I’m sure people are going to complain at me about this
Last week someone was nice enough to leave me a long point form essay explaining that what my webcomic was lacking were the truest of manly men, effeminate anime bishounen. Included were points like “they have more fangirls”, “they’re skilled swordsmen”, and “they’re strong, logical leaders”. They also pointed out that these bishounen have excellent fashion sense and are unrivalled at destruction and badassery. As well, they were nice enough to include some potential completely out-of character story ideas where Commander is left in awe of Vincent’s Therianthropic tendencies and cowed around by Kuja’s destructive prowess.
Where a lesser webcomic artist might say “Thank you for being so presumptuous as to think I want you to write my webcomic for me, how about you run along to one of the hundreds of millions of places on the internet where everybody natters on about their amazing porcelain doll animu boys and let me draw my macho guys in peace”, but I’m made of stiffer stuff than that. Here are your bishiiii~*~ comics as requested.
I have no idea why you guys are taking this comic as incentive to throw hundreds of requests at me. Think of this strip as my way of saying “when you request a character hundreds of times it makes me not want to draw them”. I choose characters by virtue of who is easiest to make fun of because they’re so jacked up on things their creators honestly thought were SO BADASS that they’re not really that badass at all.
Oh god the Sten one. I don’t think I’m ever going to stop giggling.
You took the words right out of my comment box.
This is probably one of my favorite comics of the bunch. I’ve been waiting for the “are you compensating for something” joke for a while now, though I’ll admit, I expected it to be directed at a “manly” guy with a big-ass gun.
I don’t think there are that many big-ass guns for big-ass men, if only because of proportions. I mean…TF2’s Heavy carries around a huge minigun (what, Sascha’s like 330 lbs?) but it doesn’t look huge compared to him. Or at least not huge in the usual Final Fantasy Protagonist Sword way.
…and upon typing that, I realize the only manly-guy-thing with a ridiculously oversized blade that comes to mind is Pyramid Head, and I wouldn’t tell him he’s overcompensating. He might rape me.
BTW, great comic, Coela!
And Pyramid Head 1) is some sort of demon? A dream? I never got far enough through any Silent Hill to find out.. and 2) drags that thing around like it weighs what it would weigh. So thats fair.
kinda depends on which silent hill you are playing. they never fully explain him but in one of the games they are people that are turned into just crazy strong scary guys as soon as a pyramid is put on their heads. best bet is to look him up
So what happens if you steal his helmet…thing…does he stop attacking?
I’m pretty sure if you were that close, you’d be too busy being vivisected and/or raped to death to get it off him.
Reminds me of that episode of AT4W where at the end he fights Pyramid Head. And what does he’s he use as a weapon? A Club. That he uses to repeatedly hit Pyramid Head on his head. “Wearing. A Giant. Metal. Cage….on your head. Isn’t very smart!” XD
They kinda halfway explain it in that Silent Hill for the PSP. Apparently it’s supposed to be the hate in that little girl’s heart that’s causing reality to go OHFUUUUUU and it’s main purpose is to keep the main character on track to his/her destiny, on topic and eager to solve whatever psychological wound was so deep it tore a whole town out of reality.
The original SH2 Pyramid Head was a manifestation of James’s guilt/murderous side/etc. In FFX, if I remember correctly, Auron always had his sword dragging behind him during battle. Not quite the same, though, I think.
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
I think most fan theories state that he’s basically James-in-metaphor. James’s sex drive (he wasn’t getting any when Mary was sick) manifests as PH raping the absolute mess out of all the awkwardly feminine critters. His guilt about killing Mary manifests as PH killing things pretty constantly, usually while/after rape. A second PH shows up near the end because, as theory goes, James has guilt about killing Eddie. And to top it off, PH tends to actually HELP the player get to new areas and in consequence James to get to accepting reality and dealing with his emotions blah blah blah. However, there’s a mention in SH1, I think, about triangle-headed executioners, so there’s also the idea that he’s been repurposed for James.
TLDR: I know too much about Silent Hill for my own good.
I’m so glad someone said all this so I didn’t have to!
Yeah. Pyramid Head is a representation of James’ sociopathic tendencies and he will rape the shit out of you.
It’s not rape if you’re willing. I’m probably the only one here with those kinds of thoughts but I’m hoping I’m not
That’s not actually true. If someone doesn’t care if the other person is willing or not, then it’s rape either way.
This is the only legit Pyramid Head.
Above: true facts.
In one of the endings they imply that if you choose to act like you did before you entered silent hill, you end up becoming pyramid head.
That’s correct for James, but Pyramid Head exists in other games too, because the history of the town of Silent Hill was that the town executioner’s ceremonial executing garb was to wear a large triangle hat (don’t remember exactly why… think it had to do with the cult that existed there and their ‘traditions’) that seemed to mostly cover their face, and when represented in drawings, was exagerrated to be huge.
James researched the town’s history extensively since he was a writer, so after he ventured there after his wife died, his guilt and sex drive manifested into the executioner, with exagerrated helmet head, out of his desire to be punished for his carnal desires and killing her… The girl that looks like his wife ends up also being a manifestation representing his wife and her innocense and sensuality, and her getting hurt and repeatedly killed is how Silent Hill punishes James, to fulfill his wishes to be punished. He witnesses her repeated gruesome deaths only to find her alive again later as a rather… barbaric way of relieving his guilt, because even though he killed his wife, he did so out of mercy for her pain, as opposed to him thinking he did so just because he was sick of taking care of her.
But as I said… PH is in other Silent Hills because they all take place in the same town, so PH is iconic with that town. Depending on the characters encountered, his behavior differs. While he still chases and tries to kill, it’s only James’ incarnation that tortures and rapes female looking mobs (the nurses) specifically, to represent James’ guilt for his lust. Other incarnations only chase the other main characters, and they don’t all have that large knife as a weapon (of which the knife, in its size and perceived enormous weight, represents the guilt that James’ is dragging around). It’s arguable that, while PH is PH to the player (because of iconicness to the town/series), that the triangle headed murderous dude is who the other main characters are actually seeing. Chances are they’re seeing something different, but the creators of the game decided to use PH because he’s recognizable and can kinda just fit into any role of a slower, powerful, lethal, and purposeful monster.
There is one installment of SH where the protagonist in one of his endings, depending on the decisions made, gets captured by two PHs, and they strap him in a chair while they latch a helmet onto his head, turning him into one of them. I think that ending represents that the character made all the wrong choices to resolving his inner conflicts, so he turns into the very monster he was terrified of and has to live through his personal hell forever.
I know this thread is old, and sorry for the long post. I haven’t played much SH myself and most of what I’ve read is from wikis, but the people I know who have played SH have said it’s all mostly correct. I’m fascinated with the series stories, so I couldn’t resist commenting.
well I’m from 2017 to say i feel the same way
Originally Pyramid Head was going to be SH2 only, but the fans just wouldn’t shut up about him, so they kept bringing him back, even though doing so only diminished both him and Silent Hill as a whole.
he’s a representation of the protagonists self hatred, it’s more than likely that thing does in fact have something to compensate for but the sword isn’t the compensation, it’s his desire willingness to do terrible things to himself.
Have you noticed pyrimid head has to drag around his sword while dante can carry around a sword which is twice as large as his without any effort?
Pyramid head is the part of the guilty conscience that believes you need to be punished. The only demons in silent Hill are the ones you bring with you. Silent Hill just gives them form
In Silent Hill 2 they (there were two) were manifestations of the protagonist’s self-loathing and sexual frustrations.
In the movie, which was heavily based on SH2, he’s kind of Alessa’s violent gopher/bodyguard/executioner. That one is a bit more ambiguous as far as his exact nature.
Whatever the case though, Pyramid Head is not sentient and does not have a will of his own. Generally he’s a manifestation of the will/psychological issues of another character, because the whole premise behind Silent Hill is that there are places where the physical and psychological landscape intersect.
So rape is manly now? Lol For what I heard rapists become everyone else bitches is prison
I just can’t see PH ending up as anything but the king rapist in prison though.
I don’t think anyone was saying rape is manly. It just means that PH scares the hell of them.
I was referring to the fact that PH is apparently part of the agency – you know, the one for manly guys?
Also, Xylophone’s comment – he’s James’s sad sex drive, of course he’s raping things.
I believe he doesn’t work for them, just in rehab with the rest of them. Pretty sure the Commander is the only one who isn’t “in the program,” so to speak.
Another example of what a valuable service the agency provides to society.
Read Hellblazer: Hard Time. Then get back to this.
“the only manly-guy-thing with a ridiculously oversized blade that comes to mind is Pyramid Head, and I wouldn’t tell him he’s overcompensating”
Actually, in Silent Hill 2, that’s kind of the point! He’s just a giant walking Freudism (who can kill you).
The way I heard it, every enemy in SH2 is an aspect of the protagonist’s personality. Pyramid Head is the protagonist’s Pride. That’s why the more enemies you kill, the more powerful PH becomes. The actions PH performs in the game are grotesque caricatures of your own victories.
By the end of the game, when everything else is dead, PH is faster and stronger than you, and it’s all you can do to run and hide like a scared little girl. This is the personification of Hubris.
Kind of sucks when they strip all that symbolism away in later games and just drop you in a mall with a bunch of guns so you can go kill a real person with an actual pyramid on his fucking head.
What about Guts from Berserk. He carries around a sword six and a half feet long! He certainly ain’t no wuss. It’s not entirely unfeasible either because the longest sword wielded effectively was seven feet long soooo…. I think he’s cool anyway.
Sten.
One of the only people who can be realistic and yet so awesome.
Thirded. Never have I loved Sten quite so much.
Another point for Dragon Age! >> But while we’re on the topic, maybe a Zevran comic for shits and giggles please? (not begging. just a suggestion. Because we all know I make manly dwarves for the SOLE purpose of having gay sex with Zevran. With a dwarf.)
. . . . . . What?
I second that what
I read that as gay dwarf threesome.
what, got a problem with three sexy manly dwarf guys getting freaky? It’s the back hair, isn’t it?
Gay fantasy Dwarf sex? I love you already and I don’t even know you. 8D
Huh, that’d certainly make for an interesting band name lol
I rather enjoyed this issue since I often get rather tired of encountering overzealous praise of how great the bishie is compared to [insert character here] or just a maddening song and dance of how they’re better than ANYTHING. D:
Sten’s the best…the guy just can’t be beat. Even when he’s being dead serious he’s funny.
Gotta love a dude who can rationalize stealing cookies from a child. >>
Wait, when does he do this? I must know.
Go play Dragon Age again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYpwAPBFHPc
sten knows how the world works :P
to bad they made all stens horny in the new dragon age, swinging around their big swords
When did Dante have that sword?
Apparently he had it enough that his action figure got it.
That’s the Sparda sword from the tail end of the first Devil May Cry. This comic is awesome even though I am a Dante fan. The Seshomaru bit was frickin’ hilarious! Always hated him. I mean… Come on! He has a massive fur boa! Keep up the good work!
It’s not a boa. It’s his tail. Cause he’s a demon? and his father was a giant ass wolf that could fly?
Fukken Anime. never explains anything.
They’re all basically the same, 19 year old who looks 12, chick with L cups, big ass sword, magic, robot.
ÂżHuh? Always thought it was some kind of overcoat.
Dante, no. I’m pretty sure that after he took down a skyscraper sized statue of god by throwing his sword into the equivalent of it’s heart then proceeded to shoot the hilt of the blade driving it into its body and killing it, he has earned the achievement of being a manly man (and has testicles the size of tennis balls).
Testicular cancer is a serious problem, he should get that checked out by a doctor.
I understand that this is a necropost.
Ma’am, you are my hero.
That is all.
I can top that necro post.
…nobody will ever see these words. They are lost in an uncaring maelstrom of information. You have no ears but I must scream…
I mean, I have to look at them to approve them.
While we’re on the lengthy necropost train, I wanted to say I’m glad you’re still curating this place, ma’am… and more than that, thank you for making all of this for as long as you did. I’m so, so glad this all exists.
You go, Coelasquid!
A SPARTAN NEVER SHOWS CONTENT UNLESS HE’S YELLING OVER THE BLOODY CORPSE OF HIS ENE…pfffttt… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Fucking fantastic.
Ya know…I’ve never thought of Dante as what would be considered bishounen. He always seemed a little more tough guy cheesy than that.
Mostly I just started hating Dante because people leave near-daily messages between this site, twitter, tumbler, DA, and my email telling me to draw him. I would’ve used Sephiroth or Cloud for that joke, but I have different plans for them.
I asked on twitter for someone to give me a prettyboy with a stupidly huge sword, his name came up and I figured he fit the bill well enough.
That was me!
Or, more likely, I was one of the people who suggested him. Seriously, he could surf on that sword.
Man good thing that sword was given to Trish and turns into a scythe for more impracticality.
Though one would wonder if this sword over compensate for both him and his father or just his father and makes dante having some father issues for carrying that around.
I was just about to say… Hahaha. He never uses the sword again after the first game. I wonder why Trish is using it…
Oh well, Dante has sleeker weapons. He gets manly though in DMC4. =w =
I guess once Sten question his man hood in the man zone he needed to ditch that sword quick.
he keeps it on display and then Trish steals it at the end of DMC4
That sword (“Sparda”) transformed into a scythe in the first game as well, actually. When you do certain special moves.
His sword from DMC3 was fairly normal. Demonic, sure, but aren’t they all?
I am quite fond of that naval officer interpretation of them you made.
I am looking forward to what you have in plan for Cloud and Spehiroth, two of the most over rated characters too ever cross a screen. Seriously the game was a poor mans look at what is self with dragons, it was cool when you were 12 not when your 22.
XD Gotta say, it’s interesting to see the 7 hate. Seems either people love it like their own children or hate it to the point they get the giggles when someone references Aerith getting shishkabobed.
Me: Like it as much as the majority of the FF series, but have liked other stuff just as much. I’d laugh just as hard if you wrote a comic with Dark Cloud 2 characters or Ratchet and Clank ^^
Also, maybe Jak. Dunno if he’s anything worth working with, but he’s kinda badass XD
I also can’t wait to see Cloud and Sephiroth. but to your love and hate: I’m a bit of both, I fricken love FF7 but I burst out laughing when Aeris dies, mainly cause the whole thing is ridiculous…
Pheonix down is ineffectual against cutscene death. No one knows why.
her death was originally part of a larger quest where you save her, which is why if you cheat to still use her in your party there are parts in the story after her death in which she still has dialogue… USELESS TRIVIA HOORAY!!!
Friggin’ awesome. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for Cloud and Sephy, their swords make Dante’s look small! =P
Sepiroths sword is an exception to the ‘buster sword syndrome’ of oversized cleavers used by major characters
his sword is, according to artwork, has a blade about 6-7 feet long, with a handle probably a full foot and a half long.
Which isn’t that unusual a blade size, considering the average odachi was about 68 inches long overall.
but some odachi made as votive offerings to shrines,,make even the masamune look small.
one sword made by norimitsu in the mid 15th century (august 1447) was a whopping 377cm long, with a blade 226cm long. and weighing 14.5kg
it is, by quite a long way the biggest sword in all of japan
and makes sephiroths look PUNY, it is a full metre longer http://japantrip.tripod.com/nodachi/norimitsu.html
the second biggest would match the masamune quite nicely with a 180cm blade and a tang about 58cm long, thats about 238cm, and the masamune is about another foot and half longer overall.
this is about the length of a knights LANCE
I would also like to point out that I wasn’t complaining, which I should have stated earlier. This is the only web comic I can read religiously and expect laughs every time.
Come on, leave Sephiroth out of this, he’s 15, how manly was the commander at that age?
his left pinkie could rival chuck norris
I cannot wait for that joke, it is going to be awesome!
Or you could drop you hate aside and include Albert Steiner an actual manly FF character, he is a great character but usually shadowed by the “cute” ones. No oversized sword, no long silky hair just a loyal knight with big muscles and noble hearth. But meh whatever if you want to draw cloud and sephiroth is ok too I am sure no one else had done that before.
The only thing I hate is impolite unsolicited requests from people demanding I draw the things they want me to.
All you’ve succeeded in doing here is making me not want to draw Steiner, so I’m sure all the Steiner fans can thank you later.
Lol are you friends with Tim Buckley or Tom Preston? Just wondering.
lawl sorry your passive aggressive insults are too obscure for me.
ÂżInsults? I am asking you if you are friend with those two but from your answer I can assume you don’t even know them: I am only asking because the way you reply reminds of them.
By the way they also make webcomics and I have the feeling you will get along with them now I leave before I offend you again…
Sweet it looks I found a way to remove unwanted characters from your comic xD Nah just kidding (maybe)
Whats a steiner?
A tool used for reading.
I’ve always wondered how the commander would react to Dagget and Blue.
You want a MANLY character? Guts from Berserk! Carries a sword before FF7 popularized it,carries a gunpowder cannon in his fake left arm,and that huge sword I just mentioned? Swings it like Stan does his Asala. When he was a teen,no less!
It would be funnier if you mentioned him getting points for style, though.
Because he does. In the games. Yeah, I’ll stop explaining the joke…
DMC4 Dante is actually pretty manly. Broad body build, five o’clock shadow, not as much of a smartass. Unfortunately, every other game iteration seems to be making him younger, punkier, and sexier. 3’s is younger than 1’s, and 5’s is younger than 3’s.
Come on, Capcom, enough with anime prettyboy Dante.
When I first saw the new Dante I didn’t even recognize him. He looks like a lesbian (no offense to lesbians)
I’m offended
3 problems. When you say ‘no offense’ you 1. realise what you said was offensive, 2. realised it only had any force because it was offensive – you really, actually, MEANT it to be offensive – and 3. you said it anyway.
I am offended that you thought that excuse would work.
OOOOR he realized that he was talking to an easily offended group who on average should take a joke as what it is and not get all up in arms at every remotely offensive comment.
Well…yeah. DMC3 and DMC5 are both prequels to DMC1.
