#iaian

Just a bunch of incoherent werewolf au stuffs with Atomic Samurai and Iaian

Last headshot is Iaian “wolf” form, which actually looks more like a dog because you can’t tell me the guy doesn’t have dog energy. About the 3th drawing,,,, don’t worry about it

Rough line of events under the cut, it’s kinda basic but I guess it give somewhat context

(Keep in mind I've only watched the anime + read the manga up until the end of the monster association arc. But I don't care for spoilers!)

How normalised and common is death? Are funerals as important?

Are single graves only for the rich? Are people who are killed in an attack just put in a mass grave?

Would City-Q be for the richer people due to it being safest?

If death/danger is common are some people always packed to evacuate if they live in dangerous areas?

Do some people not even bother evacuating and accept potential death?

What happens to people if their house/work place is destroyed? Are they automatically covered by the hero association/government or are they done for if they don't have insurance?

Are all hero registry exams the same?

Why was Saitama climbing the ranks seen as fishy? Silver Fang and Superalloy Darkshine are shown to climb the ranks but surely with their strength it would have been just as quick?

Would celebrities like Lady Gaga have to rebrand from 'Mother Monster' to something else lol?

How do heroes who just want to kill monsters or don't care for fame deal with fans? Do they ask the hero association to not send them the fan mail they receive?

Imagine Atomic Samurai receiving fanmail but only his disciples (probably Okamaitachi) would be the people to open it.

Do people have last names?

Do heroes get into trouble for all the destruction they cause (aside from Saitama)? Especially ones that cause more damage than the original monster for no real reason, or do the hero association cover it up for them?

Are family bonds as strong once children reach adulthood? Is it normal for people to move cities or do families stay close to each other incase of disasters?

How did no-one notice the city-sized spaceship entering Earth's atmosphere before it wiped out City-A?

Before the Hero Association how were people with powers treated? Were they seen as monsters?

Here are the prompts for each themed throughout October!!!

As we are in June, you have this month, July, August and September to start preparing for fanworks for whatever prompts you choose. Posting can start as soon as October 1st. If you still have other creations you make with the calendar after October 31st they will be reblogged as well

When spooky month arrives all you have to do is post your work here on tumblr with the tag #PunchtoberFest to be found and shared on this official blog! If you post your work on a different platform you can submit the link in DM for a sneakpeak post to share your creation, or you can make the seakpeak post yourself and it will be reblogged here like other posts!!

Remember to review and ensure what you make follows the rules and guidelines!!!

Been a moment, no? Growing old and busy sucks. The good side is that I do get a nice meaty lump to review (remembers that there was a time when this entire arc would have been concentrated into one or two chapters -- ah well, ONE is crazy busy now, so he's not handing Murata long-ass storyboards at the moment).

Story

You know what? I don't want to summarise it: you go ahead and read it all. I'll go straight to meta.

Meta

The danger is real

In the first of the OPM (rejected) art books, Murata commented on how ONE invested even the goofiest of his monster designs with terror. However, in this arc, I think Murata has finally succeeded in bringing that real sense of terror to the page. Because the manga has done a more thorough job of tracing Beauto's mental state and actions than the webcomic, we know that he is not joking when he says that his mind is slipping.

But for the disciples' timely intervention, he would have killed the mercenaries. As we saw afterwards, his viewpoint has been becoming increasingly distorted.

It's only been with the greatest of difficulty that he's been able to force himself to remember *why* he became a hero, remembering how Blast once saved him from a monster, and snap out of it for the moment. Even though he was able to step up, admit weakness, and help raise Darkshine's morale sufficiently to return to the battle, as we see, that's not cured him in any way.

I say this honestly: even if Iaian wasn't there to see it, it's only the fact that Amai Mask hasn't yet killed any people that he's been reachable.

Even if you don't get to see the outcome of your good works, you should still do them. Iaian made the right call.

As the denouement shows, the danger of his losing it and attacking people for real was very potent -- unlike the webcomic where he calmed down after killing Pesky Clown -- here, he went feral. Had Saitama not caught the stone, we'd be looking at a bloodbath, not a lynching.

