#117 Yui Kamio is a Confused Story! ft Translation Analyst Lightning

[00:00:00] Hey guys, what's up? It's Jordan. How you doing? You look good. You been eating alright? Taking care of yourself? Anyway, our guests wanted their voice pitched up for this episode, so there's nothing wrong with the audio, just so you know. But yeah, enjoy the episode and don't forget you can always reach out to me if you need help. I'm always gonna be here for you. Bye.

[00:00:30] Welcome to this episode of Shonen Flop where we talk about manga and shonen jump that didn't make it big. I'm David.

[00:00:35] I'm Jordan. Next week we're gonna be covering Jiangxi X. If you'd like to read along with us, Jordan, don't even start.

[00:00:39] Be sure to join the discussion in our discord and submit your six word summary. You can find a link to the discord in our episode description and on our website ShonenFlop.com.

[00:00:47] Honestly, David, you kind of pronounced it fine. I think you did a good job, honestly.

[00:00:52] Oh, thank you. Thank you. That really is the W I need. I was actually spent a lot of time yesterday looking into why Shonen Jump hadn't updated before realizing it was Saturday.

[00:01:00] So I really need that W back in my life.

[00:01:02] It's okay.

[00:01:03] But speaking of W's, we are talking about Yoakimyo Let's Loose and we are joined by our guest Lightning.

[00:01:09] Lightning, thank you so much for joining us today. Do you mind telling the audience a little bit about yourself?

[00:01:13] Sure. My name is Lightning and I am a translator for Japanese manga and other Japanese fan comics.

[00:01:19] And I've formerly worked for Viz translating for Jujutsu Kaisen and was Exorcist.

[00:01:24] Oh, hell yeah.

[00:01:24] Hell yeah. Do you have a particular like translation moment that you're like all the stars aligned and it was like say something that was like a joke in Japanese, but you could like make the joke still work in English without sacrificing anything or anything like that where it was just like a chef's kiss translation?

[00:01:38] Hmm. Honestly, I would say that during my time translating W's Exorcist there, because you know, it's very heavily, you know, supernatural, Japanese supernatural.

[00:01:48] It takes a lot from the Omniodo right terminology and there's a lot of that that's generally hard to translate, right?

[00:01:54] Yeah.

[00:01:55] For example, you know, the primary weapon in that series, the hollow weapon as I've translated, right?

[00:02:01] In Japanese, it's called Jingi and there's, and you know, there's really no exact translation for it. It's really hard to make out. And the best way I did it was by, you know, was by interpreting the kanji, the characters, right?

[00:02:11] In a way that would allow readers to understand, you know, an essence of like how fluid and adaptable the weapon is, but also give it a little bit of a vibe from like the old manga that they may be more familiar with the more famous manga, you know, like Leech, for example, with Hollows.

[00:02:25] I thought to me, that was a pretty neat translation. I'm especially proud of it.

[00:02:29] That was a good answer. Thank you so much.

[00:02:31] Lightning brought the thunder.

[00:02:33] Lightning, that was correct.

[00:02:34] I give you a hundred points.

[00:02:36] Okay. And I'll give you a hundred points to hear about the manga details. So let's get into it.

[00:02:41] Okay. So this is Yui Kamiyo Let's Loose. It's by Hiroshi Shibashi.

[00:02:47] Notable people, this guy was an assistant for, it's a little guy named David.

[00:02:51] They worked for me?

[00:02:52] Uh, you and a little guy named Hirohiko Araki.

[00:02:57] We're a little thing called, uh, that's right, everybody.

[00:02:59] Cool Shock BT.

[00:03:01] Which we've covered on this show.

[00:03:03] Which we cover on this show.

[00:03:04] Are you familiar with that at all, Lightning?

[00:03:06] Cool Shock BT?

[00:03:08] It's essentially what if Dio was a ten-year-old boy and did magic tricks.

[00:03:12] I can't say I am.

[00:03:13] It's very interesting to read.

[00:03:15] Yeah, but yeah, that's the guy who made JoJo.

[00:03:18] It's Araki.

[00:03:19] You don't know who Araki is?

[00:03:21] Come on, come on, listener.

[00:03:22] Oh, oh yes, of course I do.

[00:03:23] Yeah, come on.

[00:03:24] But not Cool Shock BT.

[00:03:26] Yeah.

[00:03:26] It is very interesting to read manga that was created in the 70s and 80s,

[00:03:30] because it's just so different how it's presented.

[00:03:32] Yeah.

[00:03:33] Shibashi was apparently, um, an assistant on arguably the best part, Steel Ball Run.

[00:03:38] Love it.

[00:03:38] Part 7.

[00:03:39] Notable people that Shibashi has in assistance were, um, Takuma Yokota of, oh, Destroy All

[00:03:44] Humans.

[00:03:45] Wait, what?

[00:03:46] What?

[00:03:46] That's not the game from the PS2, right?

[00:03:49] Like that's-

[00:03:49] No, it's the manga that David Evelin trained.

[00:03:50] It's the Magic the Gathering manga.

[00:03:52] So it's totally, it's Destroy All Humans that can't be regenerated.

[00:03:55] Right.

[00:03:55] Okay.

[00:03:56] Yeah.

[00:03:56] Cause I see Destroy All Humans and you know, I think about the PS2 game.

[00:04:00] So I was very confused.

[00:04:01] Kentaro Hidano of Super Smartphone.

[00:04:05] Oh God.

[00:04:06] Oh man.

[00:04:07] Lightning, are you familiar with Super Smartphone?

[00:04:09] I've heard of that series from Shonen Jump.

[00:04:11] I don't think I read it too often.

[00:04:13] It was one of the, it was one of the flops, right?

[00:04:15] Yes.

[00:04:15] We've covered it on the show.

[00:04:17] Would you believe that it is a manga about what if a guy had a Super Smartphone

[00:04:22] and that had Ultra Google on it?

[00:04:24] I think I remember reading the pilot chapter.

[00:04:27] There's so many that, you know, either they grab my interest or, you know, it falls off,

[00:04:31] you know, after some point.

[00:04:32] It's basically what if Death Note but nobody dies?

[00:04:36] Oh, it's like an omniscient type of smartphone, right?

[00:04:39] He has Super Mega Google, like Ultra Powerful Dark Web Google.

[00:04:43] That's basically it.

[00:04:44] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:04:44] But also as another assistant was Kana Yoshimura of Murcia Lago fame.

[00:04:50] I don't know what that is.

[00:04:51] And Hiroyuki Senda of Weapon Girl fame.

[00:04:55] I don't know what that is, but it's easier to pronounce than whatever the hell the previous name was.

[00:04:59] Guys, other works include Nura, Rise of the Yokai Clan, which is apparently a big hit like 2008, 2012.

[00:05:05] I got 25 volumes.

[00:05:06] That's like a hit.

[00:05:07] You got an anime, so I gotta respect that.

[00:05:09] It's a hit.

[00:05:10] Illegal Rare 2014 for volumes.

[00:05:13] That rare is illegal, Dave.

[00:05:15] Yeah, it's been on our short list of series we want to cover if it ever gets some sort of translation.

[00:05:19] Is it about Pokemon cards?

[00:05:21] Probably not.

[00:05:22] Okay.

[00:05:22] Also, Tokyo Kigo Tanpo, one volume.

[00:05:26] So, uh, maybe we'll cover it one day.

[00:05:30] Unless it's still going.

[00:05:31] No, it's not.

[00:05:32] It's 2016.

[00:05:33] It's not still going.

[00:05:35] Iwamoto Senpai's Recommendation 2021.

[00:05:38] It's still going.

[00:05:39] Nine plus volumes.

[00:05:40] And Nura, Rise of the Yokai Clan, Kage.

[00:05:43] One volume for 2023.

[00:05:44] I mean, I'm assuming that's a miniseries or something.

[00:05:47] Yeah.

[00:05:47] I think that's just a follow up to his like famous work.

[00:05:49] Yeah, that's why.

[00:05:50] Anyway, we're not talking about that though.

[00:05:52] We're talking about Yubikami-yo.

[00:05:53] Let's loose.

[00:05:54] Or whatever the fuck.

[00:05:55] And this ran from March 11th, 2019 to November 25th, 2019.

[00:05:59] And apparently it is complicated to figure out what it replaced.

[00:06:03] Because, uh, World Trigger transferred to Jump Squared.

[00:06:07] Hunter Hunter went on hiatus, which is shocking, David.

[00:06:10] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:10] And, uh, Alice and Tayo, the comic.

[00:06:13] And Seiji Tanaka, secretary to the managing president, General Time Industries.

[00:06:19] All those series ended.

[00:06:21] Whatever the fuck those series are.

[00:06:23] And yeah, of those five series, like only three new series showed up.

[00:06:27] Including the last Seiyuki.

[00:06:29] That's episode 54.

[00:06:31] And David, it was replaced by Zipman, which was our first episode.

[00:06:36] Yeah. Lightning, have you heard of that one?

[00:06:38] I have not.

[00:06:40] So it's noble for two things.

[00:06:41] It's got very pretty art.

[00:06:42] And then Jordan, who makes an appearance in that series?

[00:06:44] Oh, Optimus Prime shows up.

[00:06:46] Optimus Prime shows up with no explanation.

[00:06:49] One panel.

[00:06:50] There's just Optimus Prime.

[00:06:51] And I believe he's standing there with a giant baby next to him.

[00:06:54] Yeah, he is.

[00:06:54] Is this like a mecca or a gag?

[00:06:56] It's straightforward.

[00:06:57] It's a guy who gets like a super suit.

[00:06:59] And they do that like shadowy background picture of all the bad guys of the series had

[00:07:03] run for like five years.

[00:07:04] And one of the bad guys is just Optimus Prime.

[00:07:06] I see.

[00:07:07] I see.

[00:07:07] So there's no context.

[00:07:08] He never shows up against just Optimus Prime is in a panel.

[00:07:11] Yeah.

[00:07:11] And this is not an exaggeration.

[00:07:12] It's Optimus Prime.

[00:07:13] He drew Optimus Prime.

[00:07:15] Oh, no, I believe it.

[00:07:15] I believe it.

[00:07:16] Yeah.

