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robotlesbianjavert · 1 year

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do you have any horror manga recommendations? I've been reading them a lot lately

ooh that is a very very good question!! and honestly if you've been following me for a while you've probably seen my catalogue of horror manga lmao. as much as manga is my preferred medium compared to anime and ykno i have a casual fondness for horror, it actually takes me a while to work through new manga DX DX i do have a couple of stuff i can probably suggest, though.

(since you're actively seeking horror, i'm gonna take a guess and assume you're not really in need of any major trigger warnings, since a lot of these recs include gore/violence/sexuality/abuse/general skeeziness, or at least can anticipate that you're gonna run into unsavory stuff, but you can follow up and let me know if there is actually something i should take note of.)

One thing I find with horror manga (and horror in general, but manga especially) is a common big genre drift with things action or comedy or adventure or something. A lot of the well-known names on rec lists have horror elements rather than being primarily horror, or the horror influence ends up downplayed as the story goes on. but still excellent. If I have recs in the realm of "horror-lite/influenced", I'd say:

Kemono Jihen by Sho Aimoto, kid joins a detective agency in Tokyo meant to resolve supernatural incidents between "kemono" and humans.

Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu, a girl who believes in spirits & ghosts and a boy who believes in aliens become friends! And a lot of things happen because the creator assisted for Fujimoto of Chainsaw Man fame, so it has a lot of the same off-the-wall, irreverent humour. While it's not as tight or classy as CSM, it's still a fuckin fun romp with nice horror moments.

Both of those I actually need to catch up with, haha. I'll actually recommend Can You Just Die, My Darling? as well, although I'm not sure if you're the anon who recced it to me first. Much stronger on the horror & violence elements, but it's another one I still have to catch up on.

I'm trying to avoid the obvious recommendations that you can get off any list, like Junji Ito or idk. Tokyo Ghoul, Dorohedoro or something like that. But special shout out to Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. I'm most familiar with the 2006/07 anime series rather than the games (besides a couple of let's plays) and the manga, but I watched it with my sisters when I was young, LONG before I considered myself a horror fan, and I still consider those question arcs to have some of the best horror sequences ever experienced blind. Hugely influential.

In a similar vein to trying to avoid obvious recs, I know that Shuzo Oshime has gotten more popular as of late, but I've been working through Blood on the Tracks, which is about really insane mommy issues, so if you're cool with that!! You can also check out his other works that I haven't gotten to, but yeah I think he's

For probably my biggest recommendations though - the first one is a short-ish read, I think it was only one volume? The other two were excellent recommendations from my friends!

Helter Skelter by Kyoko Okazaki is about how fucked up the modelling & beauty industry is. There's also a movie adaptation that I haven't watched it.

Hikaru Ga Shinda Natsu (The Summer Hikaru Died) by Mokumokuren, a relatively new BL ongoing series about two friends who live in a rural village - except one of the friends had disappeared months ago in the mountains.

And my actual personal favourite recommendation, Kurosagi: Corpse Delivery Service. It's about a team of students at a Buddhist college who start a company to deliver corpses. They also solve murders along the way! This is a really great series and pretty easy to get into, I think - there's some ongoing plot, but a lot of the arcs are more episodic in nature. A lot of fun discussion on Japanese culture and views on death, it's funny, the gore and horror art are just great, it's just a cool unique series. The only thing is that while I believe it's completed, it's not fully translated in English - I think translations only go up to chapter ~89? So while there's story threads that are unanswered, the translations don't end on a cliffhanger at least.

I do have a "To Read" list compiled after going through some other rec lists / Youtube videos about horror manga. I can't speak to the quality of these yet, but they must have been intriguing enough for me to write them down. Here's a selection of them, not including general creators I wanted to check out:

Dai Dark by Q Hayashida of Dorohedoro fame

Doubt, Judge, and Secret by the guy who did the Higurashi manga.

Another

The Serial Killer is Laughing in the Rain

As the Gods Will

Jagaaan

The Horror Mansion

Fear Infection

Mushihime

Homunculus

Ichi the Killer

Mister Arashi's Amazing Freakshow

PTSD Radio

Dementia 21

Dark Hideout

Halloween Desetsu

The Quiz

Mantis Woman

Presents

If you've read any of those, or get to them before I do, or read any of the prior recs let me know your thoughts!! Always down to chat horror.

Aside from that. Well Digimon: Ghost Game was pretty fun when I was watching it. Had some spooky ooky moments. If you like Digimon o:

actually i'm going to use this opportunity to again reiterate how validated i was when horikoshi had that comment about how he'd like to try doing horror when one of my prominent thoughts when the MVA arc was running was how much potential the guy had as a horror artist and how it could really free him. my goddamn vision.

#thank you anon <3 <3 <3

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saffronapplemanga · 1 year

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GANGSTA. - ギャングスタ - PART 1

CRIME, ACTION, DRAMA

GANGSTA. by Kohske

(8 volumes, hiatus) Mangaka Kohske-sensei is sick and works on updates when she can. There are chapters beyond volume 8 in JP that haven't been collected into a volume yet here.

Available in English here

Anime - Yes. I'll admit it's crunchy, poorly paced, and disappointing because the studio went under literally a few days after it finished airing and it shows, but it’s still fun? They did cut stuff from the manga and there's so much they didn't adapt, so I'd recommend reading it. I'm begging for a remake and a season 2 or something...

