#102 Takama-ga-hara (Ft. YouTuber Trentin)

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[00:00:19] so I can show you Shonen Flop.

[00:00:20] Welcome to this episode of Shonen Flop where we talk about manga and Shonen Jump that didn't

[00:00:22] make it big.

[00:00:23] I'm David.

[00:00:24] I'm Jordan.

[00:00:25] Next week is our four year anniversary, Jordan.

[00:00:28] Whoa!

[00:00:29] What the fuck?

[00:00:30] So no chibi next week and we're gonna rank everything we read this year.

[00:00:33] Oh god.

[00:00:34] I can't believe it.

[00:00:36] Jesus Christ, what the fuck?

[00:00:40] Where does the time go?

[00:00:41] And after that we're gonna be covering Guardian of the Witch so be sure to join the discussion

[00:00:45] in the Shonen Flop Discord.

[00:00:46] Finally to in our show notes or on our website Shonenflop.com.

[00:00:49] But this week we are talking about Takamara Gahara and we are joined by Trent.

[00:00:54] Trent thank you so much for joining us and I said that really fast but Jordan

[00:00:57] couldn't correct how I probably mispronounced the series name.

[00:00:59] I feel like you did a decent job.

[00:01:01] Oh whoa.

[00:01:02] You know who else to come on Takamara?

[00:01:04] What?

[00:01:05] My mom!

[00:01:06] What?

[00:01:07] I love regular show.

[00:01:08] Okay.

[00:01:09] Anyway, anyway Trent please tell the audience a little bit about yourself.

[00:01:13] Hey I'm Trenton.

[00:01:15] I make YouTube videos on mostly axe Shonen Jump manga so it's fitting I'm here.

[00:01:21] That's pretty much me sometimes do art as well on the side but mostly just read

[00:01:25] and talk about Shonen Jump.

[00:01:26] God you're just like me.

[00:01:27] God he's just like me for real for real.

[00:01:30] For real for real!

[00:01:31] I have someone to give a thank you to Portal Man.

[00:01:32] Thank you so much for recommending we have Trenton on the show.

[00:01:35] So Trent if there was one manga that you feel like we haven't covered yet on the

[00:01:38] show that you want us to cover what would it be?

[00:01:40] Oh boy.

[00:01:41] I can't say I've gone through like every episode.

[00:01:44] No it's totally fine.

[00:01:45] The way we're having a four year anniversary.

[00:01:48] What's a deep cut series that you think we probably haven't done yet?

[00:01:51] What's a deep cut?

[00:01:52] Oh boy.

[00:01:53] I could pull some like 70s like series out of my ass but um...

[00:01:57] Anything that's done the last 15 years you have like a 99% chance we haven't covered

[00:02:00] because we've covered like four series older than the 2000s.

[00:02:03] Watch Jordan as he's like, St. Muscle would be great.

[00:02:06] That's so hard because I have so many series like swimming in my brain from stuff.

[00:02:12] Um I'm trying to think of a cool one.

[00:02:15] Okay this isn't a good one but I think it's 1972s Musashi is coming to my brain

[00:02:21] which is made by uh oh no all the Japanese names are like leaving my brain.

[00:02:27] Motomiya is the author's name who did Otoko Ippigigaki Daisho which is a massive like

[00:02:33] old jump manga and Musashi is an axed manga of his which I think is dreadful.

[00:02:39] God I love that when you read something by like an author who was like a massive

[00:02:44] success and it's just garbage.

[00:02:46] Hey that's the point of our show.

[00:02:48] I'm looking at you guy who made My Hero Academia.

[00:02:51] Yeah or Black Clover.

[00:02:53] Or Black Clover.

[00:02:54] Or Jojo's Misericventure.

[00:02:56] Hey well I don't think a rocky had trash just weird stuff.

[00:03:00] I like bow.

[00:03:02] Yeah you're right.

[00:03:03] Uh anyway guys I mean to be honest I really don't know how I feel about this series

[00:03:07] it's one of the swans who are in this conversation.

[00:03:09] This is a hard one.

[00:03:10] This is a hard one so I can't even say speaking of garbage let's get into it.

[00:03:12] Speaking of what might be disappointment or might be good we'll find out.

[00:03:17] This is a very weird episode and very probably this will win for worst segue I've ever had.

[00:03:21] Jord tell us about the manga I'm tired of talking.

[00:03:24] So Tucker says that he thinks that the localizers added the hyphens so native

[00:03:29] English speakers wouldn't to quote him lose their minds over a foreign word with

[00:03:34] more than four syllables which so I'm assuming that Takama Gahara is just one word.

[00:03:40] Yeah and yes according to Tucker Takama Gahara is the realm of the gods in

[00:03:45] Shinto mythology.

[00:03:46] Ah that makes sense.

[00:03:47] But this is Takama Gahara and it was written by Juzo Kawai very cute notable

[00:03:54] even they had his assistants or Kenta Sushita of Lakaon and Toge Toge Tatsuyuki

[00:04:00] quote unquote Mikey Maeda who is a professional assistant that has done

[00:04:05] some stuff on YouTube that's pretty cool check out his channel like and

[00:04:09] subscribe I guess Manabu Yeshiro of all caps tank chair.

[00:04:15] That sounds amazing.

[00:04:17] Kentaro Hidano David of Super Smartphone.

[00:04:21] God.

[00:04:22] Trenton have you read Super Smartphone?

[00:04:24] I read Super Smartphone as it came out.

[00:04:27] Oh wow I'm so sorry.

[00:04:30] It was a ride.

[00:04:31] It's so funny because it's like what's what's Super Smartphone about.

[00:04:34] It's about a guy with a Super Smartphone.

[00:04:36] There you go and Kisuke Goto of One Operation Joker apparently all of

[00:04:42] these assistants worked on Takama Gahara which is honestly insane to me that

[00:04:47] there were so many people involved in this.

[00:04:50] You don't even know Maxi B gets into it.

[00:04:53] This was literally like apparently they just needed anybody who could hold a

[00:04:57] pen was working on the series because I guess they just need a shit ton of

[00:05:00] assistance to get us out the door.

[00:05:01] That's crazy but Juzo Kawai's other works include 50805080 I guess 2021 to

[00:05:10] one volume in big comic superior slash online.

[00:05:15] So this guy came back almost a decade after Takama Gahara was cancelled and

[00:05:20] this manga is wow it's a slice of life about a 50 year old.

[00:05:25] God damn that's like the oldest character I've ever heard of in a manga.

[00:05:31] Yeah and here I thought the guy from Kaiju number eight when he was like 34 years old was just turning to Ash.

[00:05:37] Yeah he's living but he's living as a neat which if you don't know is not an

[00:05:41] education employment or training.

[00:05:42] Wow that hurts and is dependent on his 80 year old parents.

[00:05:47] Apparently it's kind of stopped didn't go that far but we're not talking about that today.

[00:05:51] We're talking about Takama Gahara ran from July 9th 2012 to November 5th 2012.

[00:05:57] It replaced Majiko by Naoko Iwamoto went for eight volumes did all right.

[00:06:04] Series that replaced this David is Hungry Joker.

[00:06:08] Oh speaking of Black Clover we were just talking about that.

[00:06:13] Yeah have you read that one Trent?

[00:06:15] I have read Hungry Joker.

[00:06:16] It's a I'm really glad he made Black Clover after that.

[00:06:20] Yeah yeah I agree with that.

[00:06:21] That is episode 15 by the way so we'll be re-looking at that in I guess 11 or 12 years.

[00:06:28] Yeah maybe 11 because we cut out Robot Laser Beam because it was racist.

[00:06:32] But this series started at the same time as assassination classroom which is a massive hit.

[00:06:38] I also cannot believe that these came out this they just feel so different.

[00:06:42] Right?

[00:06:43] Yeah.

[00:06:43] This series part of the U19 club 17 chapters two volumes.

[00:06:49] Oh man and Jordan why don't we hear about what happened in those let's get into the plot summary.

[00:06:53] The goddamn plot summary let's go.

[00:06:57] Yamato Yamada is the middle child of five strong brothers.

[00:07:02] While his other four brothers love to fight Yamato only wants to draw manga.

[00:07:07] He dreams of winning the Tezuka award but unfortunately David his manga is fucking garbage.

[00:07:14] Yeah.

[00:07:15] It is so bad that everyone who reads it almost dies.

[00:07:19] We would have absolutely covered his manga in the show if he was a real mangaka.

[00:07:24] Oh god yeah after being drawn to the roof by a delinquent with a pompadour named Fukakion.

[00:07:30] I love this because he did this by sending him a love letter.