[00:07:16] I'm just still shocked by it.

[00:07:18] Yeah.

[00:07:18] But yeah, Yui Kamia ran for 36 chapters, four volumes.

[00:07:21] Let's get it in a fucking block summary.

[00:07:22] All right, let's do it.

[00:07:23] It's a modern day high school times in Japan and the powerful violent delinquent girl in

[00:07:28] all black is causing havoc.

[00:07:30] Her name is Yui Kamio.

[00:07:31] And when her best friend now ties her hair up with a mystical change she got from someone's

[00:07:36] Yui's hair and clothes turned white.

[00:07:37] In this state, Yui in white is quiet, sweet, non-confrontational, pretty, and overall demure

[00:07:42] as the kids say.

[00:07:43] You know everything a girl should be parody, satire, sarcasm, parody.

[00:07:47] Anyway, the posse of a rich, handsome douchebag named Kito pushes now around a bit causing

[00:07:52] Yui in black to show up and kick his ass.

[00:07:54] Uh oh, though it turns out that Kito is into that and he becomes obsessed with finding her.

[00:07:58] After stalking her for a bit, he discovers that Yui in white and Yui in black are the same

[00:08:02] person and tells Yui in white that he wants to be a veterinarian but it's okay if you forget

[00:08:07] that because it never comes up again.

[00:08:08] Now then drafts him to help her protect Yui and it keeps being a gap manga for a bit and

[00:08:13] only a few things end up really mattering.

[00:08:15] A girl named Kara shows up.

[00:08:17] She's friends with Kito and they're both members of a high ranking student group called the

[00:08:21] Life Lovers, which of course bears no relation to the legendary DSBM band Life Lover.

[00:08:26] Anyway, Kara is in love with Kito and is immensely jealous of Yui.

[00:08:31] There are a few other characters like a witch girl who's also in love with Kito and two ninjas

[00:08:36] who claim to be Yui in black's bodyguards but none of them matter although they kind of

[00:08:41] are also in love with Yui.

[00:08:42] Eventually, a powerful monk appears to turn this into a horror manga by showing Yui in

[00:08:47] white some tarot cards that freak her out.

[00:08:49] He also like grabs her head and makes her simultaneously cry and drool.

[00:08:54] It's very strange.

[00:08:55] It turns out that she has something called a Mushi inside of her and in fact, oh my god,

[00:09:00] this whole time, Yui in black was actually a legendary Mushi hunter.

[00:09:05] Whoa!

[00:09:05] A girl named Hanukkah shows up with doll powers.

[00:09:08] Yay!

[00:09:08] She has a Mushi inside her, which also makes her a girl boss.

[00:09:13] Yeah, that's like an official title in this series.

[00:09:15] She literally she's a girl boss.

[00:09:18] Like that's her title.

[00:09:19] Kito and Yui manage to defeat her and turn her good because she also falls in love with

[00:09:23] Kito.

[00:09:24] Soon, another girl boss, I told you, named Ayako appears.

[00:09:28] She can play her violin, which is infested with a Mushi and is called, and I'm serious,

[00:09:33] the death spell Various.

[00:09:35] That is not a pun that works in English.

[00:09:37] I hope it works more in Japanese.

[00:09:39] But yeah, it makes people either die or turn into zombies.

[00:09:42] It's a little unclear.

[00:09:44] Like it seems like it makes people die unless somebody who's bad at music plays next to her

[00:09:48] and then it turns them into zombies.

[00:09:50] People try and cover her ears, but oh no, she is so good at violin that she can make their

[00:09:56] bones vibrate.

[00:09:56] Yui breaks her violin, but she's already started turning into a zombie and so is useless and

[00:10:02] will continue to be useless for the rest of the series, which is unrelated to the zombification.

[00:10:07] It's just what happens.

[00:10:08] Kito follows Ayako to an organ, which she plans on playing with the Mushi in order to kill people.

[00:10:14] But Kito shows up and plays the organ so incredibly mediocrely that it defeats her and

[00:10:20] reminds her that she used to like playing music or something.

[00:10:22] She kicks him like Chun-Li, but eventually gives up and becomes good.

[00:10:26] And I can only assume that somewhere deep inside, she has also fallen in love with Kito.

[00:10:30] Popcorn David.

[00:10:31] Ayako says that her family of doctors invented or discovered the Mushi during World War II

[00:10:35] and that well, I think it was before that because I think they said the experiments happened

[00:10:38] around like 1914 or so.

[00:10:40] It was like from 1914 to the end of World War II.

[00:10:44] It was just bad stuff happening, you know?

[00:10:46] I mean, it was Imperial Japan shit.

[00:10:48] Yeah.

[00:10:48] And that they needed to find the mother of the Mushi, Himiko, the ultimate girl boss,

[00:10:52] and defeat her to destroy all the-

[00:10:54] I just love how they actually unironically say girl boss.

[00:10:57] They really call them girl bosses.

[00:10:59] And they defeat her to destroy all the Mushi.

[00:11:02] Kito invites everyone to a yacht party on his giant rich boy yacht, but Kara is jealous

[00:11:05] because even though she's a model, Kito doesn't see her.

[00:11:08] She's immediately taken over by a Mushi on their way to a field trip to a place where

[00:11:12] Himiko's ancient kingdom Yamatai might be.

[00:11:14] Their train is taken over by Kara who is now a girl boss with big muscle powers and evil

[00:11:18] bugs as well as two immortal henchmen.

[00:11:20] Kito defends Kara by ripping the Mushi out of her mouth when she kisses him and swallowing

[00:11:24] it himself.

[00:11:25] They make it to the destination and Yui gets pulled into a mirror where Himiko is.

[00:11:28] Himiko tries to make Yui go crazy by calling for her Mushi.

[00:11:31] Call up the three corpses and nine worms, but Kito stops her by going through the mirror

[00:11:35] himself.

[00:11:36] Himiko shatters his body into a gory mess, but he uses the Mushi inside of him to reform and

[00:11:40] calm Yui down.

[00:11:41] Kito tells Yui that he loves her no matter what color she is because he's very progressive.

[00:11:45] And then I guess they defeat Himiko.

[00:11:47] It's unclear.

[00:11:48] Also, Ayako and Hanako were fighting an S class girl boss, but she just kind of left.

[00:11:52] They all have a yacht party.

[00:11:53] And I'm glad Jordan noted that because the final boss of the series just they just kind

[00:11:57] of just disappears midway through the last few chapters.

[00:12:00] Like the fight is about to start for real and then it's a jump cut.

[00:12:04] It's like it's a it's a time skip to when it's all over.

[00:12:06] It just says real missing.

[00:12:08] Literally.

[00:12:09] Yeah, it's like I don't know.

[00:12:10] You guess what happens.

[00:12:11] It's like the House of the Dead light gun game where it's like the final boss's first

[00:12:15] stage just does like a real missing cut.

[00:12:18] Oh, man.

[00:12:18] But Lightning, do you mind telling us your thoughts on Kito?

[00:12:21] Yeah, sure.

[00:12:22] Sure.

[00:12:23] So I initially started reading this series in Japanese because I just like buy the volumes

[00:12:27] and I read them.

[00:12:28] They're really not that expensive.

[00:12:30] Oh, and then when I realized like, oh, you know that YouTube will probably be seeing

[00:12:33] things in English.

[00:12:34] So I had to also like switch to this version right now to familiarize myself with a lot

[00:12:39] of terms like girl boss, for example.

[00:12:41] Right.

[00:12:41] That's really interesting.

[00:12:42] No, like really.

[00:12:43] I'm really glad that you like at least like got some of it.

[00:12:46] What did they use in Japanese instead of girl boss?

[00:12:48] Yeah.

[00:12:49] Yeah.

[00:12:49] So in Japanese, right?

[00:12:51] The actual term is called sukeban.

[00:12:53] I've heard that.

[00:12:54] Yeah.

[00:12:54] Yeah.

[00:12:54] It's a pretty common term for girl leaders of like delinquents.

[00:12:58] Boss of Yankees, for example.

[00:12:59] Right.

[00:12:59] And translating to girl boss, I guess it's okay, but it's, you know, it's very contextual

[00:13:04] and it's also very interesting too because you know, you mentioned Himuko, right?

[00:13:08] Who's supposedly like the queen girl boss, right?

[00:13:10] Yeah.

[00:13:10] She's also the original sukeban, right?

[00:13:13] So like the original, you know, delinquent, right?

[00:13:16] Like the leader delinquent, but in her kanji, right?

[00:13:18] She also has like the queen, which is also historically accurate, right?

[00:13:22] She was like the first queen, Yamatai.

[00:13:24] Yeah.

[00:13:24] Cause she's based on like a real or at least mythological person.

[00:13:27] Yes.

[00:13:28] That is really interesting.

[00:13:29] I'm glad you say that.

[00:13:30] Cause it's like, oh, that makes more sense.

[00:13:32] Yeah.

[00:13:33] It's like the girl boss.

[00:13:34] It's just translation.

[00:13:36] Also like the death spell virus.

[00:13:38] I'm pretty sure that was also like accurate.

[00:13:39] It's, it's a literal translation.

[00:13:41] So they, they actually use, what is it called?

[00:13:43] Death spell virus.

[00:13:45] Yeah.

[00:13:46] That's actually accurate.

[00:13:47] Okay.

[00:13:47] I feel like it's still probably sounds better in Japanese.

[00:13:51] Yes.

[00:13:52] The thing is, is in Japanese, right?

[00:13:54] Like, you know, one of the things that you have to note is that like English in general

[00:13:58] sounds very cool to Japanese people.

[00:14:00] Sometimes it produces really good results.

[00:14:03] See the titles from bleach, right?

[00:14:04] You know that like all those titles, they sound really, really like hardcore, really based,

[00:14:09] really raw.

[00:14:09] Um, and they sound pretty cool, but, but they're like super edgy, right?

[00:14:12] Like, you know, like breaths from hell, right?

[00:14:14] I don't know if you could ever like find that in English, right?

[00:14:16] It's just like awesome.

[00:14:18] It's like revengeance where it's like only someone whose English was not their first language

[00:14:22] would possibly think of that as a name.

[00:14:24] Yeah.