Links to my other manga posts here

~Part two of this post is here~

We've got a meaty post today, lads! Sit down, because I'm going to gush about the series that's going in my all-time favs and I've made it my whole personality lately. I'm here to push the GANGSTA. agenda!!! I’m about to be so damn annoying.

Back in 2015 I was going through college hell and wanted something to chill with during my meager downtime. And so the GANGSTA. anime answered the call. Watching TV while shoveling food into my face was my only free time.

A whopping 8 YEARS later now that I'm a freelancer and have a flexible schedule allowing me to get into manga more than ever before, among other factors, it was finally time for me to pick this up. Naturally, I forgot a lot over the years, plus having consumed the anime in my suffering college student frenzy, much of my memory is fuzzy. What I DO remember is that the setting and aesthetics were cool, I loved the characters, and I was mad crushing on Nicolas Brown.

I'm pleased to report that after rewatching the anime and reading the manga, the me of 8 years ago had excellent taste.

Fellas, I present my 34-year-old homicidal, feral, sweet-as-a-button, baby girl ❤️

***Trigger warnings for everything you can think of for this series.***

This post will be divided into: Why You Should Check GANGSTA. Out - What's It About? - Lots And Lots of Character Analysis (And Gushing)

I'm going to give an elevator pitch and spoiler-free summary on why you should check this series out since I feel like it's — dare I say — slept on. Later, I'll get into spoilers and give a heads-up when I do.

Why You Should Check GANGSTA. Out

Diverse cast- disability, race, and age.

Disabled main character- Nicolas is deaf, mainly communicates in sign language, and I personally feel like the way it's handled is awesome (more on that in the character analysis). There are also great portrayals of mental illnesses.

Primarily adult cast- our main trio are 24, 34, and 35. All different races/mixed race. Also, they look like this->

The cleavage crew. My babies are amazing, just look at them!!!

Cool setting.

AWESOME character writing- we're never spoonfed, and there's so much you can glean about the characters from bits and pieces given to us — which is what a large portion of this post will be dedicated to discussing. Tons of nuance.

FOUND FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Found family? You have me hook, line, and sinker.

You can tell it was written by a female author if you know what I mean... Hear me out, I get into this more later. Please don't roll your eyes at me. I'm going somewhere with this.

Other than GANGSTA. I'm specifically thinking of Dorohedoro right now. It's the only time I've ever laughed at a boob joke and the whole, "Oh no, I walked in on a girl naked" joke and all that. Also, the bikini top/scantly clad outfits in that series don't give me the ick. Don't ask me to explain, I can just taste it. It's the execution.

While there are characters who are in romantic/sexual relationships, there are also a lot of platonic/familial relationships as well. I like romance as much as the next person and I can get really sappy sometimes, but I also want more non-romantic relationships between men and women. Sorta tired of the whole "a man and woman are in the same vicinity so they must bang, they HAVE to pair up". Again, love me some romance, but more of the other stuff too, please! And GANGSTA. delivers wonderfully. Some of the best depictions of the dynamic I crave that I've ever seen.

Look at this banger opening:

youtube

The ED is awesome too!

And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to present my "Nicolas Brown propaganda" video of this clip from Episode 1:

Look me in the eyes and try telling me this isn't the best thing ever. My man kicked a cop car in to stand up for Alex so they could save her and take her home!!! Also, Nic is voiced by Tsuda Kenjiro, the VA behind my other fictional crush, JJK's Nanami 'Husband-Material' Kento! Fair warning, I'm not going to shut up about Nic.

I have to admit, it’s difficult for me to wholeheartedly recommend the anime because of what I mentioned at the very top of the post. The voice actors were the best part of the anime, while the animation was… meh, and the pacing is not great. But it's still enjoyable! The manga destroyed me so good, though…

BTW if you're one of those people who are hesitant to get into a series that's on hiatus like my bestie, she HATES reading stuff on hiatus, I implore you to give it a go anyways. I successfully roped bestie into committing hehehe. It managed to absolutely wreck me in 8+ volumes. It's so worth it and I was very happy with how the last currently out chapter (#56) ended.

In case you were wondering... No, I still haven't recovered from Banana Fish.

There's also a completed spin-off series, GANGSTA: CURSED (I enjoyed it. I like action but it was almost too action-heavy for me. My fav parts of the main series are the quiet moments), a light novel GANGSTA: Death of Anosmic Stray Dogs (it was okay, Nic was funny but not enough of him, tbh I’ve read better fanfics), and drama CD's. I actually ordered the drama CD's to listen to later, but I'm traveling right now, and idk when I'll be home to pick up my package, so... And I read the extra manga that came with the Japanese Blu-rays (I enjoyed it).

What's It About?

Our boys Nicolas and Worick are the local "Handymen" doing odd jobs from deliveries and construction, to prostitution and homicide. They go way back, but their relationship is much more complicated than it initially seems.

The grungy city of Ergastulum is essentially an open-air internment camp. For who? Superhumans known as "Twilights", also called "Tags" for the tags they're required to wear. Twilights are the descendants of those who took the drug, Cerebret, developed during wartime to create enhanced soldiers. Their children inherit these qualities —making them an unintended consequence — but with a catch. They are forever dependent on consistent doses of Cerebret to stay alive and keep their bodies from shutting down. At the same time, however, it slowly poisons them, significantly slashing their lifespans. They are kept under surveillance, having been herded into Ergastulum, and xenophobia between them and the "Normal" non-Twilight refugees who settled there is constantly brewing. The Cerebret they need to survive is strictly regulated, expensive, and used to keep the Twilights on a short leash. They are in many ways, second-class citizens.

