is Kill vol. 1 | 00:54:46 | |
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!
| |||
| 21 Aug 2021 | 065 - Chobits vol. 8 | 00:57:56 | |
Will gives his short review of the latest Evangelion movie before we talk about the hefty themes of Chobits, we compare the anime to the manga as well as find time to to talk about our fave anime filler episodes (Dragonball Z makes that list). Skip plot synopsis @ 10:15 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
065: Chobits vol. 8 Chapters 82 to 88 By CLAMP Translation by Shirley Kubo Lettering by John Clark
Synopsis: Hideki discovers that the water main under the city has broken and the city is experiencing a mysterious blackout. He finds Chi floating in the air and she confesses her love to him. He does the same, Freya reveals that Chi is incapable of sexual intercourse since doing so would reset her, erasing her memories in the process. Hideki decides that this does not matter and will still stay with Chi. Freya then tells Hideki to take care of her sister and goes away. Chi awakens in his arms, happy to have finally found her soulmate. Zima and Dita later discuss Chi's unique ability to destroy the individual recognition programs on all persocoms, given to her to use if she failed in finding a soulmate.
Topics:
Differences in the Anime: An article by Lesley Aeschliman provides a great list of differences in the anime adaptation. Such as:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 15 Jun 2019 | 003 - A Silent Voice vol. 3 | 00:52:25 | |
Having a reputation, overbearing friends and maybe pretend friends? This volume explores a lot. Also there's a love triangle! | |||
| 02 Oct 2021 | 069 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 4 | 00:28:08 | |
The conclusion to the Motorball arc where we see lots of CONTENT WARNING violence and the first example of gratuitous nudity in the cyberpunk manga; interestingly it's not from Alita! Skip synopsis @ 4:31 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
069: Battle Angel Alita vol. 4 Chapters 18 to 22 ‘Martial Ball’ (a.k.a. “Head Banger’s Ball" in some translations) and ‘Ars Magna’ By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown
Synopsis Out on the Gregory circuit, Alita looks to find new members to build her team. She works her way through every battle on the track and earn her self some allies in the coming battles. In the meantime, Ido has his own confessions and concerning situation with Jasugun, which questions his loyalty to the champion, or to Alita, the daughter which he never had. Topics
Other references
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
| |||
| 15 Jul 2023 | 122 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 7 | 00:41:54 | |
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.
| |||
| 31 Aug 2019 | 022 - Battle Royale vol. 15 | 00:52:58 | |
EXPLICIT CONTENT! The final volume to Battle Royale! We finished recording this run in October 2018. Listen as we recount the tropes used, the differences between the source material and the goal of the authors. Skip the synopsis @ minute 12:00 022: Battle Royale vol. 15 Art: Masayuki Taguchi Story: Koushun Takami Translation by Keith Giffen · Kiriyama’s death · Kawada’s betrayal · The authors …and their intentions with the book and handling violence
Differences between the Japanese and English translation:
(Note: the English Vol 1 was released in 2003, same year the Japanese vol 9 came out, both the English and Japanese runs ended in 2006)
'"It's a good story that Takami is telling", Giffen said. "What I do is go in and make bad scenes that much worse. I loved the movie of Battle Royale, and also love the manga. I just wanted to do it right. I wanted to do justice to it, and I knew I couldn't get away with doing a straight translation, because it would be horrifyingly bad."' – Keith Giffen
§ There isn't a reality TV show aspect § Sakura doesn't make any bets prior to the program § Izumi was at the reef before Kiriyama and the rest arrived. This means Kiriyama would have flipped the coin on meeting Kazumi and way before the others arrived. It also means there was no allusion to rape what-so-ever. § Originally Niida makes up excuses for his actions and isn't as psychotic as he is in the English version.
Basically, Keith Geifen makes it a lot darker than the comic needs to be.
Differences between other adaptations:
· Yonemi Kamon is an original character that replaces, Kinpatsu Sakamochi in the novel and Kitano in the movie. · In the movie, Kazuo Kiriyama is one of two transfer students, the other is Shogo Kawada. They are specially selected to take part in the Battle Royale program and have no prior relationship to the other students. · In the novel Soma is setting the campfires to cause confusion, until Kiriyama tracks her down and kills her. Then Kiriyama continues setting the smoke signals. · Kiriyama decides to take part in the Battle Royale before his gang arrives, having killed Izumi kanai before they arrive.
Pop culture references:
· “A star is born kiddies” Mirroring Soma’s line, a reference to the film ‘A Star is Born’.
· “News flash, Oz is a slum, the white knight’s a retard and the seven dwarfs gang rape pixies” – Shojo Kawada 1.) Frank L Baum’s The Wizard of Oz (Judy Garland movie, is Keith a fan?) 2.) White Knight: Medieval trope that is derived from myths of courtship and valour. It’s a very respectable title but common usage can be derogatory as of 2010. First records of anyone having the white knight title is the Fitzgibbon and Fitzgerald family of Ireland. Fitz-suffix meaning they were either raised by or were illegitimate sons (bastards). Modern culture shows we’ve given such titles to sports heroes. 3 lions are worn by the English soccer team, not soldiers! And Russian hockey player Evgeni 'Geno' Malkin is nicknamed ‘white knight’ according to Wikipedia.
3.) Snow White and the Seven dwarfs (Brothers Grimm story, famously Disney’s first feature length movie)
· Kawada calls Nanahara “Pollyanna” once again. 3x now!!! Based on the titular character of Eleanor H. Porter's novel.
Product placement:
· 7-Up (Soda-pop drink owned by Pepsi outside the U.S.) · Coca Cola (world famous caffeinated Soda-pop drink, originally marketed as an elixir) · SuperTrapp (motorcycles and gear retailer)
Notable Tropes:
· Tsundere (Takako Chigusa) · Playing Possum (Frogboy with the Kevlar vest) · Chi energy powers (Sugimura) · Femme Fatale (Mistuko Soma) · The determinator/implacable man (Kazuo Kiriyama) · The stoic (Kiriyama and Kawada) · Mind vs Heart paradigm a.k.a. the tin woodsman and scarecrow thesis (Nanahara and Kawada)
For a more comprehensive list visit the TV Tropes website.
Synopsis:
Mere days ago, 42 school students were marooned on an island, given random weapons and ordered to kill each other in a brutal game of death. Now only 4 remain… but that’s still 3 too many.
Nanahara, Noriko and Kawada team up to defeat Kazuo Kiriyama, the most dangerous competitor of the students. Nanahara makes the killing shot, as he watches Kiriyama die, Nanahara expresses regret and wishes that he could have saved him. Kiriyama’s final words being “I can feel again”.
Kawada takes Noriko and Nanahara to the end of the island by the edge of the cliff. He pulls his gun on both of them and wins the game.
He is escorted off the island by boat, he is not given any aid or chance to clean himself before Mr. Kamon enters the cabin to question him. Kamon suspects Kawada for faking the death of Noriko and Nanahara, his evidence to support this suspicion is that documents about the explosive collars and the chosen class were hacked into before the game began. he tells Kawada that helicopters are flooding the island with poison as they speak and pulls a gun on Kawada.
Mr. Kamon is distracted due to Nanahara’s ambush on the boat. Kawada kills Kamon with a pencil to the neck. He goes onto the upper deck where he finds Nanahara and Noriko have kept the guards subdued and tied down. When one guard breaks loose he attacks Kawada but Nanahara takes the bullet as Kawada shoots the guard’s hand off. Nanahara is protected by the Kevlar vest he took from Kiriyama. The 3 send the guards into a dingy and cut them loose.
As Kawada teaches Nanahara how to control the ship he succumbs to the sustained gunshot wound from Kiriyama. Kawada dies on the ship.
Both Noriko and Nanahara become wanted criminals during the Christmas holidays. They discover Kawada’s plan was to die in that game but rescue Shinji Mimura, in doing so they would declare war on the program. Mimura’s aunt is kind enough to secure a boat to the U.S. for Nanahara and Noriko but before they leave Nanahara spies on Miss Ryoko to see if she is safe and Noriko calls her mother. The two make their peace with the students they fought and start a new life in the U.S.
The End.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
| |||
| 28 Oct 2023 | 127 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 2 | 00:37:15 | |
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.
| |||
| 04 Apr 2020 | 043 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 1 | 00:50:59 | |
This is it! The cultiest of cult 90's anime, the daddy of the sekai-kei genre! And maybe Elon Musks favourite anime? It kickstarted the popularity of angsty teen anime heroes. Skip synopsis talk @ 6:52
Special thanks to 'Eagle8burger' for our intro.
043: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 1 Chapters 1 to 6
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Adapted to English by Mari Morimoto, Fred Burke + Carl Gustav Horn
Topics:
Synopsis:
In the year 2015, fifteen years after a global cataclysm known as the Second Impact, teenager Shinji Ikaritravels to Tokyo-3 at the behest of his estranged father, Gendo. While meeting with Misato Katsuragi, a woman who works for Gendo, the city is attacked by a giant creature known as an Angel. Misato takes Shinji to NERV, an organization headed by Gendo that has developed giant bio-mechanical mecha known as Evangelions. As Evangelion Unit-01's pilot, Rei Ayanami, is wounded, Gendo asks his son to take her place. Shinji decides to fight the Angel, named Sachiel, but panics when he first sees it. During the fight, Shinji makes Unit-01 furiously attack Sachiel, which self-destructs, causing minor damage to the Eva. Next day, Misato discovers that Gendo is not planning to live with Shinji. Therefore, she decides to become Shinji's legal guardian to keep him from being isolated.
