What’s Up with Yagi Toshinori? [My Hero Academia]

And, no. I’m not talking about my theory that he and Detective Tsukauchi are romantically involved. I’m talking about All Might’s origins, or more specifically, Yagi Toshinori’s origins as well as how he first met Nana Shimura.

Let’s be honest here, even with All Might’s appearances in My Hero Vigilantes, we know very little about his family life. Wait. Does Yagi have a family? They’ve never been referenced, hinted at, or acknowledged in any way. No phone calls or secret visits or confidential reveals to Deku, nothing. So, what’s up with that?

Well, we know Yagi was shown to have a high sense of morality in a flashback where he’s presumed to be middle school aged. That same flackblack may also be when Nana decided to make him her successor. But, that still doesn’t explain how Nana met Yagi in the first place. So, here’s my theory:

How I’d Make Marvel Comics More Popular

The Marvel movie franchise is one of the biggest in the world. So, why aren’t more people reading their comics? Even turning half of Marvel’s moviegoers into comics fans would send Marvel Comics into the stratosphere. Well, I have two main reasons.

1. People look down on the comic book industry.

Movies, TV, Books, and Plays are some of the many ways to tell a story. But comics have never been fully accepted by the mainstream. Even now, the average person will hear about an iconic comic character vastly changing their status quo and freak out, even though: A.) They don’t read comics. And, B.) Things will be reset after a fixed time.

And, let’s not forget the people who think only superhero and kids theme stories become comics. Calling comics a media only for kids is like saying TV is only for kids because of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Even, manga readers have these assumptions! Yet, if someone insults manga, calling it hentai, they’ll lose their minds. So, what can Marvel do against all that bias?

Solution: Focus on improving the comic industry’s reputation.

Lay a foundation. Many people won’t read comics if they think it isn’t cool or only for kids. The world’s full of mindless sheep like that. Marvel has to go on a huge advertising attack protecting comic legitimacy. I’m talking about TV and internet commercials. Show an ad with someone dismissing comics and have a comics fan show them how much the industry is like TV or movies, full of different genres with something for everyone. That’s right everyone. Not just geeks, not just kids. Everyone. Show the average Marvel movie fan they can read more about their favorite heroes. Show a disinterested movie date reading a mystery or romance comic. Make comics the norm and the wallets will follow.

Who Really Controls Japan? [My Hero Academia]

Notice something odd about this government meeting?

Roughly 80% of the population in My Hero Academia has a quirk. We know that impacts a person’s future career because, at the very start of the series, All Might suggests to the quirkless Deku he joins the police. This infers either a good chunk of law enforcement don’t have quirks, or, at the very least, have quirks not suited for battle. Okay, you probably knew that. So what’s my point? It’s simple.

The quirkless rule Japan.

I can think of two reasons for this:

1. There’s not much else they can do.
Think about it. Most people with awesome quirks will find jobs where their powers can be utilized. Whether being heroes or construction or what have you (I wonder if entertainers can use their quirks?). At this point, we don’t exactly know which jobs authorize the use of quirks and which don’t. All we know is public quirk use is strictly regulated. Well, on paper anyway. We’ve seen in My Hero Vigilantes that while using your quirk in public is officially against the rules unless you’re inconveniencing others, regular citizens don’t care. Look at The Crawler or Pop Step, those two blatantly use their quirk but you don’t see anyone going narc on them.

Sexism in Anime/Manga, I Figured It Out

We all know anime and manga has problems concerning the female image. I was reading a new manga series in Viz’s Shonen Jump called Noah’s Notes where the girl character had pink hair (of course), big breasts (complete with cleavage), and a short school girl skirt (with plenty of up-skirt shots of her ass). No underwear, just ass. Either she doesn’t wear any or she wears a g-string. She’s basically a thirteen year old boy’s wet dream. That got me thinking.

I can go on a rant about women being treating like sex objects and that it should stop, but I won’t. Maybe, just maybe, it shouldn’t stop! I propose an idea:

Create anime/manga studios, companies, and the like with the sole purpose of creating male objectified properties.

No, I’m not talking “girl’s anime or manga”. I’m talking the same types of series aimed at males with mostly female characters and a focus on buff guys with big dicks.

Here me out.

Yumi’s Cells Handles Break-up Better Than Most Manga

[Spoilers!]

Yumi’s Cells can just be a goofy series and still be better than a lot of comics but the creator, Dong-Gun Lee, really goes above and beyond my expectations.

The art has improved over the seasons, the story is still going strong over 200 chapters later. I’m almost insulted it isn’t printed in a magazine. It’s so much fun, so consistently good, I’m at a loss for words. Now, I can add one more thing to love about Yumi’s Cells, it handled a break-up very well.

Slayers’ Lord of Nightmares, Best Omnipotent Being Ever

One Thing I must say before jumpin’ in:

1. Watch Slayers Next, the second season of The Slayers TV series. Subbed or dubbed, doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about the first season, you can always go back. Major spoilers from the last two episodes are coming. This is your only warning!

Let’s talk about the Lord of Nightmares.

The Golden Demon Lord, L-sama, the Sea of Chaos, she has many names. In the fantasy world of Slayers, the Lord of Nightmares sits at the top, above humans, above dragons—demons, Gods, she is a creature in a class by herself. I’m talking next-level cosmic stuff here. So, why do I think the Lord of Nightmares is awesome? It’s not like omniscient beings are rare in fiction. The answer to that lies with what she is as well as her interactions with others.

