What Ppl Don’t Understand About Kabru (of Utaya) Is That His Natural State Is Not Bitter Hater. That’s

[RELEASE] D.Gray-man Chapter 251

Grab a copy of SQ.RISE 2024 WINTER here to support Hoshino if you can!

Release 152 // [05.04.23]

Mangadex | Mirror

Another massive props to the team for their hard work and a special thank you to our readers for your continued support! ❤️

Enjoy the chapter~

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

New covers for the light novels, each made look like the cover of Sportiva.

Translation of the quotes / headlines:

Kageyama 1:

“The Monsters of Spring High”

Shoyo Hinata/Korai Hoshiumi [Little giant's genes]

Kotaro Bokuto/Kyoomi Sakusaya[Memory of the legendary five days]

Inarizaki High School V Karasuno High School [Giant Killing of the Century]

Hinata 1:

BRAZIL [Close coverage of the sand ninja] Shoyo Hinata

ARGENTINA [Why did you go to the other side of the world] Tooru Oikawa

Tsukishima:

Climb up, adventurer. - V1 league promotion survival

A generation of monsters aiming to rise to the top

[Sendai Frogs] Tsukishima/Koganekawa [Tamaman Elephants] Kindaichi/Onagata [Nichikyaku Automobile Lions] Yamagata

Hoshiumi:

Small and strong is cool

Super minionism.

[Opening interview] “Those who challenge height”

"Small Soldiers Who Challenge the World" Hinata/ Yaku

Sakusa

Pursue “the ideal end”

[Ultimate all-rounder] Kiyoomi Sakusa

Ushijima:

Be strong, be right, and follow your own path!

[Japan's main gun Ushiwaka] Wakatoshi Ushijima

Kenma

"I'm not interested in winning or losing. Is it fun or boring?"

Is it Kodzuken? [E-sports special issue]

[Let's talk about Kodzuken!] Lev Haiba (Model) /Tetsuro Kuroo (Japan Volleyball Association member)

Yaku:

The patron saint arrives

``How many times have they saved the team?

Libero Special Feature [From Europe with love] Yaku

[Learn from the craftsmen!] Komori/Inunaki/Heiwajima

Hinata 2:

For the sake of my friends, the sun will rise again.

[Will he be the savior of Japan?] - Shoyo Hinata

Miya:

"I don't care whether it's praise or insults." Challenger style

[Compete against the world with three swords]

Bokuto:

I am an ordinary ace

If you have the energy, you can do the opening interview.

[Japan's spirited spirit] Kotaro Bokuto

[Talk about old and new teammates]

Kageyama 2:

Thorough debate! Who is Japan's command tower?

[Control the monsters] - Kageyama Tobio

[What's wrong with being super aggressive]

[Strength that accepts weakness]

Oikawa:

Insignificant Pride Theory

[World-class control tower from Miyagi] Toru Oikawa “Adversity is my true strength”

[Mentor speaks] Jose Blanco “People are defeated when they set their limits.”

[Testimony of an old friend] Hajime Iwaizumi (Japanese Team Athletic Trainer “Proud partner + big idiot”)

OK SO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE EYES BEING IMPORTANT TO THE CHARACTERS THING. because this chapter had a whole lot of that. ohhh boy it had a lot!!!!! it did!!!!!

FIRSTLY. akutagawa. for a while, his eyes have been pitch-black. last chapter, they regained their light, as he remembered atsushi. and then they're pitch-black again in this chapter-- as the person who brought light to them, to akutagawa himself, is gone.

SECONDLY. dazai. as he tells akutagawa he can "certainly" give him a reason to live, at the same time, he himself looks like he has no reason to live, as if he's not living at all. his eyes are dark and dead. pitch-blacm just as akutagawa's were at the start of the manga, and this chapter, but with none of the determination or bite akutagawa has. just emptiness.

