#105.5 First Thoughts on Muddy

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[00:00:16] Welcome to ShonenFlop Chibi, a First Impressions mini episode where we talk about the first chapter of the series we'll be covering in depth next week with our guest artist Carly Janine Mazur. Oh, I'm excited. She is a magic gathering artist.

[00:00:30] She did a very famous piece of magic art that people can go look up and they'll know, oh, she did that, but she's great, and I'm really excited to record with her. Yeah, I really like what you've shown me of her work, but speaking of that,

[00:00:43] I'm Jordan and with me today as usual is my lovely co-host David. Say hi, David. Hi, David. David, why are you so down? Because we're covering Muddy this week, and I can't believe it.

[00:00:54] I finally had a good hi David gimmick that wasn't shitty, so we'll see. We'll see. It comes back. It comes back when I'm inspired, you know. It's like killing Kenny in South Park where it's only if they have a really good idea for it. That's fair.

[00:01:04] Can't do it all the time anymore. Yeah, that's what happens when you turn 30. It's okay, David. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Let's get into the magic details. So Jordan, tell us about it. Yeah, so this is Muddy.

[00:01:13] It was created by Aimoto Sho. It ran from December 17th 2007 to March 17th 2008. So this is like an older one. Mm-hmm. And this went for 14 chapters, and that's two volumes. Hell yeah, I love we love a short manga King. Love a short little dirt muddy.

[00:01:36] Speaking of the topic of King, this is actually the first manga we have ever covered that has a hundred percent unambiguously confirmed female offer. Really? I had to have maxi-b double check. I cannot believe it.

[00:01:47] But yes, there are people that people think are female. Yes, this is absolutely This is a woman who wrote this. God, it sucks how sexist the manga industry is. But in our defense It's literally called Shonen Flop where most shonen authors are male.

[00:02:01] And also we have confirmation that Shonen Jump is actively and proudly sexist. So, you know. For reference We read a meta series called The Right Way to Make Shonen Jump with wonderful guests Joey and Luke so people can check that out on our patreon. And

[00:02:18] Shonen Jump editors are like asked would you hire more female authors if possible? And they're like no This is called Shonen Jump. We should make it more manly. Why would we make Shonen Jump worse by hiring the females?

[00:02:30] But also if we have to make something that appeals to girls, we know how to do that. Fuck off. Anyway, we're not talking about fucking that shit right now. Talk about muddy. We're not talking about mud, but we're talking about muddy. Uhhhhhhh

[00:02:44] Clay is a scientist whose job it is to create artificial life forms called chimeras. Despite being a prodigy as a kid He hasn't actually been able to create anything and so is fired from his job. Man, David. Ah, former gifted kid. Am I right?

[00:02:59] You know what that's like, haha. Right? Oh, yeah gifted kid burnout. We love to see it. Yeah. Clay soon discovers a lab in the countryside and in a haze of desperation He accidentally creates a humanoid chimera named Muddy who is a small boy that eats dirt. Popcorn David.

[00:03:15] Clay works in a nearby town as a chimera doctor when one day a shitty rich kid named Kogane meets Muddy and realizes He's a chimera. Later that night Kogane and his father Kugane Fucking I wonder if Kigane will show up at some point or

[00:03:28] Kelgane asking to buy Muddy to put in their chimera zoo. Clay says no because he is his gross son and Kugane Attacks him with chimeras. Kugane finds Muddy and asks him to eat dirt for him and he eats so much dirt

[00:03:39] He gets absolutely massive turning into well an absolute unit. It scares Kogane and Kugane away That's really how we should be dealing with the bourgeoisie. The absolute size of this lad. So Jordan What were your first impressions besides saying wow, what an absolute unit? Well, this is interesting

[00:03:57] I guess. This is someone's fetish. Yeah, but you know, I don't think it's the authors. I'm gonna give the author I don't think that's fair to the author. Women can't have fetishes Jordan Forbes. No, but this doesn't feel fetishy David is my point

[00:04:10] Yeah, I do think it's funny that like play is just straight up as we said like a failed gifted student Yeah, you can definitely feel it I wonder if the authors had like a ton of shit where she was like

[00:04:21] Oh, I just really wasting my time making manga and this is like semi autobiographical. It comes from a place of reality Yeah, we've all been there if you're making a podcast you're not living up to your potential. No exactly

[00:04:32] Hi Dylan. I love you. Haha. So this series reminds me a lot of Golem Hearts so far Yeah, I know you actually said you want to do a Golem Hearts parody as a cover art, right? Yeah, God, did you have an idea for that?

