#susumu

GX3 JAPONESQUE 褌 -FUNDOSHI-

Mind you, Susumu is not dumb or ignorant of the situation, he KNOWS something is wrong and able to articulate why it is as such, but when he tells another adult that's suppose to protect him, they just don't believe him despite having the SCARS to prove it otherwise (we will get back to that in a bit)

Susumu also mentions there being a disturbing rise of mothers killing their own children and while some might assume its the work of demons (which brings a whole other chilling realization that despite it understandable that they're pissed that their home has been taken over, they're still very much fine with enacting the pain they experienced onto another group, one that is one of the most underprivileged groups among humans), its more so a reference to one of Nagai's short stories, Susumu's Big Shock, in where adults randomly begin to kill the children around them which rather than referencing the demons, it is instead foreshadowing the eventual dark side humans began falling into when fighting amongst each other & how innocents, particularly children, are caught intentionally in the conflict since their lives weren't even valued that much beforehand.

And when Susumu's "mom" finally shows, she basically gaslights the two kids into thinking Susumu just lied about the whole thing so he could have a sleepover, which like, even if it was somehow true, it would still tell us that the kid is depressingly lonely in his personal life, enough that he would lie just to be with others around him. His "mom" also notes that he's been doing this for a while now and so I wouldn't be surprised if she is intentionally trying to isolate him from those who can actually help with his situation. And despite knowing she's just lying, Susumu just kinda has to grit his teeth and say that he does lie when he has nothing else to retort with because its own words against his mom, because it could soften the later abuse he's preparing for and the fact that she's an adult; so no one else will listen to him anyway. Tare also has to sit on the sidelines as there's not much he can do anyway at the moment as he's been taught by society to believe an adult no matter what. Susumu finally decides to come home when his mom tells him that his dad will finally be home and you can tell that he thinks this whole nightmare will finally be over once he's home, which unfortunately is not the case.

(using an old recording of when I did a live watch of the 2004 movie on twt during which I had my turtle's tank in the room so sorry abt the weird background noise) back when I was watching the movie my jaw legitimately dropped as I didn't expect for them actually include Susumu's side plot and the fact that its legitimately one of the few actual horror elements in the movie. Was surprised that they actually SHOWED his scars that were mentioned in the manga, though had misremembered them being on his arm as a sort of mirror to Miko's devilman transformation. You could say that this Susumu does get a good ending as Miko does save him from his demonified parents though considering the two live through Akira's and Ryo's final battle who knows just how time they have left considering the planet's a wreck.

I sometimes think about the dog Taro killed in Crybaby…

Susumu

ArtFight 2025 revenge piece of Susumu for Neckar. Thank you for drawing Oslak for me! <3

I keep forgetting to share these. I've been working on a Namco High comic formatted in the style of a mspa. Here's a handful of my favorite panels thus far.