Personally I don’t think DMC4 was good, as all of Dante’s moves where just recycled moves from DMC3 special edition (fact). also due to the fact that Nero is extremely bitchy(also fact) and Dante doesn’t look anywhere near as cool as he does in any of the others (My opinion)
This pleases me greatly
Oddly enough this is alot how my real life interactions go with guys close to my own age. Maybe they need to read your comic more and watch anime less.
Ok… you’ve got to be in your teens. I’d have the hardest time not ripping the balls off of whatever 22 year old guy started talking to me about this stuff. Yeah, some of it is interesting, but it’s only entertainment. Jesus… tell your boys to start working on their car or lifting weights or something.
Nah, I’m in my mid twenties. The emo thing seems to be big with them right now for whatever god awful reason, probably twilight, (which all the books of should be destroyed.) For some reason they seem to think that all girls are into that stuff right now so they dress and act like emo.
I totally agree! Why do all the teeny-boppers think EMO is in??
You fail to understand something. If all the teenyboppers think emo is in, then it is in fact in.
My teenaged sons both have been mocking “emo” since before they were teenagers.
Then be proud that they’re not teenyboppers.
Ignore what anyone says, they are not Hipsters or other such shit for mocking emo or whatever. <—- Premtive strike.
Claiming someone’s not hipster?
Hipster.
for making your comment mesh so well with your name. yeah, its a necropost.
Emos exist solely to be laughed at, it’s funny because they think they’re depressed
^This. Emos are basically posers. Pretending to be so depressed like the whole world is against them or whatever. So they only exist to be laughed at, nothing more.
My friend and I had a discussion about that yesterday. He would not date a girl who likes Twilight because she’d likely try to suck him into the fandom and convince him it was the best thing ever, and I would not date a guy who likes Twilight because he’s either gay or not actually a man.
This is quite an interesting conversation in a webcomic about masculinity.
That’s really unfair. I haven’t really done a check to see what any of my gay friends think of Twilight, but the one person I did happen to ask about it once spent five minutes laughing.
It’s… it’s bad. Really bad.
It’s so bad that I gave myself a concussion after banging my head against the table so much after one of the “teachers” (She was a sub) thought it would be a good idea to “let the girls pick” (she didn’t even ask, I think she just wanted to watch it herself) during our movie period.
yeah. you would too if you.
I have brother who thinks everyone who likes Twilight for it’s “vampires” should be forced to watch Nosferatu. The version with Jon Malkovich, that way they see what a real vampire looks like.
http://www.arukunesmee.xanga.com Pretty good explanation of how bad the books are.
Pardon, this link should work.
arakunesmee.xanga.com
Similar situation with me, only I just let a potential GF know at the get go that I’m not going to watch/read twilight. It usually works out since I like romantic comedies as a flip side.
O.O…I love you…
just kidding…I’d never be part of a book burning…*totally burnt a copy of the first twilight book after failing to get past the second chapter* >.>
LadyTL, I am so, so sorry for you. I can offer you hope though. There are real men out there, I promise. I’ll give you a quick test that will help you to separate the men from the boys; ask them if they know how to change the oil in their car. You should be able to estimate his manliness from his response. I’d go into detail, but I don’t want to clog the comments.
I don’t know how to change the oil in my car, because I don’t care to. I’d rather be cleaning guns and reloading my own ammo.
Understood, but I’d recommend you learn. It’s really easy and takes less than an hour so there’s no excuse not to. I assume since you clean guns and reload your own ammo that you hunt, or at least target shoot. You should maintain your car like you do your guns, because I bet you drive a lot more than you shoot. Trust me, do it once, save yourself about $20 bucks. I least then you know you can, should the zombie apocalypse arrive. Don’t want to kill your engine do ya?
Yeah, different interests for different guys.
Honestly, I play a lot of video games and watch anime, but I know that all those too serious conversations are moronic. Who cares who is better than who, and why do people get to be such fanbois about stuff that doesn’t matter?
It should go like this:
Q: Who would win in a fight between Sephiroth and Dante?
A: Who gives a s**t??!?!
Agreed.
This won’t work on all manly guys. Many of us don’t have cars, instead relying on a combination of motorbikes, public transportation, and awesome leg muscles to get around.
Not goanna Lie, Edward would be amazing in this comic… Just five panels of him standing there sparkling with The Commander laughing himself to tears.
They don’t drink blood, they prance through the forest and the sparkle… Ladies and gentlemen, those aren’t leeches, those are faeries.
You’ve never read the original faerie tales, have you?
I agree, fairies or fay, as they actually call themselves, are far to badass to even be COMPARED to twilight (which I am not capitalizing because it doesn’t deserve to be considered a book). Those… things are just wannabe fairies that some idiot mistook as vampires and they just decided to go with it. And the werewolves are less awesome ripoffs of Sirius black. They turn into wolves and the main one has the last name “Black” and a motorcycle. I don’t hate them nearly as much as the sparkles, though. They admit to not actually being werewolves.
Emo bishouens seem to be getting far less popular as far as anime protagonists go, lately. Now it’s just “Hi, I’m some guy.”
You wouldn’t believe how much Bishie boys are ridiculed within anime communities.
Preference within anime is like preference within music, it is quite diverse.
I think what the essay writer fails to understand is that it’s not about strength. It’s about machismo. While there are some macho guys in Final Fantasy, Kuja is definitely not one of them.
Also, go Sten.
I want to see Barret and Laguna make an appearance in the comics lampooning Cloud and Squall. Or, for that matter, Steiner & Beatrix.
I would love to see Steir and Beatrix in this comic, for some reason I want them to interact with the Commander and Jonesy.
Barret is definitely a FF character who’d fit absurdly into the concept of the comic. Not only is he absurdly macho and well built with a propensity toward violence; but he also wants to be a good father to his adopted daughter,.
Of course, if you use ‘wants to be a good father’ as a metric, then Nox from Wakfu comes out ahead.
Not much in the way of musclemass left, since he’s centuries old, but man is he dedicated to his kids.
This is totally out of my depth and probably completely unrelated, but just because I was reading it this afternoon. . . His Grace Commander Samuel Vimes?
I don’t expect anyone to even know who he is, but since we’re all throwing names around.
Yes. And again yes. Vimes would fit in with the milieu, though I think Cohen fits the agency better.
I never even thought of Discworld/MGDMT crossovers, and now it’s hilarious.
Ack, just wanted to add I don’t think any discworld characters would fit into the actual comic, and this is really not a request or anything. /desperatelytryingnottobethatoneguy
Also, go Sten. I’m imagining another few seconds of staring, as Dante slowly shrinks away.
Cohen The Barbarian would fit perfectly. I’m not trying to pressure Coelasquid into anything, but let’s just say that he’s over 90 and is very good at not dying in a line of work where insane risks and life-and-death gambles are relatively routine (note I say ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ – this is intentional, as *someone* tends to die in the instances).
yeah, avid diskworld fan, cohens great, sos vimes, yadda yadda, saying your not trying to get him into the comic while singing his praises and detailing his accomplishments makes a ton of sense. but as long as were on the subject, manliest in DW id say would be detritus of ridcully, just because wizards arent supposed to be strong. i dont want or expect to see any of them in the comic though.
thats discworld, and then later its detritus OR ridcully. sorry.
Mash from FF6 can suplex a speeding train. Nuff’ said.
Alex Mercer from Prototype can survive a nuke to the face. Nuff’ Said.
The commander absolutely couldn’t, but he’d try if it would save the life of an endangered citizen. nuff said.
Seconded (or thirded, or whatever) on the Steiner and Beatrix front.
Hahaha, Laguna as an example of machismo? Wait, what?
He can spend the entire strip hunched over with a stomach ache.
That’s Zone. Laguna would be crawling feebly around with a leg cramp.
Or Ward, the guy threw a freaking harpoon at Esthar soldiers like it was nothing.
What about Kamina from Gurren Lagann. Unthinking belief in his own strength and awesomeness. Of course he DOES still look like a wee weak man, but Japan doesn’t appear to have any other types of looks.
Kamina has already been gutted. :)
And Japan does have other looks. What about Batou from Ghost in the Shell? Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist? The ENTIRETY of Dragon Ball Z? Still though, you have a point in that most artists never use these looks.
I watch a lot of anime but one thing that has always driven me nuts is the lack of variety in terms of shapes. Some of the best animators in the world come out of Japan and my brain wants to explode at every anime that uses the exact same damn body type for every dude in the show.
Let’s also not forget the animes in which, not only do they use the same body, but the same DAMN FACE, as well.
What about Balgus from escaflowne(only in episode 1+2 really), he uses a giant ass sword(about a foot taller than he is and believably proportioned so not on the order of some characters), but that’s only because he likes to fight giant robots with it and a less huge sword wouldn’t have the heft to go through the robots, besides the handle and guard of it are large enough that they might compensate for the length of the blade in balance
While they might lend to the balance of the sword, the power and kinetic energy to wield it would overpower the user when they’re coming out of the swing. That would throw off the fighter’s balance and leave them at a huge disadvantage.
A similar argument is made in Rurouni Kenshin, when Sagara Sanosuke first fights Kenshin with a giant sword meant to slice horses in half. It’s name eludes me now, but in the show, its size and Sanosuke’s strength is hugely exaggerated. Eventually Kenshin makes the point that his movement is limited by its immense size, since he can only cut vertically or horizontally; and it takes time to recover after each swing.
If I remember correctly, its called the Zanmatou, or Zanbatou.
Zan=Cut, Ma(Ba)=Horse Tou=Sword.
Isn’t Armstong the guy that flexes his muscles and sparkles?
Yes. He is the only man that is allowed to sparkle without being called gay.
he can also say things like “I will defeat you in the most graceful way!”
Armstrong is the only man allowed to sparkle, period.
God, I have had the biggest crush on Batou for all of eternity. He’s definitely a decent masculine sort.
Though, to be fair, so is the Major. XP
YES BATOU FOR THE FUCKING WIN. That man has machismo coming outta his ass. Still had his ass handed to him by the Captain.
If manly guys love their kids, he also wins because those Tachikoma were his babies. Shame they all died at the end of GITS:SAC2.
And they use the same body types because they’re trained on them so they can draw stupid fast and crank out anime as fast as they do.
All I have to say is Fist of The North Star! Every man in that show is made entirely out of muscles.
Kamina is just Ryouma and Musashi from Getter Robo mashed into one character.
I think there were quite a few more things the essay writer didn’t understand. I read her (his?) essay and it seemed like he/she was really stretching the definition of “manly” to make his/her favorite bishi characters qualify.
I have to laugh at this quite a bit. While I might be a guy who’s a fan of Vincent, I often argue about these fanbases for such characters all the time. Namely when it comes to bishonen villains who don’t even have a real excuse for them becoming a villain.
I have an excuse for them…
…Evil is Sexy
Haha Brilliant.
I love, love love love this.
Coela, this is fantastic. You’ve made my entire week.
I honestly feel that you put Dante in there just to work out one final joke, he’s sort of pretty boyish in DMC3, but in 1, 2 and 4 he’s pretty gruff. Unless you count that monstrosity in the upcoming one.
And he barely ever uses that sword you portray him with.
Still, fun stuff. And you did need to show those fangirls their place.
Maybe I would’ve been fonder towards the character if his fans didn’t drive me to hate him, but hey, that’s how it goes. I asked twitter for a prettyboy with a stupid sword and twitter said Dante.
In that case it’s perfectly understandable.
Kinda hate biting at this, but I just have to whine. Why Dante and why the Sparda sword? I generally enjoy the comic but that just makes very little sense to me. It’s not even like it’s a very recognizable weapon from the series. I can’t speak to the balance of his regular swords, but they’re generally believable weapons. I understand your reasons for not liking him (there are a few things I won’t even try because of how they were presented to me) but he just seems like a very poor choice for this joke. (On another note I could see a gay joke about Dante’s penchant to get himself impaled working well.)
Because the Sword is Ridiculous and Dante is Silly.
Apparently he carries it enough that his action figure has it. Not gonna lie, I know nothing about Devil May Cry, the only reason I hate Dante is because people ask me on a near-daily basis to draw him. And that would wear on anybody.
What you should do is comply to their wishes by either drawing him with the image cropped from the shoulders up, or from the perspective of someone else: “Oh my gosh Dante just killed ALL those demons with his bare hands *Tip of a sword and hem of a trenchcoat on far right of image*”
And then in the next panel, Commander and Sten are covered in demon blood, looking at credit-stealing Dante with disapproval.
Also there is Mr. Fish in this imaginary comic.
Yeah, my reaction to any sort of bishonen fan is to tune them out once they get started. Although I doubt that my strategy would work with the sort of deluge you get here.
I used to like Vincent a while ago, then I realized that his back story kinda reads like “Uncle Bad Touch” a bit.
I’m just very pleased that it’s still open season on all stereotypes here at MGDMT. Your insights into manliness in all of it’s forms, and the silliness of popular culture are great.
Missed an opportunity to use the rebooted, punk-emo version of Dante.
Technically speaking, his weapons are generally not swords.
Thank you for saying what we are all thinking
Best. Comic. Ever. That last part is brilliant
As a ‘bishie’ fan myself, I’ve gotta say that’s pretty ridiculous for someone to try and tell you how to write your own comic. Not to mention, I fucking love the Commander and the other beefy male characters you portray. Any real fan of your work would. And even though I like every guy you made fun of in this one, I laughed my ass off to the end.
You pretty much said it for me. I’m a fan of anime, and all it’s sillyness and outrageous concepts. And I have to say, most characters are pretty manly bad ass in their own little universe. Take them out of it, and they’re just… weird. This comic is gold, I swear. Shows the line pretty clearly between East and West “Manly” depictions, though.
Yeah, crossovers never fare well. All of these guys are pretty wicked awesome in their own world, but put them against the standards of Manly Guys world and they degenerate into ridiculous wimps. On the other hand, put the Manly Guys cast into bishi anime world and they become musclebound thugs with bad B.O, or something.
It’s all a matter of perspective and context! That said, this perspective and context is so damn hilarious, even if I feel a bit bad for laughing at the bishi boys.
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
And the bishies just got put in their place. OH SNAP.
You nailed it. I’m a guy, and I loved Inuyasha. Didn’t stop me from laughing at this.
Coelasquid, Y U no love Sesshy?!
Seriously though, the title of your comic should make your intentions obvious enough to those who write in demanding the presence of bishiis. Frankly, your comic is a breath of fresh air. I’ll admit to loving the bishiis, but it’s just plain awesome that your comic is about men who are, well..MEN. Kudos to you.
The best part about the last one is just how very many characters we can substitute in for … whoever that is. Dante I guess?
On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I could dredge up some masculine dudes from Anime, but it takes rather a lot of work…
Ghost in the Shell has some of my favorite anime manly men in it. I suppose it helps that most of em are at least part cyborg, but it’s not like anime doesn’t have its fair share of bishii cyborgs too.
I’m gonna look to my left and see Gurren Lagann, where manliness powers the universe. Then I’m gonna look further to my left and see Baccano! Where a manly psychopath beats a man to death with his fists and another one grinds people along a train track (though the 2nd one could be a bishounen if he wasn’t covered head-to-toe in blood for most of the series). After all that I will look still a little further to my left and see BERSERK, which is the only thing I’ve ever seen worthy of such a name.
There are plenty of manly men among anime, however they aren’t given as much attention as they deserve thanks to the obnoxiously loud yaoi fangirls and pedophiles that roam the dredges of the internet.
The only one I can think of that is both masculine AND macho without falling into ridiculous parody is Zaraki Kenpachi from Bleach, honestly.
In what way is Kenpachi NOT a ridiculous parody, though?
Because He is Awesome?
Rule of Awesome applies.
He stopped an assassin nearly by accident while trying to hunt down Ichigo for a fight.
He almost killed Ichigo without the ability to use his Zanpakuto’s shikai.
He had to put on power limiters to get a fair fight out of anyone.
Amen to that
Off the top of my head: Ozma Lee, King Bradley, Sig Curtis, Alex Armstrong, Kamina, Simon (after he grows up), Kittan.. Ok Kamina and Simon are a bit iffy because the art style does make them look kinda bishounen, but I think their personality more than makes up for that.
Eh, I wouldn’t count Armstrong. He’s just a parody of manly men. Hoenheim would fit on this list, though.
I dunno, Armstrong is quite the parody, but he’s had plenty of serious moments in his times on screen. I mean, did you see his fight with Sloth in the Manga?
That was Badass…
But then again, I doubt any of the characters from FMA could ever be as manly as Oliver Armstrong.
She’s manlier than King Bradely could ever hope to be in a lifetime.
I COMPLETELY forgot about Hoenheim… I feel so ashamed… I also want to add Roy Fokker.
You mean Olivia?
No they mean Olivier. Her full name is Olivier Mira Armstrong.
Love the comic. :) Truthfully I never really considered Sesshomarou really…”manly” or badass. Strong? sure. I think I need to play DA:O again just to use Sten. :| I really didn’t like his character the first time I played, but you’ve given me a big appreciation for him Coelasquid.
Yeah, he’s a strong, cold dude, but not really “Manly”.
Spike from Cowboy Bebop?
No, not spike. Jet would fit in just fine, but Spike, although a cool and gruff character, doesn’t really have the machismo.
please no, still a character with a focus on being overly emotional. you missed Jet in the same series.
I haven’t really watched that much. He just has a lot of the Brandao that Coela likes.
Jet carries a lot of the same emotional baggage as Spike does, though. It’s just that they didn’t make it a major plot point outside of one episode. Or have you not seen Ganymede Elegy? Jet quit being a cop and started his life as a bounty hunter because a woman left him. Spike left the mob and became a bounty hunter after a falling out with his best friend over a woman.
Jet from Cowboy Bebop. Duh.
Guts, from berserk. Kenshiro, from Fist of the north star.
I was thinking Guts also. Man may have a big sword but it’s useful for taking out you know… The 5 story monsters he usually has to fight. Also has strongest freakin teeth in the world.
As for the people saying Hellsing :( too skinny and he wears a freaking bow around his neck.
I wouldn’t actually mind seeing Guts in here, I think he would fit decently well. I mean he has a cannon, for an arm. and i think his response to being called Bishii, would probably be kill the person who said it. He definitely saves face for manly anime characters everywhere
I’m not sure if Guts would fit, he’d constantly try and murder Mr. Fish, mistaking him for a demon.