[00:07:34] Well it was a letter that just said come to the roof but Fukakion has amazingly beautiful handwriting

[00:07:40] because he studied calligraphy and Yamato just assumed it was a pretty girl and then it was just a huge deal with a pompadour.

[00:07:47] Yamato ends up punching him and sending him flying into the sky when his substitute teacher notices this

[00:07:53] and ominously says to himself that he has awakened his kamizawa.

[00:07:57] Kamizawa's are powers that every human possesses but very few actually discover.

[00:08:02] The next day Fukakion approaches Yamato with a shaved head and swears his fealty making Yamato the new boss of his gang.

[00:08:10] Even though Yamato wants nothing to do with it.

[00:08:12] When the gang is attacked by a creepy guy with a kamizawa that shoots utility knives out of his body though.

[00:08:17] Yamato shows up to save them.

[00:08:19] Mr. Suzuki finishes him off by using his own power to turn the knife guy into kanji and storing him in a book.

[00:08:26] Probably the coolest power in the whole Fukakion series.

[00:08:29] It's kind of rad.

[00:08:30] He explains to Yamato that he is actually a teacher at a place called Takama Gahara and invites him to come to the school

[00:08:37] giving him a cool new uniform and spiky hair that activates when he uses his power Popcorn David.

[00:08:43] Later Yamato fights a guy who creeps on women and drains blood from other people to become big and encorged.

[00:08:48] Haha get it?

[00:08:49] It's like a penis.

[00:08:50] Thank you Jordan.

[00:08:51] Whoa!

[00:08:52] Yamato saves his childhood friend Mizzo from the weird gross and gorge cult guy.

[00:08:57] He's approached again by Mr. Suzuki this time with two hunters who are to be Yamato's classmates.

[00:09:02] Kumaso, a ventriloquist swordsman who makes his sword talk, and Izumo.

[00:09:06] A nice guy who can turn animals into guns giving us the best out of context manga panel of this entire series.

[00:09:12] It's really good.

[00:09:13] He says the age of myth is coming and brings Yamato through a gate which disappears behind him.

[00:09:18] Yamato stands at the foot of Takama Gahara which is a giant wooden mountain made of school buildings and was a super dope two page cover spread.

[00:09:24] It was awesome! I love that shit, that is so cool.

[00:09:28] Yamato must first pass the entrance exam which involves knocking Kumaso off a rock which he succeeds in doing in one chapter so he didn't have to deal with a stupid fucking exam arc.

[00:09:37] Thank God and he does like the Alexander the Great Gordian knot style thing where he just instead of knocking him off the rock he just kicks the rock away.

[00:09:46] Yeah it was great.

[00:09:47] The three then go to school versus Uki Tasuma bringing order to the place.

[00:09:51] By taking down the leader of the school they can get a special jacket which lets them go home but until then they're stuck here.

[00:09:57] After fighting off a huge gang of students the three meet Udahara, a wimpy kid who is being used as an errand boy by Taitju, the boss of the gang and ask them to bring them down.

[00:10:06] The three then confront Taitju and Yamato fights him in single combat popcorn Trenton.

[00:10:10] Eventually it becomes clear that Udahara is controlling Taitju with his power.

[00:10:14] While Taitju is using his own power which silences everything around him so Yamato can't tell his allies.

[00:10:20] However Kumaso's ventriloquism training allows him to read lips so he steps in and stops Udahara.

[00:10:26] It turns out that back home Taitju used to bully Udahara using his silencing powers to prevent people from hearing his screams.

[00:10:32] One day Udahara punched him in the face which activated his control power.

[00:10:37] Udahara then used Taitju's own power to silence himself and has been controlling him from the sidelines the whole time they've been there.

[00:10:44] It's pretty fucked up, like everything around it is kind of fucked up.

[00:10:47] Yeah. Like holy shit.

[00:10:50] After Yamato defeats him Taitju becomes free but apologizes to Udahara because he now knows what it's like to be controlled.

[00:10:58] Which I thought was really sweet actually. Nice little kind of conclusion to that.

[00:11:03] Yeah, still very dark. It was literally like nobody can hear me scream basically.

[00:11:08] But apparently he was just saying I'm sorry the whole time.

[00:11:12] Yeah and then we suddenly flash forward and Mizuho wakes up to find that she has a penis and no boobs.

[00:11:20] Yeah, I genuinely did not understand what happened in this chapter.

[00:11:23] I kind of got but it was like a mid-zero sense right?

[00:11:25] It's super confusing.

[00:11:27] He tried to shotgun a ton of stuff in one chapter and it didn't really work.

[00:11:32] I've read this twice by the way and still like yeah it threw me through me off.

[00:11:37] She is then approached by some evil kamizawa users called Yomi who activate her power which returns her to normal

[00:11:44] and say that she has the power of reversing Yin and Yang which is important to their plan.

[00:11:49] Yamato, Kumaso and Izumu appear with the cool special jackets and fight them off with their new buff powers.

[00:11:55] The leader of the Yomi turns into a big snake guy and Yamato punches him into a building.

[00:12:00] Yamato says he will use his strength to protect anyone within his reach and yeah just kind of ends.

[00:12:05] It's one of the three endings that cancelled manga can have.

[00:12:09] Yep.

[00:12:10] Where it's just like it just pretends it's not cancelled.

[00:12:13] We'll see you next week.

[00:12:14] See you next time.

[00:12:15] Our adventure continues.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:19] But it doesn't.

[00:12:21] Nope. Bye.

[00:12:23] Trent, do you mind telling us about the main character?

[00:12:26] So Yamato Yamada, his kind of main I guess goal at the beginning is he doesn't want to fight and he wants to make manga

[00:12:34] which is initially kind of interesting but it doesn't really go anywhere.

[00:12:38] This is what like annoying me is this had such a cool idea and then it just shits itself.

[00:12:42] Yeah, it gets brought up like a few times and there's even like a side character who's mentioned a couple of times.

[00:12:49] Yeah, this is master.

[00:12:51] And then never again.

[00:12:52] Yeah, who's like a younger kid who's much better at making manga than he is.

[00:12:57] And then is only in one chapter.

[00:12:59] Yeah, he's in one chapter and then he disappears.

[00:13:01] Yeah, what a surprise.

[00:13:03] But yeah, and then his super ability is that he has really strong and I like how he slowly realizes all of his limbs have super strength

[00:13:11] and not just his right hand.

[00:13:13] I also love where they were where he was like man, I didn't kill Fukukyon when I punched him.

[00:13:19] It's so funny because it's like he goes into like plot holes that nobody that we've all just accepted like oh yeah, you know, we punch a guy

[00:13:27] so far away that it becomes like a speck in the sky.

[00:13:30] I mean, that's just manga.

[00:13:31] He's okay right?

[00:13:32] But he's like huh, that was weird.

[00:13:34] I guess I have the ability to transfer my defensive powers into the people that I punch.

[00:13:39] It's like when they try and explain Superman's abilities or has like some tech has like some psychic field.

[00:13:43] Yeah, they're like no one no one gives a shit man.

[00:13:46] Yeah.

[00:13:47] Or it's like the argument that the Hulk must have some kind of superpower that reinforces the ground he stands on.

[00:13:54] Yeah, I'm just so disappointed it's kind of bland.

[00:13:56] Also, Tucker has an interesting fact where their name is the same as the family name of the Imperial family who are traditionally believed to be a direct

[00:14:02] descendant of the Sun God and also the term used to refer to the Japanese spirit Yamato Damashi.

[00:14:08] So that's a little fun trivia from Tucker.

[00:14:10] So thanks for that.

[00:14:10] They had like some names for mythology.

[00:14:13] I mean, there was Takama Gahara obviously which Tucker mentioned.

[00:14:16] But also like the king of Takama Gahara was Izanami or it was Izanagi.

[00:14:22] I forget which one but like there's Izanagi who's like a big God in Japanese culture and then the leader of the enemy faction, the Yomi.

[00:14:33] They mentioned quickly in one chapter because they didn't have time to set it up is Izanami whose Izanagi's wife.

[00:14:40] Yeah.

[00:14:40] So they were trying to do something there.

[00:14:42] Yeah, I noticed a lot of this.

[00:14:44] Even like that snake guy is I think his ability or he's called like Yamato.

[00:14:49] Yeah, Orochi.

[00:14:50] Yeah.

[00:14:51] And Kumaso, he's like nicknamed Yadagorasu.

[00:14:55] So there's a lot of that kind of myth in there which you might be familiar.

[00:14:59] Oh, that Yu-Gi-Oh card.