If you watched until the end of the Nicolas Brown propaganda video like I'm sure you totally did, you would have seen the tags dangling around Nic's neck — meaning that Nic is a Twilight. And in order to operate, he needs to be in a contract under someone. This contract puts the holder in ownership of the Twilight. In Nic's case, his contract holder is longtime friend and fellow Handyman, Worick. I'm sure you can imagine that it puts a certain strain on their relationship... Your BFF and roommate legally owning you even if it's to protect you? Awkward.

To make matters worse, Nic is running out of time, fast. The Cerebret, like I said, shortens the lifespan of Twilights. Various factors come into play regarding lifespan, but on average, they live into their 30's. And Nic is already 34 years old. I am... stressed, to say the least. I don’t know how he's going to pull through guys, I really don't.

Genuinely concerned for Nic's well-being. I don't trust Kohske to pull her punches...

Enter Alex — a prostitute the Handymen take off the street and offer refuge to. We learn about the city, the boys, the factions at play, and more alongside Alex, who has been thrown into this world. Worick is a charming sweetheart who I think sees a lot of himself in Alex, especially since he's been working as a gigolo from a VERY young age. And Nico despite his seemingly harsh exterior, is so damn kind and soft... They all are. I love my found family of traumatized dorks *sobs*

It's not all doom and gloom, though! We have funny, silly, cute-as-hell moments, too. And the domestic scenes? The quite, tender moments? Love. Obsessed.

I like how Nic is holding his old wanted poster with his face in the first panel like he's wearing it as a mask or something. And they're in separate interrogation rooms with glass between them but they can still communicate because Nic can read lips and Worick knows sign language. Clowns, the lot of them.

I admit at first, GANGSTA. seems like a kinda lame title. Like, as a native English speaker, if someone told me to check out a series with this title, it would give me pause lol. It really has that late 2000's to early 2010's aesthetic, edgy themes, plus the whole "Twilights" term — which when combined may make you think, "Yo, this looks lame," especially if you were a teen during that time. "Twilight" just makes me think of that Twilight, but we're ignoring that. For me, my teen years were cringe, and I'm sure many of you feel the same. But you know what? Mangaka Kohske-sensei rocks this vibe! She makes it cool! And now that I'm older, it's like, whatever embrace cringe, have fun and all that, y'know? So, GANGSTA. is great and totally not cringe in any way, hush.

She loves edgy characters — and eyepatches. Gosh, she loves eyepatches. And good for her! You do you, queen! I can dig it.

Bonus Nico because he's so damn cute. Love of my life.

But listen, this manga is deceptively deep, guys. You might think at first it’s simply crime, drugs, sex, and violence... But no! There’s more to it. The crime, drugs, sex, and violence are used to great effect instead of just edgy for the sake of being edgy. The plot is great and all, but the real bread and butter for me with this series are the ✨characters✨. I don't care if you have the sickest plot on the face of the planet. If I'm not obsessed with your characters... what are we doing here then?

Seriously, if I'm not willing to cut a bitch for your characters, try again.

It’s time to segue into ->

Lots And Lots of Character Analysis (And Gushing)

Goodness, where do I even start? So many good characters and moments to over-analyze! There's a boatload of stuff I want to talk about and I'm going to try and make it make sense. I’ll gradually dig deeper and deeper into the squad’s character. I do think I'll have to primarily focus on the main trio, or else my hands are going to fall off from all the typing.

Kohske-sensei doesn't spoonfeed us and doesn't treat us like we're dumb. You know when writers don't trust their audience to get something so they beat us over the head with it? Yeah, no, none of that here. Because a lot is implied or hinted at, this is going to be my interpretation of things. If you have a different take, I'd love to hear it! I'm going to just dive into the analysis with any evidence to support my claims, so I'm assuming you already know the story (or maybe come back later after reading the manga?) because from this point...

***SPOILERS UNTIL CHAPTER 56 FROM HERE ON OUT***

This section will be broken up into: Where It All Began - Nicolas and Nina - "Nice vs. Kind" - Worick and Alex - Nicolas and Alex - Nicolas and Worick - Nicolas - The Trio and The Scene That Had Me Bawling My Eyes Out - Brief Shoutouts to Characters I Also Want to Talk About, But This Post Is Already Long Enough

I'm about to get really sappy, so uh, here goes nothing.

(Note: the manga pages/panels I included for reference are arranged from right to left reading order btw)

Where It All Began

Let's start... at the beginning! The hankie. The first chapter establishes what kind of characterization we can expect from our main cast.

When we first meet our trio, Nic and Worick are leaning on a wall overlooking the city while Alex walks below, bleeding. And then, a handkerchief lands on her head. At first, it's not clear which of the Handymen dropped it down to her, but we're led to believe it was Worick as Nic had his back to the wall.

This is the first panel of Nic that made me go, "Well, hello there, sir 👀💦" Don't judge me. And like, why are half the buttons on his shirt undone? Worick too, LMAO. Not that I'm complaining..........

However, when Alex later thanks Worick for the handkerchief, he tells her it was actually Nic's. Awww, cute...

