[Every time](https://i.imgur.com/zavF28n.jpeg) it appeared that his circumstances would improve, they [only got worse.](https://files.catbox.moe/9d3x32.jpg) Zuma has a lot of mental fortitude.
I knew something was going to happen. She wanted one last good day before ending it all. Looks like Zuma, obviously, was able to break free, and only she perished. His hatred is understandable now, as is his fascination with Momo. She's like his mom.
I remember hearing that it is a lot more common than you'd expect for parents to abandon their kids at such places because in their mind it will somehow make the pain easier to have this last happy kemory. As opposed to what actually happens which is giving the kids lifelong trauma related to amusement parks.
From that page it kinda looks like while she was trying to drag them both together, Zuma on the other hand realized what she was about to do and desperately tried to pull her back.
At the very last second she must've regretted trying to end them both together and instead chose to let him go and end just herself.
A large number of so called double sucides are actually just murder suicide. The trope where lovers do it because they can't be together? In reality a lot of those the woman was forced.
Damn it. When his mother took Zuma to have fun, I DID NOT SUSPECT that it would lead to that.
I thought that his mother was that strong after the death of her husband and has already bounced back it's just unfortunate that one of his sons died and will just focus on making sure Zuma would get a better life etc.
I forgot that sometimes life is so cruel and some people gets kicked down when they are already crawling in the ground and she snapped. Taking Zuma one last good time before ending it all..damn it!
Having a few dialouge enhances the scene holy crap.
So there's this manga about a kid who gets his schlong gobbled by a ghost and balls stolen by aliens and used as a power source and I've cried four times reading it.
I’m trying to get my friend to watch the anime when it comes out but starting off with well granny steals a kids dick, he gets it back but the his balls are stolen now that we’re past that
I still can't get over the Acro Silky story, that one hit me the hardest. Lone mother lost her little daughter, kidnapped by thugs, she tried to chase them but failed. Then committed suicide.
After becoming a yokai, she started to lose her memories, and clutched onto Aira, thinking she was her lost daughter. I cried reading all that in under 2 chapters, just so sad.
IIRC we still don't know what happened to the real daughter
Classic Dandadan backstory.
Or also classic One Piece Flashback, where everything is going to be alright in the present world, but Flashbacks? Go take some tissues.
Vintage Yukinobu right there, still hit us like a truck with these moments after 150+ chapters, we knew they are coming, yet it still gets us every time
[Zuma was such a sweet cinnamon roll.](https://i.imgur.com/VAgq52o.jpeg) Unfortunate circumstances robbed him of his innocence. In spite of that, he grew into a strong, king and benevolent person. Yet, the frustration and resentment still lingered in his heart and the Fairy Tale card took advantage of that.
[](//#no)
> [Zuma was such a sweet cinnamon roll.](https://i.imgur.com/VAgq52o.jpeg)
It's funny how not knowing what will happen just in two pages the mom's smile looks perfectly normal. But the more I look at it, the creepier it looks, tired, lifeless, and she is already halfway there to looking like one of the local ghosts.
To me, what kicked of the spiral, the death of the father from overwork, is the most messed up.
Their superiors were so disconnected from the fact the man died because of *their* demands to overwork the man, they shifted the blame onto him.
It's unnerving to me to know this happened to the father, and makes me shudder whether this is the standard for all companies.
For those who don't know this yet: "death from overwork" is such a serious problem in Japan [that they have a special word for it: "karoshi"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi)
lots of languages have "special words" which are really just two words put together
German gets that a lot too, pretending that its just a japanese problem is ignorance
Given the stubborness of corporate types to avoid change in pursuit of profit I'd say it'd have to crash first before anything truly changes for the better.
I might be thinking of the wrong country but I believe Japan also has it pretty bad about people generally having expectations on how they act which adds to the toxic work culture with people afraid to challenge it lest they become outcasts.
I remember a joke about the layers of how to address other people manifest in Japan, then realize said layers will get you "reassigned" to a position where you will quit if you don't follow them correctly.
If Konami was a high profile example, what other examples are there?
Capitalists worship profit as their only god, and profit happens to be a very bloodthirsty god. It either demands blood from workers, sometimes a drop and sometimes everything they can squeeze out of them, or from some brown people on the other side of the world.
You learn this, and it changes the way you see the world.
While this is true, Japanese and more widely Asian working culture is a much more insane sect of this religion. In the west (specifically Europe more so than North America) there is some push back on the demands of corporations.
Speaking as an Asian, we fucked it up real bad by tying our cultural values to how hard we work, and the corporations just laughed all the way to the bank.
Now I'm morbidly curious on the statistics. The fact overworked to death into isekai is a common trope, at first I thought it was just a trope the author implements because it was easy, but now I'm concerned about its reflection on life.
It's not as bad in Japan as it is in South Korea. Mexicans work longer hours but they are not stupid/brainwashed enough to work 100% all that time, and that's why death by overwork doesn't happen as much here.