Pop culture and other references:
“On the floor of the midbrain is the ventral segmental system, that neurobiologists call region A10. Cells soaked in dopamine, certain emotions are processed here: such as the thoughts of two lovers - or a parent and a child. And it is the synchronization of the threads and bundles of A10 that splice pilot and Eva together; to become one entity, to fight. In other words, the power of love drives this weapon of mass destruction.” – Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 06 Nov 2022 | 090 - Death Note vol. 3 | 00:32:23 | |
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:
How Death Note changed the game?
| |||
| 22 Oct 2022 | 088 - Death Note vol. 1 | 00:37:26 | |
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.
| |||
| 23 Oct 2021 | 072 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 7 | 00:34:29 | |
We talk about more characters and moments in the cyberpunk epic, Gunnm, including a very supernatural dude who uses psychometry. Plenty of coil guns and stone tape theory talk in this one. skip summary @5:00 and remember, BLM always and forever. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
072: Battle Angel Alita vol. 7 Chapters 36 to 41 “The Grounding” and “Dual Man” By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown The Cyborg Alita leaves her love at his fishing town of Al Hambra so that she can continue her journey as a TUNED agent. She promises to return but her quest to find the villain Nova is what drives her. Alita gains a new TUNED operator, the Zalemite Lou Collins, who provides intel and help for Alita. When attacked by ninjas Alita is helped by the drone known as Gabriel. And one of the dying ninjas streams a video to Alita. Through the ninja, Nova says that in order to find him Alita must find Den of Barjack first. Den happens to be a gargantuan cyborg terrorist, who intends to attack the city of Zalem. Meanwhile Alita saves a young girl from a gang of bandits, the girl is non other than Koyomi, the baby Alita saved years ago, Koyomi is now a proud owner of a familiar cyborg dog as she journeys to find a radio host called Kaos. She gives Alita much insight into the scrapyard and what her past friends have been doing. And although Alita works for Zalem she regards the scrapyard as her home. Soon afterwards they are swallowed into a sinkhole, Alita saves Koyomi from drowning but damages her lungs in the process. When Alita wakes, she finds that she has no connection to Collins, that Kaos has saved her and has also fallen in love with her. Kaos can only speak using radio waves and so one must use a receiver to understand him, but Kaos also has the unique power of telemetry and through touch he can see the memories and emotions of a person’s past. Kaos tells Alita that her real name is Yoko and that his father is Nova. On their way to Nova, they are pre-emptively stopped by Den. Den wants Kaos to surrender Alita and pledge his loyalty to Barjack. Alita chooses to fight Den whilst Kaos escapes. The fight is in favour of Den until Collins links back online to Alita and air drops the Solenoid Quench Gun. Koyomi, who is upset by Kaos’ obsession with Alita, is swayed over Den’s words of rebellion against Zalem. Reunited with her dog, she sides with the crippled Den and Alita decides to spare Den’s life so to catch up with Kaos. Eventually a rainstorm begins and Alita reaches Kaos to find him digitally possessed by Den, Den already having a transmitter implanted into him. Den fights Alita once again. Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 19 Nov 2023 | 130 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 5 | 00:45:36 | |
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”
| |||
| 18 Oct 2019 | 027 - Junji Ito's Dissolving Classroom | 01:06:52 | |
The horror Mangaka returns to the genre with this gross out gory social commentary of cancel culture and body dysmorphia. Listen to the start for the chance to win your own copy of Dissolving Classroom, skip to minute 19:25 if you want to ignore the synopsis.
Junji Ito’s Dissolving Classroom (a.k.a. Yokai Kyoshitsu)
By Junji Ito Translation by Melissa Tanaka
Published in the Japanese Motto! Magazine in 2015, and in English in 2017 by Vertical Comics.
Talking about the following stories/chapters:
Dissolving Classroom Dissolving Beauty Dissolving Apartment Chizumi in love Interview with the Devil
Topics:
· ‘Dissolving Classroom’ and the concluding chapter, ‘Interview with the Devil’ being a commentary on cancel culture and the need for celebrities to apologise in today’s culture for fear of fan backlash. Ariana Grande, we’re looking at you! · ‘Dissolving Beauty’ being a commentary on body dysmorphia and anorexia in an age of social media. · Did the last chapter have a downer ending?
Synopsis:
Dissolving Classrom –
The new boy in class, Yuuma Azawa, is known for his overly apologetic behaviour and becomes a target for bullies because of it. Keiko Arisu befriends him out of pity but is quickly stalked and harassed by a creepy girl on her way home. The girl demands to suck out and feast upon her brains. In an attempt to flee, Keio gets ran over crossing the road.
As Keiko recovers in hospital, Yuuma apologises for his sister, Chizumi, the girl who scared and chased Keiko into the road. Yuuma visits her in hospital and it becomes apparent that keiko is feeling the soothing effects of his apologies, as if her mind and body, not just her worries, were melting away. Behind Yuuma’s back, Keiko finds his home in order to speak to Chizumi and befriend her.
Chizumi explains that her brother doesn’t apologise for her sake but for himself, he is addicted to apologising and has become a devil worshipper. Keiko is scared away when Chizumi reveals the decrepit heads of her dead parents, their brains having been melted away.
Chizumi believes the heads were fake but she is still left unsettled when a flu like sickness grips her parents and herself. On her return to school she finds that her class has become sick as well. Keiko goes to protect Yuuma from his bullies but finds that the bullies all physically melt in front of her. Chizumi arrives in the middle of a devastating attack on the school, everyone is melting away into goo. She explains to Keiko that Yuuma has the power to melt people via his apologies and Chizumi herself loves to drink and lick up what’s left of them. Keiko flees from the siblings and survives.
Chizumi in love –
As the two siblings settle in a new place to live, Chizumi falls in love with a young boy of the same age, Tomohito, who is quickly stalked by Chizumi. Tomohito’s parents melt away due to Yuuma’s apologising but with a bit of luck, and through help of the spirits of those who were melted, Tomohito is able to escape Yuuma and Chizumi.
Interview with the Devil –
Eventually a journalist called Hamaoka is able to track down the siblings and bring a paralysed Keiko to meet with Yuuma. Keiko can’t walk but is able to manage some speech. Upon seeing Yuuma she is unsettled and starts to scream. Chizumi is surprised to see that Keiko is alive, considering any girl that Yuuma dates, tends to have their face physically melt whenever he compliments their looks.
Yuuma burns the remains of his dead parents and flees town with Chizumi. Tomohito is found dead which makes Keiko the only survivor of the Dissolving incident. Hamaoka explains that Keiko developed psychic powers from her brain damage and is able to know where Yuuma is, he puts her hand on a map and her finger guides the way. Eventually Hamaoka manages to set up a press conference for Yuuma and Chizumi with plans to live stream it. To Keiko’s horror, Hamaoka brings her to watch. Yuuma doesn’t actually confess but apologises for the murders towards everyone at the conference and the world. As for what happened to the people who watched it and where the Aizawa siblings are now, well that will be left to your imagination.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 03 Jun 2023 | 116 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 1 | 01:01:13 | |
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.
| |||
| 08 Jan 2023 | 098 - Death Note vol. 11 | 00:31:49 | |
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:
Real World Settings of Death Note:
| |||
| 04 Jul 2020 | 053 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 11 | 01:06:23 | |
Steven and James talk about End of Eva, losing friends and canned coffee. Skip the synopsis @ 9:10 mark. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
053: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 11 Chapters 71 to 76, “Descendent of Adam” and “Final Enemy” By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen, William Flanagan and David Ury
Topics:
Other references: Coca Cola UCC (Japanese Coffee products)
Synopsis: Shinji hears the last phone call from a schoolfriend, his whole relationships are dismantled before him but one Kaworu Nagisa insists on being his friend. Shinji however can’t reciprocate. Afterwards Kaworu is revealed to be Tabris, the final angel and a descendent of Adam, whereas the entirety of the human race only descended from Lilith. SEELE, being the keepers of the dead sea scrolls, believe that humanity are the false successors of earth. Shinji’s father, Gendo Ikari, consumes Adam and it attaches to him as a symbiotic body. Under orders from SEELE Tabris takes Asuka’s Eva and attacks the base of NERV so to contact Lilith and bring destruction to the human race. Shinji is sent to stop Tabris but struggles to do so, amongst the struggle an apparition appears to watch over them. Tabris explains to Shinji that the goal is not necessarily to destroy the human race but to the rebuild it as one single being, ascending humanity into godhood. Shinji begs Tabris to retreat but eventually Tabris chooses not to fight Shinji and instead gives his life to him, he tells Shinji that SEELE would want him dead either way but Tabris can find meaning in his life if Shinji fulfils his last request, which is to die by Shinji’s hands. Shinji hesitates but grants the angel’s wish. SEELE now plans to conduct their human instrumentality project and merge the human race as one. Gendo has plans of his own instrumentality by withholding Rei Ayanami, who is key to his success. Shinji has no friends. He visits the catatonic Asuka and tries to wake her up only for Asuka to attack him. He sees Rei, but being a clone, she has no real memory of Shinji’s friendship. When NERV HQ is under siege, threatening the life of everyone there, Shinji’s depressive state freezes him into doing nothing as he bears the guilt of Kaworu’s death.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 30 Oct 2021 | 073 - Battle Angel Alita vol. 8 | 00:34:53 | |
Only near the conclusion of the original manga run do Steven and James find out that they have been reading different translations. Which spurs talk about the differences between the two. Including the original video anime. Which also had two separate English translations! Skip synopsis @4:30 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 073: Battle Angel Alita vol. 8 Chapters 42 to 47 “One Last Broadcast” and By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown Continuing after the events of the Panzer Bride saga, the rebel leader that is Den pontificates on the reason why he is still alive after fighting the TUNED agent Alita, knowing full well that his true body is that of Kaos’ and that Alita could kill Kaos at any time if she so chooses. Koas realises this, with his telemetric powers he touches the blade which was used in the fight between Alita and Den. Once Kaos gains memories of the object’s past, he realizes that he is Alita’s hostage. Kaos makes a final radio broadcast to not only warn the people of the rebels but to inspire peace. Alita decides not to kill Kaos knowing that he does not share the same murderous tendencies as Den, however she does lose respect for him on his persistence in wanting Alita’s love. Especially when it comes to his telemetry as he should know better that Alita’s heart belongs to another. Kaos reveals where Ido may be staying and as Alita visits Ido she finds that the man has erased all his memory, including his memories of Alita. Ido’s accomplices gives Alita the last video that he recorded for Alita. Within the video Ido tells her how the mad scientist, Desty Nova, revived his life, however speaking to Nova has scared Ido into sharing Nova’s same madness and thus he decides to erase his memory before apologising to Alita. Alita leaves Ido, unable to rejoice with the only father figure she knows. Meanwhile Kaos seeks out Desty Nova, by confronting the mad man who is his father he dares to gain a semblance of intimacy with Alita, and the chance to build upon the memories that he can truly call his own. Sadly, Kaos is defeated only to suffer more abuse, and as Alita makes way to Nova, she encounters a mysterious figure and recognises this person’s acrobatic movements as her own “Panzer Kunst”. Alita is told by the director of TUNED operations that this new antagonist is AR unit 2 of 12. And that before she can meet Nova she is to be tested as an agent in battle. Alita’s life is saved by her TUNED private operator, Lou, yet the battle itself cost Alita an arm, a foot and an eyeball. Via a transmissible electric shock, Alita is woken from her rest by the director. She is told that the rebels were defeated (apparently by AR unit 10) and is reminded that her job is to apprehend Nova, thus Alita still carries on, she’s smart enough not to enter the front once she gets to Nova’s place. Yet within Nova’s lair, Alita finds herself on the old Motorball circuit that she knows well, waiting for her is the ghost of the athlete she defeated all those many years ago. Ready for another match, as is Alita. Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 21 Oct 2023 | 126 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 1 | 00:42:05 | |
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.