When the Handymen are hired to take out a gang, it turns out Alex is one of the prostitutes in the gang and therefore is going to be taken out by association. But the boys aren't too keen on this, which results in us getting the glorious Nicolas Brown propaganda scene I included earlier in this post. They claim her as their spoils after taking out the gang in order to keep her safe and get her off the streets. They even throw their weight around with the police by threatening to bash their heads in to do so.

This is all to say that while we see the boys do unsavory things like gleefully murder, we can see already that they're nuanced and SO DAMN KIND. They didn't have to do any of it. They had no reason to. They don't gain anything from it, nor do they expect to (more on this later).

Confirmed: They drink respect-women-juice. King shit.

The next day, we see that Nic seems to be acting pretty coldly with Alex. Right away, I took this as he's having a hard time opening up to her despite everything he did the day before to help her at no benefit to himself including saving her from a passed-out Worick LMAO. It's like... he's scared to get close. He doesn't mind her presence, but he stays at arm's length. We later get hints it's probably because of Veronica and he's afraid of getting hurt or getting someone hurt again. But, while running deliveries, we get this scene:

Which to me is Nic announcing that Alex is now under his protection — a fearsome rank A/0 Twilight. Yeah, it's to keep Worick's clients happy, but I think it's protection for her, too. They haven't known each other for a full 24 hours yet and the boys are already like, "Yeah she's with us. Leave her alone."

Nicolas and Nina

When we meet the absolutely precious Nina, we see a lot more of Nic's overt soft side. It's obvious he loves Nina a lot and is super affectionate with her and sees her as his little sister. And she very much loves him back!

I turn into a blubbering puddle of goop every time these two interact.

He goes out of his way to buy her the drinks she likes, holds her hand whenever they walk together, teases her, plays with her, comforts and holds her, and always keeps her safe no matter what. I could scream about every single panel they have together, but I want to highlight some of my favorite moments:

Worick disposes of the guys trying to kidnap Nina while Nic walks her to the clinic, but she stops at the sound of distant gunfire. Nic eases her anxiety by making her laugh and jokingly saying, "I didn't hear a thing," because of course a deaf man wouldn't lolllll. But he knew that she did indeed hear something because he knew what Worick was up to. But, they don't let Nina know that she was being tailed and in danger so as to not scare her.

Nina sleeps holding Nic's hand while he's passed out at the clinic, and when he wakes up he puts the blanket over her, careful not to wake her.

When Nic stays over at the clinic after he's hurt, the next day he jumps around rooftops with his superhuman agility, holding Nina close, simply to entertain this child he cares for dearly.

Alex asks Nina if she's scared of Nicolas, and while she understands Alex's hesitation, she says that, no she's not scared of him. She knows him for who he is, and not just how he seems. She knows he's actually a very soft man.

After all the patients at the clinic die, Nina is having a rough time processing her grief. She's a little girl with an enormous heart and was grieving over people she didn't even know. Nic leaves all the other grown-ups to go sit with her in his lap, against his chest, comforting her. Later, he takes her hand and walks her to Bastard to hear Alex sing and hang out with Loretta for a pick-me-up.

This scene pulls at my heart... Look at how much they love each other, and how much they feel comfortable and safe with each other. You can FEEL it.

After getting shot by Monroe and having seizures from Theo's experimental drug, Nic still tries to get up and go help the gang. Alex goes to stop him, meanwhile Nina... she looks at him with an aching heart, hurting because he's hurting. Taking his sword, she unsheathes it to reveal that it's broken. This causes Nic to have a moment where he realizes he too is broken and useless right now. So he slumps to the floor, allowing Nina to hold him. She was able to convey what she wanted to tell him — that he was in no condition to go anywhere and that she was worried about him — without saying a word.

To no one's surprise, this part had me in TEARS. So much is said with no words.

Nina puts her hands on Nic's, comforting him while he continues to be out of commission. Nic agrees to let Theo have his body to study as he's accepted his ever-looming demise, and Nina is... distraught. She cries for him. She cries while Theo tucks her into his lab coat, arm around her. I think that given Nicolas' history and trauma, having someone shed tears for him and be so gentle to him is extremely important. He spent the first 12 years of his life being abused on multiple levels and made to feel like he was nothing and then lived a harsh life even after he and Worick ran away. Having someone express this kind of emotion for him, this unfiltered love and care is important. Their casual, comfortable, and trusting tenderness is important.

"Nice vs. Kind"

I do want to emphasize that Nic isn't just kind to Nina. He and Worick are kind to everyone who isn't trying to kill them/has attracted their ire, that is. This is important to note for my next point -> Lately, I've been thinking a lot about something that I'm going to refer to as "nice vs. kind". I mentioned this in my AI Art post in a bit of a different context than we’ll be getting into here. While everything I'm going to talk about can apply to anyone, I'm going to focus on "nice guys".

Earlier, I talked about how the Handymen helped Alex without gaining anything or expecting anything in return. In fact, they're letting her bum off them and crash at their place for absolutely nothing. Combined with how our boys are good to pretty much everyone who isn't trying to kill them, I feel like this makes them truly kind instead of just "nice guys". When "nice guys" complain about how women in particular don't "give them a chance" or whatever it is they complain about, I have to laugh. You're being nice just because you want something from that person (such as getting a woman to sleep with you) or because you want to appear nice to people. In short, you're doing it only because you have an ulterior motive or something to gain — and it shows sooner or later. It's being selectively "nice" to people only when you are trying to gain.

