Instant Bullet: Research Notes (Patreon)

Tucker

SIX WORDS: Gentlemen, we’ve achieved it: peak emo!

Author

• Akasaka, Aka 赤坂 アカ（あかさか アカ)
  • Ah-kah-sah-kah, Ah-kah
  • As I thought, this is a pen name. Seems like he chose it because you can easily type it on a Japanese smartphone (can be written with just three different kana)

Characters:

• Fukase, Kuro 深瀬 黒（ふかせ くろ）
  • Kuh-ro, Fuh-kah-seh
  • Bonus points: try practicing the Japanese open “u” sound. It’s the same as “oo” in English, but pronounced with the lips remaining open rather than closed/rounded like in English
  • Kuro means black, hammering home that this dude is EDGY and DARK
• Himeura, Sera 姫浦瀬良（ひめうら せら）
  • Hee-meh-oo-rah, Seh-rah
    • See note about open “u” above!
  • Not quite sure what significance the kanji in the name has, if any, but it does contain the character for “princess”
• Toiro 綾倉十色（あやくら といろ）＆いろは
  • Toe-ee-roe
• Iroha
  • Ee-roe-hah
• Moroki, Ryouta 諸木良太（もろき　りょうた）
  • Moe-roe-kee, Ryo-tah
  • Reminder about “ry” sounds:
    • To get the Ryou/Lyou pronunciation accurate to Japanese (as a single syllable), practice saying the syllables “low”/”row” (being mindful to only touch the front bit of the tongue to the top of the month when pronouncing the consonant) and then a long “yo.” Then, practice sliding your tongue from the L/R position to the Y position. That sliding motion is how you get the consonant sound in Japanese usually written as “ry”
• Fujinami, Kokage 藤波木陰（ふじなみ こかげ）
  • Fuh-jee-nah-mee, Ko-kah-geh
  • See note about open “u” above!
• Nanatsuji, Suimu 七辻すいむ（ななつじ すいむ）
  • Nah-nah-tsuh-jee, Sue-ee-muh
  • Reminder about “tsu”:
    • [ts] sounds are exactly the same as English, only Japanese allows it at the beginning of syllables, while English only allows it at the end!
    • Practice by repeating  “pots and pans,”  but then then think of the words being spaced like “pah tsand pans” …congrats, you just made the ts sound!
• Furusuna, Yume 古砂夢（ふるすな ゆめ）
  • Fu-ru-sue-nah, Yuh-meh
  • See the previous notes on open u
  • Yes, really is written as old + sand + dream

Other:

• Yankee/Yankii: not referring to an American, but that is the origin of the phrase. It’s a sort of Japanese youth subculture that has its roots in ‘50s greaser/rockabilly dudes who were soldiers stationed in Japan during its American occupation. Their style caught on with some Japanese youth and continued to morph into its own distinct thing in Japan and is no longer immediately associated with American culture. Yankii also tend to “make their parents cry,” as my friend from Japan, Hiroko-san, told me when I asked her about them.
• Laplace: named after a French mathematician/scientist

MaxyBee

Author: Aka Akasaka

• Prior works:
  • Sayonara Piano Sonata (2012, 16 chapters, 3 volumes, Dengeki Maoh)
    • Adapting the light novel by Hikaru Sugii, this is about a boy who’s good with tech because his dad sucks and a girl who’s a genius pianist who hates the piano. Probably not a canceled series, as it’s an adaptation, but short enough that you could pretend for an episode in the future. It’s decent.
• Works after this:
  • Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2015-2022, 281 chapters, 28 volumes, Miracle Jump/Weekly Young Jump) AVAILABLE ON VIZ’S SHONEN JUMP APP AND IN PRINT/DIGITAL FROM VIZ
    • Look, if you don’t know what this is you’re beyond my help. Absolute top-tier hit manga initially about two members of a school council trying to trick the other into confessing their love first because of POWER DYNAMICS. It goes from there into being one of the most satisfying romantic comedies ever made. Truly one of the best comics of the modern age. Read it. Or watch the anime. Or watch the live action movies. Or read the spin-offs. Or do what you want, I’m not your dad.
  • Oshi no Ko (2020-present, 102+ chapters, 9+ volumes, Weekly Young Jump, art by Mengo Yokoyari) AVAILABLE ON MANGA PLUS. LICENSED FOR PRINT/DIGITAL BY YEN PRESS.
    • A doctor is reincarnated as one of the twin children of a pop idol he was caring for during his life. Tragedy happens. Now he must become a star himself to exact revenge! Bonkers series, darker than Kaguya-sama, doing very well for itself. Anime in 2023.
• Who they were an assistant for:
  • Jinsei Kataoka & Kazuma Kondo (Deadman Wonderland)
• Notable assistants:
  • None known

Publishing

• Series it replaced: good question!
• Series that replaced it: no idea!
• The magazine it ran in: so this ran in Dengeki Maoh, a magazine I actually know very little about, other than it being one of ASCII Media Works’ various mags (a subsidiary of Kadokawa, who do everything, including Bookwalker). It tends to do stuff like chuuni tales of twisted humanity, sweet yuri series featuring schoolgirls, adaptations of hyper-weeby rpgs like Persona and Disgaea, and lolicon stuff. Like, a LOT of lolicon stuff. So think of these magazines as for a specific sort of sweaty nerd who goes on about purity a lot while also min-maxing their relationship side-quests. I mostly know Dengeki Maoh for running Lotte no Omocha, a series about a 10 year old succubus takes a grown-ass human for her harem and they eventually fall in love despite him already having had a daughter with the succubus’ mother years prior. So like… I do not have a good impression of this magazine, if you can believe it.

Manga Itself

• Six Word Summary: A chuuni tale of twisted humanity
• I am very incompatible with this sort of comic, because I like… believe in humans.
• Cancellation after two years and five volumes is pretty good by our standards.
• Aka Akasaka says this is something he worked on since high school, and calls it his life’s work in the afterword. Kind of cute considering the success he went on to.
• Akasaka declares his intent to return to this one day, but has since retired as an artist, now only writing comics, so it’ll be very different if it ever happens.