[00:15:00] Yeah, that Yu-Gi-Oh card.

[00:15:01] I mostly know all of this through Persona and Okami.

[00:15:06] Yeah.

[00:15:07] Those are the main ways that I know this stuff.

[00:15:09] But I think we do need to move on to the next character.

[00:15:11] So Jordan, can you tell us about the substitute teacher?

[00:15:13] Or sorry not the substitute teacher.

[00:15:14] Well, I guess he's like, you know what I mean.

[00:15:16] He's kind of yeah.

[00:15:17] He's Mr. Suzuki.

[00:15:18] Coolest power in the whole thing.

[00:15:20] He can conjify people.

[00:15:22] It's so sick.

[00:15:23] They're attacked by, you know, you got that utility knife guy I mentioned and he just like turns his entire body into Kanji.

[00:15:30] So it's like all his hand turns into the Kanji for like a bunch of letters for the Kanji of hand.

[00:15:37] And then like, it just his entire body gets gets trapped in blank books that he has.

[00:15:43] Which is a pretty terrible thing to do to people.

[00:15:45] No, it's horrifying.

[00:15:47] But that's why it's so cool.

[00:15:48] Like he's just like, yeah, you know, I enjoy sometimes just sitting around and admiring all the people that I have trapped in my books.

[00:15:57] Like, holy shit.

[00:15:59] Like there are aspects of it that almost remind me of Heaven's Door where he's like, oh yeah, from Jojo.

[00:16:04] Yeah, from Jojo.

[00:16:05] Yeah.

[00:16:06] He somehow puts like a Kanji curse on the main character so he transforms into a different uniform when he uses his power.

[00:16:12] Yeah.

[00:16:13] And also if he disobeys him in that uniform, he gets a straight jacket essentially because like leather straps put all over him.

[00:16:19] Yeah.

[00:16:20] Mr. Suzuki also like he has like an alternate identity where depending on if he has like a specific Kanji on a on his neck.

[00:16:27] He turns into a nerd.

[00:16:28] Yeah.

[00:16:29] And then when it goes away, he turns into a cool guy secret agent.

[00:16:32] Yeah, he also exists to dump a ton of exposition about having sword.

[00:16:36] So much exposition!

[00:16:38] Imagine if that's like the Kanji that was written on him as the word exposition.

[00:16:42] Missed opportunity there.

[00:16:43] Yeah.

[00:16:44] Oh man.

[00:16:45] And then next up, let me talk about Kumasa, the sword guy.

[00:16:48] I, he kind of has like a Zoro-Sanji relationship of Yamato where they're kind of friends but they also hate each other.

[00:16:54] Yeah.

[00:16:55] Speaking of one piece, it reminds me how Luchi also does ventriloquism.

[00:16:58] But yeah, it's just so silly that they put the speech bubble on his sword.

[00:17:02] It's really good.

[00:17:03] Now he was like interesting because like he's so stoic but like his sword says ridiculous shit and it's like you have to keep reminding yourself.

[00:17:11] Oh, that's him saying that.

[00:17:13] He is saying this ridiculous shit through the sword.

[00:17:16] Yeah.

[00:17:17] I got confused quite a bit to be honest.

[00:17:19] I think I also forgot the sword talked like after reading it for the time as well which didn't help.

[00:17:24] It's very interesting that they were like no, learning ventriloquism helps him be better at swords.

[00:17:31] Let's him understand the voice of his sword.

[00:17:33] Yeah, it would have been interesting to see where that went but I guess we'll get into that with where it could have gone.

[00:17:38] So I guess we have a whole section dedicated to talking about that.

[00:17:41] Yeah.

[00:17:42] And then before we move into that, do you mind telling us about Izumo?

[00:17:45] I would love to talk about Izumo because I think he's the best character of the manga.

[00:17:50] He is!

[00:17:51] He's got an interesting design with his I think kind of pompadour and glasses.

[00:17:54] He's a stylish pompadour.

[00:17:56] Yeah, he's also just kind of nice.

[00:17:58] Just cool to everyone, cool to Yamato.

[00:18:01] Just an all around nice dude.

[00:18:03] And then I think he is the character who is the best thing in the manga which is the beast of gun ability with his squirrel gun.

[00:18:11] So good.

[00:18:12] Which I adore and that's kind of what I think about whenever I think about this manga.

[00:18:17] It is amazing.

[00:18:18] It's also so well drawn as well.

[00:18:20] So like the final chapter is kind of a mess but it has one of the best moments in the whole manga which is yes.

[00:18:27] Izumo shows up and at this point they've all like activated their bonkai or whatever.

[00:18:32] There's a time skip where they all leveled up and so he just summons a ton of different animals like a bear.

[00:18:38] They're like a lion, like all these other animals.

[00:18:41] It's a shit load of guns.

[00:18:43] And they all just turn into different fuzzy guns.

[00:18:46] He really had the right to bear arms.

[00:18:49] Ah ha ha ha. Yeah.

[00:18:51] I feel like that joke doesn't make sense in Japanese but that would be great if that was the inspiration for his ability because he does turn a bear into a gun.

[00:18:59] Yeah, no but it was sick.

[00:19:01] Like that owned.

[00:19:03] Yeah.

[00:19:04] Absolutely.

[00:19:05] Those panels alone bring the manga up a letter grade for me.

[00:19:10] Same.

[00:19:11] I have some bad news and we still though have to talk about where it failed so let's move into that section and dive in.

[00:19:16] Brent, what would you say is the first thing that really stands out to you as an issue the series had?

[00:19:20] I think it's evident from the very beginning.

[00:19:22] It just throws so much at you.

[00:19:24] Yeah.

[00:19:25] And it throws so much out.

[00:19:26] Yeah, yeah but like it throws you Takama Gahara and the idea of the kamiwazas and then it switches to your introduction to the main character

[00:19:35] and his four other brothers who I do love but instantly you have like a full cast there kind of.

[00:19:43] So you just get more characters that just get piled on piled on and it wants to be this kind of gag manga but then it switches to being a kind of more delinquent battle manga

[00:19:53] and then a supernatural battle manga and I think that there's just way too much added on and things are just pushed along really unnaturally.

[00:20:02] I think chapter seven is when Izumo and Kumaso and all the Takama Gahara stuff get introduced and everything you've just experienced up until then

[00:20:10] like the whole volume of content just gets thrown away essentially which is really unfortunate.

[00:20:16] I think you hit on something about this manga which is it doesn't know what it wants to be.

[00:20:20] Yeah.

[00:20:21] This manga is very confused.

[00:20:23] Yeah, like it starts out with like this kid like he wants to be a mangaka but like oh man he gets like this superpower

[00:20:31] and like his brothers wanted to be strong and it's like oh man what's he gonna do you know cause he's so much better at being strong

[00:20:37] and how he's gonna balance this and then it's like nah he's got a power now we're not gonna do that anymore

[00:20:42] because it also starts out as Trenton pointed out with like this weird hold open kind of

[00:20:49] where it was just like alright let me explain to you about the Kami Zawa.

[00:20:53] Let me tell you and it's like you didn't really need to do that honestly.

[00:20:57] It was completely unnecessary especially cause they go into a lot of depth explaining it again

[00:21:02] and it's like why did you even show me that?

[00:21:04] It just seems like a lack of confidence with the manga because it's like nah guys wait wait wait we're gonna have a power system alright I promise

[00:21:12] alright hang on and it's like it didn't need that.

[00:21:15] It also just changes from you know like a monster of the week type thing to now we're at a school

[00:21:22] and it didn't work.

[00:21:24] No and you can really tell that this is clearly he had to bail on his original idea with how many characters

[00:21:29] and he had this weirdness where he like it felt like he was like contractually obligated to keep the characters from the first volume

[00:21:35] showing up like literally like why is the disciple Buddhist guy showing up at all?

[00:21:40] He shows up for like three pages in like a random chapter for what seems to be no reason same with the childhood friend character.

[00:21:47] Well it's more than that because it's just like why did you introduce these characters then?

[00:21:51] Yeah because like the idea is he is now trapped in a different dimension where he can't go see them

[00:21:56] but it's like you spent like seven fucking chapters introducing us to this cast of characters

[00:22:03] and now it's like like what about his brothers?

[00:22:06] His brothers were built up to be like a big important thing here and then it's just oh they're not

[00:22:11] like why did you do that? Why are they even here?

[00:22:14] I always hate saying the phrase it wasted our time this really did.

[00:22:18] It's a shame like because this series had some fucking potential and it almost feels like he canceled his own manga.

[00:22:26] Yeah.