Meanwhile, the boys don't do this at all. They aren't good to people because they're trying to gain something (unless it's work-related, they gotta eat after all). They don't care much about what people think of them or worry about "looking good". The boys follow what they believe in and act on it, even if it may seem morally grey or when it leads to them having not the greatest reputation with most people. But those who know them, know. And THAT is sexy and attractive, both in a romantic and platonic sense. When my friends are truly kind to me or anyone, I'm like, "Wow, that was so hot of you bestie."

When Nic was protecting the clinic in chapter three, Alex was scared of him. He unnerved her. Having just escaped from a man who abused her to hell and back, she was already on edge. Nic looked like an aggressive man, just like the last guy. Her initial impression is similar to the impression most people have of him. But he doesn't care about "looking good" because he's focused on doing right by those he cares about. THAT'S SOME HOT BOY SHIT!!!

Theo is great. We love Theo.

But how do I know without a shred of a doubt that they aren't expecting anything from Alex? I mean, isn't Worick having her help them with the business and do stuff for them? Yes, he is having her do stuff, but it's the intention behind it. When Worick asks Alex to man the phone while he's gone because Nic can't do it, he's giving her this task for her own sake. It's to make her feel included and useful and not feel like a burden, but without asking too much of her. I come from a culture that practices what I call "aggressive hospitality". What I mean is, for example, my friends will refuse to let me help clean up after dinner — and aggressively so — because I'm the guest. But I hate this because I feel useless and I'm just awkwardly watching you do all the work when I have two perfectly good hands. Like, PLEASE give me something to do, anything. And that's what Worick is doing for Alex! His asking her to do these little things is a kindness from him to her.

Besides, if Worick and Nic wanted to use Alex, they could have so easily at any time. A woman crashing with two guys after escaping an abusive pimp and is having drug withdrawals in a city where she has no one is an INSANELY vulnerable position to be in. She's quite literally easy prey. It wouldn't be unusual for someone in that situation to expect to be assaulted, to "pay with her body" in exchange.

But the Handymen, never go anywhere near that line. In fact, they completely reject the possibility, which leads us to one of my favorite scenes.

Worick and Alex

Alex's withdrawal symptoms are making her spiral and she's terrified. She needs to be useful. She needs to be useful the only way she can think of... or else. So she throws herself at Worick — but Worick shuts that shit down immediately. He doesn't entertain the possibility for a second. He refuses to use Alex. He could have taken the opportunity to "get some" but instead, he grounds her and makes her feel safe.

One of the most attractive qualities a person can have is making you feel safe, and I don't just mean physically safe. This isn't limited to what women find attractive in men or what's romantically attractive. This applies to a lot of relationships in general. (More on romance later, or rather lack of romance, because I didn't take this scene to be romantic.)

Worick went out in the rain looking for her. He saw that she picked up a John, going back to her old ways — and he never shames her for it. He just wants to take her home and is upset at himself for taking his eyes off of her. He makes it clear she owes him nothing. He reminds her that she's safe now, he's here now. And my sweet, sweet man just starts complaining to her about his crappy day in a silly, whiny manner to cheer her up and make her laugh.

He's like, "Boohoo, Nic fucked up my fancy shirt." LOLLL But seriously, I would trust this man with my life after all this.

The last line in this scene is some of the first instances of Worick being flirty with Alex, but in a way that I believe is another example of his kindness. Yeah, I said what I said. These scenes are some of the reasons that made me go, "I would bet money that this series was written by a female author." Some people might have the kneejerk reaction that these scenes are Worick being creepy, but I would argue that it's totally not the case.

When Alex visits Worick at the clinic, we get the following scene:

Alex is being hard on herself and feels ashamed. She pours out all the anxieties plaguing her mind, completely opening up to Worick. I don't know about you guys, but admitting how I really feel to someone, especially someone I care about and who I want to like me back in such a raw way is one of the scariest things you can do. What if they reject me? Or hate me? Will they think less of me?

But Worick brushes all this away so easily, again, never judging her. And again, he gives her something to do, to look forward to, with the promise of a song. Again, he gets flirty with her, joking around to lighten her mood.

"He's inappropriately touching her, though! How can you say that's kindness?"

Worick and Alex are both sex workers and have been from a young age. They both have trauma surrounding it. They understand each other in a way others can't. If Worick was invading everyone's bubbles and getting all touchy-feely with them, then I'd say yeah, he's being a creep. But he only does this with Alex. And while Alex might playfully smack him when he does, she's never really uncomfortable. She knows that he's doing this to cheer her up (and Worick uses humor as a coping mechanism — you can't fool me, sir. I have you CLOCKED).

If it actually made her uncomfortable, Worick would stop right away. He's earned her trust and continues to do so. This is what the banter and camaraderie between them looks like. It's like when I affectionately call my friend a "bitch" and say "I hate you" because we have an understanding with one another. If I did that with everyone, I would be an asshole. Meanwhile, my friend's mom yelled at her to be nice to me before I dump her ass. I was like, "Auntie... What are you talking about? We're literally having a brunch date together right now." LMAO, that's just how our relationship is and it works for us. In the pages above, you can see them horsing around, Alex "reprimanding" Worick for being a "perv" but quickly dropping her head on his chest and snuggling up to him. SHE FEELS SAFE WITH HIM!