| |||
| 07 Nov 2021 | 076 - Ghost in the Shell | 01:00:17 | |
Our cyborg season ends with possibly the most influential cyberpunk manga. One that would inspire the creators of the Matrix movies with its mix of action and Cartesian philosophy. Known by its native title, Koukaku Kidoutai, "Mobile Armored Riot Police" it lives up to both names! Skip summary @ 13:06 076: Ghost in the Shell By Masamune Shirow English translation by Frederic L Schodt , Toren Smith and Stephen Paul With Lettering by Scott O. Brown Set in the year 2029, the world has advanced in terms of cybernetics, computerization and robotics. This is a possible future where flesh and blood bodies are replaceable and interchangeable, brains can be hacked into, altering memories and nurses are super sexy automatonic dolls, yet in this cyber-punk world exists a government task force known as section 9. A ragtag bunch of military trained agents who fight cyber-terrorism with the help of their spider like tanks, the Fuchikomas and their cyborg Major. Mamoru Oshii would direct the seminal animated movie adaptation. This would be inspired by many chapters more so than others, including the chapters ‘Junk Jungle’, ‘Bye Bye Clay’ and ‘Ghost Coast’. Where Major Motoko Kusanagi encounters the Puppet master, a hacker that claims to have no corporeal body and is in fact a new conscious life form born from the net. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence would base the story on Robot Rondo, where young girls have their consciousness digitally copied and enslaved in the body of robots. Masamune Shiro would continue to write more Ghost in the Shell stories in the tomes ‘Man Machine Interface’ and ‘Human Error Processor’. Soon after publication, Ghost in the Shell would become a successful multimedia franchise.
The Problem with Remakes and the Evil Demon of Images: On the podcast James’ problem with the 2017 film is how it remakes the 1995 Mamoru Oshii classic. He equates his gripe to the same sort of gripe that Jean Baudrillard does with simulacrum, simulacrum itself isn’t just delegated to the issues of Hollywood remakes but everything that encompasses the internet and virtual-reality. It creates a feedback loop with technology and the virtual becoming “more real than real” where people learn about sex not from the real world but from what they see in porn, a glamorous simulation of the real. A digestible if not regurgitated form of that which was once real, original, or authentic. Think of the movie Flash Gordon (1980) How many people have experienced that movie through the lens of another? Ted (2012) specifically? And how many people know that the 80’s movie itself was based on a 1930’s serial? The result is that we have others relaying their experiences to us and the risk is that it can easily become watered down and devoid of its original meaning if not given a new resonating meaning. Especially when taken outside of its original context or poorly recontextualised. For more you can listen to the Chobits episode where James first speaks of Baudrillard or better yet, read the words of Baudrillard himself.
“Motoko’s Choice” - Transhumanism and the Philosophy of Dualism: Renee Decartes Dualism implies that thoughts not only inhabit their own space but can also exist outside from the brain, the “res extensa” as he called it, through Dualism there is the implication that the Puppet Master’s Network is multi-dimensional. Currently a digitized earth would not be enough, because the limit of virtual space is real universal space. Shiro doesn’t explain that quantum computing exists in this story, neither does aliens or space travel exists (except for travel on the virtual confines of earth’s internet), therefore Motoko’s net is limited to earth, the res extensa of dualist philosophy. As of 2021, a capitalist world of doge coin, disinformation and non-fungible tokens, Motoko may have a poor deal. Yet an exception to this is that Decartes’ “res cogitans” is as large as all living beings present and future. Motoko could choose to live her life in the dreams and memories of others, she could live as a bat or a cat, especially if said memories and experiences are digitized/quantized or synthesized to future transhumanist ideals, expanding her consciousness, the net and her world, certainly Motoko/Puppeteers children could live like this. Motoko’s choice to fuse with the puppeteer could be meaningless as future humans move away from carbon-based life, but one thing for sure is that Motoko will give it meaning. And she will live a meaningful life. Be it within a micro-verse of the res cogitans or macro-verse of the res extensa. “Digitizing yourself isn’t growing, it’s not a macro way of exploring the universe, it’s a micro way. You can’t make any more lemonade if you don’t have enough lemons for it.” This doesn’t mean that Motoko is right or wrong in her choice, especially if she’s preparing for an unknown future, in fact this may be a naturally human response when granted such new powers and opportunities.
Further Topics discussed:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 13 Nov 2022 | 091 - Death Note vol. 4 | 00:35:23 | |
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.
| |||
| 21 Nov 2021 | 077 - Solanin | 01:04:10 | |
Not for the light hearted. You ever felt like you don’t know how to grow up or that you just don’t want to? This maybe a manga for you, a cautionary tale about the pride of youth and the depression of letting your dreams be your master, instead of mastering them! Inio Asano’s Solanin. 077: Solanin By Inio Asano Translation by JN Productions Lettering by Analiese Christman English publication by Viz Media Solanin tells the story of the unsatisfied Tokyoite Meiko Inoue, unhappy with her office job as a post-grad 20-year-old she quits, and with her savings spends a year so to find her passion. She lives with her boyfriend, Naruo Taneda. A part time graphic designer/illustrator who is also disillusioned by the adult working life and so quits his job to chase his dream of being in a successful rock band. Spurred on by Meiko he gathers his old band mates. His friends Rip and Kato. Rip works as a drugstore clerk who often helps an old man with Dementia find his way to the post box. Kato is the boyfriend of Meiko’s closest female friend Ai, Kato flirts with the ambitious rock chic Ayukawa, and this doesn’t go unnoticed from Ai. In fact, Ai allows such behaviour from Kato, letting him have his fun whilst he is still young. Ai is confident that Kato will eventually settle down to mundanity and she’ll be the one who is there for him. When it comes to getting a contract, Taneda and friends are asked to be the band for a manufactured pop idol. Meiko speaks out for the group and refuses the offer. A crisis looms when Taneda realises, he is not going to be a successful rock musician any time soon, struggling to live up to his own pride, he walks out on Meiko. In his absence she listens to the band’s CD, his song ‘Solanin’ makes an impression on her and she comes to terms that Taneda was singing about breaking up. Luckily Meiko has the support of her friends and after sometime Taneda tries to make amends with her, he tells her that he got his old job back and is now working full time. One has to wonder Wherever Taneda is truly happy with his lot in life since on his way back to Meiko he runs through a red light. Looking at the clear blue sky, his last thoughts are of getting home to Meiko and singing her a love song. Weeks eventually go by and Meiko gets a job at a flower shop, she can no longer live vicariously through Taneda or project her unsatisfied feelings onto him now that he has gone. But thanks to a visit from Taneda’s father, Meiko is told that in order to have any meaningful role in such traumatic events, that it is best she takes the personal calling of proving that Taneda existed. Meiko then picks up Taneda’s guitar and makes the decision to take Taneda’s place in the band as the new lead. Through her practice she learns how to play Solanin and rediscovers that the song isn’t about breaking up with someone, it’s instead a song about the grief of transcendence and parting ways with your old self. Meiko performs Solanin to a live audience and she rocks it. Through the precious moments of peace, knowing that such times may not last, Meiko learns to forever cherish her friends. Knowing that there is true satisfaction in having them in her life. Topics:
“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; The Climax and final line of the Poem reads: “Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
If anyone feels that they or a friend/loved one needs counselling services there is always help. English speakers in the US can go here, there are also services within the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. Alternatively you can listen at the end of this episode for some helplines that you can call. All information herein is accurate as of the time the episode was published. Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 05 Mar 2023 | 105 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 3 | 00:41:27 | |
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.
