This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
Henshin Inspection presents Writer Tears. This time I will be talking about part 6 of the Commenrater manga.
You might think this is my last time I'll be talking about the Commenrater manga, but you would be wrong,
because there's extras that are in here beyond part 6, because this is the lovely Seven Seas Entertainment,
or Seven Seas manga, I'm not sure what they call themselves. Omnibus, hardcover, 50th anniversary edition,
so there are bonuses in the end, which they're mostly kind of art and tiny little one or two page stories,
if not, yeah, one or two page stories. And I'll be talking about those at a later date.
And there's lots of cool stuff that appeared just in this chapter that I might want to talk about
and share in shorts or TikTok sized videos, which you can find wherever.
They will be, I guess, I guess they won't be, well maybe I'll compile them all audio,
in one audio episode at some point later, but they'll trickle out over time and just, it'll be for fun.
So anyway, check out the website and look at my social media stuff to be informed on all of that when it comes out.
But you are not here to hear me promote myself, you're here to hear me talk about Commenrater,
and we're going to go ahead and do that now, or I'm going to go ahead and do that now.
So let me tell you, the sixth and final chapter of the Commenrater manga is a big deal.
I really liked it. There's a lot to say about it. There's a lot of spoiler-y stuff to say about it.
So I will actually hold off on saying everything I can, but I think I'll still talk about the core emotional things of it.
So I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about it generally,
and then I'm going to talk about my favorite art and favorite drama pieces from the manga.
So generally, yeah, I think I can say this, the threat of shocker becomes as big as it can be,
and yet we learn new things that make it seem like whatever victory Commenrater has here in the end of the chapter that the battle will continue.
And besides that, each demori does a really interesting thing, and I've heard this described,
I don't know if it's unfairly or uncharitably or, I don't know, ironically maybe,
that the final chapter of, or yeah, chapter, or part of the Commenrater manga kind of veers off,
and it's not really about Commenrater common-writering anymore.
It turns into this thing about nuclear war and destruction of humanity by their own hands and things like that.
And while there is mention of Hiroshima and the ill effects of the radiation of the nuclear bomb or bombs
that the United States unleashed on Japan in whatever year that was, was that 54 or not? I don't know.
I'm not a dates guy from history, okay? So regardless, it happened and it was terrible.
So it does sort of focus on that, but it still is a Commenrater story.
Ichimouji is still running around, riding the bike, wearing the mask,
wearing his second skin under his clothes to protect himself from getting shot and things like that.
And that's all there, and it's still good.
But it's interesting because while part five humanized Ichimouji by putting him in contact with his hometown
and his family, namely his mother and father, who were, you know, spoilers for that,
which I'm happy to share because that was the last one, not this one.
But you should still go read it if you haven't. It's a good manga. It's a great storytelling.
He encounters his mother and his father who are being controlled by Shocker in an experiment
as they're ramping up and doing different things to test out their abilities to control human beings.
And when I say human beings, I am contrasting human beings with the Kaizen Ningen,
the cyborgs or the modified humans who have been directly modified by Shocker
and had their minds altered through surgery or through whatever other means so that they can be controlled.
Instead, this is a way to broadcast control over humanity,
and they're testing it out in the little fishing village that Ichimouji is from.
But here, we get to see a different approach to controlling people.
But the game is still the same. Control over humanity.
And I believe it was the first chapter of... which is actually interesting.
The first chapter, not just the first part, but the first chapter in the first part of the Kamen Rider manga
that talks about Shocker wanting to make normal people, make ordinary human beings, into cattle.
And they basically wanted to control and manipulate them.
And I'll veer off into a funny direction for less than a minute here.
The use of the word cattle is interesting.
Sheep... well, cattle usually makes me think of cows,
but sheep I think are another, perhaps better example to talk about the concept.
So you've heard about, you know, wake up sheeple, or you're just a sheep, that kind of thing.
That people just, you know, who don't question things, who just follow along with what they're being told,
with what a larger entity is telling them are sheep.
And that's because sheep are traditionally understood to be very easy to manipulate and utilize
as a, you know, food source, as a fiber source.
By fiber I mean the wool on them as a source for their milk even.
And they're very easy to control, versus like a goat is wild and a goat will get out.
And a goat is not easy to handle or manipulate.