[00:04:42] I mean aside from just using Golem Arts official art and replacing the characters Okay, like we usually do Wanted like a goal and child daycare or something And it's just the two dads watching them like eat mud in a playpen or something or in a sandbox. Sure

[00:04:57] Okay, that's that's good. All right, that's good. It's like jazz. It's like jazz I guess you improvise This is a very weird series to talk about and um, we definitely are gonna have a really fun guest talking about it

[00:05:10] Yeah, I think on that note the art is actually pretty good, especially for art. That's over 15 years old It's interesting that like it almost feels more like a sci-fi Manga than like a shonen battle manga. Is it supposed to be a battle manga? I don't know

[00:05:25] I kind of just assume everything we read on this show is gonna be a battle manga. That's true I'm usually right. Yeah, everyone's like when is Rory dragon turning into a battle manga? Oh it might I don't know

[00:05:38] This is I think it's supposed to be a gag manga which sucks cuz it's not that funny It's just like you just kind of feel secondhand embarrassed reading this whole thing because everything just feels so awkward, right?

[00:05:48] Yeah, I mean, it's not terrible. I don't think it's awful. I think it's interesting Interesting is the word I don't really understand what the author's trying to do yet with it

[00:05:59] I have a feeling the offer doesn't either if they're just trying to tell a story about this guy raising his large Young muddy child then like that's interesting

[00:06:09] I know we definitely seen fatherhood as like a theme but we've never seen fatherhood be like the plot of a manga I think we've covered before which is like the one thing you can't say is a positive This is doing things we haven't seen in a manga before

[00:06:20] Yeah, like like the fact that muddy doesn't use cool powers or attacks he just gets big yeah He gets extra thick. It's like everyone's favorite Rick Moranis movie, honey. I blew up the baby Yeah, yeah like that

[00:06:34] I also will say there was at least one funny joke where the ripping the check joke which I've seen before so for context He's offered like a billion dollars for his son and he's like I won't do it

[00:06:44] Here's your he's like he tries to rip it off, but it's so much money. He won't rip the check off Yeah, he's just like just just take it. It's funny, but I've seen that joke before yeah, so Jordan Would you say though? This is a gag manga?

[00:06:55] I don't think it's a gag manga there aren't enough jokes or even like attempts at jokes It's not even that the jokes are falling flat. Yeah, it's not really making any jokes

[00:07:05] It really is like if golem hearts didn't turn into a battle manga if that were the case it would be like well What are we even doing here mr.. Golem hearts?

[00:07:15] What's even happening and that's kind of how I feel about this yeah, what's even going on here author? I mean I'm not out all the way the series might truly be trying to do something genuinely different from what we've seen before

[00:07:28] Which is very interesting, but I wouldn't say it's the most compelling you know yeah I do feel like the offer has put some work into making this world feel kind of lived in it's kind of funny this

[00:07:38] Actually does feel like a Flintstones world where instead of all the animals being like it's a living It's different chimeras like they have like their trucks and stuff pulled by chimeras And it's just like cameras are like all the appliances and stuff which is just funny

[00:07:49] It's absolutely ridiculous, but that's what it makes me think of yeah I did like how they have a Pegasus this like they're like it's a Pegasus, but it's a horse with butterfly wings and

[00:07:59] Clay's just kind of like well. It certainly is a horse with wings. There's absolutely humor and jokes in here It's just the jokes don't feel like the main point. Yeah, I wouldn't compare this to dr.