[00:14:24] Or like the jaws from hell, right?

[00:14:26] You know, something like that.

[00:14:27] But yeah, you know, that's, that's just how Japanese in general, right?

[00:14:29] That's the nuance is that they think English is cool.

[00:14:31] So like using a lot of like complicated English words.

[00:14:34] There's a analogy to it.

[00:14:36] It's also like using a whole bunch of like complicated kanji that sometimes makes it super

[00:14:39] hard to translate.

[00:14:40] It's like how a bunch of like, uh, American kids will just get like random kanji tattooed

[00:14:45] on their arm and they don't really know what it means, but it looks cool.

[00:14:48] Yeah.

[00:14:48] Yeah.

[00:14:49] My friend wanted me to tattoo on her something and I tattooed a hot dog and I was trying

[00:14:54] to think what text to put on and I really wanted to put the kanji for translation error.

[00:14:59] And I was very close to doing that.

[00:15:01] But anyway, we do have to get back into the topic of this podcast.

[00:15:03] I guess we do.

[00:15:04] So do you mind tell us a little bit more about Quito?

[00:15:06] I thought he was an okay character.

[00:15:08] He got better as the, as the series went on, right?

[00:15:11] He started off as this, you know, rather repugnant, dislikeable, you know, handsome, stereotypical

[00:15:16] character, right?

[00:15:17] The one that, as you mentioned, right?

[00:15:18] Like a douchebag that gets beaten up after somebody points out what's wrong with him.

[00:15:22] But then, you know, he starts to redeem himself later on.

[00:15:24] Right.

[00:15:24] And that's, that's just character development.

[00:15:26] I really did enjoy that.

[00:15:27] I would probably give it overall, you know, maybe like a seven or eight out of 10 for this

[00:15:31] character.

[00:15:31] Yeah.

[00:15:31] Just his character progression.

[00:15:32] Right.

[00:15:32] I do feel like he drastically changes and it's, I totally get where he comes from, but

[00:15:36] it felt more like they replaced his personality than him growing, you know?

[00:15:39] Yeah.

[00:15:40] I'm kind of with David.

[00:15:41] I don't like what they did with this character because like, it wasn't a progression.

[00:15:44] It was like, suddenly he went from like this asshole who was like so full of himself and

[00:15:50] was like, you know, slowly kind of trying to help you out to just being like the nicest

[00:15:55] guy in the whole fucking world.

[00:15:57] Like a switch.

[00:15:58] And I just feel like the character he turned into was just way less interesting.

[00:16:02] And then they got rid of like the veterinarian thing.

[00:16:04] I thought it was going to be like cool.

[00:16:05] Cause there's like hints of it at the start where he like uses that knowledge.

[00:16:08] And then they just completely forget about it.

[00:16:10] He changes from being like kind of a POV character.

[00:16:14] Cause like the way I thought it was going to be is like, you, he's kind of like the

[00:16:17] main focus, but he's like the POV character too.

[00:16:20] Now he's the main character.

[00:16:22] You, he becomes like a supporting cast member.

[00:16:24] Yeah.

[00:16:24] Are you saying there are sexist elements to this series?

[00:16:26] What?

[00:16:27] No.

[00:16:27] Oh God.

[00:16:29] And then on that note, Jordan, do you want to tell us a little bit about you?

[00:16:30] Uh, Yui is ostensibly the main focus of the, uh, series for like, I don't know, 15 chapters.

[00:16:39] Yeah.

[00:16:39] Where it's like, oh man, she's got two wolves inside of her.

[00:16:43] Both are gay.

[00:16:45] And one of them is Yui in black.

[00:16:48] Who's like a bad-ass and Yui in white, who is demure queen, I guess.

[00:16:54] And it's like, everybody is like Yui in black.

[00:16:57] You must be like, they have to chain Yui in black up to be this sweet kind of flighty

[00:17:04] non-confrontational girl.

[00:17:06] And it's like, that's not great.

[00:17:08] Yui in black even talks about how it's like, man, I hate how you guys just chain me up and

[00:17:12] put me away.

[00:17:13] We're going to get into it later.

[00:17:15] But the fact that she says she only has a fifth grade education is really, really fucked

[00:17:18] up.

[00:17:19] Yeah.

[00:17:19] The whole thing with Yui in black is weird.

[00:17:22] Also, look, I don't think this is the translator's fault.

[00:17:24] But calling her Yui in black and Yui in white, that's just, it doesn't work in English.

[00:17:29] You know?

[00:17:30] I was going to say the word in is putting a lot of weight into those expressions.

[00:17:34] I have a feeling like in that in Japanese, and I wouldn't know this for sure.

[00:17:38] Maybe you would actually be able to enlighten us on this lightning.

[00:17:41] But my perception was they were calling them black Yui in white.

[00:17:45] Yeah, yeah, that's correct.

[00:17:46] I would think dark and light would have possibly worked better without having like weird tonal

[00:17:51] like, I don't know.

[00:17:52] Does that still not feel like it wouldn't be a good?

[00:17:54] That wouldn't work because it's so in Japanese.

[00:17:56] It's literally, you know, Shiro Yui and Kudo Yui, right?

[00:17:59] What you would, what you're suggesting, right?

[00:18:01] The light and dark.

[00:18:02] That would probably be like, you know, like Hikari Yui, right?

[00:18:04] And like Yami no Yui, right?

[00:18:06] Yami Yit fucking Yuki.

[00:18:08] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:18:09] It's pretty cool.

[00:18:10] I agree.

[00:18:10] But that's why, you know, that's why they call them like, you know, dark Yuyo, right?

[00:18:13] Yeah.

[00:18:13] Honestly, like versus black and white Yui, right?

[00:18:16] I think Yui and black and Yui and white.

[00:18:19] It's a mouthful.

[00:18:20] Yeah.

[00:18:21] I have sympathy for the translator there.

[00:18:22] No sympathy for the author.

[00:18:23] Because it is like you can't in English at least in American English.

[00:18:28] You can't just be like, oh, she's black.

[00:18:30] You can.

[00:18:30] She's white.

[00:18:31] You can't do that.

[00:18:32] I'm sorry.

[00:18:32] Hold your fire.

[00:18:33] This man isn't black.

[00:18:35] It's all very contextual in the end, right?

[00:18:37] You know.

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:37] You know, when talking about Yui and black and Yui and white, right?

[00:18:41] You know, it's clear that it means, I think, right?

[00:18:43] Like the clothes and the hair style in general.

[00:18:45] Right?

[00:18:46] So, yeah.

[00:18:46] Yes.

[00:18:47] I do think that there are a lot of tropes associated with Yui Kamio, right?

[00:18:51] Who is the...

[00:18:52] I would call her the secondary protagonist.

[00:18:55] Yeah.

[00:18:55] Because she's like the main focus, right?

[00:18:57] And Kito, right?

[00:18:58] He's...

[00:18:58] Yeah, he's...

[00:18:59] They both, they both co-star together.

[00:19:01] The problem is with me is that they co-star for maybe half the manga.

[00:19:07] Yeah.

[00:19:07] And then it seems like Yui starts to take a major backseat.

[00:19:11] And then the manga seems to...

[00:19:12] Yeah, we'll talk about it and why it failed and stuff.

[00:19:14] Yeah.

[00:19:15] And then let me go through Nao just real quick.

[00:19:17] Oh, the best character?

[00:19:18] The best character.

[00:19:19] She is probably, I would say, like 80% of the jokes that actually worked involved her

[00:19:23] in some capacity.

[00:19:24] Yes.

[00:19:24] And then they completely abandoned her around the time the violinist girl, where I don't...

[00:19:28] I think the author, like the editor was like, hey, did you remember to include Nao in this

[00:19:31] chapter?

[00:19:31] And he's like, oh, fuck.

[00:19:32] So she's like in the background doing nothing for this entire story arc.

[00:19:35] She takes a backseat when Yui takes a backseat because she is like so tied up with Yui.

[00:19:40] Yeah.

[00:19:40] I mean, her appearance is very proportional to the quality of this manga.

[00:19:43] I thought she was actually pretty funny.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:45] I like her character.

[00:19:46] She's the...

[00:19:46] She's the comic relief character, right?

[00:19:48] She's that supporting character.

[00:19:50] I think that...

[00:19:50] She's absolutely insane, which I love.

[00:19:52] The three of them, right?

[00:19:53] Kito, Yui, and Nao.

[00:19:55] It feels like they formed the titular, you know, right?

[00:19:57] Like the main character that you might see in Shul and Jump.

[00:20:00] Except, you know, it's kind of like reverse because this...

[00:20:02] The series is evidently takes a lot of inspiration from rom-coms, right?

[00:20:07] Arrow-coms, right?

[00:20:08] It's kind of a reverse harem.

[00:20:10] Oh no, not a reverse harem, sorry.

[00:20:11] But kind of like reverse in a way, right?

[00:20:13] Of course it's a harem because, you know, Kito gets a lot of the girls.

[00:20:15] It turns into a harem, apparently, through the series.

[00:20:19] I also will say, um, Nao it is pretty heavily implied that she's just gay.

[00:20:25] Yeah.

[00:20:25] They're...

[00:20:26] They're not subtle.

[00:20:27] I would say that Nao, right, does show a lot of affection and admiration for Yui,

[00:20:33] right?

[00:20:33] These, I think, tend to be very old-fashioned tropes by, you know, like nosebleed and such,

[00:20:39] right?

[00:20:39] Yeah.

[00:20:39] Of course it's very Yui, right?

[00:20:41] It's very Yui.

[00:20:42] You know, that in and of itself is inherently queer, right?

[00:20:44] But I wouldn't say that she's like inherently queer herself.

[00:20:48] It's just a gag, honestly.

[00:20:50] Like, I don't think Japanese people look at it in this sort of way.

[00:20:53] Um, because you know, you have like actual LBGT manga, right?

[00:20:56] That have like identity.

[00:20:57] But there's always...

[00:20:58] There's a fine line between Yui and then the LBGT manga.

[00:21:02] And this falls under Yui, which is more like kind of like the pure love type of like

[00:21:06] romance, right?