| |||
| 27 Aug 2022 | 081 - I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow vol. 3 | 00:46:49 | |
The boys continue reading Aono’s slice of life manga, as the story explores the main character’s impact on those around him. And after 80 episodes and reading 18 manga, we finally see our first instance of a trans-female character. Here’s hoping many more surprises and new stories are told and read! Skip synopsis @ 3:06 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
081: I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow vol. 3 Chapters 11 to 16 ‘The Times’ and ‘The Guy’s Melody’ With Bonus Chapters ‘Mister Murakami, Manga Editor ‘and ‘Life of Tanaka’ By Shunju Aono Translation by Akemi Wegmuller Lettering by Steven Rhyse
Shizuo’s journey to become a mangaka is tested by his father, who refuses to believe that his son has any talent, alongside a job slinging burgers that takes a spiritual toll he struggles. At first Shizuo escapes into a fantasy of what his life may ideally be like in the next five years, only for it to end with an honest conversation with himself and God. To increase his luck of getting published Shizuo gives himself the pen name “Person Nakamura” and works as an assistant for a successful mangaka. Albeit he does the assistant job only as a favour to his crush, the editor Mayumi Meguro. When Shizuo meets his friends Miyata and Ichinozawa, they tell him that they have decided to start a bakery business together, having been somewhat inspired by Shizuo’s tenacity and willingness to chase his dreams. Shizuo himself is asked to give a unique name for the bakery shop, but his two friends are not the only ones to take inspiration, Shizuo’s editor, Mr. Yu Murakami, leaves Ekke productions to live as their honest self, a woman hostess. Leaving Shizuo stuck to find a new editor.
Topics:
“I’m middle aged and… (I’m very conciliatory, I totally get it, I speak my mind)
Other references:
| |||
| 13 Jul 2019 | 009 - Battle Royale vol. 2 | 01:08:33 | |
Schoolkids are forced to fight to the death until only one survives. Battle Royale is an explicit Manga, for adults only. Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury | |||
| 08 Apr 2023 | 109 - Welcome to the NHK vol. 2 | 00:34:27 | |
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.
Topics:
First love and bad luck in relationships · Chasing girls · Suicide pacts · Depression · Drug dependency
| |||
| 22 Jan 2023 | 100 - Death Note Pilot ⁓ The Taro Kagami Story | 00:28:24 | |
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:
| |||
| 15 Jan 2023 | 099 - Death Note vol. 12 | 00:55:40 | |
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:
Notable differences from the manga and the 2006 movie adaptations:
| |||
| 13 May 2023 | 114 - Welcome to the NHK vol. 7 | 00:29:25 | |
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.
| |||
| 11 Apr 2020 | 044 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 2 | 00:40:13 | |
Shinji Ikari runs away! Which gives us time to reflect on the thing all teens do. Which is to rebel! Skip us chewing the fat/synopsis @ 5:50
Theme music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury.
Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 2 Chapters 7 to 12.
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Adapted to English by Lillian Olsen, Fred Burke + Carl Gustav Horn
Topics:
Synopsis:
Shinji arrives in his new home, Misato Katsuragi’s apartment. He is introduced to her pet penguin, Penpen and her pig sty mess of a home. Her fridge is full of nothing but beer, she eats TV dinners and gives Shinji the majority of chores. Decided by a fair game of rock, paper, scissors of course!
Shinji attends school and rumour quickly spreads that he was the pilot in the fight with the Angel. He is flattered by the attention but by confirming the rumours he exposes himself to criticism. A classmate, Toji, blames Shinji’s sloppy fight for putting his sister in hospital. During classroom breaks Toji beats up Shinji.
In a surprise attack, a new Angel appears, merely 3 weeks after Shinji and Rei fought the last one. Toji and his friend Aida sneak out from their shelter to record video of the fight. During the fight, Shinji’s power line is cut and thus he is forced to fight with a battery backup. Toji and Aida almost die as Shinji’s Eva falls towards them. Shinji spots them and goes against Misato’s orders by opening the entry plug to the Eva. He allows Toji and Aida to sit beside him inside the cockpit for their own protection.
Shinji refuses Misato’s order to retreat from the fight, he fights the Angel as the clock countdowns the battery. By the time the battery dies, the angel dies too.
Afterwards Misato berates Shinji for his defiance, he remains detached and cavalier both about the situation and his relationship with Misato. She slaps him.
Shinji runs away, he briefly meets Aida before he is apprehended by NERV agents. Aida envies the position of Eva pilot but Shinji, when given the choice, refuses to pilot Eva. Shinji is given his belongings and cast out of NERV. When Toji and Aida go to Misato’s home out of concern for Shinji, They tell Misato that although Shinji acts calm and nihilistic, he is still just a child. He will act like a spoilt brat when not appreciated. Misato runs out and stops Shinji before he gets on the train out of town. Shinji knows he has nowhere else to go and can only stay where he feels he is needed. Misato asks for Shinji to come back home.
Pop culture references/Product placement:
Pocky Yebisu Beer
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 17 Jul 2021 | 060 - Chobits vol. 3 | 00:43:24 | |
We talk about true love in the context of cheating, extramarital affairs, hyper realism and simulations! And is there parallels between Pinnochio and Chi? Skip plot summary @3:22 060: Chobits vol. 3 Chapters 25 to 36 By CLAMP Translation by Shirley Kubo With Lettering by John Clark We talk about true love in the context of cheating, extramarital affairs, hyper realism and simulations! And is there parallels between Pinnochio and Chi? Skip plot summary @3:22 Topics
Plot Summary Hideki spends his morning watching Chi sleep and wondering what happened the night before. He still has Sumomo with him and when he tries to contact Sumomo’s owner Shimbo, he finds that he has run off with his teacher to a romantic getaway. It becomes clear that their teacher is having an extra marital affair. The teacher Takako Shimizu recalls Hideki’s words about love and marriage, that you can’t help who you fall in love with but if it is true love, they must be willing to live with the betrayal and guilt that comes from having an affair. It’s not long after this that Shimbo gives ownership of Sumomo to Hideki. And Hideki gets Chi a job giving away sample pastries. With the money she buys lewd magazines for Hideki and the new volumes of her favourite book “A city with no people” But Hideki starts to question his feelings about not buying Chi gifts, after all Chi isn’t human but like many Persecoms she is made to resemble one and Hideki wonders why they are made like this. Meanwhile two mysterious characters leave behind them a path of destruction as they trace the steps of where Chi was, when Chi seems to have an emotional response they are able to pinpoint the position. It is unknown if these two characters, Zima and Dita, know they are being monitored by Hideki’s Landlady Chitose. And when Hideki receives an anonymous grainy image containing what appears to be Chi and Chitose in a lab, Chi has no memory of this and Hideki starts to become concerned enough to ask Minoru Kokubunji for help. And so, a mystery regarding Persecoms and Chobits starts to brew.
Pop culture references/Product Placement:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 14 Mar 2020 | 041 - DNA² ~ File 4 | 01:12:20 | |
Warning: we speak about distressing scenes. Podcast originally recorded on 19/02/2020 lots of talk on "love rivals", contact: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com DNA² By Masakazu Katsura
Topics:
DCM (DNA Control Medicine), in a previous episode we called it DMC by mistake.
In reality Kotomi would have been beaten up if not raped if she could not be saved by Junta. And the idea that she needs a man to save her gives no respite.
Technically interesting Moments:
Ami is able to ditch Karin’s tracking bug (a love totem ring) but Junta can’t wash out the bug from his hair.
Real Talk:
Ami vs Kotomi (when friends become love rivals) Who would be better for Junta?
Ami: Pros – loves Junta for who he is and not what he is becoming. Handles rejection very well, in other words, she isn’t selfish when it comes to Junta’s feelings.
Con – Could hold Junta back. + lacks confidence and can’t initiate. (older lovers, the long haul)
Kotomi: Pros – wants to improve herself + wants to help Junta improve himself too. Helping each other with their goals.
Cons – Using Junta as a crutch/remedy to her personal problems, needs affirmation from Junta and lacks confidence. + Loves Mega-playboy, not Junta. + losing Ami as a friend/needs Ami’s support. + needy and low maintenance. (Young virginal lovers)
Product placement:
“Contucky Friend Chicken” is used as a placeholder for a certain famous fried chicken establishment.
Plot Summary
Karin explains the previous events to Ami and is asked to prevent Junta from becoming the mega-playboy. Ami takes the news very well but is shy when it comes to expressing her feelings to Junta. Ami’s friend, Kotomi Takanashi feels the same way and it quickly becomes clear that both Ami and Kotomi have feelings for Junta. Karin does her best to pre-empt this and puts a tracking bug on Junta yet Junta steals Karin’s monitor since he’s wise to Karin’s act. Karin takes Junta to Ami.
Kotomi gets flatulent when nervous, similar to Junta being sick when he is attracted to girls, and so she decides to get a makeover to help with her confidence. Both Junta and Ami are astonished by Kotomi’s transformation, and when Kotomi asks Junta out he starts to oblige.
Junta and Kotomi begin to date in hopes of fixing their physiological maladies, Kotomi practices to not fart when nervous and Junta tries not to get sick around Kotomi. Because of this Kotomi’s confidence grows strong and she is chosen to compete in the Olympics. A jealous contender to Kotomi, Mako Iwasaki, plans to ruin her. She spies on Junta and is able to retrieve Karin’s monitor from the trash, all because Junta falsely believes he washed the bug out of his hair. Then she gets the assistance of her psychic brother. With his help she is able to humiliate Kotomi during her demonstration.