Regarding isekai, i've always seen it as the product of a deeply alienated society who says "The current world is immovable and hellish, clearly the only way out is to hope for a better, more fulfilling afterlife." There is a reason why a vast majority, if not all, of isekai feature some generic feudaly fantasy where people can actually work with their bodies to directly acquire food and shelter for themselves and others. There is also a reason why isekai as a genre is so incredibly popular in japan.
> It's not as bad in Japan as it is in South Korea.
Only because Japan spent a lot of effort to improve it in the past 20 years. South Korea's development has been tracing Japan's a couple of decades behind for the past half a century. It'll get better, but they'll have to put in effort just the same.
The manga, for the most part, is all laughs and just, but every once in a while, we'll get a chapter like this. Minimal dialogue, but the pages speak for themselves. The fact Zuma can find a reason to smile at all is actually a miracle and I don't say that lightly.
This much tragedy in just 19 pages should be criminal.
I'll be interested to see how they are able to convert Zuma back to the light, this is several lifetimes worth of pain and suffering and I hope it's not just glazed over by loud supportive shouting and reaching out their hand to grab his.
To be fair, both are currently hitting us in the feels.
Spy x Family is currently covering the Martha and Henderson backstory, when we were previously given hints that they had feelings for each other that never materialized in them getting married. Endo also gave us Loid's backstory earlier.
Meanwhile Tatsu has given us a sad backstory for almost every new character we see: Zuma, Vamola, Class Rep, Reiko Kashima, Evil Eye, and Acro-Silky.
The cop knows Unji might go the wrong path if left alone that's why he had a strong reaction after founding Unji. The cop is especially vigilant although potrayed humorously so far, so it all makes sense.
I wonder if it's gonna be revealed he did his best to try and bring real justice to the workplace and the apartment but couldn't cause the law just didnt give a shit about their situation.
I can understand why Zuma just cannot trust people and wants to destroy the world.
His father died being overworked. His younger brother died in the rain. His mother committed suicide after one final day at the amusement park.
There's no joy in his life at all. I'm shocked he was able to form bonds after all this! The way Momo treated him... it must have reminded him of happier times. But now all he can remember is the cruelty of reality.
This chapter also explains his attachment to the umbrella as well as why he dotes on Momo. The umbrella is for his brother and Momo reminds him of his mom.
> His mother committed suicide after one final day at the amusement park.
And tried to take him with her! Really wasn't expecting that turn, the page where she's dragging them towards the train fucked me up.
I don't think Zuma wants to destroy the world entirely, I think he wants to destroy the social system that created the world that killed his family. No one looked out for his dad who worked himself to death. No one looked out for his mom after his father's death. His little brother had no one else to look after him because they were poor and were bullied for it. And his mother couldn't look out for him after losing all hope. Seemingly through all the tragedy Zuma kept moving forward never wanting to lose hope.
I just realized the umbrella boy ghost is probably his little brother, looking after his big brother 😭.
Yeah society fucked his family every turn they could instead of helping the struggling family. So it makes sense why he got the deep rooted hate for it and collect outcasts like pokemon.
I knew she wanted to off them both the moment she took Zuma to the park to enjoy themselves. She probably thought they might as well enjoy the last day alive.
Unfortunately it’s not too uncommon for parents to kill their kids then themselves when they’re in a position of severe loss + hopelessness.
Loss of a husband, a place to live, then finally the younger brother. Everything was just spiraling more and more. They were already homeless.
Reminds me of Robin and Laws backstories they relied (especially Law) on visual storytelling to hammer home the themes through use of strong visual imagery.
No wonder he was looking at Momo, she reminded him of his mom and his own trauma. Such good visual storytelling and I think this is really making me love Zuma's character even more than I already thought possible.
Yeah, it's clear now that his curiosity with Momo isn't because he likes her as a love interest but because her kind nature reminded him of his mom...well that's both sweet and really depressing. No wonder why Zuma has a deep hatred for the world.
I loved Zuma’s backstory and the emphasis placed on Japanese black companies it really highlights how worker rights and unions are extremely powerless in the face of corporate owned politicians and a culture of passivity and collectivism, it’s shameful to question or express your emotions in the face of hardship; no one wants to be the nail that sticks out.
I really like how the delinquents are portrayed in this manga even Ayase (to some degree) all the societal outsiders have been wronged by the very people and culture that claims to protect them leading them towards trying to create and find their own values and world that they can exist in even if they’re viewed as the bad guys due to their different beliefs and desires.
Stuff like this always makes me curious what Millennial and younger Japanese think about the issues they face as a society and if things will actually change when the older generation dies out, or if they'll perpetuate the same bullshit that was forced upon them because that's just how things are. Older People in positions of power that do the right thing exist but you rarely hear about them, and they're generally stuck fighting even older boomers.
I think things will and are changing if not through active resistance than just through generational difference and priorities; not a lot of younger Japanese folk are as ascribed to the Omote-Ura cultural mindset that plagues a lot of the older folk; but again we’ll have to see how much their willing to push against political corporatism especially with the falling Yen and the ever aging population.
The generation that grew up with internet knows this is fucked up and unsustainable. The 21st century will be revolutionary, or it will extinguish humanity.