I heard pigs are... I'm kind of interested in animal husbandry and stuff.
I've heard that pigs are notoriously difficult to control and to keep locked in.
They break through fencing, they test fencing, kind of like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.
They're smart, they're testing, they never touch the same place twice.
That they figure things out.
However, you know, sheep and cattle, even cattle, if you've never driven through more rural parts of the country,
you'll see, or you haven't seen this like I have, but there's these sections of fencing that are open across a road.
But there's like these tubes on the ground.
And those are cattle, I can't remember if they call them cattle, I don't know.
They're like speed bumps for cows though.
And apparently something about the way the bumps on the ground are set up, they will hurt the hooves of the cows.
So they won't want to cross them.
And the farmers, ranchers, have figured out that you can put them down for a little while.
And then cows will learn to avoid those things.
And then you can just paint stripes on the ground that look like they're those things.
And the cow, whether it's due to limited vision or like a lack of sophistication in the mind of the cow,
the cow will see that and say, that's going to hurt me, I'm not walking across that.
And they will stay in and you only have to introduce them to the concept of it in one place.
And then make sure all your cattle have been introduced to that thing.
And then put up something that looks like it, but isn't actually it, and will actually hurt them if they walk across it.
But they will stay hemmed in, or stay in the area where you've told them that they must be.
Similarly, shocker is trying to figure out how they can invest in a few individuals,
turning them into kaizen and into their cyborg soldiers, and completely controlling their minds
and causing them to do whatever they want to do in order to have the greater net effect of controlling vast swaths of humanity.
And probably whoever they can't control, they'll just kill because it's easy to just kill them and get them out of the way while the rest of the people are compliant.
So it's interesting that Ishtamori, it's interesting in its good writing that Ishtamori brought that back in here in the end to discuss it,
because he's kind of closing the loop on that idea.
So that's my general talk that went on a little bit longer into, well, I mean, the importance of how shocker seeks to control people is...
It's thematic and it's very much a part of the DNA of Kamen Rider.
He isn't just a superhero. He's a superhero who fights for human freedom and for the ability for people to not be controlled and not manipulated and not used by other people.
And that extends beyond just the superheroics and the whole shocker thing.
I think it's emblematic of something else and it's emblematic of a spirit of rebellion and freedom that I think Ishtamori was a fan of,
even though in that there's also care for other people.
So it's not like, oh, I'm free and I don't care what happens to the rest of you.
It's I'm free and I want the rest of you to be free.
And I think that's part of the spirit of Kamen Rider. And I think it's pretty interesting.
So, yeah, that's my general thoughts. And I really liked it. The artwork was great.
But I'm going to talk about specifically the artwork and the most dramatic and the most cool looking artwork in just a moment or two.
So hold on.
OK, so if you are using a podcasting 2.0 app in order to listen to this podcast, you will have the benefit of me using chapters here.
And in the chapter break or whatever, the chapter image will be a really cool piece of artwork.
Now, this isn't the coolest, but it's almost the coolest and it's emblematic of how good Ishtamori style is here.
And it's just it's really like there's a couple of pieces that I like better than I'm going to save for later to share.
But this is really cool. It looks really dynamic. It's really awesome.
I honestly I feel kind of weird and badly about this, but I can't tell what kind of creature this is supposed to be.
Maybe it's like a pterodactyl man, but I'm pretty sure it has bird feet.
So maybe it's supposed to be like that Condorman idea that Ishtamori has played with a little bit.
I'm not sure, but it's a freaky flying thing and it attacks Kamen Rider,
it attracts Ijimoji when he's in this underground shocker base thing.
And there's this enormous shaft of I don't know, this enormous shaft or column or pillar with all this data and like weird computer stuff on it.
If you were a Star Wars fan, you'd know what I mean when I say greeblies.
It's got all over it. But like it just looks freaking amazing.
This thing, you know, it's supposed to be a serious threat to the Rider.
There's all these Kaizen Ingen coming after him and he does like a gravity defying impossible Rider kick where he's going up.
The guy who he's fighting is flying down at him and somehow he's kicking, it looks like he's kicking up at him from the ground.
He's such a powerful warrior, he has such powerful legs for jumping that he's able to actually rocket himself off of the floor
and do a flying kick into this flying guy that hurts him.