[00:22:27] What if like the Bleach Soul Society arc started at chapter seven?

[00:22:32] Yeah I agree Trent is there other things though that you feel like were issues with this manga?

[00:22:37] I think you kind of nailed the soul society thing on the head there because if this was done like later on maybe

[00:22:43] after we've had a bit more time with the characters it could be a cool like oh you've come to love

[00:22:47] all these guys for a while we're taking them away for a little bit but it doesn't weigh too soon

[00:22:52] and then the other thing I wanted to mention is it like doesn't know what it wants to do

[00:22:57] which is kind of the same as Yamato.

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:23:00] He feels so like aimless with his manga stuff and he's like physically dragged into this world

[00:23:05] because I think a few times he says like no I don't want to do this

[00:23:08] and it's so hard to kind of get behind him as your main character

[00:23:12] like if your main character doesn't want to do this then as you as like a reader

[00:23:17] like well why do I want to go to Takama Gahara like as well

[00:23:20] so yeah I think that feeds into it as well.

[00:23:23] I almost feel like the author felt obligated to make the school thing happen fast

[00:23:28] because he named the manga after it.

[00:23:31] Yeah because there was really no reason to do that other than you kind of had that cold open

[00:23:36] and you called it Takama Gahara but there's no other reason to really do this I guess

[00:23:41] Yeah I feel like that'll be a fun thing to talk about where it could have gone

[00:23:45] and how to revise this series.

[00:23:47] I also want to say though that I kind of end with this point the handling of Mizo

[00:23:51] where they explicitly say she's completely useless in combat

[00:23:54] or it's like you're setting up like at first I was like oh wow look a nice respected strong female character

[00:23:59] not a sexualized design you know but still clearly feminine

[00:24:02] and then they're like oh you're too weak to be relevant in this fighting series

[00:24:05] so you're not really going to have a purpose.

[00:24:08] See I agree but I also thought they were setting her up to like have like a kami zawa

[00:24:14] where she was like super badass or something

[00:24:16] but not really.

[00:24:17] Yeah it sounds like later on they were going to push that even further

[00:24:21] and make her a literal like plot device MacGuffin

[00:24:24] that the enemy wanted to kind of grab

[00:24:26] but then they didn't.

[00:24:27] Maybe it would change but yeah from what we saw at the end I'm not too sure.

[00:24:31] I also want to talk a little bit about the art.

[00:24:33] Yeah there are some great scenes of the art

[00:24:35] like the art was kind of mid when it wasn't really working

[00:24:38] the designs are kind of weird

[00:24:39] and also the paneling was super strange at times

[00:24:41] there's a scene where a panel is just horizontal

[00:24:44] or like rotated 90 degrees and you like you have to tilt your head to read it

[00:24:47] which I can get why you would do that

[00:24:49] but this wasn't a case because he's on the ground

[00:24:51] and the character is above him

[00:24:53] it's not like he's you know forced on his side

[00:24:55] so you're trying to see how the character is looking

[00:24:58] so I was like I guess you just couldn't think of a layout

[00:25:00] to fit this panel without it being really weirdly forced in

[00:25:02] because it's like yeah it just felt very weird and amateurish

[00:25:06] that he hadn't fought through his paneling

[00:25:08] and he had to have this really forced panel on this page

[00:25:11] The art in general feels kind of amateurish

[00:25:14] Yeah it reminds me a lot of nano hazards art

[00:25:16] Also like when they made it to Takama Gahara

[00:25:19] like the whole purpose of bringing them into a school is like

[00:25:22] oh man you meet all these cool dudes who are like all different

[00:25:26] sort of like an X-Men kind of thing

[00:25:28] but like no because they go to a school

[00:25:30] and like all the students there have all shaved their heads

[00:25:33] and they look identical because they're in the same gang

[00:25:36] and it really just flattens everything

[00:25:38] and then it just turns into like oh a bunch of random dudes

[00:25:41] fighting each other and it's like the first time we see it

[00:25:44] it's like a dude turning into a Komodo dragon

[00:25:46] fighting another dude with like a power that I forget

[00:25:48] and it's like oh that's kind of interesting

[00:25:50] I can't wait to get to know these characters

[00:25:52] and it's just oh they're just random lackeys

[00:25:55] in a crowd of other lackeys

[00:25:57] who look just like them

[00:25:59] really disappointing

[00:26:00] The series just shits until the first thing gets to the school

[00:26:03] but I do think that we should probably talk about some positives

[00:26:06] because there are some things to enjoy about the series

[00:26:08] which is why making a verdict for this is so hard

[00:26:10] So Jordan as Mr. Positive himself

[00:26:13] why don't you tell us what are some things you enjoyed about the series

[00:26:16] and why at the start we said we're having some trouble deciding

[00:26:18] whatever will be on this

[00:26:20] So the characters general are actually pretty likeable

[00:26:23] but also sometimes the art goes kind of hard

[00:26:27] There are some beautiful two page spreads

[00:26:29] The fight with like the huge gross

[00:26:31] engorged man

[00:26:33] he calls himself the Engorged God

[00:26:35] that was probably the best fight in the series

[00:26:38] and that kind of kicked ass

[00:26:40] I was like kind of on board for that fight

[00:26:43] I agree, I mean that's what we wanted out of the series

[00:26:45] but what can you do about it

[00:26:47] With a few series we cover like Servus Wars 2

[00:26:50] where it's like dude just stick with like a monster

[00:26:52] the weak thing for a bit

[00:26:54] let us get to know these characters for a bit

[00:26:56] you know and stuff because when it was doing that

[00:26:59] it was pretty good like we were introduced to like that utility knife guy

[00:27:03] who's like totally like fucked up and weird

[00:27:06] like yeah

[00:27:08] and then try, what was something that stood out to you as a positive about the series

[00:27:12] There's quite a few actually

[00:27:14] I think it's just generally fun to read

[00:27:17] It's so crazy and wild like

[00:27:19] I'm always engaged even if it's not the best thing in the world

[00:27:22] which is always a good thing

[00:27:24] The best thing that stood out to me is the sound effects

[00:27:27] the author really likes to play around with them

[00:27:30] there's some really cool ways he frames some panels with them

[00:27:34] now and again and sometimes they're really big and bold

[00:27:37] the like exacto knife, utility knife guy fight

[00:27:40] where he does the sound effect

[00:27:43] where they're all like the same kind of knife pattern

[00:27:46] is really cool as well

[00:27:48] I love like little playful things like that

[00:27:50] because clearly the author's just really thinking about them

[00:27:53] like how can I make my manga even more engaging

[00:27:56] on a level like beyond just having good art

[00:28:00] There is definitely an Iraqi DNA to this

[00:28:03] beyond like the stand system but like

[00:28:05] with the level of fought and like craftiness that Iraqi puts in that

[00:28:09] I think really set this above other JoJo inspired series that we've read

[00:28:13] Speaking of which, can I just say like you know

[00:28:15] aside from maybe the main characters power

[00:28:18] there's some interesting fucking powers in this series

[00:28:22] the fucking bear and the fucking squirrel gun

[00:28:24] the squirrel gun?

[00:28:26] even the dude who has like utility knives stuck all inside him

[00:28:29] like they show an x-ray of his body and he's just filled with utility knives

[00:28:34] they have like the guy who

[00:28:37] he has like an arcade controller on his army

[00:28:40] basically as a built in power glove

[00:28:42] and he uses it to control guys

[00:28:44] so bad

[00:28:45] oh my god it's so bad David

[00:28:48] that's a movie to rewatch, The Wizard

[00:28:50] and of course the kanji guy

[00:28:53] where he just turns people into kanji and puts them in books

[00:28:56] like really interesting ideas here

[00:28:59] that like go beyond like just

[00:29:01] oh this guy shoots fire and shit like that

[00:29:03] yeah I think even like more than just interesting

[00:29:07] they're always like really clearly presented as well

[00:29:10] they're just well illustrated but they always

[00:29:12] I don't know the way they're drawn

[00:29:14] even though these abstract ideas

[00:29:16] they're just very well realized

[00:29:18] like the beast of gun

[00:29:20] the kanji vacation looks amazing when it's like crawling up

[00:29:22] that guy's arm

[00:29:24] and then the muscle guy

[00:29:26] you get to see the panels of him

[00:29:28] grabbing onto someone like sucking away

[00:29:30] their muscle mass and stuff

[00:29:32] so I don't know, that definitely added

[00:29:34] a bunch to the manga for me

[00:29:36] the muscle guy looks amazing by the way

[00:29:38] like he looks, he's horrifying

[00:29:41] like the art makes him look so visceral

[00:29:43] and like he looks like a titan from Attack on Titan

[00:29:46] yeah that's a good way of putting it

[00:29:48] yeah except better drawn, take that

[00:29:50] he looks like the cockroach man from Terraform Mars as well

[00:29:54] not familiar

[00:29:55] one thing I also thought was a really

[00:29:57] thread of the needle is he makes the main character

[00:29:59] at least at the start have a really big

[00:30:01] rejecting the call to action

[00:30:03] but you don't feel like he's preventing

[00:30:05] the plot from happening or the character feels annoying

[00:30:08] he legitimately feels like a guy who just because

[00:30:10] he has the means

[00:30:11] he should have the right to do what he actually

[00:30:13] wants to do regardless of what society's trying

[00:30:15] to force him to do, you know?