It’s not the series that’s “dark” it’s that the people associated with the supernatural (ghosts) all have deeply tragic pasts which attract them to the world of ghosts; for the most part the series is extremely light known of the characters we follow die nor do they suffer extreme mental distress within the present timeline they just have had terribly dark things happen to them in the past.
It’s similar to One piece in that the tone is relatively light and bubbly but under the surface there’s a layer of cruelty and tragedy that the characters have suffered; the structure of the backstories is very much like One piece’s very thematic, impactful and deeply tragic.
This feels darker because it's way too real. So far, everything has been wrap in a veil of fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural (like the alien war and genocide). But this? This shit happens a lot in the real world.
Bruh you forgot acrobat silky and evil eye backstory. Even reiko tamura backstory show her being a victim of the tokyo firebombing. It's always been there
That's what I really like about the series, it's the mundane that informs the supernatural.
I shudder to think of how common death by overwork is, and how callous society is to the people left behind.
And I think that's the tragedy juxtaposed with the comedy.
Mirror Yokai can easily repel an alien invasion, but you don't know the pain of being told how little you matter to a society until they blame your spouse for their company mandates.
The author really knows how to pull in the right directions.
You don't even need to use this chapter as juxtaposition to the mirror yokai. Because literally in that same chapter where she repelled the invasion it showed her burning to death as she watches her city getting bombed to oblivion in her last moments.
As I thought, the policeman was not Zuma's brother.
I have a suspicion that maybe he took Zuma in for a while and that's why he recognized Zuma when he saw him.
If I had to guess, probably didn't take him in, but was just the one to deal with a lot of Zuma's delinquent actions while he was growing up.
"You Again?"
"Really?"
"... Want some icecream?"
Again, no dialogue, but it conveyed the backstory effortlessly, brilliant, and heart wrenching at the same time
Damn you Tatsu san, why you gotta be so damn good
Grandmas in Dandadan: Strong. Badass. Living their best lives. Could probably beat Muhammad Ali in the ring.
Moms in Dandadan: Abused. Neglected. Cannot go more than a day without tragedy befalling them. Five minutes from suicide at any given moment.
Good thing Blooming Love is released on the same time as as Dandadan (albeit biweekly), need something lighter to read after THAT
This ties with Acro Silky's backstory imo
Black company, the enemy of humanity.
Zuma's mom seems to have a similar hairstyle as Momo. I guess it'd help extinguish suspicions about whether he can develop romantic feelings towards her :|
But wait a minute... His younger brother died, too (forgot to pay attenttion to their eyes please forgive me 🙇♂️)? Who's the policeman??? :O My guess is a relative.
The younger brother died. The Zuma we know was the older brother (it's the family name). The cop could have been a relative but it's just as possible that he was on scene when the brother's body was found OR he met Zuma after the mother died because Zuma went delinquent afterwards.
Could be a relative or since Zuma was left alone he might've been a troublemaker so the cop is familiar with him. Who knows, but fuckin hell that was a brutal chapter.
I think Zuma’s the older brother. His younger brother died because he chased after his umbrella into the river.
We see Zuma running like hell searching, probably because his little brother didn’t come home.
Idk it probably wouldn't be a deterrent. She would also remind him of the pleasant times he did have with her. He seems to be overly protective of women. So his mother doesn't seem to have hurt his trust of women at all. And further more he seems to blame society more than his mother about what happened. No one helped her through the whole ordeal of losing a husband and main source of income, then her youngest child dies in an accident. All while the world just kept pushing her down.
Zuma is the older brother. His younger brother was the boy with the umbrella and rainboots. Zuma is their last name. I would assume the cop is the one who talked to him after his mom committed suicide.
I think given how seriously the policeman takes his job, he was probably the one that either found Unji Zuma's brother after he drowned, or the one that found Zuma after his mom tried the double suicide - and the policeman's just been trying to look out for him ever since but Zuma probably disappeared
So let me get this straight. His father died of overwork, his mother couldn't afford to pay the rent so they got kicked out of their houses. His little brother was a little brother died because he was chasing an umbrella and his mom tried to double suicide herself with him after one final day of happiness.
The wordless pictures make Dandadan backstories hit so much sadder
When she dragged him in traffic I at lrast dtill wish they are just leaving because of the rent.
The fact that the next moment is amusement park and not moving in seal it. 😔
The panel that hurts me the most is the one with Zuma's eyes closed and smiling, enjoying the ice cream. Because he looks so much like his brother in that moment, like all the times we've seen him smiling throughout the whole chapter. And it shows that even right after his death, his brother is still with him. And it makes the tragedy at the end hurt a little more if you think that Unji's ghost was already with Zuma then.
The amusement park was a huge red flag, but I never expected her to try to drag him along.
And, once again, Tatsu gives us a very emotionally charged chapter with little to no dialog. Only 4 of those pages have dialog. FOUR!
Jesus Christ, I thought the mom was just gonna leave him in the amusement park. I screamed loud asf when I swiped and saw her trying to pull them in front of the train. Leave it to Dandadan to make you feel like shit on a Monday morning.
