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We talk about author Hirohiko Araki's flaws and success with the Phantom Blood arc of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Bringing up his issue with pacing the manga against multiple set pieces and fights spanning multiple environments but also praise his use of writing brave characters that inspire empathy, as well as his ability to use real world science to explain the most bizarre parts of the action. Skip synopsis @ 5: 11

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106: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 4

Chapters 28 and 37 'Tarkus and the Dark Knight Blufford' Part 3 and 'The Three from a Faraway Land' part 2

By Hirohiko Araki

Translation by Evan Galloway

Lettering by Mark Mcmurray

The Joestar group fight Dio, in response Dio summons the undead Tarkus and Bluford. Bluford fights as if his hair is a third arm, he can also drain blood from each strand of his hair.

Through the power of Hamon, Jojo sloughs off at the undead flesh of Bluford and in turn restores his nervous system. Meaning Bluford feels pain. Bluford restrains his strike and realizes that Jojo is not fighting back, he shows honour and gratitude for being able to feel again, then yields before turning into dust. Tarkus is less sympathetic, he stomps on what remains of Bluford and then blasts the Joestar group a large distance, Zepelli defends himself from the blast by keeping himself horizontal to it, minimizing himself as a target and lessening the surface area of the damage.

Poco, having previously been hypnotized by Dio, returns with the help of two men, however they do not believe Poco and thus torment the young boy. Tarkus appears and kills the two men. The Joestar group close the distance on Tarkus and save Poco, both Jojo and Zepelli use Hamon and static electricity to form a parachute of fallen leaves and parasail to safety. During their journey Zepelli tells Speedwagon of his training with master Tonpetty, but keeps the prophecy that he will die saving Jojo a secret.

They land on the roof a castle which leads Jojo into a trap room with Tarkus, unable to effectively use Hamon. Poco remembers what his sister taught him about bravery and breaks into the room, he opens it up from inside so that Zepelli can fight Tarkus and although Zepelli is fatally wounded by Tarkus, he is able to give the last of his Hamon energy to Jojo, setting Jojo free and passing on the figurative torch to him.

Upon defeating Tarkus in a spectacular fashion they journey towards the town Dio enslaved. They are joined by a new group of men also ready to help finish what Zepelli started. The men are Dire, Straizo, and Zepelli's teacher, Master Tonpetty. Dio awaits them with Poco's sister as his prisoner, she is refusing any temptation of immortality that Dio offers her.

Topics:

· "Bravery begets empathy": Hirohiko Araki has a brilliant technique in that he has characters do brave things for us to feel empathy for them. Both the flashback with Poco and Zepelli set up later events that call for both characters to be brave.

· A criticism of Phantom Blood is how one fight can be prolonged over vast distances in multiple settings. One can suspect that if opinion polls/ratings had dropped in reader surveys that Dio would have appeared in the same castle as the "Two-Headed Dragon room" however we are introduced to new characters, Dire and Straizo before this time. Poco himself is reintroduced during the fight with Tarkus. This has a detrimental effect on the pacing of the manga.

Other references:

· "Turgor pressure" think of the word turgid, which is opposite to flaccid. Something turgid is swollen with water whilst something flaccid just has water sloshing around, there is no build-up of pressure in it. It is often used to describe the build-up of water pressure in the cells of a plant, in this manga it is used to explain the reasoning as to how Bluford can flex and move his hair. This implies that there is a sort of blood plasma in his hair that Bluford has full control over. Until Araki introduced the idea of "stand power" villains in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure gained their powers through their full cellular level control. It is also fair to say that Bluford's hair is not normal and perhaps does resemble that of a plant or a hair cell found in one's ears. In reality; the hair on your head is dead, only the follicles count as a living part of your body and needs blood flow from your skin to be able to generate the keratin that makes your hair strands.

· Minimising surface area for damage is a technique used by Zepelli and is applied in real circumstances. For example, if someone were to be in a gunfight then laying in a prone position will shrink you as a target to your enemy and avoid splash damage from shrapnel, unless the enemy is on higher ground than yourself of course.

An inverse example is if you were to hit the ground in a falling elevator, you would have to spread out the surface damage so as not to break your bones, so laying down in a prone position means your body can better distribute the force of the hit.

· "To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best." - William Makepeace Thackeray, Thackery himself was a Victorian era English writer, known for social satire. His most well-known book is arguably Vanity Fair, "Mother is the name for God" appears in the 1994 movie The Crow.

· Salween River Tibet, implies Tonpetty is a Tibetan monk and that he is Buddhist.

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Continuing our read along of Phantom Blood we get our first appearance of the Yoda figure and Jobro Mr. Zepelli! A man who is willing to teach Jojo all the vegan chi powers he can muster (that's Hamon energy to Jojoites). Now a lot of sagely teacher characters can come off dull and boring but not in Jojo's world! We also talk about how brave characters can beget empathy from the reader and fact check the historical fantasy of the manga.

Skip synopsis @ 6:47

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105: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 3

Chapters 18 to 27, 'Jack the Ripper and Zeppeli the Strange part 1' and 'Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford part 2'

By Hirohiko Araki

Translation by Evan Galloway

Lettering by Mark Mcmurray

Our hero Jojo, having fought a vampire who killed his dad has recovered well from his injuries. It is at this time he meets a new mentor, the odd and mysterious Baron Will Anthonio Zeppeli or Mr. Zeppeli for short. He helps Jojo's arm heal faster with the use of Hamon, translated literally as ripple or wave energy. He teaches Jojo Sendo, the way of the hermit, a martial art that will allow him to harness the power of Hamon, in return he asks that Jojo helps him find and destroy the stone mask that birthed the vampire Dio. Since the once young Zeppeli himself had an unfortunate encounter with the stone mask.