And the shoulder, there are ripples where Rider's foot is hitting like the flesh is being distorted.
Let me think of the best way.
If you've ever seen Ruruni Kenshin, when...
Okay, Kenshin has somebody who becomes a rival of his in the show who is not the main villain.
And at one point Kenshin uses his most powerful attack and it's actually the first time that the villains see the most powerful attack used.
And it looks like the guy got killed, but afterwards you...
Well, it looks like the guy got killed and you see his injury afterward and it looks nasty.
It's like his flesh has been like, I don't know, like pushed away.
It's really weird. Just the way it like ripples and is distorted from where it was impacted is really gross.
And this shoulder distortion on this flying creature that the Rider does is similar, but it's not as extreme.
Like, Watsky went way farther than this with that depiction.
Although I've only seen it in the anime, I haven't seen it in the manga, so I couldn't confirm for sure.
But it's very cool.
And it's like kind of a subtle detail and each time where he could have put more work into it, he could have done a follow-up panel that showed it better.
But it feels like it's just the beginning of the impact.
And there's a nice impact visual effect, I guess you could say, around his foot where it's hitting the cyborg, his brother cyborg who he's having to kill in order to complete this mission.
And yeah, it looks really cool. It's just like a really super great dynamic image.
And it's got great color balance, a great balance of negative and positive space.
And it's just super cool.
So when I saw this, I thought, oh, that's the thumbnail image.
I might work more on there, but for sure that one is going to be part of the thumbnail image.
And it's pretty much that and the cover of the 50th anniversary edition.
So that's what I have for my favorite art piece from this.
And it's probably like the art showcase.
It's the best of Ishtamori's art in a single image.
This is actually it's not in a single panel. It's not a page.
It's a single panel. And it's just it's got everything that you want from Ishtamori.
Again, again, if you're using a podcasting 2.0 app or if you're looking at the notes on mgonews.com, you'll be able to see this specific art piece that I want to talk about.
And it's sorry, I'm just looking into the art pieces. I'm swiping to the one I want to talk about.
It's the most dramatic piece.
And I think I'm going to read some of it to you.
And I don't think this really counts as spoilers, except well, it is spoilers for the manga.
But it's I think it's kind of a meme. It was a meme between me and people who are talking about Kamen Rider with each other a few years back.
But anyway, well, let me just put it this way.
The big bad guy, I'll just say that the big bad guy that Kamen Rider is fighting at the end of this chapter or towards the end of this chapter.
First of all, it's a really cool visual effect what they're doing with him, even though it's just kind of like, like, oh, I think I understand what it's supposed to do.
What it's supposed to be visual reference to, which I won't talk about because you got to read it for yourself.
But he basically says something to Kamen Rider that like hurts his heart.
The writer like kind of he doesn't kill everybody, like stops and like move forward and he puts his hand on his heart and it's translated as.
But basically, this guy is telling him something that he doesn't want to hear, something that he doesn't want to believe, something that he's having a hard time listening to.
And instead of being the force of nature, moving like the wind, moving with the power of the wind that Kamen Rider usually is.
He has basically stopped short and he's been stopped in his track by words like this man has done so many crazy things.
He's fought so hard and so long and, you know, moved through so many obstacles and yet mere words from this fellow.
And it really is more than the words if you read it in the context of it.
But it seems as if mere words stop him cold in his tracks and leave him open to attack from this guy.
And I just think that's it's so cool because again, like I said, it's symbolic.
There is a secondary thing going on, but it is the words that are helping to stop him.
And it's just hitting him so hard that he can't believe what's going on.
And I think it's really interesting. It's really interesting.
So, yeah, Chapter 6 of the Kamen Rider manga, it leaves more story for Kamen Rider to have.
It leaves more possibility for future stories, like I said.
And it gives you a world where evil is not fully defeated, but where our heroes triumph over that evil.
And know that it's something they have to spend the rest of their life struggling against.
I wouldn't say that the ending is actually bleak because we get away from here.
The Rider had somebody helping him out who recovers from his injuries.
And they are going to go ahead and keep working against this force.
But there's a very personal connection that Ichimoji had with this lady and her brother who I mentioned at the beginning.
He's got a disease based on radiation. It's a leukemia actually.
And his sister is taking care of him. And by the end of it, the boy dies.