I dunno, man. I mean, think about it for a second.
There’s this gigantic twenty-five foot long fish-dragon-demon-thing. That shoots FREAKING LASER BEAMS on a regular basis. When it’s not shooting FIRE. Or drowning people in it’s own BODILY FLUIDS.
How is trying to kill it not the manliest thing possible?
I was about to mention Ken, until I remembered the sound he makes when fights …
Did you just call Bruce Lee unmanly? Because I think you just called Bruce Lee unmanly.
That’s pretty bad.
The only strike against Guts’ manliness is that he appears incapable of growing facial hair. But I would love to see him in here.
He shaved with that bigass sword, once, and all of his follicles packed their bags and moved away.
Simon, from Durarara. Big African guy, from Russia, who sits on street corners advertising “Russian style sushi”, and has been known to make deliveries. And jumping from 6th floor balconies.
Not to mention that Simon is the only person in Ikebukuro capable of physically standing up to Shizuo (who an in-series survey agrees is the strongest man in Ikebukuro), and jumps off of the aforementioned sixth-floor balcony in order to catch Shizuo’s punch with his friggin’ hand because he abhors violence.
Manly.
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is pretty much the manliest Anime character I can think of.
^This.
One I haven’t seen suggested yet is Guin of Guin Saga. He’s incredibly loaded with Brandao, is strong-willed but doesn’t brag, protects little kids, and is a seven foot tall muscleman who can hit a guy so hard it set his face on fire. When a bishie fangirlbait swordsman tried to pull the old, “I’ll defeat you in battle and then you’ll have to be my follower so I can be the hero” trick that always works in anime, Guin flattens him with one punch. He’s basically amazing. <3
I’m gonna chalk it up to this character only showing up briefly in an otherwise long series, but no one mentioned captain Whitebeard from One Piece. I’m sorry, but they really don’t come more manly in anime than that.
A father to his men, indeed.
I would think Dante has enough machismo to drown the whole of Detroit. I mean sheesh, look at that stubble in DMC4. Best Dante thus far and most propably will stay the best one due to the “rebirth” of the series and Donte.
The comic is funny, nonetheless. I love how people can actually call bishounen characters manly, despite the vast amount of homoerotic art and literature based off of ’em.
I think you’ve got “manly” confused with “straight” again. Sepphie could measure his masculine virility by how much homoerotic works are based on him, but not his way with the ladies.
Oh, I don’t think Sephy is gay. He clearly has a thing for his mother.
..omg..I can not…stop laughing..!
slowclap.gif
You win the Internet!
0_o
Well I mean there MUST be something at least a little gay about a character if there’s tons of homoerotica made of them daily.
Plus, something about the most popular bishounen characters have always struck me as gay. Maybe it’s just the nature of bishounen characters which were clearly desinged to be as bishi, or whatever the term is, as possible.
Not really. It suffices for a male character to look good and that’s enough for there to be homoerotic stuff of him. Although most of the time I guess foe yay helps.
either two guys are paired up because they have great chemistry going on or because of this line of thought:
Would I rather see two people I’m attracted to in my pr0n or one person I’m attracted to and one person who is clearly a stand-in for myself? TWO GUYS I’M ATTRACTED TO IT IS
The Heavy.
This is so good I can’t stop laughing. I just can’t imagine why would anyone want to mix a macho guy with a bishie. I mean, EVERYBODY knows bishies are girly. It’s not just a coincidence! Even Link is kind of girly in one game or two. And Kuja… I’m sitll not sure if that’s really a he.
I don’t think Link ever goes for “Manly”. He just does his thing.
Link usually goes more along the “prepubescent” than any kind of manly. Seriously, he’s almost always either a child or just barely an adult.
As someone who likes bishounen, I have to say:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA, oh god the second strip, with Sesshomaru and the last one with Sten and Dante. xD Oh jeezus too funny. *applause*
I think I’d take the Commander over any of those guys, even Dante, who I generally like. A+++++++++++++ there aren’t enough +’s for this. :3
He’s got a point about the sword!
As always very funny and I don’t even know who the effete elf-looking guys are. Definitely not as macho as the Commander.
While many anime men are quite a bit to feminine in looks and action there are some manly ones to: Alex Louis Armstrong (FMA), Son Goku (DBZ), Edward ‘Whitebeard’ Newgate (One Piece), and Kenpachi Zaraki (Bleach) to name a few. I applaud your bashing of those charcters in this comic, it is much needed.
p.s. I love your comic! XD
I believe I’ve said before, and I will say again, I would kill to see Armstrong in this comic. He just fits the bill so freakin’ well! Plus, there’s a lot of comedy to play off of him. He’s a weirdo.
He was sparkling before Edward Cullen was out of training pants!
I applaud you sir for your good taste in Anime characters
Finally the perfect way explain this, so good and so well executed! Also, I can’t wait to see what Cloud and Seph are gonna get!
/stifles giggles re: Sten and Dante
I like bishies myself, but perhaps their place is not here. Perhaps it is that putative Place On The Third Floor.
I believe you’ve just taken how to tell someone where to stick it to a brand new MANLY level. Bravo, Coelasquid. Bravo.
This one is fantastic. Lol. The appletini really kinda sold the joke for me there in the middle. Good job with those little additions. I gotta commend your cameo appearances as I’m sure people have said before. I miss playing The Bouncer, I’m sure you know which cameo I mean. Haha. Nice work! ^^
This. is. GLORIOUS.
You have thereby mastered the art of the spite-comic that is actually funny.
You will make it far.
YES. Beyoooooond excellent. I almost want to demonstrate my support by punching an anime kid.
Hey hey hey that’s not nice! We aren’t all bishie lovers :P Course I’m not really a “kid” anymore so not sure if that would include me . . .
Heh, I’m only kidding. Mostly.
You know what’s weird? I can appreciate all kinds of different stylistic approaches to visual-arts stuff — design, painting, illustration, animation — but something about the whole Anime genre just absolutely stomps up and down on my nerves. I can’t really articulate my distaste, but it’s the same “argh, ARGH, STOP” feeling I get from Bluegrass music. Yes, I’m aware that makes no sense at all.
Yes! I completely agree, although as the artist said “I wouldn’t hate him if the fans didn’t drive me to hate him” works very well for the anime community. I could actually enjoy a show like Cowboy Bebop or Escafloune if there weren’t such ravenous f*cktards making up about 90% of the anime fanbase.
Watch anime and avoid cons and/or the internet that is devoted to it then? I love (some) anime, a fair few MMORPGs and even (embarrassed to admit) some fairly emo music at times. In all of the above I avoid the ‘fans’ like the plague though as most of them seem to be totally brain-dead . (Please excuse poor tag use if I failed there).
I appreciate that as an internet person of interest web-comic maker of awesome the fans to kinda come to Sten rather than Sten going to the fans. But for most of us mere mortals it is not too hard to enjoy (quietly) such things and avoid the rabid fan-base. :D
^Why can’t more people figure this out?
This lacks only Kratos starting a new skull collection.
Oh man, as much as I love bishonen and anime, I absolutely adored this comic!
Honestly speaking, we always have to contend to the angst some of these characters go through and sometimes it just gets really gratuitous. Regardless, while I respect them and certainly do like many of them, when it comes down to it, they are as ‘machismo’ as a salad fork with bow in a chocolate parfait shoppe.
That essayist in question should turn to fanfiction; he/she will reach more success there.
The only anime character this comic needs is Guts from Berserk.
To that I say right-oh I couldn’t hardly agree more.
Guts & Rakan
This is so full of win. Great response. I effin’ love Sten in the last panel.
I don’t know if fans who forwardly shove ideas at writers think that they easily run out of ideas, have no planned direction for their story, and/or aren’t familiar enough with the premise that they can’t generate more ideas, and thus need help, or what. There is a pretty thick ass line between that “Haha, it’d be funny if this happened…” casual comment and “Okay, this is what SHOULD happen”. I am sure they think they are being helpful, nice, and even flattering, but it’s not. As a writer myself who has experienced similar, I think it’s pretty insulting.
And…a poison whip? Really? That’s what kids think is badassery? Ugh.
Squid–
This is brilliant!
@The Unreal: Major Alex Louis Armstrong. Fullmetal Alchemist. Though he might be a little bit pretty.
The Major is the only man who can pull of teh sparklies without being some kind of abomination of fiction.
…I love you.
Huzzah and congratulations on another amazing/hilarious comic. For as much of a fan as I am of the last two characters I agree completely with the point you’re making. If I want to see a comic with those characters showing them as being cool I’ll go somewhere else. I come here for the honest to goodness manly guys that are so often nonexistent on other sites. Though to note one manly guy from anime I think Guts from berserk fits the profile, also I could see super mutants from Fallout eventually making their way onto this comic but those are just my personal suggestions and do not have to be noted.
Loool like Fawkes from FO3 or Marcus from FO2 and FO:NV? That would be so rad!
Fawkes is a girl, lawl
Super mutants? Hrm. … Wait, I thought that when men turned into super mutants, their danglies fall off…
I don’t think it’s been said that they “fall off”, they’re just sterile.
…and now I can’t shake a picture of a huge green mutant schlong out my head. Damn you, brain.
OH DEAR GOD WHY!!!
Super mutants have nothing on Argyle.
Or Liberty Prime, if that’s your fancy.
what about chuck from dead rising :o
I love Volt’s face as he’s looking at Sesshoumaru’s phone.
I love the fact that Sesshoumaru is holding a martini with an arm he shouldn’t technically have.
… Maybe Totosai is making prosthetics now.
Can’t he just plug new arms into that socket? Maybe he picked one up at Fry’s.
Hey, yeah, he only did it once, but he totally can.
i fucking love volt kreuger
i fucking love this comic’s ability to just work people into the cast like that
but on a related subject, i have to wonder how this comic feels about bishii~ strongman Alex Louis Armstrong and his ilk
assuming he has an ilk
This made me laugh so hard– and I like some of these bishounen.
I read your comic because YOU write it. Really, if people don’t like it they can write their own goddamn comic.
I’ve had suggestions and characters(the mary sue OC type) thrown at me for my comics before and damn is it annoying.
This is so perfect that words cannot describe my inner squealing girl right now.
On another note; how do you feel about the anime Hellsing? I’ve heard many an opinion and I was just the slightest bit curious about yours.
Oh god, please like Hellsing. Hellsing is a badass. He uses guns, and he’s a prick. The only thing not cool about him is that he’s a vampire. Normally, that’s a plus for people… but… ever since that one time…
I choose to assume that calling the main character ‘Hellsing’ rather than his actual name is a tiny bit of parody.
“I think Hellsing is a pretty cool guy, etc. etc.”
His name is Alucard.
No, no, no. SHE uses guns and SHE’s a…well, she’s actually not that bad considering the shit she puts up with.
My bad Thostoc, totally honest mistake. Been a while since I read/watched the series. Thanks for taking it easy on me. Dick. Btw, Alucard uses a pair of full-auto .454 handguns. They are swwweeeeettttt and unfortunately make believe since the only handguns in production that can chamber .454 Casulls are revolvers. Seras Victoria uses a 30mm cannon mostly, and while awesome, I can’t even dream of carrying one of those around.
@Chrysknife Just because there are no .454 chambered automatics in production doesn’t mean someone with the cash couldn’t have some custom made. They would stupidly expensive though.
Truth. But I haz not the cash… :( In reality I’m fine with what I got. The .454s have put down an African elephant, and I honestly do not need something with that much stopping power. Straight up .45s work just fine.
Am I alone in thinking Integra would be a better fit in this comic than Alucard?
No. No you are not.
She is a Sir after all.
OH! You mean Lady Integra Hellsing!
Well. I do think we should get some of the more manly anime characters in here. Like Batou from Ghost in the Shell or maybe Jet from Cowboy Bebop. Ya know, the actual and rather rare manly ani-man.
From a person who actually likes some of those characters, that was fucking priceless. All of it.
Oh god, I love your Sten bits. Makes me sad I didn’t have him as a regular in my party when I played through DA:O. Gonna have to go back and fix that, methinks.
Who would think KUJA was manly in the first place? He’s the most put down character in Dissidia as a whole! Zidane is more manly than him and I wouldn’t put him in this group.
But, dear Lord, I giggled so much with this. Particularly at the Shessoumaru part. That is so true!
I would like to note that (No offense to the Kuja fans) Kuja is essentially wearing a man-thong. I can’t see how in any way that someone wearing something like that would be considered manly…
…..but I think Dante is cool :(
Poison is more of a man…and woman than the Bishshonen could ever hope to be.
Good God, I think I love this comic even more.
Don’t really agree with the whole Dante thing but hey, everyone is entitled to their opinions.
This comic is friggin’ awesome.
Ah, bishounen. I wouldn’t hate them so much if it weren’t for their yaoi fangirls. Them and the “moe-moe” fanboys (though half the time I think they’re just pedophiles) have a tendency to ruin some otherwise perfectly decent anime/games.
Thinking of vampires and one of the previous comments, how do you feel about Hellsing? Particularly Alucard. Personally, I don’t think he would fit into the agency, but I think he’s worthy of being in a comic in a non-negative light. Although, I do think he’s plenty manly enough when he takes his old form of VLAD THE FUCKING IMPALER!
“Skilled swordsmen?” “Strong, logical leaders?” So I suppose that makes Eowyn, Caska, Xena, and at least two Tamora Pierce protagonists the epitome of testosterone-flooded masculinity! My world is turned upside down!
…Seriously though, that’s the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard. The girls that spout that nonsense ought to have their heads examined.
Why are you assuming the person was female?
Because the person that posted those comments on last week’s strip used the name Sophie, probably.
And cause she mentioned all of those “bishi” men. Or however they are called.
Ahh. I actually missed that part. Though “the girls that spout that nonsense” seems to be a more general directional statement than aimed at the one that triggered the comic. I’ve seen dudes post such stuff too.. though admittedly, not as much.
Oh man, everything about this is amazing!
I’m not going to lie though, I haven’t played much Final Fantasy, so I thought the first dude (Kuja?) was a woman. Not a tough/strong woman either. A chicky-chick who needs to be rescued by the hero because she though wearing a slutty costume to a battle was a good idea. Which made it all the funnier for me when I realized what was going on here. (Also, apparently I don’t read the titles on comics).
Sten steals the show here though. Fantastic!
Oh GOOD, it wasn’t just me. I thought it was some kind of Slave-Leia / Fantasy Unicorn Maiden mashup and I was not understanding *at all*.
Nice halter top and puff-sleeved shrug, /Mister Manly-Man/. Did you borrow those boots from Cher?
Addendum to previous post: Speaking of Caska, why has Gutts never made an appearance in this? He’s MADE for this strip!
I love you.
I love you forever.
This… reflects my thoughts perfectly.
Love how you ended the Sesshomaru interview. And yeah, fervent fans (and haters) can drive you away from something that’s probably up your alley.
Did you have any more ideas as to who to put in this?
I’ll be completely honest, I’ve always pictured Kuja as a Keith David-voiced, manly guy who wears his outfit the same way some manly men wear the color pink. Then again, that may have something to do with the fact that when I, my brother and my sisters used to play FFIX, my brother would always give Kuja this deep, manly voice. Kind of makes me wonder how you’d redesign him to be manly Coelasquid.
Something that just occurred to me though, is there a distaff counterpart to the Commander’s Agency? Like a place where action women from movies and games go to learn how to reintegrate into society (like lessons on not being misandrists, not berating other women for liking girly things, that sort of stuff)? I’d be curious to see what that place looks like.
While I’m not sure it’s the most canon thing in the world, Kuja was given a voice in FF Dissidia, and there was nothing manly about it.
Well, the English voice was pretty girly, but IMO the Japanese voice was more manly. Obviously not super masculine, but he sounded like an older (if thin and effeminate) male. Your mileage may vary, but I agree that he sounded distinctly snooty and gay in the English version.
There you go.
I SO second that idea of a counterpart agency, though I think Coela has more than enough to work with just focussing on the Commander’s day job. I hope to see it one day, though…
Hmmm…pity MGDMT only updates 1/week, because a story arc involving an alternate universe Badass Agency of all action-hero women would be hilarious.
Might make for a good one-off joke all the same though.
I’m not entirely certain Dante counts as a bishounen….
However, I have no problem with his appearance here. =D
Love it, love it, love it. Made me giggle so much.
I’ve never commented on your comic until now (though I’ve stalked you on the DeviantsArts for ages).
This is quite possibly your best comic to date! I’m all for dumping on the anime girlmen while vaunting the glories of the hairy, beefy superbeast that is a real man. Also, if just because I did fencing and general (western) swordplay in my high school years, that Sten bit was enormously hilarious because ANIME NERDS CAN’T SWORDS GOOD.
Love. You.
Screw the haters. I love your comic.
Oh how I’ve missed Sten.
*golf clap*
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Hahahaha! This was amusing. I couldn’t stop laughing at the last panel.
Well, at least everyone “almost” got what they wanted, right? Bishounen managed to appear in the manly, macho comics.
Well said, Sten. Well said *applauds*
Huh so is the crack head remake version of dante manlier?
This strip is 100% made of awesome and pankakes.
This is fabulous. These are some of my favorite characters, and I find this amazing.
Also amazing: that anyone would consider Kuja manly. Dear sweet god.
I can’t wait to see all the butthurt fanboys/girls.
You are the mother fucking queen!
I happen to think Vincent Valentine is a bad ass… But he isn’t really manly.
Best webcomic, A+ for laughin at the animes
Bahahhaa, this is one of the best I think–I really love all of them, but the Sesshomaru one is so fantastic XD
Well, they do have a point in Japanese perspective: for Japanese, guys you consider “manly” are gayish (like Zangief from Street Fighter series) and bishounens are badass. That’s how their culture roll. We even had a bit of it in European culture: for example Achilles was so very girly in drag to the point that Odysseus had to use a trick to distinguish him from other women.
