2021 in Review: Manga

Any of you who follow our streams over on Twitch likely already know this but we talk about the seasonal anime we watched every season & do an even bigger stream about the full year in review. In the same vain I read a lot of manga but don’t often talk about them. So I thought why not talk about the stuff that I finished over the last year here.

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Mahou Shoujo Tokushuusen Asuka
^{Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka}

Author(s): Fukami Makoto (Story), Tokiya Seigo (Art)
Published: June 25, 2015 – Feb 25, 2021
Volumes: 14 | 69 Chapters
Demographic: Seinen
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Drama, Supernatural
Theme(s): Brainwashing, Demons, Dimensional, Gore, Magic, Mahou Shoujo, Maid, Military, Martial Arts, Politics, Psychological, School, Torture, Yuri.
Synopsis: Due to the invasion of Disas—enigmatic creatures of soil from the land of the dead—mankind, who was on the verge of crisis, was saved by the efforts of magical girls who had obtained a mysterious magical power…
Three years later, new incidents suddenly occur, tearing apart the normalcy of the girls who had each returned to their normal lives. The saviors of humanity, those magical girls called “The Magical Five” now live each day fighting for their lives, even as they are trifled with by fate…

This one was a hell of a ride! Midway through reading it got a alright anime adaptation as well. If you’ve looked at the themes above you should already understand this is not for the faint of heart. This series is gruesome and not afraid to get into some really nasty subject matter. It’s a gritty militaristic exploration of post-world saving magical girls with extreme PTSD trying to find how they fit into everyday life. There’s paramilitary groups, terrorism, criminal organizations, mercenaries, monsters, evil magical girls, & all manner of atrocities committed by these groups. You’ve been warned. That aside I truly enjoyed my time with the series. It plays on the tropes and themes of more typical magical girl series well & can also please hardcore military & gun fans at times. There’s just something satisfying about seeing a magical girl transform then lay waste to enemies with an assault rifle. The ending is a bit odd, but fitting with the themes in my opinion. Overall I think it’s an excellent “edgy mahou shoujo” series that scratches a niche I didn’t know I needed before it came along.

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Oni ga Deru ka Ja ga Deru ka
^{Out Comes The Devil, Out Comes The Snake}

Author(s): Advenchara
Published: Jun 24, 2014 – May 24, 2017
Volumes: 5 | 33 Chapters
Demographic: Shounen
Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, Supernatural
Theme(s): Coming of Age, Harem, School, Yokai
Synopsis: When our hero, Matsubara Yuu, suddenly finds himself moving back to his mother’s home, a number of strange things happen to him. He meets Suzu, a beautiful girl who falls in love with him at once, even wanting to have his children. Even if he wanted to run away from the situation, his way was blocked by a huge cow attacking him. In fact, in all of these, he seems to be the cause…

This is one of those manga I randomly saw the cover of and went “why not?”. In this case because the snakegirl Suzu on the Vol1 cover (see below) caught my eye. I came very close to dropping this several times if I’m honest. The MC is an spineless whiner for a sizable portion of the manga. Which is somewhat justified as he is randomly uprooted by his flake of a Father & thrown into a multitude of strange circumstances. So to say the plot is dumb would be an understatement. That all said there is character growth, decent romance, & some interesting concepts behind the series, but it is weighed down heavily by the strange premise and terrible main character. Also of note while it does have Harem themes it does end up being a proper romance by the end.

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Yankee Wa Iskeai De Seirei Ni Aisaremasu
^{Yankee is Loved By Spirits in Another World}

Author(s): Sasaki Akane (Art), Kuroi Heiho (Story)
Published: Feb 24, 2017 – Jul 30, 2021
Volumes: 5 | 42 Chapters
Demographic: Shounen
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Theme(s): Isekai, Magic, Politics, Reincarnation
Synopsis: Manai Zero is a delinquent who saves a kid from being ran over by a truck. Dying in the process, God sends him to another world with the gift of being loved by spirits.

I have something of a weak spot for Isekai & that often leads me to dabble into some really garbage manga here and there, but on occasion I find a hidden gem in the heaps of trash isekai. This wasn’t a gem per se, but I did enjoy it for what it was. I mainly kept reading because of the MC who is a rough-around-the-edges and foul-mouthed “yankee”. Which is a refreshing change from the typical sameface broody MCs of many isekai. Overall the plot of the series is a bit rushed and contrived but the characters are fun, the comedy is enjoyable, & with only 42 chapters it’s a pretty easy read. It’s not my favorite Isekai I’ve read (or am still reading) but it’s far from the worst I’ve read either. it’s squarely in the middle in the “Good enough to not regret” category I would say.