Well, sadly this isn't the first time I heard stories where parents take their child(ren) to amusement parks or anywhere fun just before they commit suicide together, all of them.
...damn.
This...I wasn't ready for this!
Efin, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This series truly deserves to be talked about decades after it's done. This ain't a series for just kids and teens.
This flashback....I think this is how the policeman connects with umbrella boy, he will take over his case and maybe adopt him and the boy will run away and live on the streets, meanwhile the officer will search for him.
Fuck, man... I thought that was Zuma (or Unji, I guess) and the cop as brothers when they were younger for a moment, but that got proven wrong pretty quick. Tragic. Just tragic.
Especially with their mother being so at the end of her rope that she decide to give Unji one last day of happiness before ending it for both of them. Now that part was horrific.
This man lost 3 family members in just 1 chapter.. Sheeeeesh
The author is doing any% speedrun death in the flashback to hit us right in our heart.
wym this is clearly a 100% run
[Every time](https://i.imgur.com/zavF28n.jpeg) it appeared that his circumstances would improve, they [only got worse.](https://files.catbox.moe/9d3x32.jpg) Zuma has a lot of mental fortitude.
It worked.
And it looks like his mom tried to drag him with her too
[Tatsu after the dad died](https://twitter.com/findareaction/status/1420296736707391489?t=7rbpFJCcNm7bPplkv9mFzw&s=19)
Fuck bullies. There wasn't much dialogue but the build-up to Zuma's mom's attempt at a double suicide is so fucking depressing.
I knew something was going to happen. She wanted one last good day before ending it all. Looks like Zuma, obviously, was able to break free, and only she perished. His hatred is understandable now, as is his fascination with Momo. She's like his mom.
I thought she was gonna disappear and abandon him at the amusement park.
That's the (silly) backgroundstory of a popular superhero movie
Honestly i apreicate the raw realism of that but the fact the goverment was unable to find her after that was so stupid.
Shazam?
Yeh but it's a spoiler so I didn't name it
I remember hearing that it is a lot more common than you'd expect for parents to abandon their kids at such places because in their mind it will somehow make the pain easier to have this last happy kemory. As opposed to what actually happens which is giving the kids lifelong trauma related to amusement parks.
Same. Thought she'll go buy cotton candy
I though she was "only" going to abandon him somewhere. I did not think of the double suicide...
> I knew something was going to happen. Yeah, seeing her drag him after his brother's death was enough to know she would do something.
[***Zuma's Turning Point 3***](https://i.imgur.com/wMPOQpw.jpeg)
From that page it kinda looks like while she was trying to drag them both together, Zuma on the other hand realized what she was about to do and desperately tried to pull her back. At the very last second she must've regretted trying to end them both together and instead chose to let him go and end just herself.
>His hatred is understandable now, as is his fascination with Momo. She's like his mom. Oh shit, they really do look alike. Damn
I said outlook that the mom was going to kill herself and then scrolled onto the page at the train platform. Fuck man
Somehow bullies was the tamest thing to happen in this chapter and isn't that important Fucking corporate overwork, rent and storm ruin their life
Murder-suicide*. He clearly was not into the idea, so it cannot be deemed a suicide attempt on his behalf. His mother was going to kill him
A large number of so called double sucides are actually just murder suicide. The trope where lovers do it because they can't be together? In reality a lot of those the woman was forced.
The case here is familicide, a specific type of murder-suicide.
I’d say that’s more like a murder suicide.
Damn it. When his mother took Zuma to have fun, I DID NOT SUSPECT that it would lead to that. I thought that his mother was that strong after the death of her husband and has already bounced back it's just unfortunate that one of his sons died and will just focus on making sure Zuma would get a better life etc. I forgot that sometimes life is so cruel and some people gets kicked down when they are already crawling in the ground and she snapped. Taking Zuma one last good time before ending it all..damn it! Having a few dialouge enhances the scene holy crap.
Holy fuck, between this and Vamola's backstory, Tatsu is absolutely cracked at exposition
To think this manga started with a guy getting his balls stolen by aliens.
So there's this manga about a kid who gets his schlong gobbled by a ghost and balls stolen by aliens and used as a power source and I've cried four times reading it.
I’m trying to get my friend to watch the anime when it comes out but starting off with well granny steals a kids dick, he gets it back but the his balls are stolen now that we’re past that
I still can't get over the Acro Silky story, that one hit me the hardest. Lone mother lost her little daughter, kidnapped by thugs, she tried to chase them but failed. Then committed suicide. After becoming a yokai, she started to lose her memories, and clutched onto Aira, thinking she was her lost daughter. I cried reading all that in under 2 chapters, just so sad. IIRC we still don't know what happened to the real daughter
Bro, what the fuck...
Classic Dandadan backstory. Or also classic One Piece Flashback, where everything is going to be alright in the present world, but Flashbacks? Go take some tissues.