Upset and devasted, Kotomi decides to give up competing in Germany and stay with Junta as boyfriend and girlfriend. Karin, who by this point has multiple tracking devices and monitors, is able to see that the Mega-playboy in Junta is becoming a threat.
Helplines:
For UK listeners:
The national rape crisis number is 0808 802 9999
The National Helpline is provided by Rape Crisis South London. It offers confidential emotional support, information and referral details. Callers can have a one-off call lasting up to 40 minutes. Open between 12:00 -14:30 and Website: rapecrisis.org.uk You can find your nearest rape crisis centre by contacting them and using their website.
For US Listeners:
The national helpline for rape and sexual abuse is 800 656 4673 You can also access 24/7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.
For Australia:
You can call the national helpline for rape and sexual abuse on 1800 737 732 Their helpline is open 24/7.
If you are in urgent need of assistance call emergency services or if you wish to report a crime then call your local police number.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 05 Nov 2023 | 128 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 3 | 00:44:17 | |
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)
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.
Twitter/X
| |||
| 14 Oct 2023 | 125 - Goodbye, Eri | 00:46:20 | |
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.
| |||
| 06 Jun 2020 | 051 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 9 | 00:49:13 | |
We talk about how Kawaoryu makes his presence known as Asuka's journey takes a dark turn. And unlike the anime, Shinji doesn't like Kawaoryu. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 051: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 9 Chapter 57 to 63, the’ fifth child’ to ‘Returning Fire’
By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Adapted to English by Lillian Olsen, Mari Morimoto, Fred Burke + Carl Gustav Horn
Topics:
Synopsis:
Misato tells Shinji to return to school whilst Asuka is struggling to sync with her Eva. On his way Shinji meets a stray kitten and Kawaoryu Nagisa, who is the 5th child to pilot Eva and sent by SEELE. Shinji is upset with Kawaoryu when he attempts a mercy killing on the kitten. Shinji takes Kawaoryu to school but shinji is ashamed to face his friends after the death of Toji suzuhara so he decides to ditch it.
Kawaoryu follows him and asks him to take him to NERV HQ. Asuka meets Kawaoryu and immediately feels threatened by his presence. The Angel, Arael , appears over Tokyo-3 and quickly results in Asuka’s EVA unit 1 being attacked. In the form of light-waves it is able to penetrate through to Asuka’s mind and brings forth traumatic childhood memories. The memories of her mother’s psychosis, surviving an attack from her mother and ultimately her mother’s death.
Rei is able to defeat the angel by using the spear of longiness on Gendo’s command. This surprises both, Fuyutski, Misato and Kawaoryu and results in Rei losing the spear as it gets lost in lunar orbit.
Asuka becomes catatonic and Shinji’s relationship with Rei remains limited in terms of their friendship outside of NERV.
Kawaoryu takes over as EVA unit 1’s pilot. Defying all logic, Kawaoryu can maintain perfect sync with Asuka’s EVA. Once another angel attacks, Shinji is left again left to stand by as Kawaoryu and Rei fight it. Kawaoryu is exceptional in the fight but fails to harm it. Rei however isn’t so lucky. Being an encroachment type it attaches itself to Rei and like with Asuka’s fight with Arael and Toji’s deafeat this too seems bad. Very bad for Rei.
Pop culture and other references:
From Beethoven’s 9th symphony, it’s the 4th and final movement of the symphony. Used during protests e.g. Berlin wall It’s on record as being the anthem of the European union since 1985. Over 1 hour long, even in it’s day that was very long. The Lyrics based on Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem and it Premiered in 1824 at vienna’s Theater am Kärntnertor Ode to Joy also appears in the films A Clockwork Orange and Die Hard. In the Anime Kawaoryu is humming it but in the manga and Evangelion rebuild movie he plays a piano rearrangement.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 18 Dec 2022 | 096 - Death Note vol. 9 | 00:36:15 | |
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:
Feel free to follow us through the following links:
| |||
| 06 May 2023 | 113 - Welcome to the NHK vol. 6 | 00:25:29 | |
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:
| |||
| 19 Feb 2023 | 103 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 1 | 00:28:06 | |
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.
| |||
| 23 May 2020 | 049 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 7 | 00:30:52 | |
We find characters whose traumatic past prevents them from loving each other a la Sophie’s choice, and Shinji also has to carry that weight. Also Tabris (Kawaoryu) is introduced, way earlier than in the anime. Skip plot summary @ 4:29
Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 7 Chapters 41 to 48, “Fist and Eradication”. By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen
Topics:
Synopsis: After the death of Toji Shinji vows never to pilot Eva unit 1 and decides to leave NERV, unfortunately this leaves NERV HQ vulnerable to another angel attack. Unit 1 rejects all substitute pilots, including the dummy plug system. Out of desperation both Asuka and Rei are left to defend the Geofront. Asuka’s unit 2 is decapitated and Rei’s kamikaze methods fail.
Kaji talks to Shinji about survivor guilt and sacrificing personal happiness in order to get Shinji back into piloting Eva and to compensate for Toji’s death. Shinji returns to NERV goes to fight the angel. He is overpowered, Unit 1’s armour beaks but the armour itself is merely a restraint. It results in the Eva having a will all its own, it goes berserk and kills the angel. NERV manages to capture the rampant Eva but the cockpit is stuck, Shinii is lost inside, having been reduced to LCL, what was suppose to be an amniotic liquid made to connect Shinji with the Eva has now turned him into primordial soup.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com | |||
| 17 Dec 2023 | 134 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 9 | 00:40:05 | |
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.
| |||
| 27 Nov 2022 | 093 - Death Note vol. 6 | 00:24:17 | |
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:
| |||
| 09 Aug 2019 | 015 - Battle Royale vol. 8 | 00:46:35 | |
015: Battle Royale vol. 8 By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Takaguchi
School kids are forced to kill each other until only one survives! We talk about rape and child abuse on this episode. For your convenience we’ve provided the following helplines:
UK SAMARITANS: 116 123
JAPAN: 03-5774-0992
USA SUICIDE PREVENTION: 1-800-273-8255
USA NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE 800 - 656 - HOPE (4673)
We talk about the following topics on this episode:
· NOTE* TRIGGER WARNING – rape + child abuse (as we talk about Mitsuko Souma) · Jamie Walton’s work on the Wayne Foundation, a non-profit organisation made to protect the young from sex exploitation. You can listen to her interview with Kevin Smith on his following podcast. And you can visit the Wayne Foundation website if you want to see more. · Using expressionism and surrealism in manga to appropriately censor, but also horrify. · The optimistic characters in Battle Royale, are they realistic or unreal? · Opposites attract and the femme fatale trope.
POP CULTURE REFERENCES: “A star is born” A 1937 film, Esther Blodgett is the titular star, who falls for a self-destructive man. Remade with Judy garland and once again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and another time in 2018 with Lady Gaga.
The following is a plot synopsis of Volume 8:
Since the Battle Royale program began the majority of students have been killed. The strongest competitors being Kazuo Kiriyama and Mitsuko Soma. Soma encounters Hiroki Sugimura who is fully aware of Soma having killed his best friend, Takako Chigusa. Soma fails to seduce Sugimura and instead toys with his peaceful and pacifistic nature, buying enough time to distract Sugimura and flee.
Soma’s next encounter involves two boys, Tadakatsu Hatagami and YuichiroTakiguchi. Despite one being an anime geek and the other a sports lover, the two boys are best friends and have developed a trusting relationship throughout the Battle Royale. Soma’s plan is to divide these two whilst she’s caught in their custody. Yuichiro is the more trusting of the two and whilst Katsu naps, he loosens her cuffs and in turn Soma develops a genuine sense of intimacy with the charming Yuichiro.
Katsu wakes from his nap and decides to switch places with Yuichiro so to watch over Soma. She quickly plays on Katsu’s jealousy of Yuichiro and eventually she works up the sexual tension to get his guard down. She lures him into having sex and before she can get out a hidden razor blade, a cat jumps out of the bushes foiling her attempt. She doesn’t kill Katsu, but merely cuts his cheek.
Yuichiro wakes up confused, Katsu tells the truth but Soma tells Yuichiro that she was raped. In a demand for trust, Yuichiro asks for his gun back and Katsu is willing to give it, that’s until he spots Soma glancing at her sickle. Katsu does not hesitate and fires his gun at Soma. Yuichiro gets in the way of the bullet. This makes Katsu distraught and Soma uses this moment to grab the sickle and kill Katsu.
Soma switches her behaviour from killing Yuichiro to feeling guilty about his bullet wound. The guilt overwhelms her and in an act of pity she promptly rapes him. Yuichiro is bewildered and in pain yet he notices something about Soma’s mood swings and the look in her eyes. There are two Mitsuko Soma’s. A past trauma she endured has resulted in her having split personalities. Soma, or the cold and calculating Soma, eventually kills Yuichiro and proceeds to her next target.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 24 Dec 2023 | 135 - Petshop of Horrors vol. 10 | 00:37:51 | |
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.