[00:21:06] I just don't think that a lot of Japanese people see it that way in like, you know, she's

[00:21:10] like queer, right?

[00:21:11] That she only likes girls.

[00:21:12] It's more like just a reaction, right?

[00:21:14] And more so taking for gags.

[00:21:16] I said this in the chat.

[00:21:17] It's like the way that like Japanese culture views like, especially like lesbianism and stuff

[00:21:24] is just, it's very, it is very different from how we talk about it in English in America.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:30] It's one of those things where like, to me, if I read this in an American comic, a hundred

[00:21:35] percent, oh, she's gay or bi or something.

[00:21:37] Yes.

[00:21:38] Yes.

[00:21:38] Yes.

[00:21:38] In a Japanese media, it is like...

[00:21:41] A little bit more ambiguous.

[00:21:42] Yeah.

[00:21:42] It's not that cut and dry.

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:44] No.

[00:21:44] Even though it really seems like she has sexual attraction to Yui.

[00:21:48] It really seems like it.

[00:21:49] She does get a nosebleed when she's like her breasts are out.

[00:21:52] Oh yeah.

[00:21:52] Yeah.

[00:21:53] She says she wishes she could help Yui change and Kito's like, you're kind of a pervert,

[00:21:58] aren't you?

[00:21:58] So it's, it's very, I'm not going to pretend to understand how this stuff is viewed in Japan.

[00:22:03] It's also a byproduct.

[00:22:04] I think of a lot of like, you know, for example, Yui Yaoi and shoujo manga as well.

[00:22:08] It's the pure love, right?

[00:22:10] And when it comes to...

[00:22:11] Emphasis on the bi.

[00:22:12] Right.

[00:22:13] There's bi, it's the pure love aspect in itself, right?

[00:22:17] I think in a way it transcends gender because in a lot of these, in a lot of these settings,

[00:22:21] right?

[00:22:22] It's often taken to be ambiguous.

[00:22:24] It's not really focused on the gender in of itself.

[00:22:26] It's more about like the beauty.

[00:22:27] There's more emphasis on like the beauty, right?

[00:22:29] And the elegance.

[00:22:30] Gotcha.

[00:22:31] And I think that's why, and I think that's why there's, there's such a strong reaction

[00:22:34] towards Yui who's that epitome, right?

[00:22:36] Of like beauty and gracefulness.

[00:22:38] And I think that's why to me, it was like very interesting reading.

[00:22:41] Well, I mean, you know, these are a lot of tropes that you see in common, right?

[00:22:44] In a lot of manga, right?

[00:22:46] But just bringing back some of these tropes, they really reminded me of like the more classic

[00:22:49] manga, I guess, like to love Ru.

[00:22:51] Yeah.

[00:22:52] That's something I felt too.

[00:22:53] But I think for the interest of time, why don't we get into why it felt and we can actually

[00:22:55] start critically breaking down the series.

[00:22:57] So I think the biggest thing for me is this series like completely retcons itself several

[00:23:02] times.

[00:23:03] Yeah.

[00:23:03] And it actually like, it finds a point where I was like, holy shit, I think this is

[00:23:08] actually good.

[00:23:08] And then it just abandons like from chapter seven to 14.

[00:23:11] It was actually enjoyable.

[00:23:12] Yeah.

[00:23:12] And then it's like, let's turn into this weird horror action series that I feel like

[00:23:16] satisfied.

[00:23:17] Absolutely.

[00:23:17] No one that was enjoying the actual good part of the series.

[00:23:20] You're right.

[00:23:21] It had a lot of tonal shifts.

[00:23:22] Like it went from, I think it was like a, like a rom-com, right?

[00:23:26] Like kind of a gag series.

[00:23:27] Yeah.

[00:23:27] And then it went into towards a little bit more on the ecchi erotic side of things.

[00:23:32] And then it certainly turned into like a, like a horror battle manga.

[00:23:36] Yeah.

[00:23:36] I actually had a note saying, Hey, at least the series doesn't sexualize women.

[00:23:40] And then I got to like chapter five when they started like drenching water on her.

[00:23:43] And I'm like, okay, nevermind.

[00:23:44] Yeah.

[00:23:45] Oh, I mean, that's it's shown in you gotta have some fan service.

[00:23:48] Honestly, I've come to like, enjoy these things.

[00:23:50] Cause you know, they're like the lighthearted slice of life type of aspects that help bounce

[00:23:54] a manga out.

[00:23:55] Right.

[00:23:55] I'm not wholly against these sorts of things just cause you know, what makes a manga complete

[00:23:58] is that it has like a variety of like these representations, especially within like the

[00:24:02] genre.

[00:24:03] Right.

[00:24:03] That it can provide readers with a lot of like, you know, fancy material.

[00:24:07] Right.

[00:24:07] To like, because that's generally, I think what, what helps boost up like, you know, the popularity

[00:24:11] in the sales.

[00:24:12] Right.

[00:24:12] You know, it's just a lot of variety and characters and a lot of designs.

[00:24:15] But I would say, right.

[00:24:17] That for me, what really entranced me, right.

[00:24:19] Is, you know, the art style.

[00:24:20] I think that the art style changes, it probably went a little bit more at first, like a lot of

[00:24:25] a little bit unnatural, but then it went to a more natural route that probably befits

[00:24:29] the mangaka's tendencies when it comes to writing.

[00:24:32] And I really, I really, really liked the battle aspects, especially actually, this is something

[00:24:37] that I realized is not one to one with the English, but like the calligraphy of the characters.

[00:24:43] Right.

[00:24:43] You know, when there's this one panel where you have a versus, right.

[00:24:47] The one with the butterfly Hanaka and Yui in black.

[00:24:50] Right.

[00:24:50] And there was this page spread of them like facing off versus beautiful.

[00:24:54] I will say that we are in the negative.

[00:24:57] Yeah.

[00:24:57] Just make sure.

[00:24:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:24:59] Yeah.

[00:24:59] But the total shifts, I think they were very giant.

[00:25:03] It's okay.

[00:25:03] No, no, it's great.

[00:25:05] It's great.

[00:25:06] Yeah.

[00:25:06] No, no.

[00:25:06] Yeah.

[00:25:07] Yeah.

[00:25:07] So it was very jarring.

[00:25:08] And I think that like those certain total shifts, they're just a representation of the

[00:25:12] reader surveys.

[00:25:13] And I think that's what like just got a lot of people confused.

[00:25:15] The series to me started getting actually kind of interesting when Yui and white started

[00:25:22] being like, who am I actually like when she intentionally pulled off the chain?

[00:25:28] Yeah.

[00:25:28] I was like, oh, we're on to something.

[00:25:29] And then it like just completely forgot about that concept.

[00:25:32] Completely.

[00:25:32] She's like it just the second that she started like actually doing that.

[00:25:36] Her character started to get because she was like the least interesting character.

[00:25:40] She had nothing behind her eyes, which was by design.

[00:25:44] But again, that's like the whole time.

[00:25:46] But it's like suddenly it's like, oh, man, she's starting to like think about these questions

[00:25:50] of who she is.

[00:25:51] You know, is she the real her?

[00:25:53] Is she being paged up?

[00:25:54] Like what's going on?

[00:25:55] And then all of a sudden it's over.

[00:25:57] No, we're not doing that anymore.

[00:25:58] It's done.

[00:25:59] Yeah.

[00:25:59] She mentions it once or twice after that.

[00:26:01] But like all of a sudden her entire character takes a backseat.

[00:26:05] Kito becomes the main character, which, yeah, that absolutely feels like a reader

[00:26:09] survey thing like 100 percent.

[00:26:11] It feels decided by committee.

[00:26:13] And it's that really upset me, man.

[00:26:15] Like then it was just like, oh, this is another harem action manga.

[00:26:19] Yeah. And I feel like one of the reasons why all these are cons really hurt as well

[00:26:22] as that there really wasn't any scaffolding to this series in the start.

[00:26:25] Like Jordan and I, when we read the first chapter in our chibi, we're like, what is the overarching plot

[00:26:29] or purpose of this series, which never got explained until they completely retconned it into that monster

[00:26:35] hunting series where finally you're like, OK, I can see what the our offers doing kind of.

[00:26:39] But the offer also still didn't know what he was doing because he was doing week by week reinventing the series.

[00:26:44] So at no point did I ever say I can.

[00:26:45] I know what the game plan for what the offer is trying to do, which is very, very clear.

[00:26:49] Also, I'm the second that I like turned the page and saw them be like Yui Kamiyo, the famous mushy hunter.

[00:26:57] I got really annoyed because like up till that point, it was like, oh, no, she's just like a delinquent who who like start shit at schools.

[00:27:04] And now it's like, no, she's fighting demons.

[00:27:07] And I was just like, what is happening?

[00:27:09] This is something interesting that I found out. Right.

[00:27:11] I thought initially I thought that the rom-com was was unpopular and they switched to, you know, like a battle, a battle manga.

[00:27:18] Right. Because of how unpopular the rom-com was. Yeah.

[00:27:20] When I looked at the sleeve of the first volume, I saw that the original title was actually called Sukuban Mosho-den.

[00:27:25] So to me, right, you know, there he had like the girl boss implied.

[00:27:29] Interesting.

[00:27:30] As you said, and as I have seen Sukuban, Sukuban kind of just means like delinquent, like, right?

[00:27:35] Like, like female delinquent boss, kind of like a Yankee. You know, that doesn't imply directly she is a demon hunter, you know?

[00:27:41] Oh, no, no, no, not the mushy hunter. Right. But yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree.

[00:27:45] But for me, it implied that the manga could probably want to go into like a battle route anyways.

[00:27:50] And most likely, you know, had the mushy hunter context in mind. Right. Legend of the delinquent girls. Yeah.

[00:27:56] It's like the Nen in Hunter x Hunter where it doesn't show up for 80 chapters.

[00:27:59] But, you know, Togashi had that planned out day one. Yeah.

[00:28:02] Here's the problem for me, though, is that you could have turned this into a battle manga in the same way that Mashal goes from being a gag manga to a battle manga while still keeping the scaffolding that it sets up.

[00:28:13] Yes. Nothing drastic changes from Mashal. It's just all of a sudden there's like actual drama and fighting.