[00:30:17] it's really interesting because it is like this idea

[00:30:19] where it's like oh you're good at this

[00:30:21] so you should do this and he's like well

[00:30:23] I don't want to

[00:30:25] I don't want to do this

[00:30:26] I don't want to cure cancer

[00:30:28] I want to turn people into dinosaurs

[00:30:30] god damn I knew you were gonna

[00:30:32] fuck I was about to reference that

[00:30:34] I don't know if Trenton if you've seen that Spider-Man panel

[00:30:36] I don't think so no

[00:30:37] there's a very famous panel where Spider-Man

[00:30:39] has a villain where it's like you can have

[00:30:41] all these like super advanced genetic

[00:30:43] modification stuff you could cure cancer

[00:30:45] with this tech and the guy who legitimately

[00:30:47] says Jordan says I don't want to cure cancer

[00:30:49] with this technology

[00:30:50] I really just want to turn people into dinosaurs

[00:30:52] with it

[00:30:54] that's great

[00:30:55] and it's just so pr- I mean that's the mood

[00:30:57] of this series

[00:30:58] yeah

[00:30:59] I also still love the rude idea

[00:31:01] that there's a delinquent school

[00:31:02] but all these delinquits have super power

[00:31:04] so it's really over the top

[00:31:06] like there were aspects of this that were cool

[00:31:08] like I like even when

[00:31:10] they just start going into Takama Kahara

[00:31:12] like I really love the idea where it's like

[00:31:14] everybody has like a superpower

[00:31:16] it's just there's a good chance that like nobody will ever

[00:31:18] discover it

[00:31:19] like an example they had was like

[00:31:20] if you have the ability to turn

[00:31:22] mud into coffee

[00:31:24] when would you ever realize that that was

[00:31:26] a power you had

[00:31:27] yeah it often makes me think about like

[00:31:29] all those mutants that have like technology based

[00:31:31] powers and like what if they were born a thousand years ago

[00:31:33] and you had the ability to control

[00:31:35] computers with your mind

[00:31:36] so you didn't think you ever had superpowers

[00:31:38] I love how Udohara at first

[00:31:40] tries to trick them into thinking like

[00:31:42] his superpower is that he can

[00:31:44] give himself an extra life in video games

[00:31:47] my power is Game Shark

[00:31:50] it's so great

[00:31:52] and my power is talking about where it could have gone

[00:31:55] so shall we move into that

[00:31:56] let's do it

[00:31:57] so I think if it had just been a normal school

[00:32:00] like the first chapter I described

[00:32:02] as Jojo's Bizarre Venture meets Cromarty High School

[00:32:04] and I think that would have been such a fucking awesome idea

[00:32:06] where imagine everyone in the school has these crazy powers

[00:32:09] or the reverse for the main character is only with superpowers

[00:32:12] but he doesn't want to use his superpowers

[00:32:14] but everyone is more ridiculous than him

[00:32:16] even though he is the one with actual magical abilities

[00:32:19] I do really like the idea of like

[00:32:21] like one of those uh

[00:32:23] anime or TV shows or like movies or whatever

[00:32:26] where a character seems to have no powers

[00:32:28] and he goes to a superhero school

[00:32:30] but it's like no he's got powers

[00:32:32] he just doesn't want to use them

[00:32:33] and just wants to be a normal kid

[00:32:35] I like that

[00:32:36] yeah he just wants to turn people into dinosaurs

[00:32:38] yeah

[00:32:39] I like that idea though

[00:32:40] I like the idea where it's like what if

[00:32:42] instead of going to a new school

[00:32:44] it's just like the characters at his school

[00:32:48] start all developing powers

[00:32:50] yeah that would be a fun idea

[00:32:51] and then how about you Trenton

[00:32:53] what something you would revise about the series

[00:32:55] like maybe an easy way to just streamline it

[00:32:58] or just make it so you're not like

[00:33:00] throwing all these characters out

[00:33:02] is just to open up to Kamigahara a bit more

[00:33:04] maybe the series is more about flipping

[00:33:06] between the two schools

[00:33:08] so there's a kind of like I guess normal side

[00:33:10] and a kind of shadow side or something

[00:33:12] that could be kind of interesting

[00:33:14] I think that would at least stabilize it a little bit

[00:33:16] I really like your like gag idea though

[00:33:18] I think that would be much

[00:33:20] uh much funnier

[00:33:22] and just enable like all these

[00:33:24] quicky characters and powers

[00:33:26] you know I said like ah he named it to Kamigahara

[00:33:28] so he had to get them in there real fast

[00:33:30] one piece is called

[00:33:32] one piece and where's the one piece

[00:33:34] yeah but no like

[00:33:36] I really just think

[00:33:38] the simplest way to fix this series is to just

[00:33:40] push off the Takamigahara

[00:33:42] the stuff I also think he really

[00:33:44] screwed himself over by making it

[00:33:46] like you're trapped here now

[00:33:48] like that opening shot did not

[00:33:50] mandate that it could have literally just been

[00:33:52] like imagine it's like the school is just

[00:33:54] like across the street from his old school

[00:33:56] you know and it's just like oh I did

[00:33:58] always wonder why everything just seems

[00:34:00] so weird at that school it was like I think

[00:34:02] he was trying to solve problems he didn't

[00:34:04] even actually have you know yeah because

[00:34:06] it is like you're wasting

[00:34:08] these brothers bring the brothers back

[00:34:10] yeah make the characters relevant

[00:34:12] really should have done that

[00:34:14] the brothers are cool make the brothers do

[00:34:16] something bring the brothers into the plot

[00:34:18] kind of small idea

[00:34:20] like I love the brothers and wish there was

[00:34:22] more of them we also got like a glimpse

[00:34:24] that Mizuho had the same kind of setup

[00:34:26] with the like five sisters

[00:34:28] I can just imagine some funny gag chapters

[00:34:30] like with the five sisters and brothers

[00:34:32] like clashing and stuff but again

[00:34:34] it never got to use

[00:34:36] it's gonna use any of that

[00:34:38] I actually fought for like a second that it was like some

[00:34:40] weird thing where that was the brothers

[00:34:42] and they got their genders reversed as well

[00:34:44] well I mean there's precedent

[00:34:46] for that in the manga

[00:34:48] that fucking last chapter should just be

[00:34:50] not read when you're reading the series

[00:34:52] oh the last chapter is more or less a

[00:34:54] next time on

[00:34:56] Takamigahara

[00:34:58] like

[00:35:00] here's a preview

[00:35:02] for next season that doesn't happen

[00:35:04] yeah just a big

[00:35:06] bandaid that had to be there

[00:35:08] we should just pull the fucking

[00:35:10] it's like and now here's the preview for our next

[00:35:12] section just play a clip from the

[00:35:14] section that we're about to go into which is

[00:35:16] miscellaneous thoughts so let's hear that

[00:35:18] clip thank you Dylan next time

[00:35:20] on shonen flop

[00:35:22] it's just so fucking stupid

[00:35:24] fucking who would have thought we'd say that in

[00:35:26] the next section so let's get into

[00:35:28] miscellaneous thoughts so in terms of miscellaneous

[00:35:30] thoughts that also made me think about my favorite

[00:35:32] clip show ever is have you guys seen clerks

[00:35:34] they animated series no but I've

[00:35:36] uh you've mentioned what you're about to say

[00:35:38] yeah so Trent um

[00:35:40] they do a clip show as their second episode

[00:35:42] so because there's only two episodes

[00:35:44] they keep showing flashbacks

[00:35:46] of things that happen in the very same

[00:35:48] episode the clip shows in okay

[00:35:50] it's just so fucking stupid

[00:35:52] sounds like some gintama stuff yeah

[00:35:54] gintama would definitely love that

[00:35:56] oh god now I've heard the clerks TV

[00:35:58] shows great it's so it's only like eight episodes

[00:36:00] man just go watch it uh anyway

[00:36:02] uh Trent sorry not to see your thunder

[00:36:04] what are some miscellaneous thoughts you feel you haven't had a chance to say yet