And Ichimoji and Junko wonder, I don't know, kind of like what's going to happen with the rest of humanity.
They know about the threat from Shocker.
And they know about...they dealt Shocker a big blow, but they know that that's not the final blow.
That there will be more fighting with Shocker in the future.
And they wonder if all the technology that Shocker has and all the technology that even the Riders have at their disposal is worthwhile.
Or if man is using it the right way.
Because this boy could have been saved by the kind of technology that Shocker uses to make their modified humans.
And yet, he wasn't.
That technology was lost or destroyed or the access to it was taken away because of this war that Shocker wants to wage in order to control people.
And this war for freedom that the Riders are fighting against them.
And the statement at the end, the subtitle for this episode, is basically that with all the power that these people have had in their hands.
That all the power and the science and the technology that's been developed by Shocker and by humanity in general.
Because Shocker basically co-opted a technology that was developed by the Japanese government.
And you may say that they turned it evil, but it might have been evil already in what it was used for or planned for.
Yeah, that's kind of up for debate for you.
But anyway, they say with all this power and where it was directed, maybe we were fighting the wrong enemy all along.
And I think that's something interesting.
And it kind of begs the question, it leaves the question, which I think is the very last thing in the manga actually.
As, you know, what are we fighting?
And what is the real enemy that we want to defeat in our lives in this world with our collective energy as Japanese citizens?
Which obviously I'm being a little facetious there because we're not Japanese citizens, at least I'm not.
And, you know, this can be applied to places other than Japan.
And it's just more in a specific culture and context based on the fact that it's a product of a certain culture.
And therefore it has its own context.
But we can take that idea and ask ourselves, are we fighting the right battle?
Are we, you know, engaging in the right struggle?
Are we putting our efforts towards the correct things in our lives?
And I think it's really cool that a comic book about Karate Bugman made for a TV show about a karate bugman in order to sell toys of karate bugman masks and whatever else,
toys and, you know, transformation devices and things like that, can ask these questions and can take the time to kind of delve into that deeper kind of storytelling.
And that's part of what I love about Tokusatsu in general and, you know, Ishtamori's contributions to it mostly because I just think there was a real heart for humanity in the man and a care for society at large.
And I think that shows through here in his concern and his desire to ask and examine this big question.
And he doesn't give you the answer necessarily, but he does raise the question and, you know, do a reductio ad absurdum that, you know, if this kid's going to die from cancer because, you know, the writer has to fight the evil shock organization who has the technology to save this boy,
but just, you know, they can't focus on that because there's a war going on.
So they got to focus on what they need to focus on.
Then, you know, is it even worthwhile?
I think the answer is yes, it is worthwhile, but you need to have the clarity to not be thrown off by everything in life so that you can focus and know what to do and do what's right and do what really is important and what matters and make sure that you're always fighting the right battle because you're going to have to fight, I think, no matter what you do in life.
But you have to make sure that you're fighting the right battle and that you're choosing the correct enemy to go after.
Anyway, that did not go at all how I expected it to go.
It turned out to be double the length I wanted it to be, but I had fun talking about it and yeah, that's that's pretty much it.
So check out the rest of my stuff on writer tears.
I'm going to be talking about many common writer things and I'm going to basically move from one common writer topic to another.
I don't know which show I will talk about next or manga, so stay tuned and you will find out along with me.
I have lots of other podcasts, lots of other review series.
I've got a show where I talk about comic books, which is actually going to be shifting to talking about manga.
It's called swinging through comics.
I'll be releasing that soon.
Check out MGMunions for the full podcast release and kind of like a soft relaunch type thing that I'm doing with that.
And you can check out going Ultra where I'm talking about Ultraman Blazar, which is just coming out.
The second episode should be out very soon around the time of the release of this episode.
And you can check out what else can you check out?
Let's see. Oh, story over everything.
If you want to follow my journey as an author or as an author where I'm sharing with you some of the stuff I'm writing and my writing process and my thoughts on writing and on the craft.
And basically I share with you things that I'm writing and my process so that you can see what it's like from the inside as well as I'll be reading to you some of my stories.
That's called story over everything.
And again, you can find links to all of this over at MJMUNOZ.COM.
Anyway, I hope that you're well.
This is MJ signing out.