He who casts the first stone will be torn to shreds.

It takes a village

I love how so many people have worked on Amai to put him in the right state to grasp the idea of being human and not let becoming a monster fully take him over. Iaian asking him if he was all right just as he'd made up his mind to sneak attack the other heroes. Zombieman saying that all of them were human in the end, despite being a freak of nature himself. The other heroes treating him with respect after he came out and admitted to being scared and ashamed of his weakness. And then finally, Saitama, the improbably strong guy whose prowess he'd gotten to see with his own eyes saying that he was human despite everything. Not one of these moments was unnecessary: it takes a lot of support to challenge deeply-held emotions. We need to hear messages more than once for them to start to stick.

I need more of these two.

Of course, there's the moment that made it all come together: not a long soliloquy interrupted by catching sight of bird poop, but the sound of people screaming in the Ferris Wheel. That's the moment that made him realise that he's a hero: someone who responds to human need.

A hero is as a hero does, no matter what the world makes of them.

As both Bang and Sicchi noted, becoming a monster is a spiritual thing, and with Amai having understood and accepted himself, he no longer needs fear becoming a monster. The human within has won.

Saitama may get the last say, but I'm so glad that here he's not the only guy saying important-to-hear things to Beauto. This is one of the things I love about the manga.

Small things

Yes, I'm still loving the ninjas tracking Saitama unobtrusively. Little by little, Saitama is gaining an entourage of terrifying power. I need them to come back into the story sooner rather than later.

I NEED to see this Demon-level monster that gave Genos trouble. It's true that monsters that the Hero Association has categorized as 'Demon level' have ranged from a sentient radish monster that some B-Class heroes took out and ate to Maguori, whose level would have been uprated had Saitama not killed him so promptly. However, I still need to see this monster.

I'm really annoyed that McCoy is not more dismayed at Sweet Mask's unmasking. I was looking forward to his being shocked that the cat leapt out of the bag before he was ready to stage a grand reveal. I wonder if it's because he's been able to leverage the incident into getting the Neo Heroes carte blanche to operate... or if unleashing Pesky Clown was his doing. Goodness knows he has access to monsters and has been making bank off selling them to someone who has a use for them.

Beyond clowns -- the broader picture

First, let's talk about the world of One-Punch Man. If the existence of mercenaries undermined the idea of a world that's entirely at peace, then Amai Mask talking about the world unifying under a single government and language now gives it some context. Put simply, it's impossible to homogenise the world -- and how well those in power manage the tensions of human differences and ensure equitable access to resources and opportunities determines what happens. As we can see from Tongara's memories, the harmony we see is only skin deep:

There are some powerful and nefarious interests in this world and the horrors they perpetuate are far from cartoonish.

No, the irony of the mercenaries whom Amai once targeted for execution turning out to be his most ardent supporters has not been lost on me, but I digress.

this is inspired by @bottomgenosfest who hosted an anonymous fanworks exchange event in 2018 for June

I've seen a few posts mention how OPM fandomers and works not having enough visibility/engagement (and I want to isolate this to the creative engaging side not the meta side) due to unknown reasons even as there's definitely more than 100 of us scurrying around Tumblr, AO3 and Twitter in their own activity cycles (and im using them as reference cus I use them the most)

So I want to try hosting something for the general fanwork enjoying members to engage in and enjoy + find each other better and discuss about. Fandoms in general have been struggling in the past few years but regardless it is engagement, discussion and encouragement that keeps them doing, not a simple like and reblog is enough just to show someone looked at it and enjoyed it silently

BUT the original BotGenos host had planned theirs as early as March, and we have less than a month to Pride month....

so I've considered: maybe if it's too short a time I can instead host something for halloween/concept-tober instead? As that will give everyone time to plan and prepare what they can do for the event

It will also be open to any ship!!!!!! Cus this will be to bring visibility to any and all works out there, no matter how niche or personal they are (you could make up your own ship of two in-universe characters that catch your eye and i will encourage it)

no Xreader nor OCs tho. Only in-universe character ships (Manga and Webcomic) will be accepted

poll will be just one day to hasten up incase anyone does want it for June