[00:28:21] Similarly, you could have done that here without suddenly being like, and now there are these demons called Mushy.

[00:28:27] And now Yui takes a huge backseat to Ayako and these new girls that you haven't met before.

[00:28:33] Yes. And Kito is now like just all of that self-importance and selfishness. It's all gone now.

[00:28:40] Now he's just kind of generic shonen protagonists. Like they could have had the battle stuff without doing all of that.

[00:28:45] Yeah. So I think generally speaking, when it comes to setting up series and shonen jump, right, it usually starts out as kind of like slice of life or soft, right?

[00:28:54] Before it does more into like the lore. And it was only, you know, like 34 chapters.

[00:28:58] So if you look, you know, at a series like To Love Root, right, you know, so like an like a rom-com slash ericom, right?

[00:29:04] And for this manga, I honestly thought it was probably a bad idea to cast Kito as like the main lead because, you know, he's just a very high spec repulsive type of like Ikeman or like, you know, pretty hot dude as the main character, right?

[00:29:17] It might've been like a setup for later, right? But I thought that was a pretty bad idea to begin with.

[00:29:23] It might've probably been better to give more focus to Yui coming, right? Because, you know, she's the title series character.

[00:29:30] I agree. But also like what was good about having Kito be like this bastard who's kind of a protagonist is or like the POV character, not really a protagonist.

[00:29:40] You know, in the same way that like it's Shaman King, uh, Manta is the POV character, but Yui's the protagonist, right?

[00:29:46] Like that's kind of how I, what I thought the series was going to do.

[00:29:49] So and how I think the series should have gone.

[00:29:51] But the thing that's good about him being a bastard is that like a lot of the jokes that like I actually kind of liked earlier on was just bad things happening to Kito.

[00:29:59] And I was like, yeah, fuck you, man.

[00:30:00] Like it was fun to see shitty things happen to Kito.

[00:30:03] There was one last thing I wanted to say just because of the topic we I'm brought up.

[00:30:05] I also felt the actual construction of the chapters themselves had issues.

[00:30:08] There's a lot of unnecessary text, but then a big issue is also understanding the placement of the characters.

[00:30:13] Like characters often seem to just teleport.

[00:30:15] Like how did they get to the roof to confront the violin girl?

[00:30:17] So that's not so much related to the characters or the plot, but just the actual chapter page by page construction also had a ton of issues that I wish we had more time to delve into that.

[00:30:25] But I did want to at least note it early on.

[00:30:27] Some of the romantic situations that Yui and Kito were put in were just very contrived.

[00:30:33] Like the one that I think of was like a second chapter.

[00:30:36] The bike.

[00:30:38] Running away from this giant mob of of like guys.

[00:30:42] And she sees Kito was like, Kito, pretend to make out with me.

[00:30:44] And then they'll run past.

[00:30:45] Let's just pretend to make out Kito.

[00:30:47] Let's just do that.

[00:30:48] And then it was like, oh, my God, we're pretending to make out.

[00:30:53] And they're like, who's that over there?

[00:30:55] Oh, just teens making out.

[00:30:56] And they run away.

[00:30:57] And it's like, dude, it's just like my man.

[00:31:01] God.

[00:31:01] And speaking of teens making out, let's get into what it did.

[00:31:04] Well, that didn't have any relation.

[00:31:06] The listeners will figure out why though.

[00:31:08] And before we get into that, though, if you've been enjoying the show, we'd really appreciate if you subscribe to the show on YouTube.

[00:31:13] We're trying to hit our goal of 1500 YouTube subs.

[00:31:15] And if we hit it, we'll do a special bonus episode on the Bill King Epilogue.

[00:31:19] If you're already subscribed.

[00:31:19] Thank you so much.

[00:31:20] I think we're only 120 subs away.

[00:31:22] And so, Lightning, you've alluded to it earlier, but really, what are some things you actually liked about the series?

[00:31:27] It was later during the battle manga aspect of the series.

[00:31:30] And maybe because I enjoy battle manga a lot more than I enjoy rom-coms, but I enjoyed both.

[00:31:35] I really thought that the cover spreads were done well, especially the inclusion of the calligraphy made it feel more archaic.

[00:31:42] And I think a lot of Japanese viewers tend to enjoy that stuff, right?

[00:31:45] You know, something that ties back to culture, you know, the lore depth, right?

[00:31:49] Even the art changes a little bit, especially when it came to like the cover.

[00:31:52] I think the manga made a big effort to change the cover art and other aspects of the series.

[00:31:57] Unfortunately, you know, the rom-com route, I don't think it felt that nice or good, fresh.

[00:32:02] But I did prefer like the local delinquent girl route, I guess.

[00:32:05] Now that I think about it, wasn't this concurrently running with like Samurai 8?

[00:32:09] Uh, maybe.

[00:32:11] I remember seeing stuff about it on social media, now that I think about it, it was just a little bit popular.

[00:32:16] But yeah.

[00:32:17] I will agree with you about the art.

[00:32:19] I do think like for all the issues that I have with the tonal shift, for all the problems that I do have with like the suddenly like Demon Hunter route that they went, the art got better.

[00:32:29] The art, it looked a lot cooler.

[00:32:31] Yes.

[00:32:32] And it did look cool.

[00:32:33] The calligraphy based type of art where it was a little bit more rough, black and white.

[00:32:38] That was really cool.

[00:32:39] I loved when they did that.

[00:32:40] Also, by the way, Samurai 8 did run at the same time, so you're right?

[00:32:42] Yeah.

[00:32:42] I also like, I think the fighting paneling, by the way, is pretty solid.

[00:32:46] One of my favorite things is also they did the rotating panel when the characters like POV orientation changes, which is always like, that's gotta be one of my favorite gags they do.

[00:32:54] Or like the guy where it's like she got picked up and turned and all the audience she was looking at turned to the side to reflect that.

[00:32:59] It makes me think of in Hunter x Hunter when like you're seeing through this one guy's like POV and then it turns upside down because Kilo had twisted his neck upside down.

[00:33:08] Yeah.

[00:33:08] Or twisted his head, you know.

[00:33:09] Real hunter heads know what I'm talking about.

[00:33:11] I sure do.

[00:33:12] Wink.

[00:33:13] Also, one thing that I want to note is that like, I think this is for the volumes, right?

[00:33:17] At the end of every chapter or so, there was also like mystery girl boss, right?

[00:33:21] And I thought those mystery girl bosses sounded really, really cool.

[00:33:25] I wish they were like included in the main series, honestly.

[00:33:28] I felt like, you know, because the manga probably didn't have time to include them, but I thought they were like really, really nice.

[00:33:33] And that's something, you know, the setup for these characters probably want to include them later on had the series kept going and not get canceled.

[00:33:39] But I thought they were like very well constructed as far as, you know, archetype and setting goes.

[00:33:44] They felt different, which was really nice.

[00:33:46] Yeah.

[00:33:46] I also want to say I do feel like the offer did experiment with Yui a bit more than I was expecting.

[00:33:51] Like one of my favorite chapters is when Yui and Black has to pretend to be Yui and White.

[00:33:54] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:56] Yeah.

[00:33:56] Which really felt like kind of a capstone chapter, honestly, of the first part of the first concept he had for the series, you know?

[00:34:03] Yeah.

[00:34:03] It was interesting because it also was like Yui and Black trying to be like, like becoming slightly more complex because now they had to pretend to be this like goody two shoes person.

[00:34:14] And like, like the interesting parts of this series to me were when Yui was trying to reconcile the fact that there are these two people inside them.

[00:34:22] And when that happened, it was like all of a sudden Yui and White goes from being paper thin to having some fucking depth and introspection.

[00:34:30] And it was interesting.

[00:34:31] And Yui and Black also it's like goes to having like some kind of emotional conflict.

[00:34:36] Like Yui and Black's emotional conflict where it's just like she was acting out all the time, but it was like nobody accepts her.

[00:34:43] Her best friend wants to lock her away.

[00:34:45] Her mother wants to lock her away.

[00:34:47] Everybody wants to lock her away so that like the only version of her is this nice, sweet, inoffensive version.

[00:34:55] Yeah, it's just it's real fucked up about that.

[00:34:58] That fifth grade education thing just sticks with me.

[00:35:00] It's such a fucked up thing about the series.

[00:35:02] Yeah, for reference, basically what happens is she's pretending to be Yui and White, who is an academic genius.

[00:35:08] And so they're reading something in English and Yui and Black's just like, I can't read this shit.

[00:35:13] I stopped being in school in fifth grade because she's been locked away so long.

[00:35:18] I think the series was starting to get at something like that, or at least I hoped it would.

[00:35:22] And then it abandoned it.

[00:35:23] But those parts were like the most interesting aspects.

[00:35:26] Yui was slowly becoming a genuinely interesting character.

[00:35:30] Yeah.

[00:35:30] And it's just like she really learned that she couldn't be at 100% all the time.

[00:35:34] And I really thought this year was building up to them combining.

[00:35:36] Yes, me too.

[00:35:36] I really did as well.

[00:35:38] I thought it was like there'd be like Yui and Gray or something.

[00:35:41] Yeah, it's just, you know, it's Kino.

[00:35:43] Yeah.

[00:35:43] Yeah.

[00:35:43] And then they also kind of hinted that Kido is learning that there's value in himself behind his looks.

[00:35:47] And like they talk about his interest in biology and wanting to be a vet a little bit.

[00:35:51] And that like they just completely throw that out.

[00:35:53] But it was very cool at the start where he has this like nerdy side.

[00:35:56] He realizes he's more than just a pretty rich boy, you know?

[00:35:59] Honestly, I thought that the way that, you know, because of his experience in catching bugs, right?

[00:36:03] And he's able to catch like the mooshies, right?

[00:36:05] I thought that was a pretty neat tie-in.

[00:36:07] Yeah.

[00:36:08] Anyways, you know, his dream, right?

[00:36:10] Yeah.

[00:36:10] I agree that it was unfortunate that his goals were cut out a bit early to focus on the relationship between him and Yui.

[00:36:18] I think that if the series had gone on longer, we would have seen definitely more of that.

[00:36:22] You know, you have to compromise, right?

[00:36:23] Yeah.