That said, it’s Japanese point of view as seen in anime or jRPGs. You’re neither Japanese nor Weeaboo, your comic is not even in “manga-style” and those “potential scenarios” were really weak. It was nice to see Kuja drawn by you and would be nice to see some other, more relevant anime characters in the future, too.
Also, Sesshomaru’s trollface is really nice, I would really like to see his expression after that Commander’s reply.
One key issue there:Japanese men haven’t been manly since WW2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiko_Kimura
“That moment, I grabbed his left wrist with my right hand, and twisted up his arm. I applied Udegarami. I thought he would surrender immediately. But Helio would not tap the mat. I had no choice but keep on twisting the arm. The stadium became quiet. The bone of his arm was coming close to the breaking point. Finally, the sound of bone breaking echoed throughout the stadium. Helio still did not surrender. His left arm was already powerless. Under this rule, I had no choice but twist the arm again.”
That was the literal founder of the sport of MMA whose arm he’s breaking in this passage.
Not to discount Kimura or anything, but I think Helio is the one who comes across as more of a badass in that passage…
I completely agree. Bishounen men aren’t real manly men, they’re too in touch with stylish side. And giant motherfudger swords are not badass…just compensation and illogical.
I think the only super manly anime/manga characters I can think of is Kenpachi (Resident psycho and total bad-ass) from Bleach. And Gajeel Redfox (Also resident psycho turned slightly nicer psycho and bad-ass) from Fairy Tail. I prefer Kenpachi. He’s the most bad-ass.
Can’t help but wonder what the fangirls were thinking. Isn’t this comic about an agency for (MACHO) men who have problems with social awkwardness and adapting to regular life? Wouldn’t pretty boys who don’t feel the smash everything in their path undermine the entire idea?
Just saying.
HAHAHAHA, YOU WIN AWESOME AWARD.
Yes, BJD owners are TERRIFYING. I happen to own two of them (two girls), but I stay away from doll meets and yaoi shit crap scary girls. Eeeyuuucckk.
There are only a few characters from Japanese games that I could see realistically mixing it at the agency.
Barrett is an obvious choice as a bad ass…I mean, machine gun arms, guys!
The majority of Anime is filled with these characters as of late, however, check out berserk. The main character in that makes Sten look like he’s going to join PETA.
I refute your categorization of Berserk as “as of late”. It’s been going on since at least the early 90s.
That said, what I’d find amusing to show up here would be characters from JJBA.
I lost it when I saw the appletini…
I fell out of my “anime” phase a while ago. People kept asking me why I did so, as though it were some betrayal… one of my stock answers was “because I realized I really like hairy, manly men.” This is just perfect, hahahahaha…
Oh sweet jeebus. I may have snorted my latte at the end of the second strip. Oh my goodness gracious. And leave it to Sten to have the final word.
I won’t deny that I watch anime here and there and there are, I think, manly men do appear in there occasionally (Jet and Spike from Cowboy Bebop come to mind) but culturally, anime really isn’t a medium to look for the Western ideal of the “manly man”. Trying to force the stereotypes is doing the square-peg-round-hole thing; masculinity just doesn’t have the same meaning.
You want macho anime dudes, though the topic has become redundant at this point, I suggest Hajime no Ippo. There are no pretty boy main characters in that, and the pretty boys in it get the shit punched out of them.
I’m not hard up for macho anime dudes, this person just explicitly requested bishounen.
In that case, I’m gonna put in a request for some of the characters from Cromartie High School.
Lovely, sad, and true. Unfortunately, I think that even the likes of Toph from Avatar is manlier than most anime guys.
While I did read some comments about how that’s Japanese for you, but MGDMT is clearly based off of the perspective of American Protagonists. :B I think explains this pretty well.
I admit that there’s nothing wrong in theory with liking girly-man characters. They just have no place among the manliest of men doing the manliest of things. And, they are no match for Commander. [and the fans, like any fans, are sometimes out of control.]
but mostly that last thing about them being mo match for Commander Badass.
That should shut them up! I like bishonen too, but I also acknowledge that they have no place at Commander’s agency!
Still hoping for Wrex though, if you ever play Mass Effect. I can see him and the Commander hitting it off great.
I just wanted to say this is possibly the best comic strip I have ever seen. Coela, you are my hero.
Pwnage. That is all.
Absolutely loved Sten’s panels!! His lines were so true to his character! Many lulz.
Seems like everybody’s more interested in joining the Macho temp agency than the Bishounen temp agency. No wonder Sesshomaru’s feeling insecure.
Hello, I’d like to complain, please. This is far too funny.
(Joking aside, keep on producing, and pay little if no attention to critics that aren’t being creative themselves.)
Who’s the guy with horns in the second one?
Volt Krueger.
I thought I’d hate this comic, but I find most of these fails are on the individual characters, then effeminate men as a whole. Should be noted that most of anime is pretty out there, and flawed in logic. I never liked anime guys to much, at least not the popular ones. I’m content with my own developed, and most of all logical characters. No giant ass, imbalanced swords, or useless armor in my stories/games. My preferred sword is a rapier, and otherwise daggers. Don’t need to be macho to wield light weapons. And a huge reliance of agility, speed, and stealth. As for sexual preference, well, that has nothing to do with fighting.
Yeah, I’m not ragging on effeminate guys, just the reasons that commentor supplied regarding why bishiiiiis are the manliest of manly guys. Gonna be honest, someone comes to a site for a comic about “ludicrously macho guys” and asks why there aren’t more pretty dudes, then proceeds to explain in detail why they feel I should abandon the premise of the comic in order to incorporate more of the characters they want to see… well, there are millions of places you can find drawings of Vincent Valentine and Sesshomaru, this is not the place for that. Plus considering all their potential comic ideas were basically Commander just saying “Wow mr. bishie you sure showed me, you’re so awesome”, just adds insult to… well, insult.
If they want more Bishie, they should draw their own webcomic.
Effeminate Guys Doing Manly Things.
You know, in light of the mental image of Sesshomaru chomping cigars, Cloud Strife getting a body build like the commander, or Kenshin pulling a Kratos stunt, that might actually be worth reading.
(in a weird, crazy, crack fanfic sort of way)
http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Manly-Cloud-144852759
I think I like him better that way.
Here’s a cute mental image for you Anon:
It’s my favorite fanart of Cloud. Mostly because I’m kinda tired of seeing him in a 14 year old’s body. Same with Sephiroth. That man had to be in mid 30’s when he died, and his art (though strangely unproportional) at least showed a (somewhat) mature face.
His…latest art in Dissidia, made him look…18.
Maybe it’s my age (I was 16 when I played FF7 in ’97) but, I feel very very uncomfortable relating to my old fandom when people keep making them uncomfortably young(er). It makes me feel like a cougar or worse, a pedo.
I love this comic and it’s the funniest I’ve read so far. The way I see it, this comic doesn’t make fun of effeminate men or even bishounen at all, but rather poke fun at the “rabid fandom” that extol and glorify them as the “manliest of men” (and shoving it at other people, which is to be honest very annoying).
Where as Commander Badass teaches men who are too manly in there day to day lives how to cope in this world perhaps a similar place should be created for BishĹŤnen.
That being said, BishĹŤnen translates to “beautiful youth (boy).” A boy is not a man therefor can never be overly manly which is the premise of this site.
Have you ever thought about drawing Brock Samson from ‘the venture bros’ cartoon? He’s damn manly, or is this mostly Video games manly men? Love your stuff, been following it for a while now :)
Being the genre parody comic that this is, using a genre parody character like Brock Samson is more like blatant copyright violation than “parody”.
In that case may I suggest a character that isn’t exactly a genre parody, though he could be seen as such? It would be a judgement call on your part.
The character is Brit, from the comic of the same name. He’s a guy in his 60’s who’s built like the Commander and his only real superpower is that he’s indestructible. And not in the Wolverine regeneration kind of way, but in the “Nothing can hurt me. Period.” kind of way. In fact, at one point he jumps out of an airplane strapped to a nuke, which he detonates on himself halfway through the fall.
Oh, and did I mention that Brit is short for Brittney? Yea. He’s got that too.
He’s easily one of my favorite superheros.
Maybe you could just give him a office with his name on in it but never show the character.
That being said, you WILL be doing something about the whole DC reboot, right? My rage about it is hard to contain. I need a parody to laugh at asap.
Someday, I will stop laughing at this one specific comic. It will not be today.
It will not be tomorrow.
It very likely won’t be Wednesday either.
In all likelyhood, it’ll be Thursday, but then I’ll go back to this comic, and I’ll keep laughing till next Monday.
Hahahaha, awesome. And Commander makes valid points himself haha.
Plus you stick to your guns on stuff, and thats somethin I always respect :]
To be fair, there are some anime dudes that are manly. Like in Dragon Ball Z and… well, that’s pretty much it.
As a ‘fangirl’ I throw my votes in with the large hairy dudes any day! Wolverine, Sabretooth, guys like that are amazing. (Comic form that is.)
DBZ is the manliest animu? Wow you’re lost.
Made of stiffer stuff? Well, when it comes to Sten, I sure am.
I tried thinking of Manly FF Men, and all I got were Barret and maybe VII’s Cid.
Somehow, I still don’t see Barret’s gun arm doing him much good in the way of reintegrating into civilian life.
T-shirt launcher/bratzooka.
You missed Cyan and Sabin from FFVI. The sprites of the game don’t do them justice.
No one seems to remember Final Fantasies before VII. How about Yang from IV? Or Fighter from I? (though that may be treading into a different comic’s domain)
Don’t forget Auron from FFX. Sure, he had his own problems (and the same big sword complex anime guys are plagued with), but he didn’t whine, moan or complain. He spent his days drinking flammable who-knows-what from that giant bottle of his and doing his duty to protect his best friend’s kids. All the while being dead.
He was really the only character in that game I liked.
Or Galuf from V. Yes, I know.
Auron from FFX. Yes, he does have a slightly ludicrous sword, but he’s still pretty manly.
At least he wields his preposterous sword as though it’s actually heavy, which is a point in his favour.
Coela, if I didn’t love you already, I certainly would now.
Last strip:
“Can I assume you wield it with the intent that it compensates* for your inadequate genitals?
I’m so sorry :(
Actually, her construction is appropriate. Counter-intuitive, mayhap, but perfectly cromulent.
I love you for the use of ‘cromulent.’ I am going to use that at least three times in casual conversation today.
You are a hero.
I about fell out of my chair on this one. hilarious!
The essay… that is… *sigh*
Two things. One: I wish there were more people in this world like you. Because this comic said basically everything I’ve wanted to say about prettyboy stripper anime googly things and more.
Two: I love the fact that Sesshomaru drinks the same kind of girly drinks that I drink.
thank you for this comic if I weren’t about to bust a rib I would have busted one for sure
nah… i love you sure. sure that kinda boys can be hot… but being hot =/= being manly-manly…
Whenever I feel inadequate about my physique, I just Google “bishounen” and compare myself to the results.
It makes me feel better every time.
Holy shit, it’s Volt! :D
One of many things my schooling in psychology and human sexuality has taught me is that 60% of women prefer men with feminine facial features. This paired with studies that show that true bisexuality only exists in women due to their stronger emotional component and that most women to some degree are bisexual, dressing up as they do for each other rather than really dressing to impress men, I’m never surprised when women fawn over the most ridiculously girly of men, in real life or otherwise.
Keep up the good work, the good discrimination, and more men with beards please.
One of the many things I’ve learned is that psychologists are as prone to sexist, cissexist, and heteronormative bias as anyone else, and that any study that claims bisexuals (and other non-normative sexualities and gender identities) don’t really exist is either full of crap or doesn’t actually say that. :3
Thank you! Also, I’ve learned that 72% of statistics are made up on the spot by people who are trying to validate shoddy claims for which they have no actual evidence!
One of the many things I’ve learned is that people who are so consumed by a “cause” that they have to make up words like “cissexist” to explain it aren’t the type to argue honestly and instead will simply condemn dissenting opinions as sexism, racism, or some other kind of “ism”.
Just in case you missed the point I was making, you clearly didn’t even try to honestly debate the claims made by IceeInChrg. If you were really as confident in your worldview as you claim you would have asked for a link to one of the studies IceeInChrg referred to so you could refute it.
:P Real life proof is in my friend. He’s as feminine looking as can be and girls seem to fall for him left and right. Unfortunately for him, half of the ones he’s been with were crazy in some way shape or form. Can’t say it’s the majority, though.
I heard that was a recent change in tastes partially due to the wide spread use of birth control pills. Since a lot of women are on the pill which makes their body think they are pregnant – they shift their mental views of what they want in a man, from the strong masculine variety (that ensure strong babies) to the more effeminate softer sort (that would in theory make good sensitive fathers.)
Not sure if I myself buy that argument myself. But it was an interesting theory.
Gonna throw this out, Tager from BlazBlue is pretty manly. Just sayin’.
Could you make another comic like this, but with Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Mummies Alive/Street Sharks/Other kids shows?
Generally the males on that show were generally buff or muscular, but it still made them silly and it’d make for a pretty funny comic about the commander having to deal with a multi-colored showboat.
Not -TELLING- you to do this, but I think it’d be fucking funny.
Perhaps, but it’s worth noting that those cultures that defined “masculinity” as such typically also romanticized sexual relations between adult men and adolescent boys, often to the extent of downplaying or deriding affection *between* the sexes all together, with the social status of women consequently being severely diminished by comparison (see Afghanistan, feudal Japan, etc).
Gahahahah! That was awesome! I like both manly guys and bishounen, but you give a great point there. Sometimes anime is just a little TOO ridiculous.
Note: The above comment was made in response to Layogenic’s post further up.
Like a few others on this list, I like a couple of the guys in this strip, but the comic is just so awesome…I was laughing, seriously. And getting all uppity about it would be ridiculous. And an excellent way to counterpoint some ridiculous fangirl/boy. Also, in the first panel with Volt (woot, Bouncer cameo!), he and the Commander look like they could be siblings. Please, Coela, keep doing what you do. Because you rock.
A large-sword-compensating-for-small-penis-joke.
I am hardly surprised.
We’re the cutting edge of originality here.
Wait, you mean it’s been done before? Shock!!!!!!!!
Then I suggest we move on.
Thank you for getting the joke I was making.
Hey, I love the comic, but I just want to give you fair warning that you’re painting yourself to look like a wide cunt right now.
I mean, the author of that letter, wrong as they may be, was pretty polite about it. This sort of response could be warranted if they had verbally shit on you or something, but as it stands right now you’re just broadcasting your own overreaction.
Like, you could have just said, “Hey, here’s an idea, you can go ahead and make a comic about those things, and I’ll go ahead and not read it because those things are for dickshitters,” and you would have come off as The Cooler Dude, but… I mean, this is the kind of thing that would bring in a deluge of “u mad” macros on bad imageboards, you know?
I remember reading a letter like three years ago. There’s this guy named DigitalPh33r who pretty much just sits around playing Xbox all day and being a dick to people, and he got huge on youtube because anything will make you huge on youtube. Somebody made a forum post complaining about how he had written DigitalPHeaf a huge, huuuge well-written letter telling him very politely and eloquently what he could be doing better in the writer’s opinion. His purported response was this:
“Dear John
No.
Regards,
[whatever his name was I don’t know]”
This guy has done absolutely nothing of value as far as I know, but I gained a modest amount of respect for him just for handling the situation the way he did.
So yeah. Maybe don’t be a dong in the spotlight. It doesn’t help you, regardless of the circumstances.
oh boy it only took 153 posts for someone to start calling me a cunt.
http://image.odinseye.org/images/4.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3DUOh.gif
I’m just saying…
I lol’d
This all goes without saying, but:
I for one (amongst the vast majority) thought your response was tasteful, intelligent, and hilarious. Ignore any twatwaffle who abandons good sense to say otherwise.
You call Coelasquid a “wide cunt,” but she’s the one overreacting? Projection much?
I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry. Given the circumstances this is really inappropriate, but i’m finding calling someone a “wide cunt” really hilarious.
I’ve never, EVER saw someone using those words.
I don’t think a “response” this measured and inoffensive warrants busting out The Big C. I’m not well-versed in any of the subject matter covered in MGDMT, but this came across to me as pretty gentle and low-key ribbing.
Maybe you have to be heavily emotionally invested in the subjects being poked at to get pissed about it.
Don’t see what you’re upset about.
The person in question requested a variety of characters not matching the theme to appear in this comic.
As a direct result of that request, and the… um, “enthusiasm” there-in, Coelasquid drew a comic with most of the requested characters.
Sounds to me like she’s pretty accommodating!
Can next week’s comic be about “The Cooler Dude”? He sounds like a swell guy, what with his polite dickshitting wide cunt spotlight dong reactions.
Naw, next week will probably be Commander’s kids or something.
And that is the best thing ever.
Yeah I don’t suppose you can address every hate mail you receive. Because than there will be hate mail on your hate mail comic. And than your pulling an Inception and it just turns into a big mess…
… Dunno what you’re trying to prove, but there’s no point of using the C word.
Internet filter check : think about saying this to her face in public, yeah you’d probably choose different words.
Can you delete Nottaj’s account and block his(?) IP address? Seriously I’m pretty offended by this steaming pile of monkey using such an offensive term. My sons read this web comic. I don’t need inferior vermin with no manners getting disgusting.
Cthulu is coming for you Nottaj.
As polite as Nottaj might have tried to seem, that’s really just like writing a pile of turd and covering it with ice cream and chocolate sprinkles.
Big C’s sense of humor is much more roundabout, and sometimes, the simplest answers are the best. Sten still wins in this regard.
Warden: tell me about your people, Sten.
Sten: No.
So, the fact that she goes above and beyond the “no” of making Commander be OOC to some girly men means that she is truly a genius. The writer asked, and she provided. But, as with anyone, she did it her way. The best way to get something done the way you want it is to do it yourself. Just because something is well-written does not mean it’s any good.
Not to use your own hypocritical words against you but uh….
Lol U Mad Bro?
Oh wow. You actually take yourself seriously. How sad for you.