[00:08:09] Slump like we did the previous series. Yeah, just a humorous manga that has a scientist in it also Yeah, it is kind of weird We're doing two magic scientists in a row, but what can you do about it right?

[00:08:17] What can you do if I had a nickel for every time shown a flop covered a potential gag manga has to do with a magical Scientist and their child I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot, but it's weird. It's happened twice

[00:08:29] We might have done it more than just we probably have listeners tell us if there's more cool magic scientists gag mangas We've covered I mean again this reminds me most of Golem hearts. I completely agree now that you put that on the table

[00:08:40] Yeah, so Jordan though would you read our ten chapters of this no no? As I said it's kind of interesting, but not very compelling yeah, I got one I needed out of this series

[00:08:52] Yeah in this first chapter at least it's short though. Yeah, I appreciate that yes, so that's always good right yeah Oh, so Jordan though. What do you think will happen next my friend?

[00:09:01] So I think the townsfolk are gonna try and push muddy and clay out of here cuz they find out Oh, he's a chimera. We just thought it was like a gross little boy, but you know fair I mean little boys tend to eat dirt anyway

[00:09:13] I think there will be hunters coming to take muddy But he'll have to quickly eat a lot of dirt to get big do you think it's just every chapter is oh how is muddy?

[00:09:21] Gonna eat dirt this week. I kind of hope so this isn't my guess me that should have been is I wonder if the different dirt He eats has different property so imagine eats like a bunch of sand or a bunch of cement and it like changes his composition

[00:09:33] It's kind of interesting fuck that That's one of my guesses you tell me which of my three guesses was the shittiest and we'll drop it alright And then I think muddy will have attacks, and they will be mud themed. I don't know what do you think Dave?

[00:09:45] It's very hard to make guesses based on what yeah, it's very hard I will say to this series credit this chapter was not Cliche in the same way that a lot of other chapters we read are yeah

[00:09:56] What a nifty art term would you use to describe this Dada's I know god damn it David David? This is the recurring joke that David does not know what Dada is

[00:10:06] I took my my two-year-old nephew to the art museum the Met and they just kept thinking every painting was Dada And I was like what a fucking plebeian. Okay. What about you Dave? What do you think's gonna happen all right?

[00:10:17] I think the chimera mechanics will be explained really poorly or not at all because they just kind of exist without any explanation right now We're gonna find out muddy is the reincarnation of someone close to clay

[00:10:27] So maybe they had like a natural child or you know like a younger brother that died David your next one's the worst one Oh, thank you word about money gets out and clay has to decide if he wants to use him to get his fame and power

[00:10:37] Back so Jordan is officially saying I'm gonna strike that one from the record for muddy eating different material will give him different abilities Yes, I think that's better, and I'm gonna genuinely jump out a window if the one I rejected was the one that was true

[00:10:51] It's probably gonna be true Jordan's been kicking my ass see George 400 IQ getting rid of the one He thinks is most likely to happen so he can stay ahead in our chibi guesses. Yeah

[00:11:01] Gosh, you're a new genius and but that's not my power word my power word is rocky cuz oh yeah Muddy rocky, and this was this was a rocky chapter because you know it Just it takes a lick and keeps on ticking you know it's gonna

[00:11:14] Go the distance gonna run up the steps of the art museum. Yo Adrian Bit of a road ahead of it a rocky road one might say There's a new ice cream flavor. I really want to try did you see they have fudge pretzel now

[00:11:30] No, that looks really good. I genuinely want to go buy something maybe but whenever I see Ben and Jerry's I just always get a maracone dream. I still do I love the tonight dough even though. I really hate Jimmy Fallon

[00:11:41] I'm not a fan of Stephen Colbert right now. I just what did he do no? He's just not funny anymore Oh, yeah, I saw him live twice though, and that was fun. He has the capacity to be funny

[00:11:51] It's just like but he chooses not to he chooses not to be you're just mad because he has a really bad Donald Trump impression When your favorite person in the world is the king of the Donald Trump yes