[00:36:24] Maybe that's a good way into us actually formally going to where it could have gone.

[00:36:28] Yeah.

[00:36:28] And then so on Lightning, as you were saying on that topic?

[00:36:31] I would say that the way that it was being set up, clearly it was being set up to focus more on the romance and on the manga.

[00:36:38] You know, like the harem battle type of shenanigans, right?

[00:36:41] Yeah.

[00:36:41] Probably like harem battle is a more proper definition of the genre itself later on, right?

[00:36:46] But I do think that Kito was starting to shape up to be, you know, an interesting character going from like this douchebag, right?

[00:36:52] To this genuinely likable character who grows.

[00:36:55] But unfortunately, you know, like he was played a lot for the gags.

[00:36:59] And I think like the sudden shift and the genre tone, right?

[00:37:02] Going from like all your like nice, right?

[00:37:05] Fan service, you know, slice of life to like super gory and like everybody's like dying.

[00:37:09] Not dying, but like everybody's bleeding.

[00:37:11] Yeah, that was pretty darn.

[00:37:12] Yeah.

[00:37:13] I needed him to be a piece of shit for longer.

[00:37:15] I needed to see that gradually happen.

[00:37:18] I really like this idea where it's like he's supposed to be the straight man, but embracing he has to be silly when it was like a gag manga.

[00:37:24] Like that chapter with the race.

[00:37:26] That was so perfect.

[00:37:27] Yeah.

[00:37:27] He steals like a jet pack or something.

[00:37:29] And I was like, this is perfect where he's like, oh, fuck, I really got to do this stupid thing.

[00:37:32] But it's the only way to solve this solution.

[00:37:34] That's what I wanted out of the series.

[00:37:36] Again, if it just stayed in that 7 to 14 chapter like that zone for I think this could have lasted a lot longer or at least I would have really enjoyed the rest of the series.

[00:37:44] Yeah, I think it could have been nice to explore his relationship with his childhood friend as well.

[00:37:48] Right, Kara.

[00:37:49] Yeah, but you know, unfortunately, right?

[00:37:50] She was also used as sort of a villain of the week.

[00:37:53] Yeah.

[00:37:53] Remember that girl, Mai Nian, who shows up for one chapter?

[00:37:56] You know what I'm talking about?

[00:37:58] And then that other girl who like wanted to date Kito or whatever for money.

[00:38:03] I thought they were the same character and had to go back and check.

[00:38:06] And I'm like, why didn't they just bring her back?

[00:38:08] Yeah, I feel like the series should have focused on Yui more.

[00:38:12] Like I agree with David.

[00:38:13] It was starting to hit a sweet spot and then just jumped off a cliff.

[00:38:17] It felt more like the author just abandoned it.

[00:38:19] Like the author just gave up and tried something different.

[00:38:22] And it's a shame because he was starting to, I feel, actually reach something.

[00:38:27] Yeah.

[00:38:27] I would have liked to have seen this series kind of stay in that space.

[00:38:31] You know, sure, become a little bit more of a battle manga.

[00:38:35] Sure.

[00:38:36] But like have people show up, have more of a thing where it's focusing on Yui instead of

[00:38:40] people, all these girls showing up and following, falling in love with Kito.

[00:38:43] It just really feels like an editor was like, nah, you got to make the guy the main character.

[00:38:48] How are teen boys going to relate to a female character?

[00:38:51] Come on.

[00:38:51] I just want this series to be about befriending bad bitches.

[00:38:55] Each one badder than the last.

[00:38:57] But there's no bitch as bad as Yui who has to prove it, you know, in 15 to 18 pages every

[00:39:01] week of silly hijinks.

[00:39:03] And they just have not like just a bad bitch harem, not harem in the sense that they like

[00:39:07] Kito, but they're just like a, just a gaggle of bad bitches, you know, that they just fight.

[00:39:11] Like, I like that fact that two of the bad, the, I was about to say bad bitch, like that

[00:39:15] was their actual title.

[00:39:15] The boss babes knew each other independent of Yui.

[00:39:18] So like boss babies.

[00:39:20] The boss babies.

[00:39:21] Yeah.

[00:39:21] The two boss babes, you know, Alec Baldwin is there too.

[00:39:24] I did love that moment where the violin girl and the doll girl knew each other independently.

[00:39:29] Yeah.

[00:39:29] That was perfect.

[00:39:30] That's like what makes one piece so good is that two unrelated characters have backstory

[00:39:34] or beef and it just makes the world actually feel like people are living in it.

[00:39:37] Not just to serve for the purpose of this plot.

[00:39:39] Right.

[00:39:39] I really did enjoy, you know, when they teamed up as well.

[00:39:42] Right.

[00:39:42] I think that's in general, one of the strengths about, about battle mangas is when like the

[00:39:46] independent villains, right.

[00:39:48] Or former villains, right.

[00:39:49] Former antagonists, they come together.

[00:39:51] Right.

[00:39:51] And then they, they interact with each other.

[00:39:53] And I think, I think readers really do tend to enjoy that.

[00:39:56] Right.

[00:39:56] They want to see like more, want to see more interactions among characters, side characters,

[00:40:00] especially when they've already had plenty of interaction with the main cast.

[00:40:03] And, and especially when they fight off against another like strong opponent in the context

[00:40:07] of the battle manga.

[00:40:08] I really did enjoy that.

[00:40:09] I just wanted to agree with David.

[00:40:10] Oh, well, thank you.

[00:40:11] I also agree with David that like, it would have been cool if this was Yui building up a

[00:40:16] gang, you know, a gang of bad bitches.

[00:40:19] You know, that concept, right.

[00:40:20] Of, of Yui gathering a bunch of delinquents and forming her own gang.

[00:40:24] Right.

[00:40:24] I think that could have been really good.

[00:40:26] I think that the mangaka was probably forced to do rom-com by the editor for some reason,

[00:40:30] because, because his initial title was going to be, you know, the, the legendary delinquent

[00:40:35] girl generals, you know?

[00:40:36] Oh.

[00:40:36] The girl boss generals.

[00:40:38] Yeah.

[00:40:38] So I, I feel like I could have fit with that context, but I also think that, you know,

[00:40:41] because of editorial decisions, right.

[00:40:43] It was probably forced to go on a rom-com route in the first place because in order to

[00:40:47] get in viewership, right.

[00:40:48] It's like fan service, right.

[00:40:49] Comedy aspects, you know, this is how you get readers.

[00:40:51] Probably you have to have a male POV character in Shonen Jump.

[00:40:56] Yeah.

[00:40:56] Unless you're Akane Banashi.

[00:40:57] Unless you're Akane Banashi.

[00:40:59] I mean, that's on a different level of quality, you know?

[00:41:01] Yeah.

[00:41:02] But that series is also like gender neutral, to be honest.

[00:41:05] Yeah.

[00:41:05] Right.

[00:41:05] So like Akane's gender matters less, more so than her skill as a rock girl.

[00:41:09] Yeah.

[00:41:10] And I would say like promise Neverland, right.

[00:41:12] Like Emma, she was the main protagonist and she was female.

[00:41:15] Right.

[00:41:15] But you know, you also had the other two male characters.

[00:41:18] I forgot what their names are.

[00:41:19] Ray and somebody else.

[00:41:20] But I think it can work out.

[00:41:22] It's just that it needs to be like a female character placed in like a male's role in a

[00:41:27] way, right.

[00:41:28] Which obviously didn't work out.

[00:41:29] You know, it can't work in this series.

[00:41:32] Again, to be clear, just like for the Shonen Jump editors to like let it go.

[00:41:36] Because of course, yeah, like a series of female main characters can absolutely work.

[00:41:40] But also I had a lot of issues with how this series handled.

[00:41:45] We haven't really talked about it as much as I would have liked to like handled how women

[00:41:49] should act.

[00:41:50] Yes.

[00:41:51] This series goes up to women on the street and would be like, you'd be prettier if you

[00:41:55] smiled.

[00:41:55] Like that is how I view this serious attitude towards women.

[00:41:59] Like, yeah, that's the entire point of Yui is like, oh, you can't have a strong willed

[00:42:03] woman.

[00:42:04] We got to do magic about that.

[00:42:05] Yeah.

[00:42:06] To like lock her away.

[00:42:07] Yeah.

[00:42:07] Yeah.

[00:42:07] She is like more violent.

[00:42:09] But also like, I don't know.

[00:42:11] You could like try and deal with that instead of just locking it completely away.

[00:42:16] And then like all the other girls, too.

[00:42:18] It's like like with Hanako, when they get rid of her Mushi, they're like, oh, she's the quiet

[00:42:23] type now.

[00:42:24] And she's sweet.

[00:42:25] And it's like demure.

[00:42:26] Literally, the goal is to turn all these women demure.

[00:42:29] Ayako as well.

[00:42:31] It's like, oh, you don't actually want to make this dramatic music.

[00:42:34] You want to make happy music that makes people feel good.

[00:42:37] So actually, on that note, I think that those elements that you just described about, you

[00:42:42] know, girls being having this really nice or near perfect image.

[00:42:46] I think that's just the quality of the shoujo tones in this manga.

[00:42:50] I noticed that like some of the hairs, right, especially for the I'm trying to remember that

[00:42:54] violin girl's name now.

[00:42:55] It was Ayako, right?

[00:42:56] Yeah.

[00:42:56] And that, you know, the wavy long hair, right, that actually reminded that was very, for

[00:43:00] me, reminiscent of like Jose manga in general.

[00:43:02] So like, you know, women's manga.

[00:43:03] Very shoujo.

[00:43:04] Yeah.

[00:43:04] Right.

[00:43:04] Very shoujo.

[00:43:05] It felt like kind of shoujo in the first chapter and then it kind of drops it.

[00:43:08] Right.

[00:43:08] When it comes to the female roles in society, right?

[00:43:12] You know, Japan has a very traditional culture, not inherently bad, right?

[00:43:16] But in school, here's one important like social factor in school, right?

[00:43:19] Is that the best thing to do in general is like not to cause any trouble.

[00:43:22] And, you know, delinquent girls, right?

[00:43:24] You know, they generally have like that very violent, very like nuisance aspect, right?