One of Dio's agents attacks Jojo during his training but it serves only as a demonstration of Jojo's power, soon Jojo, Zeppeli and Speedwagon track the follower of Dio to a tunnel where they are attacked by another servant of Dio, the infamous Jack the Ripper. During the fight Jack flees into the darkness of a hidden cavern, Zeppeli gives Jojo a glass of wine and tells him that if he is to train in future with him then he must defeat Jack on his own without spilling a single drop. Turns out the glass of wine acts as a conduit of Hamon and thus reacts to the presence of Jack, avoiding any surprises, Jojo uses the Hamon to blast jack to his demise, all thanks to Zeppeli's loaded weapon of a wine glass.

Afterwards a boy steals the men's bags and lures them to a trap encounter with Dio amongst a sun set, having hypnotized the boy to do his bidding. Zeppeli makes his attack. Dio however has found a way to avoid Hamon strikes by using the laws of thermodynamics in conjunction with his vampire body. Heat is absorbed by Dio's body and in turn causing Hamon users to get frost bitten if they make physical contact with him. Dio summons two warriors from their graves to take his place in the fight with Jojo and the injured Zeppeli. These are Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford, former retainers to the deceased Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart.

Topics:

· We have the first appearance of a Yoda figure, the "Jobro" Zeppeli, and we talk about what makes him such an entertaining teacher for our hero.

· Author Hirohiko Araki demonstrates his ability to incite empathy through the bravery of his characters, in the next volume he'll go on to set up and pay off certain events by having characters become brave enough to face their fate.

· The new Rohan Kishibe movie will be released on May 26, 2023 (James is mistaken to believe it is in March 2023) For those who do not know, Rohan Kishibe is a character who first appears in the fourth part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, 'Diamond is Unbreakable'. The film itself 'Rohan au Louvre' can be viewed as a sequel to the live action TV series (which is currently on its third season), this is also based of the manga spin off 'Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan' which tells the story of manga artist Kishibe's travels as he satiates his voracious curiosity for a need to seek new inspiration, often encountering dangerous and supernatural threats.

Other references:

· Jack the ripper was a real and unidentified serial killer active in the London district of Whitechapel in 1888. The name comes from the historical letters claiming to be the killer. The events revolving around the Zodiac killer are similar to Jack the ripper in terms of the communication between the alleged killer and authorities, but it's also important to note that the Unabomber was caught because he published a manifesto which was key in his brother identifying him to the FBI.

· The Highlander movie starring Sean Connery was released in the summer of 1986, since the Phantom Blood manga was first published in the winter of 1987 it is a fair assumption to say that Araki was inspired by the movie.

· Unlike the manga, Mary, Queen of Scots has no blood relation to the Tudors, belonging from house Stewart of the Stewart dynasty. She was also in fact executed in 1587 at the age of 44, where as the manga shows her executed at the age of 23 in 1565. Her retainers in the manga are also fictitious. Her execution was a result of her complicity in treason against the Tudor queen, Elizabeth I.

· Zeppeli's name is a reference to Led Zeppelin. A band whose contemporaries would have been the bands Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. English bands that were undoubtedly the progenitor for heavy rock and metal, and are historically significant because of it.

· Dio's name is also a reference to ex-lead singer of Black Sabbath, whom recorded the 'Heaven and Hell' album in 1980 after Ozzie Osbourne was fired, Ronnie James Dio, formed a band with the name of Dio in 1982, one of his most famous songs from that era being 'Holy Diver'. He died in 2010.

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James and Steven continue their read-a-long of the Phantom Blood manga. Where the author Araki pays off the last volume by having lots of gore and shirtless action.

104: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 2 Chapters 9 and 17, 'The Stone Mask part 2' and 'The Birth of DIO' By Hirohiko Araki

After striking a dagger at Jojo's dad, Dio is "fatally" shot by the police. The police captain expresses guilt, knowing that Dio's father was a dishonourable thief, he remembers when Jojo's father dropped charges of the theft, giving Dio's father mercy and compassion, something that he believes George Joestar, Jojo's dad should never had done. Either way, Dio is now, to everyone's surprise, a new born vampire, and so he smashes in the police captain's head from behind.

Dio obliterates the cops and manages to turn one into a ghoul, Jojo retorts by grabbing a spear from one of the old armour suits and defeats the ghoul but Dio snaps the spear and stabs Jojo in the shoulder with it. Whilst Dio gloats he turns his back on the last men standing, Jojo and Speedwagon. The game of hide and seek does not last long when an oil lamp is smashed into Dio. Luckily for Dio he can regrow his skin whilst it is in flames. Jojo leads Dio away from Speedwagon to higher ground, He strikes Speedwagon sending him flying backward to safety. Dio then throws a flaming chair at Jojo but Jojo grabs a sword, stabs it into the floor and jumps off the hilt to reach the balcony above. Jojo leaves his dead father to burn in the flames whilst Speedwagon believes that Jojo intends to fight Dio on the roof, all whilst the flames eat away the building sending them both to their death. When Dio knocks Jojo through the collapsed roof Jojo uses the spear that was impaled in his shoulder to give himself leverage, then in the middle of his jump he takes of his belt and lassos Dio's ankle. He sends Dio falling, Jojo jumps into Dio and drives the dagger that was used to kill his dad into Dio, who is then impaled after falling onto a statue below.

A badly burnt Jojo survives by using Dio's body to break his fall. When Speedwagon goes to visit the injured Jojo but is refused by the nurse. Later in the night Speedwagon breaks in to the hospital and sees that Jojo awakens to the nurse at his bedside. The nurse is Jojo's first love and long-lost sweetheart Erina. Speedwagon then leaves without giving away his presence, his heart warmed by what he has seen.

Meanwhile the Chinaman who provided Dio with the poison scavenges the ruins of the Joestar home. A charred arm reaches from out of the rumble, grabs the Chinaman's wrist and drains the man of his life force.