AND HE FEELS SAFE WITH HER!!!!!!!

I didn't take this scene as romantic either btw.

I rest my case. Good day to you.

Actual picture of me reading about these dummies.

------------------------------

~Continued in my part two post~

#GANGSTA.#manga #manga recs #manga recommendation #manga discussion #seinen manga #漫画 #おすすめ #青年漫画 #ギャングスタ

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maxi-is-not-well · 8 days

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dorohedoro. you should it if you havent. or again

I really should, I need to find somewhere to read it (and the actual time to.) It looks incredibly well drawn and all the characters look so cool!!!!

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maxellminidisc · 2 years

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I'm pretty open to anything content wise! The only manga I've read before is deathnote, when I read books I tend to be a big fan of fantasy horror and/or narratives that center trauma (esp intergenerational)

Sorry for how long this is gonna end up being cause I tend to rant about the things I like but here are a few I think you might like:

I would say Dorohedoro is probably something you'd enjoy! I'd put at at the top of the list for you. It's a cool combination of horror, comedy, very unique fantasy, and is an interesting take on class disparity and how it effects generations of society. The art is really cool cause its grimy and punk as fuck looking too. What I enjoy most about it is that it doesnt necessarily set up a bad guy but instead shows all the characters are flawed and that the seperate societies they live in are why they've had to resort to things like violence, greed, ambition, etc. Yet, they all remain oddly likable in their own ways which I think is incredibly commendable a thing to have pulled off writing wise. If I had to add some stuff to look out for ahead of time to prep, it has a substantial amount of gore and violence of course due to the subject, but the one thing I dislike about it is its exploitive treatment of the underage character Ebisu for laughs.

Another awesome one with horror elements is Ajin: Demi Human. This one has some of the coolest action sequences I've seen in sequential art. The movement is conveyed so smoothly it practically leaps off the page. This ones horror element is mostly about violence towards an other but also about how human beings can be the real horror. It's about these kind of immortal new humans who are smaller set of the population than regular people but are highly feared and hunted for baseless reasons and the Demi Humans who are trying to survive and establish themselves in this world. They themselves have seperate factions and agendas so sometimes the conflict is between the Demi Humans themselves. Warning of course for violence and torture.

Literally anything by Junji Ito is your best best for horror in general. He's usually baby's first step into manga horror for sure but it's for a good reason! My faves are Uzumaki and Tomei. Ito has this really amazing ability to make the mundane horrific and it takes you to interesting places as the reader. His reputation is absolutely well earned. Tomei in particular is about a girl coming back as this immortal terror because of the gendered violence committed against her by men, so be cautious of that going in.

And lastly I recommend this one with A LOT of caution but one of my favorite manga of all time is Berserk. Its definitely polarizing among my own friends, and rightfully so, because it can be gratuitous with violence of all kinds including sexual violence; I personally can stomach it and enjoy the more important elements of it but I dont begrudge people who dislike it for that reason what so ever though. But at its core, it is an epic about deep deep trauma and how one simply has to survive to spite it. It is the blueprint I would say of dark fantasy manga and it is DARK. The art again, is masterpiece level and it's so tragic that the mangaka died young this year, so it's never going to be perfectly finished, but I think that if people take the gamble and read it what we have left is still great.

Theres a lot more I could reccomend but I think this is a good start going by what you enjoy!! Hope you like some of these and definitely dont hesitate to ask for more recs in the future should you like some of these 😊💙

#ask #hiddeninyourribcage

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ja-khajay · 4 years

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tag meme for @hmsdivinity i havent done these in years omg

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 10 followers you’d like to get to know better!

Name? I go by Jay here

Birth year? ‘98. turned 21 yesterday

Sign? ophithingy whatever its called. the snake one. by normal 12 signs im saggitarius tho

Height? 174 cm i think havent gotten measured in years...my usanian friend said i was “prolly 5′8″ so here’s to that for people using clown units

Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first four songs:

Kids in America - Kim Wilde

OM - Pilgrimage

Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics

Remember Me - Blue Boy

Surprised nothing weird turned up! These are all bops

Grab the nearest book, turn to page 23, what’s the 17th line?

I’m typing this from my kitchen and my books are not in english so this will be difficult

Ever had a song or a poem written about you?

I don’t think so and I kinda hope not, I wouldn’t really want it. Unless it’s someone who has no idea who I am and is writing about me after a single encounter where they found me hauntingly sexy I’d be cool with that

When was the last time you played air guitar?

Probably last vacation enjoying music when i was stoned with a friend :’) or goofing around with my roomies

Celebrity Crush(es)?

I don’t really crush on celebrities or people I don’t know in general D:

What’s a sound you hate/love?

I love pigeon calls, shower sounds, a lit fire and double pedal drums

I hate....a Lot of sounds to a point where it’s a real life problem but my most hated ones are probably cracking knuckles, babies crying and motorcycles

Do you believe in ghosts?

I’m on the “why not” spectrum! If ghosts do exist it’d be cool as hell

Do you believe in aliens?

Yes, the universe is so vast it’s like. Statistically impossible that we’re alone out there

Do you drive?

No and i don’t even have a license. I don’t really want one either I would probable freak out immediatly in a car. I drive a mecanical scooty scooter around town and I have feet it’s Enough

Last book you read?

