Yoakemono: Unedited Audio and Recording Notes

Manga Details

• Title meaning: A portmanteau of yoake (daybreak) and kemono (beast[s])
• Yusaku Shibata
  • Notable people they were an assistant for
    • Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
    • Kohei Horikoshi (My Hero Academia, Barrage)
    • Kazue Kato (Blue Exorcist)
    • Yoshikazu Amami (Chin Piece, the official One Piece spin-off about a guy who can stretch his dick)
    • Yuuya Kawada (Smoky BB)
    • Yuuto Tsukuda (Tenmaku Cinema, Food Wars)
    • Masahiro Hirakata (Rookie Policewoman Kiruko)
  • Notable people they had as assistants
    • Daijiro Nonoue (The Last Saiyuki)
    • Ippei Goto (Hi-Fi Cluster)
    • Kentaro Hidano (Super Smartphone)
  • Other works
    • Sahara the Flower Samurai (2016, 1 volume, Jump GIGA)
    • Zipman!! (2019-2020, 2 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) Shonen Flop episodes one and twenty-seven
    • Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - Avan and the Demon King of Hellfire (2020-present, 9+ volumes, V Jump) written by Riku Sanjo
• Publishing
  • Run Dates:
    • July 19, 2014 to November 10, 2014
  • Series it replaced
• Stealth Symphony Shonen Flop episode 12
• Series that replaced it
  • School Judgement: Gakkyu Hotei Shonen Flop episode 49
• Series that started at the same time as it
  • My Hero Academia
  • Mitsukubi Condor
• Chapters/Volumes:
  • 16 chapters/2 vols

About the Manga

• Plot
  • It’s 1800s Japan during that civil war you’ve seen in anime. Jinrou and Gin Akatsuki are two kids that like killing samurai. Jinrou has two swords and Gin has one long sword. They both have cool tattoos over their eyes that signify them as criminals. Gin drags Jinrou to Kyoto to try out for the Shinsengumi who you’ve seen in roughly 10% of all anime. Jinrou doesn’t really give a shit about it until Gin runs off and finds him, saying that tryouts were cancelled cuz some guy killed two shinsengumi, stole something, and ran away. The two run into the guy in question and they fight but Gin is killed. Before he dies he gives Jinrou his sword which got broken in the fight and Jinrou manages to cut off the bad guy’s hands. Unfortunately they magically regenerate using the power of the newt and he fatally stabs Jinrou. Just then Hijikata Toshizo, Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi and a real historical figure shows up and, again just like real life, uses his magic wolf powers to kill the newt guy. He then uses a magic sword called the Jyuu-Jin to bring Jinrou back from the brink of death and give him magic powers too.
  • 
    
  • The next day Jinrou wakes up in the Shinsengumi compound and wants to try out for them, so he’s tasked with getting one hit in on a guy named Okita. He does but apparently it didn’t count because Okita knocks him out and he wakes up to discover that no one passed the tryouts. Thankfully a criminal shows up chased by Okita and takes a girl hostage but Jinrou helps bring him down. Okita tells him that if he wants to get stronger he should cut firewood 1000 times. 7 days later the Shinsengumi discover that a huge swath of the forest has been cut down by Jinrou, whose new wolf powers enable him to stay up for 7 days straight. He fights Okita again to a draw so is accepted into the Shinsengumi. His first mission is to invade a brothel and capture an important member of the rebellious Choushuu faction, but when they get there they discover an evil guy with the magic beast powers of a cassowary named Yoshida Toshimaru who has killed I guess eaten(?) 3 of the women. They fight and Jinrou is able to team up with Okita to bring him down. Jinrou then meets Tetsunosuke who becomes his Sensei/rival/friend and they go on their next mission to capture a Choushuu big wig protected by Hitokiri Izo who, say it with me, also existed and had magic snake powers.
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  • Tetsunosuke has the ability to lower his body temperature which seems extremely situational but he uses it to somehow sneak past everyone and the two manage to defeat Izo. They learn that the Choushuu have a red Jyuu-Jin which is supposed to be extra special and are planning on burning the whole city down. The Shinsengumi then assault a compound where they fight a bunch of dudes before encountering Sakamoto who’s like the big bad guy behind it all. He stabs a guy with the red Jyuu-Jin and reveals that it’s the power of the black rat which will cause him to explode and spread the black plague. Sakamoto then leads them to a tower where various Shinsengumi members pair off to fight various other fictionalized historical figures before Jinrou and Captain Hijikata square up against Sakamoto who has the beast power of every beast. They defeat him and burn the black rat dude to death and they win, although Sakamoto says that he’ll get them next time gadget.
  • 
    
• Characters
  • Akatsuki Jinrou
    • Yama-Inu
    • Two swords
    • Stupid hot headed protag
    • Wolf powers 7 days of stamina
  • Okita Souji
    • Kind but badass
    • Leads an elite squad
  • Ichimura Tetsunosuke
    • My best friend according to the narrator
    • Hot headed rival
    • Really fast

Why it Failed

• This is very bland and generic
• I think the whole humanoid monster idea for the MC is cool they just are so indirect when it’s obvious
• This dude cannot draw sword proprtions
• This has issues with characters looking too similar
• I think it just sort of instantly hits a wall with that exam as it just feels like it has a energy to it that stalls out
• Really doesn't go into the animal powers well enough and inconsistent with how they're treated
• So much fucking talking before fighting they talked with the lance dude for like 5 pages to hype the fight up
• The first mission was lame it was just a boss fight
• Why do they only talk about speed it kinda means whoever is faster wins
• Actually establish what they do besides boss fights
• It's just very mid ya know
• Where is the world building?
• Every villain is insanely evil
• Such lazy backstory
• Did the prisoner marks ever matter?