X/Twitter
| |||
| 08 Jul 2023 | 121 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 6 | 00:35:24 | |
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.
| |||
| 30 Sep 2023 | 123 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vol. 1 | 00:35:31 | |
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. · 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. | |||
| 07 Dec 2019 | 031 - Sundome vol. 2 | 00:45:14 | |
Kazuto Okada relies too much on the saucy cheesecake spectacle of panty shots and cleavage when in reality he shines with comedy. skip the synopsis @ minute 9:00 contact: WeAppreciateManga@gmail.com Sundome vol. 2
By: Kazuto Okada Translation by: Christine Schilling Lettering by: Roberto Flores
Topics:
Further reading: The Art of Censorship in Post-war Japan ( by Kirsten Cather)
Synopsis (and first impression): Hideo runs errands for the sick Kurumi only to almost get ran over whilst crossing the road. Soaked by the crush water bottles he was carrying, Kurumi lets him into her apartment, where apparently, she lives alone. Since his pants are wet, Kurumi let’s Hideo wear her gym pants which ends up giving him an erection.
The next day Hideo sees that Kurumi is wearing those same gym shorts, hot and bothered by this distraction he gets his arse kicked by his gym teacher. The alumnus of the Roman Club (a.k.a. an Old-Boy) visits the club members and helps them in strength training at the dome. He also wears a mask to protect his identity, it’s straight up a gimp mask.
The Oldboy has been monitoring the club members, and when Kurumi is cryptic and asks him if his connections have given information on her, he responds by saying “in a way yes”.
Throughout her exploits, Kurumi is able to tease and seduce Hideo. She says to him that she was once a boy in order to get him to stop masturbating but later retracts her statement. During a Roman club sleep together, she touches Hideo, Hideo feels guilty but she lies to him, and tells him that it was a wet dream, “an act of god” and that he couldn’t help it. The terms of the relationship are clear. Hideo can’t touch himself to the point of orgasm unless Kurumi tells him to.
Where ever Kurumi is a spy, sent by the Old-boy’s to test the Roman club’s strict policy of no sex or girlfriends, is something that remains a mystery.
(Although this was a disappointing volume, the page flow is good considering how much dialogue there is and how it’s not an action manga. Moments of physical comedy prove to be Kazuto’s best, such as the drop kick to the ex-president being a good example. – James)
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
| |||
| 15 Jun 2019 | 002 - A Silent Voice vol. 2 | 00:51:01 | |
We switch perspective and learn more about Shoko. Author interview: For the first time James struggles to identify the gender of a new mysterious character, and wonders if such an issue is noteworthy for the episodes to come. James is also reminded of his own experience with bullying; especially the unique experience of being a target of bullying whilst having a sibling. We speak briefly about the character of Ishida’s mom and her confrontation with her suicidal son. And also about the difference between saying the word “cute” in English compared to Japanese and the “Dahme” aesthetic. | |||
| 14 Aug 2021 | 064 - Chobits vol. 7 | 00:55:04 | |
Spoilers ahead as James and Will discuss the penultimate volume of the CLAMP manga, the one where we find out exactly who Chi a.k.a. Elda and her sister Chobit, Freya, really are. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
064: Chobits vol.7 Chapters 73 to 81 By CLAMP Translation by Shirley Kubo Lettering by John Clark
Synopsis: Upset from the events of the previous volume, Minoru explains to Yuzuki that he loves her for herself and does not think of her as a replacement for his sister. Later, Chitose reveals to Hideki that Chi was originally named Elda, built alongside her identical sister, Freya. The two were the daughters that Chitose could never have and so she would act as their mother. When Freya fell in love with her creator, Chitose's husband, the emotional stress destroyed her. Out of respect to her dying sister, Chi would take her sister’s heart and reboot herself so that she would carry both her own and her Freya’s soul. Chi herself would be able to find a soulmate, someone she can love but to avoid the mistake of falling in love with the wrong person again she would have no memory or contact with her creator and mother. Chitose reveals that she wrote A City With No People to help Chi with her search for her soulmate. Hideki runs off to find Chi, while Chi decides that Hideki is her soulmate and activates her unique programming. Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 15 Oct 2022 | 087 - All You Need is Kill vol. 2 | 00:53:32 | |
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…
Differences between the 2014 American movie and the manga:
Other references:
| |||
| 19 Mar 2023 | 107 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 5 | 00:40:14 | |
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.
| |||
| 06 Aug 2022 | 078 - DownFall | 00:56:06 | |
James and Steven talk about Inio Asano's Downfall, a manga about a manga artist who is miserable with how their life has turned out. Can you be happy making a hit manga? Or is their a wrong way to do it? Throughout the episode we speak of mindfulness, sex work, artist block and depression, listener discretion is advised. Skip synopsis @ 6:00
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
078: Downfall By Inio Asano Translation by Jocelyne Allen Lettering by Joanna Estep
Synopsis: Ten years after breaking off a relationship, the Mangaka Kaoru Fukuzawa experiences his series coming to an end. On the night of celebration his wife and fellow manga editor Nozomi Machida, messages him that their home is occupied by a drunken friend. She advises him to kill time elsewhere so Kaoru spends the night crying into the lap of a sex worker. He is disenfranchised with his work; he dislikes manga that sells well, even if it is his own, and is saddened that his wife spends more time with what he deems to be inferior mangaka than himself. Struggling to find meaning in creating manga that sells well. Soon he meets another sex worker, one with cat like eyes similar to his first love, ten years ago. She calls herself Chifuyu but when she is off the clock, he finds out that her name is really Yui. And Yui finds out that Kaoru is a Mangaka. On his way back home after spending the night as a legitimate couple he has a vision of being a family man, having a kid with Yui. But that night would end up being the last time He would see Yui. She doesn’t respond to his messages and it’s not long that he sees her listed as a sex worker again, trying to make some money. Kaoru is basically ghosted! Battling loneliness by messaging fans on social media and paying for women’s time is when tensions reach boiling point. Nozomi’s cat gets cancer, Kaoru’s ex-assistant, the young lady Tomita, confronts kaoru on his behaviour and Kaoru forces himself on Nozomi. Months go by when the divorced Kaoru is at his new book signing, he meets a young woman called Akari who confesses her gratitude for his manga and admits that it saved her life. The story ends with the lonely Kaoru still haunted by memories of that cat eyed girl. Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 20 May 2023 | 115 - Welcome to the NHK vol. 8 | 00:33:51 | |
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.
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.
| |||
| 01 Feb 2020 | 037 - Sundome vol. 8 | 01:02:56 | |
On the final volume of Sundome we talk about sex and death, the dream like atmosphere in the final chapters and conteplate the differences between vegan and sheep skin condoms. Skip plot summary @ 102:0 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
Sundome vol. 8
By Kazuto Okada Translation by Christine Dashiell With Lettering by Abigail Blackman
Topics:
- Hideo feels as if he’s in a dream whilst sleeping with kurumi. - Hideo at the nurse’s office for fighting / Kurumi’s ghost. - Kurumi’s reticent nature. (Leaving the clue /behind the glass) - Love and the supernatural/dream state
Pop culture references/Product Placement:
Plot Summary
In the Final Volume of Sundome, we see that winter has come and Kurumi has been absent from school. Kyouko and Katsun hide their relationship from the roman club but Hideo is more interested in the missing Kurumi, he promised to take Kurumi to the flower of the waves. In the club house, Kyouko finds Kurumi’s medicine and when Hideo does a word search on the meds, he starts to become worried. At night he sets off to see Kurumi and finds her bed ridden and in pain.
He watches her all night and eventually Kurumi allows him to sleep with him, they even take a bath together. When Hideo goes to school the next morning, he sees that Kurumi is still absent and flowers are left on her desk. Taking this as an insult and a bad omen, Hideo grabs the vase of flowers and throws it through the window. By doing this he ends up causing a scene. As the flowers were not for Kurumi, just merely placed whilst the room was being cleaned. Hideo finds that Kurumi is in hospital via a clue she left for him. He makes his way there but upon seeing her Hideo is apprehended by staff, who brand him as a pervert.
Hideo then gets the roman club to sneak him back inside. Kyouko is disguised as a nurse and Katsun a cleaner. They sneak Kurumi out through an empty bin and are eventually caught. In the chase, it looks as if Kurumi and Hideo have fallen down stairs, leaving Kurumi injured and bloodied. But this is merely a diversion, the ex-president of the roman club has disguised himself, using a second bin as a decoy.
Hideo takes Kurumi out of the hospital and fulfils his promise of taking her to see the flower of the waves. That night they finally have sex on the beach, no games, no frills, no kinks, just two lovers knocking boots. Albeit he uses the “pull-out method”. Years later, Hideo works at the hospital and is happily in a relationship. Also, his friends, Kyouko and Katsun are getting married with the rest of the roman club up to organise it. As for Kurumi, she is still existing.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
| |||
| 21 Jun 2019 | 005 - A Silent Voice vol. 5 | 00:55:55 | |
Real Talk: Suicide (some explicit language too) We talk about relationships and being "present" since Shoko dates Ishida but her thoughts are elsewhere. Self loathing perhaps? Synopsis skip @7:12 Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury | |||
| 03 Dec 2023 | 132 - Petshop of Horror vol. 7 | 00:41:42 | |
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.
| |||
| 08 Feb 2020 | 038 - DNA² ~ File 1 | 01:00:30 | |
A Shounen romance? About a DNA manipulating time traveller who plans to terminate the Mega-playboy! We talk about how Butterflies in the stomach feels more like being punched in the stomach until you’re sick. Very accurate, skip plot summary @13:45 Contact: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
DNA² ~ File 1 By Masakazu Katsura
Topics
Pop culture references/Product Placement Will be included on the episode 39’s show notes…
Plot Summary Junta Momonari suffers from an allergy towards beautiful girls, the better looking they are the worse he is. Tomoko Saeki teases Junta out of spite but ends up feeling rejected when Junta gets sick. Meanwhile the mysterious Aoi Karin travels through time to hunt for the infamous mega-playboy. A man responsible for polluting the gene pool of the future and causing his descendants to overpopulate the earth, basically a walking sex god. Karin finds Junta, and believing him to be the mega-playboy, she shoots him with a DNA changing bullet, the DMC. She believes her job is done until she discovers she used the wrong bullet, having accidentally shot him with a bullet meant for her possible future husband. Karin finds that she is responsible for creating the mega-playboy. That night Junta makes his way to Tomoko, knowing that Tomoko is using him to spite her boyfriend, Ryuji Sugashita. Junta tries to settle things with her yet Tomoko asks for forgiveness when she sees him transform into the mega-playboy. She decides to break up with her boyfriend upon falling for the newly transformed Junta. Albeit the Mega-playboy transformation is unstable and Junta can only keep up the persona at random times. Karin attempts to set up Junta with his childhood friend, Ami Kurimoto, hoping that through monogamy she can counter Junta’s transformation. Yet Junta starts falling for Karin whilst Tomoko falls for Junta. Junta goes shopping for a necklace to buy Karin but ends up going on an impromptu shopping date with Tomoko, who believes the necklace is for herself. Ryuji organises thugs to attack Junta yet they aim to attack the beautiful Tomoko instead. Can Junta / Mega-playboy defend himself and the woman who adores him?