Do manga count. If yes I read all of Dorohedoro. If no well I have no idea probably a book I got recently about the Scythians that I never managed to finish

Do you like the smell of gasoline?

No ): I’d rather smell dung than anything artificially processed, most chemical smells disgust me. Plus it attrackts wasps

The last movie you saw?

I rewatched Howl’s Moving Castle last night and it made me so emotional.....thank you ghibli I know what love is now

Do you have any obsessions rn?

They kinda change daily. This morning I woke up passionate about art, how it’s everywhere and how you can analyze so much from everything, plus the trend of appreciating art being super elitist and why I think that’s absurd, plus thinking about the use of art in our civilization. Also, hunter x hunter

Do you tend to hold grudges?

Yes and no? I don’t forget people that do me dirty and I tend to get mad whenever I remember it but I never really act on it. Generally speaking I always do that, get super intense emotions and then not act on them. It’s better for everyone, if not I’d be such a massive bitch lmao....my grudges are mine alone too n they should stay that way!!!

tagging: no one...i don’t kno any of my mutuals who love doing these that i’m not already fwends with haha

#j #hope this gives u more insigght on who i am. im a clown #parading as a scary person by unknown magicks

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retsuunohana · 5 years

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annalieberts replied to your post: 1, 10, 15, 18 !

oooo i should check yyh out then!! ive been wanting to hear someones opinion on it. i read some of dorohedoro too! the designs are so cool???

yyh is a great shounen and i think an easy series to get into esp if you already like bleach (who’s pilot chapter was originally rejected for being too similar to yyh)!! i really love all the characters, their abilities, the op slaps, and it has some of the best animation sequences ive seen in any series (esp during the dark tournament arc.... cannot stress enough how its my favorite arc of any anime)

dorohedoro is a really wonderful dark fantasy/sci-fi/horror with lively and unique characters, and an endearing and genuinely funny sense of humor to counter its otherwise dark and gorey themes. the mangaka q hayashida is a woman and her female characters are really wonderful- powerful, strong, great personalities, beautiful, and even tend to subvert a lot of the trappings that female characters of similar genres fall into.

both are really excellent series i highly recommend!!

#annalieberts #also noi and nikado r hot u___u

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radroller · 6 years

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6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20, 24, 33, 35 (for the anime ask)

HOO BOY THAT’S A LOT! I’m glad tbh I love answering these LET’S GO

6. favorite opening sequence

Probably Mob Psycho 100 tbh. I haven’t even watched the whole series but I love love LOVE that opening.

7. top anime you plan to watch

The Big O and/or Patlabor are shows I’m really looking forward to watching. If we’re talking shows coming out in the near future, I’d say the new Cutie Honey Universe series unless it’s overly skeevy in which case I’ll curse Go Nagai’s name yet again.

10. top 5 10 characters you would die for

THIS IS TOO TOUGH SO I MADE IT 10. Okay. In No Particular Order:

Ippo Makunouchi from Hajime no Ippo

Nono from Diebuster

Nico Robin from One Piece

Noi from Dorohedoro it’s a manga not an anime but idc

Licenseless Rider/Mumen Rider from One-Punch Man

Kazuma Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho

Killua Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter

Satsuki Kiryuiin from Kill la Kill

Shiny Chariot/Chariot du Nord from Little Witch Academia

Gohan from Dragon Ball Z

13. favorite one shot (1 season) anime

Cowboy Bebop! I feel like this is kindof a given, anyone who watches this will probably end up loving it imo unless you're a Kotaku reviewer i guess

15. favorite on going series

PRESUMABLY JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Still waiting on Part 5 so it can be confirmed as “ongoing.”

16. animes you wish had another season

Little Witch Academia for sure! It’s got amazing animation, it’s super cute, and it made me laugh very hard during a time in my life where i needed some laughs. MOST importantly though, creator and animation director Yoh Yoshinari has stated he has plenty of potential stories rollin around his noggin. If Trigger got the time to make more content I’d LOVE it.

20. favorite costume/character design

I’d have to say Akira Toriyama! His artstyle has only gotten better and better over time imo, and even outside Dragon Ball he’s created some really great looking characters (i.e. Sand Land and Jiya).

24. favorite genre

I’ll watch ANYTHING with some action, so I usually gravitate towards Shonen series. That said, I’ve also watched some Seinen series like Berserk for the same reason, and I’ve heard of some Precure series with some physical fighting in them which sounds cool. Idk, punches, kicks, big colorful explosions, it’s a good time!

33. most underrated anime in your opinion

I’ve already answered this but if I had to pick another one it’d be American football sports anime Eyeshield 21. Why is it underrated? It’s terrible! But why should it NOT be underrated? It’s based on a really great manga drawn by Yusuke Murata of OPM fame. It has some great action, hilarious characters, over the top designs, and the classic sports anime teaching of fffffffffffriendship. The anime however is extremely lame because of weirdly off-model character designs and lackluster animation. AND it left out the entire last 3 arcs of the manga. That said we’ve got the OPM anime showing that Murata’s artstyle can be brought to TV soooooooo fingers crossed for a reboot? Please???? Until then i can’t stress it enough: Eyeshield 21 is a great series but PLEASE READ AND DON’T WATCH

35. favorite animation style

Aything that doesn’t look.....”generic.” Like gimme some cool character designs and some good personalities and I’ll be happy as a clam.