THIRDLY. (child) akutagawa. his eyes aren't empty, nor pitch-black at first. they're dark, with light within. he has not been shown light, nor has he been pushed into the shadows. they become purely fully of light when dazai claims he can give akutagawa a reason to live.

his eyes turn his signature pitch-black with his time in the mafia. he was not given a reason to live. he was given fear, pain, emptiness, and desensitivity to brutality. the chance of light and goodness in his eyes from when he was a child is erased by the port mafia-- by dazai.

his eyes become like dazai's dark, lifeless ones as dazai trains him. any chance at light, or goodness, or happiness, or true life is sapped from him and replaced with violence, abuse, the mafia, dazai, dazai, dazai!

atsushi is what brings akutagawa that light. and when atsushi is gone, the light is gone.

"the light in somebody's eyes" is a phrase meant to refer to someone's spark of life. their reason to live. akutagawa says that killing atsushi "became [his] sole motivation." but when atsushi dies, that takes the light out of his eyes. his reason to live vanishes along with atsushi.

atsushi is akutagawa's reason to live, isn't he?

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the manga, during ch39: Portrait of a Father, Akutagawa shows up, as Dazai's informant, to give Atsushi documents about who the orphanage headmaster was and what happened to him.

At that moment, Akutagawa shows an uncharacteristic clemency towards Atsushi, saying that "Atsushi's master died today", and compares this to his own relationship with Dazai.

This was a long time ago now, and a lot has happened since. The Cannibalism arc is right after this, where they are very antagonistic towards each other, and includes this scene:

Akutagawa, despite his bitterness towards Atsushi for who he is to Dazai, has seen how similar they are in this sense. Atsushi hasn't, because his gratefulness towards Dazai prevents him from seeing that Akutagawa's experience was completely different with this same person. (he's also not given any time by the narrative to wonder about it)

but then just came along chapter 122!!!

Atsushi gets to see, 1:1, the relationship between Akutagawa and Dazai. For the first time, Akutagawa is relatable to him.

And of course, at the end, Atsushi calls out the illusion as being the headmaster wearing Dazai's face because we are closing this loop! We are forcing Atsushi to see Akutagawa the same way Akutagawa has been seeing him!

there’s something so hopeful about akutagawa no longer being weighed down by dazai’s words and free from his inherent manipulation due to his amnesia….and with this he is able to truly show us the maximum power of his own ability, unrestrained and untainted from dazai’s expectations of him.

previously, aku was only focused on getting stronger because it was dazai who was pushing him, dazai who was experimenting with him to truly bring out the potential he saw.

but now, aku has someone else to protect. he is a “martyr” for justice, as he said when he wielded the sword. bram’s resolve has manifested into a mindset that will truly take advantage of akutagawa’s inherent nature to defend and protect. like he did with his friends in the slums. like he does with his sister.

now we will all truly get to see just how powerful he can be. what his resolve is made of.

tbh i cannot wait for the suo backstory reveal bc i cant help but notice that in the story where after every single fight they place emphasis on EATING WITH PEOPLE and FOOD BRINGS YOU TOGETHER and how umemiya's whole fucking backstory revolves around EATING WITH FAMILY.... suo does not eat!

he uses the flimsy excuse of being on a diet or whatever but this is the "i win fights so i can eat with everyone and feel content" manga!!! LET THAT BOY EAT!!!

literally integral to the plot! its symbolising his closed off personality! he doesnt eat so he doesnt feel connection with others!

[EN Sum-up]Hoshino Katsura's livestream about chapter 253.5 (part 1/3)

Hello everyone, As promised here is a sum-up (more of a transcription?) of the one hour livestream Hoshino Katsura did last Sunday, February 2nd, 2025. The livestream was about chapter 253.5, which came out on January 29th in the SQ. RISE WINTER 2025 issue.

This sum-up is very long and will be divided into three parts:

Part 1 about the context around chapter 253.5 (How she came to draw it, etc.)

Part 2 about the art style of chapter 253.5

Part 3 about the story itself and some details which will allow us to theorize about what’s coming next

Obviously, this sum-up is full of spoilers, please be careful if you haven’t read chapter 253.5! This sum-up is not an exact transcription of what has been said: I skipped all the parts where she answered comments (except if it was relevant!) and I mixed some parts, because she has a tendency to repeat herself.