[00:43:28] Where if you cause trouble, you're going to get in trouble with society, right?

[00:43:31] And that brings, you know, in a way, shame.

[00:43:32] That's why like the story initially gravitates more towards the girls having like, you know,

[00:43:37] a good role model image.

[00:43:38] I think that as the story went on, right?

[00:43:40] It also explored Yui's personality as well, right?

[00:43:43] Like her own character Babylon, especially when tied to, I guess, like the original girl

[00:43:47] boss.

[00:43:47] I think that had the story gone on, it would have definitely given more depth to retain

[00:43:51] like the natural qualities, right?

[00:43:52] Yeah.

[00:43:52] But in the end, right?

[00:43:53] In the end, this has a lot of tropes, right?

[00:43:55] And those tropes that you mentioned, those are like tropes from shoujo.

[00:43:58] They're also from shonen, right?

[00:43:59] I didn't see that more as like a negative, but rather more as a positive because when you

[00:44:03] have like this perfect image of like a girl being, you know, having like hype, you know,

[00:44:07] Yui, right?

[00:44:08] She was great in class.

[00:44:09] She was great in athletics too, right?

[00:44:11] And that's the thing, right?

[00:44:12] Is that you have this perfect image, right?

[00:44:13] But that perfect image isn't, that's the image that like, you know, that I think a lot

[00:44:16] of Japanese people tend to try and keep up for appearances.

[00:44:19] And I think the story was going, maybe could have gone towards the role of like, it's

[00:44:22] okay not to be perfect.

[00:44:24] Yeah.

[00:44:24] Miscellaneous thoughts.

[00:44:25] Something stood out to me was kind of strange.

[00:44:27] It was like, are people cool with the magic personality changing?

[00:44:30] Cause like, remember when she goes into like the, like the nerd club and they're like,

[00:44:33] we like Yui black better, but then they're trying to hide this whole thing.

[00:44:36] So did you guys, like, I just didn't really understand if people are aware of the change or

[00:44:40] not.

[00:44:41] No, they're not.

[00:44:42] No, because I believe they say there's the two most popular girls around here.

[00:44:47] There's a girl named Yui who wears white and then you who wears black.

[00:44:52] Like, it doesn't seem like they know that her name is Yui.

[00:44:55] It's just coincidentally, they're the two most popular girls are both you like, and they don't

[00:45:01] realize that they're saying that it's just, it's very contrived.

[00:45:04] Okay.

[00:45:06] Like it's confusing, but no, it's, it's contrived.

[00:45:09] I also want to say that my absolute favorite thing I thought was a joke, but wasn't was on

[00:45:13] chapter 19, page 10, they, they call the main bad guy and he has like a giant bell, which

[00:45:19] I fought at first as a basketball.

[00:45:21] And I really thought the priest was just in the middle of like a basketball game when they

[00:45:25] call him.

[00:45:25] And I generally would have thought that would have been the funniest thing possible that

[00:45:28] scene could have been where he's just as casually playing basketball during this phone

[00:45:33] call.

[00:45:33] There is a joke where Yui in black is walking around, like wearing barely anything.

[00:45:38] And she just, Oh, she, yeah.

[00:45:40] She dunks on a bunch of people.

[00:45:41] Kito is looking for her to basically tie up her hair.

[00:45:45] So she doesn't walk around wearing like almost anything.

[00:45:47] And then she just starts playing basketball.

[00:45:50] Got it.

[00:45:50] Yeah.

[00:45:50] Yeah.

[00:45:51] And how about you, Jordan?

[00:45:52] Did you have any miscellaneous thoughts?

[00:45:54] I feel like I got everything.

[00:45:57] How about you, Lightning?

[00:45:58] I thought it was pretty funny too.

[00:45:59] By the way, that changed joke though, right?

[00:46:02] Yeah.

[00:46:02] So, so the original Japanese was Kami or Yuto, Yutosei.

[00:46:06] So it's the Yuto that they emphasize twice.

[00:46:09] That's what caused the pun, right?

[00:46:10] The chain makes her change.

[00:46:12] Oh.

[00:46:13] Right.

[00:46:14] Kami or Yuto, right?

[00:46:15] Means like to tie up her hair.

[00:46:16] You, right?

[00:46:17] Yuto, tie up her hair.

[00:46:18] And, right, Yutosei, honor student, right?

[00:46:20] So, you know, it's, it's just trying to fit in a joke where there was like inherently

[00:46:24] a joke that's in a different context.

[00:46:26] That's all.

[00:46:26] I think that's good.

[00:46:27] It's tough.

[00:46:28] It's tough.

[00:46:28] Yeah.

[00:46:29] I've often wondered how dominant the trip manga would be if Japan was like a romance

[00:46:33] language and it didn't take like a lot of, like there wasn't such a large barrier of

[00:46:38] knowing both languages.

[00:46:39] Yeah.

[00:46:39] And then my last two thoughts are just on the art style.

[00:46:42] As we talked about, I just love how randomly the art just turns into what looks like a

[00:46:45] Metal Gear Solid cover.

[00:46:46] It does!

[00:46:47] Like page 15 of chapter 20.

[00:46:48] That just looks like, like Metal Gear Solid 4's cover art.

[00:46:51] It reminds me of when I had like MGS3 and was going through the, the manual and seeing

[00:46:57] like the drawn art of like SIGINT and Big Boss or The End.

[00:47:01] Yeah.

[00:47:02] That's who that looks like.

[00:47:02] That looks like The End.

[00:47:04] Yeah.

[00:47:04] And also this author loves long lengths.

[00:47:07] Like, holy shit.

[00:47:08] Oh my god.

[00:47:08] The longest lengths.

[00:47:10] It's like some Bayonetta level proportions.

[00:47:12] And then finally, before we move into Final Verdict, Maxi B, our wonderful manga historian,

[00:47:16] has some thoughts.

[00:47:16] Shibashi originally came up with the bones of this in 2012, but wasn't able to turn it into

[00:47:21] anything until his editor saw a drawing of a delinquent girl he had drawn and suggested

[00:47:24] building a series around that.

[00:47:26] The delinquent aspect of was the missing piece apparently.

[00:47:28] And so Yo-Yo Kamino Let's Loose was born.

[00:47:30] As we talked about before, the original working title was The Legend of the Ultimate Girl Boss.

[00:47:35] By the way, sorry, this was alluded, but so they do talk about what the scientists and

[00:47:39] the yokai.

[00:47:39] Imagine if it was girl bosses versus yokai is like the plot.

[00:47:43] So it was like, that's what they all team up for is to fight monsters every week.

[00:47:47] That'd be cool.

[00:47:48] Like, and it was girl bosses versus monsters.

[00:47:50] And then in chapter seven, there are some Jojo references.

[00:47:53] So you'll have to check that out and find Battle Tendency, given he worked on Jojo.

[00:47:57] I know, I absolutely noticed by the way that like, I think the third or fourth chapter ends

[00:48:02] with the to be continued.

[00:48:04] Yes, it does.

[00:48:06] Also speaking of our favorite basketball playing priest, he is actually originally a character

[00:48:10] from Neuro Rise of the Yokai Clan officially connecting these two series, which is maybe why

[00:48:14] he further increased the amount of sci-fi elements into it.

[00:48:16] Oh my God.

[00:48:17] And then let's get into Final Verdict.

[00:48:19] Yeah.

[00:48:19] And I want to say though, Maxie B had other thoughts.

[00:48:21] We unfortunately didn't have time.

[00:48:22] So you can always find our full notes on the recording on Patreon.

[00:48:26] All right, let's get started with our six word summary from the community.

[00:48:28] Maxie B, centipedes in my jump manga.

[00:48:31] Sorry.

[00:48:31] Oh yeah.

[00:48:32] Sorry.

[00:48:32] As part of the six word summary.

[00:48:33] That is a vintage reference.

[00:48:35] From Dougie for magic Yakuza all the way down.

[00:48:37] Dude rocks.

[00:48:38] Can't keep a girl boss change forever.

[00:48:39] Funky green overdrive.

[00:48:40] A hair raising manga cut short.

[00:48:43] Captain Clueless.

[00:48:44] Double tie.

[00:48:45] Say, but it's a rom-com.

[00:48:46] Lord Anubis.

[00:48:46] Yui.

[00:48:47] Rise of the Axe clan.

[00:48:48] Portal Man.

[00:48:49] Romancing Dr. Jekyll and Madame Hyde.

[00:48:51] Some Bubby.

[00:48:51] Lies.

[00:48:52] There were no cameos here.

[00:48:54] That's not true.

[00:48:55] That's not true.

[00:48:56] Get it?

[00:48:56] Get it?

[00:48:57] Because cameo.

[00:48:59] Cameo, cameo.

[00:49:00] Cameo, yeah.

[00:49:01] Arguably there was.

[00:49:02] T. Wolflet.

[00:49:02] Guy fights bug alien girls.

[00:49:04] What?

[00:49:04] Thors.

[00:49:05] The genre shift doesn't bug me.

[00:49:07] Vanarchus.

[00:49:07] Seals away the only okay character.

[00:49:09] Watchtower.

[00:49:10] Gaslight.

[00:49:10] Gatekeep girl boss with Mrs. Hyde.

[00:49:12] I actually had something like that originally as one of my drafts and I had to delete it.

[00:49:16] Spike.

[00:49:16] So now Yui's gotta let loose.

[00:49:18] Redblade.

[00:49:18] I continued reading One Piece instead.

[00:49:20] And Aura Paladin.

[00:49:21] Too busy reading One Piece.

[00:49:22] Oops.

[00:49:23] And then, as always, Jordan, I have a few.

[00:49:25] So I'm curious.

[00:49:26] You and Lightning, which one do you guys like more?

[00:49:28] This author is against women's suffrage.

[00:49:30] Yes.

[00:49:30] And Serious Serial Supar.

[00:49:32] Silly Serious Superior.

[00:49:33] I haven't done an alliteration one in a while.

[00:49:35] So, because that's a fact.

[00:49:36] It's a lot better when this series did not take us all seriously.

[00:49:39] I actually, you know what?

[00:49:40] I'm gonna go with the alliteration on this one.