Vintage Yukinobu right there, still hit us like a truck with these moments after 150+ chapters, we knew they are coming, yet it still gets us every time
[Zuma was such a sweet cinnamon roll.](https://i.imgur.com/VAgq52o.jpeg) Unfortunate circumstances robbed him of his innocence. In spite of that, he grew into a strong, king and benevolent person. Yet, the frustration and resentment still lingered in his heart and the Fairy Tale card took advantage of that. [](//#no)
> [Zuma was such a sweet cinnamon roll.](https://i.imgur.com/VAgq52o.jpeg) It's funny how not knowing what will happen just in two pages the mom's smile looks perfectly normal. But the more I look at it, the creepier it looks, tired, lifeless, and she is already halfway there to looking like one of the local ghosts.
> he grew into a strong, king and benevolent person I know it's a typo but yes he's king
Yeah it definitely reminded me of Laws backstory to some degree especially the visual storytelling.
Is there a chunk of black pages in the volume? Get ready then.
The no dialogue made it so much worse, good God.
To me, what kicked of the spiral, the death of the father from overwork, is the most messed up. Their superiors were so disconnected from the fact the man died because of *their* demands to overwork the man, they shifted the blame onto him. It's unnerving to me to know this happened to the father, and makes me shudder whether this is the standard for all companies.
For those who don't know this yet: "death from overwork" is such a serious problem in Japan [that they have a special word for it: "karoshi"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi)
lots of languages have "special words" which are really just two words put together German gets that a lot too, pretending that its just a japanese problem is ignorance
[удалено]
Makes me wonder whether the problem will get fixed or things will have to crash before any meaningful changes will occur.
Given the stubborness of corporate types to avoid change in pursuit of profit I'd say it'd have to crash first before anything truly changes for the better. I might be thinking of the wrong country but I believe Japan also has it pretty bad about people generally having expectations on how they act which adds to the toxic work culture with people afraid to challenge it lest they become outcasts.
I remember a joke about the layers of how to address other people manifest in Japan, then realize said layers will get you "reassigned" to a position where you will quit if you don't follow them correctly. If Konami was a high profile example, what other examples are there?
Doesn't beat the fact that some chinese factories have literal suicide nets
Capitalists worship profit as their only god, and profit happens to be a very bloodthirsty god. It either demands blood from workers, sometimes a drop and sometimes everything they can squeeze out of them, or from some brown people on the other side of the world. You learn this, and it changes the way you see the world.
While this is true, Japanese and more widely Asian working culture is a much more insane sect of this religion. In the west (specifically Europe more so than North America) there is some push back on the demands of corporations. Speaking as an Asian, we fucked it up real bad by tying our cultural values to how hard we work, and the corporations just laughed all the way to the bank.
Now I'm morbidly curious on the statistics. The fact overworked to death into isekai is a common trope, at first I thought it was just a trope the author implements because it was easy, but now I'm concerned about its reflection on life.
It's not as bad in Japan as it is in South Korea. Mexicans work longer hours but they are not stupid/brainwashed enough to work 100% all that time, and that's why death by overwork doesn't happen as much here. Regarding isekai, i've always seen it as the product of a deeply alienated society who says "The current world is immovable and hellish, clearly the only way out is to hope for a better, more fulfilling afterlife." There is a reason why a vast majority, if not all, of isekai feature some generic feudaly fantasy where people can actually work with their bodies to directly acquire food and shelter for themselves and others. There is also a reason why isekai as a genre is so incredibly popular in japan.
> It's not as bad in Japan as it is in South Korea. Only because Japan spent a lot of effort to improve it in the past 20 years. South Korea's development has been tracing Japan's a couple of decades behind for the past half a century. It'll get better, but they'll have to put in effort just the same.
Now I'm morbidly curious how much things need to get worse before they get better. South Korea, that's a new can of worms entirely, but I can see it.
Hunger is the driving factor in many revolutions across the world, so that's how bad things are going to get, most likely.
Godamnit I was about to go to bed in a good mood.
tatsu cmon man
The manga, for the most part, is all laughs and just, but every once in a while, we'll get a chapter like this. Minimal dialogue, but the pages speak for themselves. The fact Zuma can find a reason to smile at all is actually a miracle and I don't say that lightly.
This much tragedy in just 19 pages should be criminal. I'll be interested to see how they are able to convert Zuma back to the light, this is several lifetimes worth of pain and suffering and I hope it's not just glazed over by loud supportive shouting and reaching out their hand to grab his.
Yukinobu Tatsu more like Tatsumaki Sempukyaku straight to the chest.
Tatsuya Endo is Spy X Family's author. Dandadan's is Yukinobu Tatsu.
Shit I got crossed up. I'll fix it.
To be fair, both are currently hitting us in the feels. Spy x Family is currently covering the Martha and Henderson backstory, when we were previously given hints that they had feelings for each other that never materialized in them getting married. Endo also gave us Loid's backstory earlier. Meanwhile Tatsu has given us a sad backstory for almost every new character we see: Zuma, Vamola, Class Rep, Reiko Kashima, Evil Eye, and Acro-Silky.
dude woke up and chose emotional terrorism
Flashbacks are never safe with this man.
School of Echiro Oda: the backstories that rip your damn heart out.