Being a fictional world, the Lord of Nightmares fits quite comfortably within the Slayers lore. In fact, the magic and overall hierarchy of world building in Slayers is some of the best I’ve ever seen. I encourage anyone interested in magical fantasy to check out Inverse.org and read up on the detailed word of Slayers.

Is Pound Dead? (One Piece)

No.

I love you One Piece, but over and over you prove killing characters is as rare as a Bleach chapter with a background. Pagaya, Pell, Brownbeard, Jack the Drought are some of the manga’s characters who should be dead. And, look, I’m not death hungry. I don’t read One Piece for a body count. Luffy isn’t becoming Frank Castle anytime soon (though Luffy drawn as The Punisher would be cool). But, the situation characters survive in One Piece is ridiculous at times.

But, Oven looked like he was about to slice Pound’s head off?
But, Oda gave Pound the perfect send-off?

Yeah, I agree. But, does that mean he’s dead? Comic book death rules are in effect. Meaning, unless there’s a body, he ain’t dead. And that still holds true for Pedro. Until I see a body neither one is dead, only injured. A pack of bandages away from a full recovery.

So, I’m putting my entire bitcoin fortune on Pound surviving and using my winnings to by a pack of gum. Oh, hell, make it two.

Side note: We finally saw a glance of Big Mom’s husband cycle. Apparently, she gets pregnant, keeping hubby around until the baby’s born then he’s unceremoniously kicked to the curb. Not even enough time to hold the child. Big Mom is cold.

League of Absence (My Hero Academia)

Over the past few chapters we’ve seen the League of Villains do some serious leveling up with Mr. Hype Baddie, Giantomachia, plus an unknown number of new recruits joining and acquiring Overhaul’s anti-quirk bullets and serum. Basically, Shigaraki has everything he needs for another A-level scheme, but like with most ingredients, he’ll need time to prepare. So, I hope you enjoyed seeing the league because barring minor check-ins, I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of them in the foreseeable future.

But we must have balance.
We touched on it a bit with Class A learning super moves, now is the time to see more of that and maybe some other improved skills while Team Facepalm gets ready for the next round to pain. With Provisional License: Part Deux, Bakugou and Todoroki will get their level-up along with Inasa Yoarashi.

But, we need more than that. I’m guessing that inter-school training Ms. Joke proposed will happen soon after, leveling up Class A even more. A maybe, just maybe, we’ll even get another small arc after that. An All Might origin flashback would be nice.

The fact is the League of Villains 3.0 is coming and right now they have the brains, brawn, and tools to cause mega damage. If Class A doesn’t step up, the villains will leave them in the dust. Or, considering Shigaraki, turn them into dust.

A Prescription for Dr. Stone

Great art. Great story. So, why aren’t more people reading Dr. Stone?

Maybe it’s the first few chapters.
Dr. Stone is about two high school kids frozen in stone, along with every human on Earth, for thousands of years. They escape and wish to bring back humanity, but an evil high schooler wants to restart humanity without adults or technology.

Now, my problems with the first chapters are Taiju and the manga’s slow start. Dr. Stone started off seemingly as another end of the world story where uber powerful high schoolers fight to survive. That’s part of the story, but there’s a lot more going on. Sticking with the series, you learn that it’s not a battle shounen but a comedy/adventure shounen with science!

Once the story is focused on Senku, the genius high school boy, things get good. He’s the more interesting of the two, a guy wanting to build a world of science using whatever and whoever he can. Senku is the keystone of Dr. Stone. Once he takes the spotlight, the story is off and running.

Did I mention the art is fantastic? Well, it is. Easily one of, if not, THE best drawn manga currently running in Shounen Jump. The comedy starts slow in the series too, plots focusing on the seriousness of the situation with flashes of humor here and there. Again, once Senku gets the full spotlight, the comedy comes busting in. You’ll learn science and you’ll laugh while doing it. A win-win in my book.

Give Dr. Stone a chance. If the first chapter doesn’t do it for you, skip ahead three or four chapters and see if you like it then. If you’re still petrified with boredom, read the latest two chapters and call me in the morning. You’ll feel much better.

Music Snobs

No one cares if you liked that song before it was cool.

Why do some people seem to think it’s cool to mention they liked a now popular song before it was featured in a movie, TV show or anime? As if that now popular song makes them popular by association, giving them fifteen minutes of fame.

Sorry, but the song was always good, just unknown. It happens. There’re lots of songs on this watery world with more being made every year, every day even! Mainstreamers don’t have access to or aren’t willing to work finding lesser known songs or music artists, instead being force fed by large music companies or relaying on word of mouth from friends or associates.

Worse, are the original fans of a song or artists who don’t like when “their” song goes mainstream. WHAT? How do fans of an anime or other form of media liking a song you love devalues that particular song? Did the artist write it specifically for you? Did the songwriter tweet she/he only wants people who bought all the band’s albums to enjoy it? Saying the obvious is frowned at times but I think our society may have reached a point where this should be stated as default:

Unless the singer or band has a problem with their song going mainstream, stop complaining. If your happiness is based on being one of a few hundred or thousand who know about a song, that’s your problem.

Nothing wrong with loving a song, or a movie, or anything that doesn’t hurt others, but please, please, please stop basing your self-worth on things you love. Love it, enjoy it, share it, and be happy. Save all that outrage for the countless horrible things happening in the world you somehow forgot existed. Remember, you can always blast that underground remix while protesting injustice in the streets.