• Araki was relatively young and still new to storytelling as a mangaka when he made Phantom Blood. And because of this there are things in it he clearly would not do today, but in spite of this Araki tends to immerse as much twists in his action scenes as possible and this is what makes any action scene great. The problem arises however is that he struggles to build a sense of escalation, where the stakes increase the longer the fight goes on. He does a noble attempt at this by having the house on fire but the fire itself doesn't seem to have an effect on the fight itself. Jojo never coughs or struggles to breathe nor is he or Dio blinded by any smoke, then again perhaps it would have prolonged the fight to unrealistic proportions if he did that. In any case Araki chose to focus more on the props in the environment, the dagger, the spear, the flaming chair and when there seemed to be no more props left he wrote in Jojo to use his belt. If props are foreshadowed well in advance then this creates a satisfying and cohesive story. For every twist to be a surprise you have to hide the setup, but so not to confuse your reader you have to give a moment to explain what happened. Araki gets better at this with age.
• A detriment towards depicting fantastic fight scenes, especially against the supernatural, is the difficulty in reading and having the reader immersed. Manga as an art form is wholly suggestive in depicting action. In the second volume of Phantom Blood, we see Johnathan Joestar can grab items in the middle of a fall and take off his belt in the middle of a jump, sadly such scenes create a poor depiction of time as characters never feel like they are climbing or falling, more like they are floating in space as they act.

Other references:

• Another scene reminiscent to the novel Les Misérables (Victor Hugo, 1862) is when we see Dario Brando in prison for stealing from George Joestar. The interaction is very similar to the characters Jean Valjean and Bishop Myriel.
• DIO scaling the walls and coming in through the window is like the mannerisms of Dracula (Bram Stoker, 1897), who was also able to do such type of activity.
• Erina and Jojo's romance exhibits an all-too-common trope, the 'Florence Nightingale Effect' named after the famous nurse and statistician who in reality was a chaste character. It's also a common phenomena too, known as "Florence Nightingale Syndrome" It is an easy way for a romance to bloom in Shonen action and battle manga, since the hero tends to be in a lot of fights the love interest builds intimacy by nursing them.

The first part of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (Phantom Blood) is best described as Dracula starring Jean Claude Van Damme with costume design by Jean Paul Gaultier, and you know something? It is a good read! Blending Shonen anime spectacle with the influence of classical literature. We see if the manga has stood the test of time since its 80's debut. Skip synopsis @ 6:32 Email: [email protected]

103: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 1

Chapters 1 to 8, 'Prologue' and 'The Stone Mask part 1'

By Hirohiko Araki

Translation by Evan Galloway

Lettering by Mark Mcmurray

Phantom Blood is the first part of the epic Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and tells the tale of two young men, Johnathan "Jojo" Joestar and Dio Brando. It starts in south America during the reign of the Aztecs, where a king has used a magical death mask like object to gain supernatural power, then we are taken to the 80's, the 1880's to be precise. where Dio arrives at the home of the Joestars after the death of his father, Dario.

Jojo's father, George Joestar, becomes Godfather to Dio and so they welcome the young man under their roof, all whilst Dio plans to rob Jojo of his status and make him suffer. Dio does this whilst maintaining the guise of a step brother but when he discovers Jojo has a girlfriend, he torments him further by forcing a kiss on the poor girl. Dio sadistically claiming, "You wanted Jojo to be your first kiss, but it was I, Dio".

So, Jojo attempts to kick his ass and in doing so spills blood on the mask that hangs in their home. That same magical mask used by the Aztecs now activated by the touch of blood and designed to penetrate the wearer's brain upon doing so.

Years pass by but Dio takes it further when Jojo infers that Dio had poisoned his father, Dario Brando and has been doing the same to George Joestar.

Jojo sets up new care for his father and sets out on a journey to discover the origin of the poison and get evidence, or at least a cure for his father. Meanwhile Dio investigates the mask to use as a potential murder weapon against Jojo only to discover that it can turn its wearer into a vampire.

As Dio returns to the Joestar residence he is ambushed by Jojo who has gained new allies on his journey, meanwhile Dio, with mask in hand, has a plan.

· The theme of Jojo is one of becoming a "peon to humanity", Jojo aspires to become a true gentleman. Meanwhile Dio himself aspires for greatness albeit through horrific ways, and at the cost of his own humanity.

· Phantom Blood was first published on January 1987 in Shuesha's weekly Shonen. Alongside the original run of Dragonball (not Z), Ultimate Muscle and Saint Seiya. Like Saint Seiya, Phantom Blood is a very fashion-conscious manga, as we'll see in later episodes. This was to appeal to the readers at the time.

· At the time the manga was published Arnold Schwarzenneger, Slyvester Stallone and Jean Claude Van Damme were dominating Hollywood. Their action movies were a response to feminism at the time, with men being celebrated for their physical strength and stamina. So naturally Araki has his hero be the same way, which makes more sense knowing that Jojo needs to be exaggerated physically in order to fight the supernaturally powerfully Dio.

· Physically masculine heroes aren't an action movie ideal either, Jojo takes more influence from ancient styles of stories, where mythological characters show further supernatural feats of masculinity, such as the greek Demi-god Hercules, the Olympics itself being a demonstration of competitive power and indiviualism.

· One of the manga's most iconic scenes is Dio's "kick the dog" moment. A now popular trope for villains, the oldest examples being seen in Anne Brontë's novel, 'Agnes Grey '(1847) where upon Mr. Hatfield kicks not just a dog but also a cat, Anne's sister, Emily went one step further by having Heathcliff hang a puppy in Wuthering Heights, which was published within that same month and year. In Stephen King's novel, 'The Dead Zone' (1979), the villain of that story also kicks a dog. It is important to note that the trope isn't about kicking dogs but instead is a shorthand way to tell the audience immediately that a character is despicable.

Other references:

· The manga opens during the reign of the Aztec Empire, the empire itself was taken over by Spanish conquistadors and their allies in 1521. The Aztecs, also known as the ancient Mexica were the ancestors of the Nahua people of Mexico.