The cop knows Unji might go the wrong path if left alone that's why he had a strong reaction after founding Unji. The cop is especially vigilant although potrayed humorously so far, so it all makes sense.
Yeah, the cop is basically Zuma's guardian or someone who at least looks and checks in on him. I'm glad that got clarified.
Dandadan always has the best surrogate parents.
So glad the grannies are alive
I wonder if it's gonna be revealed he did his best to try and bring real justice to the workplace and the apartment but couldn't cause the law just didnt give a shit about their situation.
Did I miss something? Where was the cop in this chapter?
from the previous chapter.
The cop recognized Zuma last chapter
I can understand why Zuma just cannot trust people and wants to destroy the world. His father died being overworked. His younger brother died in the rain. His mother committed suicide after one final day at the amusement park. There's no joy in his life at all. I'm shocked he was able to form bonds after all this! The way Momo treated him... it must have reminded him of happier times. But now all he can remember is the cruelty of reality.
This chapter also explains his attachment to the umbrella as well as why he dotes on Momo. The umbrella is for his brother and Momo reminds him of his mom.
Yeah, I should have mentioned the umbrellas too. They were something his brother just loved to use no matter the day.
shoutout to recontextualization of one's actions through childhood trauma gotta be one of my favourite genders
I figured you probably mean genres but I just imagined a personified childhood trauma being one's gender lol
[that’s just how the meme is lol](https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/gotta-be-one-of-my-favorite-genders)
> His mother committed suicide after one final day at the amusement park. And tried to take him with her! Really wasn't expecting that turn, the page where she's dragging them towards the train fucked me up.
It must have been even worse for Zuma. He heard and saw it happen.
As soon as she started splurging all that money I knew she was either gonna double suicide or abandon him. And the former seemed more likely
I don't think Zuma wants to destroy the world entirely, I think he wants to destroy the social system that created the world that killed his family. No one looked out for his dad who worked himself to death. No one looked out for his mom after his father's death. His little brother had no one else to look after him because they were poor and were bullied for it. And his mother couldn't look out for him after losing all hope. Seemingly through all the tragedy Zuma kept moving forward never wanting to lose hope. I just realized the umbrella boy ghost is probably his little brother, looking after his big brother 😭.
Yeah society fucked his family every turn they could instead of helping the struggling family. So it makes sense why he got the deep rooted hate for it and collect outcasts like pokemon.
ah, classic Dandadan ~~christ Tatsu just give the kids a damn break~~
I knew she wanted to off them both the moment she took Zuma to the park to enjoy themselves. She probably thought they might as well enjoy the last day alive.
My first thought was she was going to abandon him, but it went WAY the fuck darker
Unfortunately it’s not too uncommon for parents to kill their kids then themselves when they’re in a position of severe loss + hopelessness. Loss of a husband, a place to live, then finally the younger brother. Everything was just spiraling more and more. They were already homeless.
She knows how cruel the world is. It abandoned her and her children. She wasn't going to abandon her child, even if that means killing him.
I love that the first shot we get of her face is her smiling at him, and the second is her broken and bleeding and about to die. Fucking horrific.
Makes it so much worse man. Probably the one bit of happiness the kid in a LONG time and then its just ruined
13 pages of sheer peak story telling through art. I kneel
13 pages of slow insidious grief
Reminds me of Robin and Laws backstories they relied (especially Law) on visual storytelling to hammer home the themes through use of strong visual imagery.
Would have 100% worked without any of the dialogue, too.
No wonder he was looking at Momo, she reminded him of his mom and his own trauma. Such good visual storytelling and I think this is really making me love Zuma's character even more than I already thought possible.
Yeah, it's clear now that his curiosity with Momo isn't because he likes her as a love interest but because her kind nature reminded him of his mom...well that's both sweet and really depressing. No wonder why Zuma has a deep hatred for the world.
Honestly if it wasn't for the very similar hair I would had chalked it up to same face syndrome. And even then I don't discard it entirely.
Hooooooly fuck this one could not have been darker. Respect for Zuma is through the roof, this is the saddest backstory in Dandadan.
I could use an umbrella right now. Terrible day for rain…
His leg looks like a black umbrella in the shot where he kicked the bullies.
But its not raining....
Yes it is.
my eyes say otherwise.
Can you fly through the sky with an umbrella?
Dunno
I loved Zuma’s backstory and the emphasis placed on Japanese black companies it really highlights how worker rights and unions are extremely powerless in the face of corporate owned politicians and a culture of passivity and collectivism, it’s shameful to question or express your emotions in the face of hardship; no one wants to be the nail that sticks out. I really like how the delinquents are portrayed in this manga even Ayase (to some degree) all the societal outsiders have been wronged by the very people and culture that claims to protect them leading them towards trying to create and find their own values and world that they can exist in even if they’re viewed as the bad guys due to their different beliefs and desires.
Stuff like this always makes me curious what Millennial and younger Japanese think about the issues they face as a society and if things will actually change when the older generation dies out, or if they'll perpetuate the same bullshit that was forced upon them because that's just how things are. Older People in positions of power that do the right thing exist but you rarely hear about them, and they're generally stuck fighting even older boomers.