Here’s a better idea, the next time you decide to lecture someone, ANYONE, on the concepts of respect like the true to life Nice Guy ™ that you are, I suggest you do it WITHOUT the gendered slurs. You know, because if you’re going to be a disrespectful little shit, then why the fuck should anyone care about what you have to say about respect?
Just saying.
“Hey, here’s an idea, you can go ahead and make a comic about those things, and I’ll go ahead and not read it because those things are for dickshitters,”?
Wouldn’t a response like that be WAY more offensive than this comic? Coelasquid pretty much just gave that girl what she wanted – bishies. No name-calling and no rude comments. Just a simple “Well girl, this is why they don’t quite fit in here.”
I wonder how many of these “suggestions” and “tips” from fans Coela’s received before this one. I wonder how many times she’s taken the “high road” and not said anything, only to have some other “fan” try to tell her what to do in her comic the very next day? I think it was a wise choice to show all her “fans” exactly what she thinks of their dumb ideas, so maybe they’ll stop bothering her with them.
Just like how she hates Dante because she’s had people ruin him/DMC for her by repeatedly insisting that he’s awesome and amazing, she’s probably had more than enough of people offering their “helpful suggestions.” The person who originally wrote that essay may have been polite in wording, but the intent was not polite. That person was basically saying “Your ideas and the way you present them aren’t good enough; here, I’ll help by giving you something even better to write about.” As Coela said herself, those little scripted bits were just adding insult to insult. How presumptuous!
Anyway, I think Coela was well within reason to respond as she did. And I don’t think her response makes her any kind of cunt, wide or narrow.
Don’t you know that that’s what professional comedians do?
The absurdity of Nottaj comment initially entertained me in an odd “too 2D to be real” manner, and proved invaluable inspiration concerning “things not to do in order to grow as a human being”. However, the chance that any such remark gives grievance saddens me.
Best to apply the lesson of the comic to the comments as well: when someone doesn’t fit it, it’s probably most considerate to reject and dismiss. Goodbye, Nottaj.
Trolling on someone’s comic while her fans are ready to attack you and you knowing that full well of it, it’s pretty brave but also very idiotic. Irony in your comment as others pointed out. You are talking about being polite when you are using hateful words that really don’t mean anything when on the internet. Coel was just showing reality of these bishi men have, which is gay pron of them and sexual harassment reports against them. I see nothing rude or wrong in this comic. I find it very hilarious in fact. Mostly the Sesshomaru one since that is 100% fact.
Also, you taking the internet seriously means you fail as a troll. Learn the ways of the internet before trying to troll anyone kid :)
Nottaj, opinions are like assholes. By this same line of logic you are an opinion.
Bravo.
Srsly? Chill out.
P.S. (I was a wide cunt for my boyfriend last night, and we both had a great time. Stop ragging on the wide cunt.)
She’s been making fun of Manly Men for months but this went too far? I am a fan of comic books, Harry Potter, Manga, video games, Twilight, and a variety of other things that constantly inspire those gifted with artistic talent (and more often then not those without) to created parodies in the sequential art form. This is a place to laugh. If you can’t find the humor in what goes on here then you should not come.
This is Coelasquid’s site. She does not post these strips on the fan sites of Anime charters. (I might though) She posts her work here on this site she has dedicated to in her own words “The punchline is machismo.” She was probably avoiding this line of humor for a while not because some would find it offensive but because it’s too easy. She received many letters, some may very well have been polite, and she responded the way all comedians do; she found the humor in it and put it on display. Those of us who are fans of Inuyasha and the rest saw the humor in it. You don’t have the right to lash out because you lacked that ability.
When there are characters that ride their stupid swords around like motorcycles, it’s hard to take them seriously.
Yeah, much as I like DMC, I still thought that joke was hilarious. It really is basically a sharpened compressed car “onna steek” when you get right down to it. Fact is I hadn’t really heard of the first two guys (I watch anime, I just have a lot of friends who watch it first so I only get the good ones) and was pretty well indifferent to FF as a series. Don’t understand the hatedom or the hyper-fanboys.
Hatedom and hyper-fanboyism will exist with everything, no matter what, in at least some small secluded corner of the internet
Yeah, suppose that’s true. Actually a lot of the things that you can ;laugh at most easily on the internet are born from it.
And I feel stupid. I just got the joke that, technically, this is a comic featuring the bishie characters. Heh, here I am, Mr. Slow-On-The-Uptake Jeroic right here.
Since I’m more a hip-hop fan than an anime fan, the first thing I thought of when you mentioned DMC was these gentlemen: http://images.paraorkut.com/img/artists/images/r/run_dmc-1689.jpg
And now I can’t stop myself conflating the two. I don’t think I want to stop.
I think of both. At the same time. It’s scary.
Having read the bizarre inspiration for this comic in the comments for the last page, as soon as I saw the title I immediately started laughing. I just stopped. It has been 7 minutes.
I’m a huge fan of teh animus and, really, that’s why I found this comic so hilarious. Anyone who didn’t find this amusing either isn’t familiar with the characters or needs to lighten up.
I’d have given Vincent a pass since he can turn into a demon, but mother of God, SO much gay pr0nz of Sesshoumaru. I didn’t even think that Inuyasha was that big anymore.
Also, when you get to the Cloud/Sephiroth bit, I hope that starts Barret on a recurring role. I mean, a man that puts every NFL linebacker to shame with a gun for a hand? Does it get any more macho?
You hate Japanese Characters. Point taken.
Not at all. I just felt as though, with all the character requests people send my way, the most bizarrely inappropriate of the lot deserved a comic.
Dude. Way to miss the point.
Anyways, fifthing(?) Armstrong, and I think it might be interesting to do a strip with Kenpachi, if only to have someone question what the hell he’s thinking, getting into crazy badass fights with a little girl hanging off his shoulder. I mean, yeah, she loves the bloodshed as much as he does, if not more, and they’re both already kinda dead, but. . . child endangerment and all that.
They already had a comic with Kenpachi!
… Oh wait. That was a Big Daddy. Well it’s like Kenpachi. There’s usually a girl on his shoulder. He’s just jacked, and overly-protective to a murderous state and just fits the comic better.
But… Volt Kreuger is a Japanese character. :U
Muhahahaha this one was great, loved it, keep up the great work :3
I totally agree with this…of course what we really need to look at is the regional differences
http://www.duelinganalogs.com/comic/western-and-japanese-protagonists/
I think this fits in perfectly to you’re comic as well
I’d have made more fun of Dante’s massive mommy complex, myself.
Out of curiosity, are you ever going to go into manly man outside of pop culture? I know it’s pretty much this comic’s… mm, theme, but going into the absurd manliness of mythological heroes would be quite interesting! Especially considering the Commander is a time traveller and all.
I think a comic addressing the fact that Heracles (Hercules) is named after the angry wife of his immoral, sleazy father Zeus would be pretty funny but really, if people don’t like Coelasquid’s choices of topic they can write their own damned web comic.
oooohhhh damn. best liked comic, manly or mediocre, in a long while.
Oh man…Why do people have to be so closed minded? I’m somewhat of an otaku and I found this comic hilarious.
Just remember, Ms. Coel, for every 2 or so people who bother, gripe, and complain at you there are like 15 people who love your work. Whether they’re normally lurkers like me or talkative.
I’ve seen artists on almost all of my art sites I go to (some webcomics too) who get a decent amount of negativity from people who say they have a problem but keep watching or reading anyway. You can practically feel the agitation and such through their art, and if not their art, their descriptions. They’ve also become abrasive to new fans who misunderstand something or other things to that effect. That’s the part that’s kept me just a lurker on most of them.
From what I can tell (I could be off but this is what I get from reading your comments and descriptions) you seem wonderfully neutral with life though and I like that a lot. Keep up the awesome work you do, please. I enjoy it immensely, even if I am just one random person among your sea of fans and admirers.
I think I’ve gotten maybe two negative comments out of the hundred and seventy five the strip has garnered so far, Bishounen and macho guy fans alike seem to enjoy it, so I think I’ve served the purpose I was going for. I mean, people can say I’m being mean to pretty anime men but I’ve done plenty of silly things to characters I’m quite fond of. The comic is about making fun of ridiculously outlandish aspects of characters, so I figure statements like “these characters are more manly because they have more fangirls” is prime material for the kind of satire I’m a fan of.
Two out of around 175? Wow, that’s way better that I thought. After I paused on that guy calling you a cunt my first thought was “oh no…”.
Well regardless, I’m glad no one’s harassing you and that you enjoy doing what you do.
Pretty sure Sten just won everything there. Although points must be awarded to Dante for his amazingly unimpressed facial expression in the last panel. XD
As a major fan of pretty boys, this is a good comic and you should feel good.
Although Vincent could use a touch more ~*drowning in melancholy*~, but hey.
Sten rocked my world so hard I had soda come out my nose from laughing XDD
Jeez this thing got 180 comments before I even got here. Riling up some folks, it would seem.
I just wanted to comment that I was pleased to see you could, quite well, draw a body type that wasn’t in your usual repertoire of manly guys (that do manly things). It’s not to say I didn’t expect it, just that many artists struggle with it and I’m really impressed to see you handle it marvelously.
Also thank goodness you’re not a lesser webcomic artist, amirite? wink wink nudge nudge
Ahaha, I dunno, Jared’s not the usual Manly guy type, and he shows up most weeks :P
All too true, but I was almost going to disqualify his presence on account of the fact his body is just about five sticks haphazardly tied together.
Which, to clarify in case I am misunderstood, that is not to say he is poorly drawn by you, but that he is poorly constructed by his life choices.
Hilarious! And we’re finally back to comics that deal with the concept of manliness.
This is probably one of your best ever. Keep up the good work!
Totally one of the best ever.
Also, who’s the dude (?!) in the second row with the eyeliner, wearing what appears to be a dead sheep as a boa? That has to be the most unappealing “man” I’ve seen outside of an exhumed coffin. What’s that purple mark on his forehead? Is that where his unicorn kicked him in the face?
Really I’m just jealous because my nails aren’t as nice as his.
Sesshomaru from Inuyasha. Fun fact, his English voice actor has been both Megatron and Optimus Prime in various Transformers reboots, including classic purple T-Rex Megatron in Beast Wars.
That gives him a *little* bit of badass cred, I guess.
Sort of related : I met the dude who did the voice of Bumblebee in the new Transformers movies at some screening / party (for an absurdly bad vampire B-movie) on the patio at Boardner’s in Hollywood. He was pretty rad.
That Sesshomaru should be able to join just for the voice then. He can stay out of sight, hidden in the cupboard and whisper sweet nothings while the Commander’s on his coffee break.
This one is fantastic. Never never cease to be yourself. We are here for your uniqueness, even if that is hard for other people to comprehend because they don’t get the point of the style and message of your comics.
Haters gonna hate anyways.
Oh! Also, has anyone suggested War from Darksiders yet?
I’m tempted to say he’s already been in a MGDMT comic, but I know for a fact that he’s in a comic in the extras.
http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/art/Oh-Happy-Day-150678858 :)
Best thing ever. Reading that in an incredibly manly voice.
HEY. Kuja is by far the most badass woman I know of. So there :P
Kuja wouldn’t even be badass as a female character. He’d be the weak, fake kind of Strong Female Character.
That said, though, I get what you were going for and was amused. :)
At least there could’ve been more than fangirl generated sexual tension between him and Kuja,
Oh god, my sides hurt. I fucking lost it at Vincent and Dante. Well done.
Does this mean I’ll never get to see the Commander spearfight Queequeg.
This comic was truly amazing!
Glad to know people are writing in essays about why they think terrible anime/video game characters should be in the comic. Which I must thank you for not putting Sephiroth in, as there is NOTHING manly about his serious mother complex and emo attitude. It’s like anime creators just love there characters to be emo and ineffectual. I wouldn’t mind it so much if every character wasnt’t filled with such constant angst.
Inyuyasha is just Dragon Ball Z for girls, just as Dragon Ball Z is there for mouthbreathers.
Soooooo true about DBZ. I mean really, what kind of series has the main character happy that the bad guy survived a powerful attack without a scratch while going “I’m just the guy who thought he beat you a moment ago” and saying it in a jolly tone. Or stands around and just watches as his opponent becomes stronger without making an attack of opportunity while knowing that if his opponent wins that many will later be killed by said bad guy.
Everything I’ve seen from the show makes me wish I could get those precious moments of my life back.
The worst thing about DBZ in my opinion is that no one ever wins through intelligence. It’s always who develops stronger energy blasts. Bulma is supposed to be the smartest person on the planet and she is completely useless.
See Jojos Bizarre Adventure for the polar opposite, where everyone (at least for the first four series) is huge and beefy and their intelligence is what decides who succeeds.
You want real effeminate men to bash? Please do SUPER JUNIOR, look for their song ‘It’s You’ and poke a fun to it, which by the way many of the girls and gays in my country are going gaga for. Also the ‘manly’ men here wanted to emulate them cause it gets them close to girls! Sheesh!
Also, you think Manny Pacquiao is Manly enough? Just askin’
I’m not bashing effeminate men, I’m making fun of the idea that Kuja is fashionable, Sesshomaru’s homoerotic fanart means he’s popular with the ladies, that Commander would be impressed by a guy who turns into a demon, and that enormous buster blades are in any way practical.
Ahh apologies, but I think I meant make fun with them, but then again this strip addresses the effeminate men already so I guess the point is moot. Keep it up though, loved the comic since page 1 :)
Hey, gigantic swords are *totally* practical…
if all you have to make swords with is titanium. Not even, like, titanium alloy, just pure titanium. And you have superhuman strength and a lot of muscle mass.
Of course, a spear would be better under those circumstances.
If I had a sword that big, the only thing I’d do with it is lay it over a barrel and stomp on the pommel to launch shit off the tip. It’d be the world’s most portable and titaniumest siege engine.
To be fair, since Dante is half demon, I think it’s fairly manageable for him. But yeah, continue.
Weight alone isn’t what determines how wieldy a sword is, it’s also the distribution of that weight. My dad found the Sephiroth Masamune at a sword shop he frequents and was going to but it for the novelty of having a six foot katana, but ended up being completely put off by how horrible the balance was. It’s not even unheard of for a sword to be six feet or longer, we’ve got a number of six foot broadswords in the house and they’re all heavier than the Masamune, I’m not even discounting the potential for a well balanced six foot katana, but that particular one was something awful. It’s all about the balance.
Your dad is actually a Highlander, isn’t he.
You have the coolest dad ever.
We get it.
On a somewhat related note, I admit curiosity as to you and your fanbase’s general opinion on Jack Rakan’s “Warship Slicing Sword.”
I started out ROFLing, then LMAOing, then it died down to a LOL. After reading all the way through the comments, just stopped laughing. I’m a huge DMC fan, but Ma’am, you BLEW MY MIND! And I think you handled it accordingly. Politeness is UNMANLY when it comes to someone telling you to throw your ideas to the wayside for what they’d LIKE to see. This is your world. You are its god. Let nobody else tell you how to run it. And as someone above said, I respect you stickin to your guns.
:3 Hooray! I’m glad to see you did a comic similar to the one I sent you for fancomic week.
I love you. And this comic.
Also, I know you basically said t-shirts were out of the question but what if you had enough prepaid preorders (does that make sense? D: Like a KickStarter type thing, I guess) to compensate for your time? ‘Cause I would love an MGDMT t-shirt.
OK, I don’t have anything to bishes, but come on! This comic is MANLY guys doing MANLY things ffs! I don’t consider a man manly if he looks as if wearing more make-up than me.
Anyhow – just stopping by to appreciate your work and admit that I starter stalk-er following you thanks to your great Dragon Age art – Sten! Why there is so little fan-work of you? That and you made you elf PC manly :)
Sten fanwork is around…there’s just a very small vein of the very good. ^_~
ah fanboys they always ruin everything by not shutting the fuck up
love you for doing this
Oh Sten, will you ever fail to amuse us with your laconic and surprising words? He’s like… A Spartan (Not Halo) fused with The Beast (X-Men).
It is a sad day when you have to specifically state it’s not Halo’s Spartans.
I have to applaud this stealthily highbrow comment.
Thought the comic was pretty darn funny. As for the essay writer, everyone on the internet thinks they have a better idea bout how people should do things (heck what am I talk, happens all the time in RL too). Very few actually take it upon themselves to do what they ask others to do.
Any how, I’m (and i’m sure many others) are more interested in how CS tell her own stories through her comics.
You fill my heart with glee, and my internet with truth. Thank you <3
BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *luvs*
Wait, did that person try to say ‘Pretty Boys’ (cause that’s pretty much was Bishounen means) are manly?
there are manly anime characters (Ike would be a well known one) but there are so many pathetic ones that the ones who are actually manly get burried under them.
also, Nathan Spencer (from Bionic Commando) should be included in the ranks of the Manly Guys
PPS: Samus Aran is the manlyest character in existance
Isn’t Samus… a woman?
(I’m not sure if you were being sarcastic or not…)
ROFLOL!!! Okay, I’m a huge fan of Vincent and Fluffy, but yeah, this is comic is pure gold! Especially that last set with Dante and the Dragon Age guy! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made fun of “superslim” anime/video game characters who somehow manage to swing ridiculously huge swords around with their skinny little arms as if they weighed no more than a feather! XD Excellent work!
Also, the morons who think they have the right to tell YOU how YOUR comic should go can go fornicate themselves in the eye with a rusty railroad spike! If they want Fluffy or the Flamboyant Wonder to be the manliest thing around, then they should go do their own comic about it, instead of wasting your time! >_<
Let me think… yeah I think you covered every thing.
If a guy looks like you could slap him really hard and he would start crying or you think they would be tempted to watch a marathon of Desperate Housewives without trying to come up with a logical manly reason then they don’t belong here.
Off topic note: This comic has made me decide that it is worth the hassle of sighing up to gravatar. This is single strip is one of the best I have every seen online and that is including the Bacon tree that Cyanide and Happiness introduced me for. This strip is so manly and funny that it beat the bacon tree.
You know, I don’t want to seem like a brown noser, but I am hard pressed to find Sesshomaru, Vincent, or- whoever that other guy is as manly.