What it Did Well

• Art is…fine? Inoffensive
• This is honestly what we stereotype black clover to be
• I like how otpimistic the characters are
• Some of this art is really visceral
• At least the exam was short
• The mc failed the exam which was cool  liked the anti climax
• I like the sickle imagery with the snake guy despite him using a sword
• When it's all gas it's actually fun
• Bathhouse takeout was cool
• Black plague ngl p cool

Where it Could Have Gone

• Do a ton of animal powers abilities
• Be cool if the mc was actually a beast man and that's why he is so much more powerful than everyone else
• Be much more character driven none of the characters really feel interesting and the cast is too small to accommodate a sense of cohesiveness
• Really lean into beast-mode powers and be big dumb fun
• Had more bathhouse scene in that it could have been neutral territory and I know it was like a fake out but talk with the badguys
• Use more Japanese animals like it's lame to use generic ones like a gorilla it'd be a good way to show more of the culture

Misc Thoughts

• literally beast mode
• Why do they keep showing people with five toes and why does everyone have scales even like the bird dude lmao
• 
  
• Maxy Bee thoughts:
  • Hikari Shibata (the author's sister) handled the calligraphy for this series. She's an accomplished mangaka in her own right, and has worked as an assistant to Princess Jellyfish author Akiko Higashimura, but is never too big to help her brother, helping on this and Zipman!!.
  • A brief guide to the two notable ‘black ships’:
    • First are the Portuguese ships, literally black from their pitch coating, which came in 1543, bringing almost 100 years of trade before an insidious infection of christianity drove Japan into self-isolation (it’s more complicated than that, but still).
    • Second are the ships (not black this time, but spewed black clouds of smoke) that Americans arrived in in 1853 to forcefully break Japan out of hundreds of years of isolation. Could the impact of Commodore Matthew Perry’s fleet BE any more notable? Anyway, these are the ones that Yoakemono references.
  • Yamazaki’s mask features a variation on the ever-present writing-based children’s doodle, henohenomoheji, so named because its features are made out of the hiragana characters he (へ), no (の), mo (も) and ji (じ), though this version breaks tradition by combining the final ‘he’ and the ‘ji’ to make a giant smirk.
  • The final storyline, from the capture and torture of Furutaka to the Shinsengumi attacking an inn with Choshu inside, is a direct reference to the Ikedaya incident, a historical event of some debate involving a good bit of bloodshed and a possible arson attempt. An interesting read for history buffs and Guy Fawkes types.
  • It’s quite a… bold move to make Sakamoto Ryoma the villain. Like yes, he is an enemy of the Shinsengumi, in that they hunted him a lot and were ultimately deemed responsible for his assassination and Kondo Isami was executed as a result, but he dreamt of democracy, of removing the caste system and ending feudalism, and is largely romanticised as an absolute hero in Japan.
    • To have him as the villain and the defenders of the Tokugawa Shogunate as the heroes is a bit… regressive. Especially as, ultimately, history is on Sakamoto’s side.
    • Shibata actually makes a note of being worried about making him a villain, so this isn’t a reflection of his values.

Final Verdict

• Six Word summary
  • Community
    • Tucker: Stop introducing new characters, they’re nothingburgers!
    • Maxybee: Furry Shinsengumi shoulda been fanfic fodder
    • AuraPaladin: Didn't we already do Beast Children?
    • Diego (Phantom Seer): Ah yes, finally, THE Beast Children
    • duderocks the earthchild stan: Decent art, fun battles, boring story | Gin should have been around longer
    • GreyPotter 👑 King of Questions: Buried under a boatload of characters | History will not remember this well
    • Kpt.Kluless: Who let the flop out Who?
    • LordAnubis, #1RedHoodFan/Mourner: insert furry joke number 69,420 here
    • LordAnubis, #1RedHoodFan/Mourner: Oda had high hopes for you | Rurouni Kenshin but with samurai's fursonas
    • Portal man: The furry community denies your existence
    • Portal man: Usagi Yojimbo is disappointed in you
    • Riel: Rewriting history so everyone is werewolves
    • Sbubby: Japan’s “Don’t romanticize police” challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
    • Spike: Inside, two wolves. Beastars, and axe.
    • Watchtower: Takes too long for furries, 0/10 | Reject furry, embrace bowls of mayo
    • Twolfwood: Zoan devil fruits are more creative
  • David: Holy shit 50 motherfucking wolves, goddamn
  • Jordan: well this was definitely a manga
  • Guest: Every Shonen Jump manga Ever, Word