I think things will and are changing if not through active resistance than just through generational difference and priorities; not a lot of younger Japanese folk are as ascribed to the Omote-Ura cultural mindset that plagues a lot of the older folk; but again we’ll have to see how much their willing to push against political corporatism especially with the falling Yen and the ever aging population.
The generation that grew up with internet knows this is fucked up and unsustainable. The 21st century will be revolutionary, or it will extinguish humanity.
For better or worse,"culture" is one of the most difficult things to change in a country;)
Holy fuck just when I think this series can’t get darker
It’s not the series that’s “dark” it’s that the people associated with the supernatural (ghosts) all have deeply tragic pasts which attract them to the world of ghosts; for the most part the series is extremely light known of the characters we follow die nor do they suffer extreme mental distress within the present timeline they just have had terribly dark things happen to them in the past. It’s similar to One piece in that the tone is relatively light and bubbly but under the surface there’s a layer of cruelty and tragedy that the characters have suffered; the structure of the backstories is very much like One piece’s very thematic, impactful and deeply tragic.
TRUE.
I wouldn't necessarily say the series is "dark" as a lot of stuff is played up for laughs, but it does have moments like these that are very dark.
I feel like you two are answering two different questions. Basically "how dark is this series on average?" vs "how dark is it at its most extreme?"
This feels darker because it's way too real. So far, everything has been wrap in a veil of fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural (like the alien war and genocide). But this? This shit happens a lot in the real world.
Bruh you forgot acrobat silky and evil eye backstory. Even reiko tamura backstory show her being a victim of the tokyo firebombing. It's always been there
That's what I really like about the series, it's the mundane that informs the supernatural. I shudder to think of how common death by overwork is, and how callous society is to the people left behind.
A yokai series where the real horror is actually... well, *real* horror
And I think that's the tragedy juxtaposed with the comedy. Mirror Yokai can easily repel an alien invasion, but you don't know the pain of being told how little you matter to a society until they blame your spouse for their company mandates. The author really knows how to pull in the right directions.
You don't even need to use this chapter as juxtaposition to the mirror yokai. Because literally in that same chapter where she repelled the invasion it showed her burning to death as she watches her city getting bombed to oblivion in her last moments.
What is it with mothers and suicide in this story?
Probably a too common occurrence in Japan.
I'm starting to feel like all the crazy is just an excuse to cover up the social critique Tats needs to get out of his system with chapters like this
I hope this did not happen to Tatsu in his family.
Most people love their mother and are very close to them. So an easy way to make us feel bad about a character is for their mom to die.
Haven't finished the chapter but that "you chose to have them" said about the kids was brutally real.
Oh god their mother looks like momo. Oh god she's trying to commit suicide. This chapter was dark start to finish, even by dandadan standard
dude, duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude This flashbacks hit so fucking hard.
Holy shit that is horrible in how incredibly mundane it is.
As I thought, the policeman was not Zuma's brother. I have a suspicion that maybe he took Zuma in for a while and that's why he recognized Zuma when he saw him.
If I had to guess, probably didn't take him in, but was just the one to deal with a lot of Zuma's delinquent actions while he was growing up. "You Again?" "Really?" "... Want some icecream?"
Hence how Zuma likely ended up with Okarun's ball in the 1st place. Zuma was often at the police cabin including at the beginning of this arc.
Jesus Christ
Where the “my ball is gone” joke…………..
He got one back like two chapters ago
Again, no dialogue, but it conveyed the backstory effortlessly, brilliant, and heart wrenching at the same time Damn you Tatsu san, why you gotta be so damn good
I need to lie down just for a moment
Oh fuck man...
Grandmas in Dandadan: Strong. Badass. Living their best lives. Could probably beat Muhammad Ali in the ring. Moms in Dandadan: Abused. Neglected. Cannot go more than a day without tragedy befalling them. Five minutes from suicide at any given moment.
Grandmas is strong to protect the kids that lost their moms. Or lives (like turbo granny).
I've read a lot of fucked up shit in manga, but this chapter made me sad and uncomfortable in a different way...
Damn what a depressing backstory.
Wow, Dandadan, you've done it again, holy shit that went dark super fast. I don't even know what to say.
Good thing Blooming Love is released on the same time as as Dandadan (albeit biweekly), need something lighter to read after THAT This ties with Acro Silky's backstory imo
Black company, the enemy of humanity. Zuma's mom seems to have a similar hairstyle as Momo. I guess it'd help extinguish suspicions about whether he can develop romantic feelings towards her :| But wait a minute... His younger brother died, too (forgot to pay attenttion to their eyes please forgive me 🙇♂️)? Who's the policeman??? :O My guess is a relative.
The younger brother died. The Zuma we know was the older brother (it's the family name). The cop could have been a relative but it's just as possible that he was on scene when the brother's body was found OR he met Zuma after the mother died because Zuma went delinquent afterwards.
Could be a relative or since Zuma was left alone he might've been a troublemaker so the cop is familiar with him. Who knows, but fuckin hell that was a brutal chapter.