Dante, in a bit of a stretch, (pretty much impossible with his latest incarnation), but yeah I guess he doesn’t fit in well either, he might have won a few more points if he had broader shoulders not-white hair. (But this is going off on a tangent)
And despite the response seeming crude, I myself must congratulate you on this. Were I a webcomic author in a similar situation, I probably would have shown much less restraint, either that or posted a comic with an explanation of the situation and a giant middle finger.
Well as I posted before, Sesshomaru isn’t ‘manly’ by looking manly. It’s really how he acts. Ok sure he’s a cold hearted aloof bastard half the time but it’s mostly from being what he is [demon] and what he is ranked as [a lord].
I was never really interested in Sesshomaru just cause he well was eye candy. Ok sure when I was younger, but as I grew older I really did come to like Sesshomaru more and more for his character, especially when he started caring for Rin.
And I have a soft spot for big fluffy dogs.
Need manly Final Fantasy characters? Barrett, Cid (FFVII), Cyan, Yang (and his Magnum PI mustache), and motherfucking Sabin. There aren’t many of them, but of the few there are, damn if they aren’t the most badass mofos around.
Manly final fantasy characters? Gilgamesh. Full stop.
Of course, he’d just get kicked out of the agency for his rampant kleptomania in the first week.
Not because he’s stealing the other manly guys’ stuff, but because he’s stealing the replicas from the giftstore and claiming he’s been stealing their stuff.
You, as always, never cease to amaze. I can’t even find words, really, aside from you are fucking awesome.
Ohohohohogods this is made of so much legendary and win at the same time.
I simply cannot decide which of them were the best! Sten’s one was simply priceless, and for the rest… God yes, apparently gay… Paraphenalia of interest. (Yes, that one word would make this comment blocked; roundabout, ho!) does equal their amount of fangirls. Now, where did Sephiroth go, hmm…? Probably to some asylum. That guy’s -beyond- rehab.
Great work like always! Keep it up!
This is probably the best thing I’ve seen all week. I love how you drew the bishounen in your style. Seeing them in a non-anime light makes them look so vapid and… well… ugly, and you pulled it off well. Seeing Dante get it at the end made my day, too. I like Dante’s underlying character, but in the end he’s still just a dick.
Sten was being way too kind to that bullshit anime sword
LOL!!
Ah, even Dante gets told… I never really considered him a bishounen.
To each their own. You keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re doing great.
I understand everything else but cmon man, Dante is pretty fucking awesome until the Reboot.
Hey, I don’t think I’ve mentioned in any of these comments that I really like the comic. It makes my day brighter, not just on update days but basically any time something reminds me that it exists – which is frequently, like for instance every time I hear or read the words win, fail, epic or awesome – and any time I see any of the strips that get passed around the Net (Mr Fish’s story shows up on the most unexpected places), reminding me that other people read the comic too.
The best I think is when people who don’t read comics at all talk about how they fell in love with Manly Guys on first sight. I’m a comics enthusiast, I want people to know about the medium and explore it and help it grow, and your comic contributes to that.
When you think about it, Coela, you are changing the world with your work. The Commander and everyone are sinking into the popular consciousness as we speak, becoming part of the architecture of our ideas. Maybe only a few hundred thousand people are involved in that process so far, but I don’t think the exact scale is important. I just wanted to say I think you’re doing a great job, and thank you.
Also, I find it very funny and clever.
I suppose the final question is whether anyone can find a manly bishounen anime/game character.
I’m sure if I thought about it hard enough, there could be a few highly effeminate japanese character who would fit in perfectly well with the various manly guys. Buuut I’m not really gonna work on that right now.
Kakashi from Naruto? I think he’s a pretty good fit for the Brandao.
Im gonna say Yuri and Jaoquin from Shadow Hearts, and Dio and Vanilla Ice (and maybe Polnareff and Robert Speedwagon) from Jojos Bizarre Adventure.
Joachim? The gay vampire pro-wrestler hero of justice in the butterfly mask? I think I would have picked Yuri and Kato or Yuri and Lenny, myself.
Dang, I knew I was spelling it wrong. XD But yeah, the request was for bishounen ( and presumably biseinen) who are also manly; Kato and Lenny aren’t bishy at all.
I suppose I’ll agree with anyone from Jojo, but parts 1 through I guess 3 were SUPER MACHO men in the same vein as MGDMT. Not that they relied much on their physical prowess as much as using their powers in completely weird ways after the first two parts…
It’s around part 4 that you got less super macho men as much as leaner, still visible muscled out men.
But yes, if anyone haven’t read Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, read it for OH MY GOD MANLY. HOW IS IT SO MANLY. MY EYES ARE BURNING WITH SHEER MANLINESS.
Jade from Tales of the Abyss, probably.
That’s quite possibly the funniest comic since the Jared saga. I love you.
Somehow I don’t think Kuja and “logical leader” work together. Shit was a few happy meals short of a fry.
Still, nice.
LOL awesome
Okay, ngl, I’m a yaoi fangirl. I bring this up because I like reading the comments and want to add something to the overall discussion, and want people to know that I enjoy this comic and can very easily admit that some bishounen aren’t particularly manly! (NOT ALL YAOI FANGIRLS ARE LIKE YOU BELIEVE–! Anyway.)
With bishounen vs. manly men, there’s the whole issue of art-style. Some guys who are meant to be manly in anime still come off as whispy pretty boys or the artist is too lazy to draw more complicated muscled figures or they figure they won’t get the fangirl target audience that way– (wasn’t there a game who had a really manly male lead, but Japan swapped him out for a more traditionally bishie one? Yeah.) Thus, I can see where someone might say, “though he looks effeminate, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is not manly.” For someone whom you’ve used in your comics before, I actually think Fenris could be a good example of this. In the same way, there are manly women too, but that isn’t what your comic is about. ;)
Still! For the most part the bishounen personality traits aren’t what people would overall considered manly. (See: excessive angst, effeminate traits, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but when it over-saturates the medium…!) And I wish more yaoi fangirls would recognize that and actually APPRECIATE when a character is meant to be manly vs. the typical pretty boy wai wai trope and not shove him into a dress or some shit. That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to stop shipping men in yaoi or slash or whatever, but a male character does not have to act the “female” in order to fit into a gay relationship and some of us might prefer them to retain their masculinity fffffff. Along the same lines, you can have manly men be gay.
So I just wanted to say… thanks for giving conventional manly men more of a spotlight! While I can see where some people might be coming from when saying the more pretty boy characters can be manly too, the fact is this isn’t what this comic is about and those guys get a lot of love already anyway, to the point of being excessive and disregarding the good things about having traditional masculine traits both in personality and looks.
Very nice post! I personally love bishounen characters, but I don’t always like them to be girly and ineffective- just pretty (I’m a little shallow at times, haha). I agree that there are several characters in anime who are badass and manly-just not physically manly. Feminine looks do not always equal a feminine personality.
And as for the yaoi/slash shipping, I am guilty as charged, but I also don’t insist a character be weepy and angsty to be gay- being gay doesn’t mean being effeminate, it just means you like cock more than vagina.
And as much as I love all of these characters, the fanbase is sometimes what brings them down, not the actual character. Also, the website is MANLY GUYS DOING MANLY THINGS, not ‘Bishounen anime guys showing off and stealing the spotlight’. You want idolized bishi boys? Wrong place, idiots.
>>(wasn’t there a game who had a really manly male lead, but Japan swapped him out for a more traditionally bishie one? Yeah.)
First thing I thought of was NieR.
Oh yes, that’s the one! Thanks!
I’ve actually got a long story arc related to that game that I’ve been planning out for months.
Why, where did all this DROOL on the floor come from? I cannot imagine.
(In all seriousness, all I’ve seen is a Let’s Play and I am already intrigued! Will there be Drakengard content also?)
FFXII did that too.
You reminded me of another manlyish character in the FF series. Snow, from XIII. Dude wears like a size 13 shoe… That and he’s the ONLY character in the whole damn game to have his shit straight the WHOLE WAY THROUGH (good god I needed therapy after that game. It was HORRID)
Just getting my huge Nier nerd out there and saying the bishy version came first, not the buff one.
(An entire NieR-related story arc? On MGMDT? When Coleasquid dissed the game so hard on Twitter? What is this tremulous anticipation I feel…)
I didn’t diss it so hard, I think just said it was like the Final Fantasy guys really wanted to make a Zelda game and made fun of what a horrible father he was (you know, for a guy who is supposed to be a great dad)
I believe ‘David Bowie on steroids’ was also mentioned!
Time moves oddly in JRPGs so I like to think he didn’t just run into his house to say ‘sup Yonah’ and grab the healing items but you are right, his parenting skills are sub-par! It really bothered me until I realised there isn’t a single healthy parental relationship even counting the unnamed NPCs that survived the entire game….
Since when is comparing something to David Bowie a diss?
I dunno, every interaction with his daughter and other people seemed to be “DON’T LOOK AT HER! YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE HER SICK!” She just wants to read books at the library and talk to her friends, but that just earns her a scolding before she’s put back in her cage.
This is possibly the greatest thing… Ever…
I had to do a google image search to figure out who was who from the tags. The only one I’d seen before was Vincent (as an action figure), though I know OF Dante, just never actually played the games.
It’s a little scary that Sesshomaru looks more like a guy here than he does in half the pics I found.
Welp. I only know who one of those guys are that isn’t Sven or Commander. I must be doing it wrong. Seems like you have a shitton of comments as it is, but let me just add I read your comic BECAUSE of all the macho guys (And it’s funny). There’s literally thousands of webcomics out there I’m sure they could find something to please them.
It is infinitely frustrating to have people tell you to change what you like to do so THEY can(maybe) enjoy it. My favorite one of those is still “wasting their talent drawing something I don’t like.”
I want merchandise!!! T-shirts, mugs, something! Please?
Brilliant. Utterly brilliant.
I like FF. I like DMC. But I would never say Dante or Vincent/Cloud/Seph is manly. Cid or Barrett would be have been more realistic if someone was going to push the game. But you know, those fanboys/girls don’t get reality.
I guess it’s like a Marvel comics manliness having millions of votes for Deadpool or the like.
I think this would have to be the best one so far. Awesome
i still wonder why Sgt. Johnson from Halo saga isn’t on this comic. He doesn’t need any fancy pansy suits or perfect shaped face to kick the hell out of the enemy…
I want to use him, but I haven’t played Halo so I don’t have any good ideas for what to do with him.
“Sargeant Major Avery Junior blow-the-hell-out-of-your-alien-ass Johnson, reporting for duty!” Johnson is the kind of character that doesn’t give a damn what anyone else thinks, and takes matters into his own hands. A real soldier and inspiration to his troops, he knows what needs done and how to get it done. By blowing the problem to smithereens. ALSO, as said in Halo 2 after Johnson drops a Tank into the battle for Chief and Cortana (The Female AI)
Cortana: Thanks. He never gets me anything. (Referring to Chief)
Johnson: I know what the ladies like.
Just thought that’d help clear up the character a bit. I hope it does. He’s the only character from that series I totally respect.
Burn Dante burn!!
That was fun.
And as a comment I’d note that there are manly anime characters here and there. I never thought they needed to be here and I never thought you were against them. I mean you have plenty of material to use without digging around.
Just you know most of them are from the 80s and/or Bruce Lee. Like in Sakigake!! Otokojuku or Fist of the North Star.
I only disagree on the account of Dante…yeah, he’s a punk ass kid, yeah he’s overcompensating…well…only in the last couple of games. In the first game he was wielding a sword comparable to Sten’s…but he’s a pretty cool dude, honestly. Great lines, good with the girls. I think it’s unfair to shunt him aside just because a bunch of drooling fangirls/boys turned him the incestuous bitch of his older brother.
Also, has that hardass general from Vanquish made an appearance yet? He and the protagonist both need a comic.
Also, what about Guts, from Berserk? Dude’s a manly man in spades…sword or no sword, he could give the commander a run for his money…
*awaits to be stricken down for his blasphemy*
…I’m going to stop after this, I swear to god I will…
What about Jet Black and Spike Spiegal from Cowboy Bebop? Jet’s a big dude and a brawler, and Spike’s got the moves…and neither of them are “Bishie”…so do they count as manly men?
I must have missed the part where having a pet sea monster is relevant to anything…
Just kidding. Obviously the difference between Jared and Vincent is the attitude, since Commander seems like he’d be willing to give Vincent a shot IF he looks into therapy. He’s a fair man.
As for Vincent… he had cool powers and I liked the aesthetic design of the character, but.. man.. his emo dialogue was certainly a drawback. :/
Ditto to that…the dude’s all weepy and…gah…that ain’t manly at all…
Well, wouldn’t YOU be “emo” if you couldn’t save the woman you loved, got experimented on by the mad scientist who drove said woman to crystalline suicide, your failure to stop the mad scientist leading to the birth of a maniac who killed who knows how many people and almost destroyed the world. Oh and to top it off, because of the experiments, you’re immortal and no longer human due to a stone at least the size of a fist surgically implanted in your chest. If you can maintain a sunny dispossession despite all that, you are to be congratulated.
Bah… that was supposed to be disposition… pity that these things aren’t like forum posts that you can edit…
Yeah, uh.. basically a LOT of people go through life suffering some severe depression, and not all of them act all outwardly emo about it like Vincent does. A lot of people instead keep their personal suffering to themselves and try to put on a healthy appearance for those around them.
People who actually go around actively making sure everyone KNOWS they’re tormented? That’s just… being desperate for attention, and it’s not an admirable personality trait.
Sunny Disposition? No. Bubbling cauldron of murderous, revenge fueled rage? Abso-fucking-luteable.
I don’t know who either of the first two bishonen is–Kuja or Sesshomaru by process of elimination of course–and after reading the second panel I’d prefer to avoid googling them to figure out the difference. Such a quandary.
the first one is Kuja, the big bad from FFIX, who was so deeply effeminate, that i’d seriously thought he was a flat chested she.. Of course, then reality hit me with the revelation that no japanese business would ever honestly make someone that lovely, and not give them triple Ds. The one with the moon, the marks, and the giant fluff over the shoulder is Sesshomaru, and he’s as bishie as he is dickish, and is lacking much in wangst, save for why dear ole daddy gave his eldest son the healy sword, whilst his youngest “mutt” son was given the killing sword.
Good man.
Knowledge is power
EPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!
Put a dollar in the E-word Jar, sir, and try not to let it happen again.
A lesson learned the hard way, you have my sympathies
This made my day.
Thank you.
Oliver Armstrong is a scarily masculine character…
But then again, she’s not a boy, is she? (though she’s certainly manlier than most of the people in Fullmetal Alchemist)
Gotta say, as a huge fan of the anime world and “bishie” stuff, this absolutely made my day.
Why?
It’s the cold. Hard truth.
Not only is this what whiny fangirls get for prodding Squid with a “DRAW BISHIES THEY BE COOLER” stick, but it’s showing that Anime is frankly, more often than not made up of thin, girly faced men.
There are a lot of exceptions, that’s true and I’ll admit it… But throw in the fangirls and every single character that was once respectable as a cool male character
WHOOOOOSH
Down the drain.
That’s why you’re saying you don’t like Dante, right?
Because of the abuse that every single fangirl pushes on you and the constant blathering on about how “awesome” and “sexy” Dante is.
I probably would have just rage quit by now.
I applaud you for the great patience and snarky reply to those hormone-driven girls’ requests.
Friggin’ -brilliant- strip. Dead on.
The Appletini just made this entire strip for me.
thanks :D
I second that! Reminded me of my not-so-manly friend who wears sweater vests. Appeltini’s are his drink of choice :D
I love Dante, but having Sten insult him was the best way to have him insulted.
zoro from one piece, kenpachi from bleach, and might guy/killer bee/raikage from naruto do with them what you will ms squid but i guarantee it will be funny
Best. :D
Fuck…Kuja,Vicent,Dante. WTF IS THIS?!
No, really, when people say this characters, why anybody name the real manly guys?
Vicent?NOPE Manly would be BARRET the huge black guy with the armgun of the game.
That character of Inuyasha?!HELL NO! Manly its ZARAKI KENPACHI of bleach(Btw it’s so funny when you realize that he is fighting against all the other characters that are mostly bishounen on his anime.)
@Coelasquid
Volt Krueger! LOL I didn’t realize until You said it. The bouncer was a great game. Never forget unlocking the final battle where Dauragon show the dragon tattoo.
As much as I like bishounen characters (which is a whole damn lot), I am very, very well aware that they’re definitely not qualified to be in your comics except as comedic relief. Yes, they can do fantastic feats of destruction, and have more fangirls, and great fashion sense, ect, but they are not ‘manly’- they are DRAMATIC. There is a difference, trust me! People like bishounen characters because they are dramatic, flashy and (depending on the character, more or less) cool. NOT manly. I love all the characters made fun of in this strip to pieces, but there is a REASON they are called ‘pretty-boys’, not ‘manly-men’.
As an aside, I’ve been wondering- is Darth Vader considered manly? Not Anakin from the prequels, but Vader. He seems like he would, and he’s fairly bad-ass, what with the whole Force-choke thing, but now I’m not so sure. What do you guys think?
Honestly, I’d consider Obi Wan more manly than Vader ever was. Mainly because, to me, you cannot ignore his Anakin side which (like Vincent) is full of dramatic angst.
I noticed you replied to my comment as well, but I didn’t really have much to add except down here to this one– yes! Anime characters, whispy pretty boy or not, are on the whole modeled to be DRAMATIC, not manly. That is not to say you can’t get manly and dramatic in one sweet package, but I think it’s a line some people have trouble defining between what we define as making a cool bishounen and a manly man.
He did die to save his son. That’s pretty manly.
I don’t know if Obi Wan was manly, but I do think he was at least as big of a dick as Darth Vader. He was my favorite until he just let Ani die slowly in a pit of lava. I think if my mentor did that and I lived, I’d go even crazier too and decide to kill everyone in the galaxy…
Also that ‘Your father was killed by Vader, FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW’ part was basically Obi-Wan being a huge dick. I viewed that part as Obi-Wan trying to engineer events so Luke would kill Vader without ever knowing he was his Dad. Really, Obi-Wan? What happened to that whole ‘the Jedi are good and kind’ thing? I bet good is a matter of perspective too, jackass.