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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Manga the Week of 6/21/17

SEAN: It’s that time again. Time for this list of titles to take forever, time for your wallet to scream in pain, time for Anna to wonder why Yen doesn’t license more shoujo. Yes, it’s that week of the month.

Dark Horse has another Hatsune Miku manga, this one called Acute.

Drawn and Quarterly gives us another Kitaro volume, The Great Tanuki War. I’ve reviewed it here.

ASH: I’m always ready for more Kitaro!

SEAN: Haikasoru has the 4th Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel, which seems more timely than ever these days.

ASH: That it does.

MICHELLE: Someday, I really will read these.

ANNA: I just got the first one!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has the 4th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash out digitally.

Their debut this week is If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat A Demon Lord, which is a very light novel title if nothing else. J-Novel’s founder described it as being “like Bunny Drop”, then had to hurriedly walk that back after fans recoiled in horror. The good parts of Bunny Drop, apparently.

Kodansha continues to rush Nodame Cantabile to its finish digitally, here’s Vol. 23.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: Kodansha in print has a 7th volume of Inuyashiki, which recently ended in Japan.

And an 11th volume of Kiss Him, Not Me!, which despite its cover is unlikely to end with anyone married.

There is also a 7th Real Account.

Seven Seas gives us a 3rd volume of “would you read this in public?” series Holy Corpse Rising. (Answer: no.)

The new title is Otome Mania!, a reverse harem series that runs in Sylph, and whose author has done a lot of Shonen Jump BL doujinshi. So, pretty much the opposite market to Holy Corpse Riding.

Viz gives us the 21st volume of Dorohedoro, which crawls closer to its conclusion, but I don’t mind it taking so long.

ASH: I continue to adore Dorohedoro. It will be sad when it ends, but it has been an astonishing ride so far.

SEAN: Viz’s big debut is Golden Kamuy, a Young Jump title which sounds absolutely amazing, and co-stars an Ainu woman? Sign me up.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this series!

ANNA: This looks cool.

SEAN: The 6th Goodnight Punpun omnibus is also out next week.

ASH: We’re drawing near the end of this depressing yet compelling work.

SEAN: And an 11th Master Keaton.

Lastly (from Viz, don’t get excited), there’s a lucky 13th volume of Tokyo Ghoul.

That leaves Yen, but we’re not even halfway through the list. A huge number of light novels next week, starting with the 10th Accel World, which I hope is more lighthearted after the last few books.

Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon’s side story, Sword Oratoria, is not making viewers of the anime adaptation happy, but will they enjoy this 3rd light novel more?

The first of two debuts this month, Magical Girl Raising Project is one of THOSE series, featuring a lot of cute and determined magical girls who will be brutally slaughtered.

The 4th volume of Psycome goes off campus, as our heroes deal with Eri’s family and past.

Re: Zero’s 4th volume starts a new arc which no doubt means more deaths and save points for our hero.

The most exciting debut of the week for me is Sound Euphonium, a book about a high school band that was adapted into a beloved anime series. I believe this is the only volume licensed, though a sequel is out in Japan. Buy it, I hear it’s great.

MICHELLE: I don’t often go in for light novels, but for this I think I’ll make an exception.

ASH: I’ll absolutely be reading this. Band was the highlight of my high school years.

SEAN: Spice & Wolf turns out to be not quite over, as we get this 18th volume of the series.

And the first two Sword Art Online: Progressive novels are out digitally next week.

On to Yen’s manga. There’s a 5th Aoharu x Machinegun.

The Asterisk War has a 4th volume of its manga adaptation.

And Bungo Stray Dogs gets a 3rd volume.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer’s 9th manga volume is out as well.

And a 7th Dragons Rioting. Sorry, no witty remarks, no snark, just a long list of things I don’t read.

I do read Erased, though, and look forward to the 2nd omnibus.

ASH: It should be good! The first omnibus was a little slow for me at first, but by the end I was hooked.

SEAN: If you want to read Grimgar but hate books, here is the first volume of the Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash manga.

And there’s a 6th volume of Handa-kun.

The Honor Student at Magic High School is once again behind the light novels, to my relief. Here’s the 7th manga volume.

How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend has reached Vol. 6.

Kiniro Mosaic has a 3rd volume of basically not a lot happening to cute, yuri-ish girls.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Long As I Expected still has a long title, even 5 volumes in. (A reminder this sis the manga adaptation, though Amazon has gotten better at differentiating the two now.)

A spin-off of No Game No Life (whose own manga adaptation seems to be on hiatus in Japan), No Game No Life, Please! focuses on Izuna, as the title’s verbal tic likely gave away.

Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi may not make much sense to me, even after 7 volumes, but it’s got style.

MICHELLE: I’m enjoying it!

ASH: I’ve been enjoying it, myself.

SEAN: And we have a 7th Prison School omnibus.

ASH: I’m still reading this series, too. It’s definitely not for everyone, though.

School-Live! still has not run out of zombies, as we have Vol. 7 here.

And a 7th Strike the Blood manga will not surprise, but may satisfy anyway.

Today’s Cerberus gives us a 4th print volume of the already out on digital series.

Lastly, the your name novel gets a manga adaptation, and this is Vol. 1.

Phew. What’s for you next week? Or does the list just make you dizzy?

By: Sean Gaffney

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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