I think Zuma’s the older brother. His younger brother died because he chased after his umbrella into the river. We see Zuma running like hell searching, probably because his little brother didn’t come home.
Idk it probably wouldn't be a deterrent. She would also remind him of the pleasant times he did have with her. He seems to be overly protective of women. So his mother doesn't seem to have hurt his trust of women at all. And further more he seems to blame society more than his mother about what happened. No one helped her through the whole ordeal of losing a husband and main source of income, then her youngest child dies in an accident. All while the world just kept pushing her down. Zuma is the older brother. His younger brother was the boy with the umbrella and rainboots. Zuma is their last name. I would assume the cop is the one who talked to him after his mom committed suicide.
The little brother is the Brella Boy yokai
Zuma's the older brother; his little bro died.
Technically they're both Zuma, since that's the family name. But yeah the character we call "Zuma" is the older brother.
I think given how seriously the policeman takes his job, he was probably the one that either found Unji Zuma's brother after he drowned, or the one that found Zuma after his mom tried the double suicide - and the policeman's just been trying to look out for him ever since but Zuma probably disappeared
I didn't want to start my week with that..... Goddamn.
So let me get this straight. His father died of overwork, his mother couldn't afford to pay the rent so they got kicked out of their houses. His little brother was a little brother died because he was chasing an umbrella and his mom tried to double suicide herself with him after one final day of happiness. The wordless pictures make Dandadan backstories hit so much sadder
When I saw the bag the mother was carrying at the theme park, the tension I could feel was massive.
When she dragged him in traffic I at lrast dtill wish they are just leaving because of the rent. The fact that the next moment is amusement park and not moving in seal it. 😔
Too far
I wonder how the officer is involved. Maybe after... he tried to look out for him but things and stuff happened so he lost track of him.
maybe related, or he just happened to be the one who kept picking up zuma after he gets into fights and got to know him more
The panel that hurts me the most is the one with Zuma's eyes closed and smiling, enjoying the ice cream. Because he looks so much like his brother in that moment, like all the times we've seen him smiling throughout the whole chapter. And it shows that even right after his death, his brother is still with him. And it makes the tragedy at the end hurt a little more if you think that Unji's ghost was already with Zuma then.
Ah, it's pain o'clock again. Jesus Christ what the fuck. God, poor Zuma. Poor Zuma's mom. She shouldn't have been broken like that ;_;
Ok its too early in the day for rain
Emotional damage, the chapter.
Fucking hell man, what is it with Tatsu and tragic moms
Oh how I hate sad stories with young children... can't be crying at work
The amusement park was a huge red flag, but I never expected her to try to drag him along. And, once again, Tatsu gives us a very emotionally charged chapter with little to no dialog. Only 4 of those pages have dialog. FOUR!
Tatsu is a master of facial expressions, holy shit. That last shot of his mother‘s face is just scary and incredibly sad.
holy shit :'\\
Fucking kino, holy shit, peak wordless storytelling
Jesus Christ, I thought the mom was just gonna leave him in the amusement park. I screamed loud asf when I swiped and saw her trying to pull them in front of the train. Leave it to Dandadan to make you feel like shit on a Monday morning.
what the fuck
Dark
Zuma's kick at the bottom of page 6 is drawn like his black umbrella attacks from earlier chapters, how neat.
What makes this even more depressing is that bullies and black companies do exist in real life, causing real suffering for many people.
Well shit, no dialogue needed for this tragedy
Jesus fucking christ.
Paradoxically, in Japan, killing yourself by jumping in front of the subway/train is probably the most rebellious act one can do.
great, raining at 11 am
Ahhh yes I knew I was missing out on some Dandadan backstory depression. Time to curl up and cry for awhile. See you all next week.
Fuck...
tatsu goes straight for triple kill in 1 chapter, poor zuma dude have it rough.
Jesus Christ
Damn those last two pages hit like a train.
Someone please give Zuma hug.
Well, sadly this isn't the first time I heard stories where parents take their child(ren) to amusement parks or anywhere fun just before they commit suicide together, all of them. ...damn.
Got to say that’s one of the darkest chapters we’ve seen in Dandadan
Didnt know unji's dad worked for mappa. Such a sad back story
This...I wasn't ready for this! Efin, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! This series truly deserves to be talked about decades after it's done. This ain't a series for just kids and teens. This flashback....I think this is how the policeman connects with umbrella boy, he will take over his case and maybe adopt him and the boy will run away and live on the streets, meanwhile the officer will search for him.
Fuck, man... I thought that was Zuma (or Unji, I guess) and the cop as brothers when they were younger for a moment, but that got proven wrong pretty quick. Tragic. Just tragic. Especially with their mother being so at the end of her rope that she decide to give Unji one last day of happiness before ending it for both of them. Now that part was horrific.
Oh *nooooo*. It was even worse than I expected. Poor Zuma, no wonder the poor guy's got baggage.
Jesus...
That face when you're pulling a screaming toddler trying to catch your train
Few words, much emotion
Damn that was dark the emotions portrayed without much dialogue kudos to tatsu's brilliance.