[00:36:06] a couple of times here at this manga

[00:36:08] it keeps mentioning

[00:36:10] virtual fighter and street

[00:36:12] fighter yeah um which

[00:36:14] I thought was interesting um and I think

[00:36:16] there's clearly some like the author must

[00:36:18] love fighting games I guess yeah because

[00:36:20] they mentioned a couple of times and I

[00:36:22] can definitely see some of the characters

[00:36:24] being in a fighting game um yeah

[00:36:26] nothing too deep there but as a player

[00:36:28] of like fighting games I found it kind of

[00:36:30] interesting what's your main fighting

[00:36:32] game guilty you strive

[00:36:34] that's a good one not street fighter

[00:36:36] unfortunately nice

[00:36:38] I respect that I was a big fighters

[00:36:40] fan not exerd

[00:36:42] however you pronounce that I played a tiny

[00:36:44] bit of ex-odd but um I mostly just

[00:36:46] play strife I just like that it's called

[00:36:48] ex-erd yeah ex-odd

[00:36:50] whatever later whatever yeah

[00:36:52] all the names in guilt

[00:36:54] are amazing I mean the one of the main

[00:36:56] guys name is soul bad guy Jordan

[00:36:58] I know it's amazing

[00:37:00] they have characters named after like

[00:37:02] metal bands like what is it

[00:37:04] like Slayer and testament I think are

[00:37:06] in there yeah so anyway

[00:37:08] do you have any miscellaneous thoughts

[00:37:10] yeah since that has nothing to do with

[00:37:12] the kamikara now it was

[00:37:14] interesting to see like there were

[00:37:16] little tiny like like the

[00:37:18] little drawings at the end of the manga

[00:37:20] that sometimes like you know like show

[00:37:22] up generally like on the last page

[00:37:24] just like some author doodles were kind

[00:37:26] of interesting like it goes

[00:37:28] into like the family trees

[00:37:30] of like Mizzaho

[00:37:32] and of Mizzaho's family and

[00:37:34] the Yamada family kind of where it's

[00:37:36] like this person likes this person likes this person

[00:37:38] likes this person and ends with

[00:37:40] Yamato's oldest brother likes his mom

[00:37:42] aww those doodles were also

[00:37:44] the final time we got any

[00:37:46] mention of him being

[00:37:48] interested in manga where he was

[00:37:50] like man maybe this will help me get

[00:37:52] better at manga and it's

[00:37:54] like just this tiny doodle

[00:37:56] and that's it it's never mentioned again

[00:37:58] I still really wanted where he gains

[00:38:00] these superpowers and then he just uses it

[00:38:02] imagine like you have a super powerful

[00:38:04] like super strength in your wrist here arm doesn't get tired

[00:38:06] so you can just constantly make manga and that's

[00:38:08] how he applies his superpowers that's

[00:38:10] really what I thought they were gonna do with the series

[00:38:12] reminds me of drawing restraint

[00:38:14] also my main miscellaneous thought is this

[00:38:16] kind of feels like what chagacha wanted

[00:38:18] to be where it's about roughians with superpowers

[00:38:20] is like a gag manga action series

[00:38:22] Trenton I don't know if you've read that series it has

[00:38:24] the fame of the fastest cancellation and shown

[00:38:26] in jump history and it's by the creator of bobo

[00:38:28] I have unfortunately read

[00:38:30] chagacha I'm sorry

[00:38:32] uhhhh

[00:38:34] I get what you're saying though with that

[00:38:36] they definitely have some overlap

[00:38:38] Takama Gahara is more enjoyable of the two

[00:38:40] yes easily yeah

[00:38:42] I'm pretty sure was chagacha

[00:38:44] the author of that series just gave up right

[00:38:46] he was like dog this ain't working just

[00:38:48] quit I'm sorry man

[00:38:50] this is bad I'm sorry

[00:38:52] bye

[00:38:54] anyway fellow UK

[00:38:56] or maxdb calling in

[00:38:58] from England they have some trivia for us

[00:39:00] where they say Takama Gahara has a lot

[00:39:02] of assistance credit as they alluded to at

[00:39:04] the start of the show um that's what the author calls

[00:39:06] a level of short-handedness greater

[00:39:08] than any in the history of weekly shown in jump

[00:39:10] as such instead of a regular crew of assistance

[00:39:12] Kawhi was supported by literally

[00:39:14] anyone they could get oh my god

[00:39:16] let it be an established author a newcomer

[00:39:18] or a professional assistant he only managed

[00:39:20] to credit people who turn up more than once and still

[00:39:22] head over 14 assistants

[00:39:24] Jesus Christ right

[00:39:26] Jesus someone did a different panel of

[00:39:28] every page the one shot version of this series

[00:39:30] failed to win the 2011 golden future cup

[00:39:32] losing to hungry Joker

[00:39:34] despite this failure it still managed to beat

[00:39:36] it to serialization by four months oh my god

[00:39:38] until hungry Joker

[00:39:40] replaced it what a fucking

[00:39:42] twist yeah and well

[00:39:44] don't worry dude cuz

[00:39:46] hungry Joker also did the last very long

[00:39:48] and this was way better than hungry Joker

[00:39:50] yes this was a lot better than hungry Joker

[00:39:52] honestly yep oh

[00:39:54] speaking of self-reference the issue

[00:39:56] I showed it in jump we saw she picks up in chapter

[00:39:58] one while shyding Yamato is the

[00:40:00] exact same issue of the

[00:40:02] seer the exact same issue the series

[00:40:04] deputed oh my god imagine if it really

[00:40:06] went full four fall break and he starts

[00:40:08] reading it to figure out what's going on

[00:40:10] really how do I beat this guy oh let me

[00:40:12] read let me see how this chapter goes

[00:40:14] he like opens it up and he's like wait a minute

[00:40:16] I'm Ian the manga

[00:40:18] what the fuck and then he's sues

[00:40:20] Shoei shin interest turns into legal trauma

[00:40:22] that's pretty interesting actually

[00:40:24] yeah the plot stranger than fiction

[00:40:26] but oh well kinda and finally

[00:40:28] Takamagara is an actual thing in Japanese

[00:40:30] mythology primarily in the Shinto

[00:40:32] religion as they abode of the heavenly gods

[00:40:34] connected to Irr-Fi the floating bridge of heaven

[00:40:36] is mentioned in the Kojiki as

[00:40:38] the birthplace of the gods is

[00:40:40] considered to exist in the clouds above the sea and is ruled

[00:40:42] by Amaruturatsu the goddess of

[00:40:44] the sun and similarly Yomi is hell

[00:40:46] and finally some volume extras include inner chapter

[00:40:48] gag sketches assistant credits

[00:40:50] which I'm sure needed multiple pages oh my god

[00:40:52] and a three panel epilogue for our main

[00:40:54] trio yeah

[00:40:56] oh god so thank you maxi B for that

[00:40:58] and Tucker also provided some interesting trivia

[00:41:00] where they say as you might imagine the series

[00:41:02] stuffed to the gills with references to Japanese mythology

[00:41:04] from the little hints and references at the end

[00:41:06] of the series I strongly suspect the original

[00:41:08] plan for the story was to borrow heavily from

[00:41:10] the myth of in Zangi and Isanmi

[00:41:12] Isanagi and Isanami

[00:41:14] sure which is the Shinto creation myth

[00:41:16] it has a lot in common with the

[00:41:18] Greek tale of Morpheus in Urissi

[00:41:20] wow you did it you pronounce

[00:41:22] Urissi right well you've been playing Hades

[00:41:24] no I saw Hades town oh same thing

[00:41:26] which is very very very good

[00:41:28] Trenton I don't know if you've seen Hades town but it's excellent

[00:41:30] I'll have to check that out

[00:41:32] it's a musical inspired by their story

[00:41:34] say in like the south in the 1920s

[00:41:36] okay how is that

[00:41:38] what it is yeah Hades it's very good

[00:41:40] so basically the god is on his wife

[00:41:42] the goddess and zombie dies Isanagi

[00:41:44] descends into the underworld Yomi

[00:41:46] to try and retrieve her but he fucks up at the last second

[00:41:48] resulting in a curse that introduces

[00:41:50] mortality to humanity I bet you

[00:41:52] a thousand bucks Yamato was intended to

[00:41:54] eventually break into Yomi to retrieve

[00:41:56] Muzo at some point as an allegory to that legend

[00:41:58] and it is pretty cool how similar that is to that

[00:42:00] Greek myth but I'm sure that's a coincidence

[00:42:02] yeah holy shit that is very