· A nod to Charles Darwin is mentioned, Jojo having a passion for archeology compares his studies to Darwin's and wishes to make breakthroughs like himself. Darwin himself changed academia with his 'Origin of Species' published in 1859. Although incredibly abstract for its time, Darwin's theories still have a lot of credit to them in contemporary times. The phrase "survival of the fittest" is sometimes mistaken as Darwin's words but comes from Herbert Spencer, responding to Darwin. For Jojo to speak of Darwin, is no different than millennials speaking of Carl Sagan or Jordan Peterson, of which the latter's academic legacy has arguably not reached apotheosis as of writing this article. But who knows what the future will bring?

· Dario Brando actions resemble that of the character Thénardier in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, they both inadvertently save a man whilst trying to rob them.

· Speedwagon looks suspiciously like Australian actor and film director Mel Gibson, especially in his mullet wearing Lethal Weapon days.

· The mysterious mask in Phantom Blood resembles the mask seen in the Italian horror movie 'Demons' (1985), that mask has the power to turn someone into a ghoulish demon. Although it may be coincidence, it could also have been a possible inspiration for Araki.

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We delve into Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto's coming of age one shot. A story that explores budding rivalry and companionship, as well as the artist's calling in a cruel and random world. Skip synopsis @ 9:52

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102: Look Back

By Tatsuki Fujimoto

Translation by Amanda Haley

Lettering by Snir Aharon

Edited for English by Alexis Kirsch

Fujino is the manga artist of the school newspaper until it becomes apparent that a girl by the name of Kyomoto, whom she hardly knows, is beginning to turn heads by having manga skills that out do even the talented Fujino.

Fujino is fired up and begins to make manga that rivals Kyomoto's work. But the competition sooner or later takes its toll on Fujino, and she decides to quit manga in order to spend time with her friends and pursue different hobbies, such as martial arts for example. Months go by, Fujino is a graduate and is asked to do one last task from her teacher. Deliver Kyomoto's diploma.

Kyomoto is a recluse, a shut-in, or as the Japanese say, a Hikikomori. When Fujino enters her home, she is compelled to make a manga on the spot, it drops underneath the door, across the threshold of Kyomoto's room. And soon enough this goads Kyomoto from out of her room. She meets Fujino and praises her manga abilities, saying how much she was inspired by her, asks for Fujino to sign the back of her and asks her why she stopped making manga. Fujino tells her that she decided to focus on getting professionally published. Afterwards, Fujino does not walk home in the rain, instead she dances in the rain, once again inspired to take up a pencil.

Soon the two girls decide to work together to make a manga. On the day that their work is published, Fujino gets Kyomoto out of her house and the two brave the winter weather to their nearest 7/11 and proudly read their own manga from off the rack, a manga they both got paid for. But later, tensions rise when Kyomoto decides to become more independent, choosing to study at art college. Something that Fujino does not agree on, as it means that she will not have the person who fuels her artistry as she goes pro.

On January 2016, Kyomoto is killed when an art student terrorises the college. After the funeral Fujino goes back to her room, guilty for having made that manga that passed the threshold, she finds the manga, then tears it up, a piece of it falls and a gentle breeze sweeps it under the door. This time Kyomoto is on the other side of the door, a Kyomoto from an alternate time, she reads the manga and believes it was sent to her by a ghost. On the other side of the door, we see Fujimoto, still mourning the death of her friend, but she notices a strip of manga pass from inside the room back to her. The manga depicts Fujino, using martial arts to save the life of her friend. When Fujino opens the door, she sees no one is inside but the window is left open, sending a breeze in. It is important to know that Fujino does not actually enjoy making manga but when she looks back, she realises what her calling is.

Topics:

· We cannot talk about the author without mentioning the success of Chainsaw Man. The appeal of Denji (the main character of Chainsaw Man) is that his life goals are simple to the point of being pathetic (he just wants to touch boobs, lose his virginity, and have his toast buttered), but what makes Denji a good hero is not the reason why he does something but instead the fact that he needs a reason, any reason in order to survive, it's this desperation and pathos that makes him a perfect fit for shonen manga. However, there is a double-edged sword to such characters, and that is the tendency to romanticise pathetic traits. Being a horny and dumb shonen hero is like the male equivalent to Dahme aesthetic. Think Moe girls with toast in their mouth and incidentally exposing their panties all the time, that's Dahme. Fujimoto is great at writing characters like this.

· Look Back was published in July 19, 2021. This was between the two series of Chainsaw Man, with Chainsaw Man starting its school arc after the release of Look Back. During this time Fujimoto would allegedly be between the age of 27 and 30 years old. By this time Fujimoto would be a successful manga artist, having made and released Look Back during a pandemic and before he moved home. Fujimoto has stated that making a serialised work in comparison to a short story demands a different mode of thinking. Like a different brain almost.

· Look Back is not based on any specific life experience or personal account of the artist. Although the two characters have names based on Fujimoto, the decision to give these characters such names were from Yuji Kaku, a fellow manga artist, assistant, and friend of Fujimoto. Kaku felt that the author did have something in common with these characters. One of the characters would have been called Nonose.

· Kyomoto is a hikikomori, the Japanese term for a shut-in/recluse. Often the word is interchangeable with the word NEET, an acronym for someone who is not in education, employment, or training. Kyomoto is someone who suffers from a sort of agoraphobia/social anxiety, a common trait shared between hikikomori.

· Terrorism, or at least the threat of domestic terrorism at this point is a common theme in Fujimoto's works. But there is an argument to me made if school massacres are the same as terrorist attacks and if the two can be treated in the same manner.

· Will Storr in his book, 'the status game' makes compelling statements of the correlation between our social status and school/workplace massacres. His book is currently available in all good book stores, and there is an audiobook version available on audible/amazon and itunes.

· In the original publication of the story, the killer was schizophrenic, in the English viz media first edition the killer's motive is that they were plagiarized. There maybe version where the killer's motive is never known. That is because the first change came about to avoid stigma and discrimination of the mentally ill, while the second change (at least for the Japanese readers) would have been done to avoid allusions to the Kyoto anime studio arson of 2019.