Well, Obi-Wan was (to me) only badass when he was fighting, and since he was given the nickname of ‘The Negotiator’ he was pretty much a pacifist, which brings down his coolness a bit. I can’t really consider Obi-Wan that manly.
Yea, Vader did have his whiny phase as Anakin, but I think that was more a case of bad acting/dialogue in the prequels, not him just being a wimp in general (I remember some of the stand-alone book series made Anakin a smart-ass and lover of loopholes, and significantly less pathetic). I’m referring to Vader from the first three movies, and ignoring the prequel continuity; I think he was pretty manly in that context, though he did have that ‘Yes Master’ thing going on (which could be a justified fear of being electrocuted if he was a smart-ass, I guess).
The whole idea just contradicts itself from the start with the fact that Bishounen means ‘Pretty Boy” and “Manly” men are never ‘pretty’. But you don’t have to get your panties in a bunch, that doesn’t mean they still can’t be bad ass. I also don’t understand why people would get upset over this, especially the one who wrote that essay, they got their wish, bishounen are in the comic!
I’d also like to plug Jayne from Firefly, who is as manly as his name isn’t. I don’t think I’ve seen him in the comic… do you even use non-animated characters?
A-Team’s Hannibal Smith appeared here once.
Oh man. I think I would die of joy is Jayne made it into this comic. XD
It’s a much more fortuitous challenge to find a popular japanese anime/game protagonist who doesnt match the overused bishy-style.
Try looking for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. It’s a very old manga that was recently finished. Everyone in that manga looks like they can be Japanese relatives of the Manly Cast.
A bit of warning? It’s..bizarre and contains a lot of near impossible poses (which is deliberate), the translation is also god-awful, but hilarious.
Jojo’s still going in Japan, though. I read the author just started series 8 this year.
That’s probably Jojolion. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure technically ended with Joleyn (Stone Ocean) when the bad guy resets the world (so he kinda sorta wins).
It was followed by Steel Ball Run, which is an AU of sorts. I don’t know where Jojolion comes in, in terms of relation to the rest of the original cast. It could be based of the setting for Steel Ball Run or another alternative universe.
It’s in the present-day of the SBR AU, taking place in Morioh. The plot thickens.
Emphasis on “technically”; SBR was published with the subtitle “Jojos Bizarre Adventure Part 7” and Jojolion with “Jojo Series 8” on the Jump covers. :3
Soo….Jojolion is AU of SBR which is an AU of JBA.
It’s an AU within an AU. Fantastic.
Well you know what they say. “You can judge your success by the number of your enemies.” Fair play to you m’dear. This comic had me in stitches.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Sure, I’m a huge fan girl of two of the aforementioned – that doesn’t mean I’m a numbskull. I absolutely love what you did with the suggestion, and I think it shows that you know how to control and write your own webcomic. One million internets!
Love this web-comic, and thought this entire theme was hilarious. I used to watch anime when I was about 12, and have many fond memories of watching dragonball z powering up for 37 episodes. Barret and Kenpachi are the only anime character I can truly think of being fully manly in relationship to this comic (what my messed up head thinks reality is lol!) But was wonder for those of you who have seen Hellsing what Paladin Alexander would qualify as, deff a badass, deff needs help integrating (psychotic, religious zealot…etc) One of my favorite characters of all time because he was both badass and generally nucking futz!
Yeah Kenpachi is my favorite Bleach character. It would be an interesting cameo at least.
Stan is win. only recognized the two middle characters though. Top and bottom strips are my favs. Sesshomaru cracks me up to no end. XD
…this is by far my favorite strip. Ever. XD
I’m actually a fan of the more androgynous characters, mostly because I’m somewhere inbetween the machismo crew and the bishie crew, so I can relate to both in different ways.
But, to be fair, this was hilarious, because I like to laugh at what I like, because I’m not at all insecure about it (see how that works guys?)
Anyway, do you think I could get away with drinking a mojito in front of the commander and crew if I state “Do I care what other people think about what I’m drinking? It tastes good”
I think Commander wouldn’t care what you were drinking as long as you weren’t being a jerk. He’s making fun of an inflated ego there, not the drink.
This is one of my favourite comics!
also I’m reading all the comments and I’m amazed, why can’t I meet any of you in real life? Just so you know, you’re all awesome and deserve high fives and candy.
Darn good! As much as I liked Kuja, he has no place in the cast.
Must say, big fan of the issue discussed. There is a massive indirect relationship between the vocal minority of fangirls for Japanese Bi-shonen and bi-shojo characters and straight men who like the Russian/American stereotype of the broad-shouldered men who have ACTUALLY SPENT THEIR CAREERS MURDERING OTHER CHARACTERS RATHER THAN MOPING.
Vikings, Monguls, Samurai, Gauls. Historically speaking, if you were larger, you could kill easier.
I enjoy the close-minded nature of the fangirl mistaking the purpose of the comic altogether. This comic was made to parody the macho men in their attempts at refitting themselves into a politically correct, Starbuck-and-pilates society that cannot fit them.
Thank you for addressing this issue in your comic, Kelly. Honestly loved it, glad you drew that line and glad you’re staying true to your side of the argument.
Isn’t that a bit of a retcon, considering that the second comic shows they have taken LINK in? (And whatever I-suppose-Dragon-Age this leather homosexual elf is.) How’re they more qualified?
Link was just hanging out harassing Ganondorf.
To be fair, Link never has shown any of the bishi traits that were mocked in the comic, other the oversized sword thing which is pretty much always a side-quest item. The only thing you really could ding on him that would be unmanly is his lack of personality in general. He’s pretty much up there with master chief as a put-yourself-here character. He could be manly as can be or a whiny little brat, if wanted him to be. The fanboy in me says that what he does is pretty manly, though. Just the fanboy talking :x
Oh god, this is great.
And I was going to say something about Guts and Kenshiro, but as usual I arrive far too late.
But Kenshiro is the manliest of men!
hell, I just kind of assumed your earlier inclusion of zevron with the “alternative?” line was your way of making someone who wanted bishis in this quiet down. now, bishis are cool too. but the average bishounen is someone who could in fact function in society. that said, sesshomaru COULD have a fun sub plot where the agency gets him a job featuring his big dog mode and he’s forced to be painted red for a clifford the big red dog thing. for little kids.
I have to be careful when I visit this site. I almost had an asthma attack laughing. You should really put some warning labels or something.
If I keep reading arguments about Barret being manly just because a goddamn armgun I am gonna post Megaman here until I get banned.
Goddamn.
I thought Barrett was manly because he was a thinly veiled Mr. T reference
I think Mega Man is pretty hardcore
I love the fact that Barret despite his obvious Mr. T reference, was a devoted father, and was very pro-community. I love big guys with big hearts. ♥
See a huge black guy with that haircut–>Think is obviously a reference of Mr T.
Why that’s almost as bad as claiming that Duke Nukem was drawn off of Ivan Drago.
I like manly dudes, but Kuja has a special place in my heart just for being hilarious, and a diva, and a narcissist, and a blabber-mouth.
oh, forgot to mention, and I apologize in advanced for making requests and suggestions, but I noticed the final fantasy characters in this comic and wondered, have you ever thought about including Jecht from Final Fantasy X in some sort of joke? Appearance wise, as far as I can recall, he was one of the only villains who didn’t look, errrr, like a cross dresser. On the contrary, he looked pretty rugged and manly. Shame about his son though.
That’s cause Tidus was a rebellious prick cause he hated his daddy. Did what Jecht wouldn’t do. And that’s be a whiny little shit.
I would say inb4 massive QQ, but, based on your tumblr, I’m late on that.
I’ve read this thing like, three times already and I’m still laughing at this. This might just be my favorite one yet.
should I feel bad for only recognizing Dante, Sten, and Commander in that comic?
Completely unrelated to the bishounen thing, but I just realized that the Commander is voiced by Patrick Warburton in my head.
This is probably not the first time someone says this, but there you go.
He’s written with a Beetlejuice accent.
I am attempting to call Beetlejuice’s voice to mind, and all I keep getting is Edgar from Men in Black. I believe this calls for marathoning both the movie and the cartoon.
Of Beetlejuice, that is, not Men in Black.
Here you go.
Hmm, yeah, that definitely works too.
I keep tell myself I draw Magus all the time because he’s macho porcelain man doll and I get the worst of both worlds, but really I’m just hella lazy
… So can Zack Fair be in this comic?
Coleasquid, have you played either the original Deus Ex or the more recent Human Revolution? If so, what would you say about characters with physical augmentations like JC Denton or Adam Jensen, whether they wanted the augs or not?
jenson has been in the comic, not sure if before or after this one.
I ADORE FF9 and I like Kuja for how much of a spoiled drama queen he is. But no, he is not a masculine man. At all.
I enjoy all types of men as long as they’re good characters. Kuja wasn’t the best but he was enjoyable. (Kefka was a more entertaining villain). If it wasn’t for Freya saying “man”, I would have thought that Kuja was a woman for the longest time.
Good god, I just read every single comment on this page. D: I’ve got some great new things to quote now.
Those first two… I think I biled a little. Urfff. I wasn’t aware that Kuja even HAD fans. Well, I don’t really look around at FF stuff, so…whatever. I have never, at any point in my life, understood why any heterosexual girl would want a guy who looks (and/or acts) like a woman. Sure, in high school I was into the elegant slim body type, but I didn’t want them effeminate. And once I got into college I did a total 180. Give me muscles and fuzzy bits nao.
When I saw that Dante was in this strip, I got rather nervous, but… That wasn’t so bad. I’ve always, ALWAYS hated that ugly sword. And just to put my two cents in, I think Dante has plenty of masculinity, but he also has a strong “innocent” streak that dilutes it, making him seem more boyish than manly. I like that, though; I think it’s sweet. But it’s certainly true that he doesn’t fit in with the Commander’s lot. (DMC2 Dante might could possibly. Maybe.)
Someone said that all anime as of late seem to be filled with bishounen. I sure am glad I don’t know what they’re watching, ’cause there definitely aren’t any in what I’M watching. (Oh, wait, there’s Sani. GTFO, Sani.)
One last thing. I keep seeing people recommend the same handful of characters over and over again… Not entirely clear on what elements keep a character from qualifying as a manly man, but I figure it won’t hurt to yell, “Does anyone else love Saeba Ryou?!” and see what happens. Sure, he’s classified as an Adult Child, but at least he’s a manly one. :3 …Then again… Damn, I dunno. It’s past midnight and I’m tired. Maybe I just want some City Hunter right now. Why am I still typing… shut me up…
Trying to think of anime characters that fit the manly bill other than the ones that have already been mentioned. AAAAND Failing…. But you know what *would* be awesome? Flex Mentallo. He flexes his muscles and it rewrites reality.
Seriously, though. I just discovered your comic today and it’s utterly fantastic. I can’t gush enough. Keep up the amazing work.
I love how the writer of that “essay” failed to mention how some of these characters are guilty of horrible god-modding. But, to be fair, it ended in a comic that made me fall out of my chair laughing, so something good came from this.
Have to laugh at all this. At school I often see the guys that people have drawn in art classes. I see steroid abusers on one side, and bishies on the other. One day I draw some fairly normal-looking built guy, and I either get comments about how he loks like he’s on steroids or how weak he looks. The world can be such a silly place…
Wait a sec.
Dante has manlips. Does that make him the middleman of the two?
who’s complaining
because it certainly isn’t me
The comic? Pure humor. The comments? Almost as funny. While I admittedly was a fan of the cheesefest that is DMC 1-3, I dont mind your choice to toss him into the snarky “bishi” crowd. And the comments raging about the accuracy of the sword usage? Come on now guys, satire!
And you have my agreement, Overzealous fans are CREEPY. . . One of my former friends wrote me into a fanfic back when we were in highschool. . . I. . . dont think I will ever recover from that. And I can never even look at that series again. And I could list the characters/series that other people have ruined for me, but that would take all day/more text than I have.
You know, Vincent MAY get a pass if he lets up on the emo. Dante too, though he can be pretty flamboyant.
I do love this though.
Gotta say, I love this comic, which is funny considering I’m one of those Shesshoumaru fangirls haha.
But manly guys rock harder, this is undeniable.
Good thing you gave him both his arms though, how else would he sip his girly drinks while browsing the shopping channels, right?
Holy hell, this just made my day. As someone who admits to being a bit of an anime fan, I find it rather confusing that most works tend to glorify the scrawny, fan-girl fodder, but I suppose it’s a cultural thing.
Feels worth it since we got this amusing bit. Not sure how one is “manly” if on some occasions people can mistake them for girls…I totally thought Kuja was until someone told me otherwise since I never played and he was just so pretty~
Gay & Manly? Possible
Gay with family & Manly? Prepubescent girl fantasy & unlikely no matter the prose on that fanfic.
Either way greatly enjoyed it and know friends did too.
Just thought of a revised version of their sephiroth proposal where instead after waiting a beat (with a return glare from Jared) Sephiroth breaks down and yells for mommy. Either way its fun to imagine scenarios in your style.
I loved the last part the most! You tell him Sten!!!
You did remember taise your flame shields right? I didn’t check the whole comment list if there were yet any messages left by the people who disagree with you/us. But I bet that there will be an avalanche of those…
And since now that we are on the topic, just to slake my curiosity. There is this game *Vagrant Story* If you are any way familiar with the game, Id like to know your opinion of the main cast men in that game.
However, if you are fed up with people asking you dumb questions and have never even heard of the game, just forget what I asked. :P
This strip was particularly good way to start a day!
The only animu guy we need here is Kamina.
I enjoy anime a lot, especially shounen, just as simple entertainment. This makes me chuckle.
4th ministrip, last panel, priceless.
I was gonna make a comment on Jecht not being manly but then I remembered after almost killing his son, all Jecht did was laugh at him for crying like a bitch.
Also, am I the only one who knows of Baki the Grappler? Yujiro Hanma might be the most terrifyingly manly anime character I’ve seen. Fought in wars without a gun because it was “too easy” and when a fight that was about to start was interrupted by a quake, he punched the earth and made it stop!
Damn you Funimation channel
Has anyone from Soul Calibur been in this comic yet? It’s filled with some manly men!
I totally want to see Cervantes and Mitsurugi in here. XD That would be awesome. Necrid from the second game would be even better. (I’m a total Necrid fangirl.) I suppose Astaroth would fit, but I still hate him…
I was thinking about Roc also.
Also… I just wanted to mention Joachim from Shadow Hearts 2.
He may be a vampire… but… yah… I love him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZsHIAoTgZM
I personally prefer ‘anime bishounen’ (never heard of that term before up until now lol), but I can understand you not wanting to include them in the comic as it is a ‘manly’ comic. And there’s nothing wrong with having a different opinion in the kind of animated men that you prefer. ;3
I really don’t like the Commander’s facial expression in the sixth panel though – it just makes him seem rather mean and that’s very unlike him IMO. It’d make more sense if he had maybe more of a confused face or something, you know?
His expression is appropriate… his manhood was just challenged by a girly man.
I’d be angry too if someone was like, “I GETS MORE WOMENS THEN YOU!”
Ok, I love Sesshomaru as much as the next crazied Inuyasha fangirl, but… damn! Someone actually told you that? Haha, she’s probably 12 and can’t appreciate a guy who doesn’t look pretty. On a related note, my mom still thinks Sesshomaru is a girl.
*sees the comments about Twilight and then smirks* I just thought of one you can do. Kain from Legacy of Kain meeds Edward from Twilight! *laughs* That’s an encounter I’d love to see, just for Kain’s reactions!
Ahaha, you know, I was kind of half hoping this would happen. Sometimes I guess it’s worth enduring the soul crushing task of reading through comments on the internet. For every “PUT MASTER CHIEF IN A COMIC” there’s an inspirational bit of nonsense like that.
Keep kicking ass and takin’ names, Coela.
You have made my day, my lady!
And by the way: I giggle everytime you draw Volt Krueger. I was thinking to be the only one in the world who have play the Bouncer :D
Here seems like a good enough place to ask. Do the constantly depressed, broody, monologueing characters (despite being heavily muscled) count as honorary bishies? Sure, they’ve got the manly guy look, but the way they act just isn’t in fitting with the traditional definition of manly. Is manly in the mind or the look?
Does appearance supercede behavior, or is it possible to have an effeminate looking character that can open beer bottles with someone else’s teeth, field strip an M4 under 30 seconds, and properly headbutt someone so he doesn’t end up with a neckache?
I would THINK it is more in the behavior than the look for Coela? The comic itself is actually addressing the behavior of these characters more than how pretty they are. (Or not! As people have mentioned, Dante himself can be p. masculine looking, but he has definite less than manly behavior being shown here.)
Plus isn’t that what Coela’s agency about? These gruff manly men being unable to function in society DUE TO their hyped up masculine behavior and expectations, thus the need for the agency in the first place. If anything, the comic is teaching them BEING IN CONTROL/RESPONSIBLE OF YOURSELF is more manly than anything and thus can give them a place of manliness in this new foreign society, which I can appreciate. Like the Commander says to Vincent, how is him being able to turn into a demon relevant to anything? (From what I understand, Commander’s big concern was getting Vincent therapy first anyway.)
…I tl;dr way too much
Fucking win.
jeez the comments are racking up. i wouldnt be surprised if this one has more than a thousand by the end of the week.
I can’t pretend to know anything about Dante’s penis size or the pivot and balance of his demon blade thing, but what I do know is that he has a comeback for everything |D
who is the second guy anyway
the second guy is Sessoumaru from Inuyasha.
Manly Guys Sten dialogue is always awesome. Too bad Dante doesn’t belong there at all.
Oh PLEASE give me a manly man!!! THANK YOU
I’ve hated bishonen types and what they’ve done to women’s ideas of what makes men “attractive” after I heard a girl talk about how (and I quote) “real men aren’t pretty enough” to date. I wanted to sucker punch her, Adam Jensen style.
What you’ve done today is nothing less than a service to all of mankind.