[00:42:04] similar that's crazy

[00:42:06] yeah and then oh Jordan here's the shin Megami

[00:42:08] Tensei reference oh I knew about this

[00:42:10] yeah Isanami is the goddess

[00:42:12] of referenced in

[00:42:14] Megami Tensei

[00:42:16] which meets reincarnation of

[00:42:18] the goddess by the way that's only

[00:42:20] relevant in the original Megami Tensei

[00:42:22] which nobody fucking plays

[00:42:24] so yeah

[00:42:26] but that is cool that it is the reference

[00:42:28] and it is also time for us

[00:42:30] to make the six word summaries

[00:42:32] so let's dive into the final verdict does that

[00:42:34] sound good everyone let's do it yep

[00:42:36] so let's get started with some six word summaries

[00:42:38] from the community from Tucker Japanese heaven

[00:42:40] is a high school maxi B said to come

[00:42:42] agar-ahara turns me into a Takama

[00:42:44] ga hater haha or a paladin

[00:42:46] bizarre yet somehow not bizarre enough

[00:42:48] blamu arbitrary school setting

[00:42:50] claims on our victim chicken warlord

[00:42:52] divinely talented school recruitment embarrassingly

[00:42:54] forceful Diego says shoot on

[00:42:56] with the squirrel gun yeah

[00:42:58] dude rock squirrel gun should have saved it

[00:43:00] yeah generic man said

[00:43:02] squirrel gun is pure Iraqi energy

[00:43:04] and squirrels in my pants by Candice Flynn

[00:43:06] aww man I love that show and why we

[00:43:08] have three squirrel references in a row

[00:43:10] it's like the best part it's the coolest

[00:43:12] part of the manga yeah it does glornak

[00:43:14] says Yamato's bizarre adventure

[00:43:16] shitpost weight lifters isekai sensei

[00:43:18] tutology commie

[00:43:20] manga gamers half-hearted

[00:43:22] fashionization whatever

[00:43:24] Captain Clue says for his neutral special

[00:43:26] squirrel gun nice

[00:43:28] Laurel Nubis says just one shot with squirrel

[00:43:30] gun a lot of squirrel gun stuff

[00:43:32] cuz and I don't blame you yeah

[00:43:34] portal man reject martial arts embrace

[00:43:36] manga arts quack squirrel

[00:43:38] gun save this do manga quetzal

[00:43:40] says story strongest there is ending

[00:43:42] in red blade

[00:43:44] manga file martial artists then squirrel

[00:43:46] guns I feel like that was supposed

[00:43:48] to be in a litteration at the very beginning

[00:43:50] but then red blade was just like bucket

[00:43:52] like squirrel guns yeah

[00:43:54] real says to come a guy

[00:43:56] hara spubby said what is swat

[00:43:58] was actually tolerable I was thinking

[00:44:00] about swat a little bit

[00:44:02] spike just goes a

[00:44:04] real quick

[00:44:06] Trenton have you ever read swat

[00:44:08] I have a video on swat

[00:44:10] so yes that series

[00:44:12] so and yet it's not the worst thing

[00:44:14] that offer made yeah that's true

[00:44:16] if you read Zon I have none

[00:44:18] and I'm writing readings on one day

[00:44:20] it is the worst

[00:44:22] thing that's ever been published in show

[00:44:24] it is somehow worse than swat

[00:44:26] yeah and then finally a Trafalgar

[00:44:28] Wolfwood who's listening in right now and

[00:44:30] dear me to say his name in the chat

[00:44:32] and you did it there you go says

[00:44:34] uh huh terrible manga

[00:44:36] punches into unfortunate flop and nice

[00:44:38] Trenton what was your six word summary

[00:44:40] my six word summary

[00:44:42] I don't think is very surprising

[00:44:44] but it is beast to

[00:44:46] gun is very fun

[00:44:48] I like it I like it how about your short

[00:44:50] kids bad at manga not punching

[00:44:52] yeah that's a good one too

[00:44:54] mine is when everyone special no one is

[00:44:56] or alternatively rough students rough

[00:44:58] plot rough rough oh Ravioli right that

[00:45:00] one yeah ravioli wrote that

[00:45:02] guess written by my dog

[00:45:04] finally though Jordan I've been writing

[00:45:06] this it is time to decide is this

[00:45:08] a flop or not Trenton what do you think

[00:45:10] while they enjoy reading to come a

[00:45:12] kahara second time going through

[00:45:14] it is a flop just does not come

[00:45:16] together yeah how about you Jordan

[00:45:18] what do you think there's a lot of potential in the series

[00:45:20] a lot of good in the series

[00:45:22] the series just fumbles it though so

[00:45:24] it's a flop this is one of the best possible

[00:45:26] you've read it's up there with spirit busters but

[00:45:28] I the first nine chapters I really

[00:45:30] thought this was something good and then as soon as

[00:45:32] he gets into the school just shits itself yeah

[00:45:34] it's a shame oh god

[00:45:36] it is a shame it's just sad

[00:45:38] when we read manga like this where it's just like

[00:45:40] god I was rooting for it so hard

[00:45:42] I was you had me man

[00:45:44] alright so Trenton what should

[00:45:46] someone check out instead of this series

[00:45:48] I think if you

[00:45:50] really like all of the quirky

[00:45:52] abilities and

[00:45:54] a bit disappointed by Takama Kahara's

[00:45:56] world building and we had stuff it's

[00:45:58] building up to the currently ongoing

[00:46:00] undead unlock in weekly shonen jump

[00:46:02] I think we'll scratch some of those

[00:46:04] issues it is great it's one

[00:46:06] of my favorite manga currently and I

[00:46:08] think everyone should read it and sorry what was

[00:46:10] it undead unlock oh

[00:46:12] yeah we have a lot of people are discord

[00:46:14] obsessed with that series maybe we'll do a

[00:46:16] patron episode because people keep talking

[00:46:18] about it never read it how much you Jordan

[00:46:20] see one of the difficulties here is

[00:46:22] that like because the manga doesn't find

[00:46:24] its footing it's hard to like think of manga

[00:46:26] that are that similar to it like it's

[00:46:28] got a bunch of pieces and stuff

[00:46:30] um I don't know

[00:46:32] I saw it was Greek Easter

[00:46:34] and I watched last

[00:46:36] temptation of Christ that was

[00:46:38] a pretty good movie alright watch that

[00:46:40] okay I'll keep that in mind

[00:46:42] anyway my recommendation is a manga I just

[00:46:44] read recently called becoming Mari

[00:46:46] I don't know Trenton are you familiar with that

[00:46:48] series becoming Mari

[00:46:50] I know inside Mari oh I'm sorry inside

[00:46:52] Mari that is an interesting

[00:46:54] pivot I think

[00:46:56] I just want to tell people it is a very

[00:46:58] interesting series I don't really know

[00:47:00] how it's definitely

[00:47:02] you can read it really fast I read it all in one day

[00:47:04] so for listeners essentially it's about a

[00:47:06] stalker who's stalking a teenage girl

[00:47:08] and then wakes up in her body

[00:47:10] the next day oh it's just

[00:47:12] is much more complicated than that

[00:47:14] there are a lot of twists and turns

[00:47:16] if it's 80 chapters long is a spoiler

[00:47:18] to say something that happens in chapter 8

[00:47:20] what do you guys think uh no

[00:47:22] so he goes to try and find his original

[00:47:24] body because he's like oh she must be in my original

[00:47:26] body right except she isn't

[00:47:28] his self is still also

[00:47:30] in his original body whoa

[00:47:32] and you'll just have to read it to find out what the fuck's going on

[00:47:34] damn there's

[00:47:36] a really good youtube video

[00:47:38] um by Kekocat

[00:47:40] called the incel to trans

[00:47:42] pipeline and inside Mari

[00:47:44] it is such a good

[00:47:46] video I highly recommend if you've read inside

[00:47:48] Mari yeah it is

[00:47:50] definitely has some LGBT elements to it

[00:47:52] but Jordan is this the worst

[00:47:54] thing we've ever read I think it's pretty safe to say no

[00:47:56] it's actually pretty good on the spectrum

[00:47:58] of things we've read anytime

[00:48:00] when we're like questioning

[00:48:02] whether it's not a flop it's obviously not

[00:48:04] yeah the worst series we've

[00:48:06] read the truly bad ones

[00:48:08] there's no discussion about

[00:48:10] it's just like I mean there's discussion about

[00:48:12] it but there's no wavering

[00:48:14] it's like Metallica

[00:48:15] Meadowluka is garbage

[00:48:17] school judgment is garbage

[00:48:19] school judgment is criminal

[00:48:21] yeah Trenton have you read