[00:12:02] It's true Zach Zach Hadle aka the guy from smiling friends I'm surprised you have an email to him to see if he'll come on the show

[00:12:09] I thought you'd be more excited. I mean that is it's just like I don't know I don't know if he would yeah anyway back Back to it. Yeah, but yeah mine is actually rich because

[00:12:19] This story that's rich and also there's some rich assholes in this series and also soil is rich There you go. I love it alright, and you know what I also love our Q&A so let's get into that as a reminder

[00:12:32] You can drop your questions in the show no flop discord We get priority those who haven't asked a question before are a patron or haven't had a question answered in a while Starting with booty stank very fitting given the title of this series

[00:12:43] We are all fans of thick women in manga besides red hood because she be dummy thick who is the thickest girl you have ever Seen in a manga. I'm gonna say Noy from Dora Hedora

[00:12:54] Classic muscle mom that's a good one. I mean literally if you look at anyone in one piece smoothie from one piece there you go Smoothie that's one of Big Mom's children. Oh Big Mom is also very thick yeah, Big Mom is also extra thick

[00:13:08] I'm trying to think what manga have we read that had the least amount of respect for women's proportions Wasn't it was it focus on the woman just had gigantic breasts yeah or appearance of the yellow dragon That was a reason oh

[00:13:21] God God when is Debonair getting that spin off? I don't know someday someday David Did you see that me my maid where it was like Devon or diamond yeah, not Buddha from Maka John and what's her name? Irva Minerva

[00:13:33] They were all doing the like the epic handshake thing and it was like side characters that should have gotten their own manga and a kitten flops we've covered you know that image isn't like a painting

[00:13:41] It's literally like it's from a team fortress to know it isn't it's from predator the movie No, but itself is a painting that was made. It's based on predator, but it's a painting from predator

[00:13:52] That drawing literally came from a shit post that the creators of Team Fortress 2 made like 15 years ago I'm like 90% sure cuz I read it when they did that and then there's another one where they talked about like the heat signature of the handshake

[00:14:05] Okay, no. I'm gonna give you that one you seem to absolutely I trust you on this one I was there man you seem way too confident. You know listen, man I was there when that shit post was read when they used to care about Team Fortress 2 no

[00:14:19] It's like when I say that like I was in the thread where they invented Slenderman. Yeah, that's keen. Yeah That was a good question hey, so this is David coming from the future. I was wrong

[00:14:29] It's not from that comic so sorry next up we have a bit of a theme for our remaining questions Hell yeah, it was Mega Man week in the question zone these questions are for me from ZC digital They asked who is your favorite robot master? Oh my god

[00:14:44] Just asking me which one of my children is my favorite. It's your favorite from at least your favorite game I don't think so. Let's see it's hard to like pick on one hand like I like Shadow Man because David

[00:14:58] You know he's like the ninja robot, but the other thing is fun fact all the other robots in that game are built by dr Wiley, but Shadow Man is an alien really I didn't know that dr.

[00:15:09] Wiley just like found him that's amazing like all the other like for no reason as far as anyone can tell he was just there I think my favorite though might be Turboman because he's like a he's a car and he can turn into a car

[00:15:23] And I think that's dope a robot turning into a car. That's my point David. I love franchise for you I love Transformers. It's like a combination of two things. I loved as a kid

[00:15:35] So I also really like sword man because swords man's whole thing is he was built to hold a specific sword he was built Specifically to like display a sword that dr. Wiley stole is it also a sword from space no

[00:15:52] I don't think so that's lame. Yeah, mine is metal man from my favorite game Mega Man 2. I just love him He's a cool guy also. He has definitely the best weapon to always beat metal man first most broken weapon Oh

[00:16:07] Man I also love how heat man is just like a lighter. Oh, yeah, I also have air man that song about airman Yeah, that's like 20 or so or dust man