Other references:

Here is the list of books that we see on Fujino's shelf, just follow the links if you want to buy them from Amazon:

· J Sheppard, fundamentals of figure drawing

·

· Jack Hamm, Drawing the head and figure

· David Chelsea, the manga guide to perspective

James' recommendations of books that will go well with the above:

· Scott Mcloud's Understanding comics: The Invisible Art

· Andrew Loomis figure drawing for all it's worth

· Andrew Loomis drawing the head and hands

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14 years after the original Death Note run ended, we were blessed with the return of familiar characters and introduced with a new one, Minoru Tanaka. A character whose ingenious actions causes the Shinigami king to create a new rule. This will be the last Death Note related episode between the boys as they discuss the manga's legacy and more.

Skip synopsis @ 6:52

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101: Death Note 2020 Special One-Shot

Story by Tsugumi Ohba

Art by Takeshi Obata

Plot Synopsis:

The Death god Ryuk is bored as usual and hungry for some more delicious apples, he goes back to the human world and finds someone who is intelligent enough to use the Death Note in new ways.

Ryuk gives Minoru Tanaka the same Death Note that Light Yagami used in exchange for apples, Of course Minoru knows of Light as the tyrannical Kira. A person who he now studies in his ethics class as a terrorist albeit Kira was successful at preventing wars and lowering crime rates, using the Death Note to rid the world of whomever he deemed as evil.

Minoru is different, in that he decides not to murder anyone but instead to sell the Death Note, he tells Ryuk that the world has changed since Kira had the Death Note and that to become like the next Kira would be more so difficult in a world where cameras are on every street corner and in everyone's pocket. Plus, people are aware of the existence of Ryuk and can identify him and the Death Note now.

Minoru hatches the plan that Ryuk goes to Sakura TV station so to announce the bid and have people use twitter and the hashtag "Power of Kira"

Ryuk will be untraceable so long as he travels underground, under earth, much to the chagrin of L, the surviving members of the NPA and the SPK.

It becomes apparent that the money for the bid is reaching beyond that of any individual to be able to afford, Minoru sends out Ryuk to relay the message that government and world leaders must use their PR representatives to announce their bid. Eventually the winner is announced to be the government of the United States of America.

To make the transfer of money discreet, Minoru has the US government transfer the winning amount worth 10 trillion dollars divided in equal parts to people under the age of 70, living in Tokyo and who also own a Yotsuba bank of Japan account.

Once Minoru deems the plan a success, he gives Ryuk the Death Note to pass on and tells him that he no longer wants to see him again, and that he will live his life happily thanks to the fortune from the U.S. government.

The plot twist, as Ryuk knows, is that the Death Note brings misfortune to those who touch it, and that is still the case. Before Ryuk gives the Death note to the US he is summoned by the Shinigami King, afterwards he tells the current US president of the time, Donald Trump that the rules of the Death Note have now changed.

Anyone who buys and sells the Death Note will die as punishment. The buyer dies upon receiving the Death Note and the seller upon receiving their currency.

Ryuk explains to Trump that although he will die upon acquiring the Death Note, the Death Note itself will still be owned by his second in command, and thus will become the property of the U.S. government. Trump however decides to abandon the Death Note but pretend that he still has it so that people will see him as a hero. Very Shrewd.

Topics and Facts:

• The one shot made its public debut during Takeshi Obata's art exhibition, named Never Complete, before being published on Viz Media's website. It is now available as part of an anthology of short stories, released under Viz media.
• The main character Minoru is an intelligent character as was Light Yagami, unprecedented for a Death Note user is his pacifism, in terms of capitalist ideology you can consider Minoru a far better hero if not a better man than Light Yagami but what makes the series so good as a story is how it presents owning the Death Note as a moral dilemma.

• We also talk about Near, who makes another appearance in this one-shot, having previously appeared in the 2008 'C – Kira' one-shot story.

• Although this one-shot manga is satire it is important to note that when this was published the world was in the middle of a pandemic which threatened the economy and the lives of those from all walks of life. Tsugumi Ohba did not write this manga as a response to the pandemic nor the January 6 U.S. capitol attack, but one can still see it as a response to Trumpism. During president Donald Trumps' service, the country was (and as of 2023 still is) culturally divided. Possibly due to the newness of social media platforms propagating disinformation and propaganda. As of this episode air date January 28, 2023, political discourse worldwide is still dangerously tense.

• "The Gold Standard" that James refers to is a monetary system that provides a fixed international exchange rate. James is correct in assuming that under such a standard the transaction for the Death Note is not feasible however, both countries would need to share the same kind of standard, and the buying country would need to be the larger provider of gold stock for the transaction to be completely beneficial to Japan. The U.S. does have the larger supply of gold stock compared to Japan, however as steven mentions, the U.S. has not used the standard since 1971, a decision dubbed the "Nixon Shock". Because of this the U.S. can prevent a drastic economic deflation, which would happen if the U.S. if they were to buy the Death Note under a gold standard. There is also the "The Silver standard" which is more feasible of a monetary system because of silver having widespread stock worldwide, in retrospect it may seem absurd to consider gold stock as a fixed rate for international exchange, but one must keep in mind that the gold standard was after all created by the world dominating English empire.

• Although it certainly seems Minoru did the right thing in comparison to his predecessor Light Yagami, one can wonder if such an auction could be successful to an economic boom, after all a country could place sanctions on the trading of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) but then again what country could be powerful enough to threaten sanctions on the U.S. and Japan? Especially after the transfer of Kira's power?

• A new (supposedly Netflix) adaptation Is to be written and executively produced by Halia Abdel-Meguid, it will be made by the 'Upside Down pictures' production company. The same company responsible for 'Stranger Things' created by the Duffer brothers.

Differences from the original 2003/'06 manga run and the 2015 NTV Mini Series:

• L appears in all white clothing, more so like the character of Near in the manga. He also wears buttoned linen shirts, which Watari has multiples of ready whenever L wants to change.
• The Death Note that Gellus owns before Misa is coloured red, it appears black in the manga, however the manga explains that there are red and white coloured Death Notes that Shinigami own within the rules section.
• The Eraldo Coil character/alias that L uses is absent from the story but otherwise replaced with the name "Babel" which is possibly derived from the Hebrew word בָּלַל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse. It also comes from the name "Tower of Babel" which is referred to in the bible as a tower reaching God, with its construction itself being mentioned in an origin myth for the world's languages.
• In the miniseries, Babel is not an alias of but is instead an associate of L. The real identity of Babel is Near a.k.a Nate River.