[00:48:23] Metallica Meadowluka I have

[00:48:25] uh I don't really remember much about it other than

[00:48:28] it's medals it's bad Hunter Hunter

[00:48:31] someone I think someone's six word summary is hunt or ex hunt

[00:48:33] or and I was like that's really good

[00:48:35] anyway you know what else is really good

[00:48:37] hearing everything that the guest has got going

[00:48:39] on so Trenton I want to hear all about that as

[00:48:41] we migrate into the wrap ups so take it away

[00:48:43] Trenton thank you so much for joining

[00:48:45] us yeah you have been our first

[00:48:47] ever guest from Wales and I couldn't

[00:48:49] have asked for a better representative so please

[00:48:51] though if more people want to get your content in their life

[00:48:53] where can they find you you can find me

[00:48:55] at Trenton art which

[00:48:57] is Trent I N

[00:48:59] I basically just do tons of videos on

[00:49:02] shown and jump which are mostly split between

[00:49:05] my axe files which is a pun on the X

[00:49:07] files because I love that series

[00:49:09] which very similar to here I just kind of

[00:49:12] do a little 10 to 15 minute deep dive

[00:49:14] on an axe shown and jump manga

[00:49:16] I've covered like SWAT that's one

[00:49:19] I kind of do read throughs on my

[00:49:21] discord and we kind of read through them

[00:49:23] and pick one I have a blue dragon

[00:49:25] of Raul grad coming and then Aliens

[00:49:28] area oh aliens you're doing Aliens

[00:49:31] arena 64 oh yeah I love

[00:49:34] aliens areola the the joke is that like when

[00:49:37] we were covering it we couldn't stop saying Aliens arena

[00:49:40] oh okay yeah I should watch the episode

[00:49:43] on that one I will say it has some beautiful

[00:49:45] volume cover art okay I'm excited because I love

[00:49:48] you the other half of my channel is

[00:49:51] about the history of shown and jump so

[00:49:53] I've basically gone from the very

[00:49:55] beginning of shown and jump in 1968

[00:49:57] and gradually just kind of covered the

[00:49:59] majority of the manga that was in the

[00:50:01] magazine either reading what I can or

[00:50:04] just finding tidbits of like all these

[00:50:06] old series and I've gone from the very

[00:50:08] beginning up until 1984 where

[00:50:11] Dragon Ball began awesome and it's

[00:50:13] it's been such a fun like journey for me

[00:50:16] because I if you can't tell I adore

[00:50:18] shown and jump and just reading like

[00:50:20] every single manga I can from it you

[00:50:22] and Maxi B would be best friends I'll

[00:50:24] have to love to get their context of

[00:50:26] following them on Twitter after this I

[00:50:28] mean they do and ironically live in the

[00:50:30] UK so you could go talk about it but

[00:50:32] that's awesome I that's so great have you

[00:50:34] read Dragon and Chameleon by the way I

[00:50:36] am yeah I should be caught up I think

[00:50:38] it's it's so I don't understand how he

[00:50:40] had it in him after he made a malguan

[00:50:42] distortion it was like insane the glow

[00:50:44] up this offer had it's the same guy

[00:50:46] what is okay yeah he made a malguan

[00:50:49] distortion wow I didn't know that okay

[00:50:51] that's crazy that's why I read it

[00:50:53] because people are like it's yes

[00:50:55] it's like how the dude who made

[00:50:57] fucking fuck what are some other ones

[00:51:00] Jordan I'm spacing on it Tresta

[00:51:02] went in made spy family spy family

[00:51:05] okay and or how in symbol it may

[00:51:08] love his word it's just like where did

[00:51:11] you have this where did this come from

[00:51:13] look sometimes you just need a good idea

[00:51:15] to like make your skills come out

[00:51:18] and shine man like you just need the

[00:51:20] right one oh god but Jordan you're the

[00:51:23] right one for me so I want to say thank

[00:51:25] you so much for making the opening and

[00:51:27] ending themes being a great co-host and

[00:51:29] helping with that editing thank you so

[00:51:31] much David for all the work that you do

[00:51:33] really appreciate it props to Merlial

[00:51:35] for the awesome cover find her online

[00:51:37] at Lyle Mer and Nigel for being our

[00:51:39] generous art benefactor thanks to

[00:51:41] Dylan for assistance of editing you can

[00:51:43] find his podcast enemy out of context

[00:51:45] at enemy out of context dot com thanks

[00:51:47] to talker max and B for assistance

[00:51:49] with pronunciation translation other

[00:51:51] websites shownflop.com we're also in

[00:51:53] Spotify itunes YouTube or wherever

[00:51:55] else you get your podcast and come join

[00:51:57] the show flop discord have a big community

[00:51:59] over 600 people talk about any games

[00:52:01] or whatever else is on your mind submit

[00:52:03] your questions and your six for summaries

[00:52:05] there and just say howdy to all of us

[00:52:07] it's a good time hey yeah we got a

[00:52:09] good crew even have the official one

[00:52:11] piece trains later on he sometimes

[00:52:13] drops little nuggets of wisdom which is

[00:52:15] always cool to hear hell yeah you can

[00:52:17] finally to it in the show notes are on

[00:52:19] the show and when I help us keep going

[00:52:21] consider subscribing to our patron

[00:52:23] one be able to keep the show running

[00:52:25] without their support we just revamped

[00:52:27] the patron we are now getting episodes

[00:52:29] out in a full two days in advance

[00:52:31] Jordan's been working real hard with me

[00:52:33] on doing that we have the show and

[00:52:35] drop we are recapping what went on

[00:52:37] in those last in last month's episode

[00:52:39] along with us answering some exclusive

[00:52:41] questions and of course you always

[00:52:43] get some exclusive episodes as well

[00:52:45] Jordan what is the big episode we are

[00:52:47] finishing up on our chibi guesses

[00:52:49] and we are going to do a little bit of an

[00:52:51] art review David yeah

[00:52:53] there we go and you can even listening

[00:52:55] into our recordings right now or listening

[00:52:57] to the warm-up audio find out

[00:52:59] patreon.com slash show and flop now that

[00:53:01] know I want to read some of our wonderful patrons

[00:53:03] starting with our dolphin dads we have

[00:53:05] Glearnack I really need subtitles half the time

[00:53:07] I can't even understand what the fuck

[00:53:09] I'm saying and Rachel my wonderful wife

[00:53:11] who was gone this weekend and give me a

[00:53:13] David weekend it was just me in the goblin

[00:53:15] store and she's delivered me cake and that was really sweet of her

[00:53:17] next we have the ravioli

[00:53:19] tier where you get weekly

[00:53:21] photos of my adorable goblin ravioli

[00:53:23] and just a reminder everyone who upgrades

[00:53:25] into that tier I will send you magic the

[00:53:27] gathering ravioli tokens

[00:53:29] they are goblin tokens I have made of my dog

[00:53:31] we have Chris

[00:53:33] Eva lady T Matt

[00:53:35] T and Trevor Shekner moving on

[00:53:37] down to the king of the forest we have 090

[00:53:39] Z bandit stoof my girlfriend

[00:53:41] we're going to Disney

[00:53:43] oh yeah that's so nice of her

[00:53:45] yeah

[00:53:47] Jacob Andrew Galloway Justin Hefner Kirby

[00:53:49] Martie Max Baker Riley 3.14

[00:53:51] Sarah Hydra T Wolfwood and Tommy

[00:53:53] boy and a big thank you to our galactic

[00:53:55] ball Federation officers and our B children

[00:53:57] thank you so much I love all of you are all

[00:53:59] my children and Jordan anything else you want

[00:54:01] to listen yeah I don't listen to mission

[00:54:03] ignition I'm going to Disney World David

[00:54:05] yeah we're going to Disney World

[00:54:07] well

[00:54:09] all that's left now is let's get in the sign

[00:54:11] thank you so much for joining us tune in next Monday as we

[00:54:13] rank every series we have ever read

[00:54:15] for this show happy four years Jordan

[00:54:17] this has been David this has been Jordan

[00:54:19] this has been Trenton and you've been listening

[00:54:21] to show them flop keep on flopping

[00:54:23] flopper

[00:54:25] yeah

[00:54:27] bye

[00:54:29] my recommendation is a manga I just read recently

[00:54:31] called coming inside Mari I don't know

[00:54:33] Trenton are you familiar with that series