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If you read down to here I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I’ve been trying to think of new types of content to post to this wordpress for some time as I’ve mostly fallen off the ttrpg Homebrew wagon for the time being. Thanks for checking it out & I hope you liked it.

^{All cover art belongs to the authors, publishers, etc}

Streams And VoDs

I know it’s been pretty dead here for a while now, but we’ve been streaming regularly on our Twitch & uploading VoDs on Youtube. I’ll be streaming Danganronpa V3 every wednesday as well as other assorted streams throughout the week. You can always find our schedule on our twitter.

You can watch episode 1 of my DRV3 playthrough here

Or you can watch the entire playlist of my Danganronpa series playthroughs here

I’ve also recently been getting back into Model building with GUNPLA kits and plan to stream my builds. Like this one!

Way of the Edgeless Blade (Revised)

Monastic Order
PDF

Season 3 of Thunderbolt Fantasy is currently airing and inspiration struck for some revisions to bring this Monastic subclass into line with others I’ve created. 

Rechinul

Ancestry
PDF (Coming in the future)
The ancient children of Behemoth who once held dominion over the deep ocean. They are now a husk of their former selves, cursed to dwell on land. They carve out a simplistic life for themselves on their island home, keeping mostly to themselves.

Starting Attribute Scores: Strength 12, Agility 9, Intellect 10, Will 11.
Perception equals your Intellect score.
Defense equals your Agility score.
Health equals your Strength score +5.
Healing Rate equals one-quarter of your Health, rounded down.
Size: 2 Speed: 8 Power: 0
Damage: 0 Insanity: 0 Corruption: 0
Languages and Professions: You speak the Free Tongue (Common) and the Salt Tongue. You can also speak with and understand fish, crabs, and other sea animals.
Blood Sense: You make challenge rolls to scent or track blood or bleeding creatures with 1 boon. You make these challenge rolls with 2 boons while in water or underwater.
Curse of Leviathan: You make attack rolls and challenge rolls; except ones made to swim, with 1 bane when in contact with salt water.
Natural Weapons: You can attack with your toothy maw. They count as a basic weapon that deals 1d6 damage.

Level 4 Expert Rechinul
Characteristics: Health +7
You either learn one spell or gain Blood Frenzy.
Blood Frenzy: You make attack rolls against bleeding creatures with 1 boon. You also make attack rolls with your toothy maw against bleeding creatures with 1 additional boon.

Roguish Archetype Updates & Revisions

Roguish Archetypes
PDFs below

Over a month in the making it’s finally here. The update and revision of all my previous Rogue Archetypes.

Way of Equilibrium

Monastic Order
PDF

One of my favorite movies of the 90-00s era was Equilibrium. Not because it had a thrilling narrative, but because the action was interesting and new. It featured a concept known as Gun Kata (not to be confused with Gun Fu), which returned in a fashion with the film Ultraviolet. That is where this subclass draws its roots. A martial arts tradition designed to merge firearms and self defense with specialized katas.

Primal Path Updates & Revisions

Primal Path
PDFs below

Following in the footsteps of my Martial Archetype Updates we have the same with barbarian subclasses. This is both a page style update and an update/revision pass. Below you can find all the PDFs for each subclass and the changelog of what was revised. Expect Rogues next.

Circle of the Varmint

Druid Circle
PDF

A random subclass thought that just slammed into my brain randomly the other night while thinking about weird west settings and how rare desert settings are in D&D. This Druid Circle takes on the role of an enigmatic trickster who calls the sandy wastes home. A master of illusions and deception with a wicked sense of humor. Depending on how you wish to play it, this subclass could be a deceptive and mysterious wanderer who hails from the wastelands or a fun-loving nature lover with a quirky sense of humor and the ability to turn themselves into the D&D approximation of Wil E. Coyote. No matter the path you choose, you can walk it as a member of the Circle of the Varmint.

Path of Doom

Primal Path
PDF

I had been resisting the urge to make something like this since the Doom Eternal release and finally caved after seeing a few other takes on the concept of the Doom Slayer as a subclass that just didn’t feel like what I wanted to see. So I decided to get to work and ended up birthing this ranged weapon focused Barbarian subclass. I also added a small collection of Doom Eternal Weapons at the end. So here it is! Forge onward into the pits of hell and beyond as you follow the Path of Doom.