• Near appears earlier in the story, before L dies. Near's appearance is also different, instead of wearing white pyjamas Near wears something that is a mix between a tailored suit and dungarees. They do however have a white bob hair style, albeit less curly than the manga.
• There is no SPK (Special Provision for Kira), instead after the death of L Near joins the same task force as the NPA, becoming the new L.

• Teru Mikami appears much earlier in the story; he spies on Misa, then attacks and steals her Death Note after Light instructs her to dig it up in the woods. Like the manga this event happens after Light regains his memories of the Death Note.
• Rem does not kill L, instead Teru Mikami, having sided with Light and acquiring the Shinigami eyes, is the one to kill L whilst Rem remains passive throughout.
• Rem does not die through the events of the series and neither risks their life to save Misa.
• L's death occurs after he pulls off a desperate and crude tactic to frame Light. L gets Light alone and proceeds to write Light's name in the Death Note. Through the ordeal Light receives a text message from Mikami that shows L's real name. Light attacks L, then takes the Death Note and writes L's name down as a form of self-defence. This does not kill L, since L had Watari create a fake Death Note in order to trick and goad Light into using the note on L. Before L manages to use the fake note as evidence, he is killed by Mikami's Death Note and Light tells the task force that L told him his real name in order to goad him into an attack.

• Mello is not a legitimate heir to L, instead he is a character that is trapped within the body of Near. Near having what is known as Disassociate Identity Disorder, otherwise known as "split personalities".
• Sometimes Near keeps Mello at bay by having Mello talk through a ventriloquists' doll. Mello ends up taking full control later without the need for a doll, and dresses just like their anime/manga counterpart.
• Near/Mello are both male characters but they are played by a woman, Mio Yuki.
• Ryuk does not write Light's name in his Death Note, instead Light dies in a warehouse on fire trying to grab his Death Note, he begs Ryuk to make the eye trade with him but the book is already in flames at that moment and soon Light himself burns. (If my memory is correct, Light is so deluded at that point he forgets the death note is fake - J)
• Mikami is the one who starts the fire, in order to prevent the task force from arresting Light.
• Near is the dominant personality when Light is captured as Kira, and remains dominant throughout most of the episodes.
• Watari does not die; he survives to the end and assists Near after L's death.

Other references:

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Today's episode has Will, James and Steven talk about the pilot chapter to Death Note, this would have been the first one shot published, and although it may not have too much in common with the Light vs. L story it did pave the way for it. The boys also review the recent Simpsons' Tree House of Horror special that paid homage to Death Note as well as talk about the Death Note videogame spin offs and crossovers. Skip synopsis @ 3:55

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100: Death Note Pilot ⁓ The Taro Kagami Story

Story by Tsugumi Ohba

Art by Takeshi Obata

Whoever's name is written in this note shall die, that is the power of the Death Note, and so a bored Shinigami by the name of Ryuk, travels from the realm of death gods to the human realm. He leaves a Death Note for a human to find.

A 13-year-old Japanese schoolboy by the name of Taro Kagami comes upon the Death Note, Not understanding the English language very well he believes the Death Note to be a simple journal. When he uses it as a personal diary, he writes the names of those who bully him at school, the next day at school he receives news that the boys are dead from heart attacks. Taro suspects the Death Note is what killed them and Ryuk appears to Taro to explain its power to him. After Taro is questioned by the detectives Yamanaka and Takagi, he experiences nightmares over the boys he had killed.

Ryuk presents the death eraser to Taro, upon using it Taro can bring back life to those who have been killed by the Death Note, so long as their body remains intact. The next day Yamanaka and Takagi visits Taro's class and question the revived students.

The revived students and the two detectives are killed by a heart attack, The next day Taro watches TV and sees a discussion around the murders, the people on the TV die except for the one using an obvious pen name. Ryuk confirms Taro's suspicion that there is another Death Note user out there. Taro, believing the other user is his classmate Miura, goes to stop the killing spree and presents Miura with the Death Eraser. They then head to the police station to meet the revived detectives and show them Miura's Death Note and the death eraser before they destroy Miura's Death Note.

Seven years pass and Taro still has his Death Note, with Ryuk waiting to see how he will use it next.

Trivia:

• The Death Eraser makes its appearance in the Pilot and is never seen again in the franchise (as of 2023 at least). Because of this, the Taro Kagami story is largely seen as non-canonical, even the author has stated (in the supplementary Death Note vol. 13) that they did not like the idea of the Death Eraser.
• The Simpsons has parodied Death Note in both comic books and animation with the 2008 comic book story "Murder, He Wrote" in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #14, where Bart receives the notebook from the Ryuk-ified ghost of Krusty the Clown, and the "Death Tome" segment of the 2022 television episode "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII", with Lisa receiving the titular book.

• 'L: Change the World' was the sequel/spin-off to the Japanese 2006 movies. Viz media also has the English translation rights to the novelisation.
• L: File No. 15 was a book/promotional tie in with 'L: change the world'. And is the first time the chapters of Wammy's House/One Day (A Day in L's life) were publicised, most of the book features photographs of L as played by Kenichi Matsuyama. Whom played L in the 2006 movies.

• The first two Death Note Videogames made for the Nintendo DS were the Mafia type games Death Note: Kira Game, released on February 15, 2007 andDeath Note: Successors to L, which was released on July 12, 2007. The first game is based on the Yotsuba arc whilst the second game is based on the second part of the manga, featuring characters such as Mello and Near. For those who do not know, Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a social deduction game, created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986.