The context around chapter 253.5: from hiatus to an extra-chapter

Hoshino Katsura: “D. Gray-man was supposed to be in hiatus on this RISE issue, so first, I'd like to talk a bit about this.

It was because I was meant to be on hiatus I was able to draw 253.5 night in way, you know… at first, I was supposed to be on hiatus, not working at all, I was supposed to have received some vacations. I have been asking for a hiatus for quite a time now, since I was about to move [to Kobe] and I knew exactly when it would happen. Also, it has nothing to do with me moving to Kobe, but my chief assistant, the one who has been with me for years, a veteran assistant, has become a father! It's his first child so I wanted to give him vacations as well. That's why I was asking for a hiatus.

The authorization didn't come right away, but because I was moving, I got the authorization to go on hiatus for the winter issue. I was relieved to hear it.

HOWEVER, here come the problems. A month after I received the authorization, so around mid-November, I guess around the 15-17th, I was meeting my editor and he looked like he had something very difficult to ask me…He told me: "I know you are on hiatus" and I responded happily "yes, I know." He explained me D. Gray-man was one of the top sellers of RISE, and they needed to put something in RISE, otherwise the sells would drop. First, we were talking about a special benefit, like an exclusive illustration [which became the B5 clear file we had]. Only with that, I was already stressed: it was mid-November, I had other things to do. You know there is a pop-up in February right? Well, I was drawing the illustration for the pop-up shop, the one where Allen &co have cat ears, because the deadline was for the beginning of December. And, actually, I had another work with an exclusive illustration to draw. (!)

As you can see, I already had a pretty tight schedule until my house move to Kobe in mid-December. When I heard about the clear file, I was like "seriously?" I started to panic, but when I saw my poor editor, I accepted, I understood it was a sort of condition in order to be on hiatus.

And then, later, my editor told me: “You know, if we only add a special present in the magazine, I feel the DGM fans would be a bit sad [because there is no chapter]”. Basically, it would mean we would make the fans buy the magazine for the special clear file EVEN THOUGH there is no chapter. So, my editor asked for a small, short extra-chapter. When I first heard about it, I was determined to draw something VERY short, like 5 pages. I told him: "Alright, but I won't be able to draw as well as usual, so it might be a bit rough and messy. And I’ll be the one choosing the page number".

To sum up, I had to finish the storyboard for the beginning of December, the illustration for the clear file, the illustration for the pop-up store AND another illustration for something else. Everything had to be finished by mid-December. Also, I had to supervise and check futur D. Gray-man merch. Thar’s why I was really wondering: “would I be able to do everything while trying to move?”. I was really stressed. Eventually, I was not able to finish my preparations for my moving and I spent my December month calling my editor to complain. That’s how the extra chapter was born.

I hadn’t decided what I wanted to draw because, you know, it came so suddenly. But, from the way the story is currently moving, I was convinced I should draw something related to the Bookman clan. When it comes to the Bookman clan’s anecdotes, well, there are plenty of them: stories I wasn’t able to draw in the main story, small anecdotes, etc. Besides, I didn’t have much time to finish the story board. So, what I first thought would be a five pages small bonus chapter became suddenly an eleven pages chapter. I thought it would be a story I could draw without putting too much effort into the art, but even though it’s an extra-chapter, it’s an important story, so I ended up putting a lot of effort in the drawings. In a way, I paved my way to my own death. (…). Honestly, it was hell. It took me so much time, and I spent my time complaining to my editor, but when I think about it, I’m satisfied with this extra chapter.

(A comment says the bonus chapter actually looks like a normal chapter from the main plot): “Well, it’s true, but you know, I would probably not have drawn that story if I had to concentrate on the main plot. The point of view changes drastically in this chapter”.

Eventually, I ended up house moving to Kobe while screaming internally “I won’t make it in time”, and then, I received all my furniture. I finished moving super speedily and I tried to create my workspace at home as fast as possible in order to start the chapter. It was around the end of December.”

To be continued in part 2 about the artstyle of chapter 253.5...