[00:49:43] Nice.

[00:49:43] I definitely, though, this has the vibe where the author's like, do women really need to be able to vote?

[00:49:47] Oh, 100%.

[00:49:48] I mean, my six-word summary is, you're prettier when smiling.

[00:49:51] The manga.

[00:49:52] The movie.

[00:49:52] I just feel like this series, again, goes up to girls on the street and is like, you know, you should smile.

[00:49:59] Why aren't you smiling?

[00:50:00] Prettier if you smile.

[00:50:01] You'd be prettier if you smile.

[00:50:02] You know what I mean?

[00:50:03] I'm surprised there wasn't a scene like that and then they just had Yui and Black beat the shit out of a guy doing that.

[00:50:07] Yeah.

[00:50:07] Yeah, my six-word summary is, well, I enjoyed the horror and the babes.

[00:50:11] I enjoyed the horror and babes.

[00:50:13] That's pretty much it.

[00:50:14] Hey, that's fair.

[00:50:15] And I, um, so, uh, does anyone think this series isn't a flop?

[00:50:19] Not me.

[00:50:20] It is or it isn't?

[00:50:22] Isn't.

[00:50:22] Would you consider this series a flop, Lightning?

[00:50:24] Oh, of course.

[00:50:24] It's a, it's a flop.

[00:50:26] The genre tonal shift was too jarring for me.

[00:50:29] I genuinely, this was not a flop for that block and I really wish, I'm sorry, I'm just mad because it's so rare we read something good.

[00:50:35] So, you guys, do you think it's a certified flop?

[00:50:37] And Lightning, the definition I use is, would you use the word terrible to describe the series?

[00:50:41] No, I don't think it's terrible.

[00:50:42] I would agree.

[00:50:43] This is bad, but this is not terrible.

[00:50:45] It's hard to say.

[00:50:46] That seven chapter period of it being good puts a little, I think, really pulls it up from being a certified flop.

[00:50:51] Yeah, I look at it from a bunch of different aspects.

[00:50:53] Not just the plot either, but also like, for example, the art.

[00:50:56] I think the art really does save the manga a lot, right?

[00:50:59] Because, you know, people like looking at pretty pictures.

[00:51:01] To me, it's more like, how much do I feel like this series wasted my time?

[00:51:05] Yeah.

[00:51:05] And I feel like a lot of this series felt like a waste of time, but a bunch of, but a lot of the series didn't feel like a waste of time in that sense.

[00:51:13] Like, I don't know.

[00:51:13] I mean, I'll just, I'll just keep it at flop, but it's on the cusp.

[00:51:17] You know, that's fair.

[00:51:17] So then I guess the question is, what should people check out instead?

[00:51:21] I have a recommendation from the community is read Kill Blue.

[00:51:23] It's by the author of Robot Laser Beam, but it's a pretty fun time and so far hasn't been racist, which is a big boon for this author.

[00:51:30] I don't know if you're familiar, Lightning, with Robot Laser Beam, but it has a, compares a very muscular black man to a gorilla on multiple occasions in exactly the way that you would think is not appropriate.

[00:51:41] Oh, yeah.

[00:51:42] It's bad.

[00:51:43] They draw him as like God, as like King Kong with dreadlocks.

[00:51:46] Yeah, it's not great.

[00:51:47] It's not great.

[00:51:47] How about you, Jordan?

[00:51:48] What should someone check out instead of this?

[00:51:50] I mean, if you're interested in like a shoujo battle manga or something, like check out Revolutionary Girl Utena, I guess.

[00:51:58] How revolutionary?

[00:51:59] Yes, revolutionary.

[00:52:00] And then Lightning, what would you recommend?

[00:52:02] Just because like the initial vibes gave me, you know, the rom-com, ero-com aspect.

[00:52:07] And if that's what people prefer, right, then you should probably go read To Love Rue.

[00:52:11] That's it pretty much has all you want there.

[00:52:13] If you want like a more like battle type of series with pretty women and like with some death, I guess.

[00:52:19] Actually, Noah's Exorcist does that.

[00:52:21] I think about it.

[00:52:22] Yeah.

[00:52:23] Plug your own work.

[00:52:24] I love it.

[00:52:24] Yeah, it actually does do that.

[00:52:26] I'm not saying it because I'm trying to promote, you know, the series I translate, but, you know, because it's very much a similar genre.

[00:52:32] Yeah.

[00:52:33] Listen, I respect it.

[00:52:34] I respect that.

[00:52:34] We've had guests that suggested their own podcast.

[00:52:37] So don't stress it.

[00:52:38] Okay.

[00:52:39] But I do like Revolutionary Girl Utna, right?

[00:52:42] Like that.

[00:52:42] I think that's a very excellent recommendation.

[00:52:45] It's like one of those that you really have to get used to the style back then, right?

[00:52:49] But the messages are pretty profound.

[00:52:51] Yeah.

[00:52:51] I love it.

[00:52:52] All right.

[00:52:52] And then this was not a flop.

[00:52:53] This was not certified flops.

[00:52:54] This is near the best or worst thing we've read, Jordan.

[00:52:57] Let's get into wrap up.

[00:52:57] All right.

[00:52:57] I want to say thank you to Spubby for recommending Lightning being a guest on this episode.

[00:53:01] Lightning, thank you as well so much for joining us.

[00:53:03] This was a ton of fun to have you on.

[00:53:05] Where can people get more of you in their lives?

[00:53:07] Yeah.

[00:53:07] Yeah.

[00:53:07] I'm sorry.

[00:53:08] I'm sorry that we didn't have enough time to cover a lot of things.

[00:53:10] I'm also, you know, I really did enjoy my time being here.

[00:53:13] Oh, I'm so glad to hear it.

[00:53:14] Yeah.

[00:53:15] I wish we'd had more time.

[00:53:16] And then, um, is there anything you wanted to plug?

[00:53:18] Just read more show than jump.

[00:53:19] You know, read more show than jump.

[00:53:20] Hell yeah.

[00:53:21] I love it.

[00:53:22] Hell yeah.

[00:53:22] Well, props to Jordan for making the opening and ending theme, being a great co-host and

[00:53:25] helping with editing.

[00:53:26] Thank you, David, for all the work that you do on the show.

[00:53:28] No problem.

[00:53:29] Props to Murlisle for the awesome cover art.

[00:53:30] You can find her online at Lyle, Murl, Murl, and Nigel for being our generous art benefactor.

[00:53:34] Thank you, Dylan, for assistance with editing.

[00:53:35] You can find his podcast, Anime Out of Context, at animeoutofcontext.com.

[00:53:39] Thanks to Tucker and Maxie B for assistance with pronunciation, translation, and other miscellaneous

[00:53:43] research.

[00:53:43] Thanks to Kalala for being our social media manager.

[00:53:45] You can find us on Twitter at ShonenFlopCast, Tumblr, Shonen-Flop, and our website, ShonenFlop.com.

[00:53:50] We're on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

[00:53:54] If you want more weekly David and Jordan content, you can find us every Friday on the Chainsaw

[00:53:57] Minute, where we talk about the latest chapter of Chainsaw Man.

[00:54:00] Find it at csm.libson.com or wherever else you listen to ShonenFlop.

[00:54:04] Come join the Discord.

[00:54:04] It's open to everyone, Patreon or not.

[00:54:06] Hang out with us.

[00:54:07] Talk about anime games or whatever else is on your mind.

[00:54:09] We even have a manga book club and weekly movie nights.

[00:54:11] Find a link to it in the show notes or on our site, ShonenFlop.com.

[00:54:14] And if you've been enjoying the podcast and want to help us keep going, subscribe to

[00:54:16] our Patreon at patreon.com slash ShonenFlop.

[00:54:19] Along with that warm and fuzzy feeling of helping us out, you also get access to monthly bonus

[00:54:22] episodes, including the Shonen Drop, where Jordan and I look back at the previous month's

[00:54:26] episode and open the mystery box.

[00:54:27] Jordan, what are we dropping in December for our wonderful patrons?

[00:54:30] Well, David, we read Hentai Came In.

[00:54:33] Yeah.

[00:54:33] The manga about a superhero who puts panties on his face with the legendary Shen from

[00:54:39] Shen Comics.

[00:54:40] Yeah, that was a great first two volumes.

[00:54:43] That's right.

[00:54:44] Owl Turd himself.

[00:54:45] And the mystery box.

[00:54:47] We're going to talk about if you had to teach a class on manga, what would you include?

[00:54:51] Hell yeah.

[00:54:51] And if that's not enough, other perks include picking a manga for us to cover on a main episode,

[00:54:55] episodes up to a week in advance, and behind the scenes content like the warm up body or

[00:54:59] recording notes.

[00:54:59] I also want to read off some of our wonderful patrons.

[00:55:01] Starting with our dolphin dads, we have Glornak and Rachel, my wonderful wife.

[00:55:04] She is sick today, so I went out and got her some beef bacon because she deserves it.

[00:55:08] Moving on down to our ravioli tier, where you get weekly photos of my adorable goblin

[00:55:12] dog, Ravioli.

[00:55:13] She is got, she keeps going in her crate, so I guess now she is just a grumpy teenager.

[00:55:17] We have Chris, Eva, Jeanette, Lady T, Matt, Scarlet, T, Tiffany, and Trevor.

[00:55:22] Moving on down to the king of the forest, we have 090Z, Hibandit Stoof.

[00:55:25] My girlfriend.

[00:55:25] Brad, Chad, Ivan, Jacob, Justin, Kirbymon, Matt, Marty, Riley, Sarah, T-Wolfwood, and

[00:55:30] Tommy Boy.

[00:55:31] And a big thank you to our Galactic Ball Federation officers and our beast children.

[00:55:34] Yes, thank you.

[00:55:34] I love all of you very much.

[00:55:35] All right.

[00:55:36] Let's get into sign-off.

[00:55:37] Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:55:38] Tune in next Monday as we give our full thoughts on Jiangxi X.

[00:55:41] This has been David.

[00:55:42] This has been Jordan.

[00:55:43] This has been Lightning.

[00:55:44] And you've been listening to Shonen Flop.

[00:55:45] Keep on flopping, floppers.

[00:55:47] Yeah.