• A third, Escape room type game called 'L the Prologue to Death Note -Spiraling Trap' was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on February 7, 2008

• Various videogame Death Note appearances and crossovers include the Shonen Jump fighting games, such as Jump Force and Identity V (a game that plays very much like Dead by Daylight)

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Listen in on James, Will and Steven as they talk all about the final chapters of Death Note, discussing their favorite tricks that the characters utilised and more. What was your favorite trick? But beware! there are spoilers of both the 2006 Japanese two-part movie as well as the manga and the anime! Otherwise come and listen in! Skip synopsis @ 5:02

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099: Death Note vol. 12 ⁓ Finis

Story by Tsugumi Ohba

Art by Takeshi Obata

Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki

Lettering by Gia Cam Luc

Light Yagami, the boy gifted with the magical and powerful Death Note was able to reshape the world as the god like Kira. A battle of wits began with Light and the prodigy detective L but Light successfully kills L and becomes the "the second L"; four years pass only for Light to be faced by the arrival of L's heirs, Near and Mello. Both of L's heirs know of the existence of Light's murder weapon, the titular Death Note.

Near and Light agree to meet each other at a warehouse, where Near claims to have proof of who the serial killer known as Kira is.

Near knows that Japan's NPA (National Police Agency) has had no leads on Kira upon L's death, he also knows that they acquired a death note before L's death and had acquired a second death note upon losing the first to Mello. Near also knows that Kira has made no threat or demand in order to retrieve the existing death note from the NPA branch. And finally, one actual god of death, Ryuk resides amongst the NPA task force. These facts support that Kira has planted himself among the task force.

Mello revealed to Near the existence of the fake 13-day-rule, and NPA task force agent Aizawa revealed to Near that Light was a suspect until the discovery of this 13-day-rule. These facts support that Light is Kira.

Before their meeting Mello abducts one of the two Kira proxies, Kiyomi Takada. Mello dies from Takada's hidden death note scrap and soon Takada along with any evidence of the death note is killed off by Light's own hidden death note, since you can rip pieces from the note book and still use them to kill.

Near has organised the warehouse meeting so that the last living Kira proxy, Teru Mikami can be tricked into secretly writing all names down in a fake copy of Kira's death note. If Teru is arrested and Light's name is absent from this fake death note. Then Near wins, having all the evidence he needs on Light/Kira.

The only issue for Near however is that Light already knows about Near's fake death note plan.

Comparisons from how the ending of the anime differs from that of the manga:

• Teru Mikami dies on screen, after Light is caught by Near in the Yellow box warehouse, Mikami, whilst under arrest, grabs a pen and stabs himself in the chest with it.
• The image of Near's finger puppets being reflected in Light's eye is absent in the anime.
• Ryuk is not in the warehouse after Light is shot and injured, Ryuk is alone outside when he writes Light's name in the Death Note.
• Misa attempts suicide by jumping, the implication that she intuitively knows that Light has now been caught as Kira.
• Light flees the warehouse; he runs past an apparition of a schoolboy walking in the opposite direction. It is himself as a teenager, before he became Kira.
• When Light finds a place to hide, he soon dies. Possibly alone if it were not for L's ghost appearing in the same room.
• The final scene of the manga makes no appearance in the anime, the one where a large cult of Kira followers making a candle light vigil.

Notable differences from the manga and the 2006 movie adaptations:

• The first movie covers the events of volumes 1 to 3 and the sequel covers volumes 4 and 7.
• L is seen stirring his tea with a small lollipop.
• Near's mask resembles L but in the 06 movie L did wear a mask, the mask of the Hyottoko.
• Lind L. Tailor pronounces Kira, with the R syllable replaced entirely with the letter L and a slight emphasis on the first vowel. As in saying the word "killer" but with "ah" replacing "er".
• Raye Penber is Japanese and has the surname changed to Iwamatsu. This is due to the movie casting local actors, as is usually the case for most film studios. Foreign agencies do exist, but finding an actor who is both a good performer, bilingual and foreign is a challenge for most, with actors like Anupam Tripathi (famous for Netflix's Squid Game) being an outlier.
• In the first movie Naomi Misora confronts Light Yagami, this proves to be her undoing as she reveals to Light that she is Raye's fiancé. And in a late plot twist, Light tells Ryuk that he sought out and found her name on a church's register. The climax in the first movie ends with a more dramatic version of Naomi's death.
• Kiyomi Takada appears in the second movie, she fulfils the role of Higuchi with an abridged version of the events in the Yotsuba arc.
• Takada never attends university with Light and Light never dates her.
• Takada is a news anchor who kills her rival in order to become a fully-fledged news presenter. As she raises suspicion the task force bugs her home and use Matsuda to blackmail her.
• Matsuda does not fake his death, instead when confronting the Higuchi/Takada character he presents himself with a fake business card and name whilst wearing a disguise. This leads to the bait-and switch-tactic of using the TV broadcast, which in turn forces Takada to make the eye trade and kill a policeman whilst making her way to the TV station.
• The conclusion to the sequel 'Death Note: The Last Name' is perhaps the biggest difference in comparison to the manga, the anime adaptation and even the Netflix movie. As with the manga, L suggests having Americans on death row test the Death Note rules, however once a trend in Kira deaths occur L tells Soichiro that he has written his own name in the death note and has decided to test the 13-day rule on himself, by doing this he is invulnerable to an attack from Rem and L has Soichiro pretend to leave for America so to make a surprise ambush on Light.

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On today's episode we compare the manga to the anime, specifically some key scenes set before the final chapters. As well as share some facts on the setting of Death Note and compare them to the real-world place they are based on. Skip synopsis @ 4:01

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098: Death Note vol. 11 ⁓ Kindred Spirits

Story by Tsugumi Ohba

Art by Takeshi Obata

Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki

Lettering by Gia Cam Luc

With the battle now set to end in Japan, Near organises a face-to-face meeting with Light and vows to have proof on Kira's identity. In doing so he will avenge the Death of his predecessor, L. Plot twist, Light is Kira! But chances are you already knew that!