You can say the same for skinny models and what they’ve done to men’s ideas of what makes women attractive. And don’t give me the whole “but real men like real women!” thing, it doesn’t make it less true, as from what I’ve encountered, it is only a minority of men who truly think that way.
Nonetheless, I don’t think I should suckerpunch a man or a woman for having a certain type, influenced by the media or not! And it’s not as if pretty boys or model girls are not attractive either. But instead of hating how certain people/characters look and their popularity, or dwelling on people who are shallow enough to obsess over that look, it’s better to find someone who’ll truly appreciate you instead and with a stellar personality to boot, hey? THAT would be a service to mankind.
at this point I’m convinced that the model girls are pretty much just a guy’s way of applying his epeen to real life. If they have a model type they can brag to people that they have her or had her. It’s all about the notches in the bedpost at that point
I’m actually only gonna complain about Sesshomaru- as honestly that would have been Kouga more than Sesshomaru. Also, Sesshomaru in the manga/anime is caring for a little girl he’s half adopted, when he thought Inuyasha killed Rin, he went batsheep crazy and well really attempted to kill Inuyasha. And in the manga, he actually if I remember right, attempted to fight hell/hell itself to get Rin back when she somehow died.
Sesshomaru is a manly man.. er.. demon… dog.
Actually, he’s not really all that manly. Most of that doesn’t realy relate to manliness at all, it just makes him a good, interesting character. Sess is a full on Bishi, as is almost every other guy in that show. I love Sess and he was my favorite character, but he’s really an effeminate kind of guy.
I did love it when he flipped out on Inuyasha though.
Quote: ”Also, Sesshomaru in the manga/anime is caring for a little girl he’s half adopted, when he thought Inuyasha killed Rin, he went batsheep crazy and well really attempted to kill Inuyasha.”
Actually, last time I’ve checked, that was the definition of -motherly-.
To be fair, any manly man would take care of his clan, but any good mother would also adopt a child in need and fight for that child.
I’m absolutely LOVING the expression on the Commander’s face in the 2nd panel. That’s the perfect “BITCH, PLEASE!” look, right there.
Also. Unf. Commander in a t-shirt and jeans is one of the hottest things I’ve seen in a while. Me likely.
Let me just say you are awesome and I love this.
I decided I was going to read every single comment, but it’s taking too long! Next time I have a day off I’m going to read through every single one of your comics again, and see if this one does indeed have the most comments ever!
My two fave video game characters of ALL time are Sephiroth…and Kratos. I love “bishie”, feminine men and I love handsome, manly men. XP Honestly, both types appeal to me in different ways, so I don’t know why other people can’t like both at the same time. There’s certainly no reason to like one and hate the other.
This has to be my fave comic you’ve ever done, purely because it features two of my fave FF characters (Kuja and Vincent). Although in my own mind, Vincent is pretty manly (simply because he’s not really very feminine in appearence or personality, he’s just handsome), I think the reason for his rejection from the Agency is bloody brilliant. The fact that the Commander says “I can’t do anything for you until…” suggests that Vincent would indeed be accepted into the Agency, once he’s got his head sorted. This is GENIUS. XD I hope he seeks that therepy so that he can one day return to the Agency.
XD Kuja has to be THE most feminine video game character ever. His body is more perfect than any actual women featured in that game. XP; At least, I think so anyway. The pose you drew him in in the first panel is spot on.
Also, one thing that this comic has taught me is that the Commander is actually a very nice guy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought that he was nice and understanding. But there’s a lot of manly men out there who may feel the need to beat up on someone like that rather pretty dude in the second strip (I’ve never watched Inuyasha). But yes, I think this shows that although the Commander doesn’t necessarily agree with the way a “bishie” man may dress, act or live their life, he just accepts it. :) Kudos for truely being a bigger man than a lot of men in the real world Commander!
So in conclusion, as I said, this has to be my fave comic you’ve ever done EVER. The only thing that could’ve made this comic any better for me personally is Sephiroth and/or Kratos. =D I saw in one of your comments that you have plans for Sephiroth, so I’m super excited for that. Like Vincent, I do think that Sephiroth is manly in the way he carries himself. He just happens to have a very pretty face. I would love to see what the reason for his rejection from the Agency would be, assuming that he would indeed be rejected despite the fact that as far as FF characters go, he’s pretty manly. XD
Last point! A Final Fantasy character DOES need to join the Agency! Manly FF men that come to mind are Barrett (although I really dislike him) and Cid from FFVII, Seifer (maaaaaybe?) and Ward from FFVIII, Steiner and Amarant from FFIX (these are as manly as FF characters are ever gonna get I think), Auron (I HATE THIS GUY) and Jecht from FFX, Basch and Gabranth from FFXII.
@_@ I’m going to be late for work now. Thanks so much for this amazing comic Coela! <3 <3 <3 <3
PS. Are you a Final Fantasy fan yourself?
Love the strip. That being said, you ever play the Yakuza series? I think you’d love the protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu.
You know, back in victorian times when I played FF7 for the first time, I thought Vincent’s “goth bishonen” elements were a pretty subdued part of his design and character arc. Yeah he moped about his convoluted past and hid in a coffin and had long, silky hair, but he also shot people in the face with a sawed off shotgun and turned into a ridiculous Frankenstein monster and all that. Coupled with the limited graphics processing of the game, I never realized he was supposed to be some fangirl wank material until his spinoff game and the Advent Children movie made that CRYSTAL CLEAR in both the redesign of the character and the tone of everything surrounding him.
It kinda feels like seeing a dude you used to hang out and think of as a pretty together punk rock sort of guy and seeing that he’s now the zealous frontman of a christian rock band, and you’re the only one who’s surprised.
Oh whoops, I almost forgot to say, amazing and hilarious comic as always. I love seeing these not-so-manly anime cliches get dressed down. I mean, really, what are they even wearing?
In Kuja’s case, a fanciful bra, women’s panties, and a half skirt.
Your name is the best name ever… the only name that I have ever seen beat yours is Jack Steak… Can’t really get too much manlier than Jack Steak.
I came up with this name when asked if I’d use my real name or a fake one if I ever found my way to japan. It became one big joke about a name that was obviously fake and what I would do to fit the name.
And well, it fits this comic nicely.
I think it would be awsome if at one point samus made a cameo
not the emotional other M samus though
jared could make a prejudice comment about her and get punched for it. or something similer
A formula for the machismo of bishi things. The total amount of machismo you contain is inversely proportional to the amount of gay porn you are in.
This is rough statement thought up by a sleep deprived person, feel free to revise it
I dunno man, gay porn stars have bigger pecs and get more tail than roughly 95% of all other men. Sounds pretty manly to me.
I’m speaking relatively of course. Think of any super popular anime, video game, or otherwise character that the majority of the female demographic go gaga over. Then compare it to how much gay porn there is of said character. In addition, factor their personality and such into the mix and it ends up coming out with a guy who isn’t very manly at all. *coughNerocough*
Naaah. Rule 34 and all that. I’ve seen a huge amount of manly guy gay porn too, particularly for video games. There’s even a term for muscle-man yaoi. It’s called ‘Bara’.
HAHA, oh wow
as much as I love my bishi they do have their place and the only place they have in your comic is to be laughed at. I particularly like the bit with sesshomaru, it is so true. One of my friends still wears a collar with his name on it :/ (so it isnt just the inu/sess that he is well known for, its also the mary-sue)
On a side note, this could probably be its own comic strip of just all the popular characters that people love facing the judgment of Commander Badass and/or The Sten
Love it, love it, love it! Only thing I can say negative here is that Sessomaru only actually has one arm, but whatever.
Also, sorry for ruining 420 comments.
Sesshie drinking a margarita. My day has been made. You’re awesome, Coela!
I like Dante, but Sten’s hypothesis actually fits him pretty well. What was that about the loudest guys having the most issues?
While I don’t dislike bishounen and I respect how strong Sess is, I don’t think there’s any way that he fits the usual standard that the word ‘manly’ implies. Except maybe when he’s in his dog form.
Well, about the only thing I can agree with the author of that essay was that yeah, they certainly did open avenues for humour :)
Commander’s just uncomfortable around men in thongs and lipstick who can destroy entire planets in a fit of petulant rage.
I suppose we’ll never see Freeza of DBZ fame based on that also.
Haha, hero! When I grow up I want to be you.
Oh god, I’m totally awake (and voiceless) after laughing at Sten and Dante? for a good 10 minutes, awesome.
But I just have to nitpick a little and point out that Sesshoumaru only has one arm, don’t remember which one he lost, but he did lose one.(Yes I used to watch that crap as a teenager.. kill me. :p) Any chance you’ll do more on this theme? Or possibly do something with some of the Mass Effect guys? (Joker, while a minor character would be pretty awesome…)… or some of the guys from Unreal Tournament 2003/2004? Haven’t seen any bishies in there. XD
Okay I’ll stop harassing you now, just wanted to say I loved this comic and then I got carried away. ^^;
What about Thane Krios? No giant sword, actual skills, no wishybishy ~ squeeeee~
I DEMAND MORE SPACE MARINES! FOR THE EMPEROR!
I was thinking more along the lines of an army of Rambos (Catachan Jungle Fighters). They rip the toungues out of landsharks with their teeth and deflect bullets with their pecs.
Oh god, you just HAD to use Kuja, didn’t you? I hated him and his man-thong. Bad character design that made it almost impossible for me to take the villain seriously. XD
I have it on good authority that the decision to make Kuja male was a last-minute thing.
I have it on better authority that it wasn’t. Primarily because I was around during the time that rumor got started. The original rumor was that Kuja was made a man in the English release of the game, but was still a woman in the Japanese games. Obviously all it takes now a days is a cursory glance through a Google search to find out that Kuja was definitely designed to be a man in every version (even the Amano artwork), but back during the halcyon days of the Windows 95 and Dial-Up finding information about a video game from another country was rather difficult.
Thus the rumor was born.
Kuja was designed to be a man. His clothing is a direct reference to his origin (look at what Genomes are wearing). His name has connections to Hindu (being the name for Mars a red planet) and shares vocalization with the Japanese character for peacock, kujaku. Everything about his design and origin heavily points toward Kuja being conceived, designed, and intended to be a man.
Sorry to go all nerd, but that is just a really stupid rumor.
Well, let me put it this way, that’s fine, and all, but it’s still poor character design, in my opinion. I mean, effeminate is one thing, Sephiroth and Kefka were pretty effeminate, yet they still managed to be intimidating, but Kuja was… Well, if Sephiroth had believed that his mother wore a two-piece bikini, and he dressed accordingly, Final Fantasy VII would not have accrued half of the die-hard religious fan base it has today. Kuja was well written, but in every scene I encountered him in, all I could do was think, “EVIL MAN-THONG”. I know that was incredibly immature of me, but, well, there you go.
All I have to say is I love this bacon/egg/cheese biscuit
The comic didn’t make me laugh, but it’s one of my favorite ones. The whole series reinforces my belief in the awesomeness of the buff hero. It took me long enough to figure that out (Thank you, Warhammer 40k!) It’s not just this particular strip, but the whole thing and the effort that goes into it. Coelasquid… She just… I dunno, what hasn’t been said? She draws great, writes well, teaches me that it’s alright to just enjoy “dumb” movies like Conan, The Expendables and the A-Team without nit-picking or de-constructing them. However, the drawback is now it’s hard to roleplay, because I always have to have grit in my characters, not some fresh-faced punk full of piss and vinegar.
For a manly anime character, I like the examples of Baccano, Cromartie, Gurren and most of them, but there’s also Tiger and Bunny. We have Kotetsu Kaburagi aka Wild Tiger, who messes up in most of what he does, but still tries to be a good father and the hero the city needs, even when the public and his colleagues make fun of him. Look a little deeper, guys. Japan will always surprise you.
Last thought, I always thought Sesshomaru and Kuja were just… Ridiculous. Period.
I remember Inuyasha from its days on Adult Swim. I gave Sessh a pass because of I just assumed that most of his design was based off of Japanese myth or something, but the feather-boa-thing always struck me as ridiculous.
Also, what about Cowboy Bebop, man? Spike was as manly as they come. Other than that, the only example you gave that I’ve seen was Gurren, and I guess you’re referring to Kamina. I’ve only watched the first two episodes of that show. I thought it was good, but, well, haven’t ever had time to watch any more.
Personally, I like heroes that balance out Machismo with other qualities. One that’s badass, doesn’t really angst, but still has a bit of emotional depth to him. If the guy’s just a meathead who runs around cracking one liners and busting caps in asses, I find it hard to have any empathy for the character.
i just skimed over the comments but why hasent anyone mentioned Fist of the North Star or King of Hell? but i guess if i head for main stream I think Might Guy and Rock Lee might fit the bill…(actually i think it might be pretty funny if the commander ever ran into them)……but that may be because i think of all the chinese karate movies out there that they seem to be a parody of XD
Ultimate muscle ( although its relly kiddish…sorta) has many muslely men in it…hense the name. Yu Yu hakusho, i think i might even throw Trigun in there even though wolfwood has a giant gun in the shape of a cross( and is a priest) i still find him kinda bad ass and i’m not sure if this counts but Lucas from Cybersix, the show is over 10 years old and was only 13 episodes but it had good animation, an epic *puts ten dollars in the epic jar* story line and it ended with a cliff hanger but the thing is even though i’m a hard core anime fan theses comics are relly funny so i can’t help but laugh at myself even though i’m still gonna enjoy bishi anime guys though *cough* hetalia*cough*
I don;t care what anyone says, I thought that was brilliant… a true fan of something can take seeing their fave characters poked fun at like this… which is why i LOVE this comic so goddamn much!
THANK YOU!!!!!
This discussion has about 4x the amount of comics that the last 5 comics have. Damn.
I love it.
Aaaannnd I read all the comments! I have to say I’m a bishie-anime guys fan girl but I’m not much into yaoi/slash fanfic.
I love what you did thar.
First off, screw the haters. Secondly, I appreciate your work, and LOVE your characters and artistic style. Also, even as a lover of FF7 (again, screw the haters), i LOVE this comic. It is a perfect representation of the hatred i have for people who get too emotionally attached to their games and/or shows. I think people get upset when these characters are made fun of, because they identify with them, and feel that they are the ones being poked at. I may identify a bit with Cloud, but I can’t wait to see you slam him. Hell, I refuse to even play the Devil May Cry series simply due to the kind of people I know that play it. Fans ruin everything. Please keep up the fantastic work, you always make my day. (the only way i could have loved this strip more is if i knew who the silver haired yaoi twins were in the 1st two strips =P)
I have never wanted to punch the internet more than when I read that long message from whichever douche had the audacity to suggest that bisshounen characters deserved a place in YOUR comic because of HIS/HER delusions.
I don’t know what annoyed me more – the fact that they missed the point entirely or that they spent such a long time trying to justify it. Am I wrong in thinking the reason for this comic in the damn first place was to bring our view of manliness back to machismo? Are we not making a stand against the modern view that you can’t be a badass without being emo? This tool mentioned pulling-power as a reason that bisshounen characters should be considered manly, but in this day and age the whole reason they have pulling power is because they lack machismo. I wonder if Sephiroth would have as many fan girls if he stopped spending $200 on his hair before going to battle or stopped wearing clothes in his sisters size?
And the rest of the criteria the writer sets forth for manliness are no better. To me the whole thing came across as ignorance at best and sexism at worst. Why is skill with a blade considered to be a manly trait? Anyone could be skilled, regardless of their physique or indeed their gender. I know some pretty manly fire-fighters who wouldn’t know what to do with a weapon. Sod-you independance? Really? If this person wasn’t trolling then they must be 12 years old. There is nothing manly about a marine disobeying orders just to say “sod you” to authority. I would consider this trait the opposite of manly. Oh, that also describes emo! What a coincidence!
Whoever wrote this tried to dress up their criticism with occasional compliments but it still smacked of “I’m right and you’re wrong”, even though your reasons for doing what you do are quite clearly laid out. I, for one, would not have been able to contain my rage if something like this was directed at me. I’d probably need a new computer screen at the very least. I applaud you whole-heartedly for hitting back in the best way possible; with the very comic they clearly don’t understand and presumed to know better than you about. For this you have my salute.
Keep up the sterling work.
That’s a very civil and reasonable response righ there. I take it you show your CONVICTION to the cross stitch?
The point of this comic was to make fun of supposedly badass things that run the gammut from impractical to alarming more than they are actually badass. But yeah, it is about showing some love for the stupidly macho dudes who never seem to get any fanart on an internet saturated in bishies.
Not saying people who like that kinda thing are wrong or don’t belong here, but they shouldn’t be telling me to draw these dudes in situations built around “Wow you’re so awesome I am so impressed and intimidated”
Not that I disagree with you or anything, because I love manly men, but I hope you know what you’re implying when you use the term “machismo”. It’s a representation of hispanic culture that pretty much forces someone to follow a tough guy act, and includes murdering people for being gay, beating the crap out of your wife for talking back, and generally never showing any emotions ever.
So yeah, just letting you know. It’s a pretty awful thing and I hope it dies. And it has nothing to do with awesome guys who don’t get enough love because they’re just themselves.
Er…. not that I’m saying the word “macho” is wrong Panchira. Just ah that talking about going more towards machismo as a positive concept is wrong if you remember what it actually still means in places like mexico, where it’s being practiced with an iron fist where it can be. [With the onset of hipsteriness in the major cities it’s not that bad though.]
This is why I use the word “Macho” to describe the big tanky characters who are constantly yelling about how tough they are, shooting people, setting things on fire, etc. and “manly” to describe the guys who are well adjusted and competent.
The comic is just called “Manly Guys Doing Manly Things” because I thought it would be funny to name a comic about macho bros after a line in a gay club song.
Huh. That explains why I thought this was a gay porn site when I first saw the link.
I’m fairly certain that even Warhammer 40,000’s Imperial Guard wouldn’t be too terribly out of place in this comic. Hell, even the women are equipped with the standard-issue fist-sized balls of steel.
“Men of Tanith, do you want to live forever?”
This day just keeps getting better and better… And this? Totally the cherry on top.