[00:16:16] Which is like the revert the opposite of air man have you heard the air man song I think so Yeah, so it's called. I can't beat air man. It's just like a shitpost song cuz he's a really easy

[00:16:26] Next up who is your favorite Maverick from Mega Man X and this sorry this comes from dude rocks So my favorite Maverick is Duff McWhalen JK Rowling trying to name a Scottish person

[00:16:38] So amazing story behind the name so people will be like oh his name's title whale no fuck you his name is Duff McWhalen Because is it like a four kids thing where? Says my name is title whale, but my friends call me duck McWhalen. No, it's it's amazing

[00:16:54] So Mega Man X 5 was Translated by the girl from the big comfy couch if you remember that show and her boyfriend really liked Guns and Roses So she decided to name all of the of the Mavericks in that game after Guns and Roses members

[00:17:11] Oh, yeah, I remember that so Duff McWhalen is named after Duff McKagan I mean put a music reference in Mega Man David. That's not the ridiculous part of this and you know it come on No, it's McWhalen Incredible name also his designs really fucking cool

[00:17:28] And he exists to clean up the oceans and protect the ocean. I love it Duff McWhalen dope I haven't put a lot but I just has it Storm Eagle cuz I've only played the first Mega Man

[00:17:38] And he was cool Storm Eagles cool. This is really Jordan's time to shine with these yeah All right, and then finally from generic man who is your favorite net Navi? Oh my god David

[00:17:48] You know about video man. Yes video man is amazing first of all like he's from the worst game Which is Mega Man Battle Network 4 is that the one that's a really terrible translation? It's got a really shitty translation and the game wants you to beat it three times

[00:18:04] Yeah in order to see all the robot masters But the game can fuck up and have you have the same encounter twice two times so you end up not seeing all of them

[00:18:14] It's really fucking stupid. So fucking bad. It's so stupid, but video man is in that game He has a really cool design. He's like inspired by like AV composite cables and shit And there is in the story a virus that goes around and infects all the Navi's around

[00:18:33] But video man is fine David. Do you know why he's fine? Why he's an analog net Navi He's an analog digital creation, it's amazing so video man is my answer Mine is search man cuz he looked cool Yes and again

[00:18:56] I didn't I didn't put a ton of thought into this because I knew Jordan was gonna take the most amount of time talking about All of his favorite. Oh, yes. I think you've doubled the number of Mega Man tattoos. You've gotten lately, right?

[00:19:07] Yeah from zero to zero nice just like me. Oh, yeah Alright and then finally our last question because I lied is what are the manga requirements for patron exclusives from Sandman? So there aren't a lot of requirements when we do long form

[00:19:21] We do try and probably keep it under I would say seven or so volumes just so we're not doing like five months of the Same manga, but that's it We're open to doing first impressions doing reviews of the initial parts of a series doing pilot reviews

[00:19:33] So there's a lot of different stuff and also it really depends on the availability of guests and just what kind of content they want To do but yeah There's not really any rules

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[00:19:51] You can just pick a series we'll do on the main episode anything you want to toss in with that Jordan. No, that's good Alright, well Jordan. I want to say thank you so much for all of your great work on the show and editing the GB

[00:20:00] Thank you David for all the work that you do on this series props to Shannon for the awesome cover Find her online at Illuminati. Thank you Dylan for assistance with editing Go find his podcast in me out of context at anime out of context calm

[00:20:11] Thanks to Tucker maxi B for assistance with pronunciation translation other miscellaneous research find us on exit shown a flop cast tumblr shown a Dash flop and our website shouldn't flop calm

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[00:20:37] Support get a ton of awesome perks Jordan. What did we drop in June for our patrons? Well in June David, I finally made you read Baki. You'll have to listen and find out if I liked it Oh, man

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[00:22:23] All right. Well, thank you so much for listening tune in next Monday for our full episode on muddy featuring the artist Carly Jenny, Missouri Yes, thank you so much. This has been Jordan this been David and even listen to show no flop David say it

[00:22:35] Keep on flop floppers. Bye