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 09 Aug 2019 | 017 - Battle Royale vol. 10 | 00:54:48 | |
017: Battle Royale vol. 10
By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi With English translation by Keith Giffen
Schoolkids are forced to fight to the death until only one survives. 35 down, 6 to go!
Skip to the synopsis @14:20 contact us at WeAppreciateManga@gmail.com
Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton.
Topics:
· Stream of conscious narrative done right! · Lighthouse aftermath · Nanahara’s Reunion · Mental illness (PTSD, suicide, survivor guilt, schizophrenia)
Pop culture references:
· Demon on TV in the style of Go Nagai / Toshio Maeda · Dungeons and Dragons Sourcebook 2 (monster manual) D&D fan
Adaptation differences:
In the manga Inada worships the “Trinity” (Peliphon, Meodius and Lucien) most likely derived from ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. In the original novel she is Monotheistic, and worships Ahura Mazda (derived from ancient Iranian religion Zoroastrianism or Mazdaism, derived from Avestan word for wisdom)
Synopsis:
The most optimistic of the student contestants, Shuya Nanahara is nursed back to health by Utsumi’s gang of girls. When a bowl of soup meant for Nanahara is poisoned it breeds mistrust in them, resulting in a massacre. Nanahara survives by being locked in the upstairs bedroom of the lighthouse. The girl who is responsible for the poisoning is Yuko Sakaki.
None understand Yuko Sakaki more so than her parents. At home her mother looks at her photo album, the father is watching TV in the hope of seeing his daughter survive. When a horror movie appears on TV he switches it off. A force of habit due to Yuko’s nervous nature and belief in the devil. Her parents have had to deal with Yuko’s trauma of seeing boys fight in her class, knowing that she is now in a genocidal program has forced their denial to turn to grief.
With 9 contestants left, Nanahara makes his way downstairs and confronts the paranoid and frightened Yuko Sakaki. She runs off upstairs to escape Nanahara, stopping to fire at him. Whilst at the top the recoil of her gun causes her to fall. Nanahara rescues Sakaki before she experiences an epithany. Having believed that Nanahara was a demon, she realises that her inner demons, her paranoia, have caused her to hurt the ones she loves. She jumps from the lighthouse, choosing suicide.
After giving the recently passed girls at the lighthouse their dues, Nanahara leaves to search for Noriko and Kawada. He meets Izuno Inada, he can’t save her, she is delirious and is playing the game on her own private terms. Nanahara manages to flee but Inada’s paranoid schizophrenia has her now worshipping a god.
Nanahara travels through the woods and recalls all the people he has seen die. His survivor guilt takes its toll when he comes across the bodies of Keita Ijima, Yutaka and Mimura. He learns of the fight with Kiriyama, the microphones in the collars, the bomb that was made and the confidence that Yutaka gained in the end.
When Nanahara finally meets Noriko and Kawada he sees that the 3 of them are all they have to rely on. Noriko who so loves Nanahara has drawn a sketch of him in his absence. Meanwhile Izuno Inada has stripped down to her underwear and has made a sigil for her god, a deluded belief that it will protect her from all harm and bestow divination on her. Waiting for her prayers to be answered, Kazuo Kiriyama comes forth and provides a bullet to her thoughts.
35 down, 6 to go.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 11 Dec 2022 | 095 - Death Note vol. 8 | 00:29:43 | |
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:
Major differences between the 2015 Japanese stage musical and manga:
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:
| |||
| 06 Aug 2021 | 063 - Chobits vol. 6 | 00:45:28 | |
Inspired by CLAMP's story of androids falling in love, Will and James talk about self-confidence, body positivity and the warm glow of love. Skip the plot summary @5:19 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
063: Chobits vol.6 Chapters 61 to 72 By CLAMP Translation by Shirley Kubo Lettering by John Clark
Synopsis: (Note: Characters that are Persecom androids will be referred to as PC for short) When Chi starts work again at the Baker’s she makes the mistake of wearing a uniform not meant for her. Yumi watches in from the street and is upset at seeing Chi in the uniform. Hideki chases after Yumi and takes her to his apartment. It becomes clear that Yumi and the Baker, Mr. Hiro Ueda were and still do have feelings for each other. And that the uniform was originally designed for Yumi. However, Yumi’s inferiority complex towards PCs is the reason as to why she quit her job. What with Hiro having married a PC before meeting Yumi. Chi manages to take Hiro to Hideki’s apartment and reconciliate things between both Yumi and Hiro. Afterwards Chi decides that she wants to spend her wage on buying Hideki a gift. As a loving gesture she buys a ring and she can’t help but feel a little disappointed when he chooses not to wear it correctly but instead put it on his key chain. Hideki explains to her that he won’t lose it that way. And that is enough to make Chi happy. But new mysterious and concerns are raised over Kotoko being around Chi and with the permission of Hideki, Dragonfly and Kokubunji team up in researching the origins behind her. They conclude that the last place they have looked is the National Data Bank and that by cracking open the bank they risk being arrested. Little do they know that the National Data Bank is inside Zima’s mind, with the help of Dita, Zima tries to stop the two young men, resulting in a cyber-attack on Yuzuki, Kokubunji’s own PC.
Topics:
Other references:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 13 Jun 2020 | 052 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 10 | 00:51:45 | |
Kaworu develops feelings for Shinji, in a very different way compared to his short screen time in the anime. skip synopsis @ 13:25 052: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 9 Chapters 64 to 70, “Tears” and “A Gathering of Nothingness” By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by Lillian Olsen, William Flanagan and David Ury
Topics:
Other references: Evian bottled water (Kaworu drinks it, has it in his drinks cabinet/cooler) Want to know why your hosts care so much about tap water? Just follow these links:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9775158/Bottled-water-not-as-safe-as-tap-variety.html
http://mentalfloss.com/article/70706/which-city-has-tastiest-tap-water
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/01/should-i-stop-drinking-bottled-water Synopsis: Both Rei and Kaworu fight the angel Armisael , when the angel penetrates the mind and body of Rei this prompts Shinji into action. Rei is confronted with her feelings for Shinji and the angel manages to imprint them upon Kaworu. Soon the Angel’s attention turns to shinji and it attempts to fuse Rei and Shinji’s soul into one. In an act of selflessness, Rei self-destructs the Eva unit 00, killing herself and the angel. The surface of Tokyo – 3 is destroyed in the aftermath.
The pain of losing Rei causes Shinji to withdraw from his emotions. He stays with someone who had no prior relationship with Rei and who he has no feelings for, this being Kaoru.
During the night Kaworu shares his bed with Shinji and notices him hyperventilating. Kaworu uses mouth to mouth resuscitation so to help him breathe and in doing so wakes him up. He asks Shinji what it feels like to be in love and then tells him that during Rei’s final moments he felt Rei’s feelings and believes that She did love Shinji.
Shinji receives a call from Misato that Rei is alive. On visiting her he finds she no longer has any memory of their past ordeal. She is no longer the same Rei that loved him.
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi is interrogated by SEELE in substitution for Rei, feeling betrayed that Gendo would allow this to happen she starts to lash out. Like her mother before her, Ritsuko has been emotionally manipulated by Gendo and now resents Rei. She reveals to Misato and Shinji that Rei is a clone before destroying the secret culture chamber where they house Rei’s bodies. Otherwise known as the dummy plug system.
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 16 Aug 2019 | 018 - Battle Royale vol. 11 | 00:45:16 | |
Battle Royale vol. 11
By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi With English translation by Keith Giffen
WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT!
It starts looking like Rocky with a slice of Dragonball in here.
Topics:
· The art work and use of tone.
· The pacing of the entire volume (like Stallone’s Rocky)
· Kiriyama vs Sugimura
· Kayako’s broken family life.
Pop culture references:
· Dragonball z – Kayako mentions it when describing the energy she emits, “Chi energy”
Synopsis:
The announcement of 7 students recently killed during the program motivates Sugimura to find and protect Kayako. Between his martial arts classes, Sugimura would watch Kayako perform her flower arranging and it was during this time he found her attractive. Only later did he develop loving feelings towards her, when he took a stray kitten into class. Sugimura struggled to take care of the kitten until Kayako noticed, she helped him nurse the kitten and gave him advice. Kayako herself reveals that she was afraid of him, due to hearing the noise from his martial arts class, one room above her flower arranging class. Seeing his sensitive and compassionate side had changed that.