Before a date is set by Near, he must first determine who could be a Kira proxy, whom he titles as X-Kira. Making a time line of events and scanning multiple video records he suspects Teru Mikami. But only when Near's team discover that he has a Death Note do they respond, first they determine where ever or not a god of death is following Mikami, that way they can safely copy and or tamper with the Death Note without being noticed. Takada and Misa have dinner together only to fight over their love for Light Yagami. Afterwards Near decides to capture and detain Misa, knowing that she was once a proxy for Kira, Misa having no memories of the Death Note agrees to de detained following a belief that Light wants to capture Kira and a willingness to cut any plans made with Takada.

Near contacts Light, and establishes that they will meet in the yellow box warehouse within Daikoku Wharf on January 28th 1p.m. Light meets Takada so to inform Mikami on the location of the final confrontation between Kira and Near. The question still stands, if Kira can kill Near and his agents then what will be the fate of Near's rival and the second successor to L? Mello himself not being one to stick to the shadows for too long comes out and abducts Takada.

What will Kira's next move be?

Fun Facts:

• Tetsuro Araki directed the anime to Death Note, having worked on the first episode he helped establish the tone of the series alongside the series musician/composer Hideki Taniuchi and Yoshihisa Hirano. It was Masato Bessho who directed and storyboarded the infamous "potato chip scene"

Real World Settings of Death Note:

• Daikoku Wharf, or Daikoku Pier is known as 大黒埠頭, Daikokufutō, located around the port of Yokohama.
• Light studied at To-oh University, which is possibly analogous to the real-life Tokyo University, a notable clue being that they share the nickname Todai, short for Tokyo Daigaku University and the place is referenced using the nickname Todai. Not to be confused with the real-life Toho University, which has a similar sounding name.
• The hotel that Light and Takada have their meetings in is Teito Hotel, possibly named after a real hotel, previously known as Hotel Teito it was then merged with and is known as the Imperial Hotel. Located in Marunouchi nearby the Imperial Palace. Episode 12 of 'I love Lucy' was set in this hotel. The anime adaptation uses this hotel's exterior as the model however in the Death Note manga the hotel maybe based more so on the Prince Park Hotel and/or the Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza Premier. This is because outside the window of Light and Takada's room we can see a noteworthy view of the Tokyo Tower, at the very least, the interior maybe based on the latter.
• The Tokyo Tower is certainly one of one of Tokyo's most iconic landmarks alongside the Sensoji temple and the Hachiko statue, especially since many pictures show it beside the landmark that is Mt. Fuji. It also makes an appearance in the 2006 Death Note movie, 'The Last Name', the final shot of the movie is outside Misa's window, where we can see Ryuk flying around the Tokyo Tower.
• The New York headquarters of the SPK is located near Nick. St. Station however most inner-city streets in New York favour numbers and not names for their streets.
• LAX is a real place, an abbreviation of Los Angeles International Airport.
• NHN is based on NHK, short for 'Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai' or 'Japanese Broadcasting Corporation' in English. It is similar to the BBC in England.
• Sakura TV is not based on any TV station. In the 2006 movie, the exterior is depicted as an outdoor food court with a giant TV screen assembled with multiple monitors.
• For further reading on locations more so specific to the anime you can check this tourism blog and this similar tourism page

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The two friends brace themselves for the final volumes of Death Note and James compares Near's/Ohba's comments on the Kira worshippers to that of the most avid of Trump supporters, albeit such riot scenes are all too common in the real world. Skip synopsis @ 4:31

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097: Death Note vol. 10 ⁓

Story by Tsugumi Ohba

Art by Takeshi Obata

Translation by Tetsuichiro Miyaki

Lettering by Gia Cam Luc

After Near and Mogi escape an attack from Kira worshippers, he suspects that the new L, Light Yagami, is Kira and lies about Mogi so to stir distrust amongst Light's team. Light permits his task force to see Near, Aizawa does so and picks up Mogi, in return they share clues and Aizawa and Mogi begin to suspect Light. Mogi, Mello and Matt, spy on Misa in order to determine if she has a Death Note. Light knows he is under suspicion. And has given Misa's Death Note to one of his supporters, Teru Mikami. Light is wary that with Teru being the hand of Kira his ideologies in time will start to differ from his own. Through coincidence, Teru has replaced the Kira spokesperson Demegawa with Light's university acquaintance. The news reporter Kiyomi Takada. Light contacts Takada whilst maintaining the guise that he is investigating Takada as part of the Kira investigation. In truth Light is using Takada so to pass messages on to Mikami.

Fun Facts:

• In the supplementary volume 13 of Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba states that Matt, who accompanies Mello late in the story, is one of the orphans from Wammy's house. Which means he would have been in the line of succession as L's heir.
• Teru Mikami's design is originally based on Taro Kagami, the main protagonist of the one-shot pilot Death Note.
• Near's design is based on an early sketch of L. L was to have no bags under his eyes and have white hair.
• Near and Mello's design was originally switched. As Obata wanted Near to be more feminine and Mello to have the iconic pyjama look. It was Ohba who had the final say on the designs.
• During the events of the Near and Mello arc, Mello is age 20 and Near is age 18.

• For those wondering why cellphones look unusual, the manga finished its original run nearly a year before the release of the apple iphone. What we see in the manga is Obata's idea on what a cellphone would have looked like from a 2006 perspective. Most likely if Obata knew what future smartphones would have looked like he would not have drawn so many buttons.

• The creators, Ohba and Obata never met in person whilst making Death Note, merely using their editor to pass information, you could say their editor was the Kiyomi Takada Death Note's production.

• Death Note as a series tends to be more like an espionage thriller. As characters are never in contact or near those they are in allegiance with, but at the same time those characters also compromise the existence of the other. Multiple times in the story, Light has been compromised by Misa, Mello, and Takada. Fortunately for Light he met Misa before she was captured and Light was able to meet Takada without giving himself away. Mello is an interesting outlier, as Light tries to prevent Mello meeting Near, since Mello knows about the fake 13-day rule.

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