Now Kayako is a victim of the Battle Royale as is Sugimura and although he successfully finds Kayako it is obvious that she is frightened. In a display of trust, Sugimura throws down his gear and weapons. He tells her about the cat, the name he gave it, which was in her honour and the books he read so to help it, as she suggested. Kayako puts down her gun and the two team up.
Sugimura tells Kayako about their fellow students, Kawada’s plan to escape their prison island and the need to join him and his group with Noriko and Nanahara. Sugimura also talks about the dangers they face. About his encounters with Mitsuko Soma and Kazuo Kiriyama as well as the skills he has to protect her. And although Sugimura does have skill, he lacks resolve.
He speaks of one occasion where during a gym class, the judo teacher would bully him and demand a demonstration since he was not Sugimura’s personal sensei. The class could see that Sugimura did not have the resolve to fight back. And when one of the intelligent students humiliates the teacher, this vexes him enough to pick on more students. Including the mild mannered Kiriyama, who not only had the resolve and disregard to fight back but did so with the help from only reading a manual. Sugimura does not tell what happened next so not to frighten Kayako, although it became school rumour. Kiriyama went for the eye and went on to mutilate and cripple this teacher in front of the class.
Kayako demonstrates her ability to harness taichigong energy, long thought to be the stuff of fiction and martial art myth. She remains trustful to Sugimura even if Sugimura has never explained why he’s risking his life for her. Sugimura reasons that it would be best to confess his feelings for her sooner than later. The moment is wasted however as Kayako spots Kiriyama on the offensive.
Sugimura and Kiriyama begin their fight to the death. Sugiumura uses his dart to disarm Kiriyama of his guns and goes for the chi powered strike he used in their first encounter. This time it fails, as Kiriyama uses his own chi to blast Sugimura’s hand away.
Kiriyama becomes offensive, getting an eye poke on Sugimura’s right. Sugimura starts to anticipate the next moves and counter attacks. Kiriyama responds by being defensive. Which sends Sugimura into a panic and gets his fingers inexplicably cut off. During Sugimura’s wandering thoughts Kiriyama picked up the dart. He throws it at Sugimura’s good eye.
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 16 Nov 2019 | 029 - Twilight: The Graphic Novel vol. 2 | 01:07:52 | |
We look into the boundaries and sexual tension that all good relationships have, how vampires are born and why Stephenie Meyer's vampires are valid! Subscribe as our romance season begins. Contact: weappreciatemanga@gmail.com skip synopsis @8:41
Twilight: The graphic Novel - volume 2
Art: Young Kim Story/writer: Stephanie Meyer Inking: Ashley Marie Witter Background Assistant: Haya C
Topics:
· The cat and mouse chase. (Plot holes = How did James know where Bella’s mother lived?) · The Cullen family and the backstory of the characters, Carlyle, Edward and Alice · Stephenie Meyer’s take on the vampire lore (are they vampires?) · How to be born or become a vampire. · The boundaries/sexual tension that the Bella and Edward relationship has. No killing, No turning etc.
Synopsis + first impression:
Bella, having fallen for the vampire Edward Cullen, sets out to be introduced to Edward’s family/covern. Bella is greeted warmly by them and she deduces that the matriarch, Esme, respects her lack of prejudice and abundance of courage to have appeared. Bella learns about the history of the Cullens, Dr. Carlyle is the patriarch of the family. Edward was the first to be sired by Carlyle, then Esme, Rosalie was sired afterwards and then Rosalie saved Emmet from a bear attack by having Carlyle turn him. The other two, Jasper and Alice were already turned when they met the Cullens. These two have powers as strong as Edward’s senses. Jasper can control the mood of those around him, and Alice has visions of the future. Jasper came from an abusive family and would be found by Alice yet Alice has no memory of her past life or how she was turned, she found the Cullens all by herself.
Edward shows Bella to his room and they both tease each other about the dangers of a being in a relationship with a vampire as well as the horror clichés. Bella has never felt more so safe than with Edward. She is invited to a game of baseball with the Cullens, having the use of a thunderstorm as cover. The game is stopped as soon as Alice gets a vision of vampires interrupting their play. The Cullens do their best to protect Bella and decide to leave immediately in pairs of two.
One to return Bella home, the others to go back to the Cullen House with this new vampire gang. Unfortunately, James, the leader of this gang, senses that Bella is human and outwardly threatens her, a cat and mouse game begins. Laurent, the vampire who seemed to be the leader, tells the Cullens that he will back down, This leaves just the two , Victoria and James to hunt Bella.
Bella confronts her father, Charlie. Telling him that she is packing her bags and leaving Forks immediately. She tells him the same words that her mother and his ex-wife told him upon leaving. This upsets Bella but she does this in order to protect Charlie.
Jasper and Alice protect Bella as the rest of the Cullens try and pre-emptively attack. Alice reveals her visions as drawings to Bella. One is of a ballet studio and the other, her mother’s home. When Bella receives a call from her mother’s phone, she finds James’ voice on the other end. He demands that she escapes the Cullens and go to the ballet Studio. Bella gives in to the demands and on her arrival, she finds that James has a camcorder hooked up to a TV. The TV showing video of Bella’s mom, a mere decoy but Bella falls for it. James is a bully and a sadist, he wishes to record Bella’s death but not before he confesses that he turned Alice upon failing to kill her, Alice is now too strong of a vampire for James to kill but James has a sense of entitlement. He claims that since he can’t have Alice’s life, he will take Bella’s instead.
Bella loses consciousness. When she wakes, she finds that her body is in pain due to the venom from James’ bite. Edward sucks out the venom and prevents Bella from becoming a vampire. James is killed by Emmet and Jasper, Alice watches video of James’ confession. Alice had visions before she turned but had no memory of her past life due to her mental state and imprisonment.
In the hospital, Bella and Edward have a long talk about their relationship. Bella wanted to be turned into a vampire so that she could live forever with him but Edward denies her. Upon her recovery he takes her to prom and as they watch the sun set the question lingers. What if Edward turned Bella into a vampire? And could he do so without killing her? Could he grant Bella’s wish?
Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
| 01 Aug 2020 | 055 - Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 13 | 00:50:05 | |
Sadamoto handles the final scenes with Shinji and Asuka with a great deal of respect, and all without straying too far from the plot of the anime. Skip plot summary @ 9:03 Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 055: Neon Genesis Evangelion vol. 13 Chapters 84 to 90, “Calling” and “Memories of Summer” By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Translation by John Werry and Evan Galloway
Topics:
Other references:
There are many interpretations of this symbolic “tree” as it appears in a multitude of theological text. One being the tree that Adam and Eve ate from, however Evangelion takes the majority of its symbolism from Kabbalah and sacred geometry.
In the opening of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, we first see the tree of life in Robert Fludd’s illustration and again as the Systema Sephiroticum, illustrated by Athanasius Kircher, which also appears in Gendo’s room. Within Kabbalah, the tree of life is a diagram called the Sefirot (Sephiroth), consisting of 10 nodules known as Sefira. It is a diagram representative of creationism. In End of Eva, before instrumentality is triggered, you may find Shinji is placed on the sixth nodule of the Sefirot. In a Kabbalisic interpretation of Genesis, Tifaret (or Tif’eret) is referenced when God is creating the world on “the fifth day” in the following passage:
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. '" – Genesis 1:20 (English Revised Version)
This is because all nodules represent all of God’s utterances upon creating the world, the first being uttered on the first day, “Let there be light”- Genesis 1:3 (English Revised Version). “Tif’eret” or “Tifarah” means “Glory” or “beauty” in Hebrew, it symbolises compassion and beauty. It’s placement on the sefirot gives it more significance due to it representing mercy, justice, balance, giving and receiving. The image of the cross is also superimposed on the Tifaret, with Shinji in the centre, this gives a sacrificial meaning towards the scene. [2] [3]
Italian for evil ditch (referring to the destruction of NERV’s basement and formation of Lilith’s egg) Malboge is referred to as the eight circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno (the first part of The Divine Comedy by Italian poet Dante Alighieri) the Malboge word is plural, meaning “evil ditches”, which there are ten of, the first instance is in canto 18 of the divine comedy “There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,
Synopsis: Shinji is able to get inside his Eva and save Asuka from the opposing Eva units. Meanwhile Ritsuko, desperate that the after-life doesn’t fall on Gendo’s terms, uses the help of the Magi system to blow up Adam and the entire base. In a twist of fate, it is her mother’s Artificial Intelligence that stops her from doing so. Ritsuko’s attempt at making a murder-suicide against Rei and Gendo fails.
During this time, Shinji is ambushed by the Evas and is provoked into awakening his own Eva as he syncs with it beyond the maximum threshold, this gives his Eva the properties of an Angel and allows Shinji and his Eva to become a pawn towards triggering a third impact. This advertently causes the lance of Longiness to be drawn out from the moon’s orbit and crucify Shinji’s Eva. The enemy Evas coordinate and trap Shinji.
Gendo attempts to fuse himself with Rei, Lilith and Adam, however Rei rejects Gendo and instead chooses Shinji to be the arbiter of the world. A dying Ritsuko manages to fatally shoot Gendo in the throat and tells him that he is a liar, that there was only one person he ever loved, and it was not herself.
Rei, having undergone her fusion with Adam and Lilith is now a macro-cosmic being, she beholds the crucified Shinji and his Eva unit, in doing so Shinji becomes a literal tree of life. The being formerly known as Rei is able to use Shinji’s new body to amass a single treasury of all earthly souls, but before she does so, she asks Shinji to show him his personal wishes, his thoughts and all that he truly is.
Sources:
Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com | |||
