Roasting "Apple Black Origins: The Spectrum and the Spectre" Chapters 5-6

the grooming gets worse

Chapter 5: The Spectre’s Spyglass

Opening Line:

The ambush unfolded swiftly and mercilessly, catching Gideon completely off guard.

This was the most straightforward chapter so far. Gideon and Willow get surprise attacked from the 13 Ghosts, Gideon gets hurt, he teleports himself and Willow to a cave for safety, we learn two of the Thirteen Ghosts (Gigatonia and Killaroth) are after them. My pettiest nitpick is last chapter was called “Ambush” instead of this one, but hey, it’s cool.

We’re also reminded that Willow super-duper misses her mom. And that’s weird, right? Is she on board with this adventure with Gideon or does she wanna go home? It’d be cool if this was building up to her kicking Gideon square in the nuts while yelling a battle cry of “fuck off groomer,” and running home to safety.

I know I said I’d dissect every chapter, but this one was only 14 pages long and kept things moving. This chapter read like a standard light novel, so there’s not much I can complain about.

Chapter 6: Memories

Opening Line:

Willow wasn’t the only one caught up in the thoughts of her mind.

We start with Gideon having a flashback to his bromantic bro-breakup with Uzoh. The two were on a macguffin quest to find the golden wands, but had to split due to Creative Differences. The text explains:

Uzoh embarked on his journey for the Golden Wands alone, fueled by personal ambition and a deep-seated desire for power. Similarly, Gideon ventured on his solitary quest. His reasons shrouded in his own complex web of motivations and secrets.

We’re almost halfway through this book, so I doubt we’ll learn this “complex web of motivations and secrets”.

I thought shit like this was the point of the tie-in light novel. We can have our tough-guy characters be vague and aloof in the mainline series, but when we crack open the book, we can learn what’s really going on in his noggin. Now would be a fantastic time to clue the audience into these character motivations.

I can’t tell if this vagueness is the result of an undercooked series bible or if this is more personal hesitation from author Stephanie Williams. Both seem likely.

I don’t know how much time the author had to write this book or what kind of creative limitations were in place. I’ve been pretty harsh on this book, but Saturday AM is notorious for their terrible working conditions. And no matter how hands off he may have been for this particular book, Whyt Manga is an absolute diva when it comes to his OC’s. Anyone who has enough of an ego to reply to Goodreads comments is not a chill guy to work with. This book was destined to be born ugly. I’m aware of these tragic, predestined circumstances, yet I am actively choosing to be a bully (so maybe Willow’s perpetual born-this-way-ruminations are secretly a cry for help from the author).

But let’s not completely dismiss Whyt. Gideon’s vague character motivations are completely aligned with something Whyt would cook up. I would like to present to the stand WhytManga’s YouTube video, “Writing Romance in SHONEN MANGA? SHIPPING MY CHARACTERS,” published June 24th, 2023.

Although “Apple Black Origins” is about as aromantic/asexual as stories get, I’m bringing up this video specifically because of how Whyt talks about his characters. It’s a perfect slice of how he sees his own series, and this attitude is repeated throughout his entire YouTube channel. Here’s an excerpt:

I think we’ve all come across romance in one way or another within our favorite Shonen series, and I believe the way I handle it in my series Apple Black will hopefully be one that sets it apart from literally every other shonen series out there. I do be seeing some of y’all shipping some of my characters, which is always fun to see.

[…]

I do want to have more complex relationships in Apple Black, so there will be some that will feel, you know, either like a triangle or a triangular in some way—squarish even, maybe. I do want them to be complex in that way, but also from an emotional standpoint, from a goal standpoint. I want it to feel more Western, which it is, given that I’m not Japanese. I also want relationships that are kind of acknowledged, you know. We’ll even come across characters here and there, even on the villain side, where they’re definitely a couple, and then maybe they’ll even go through what couples go through. The goal will be to do it in organic ways, in ways that don’t overpower the primary genre at hand, which is a Shonen action-adventure series—not necessarily a romance, but with some romance in it that can definitely be used to keep things interesting, fresh, dynamic, and power the story onwards.

A lot of time in shonen series, especially the mainstream ones, the relationships are maybe hinted at, maybe teased, but usually it’s the fans that fill in the blanks. And then usually, maybe after a time skip, all of a sudden they’re married with kids or something of the sort. Personally, I just feel that sometimes—not a lot of time, but sometimes—that can be lost. Now, it’s still understandable; you don’t have to do it, especially if that’s not what the genre is. You don’t want to overpower maybe what the original message of the series is, what the principles and morals are. You don’t want to overpower the primary and secondary genre of whatever this is. If it is not romance, you gotta remember why people are there in the first place, and you don’t want to betray that.

However, I think, especially with the Western ideology and the Western way I’m coming into this, even though I’m inspired a lot by Japan and the way Japan makes comics in that Japanese way of making comics—I am not Japanese, and so there will be a lot more Western elements, but again, not enough to where it overpowers even on my end as well. However, I do think in acknowledging some of these relationships in more straightforward ways, there is fun there that I think not too many other series explore.

Within the relationships here, you know, you have your love-hate relationships, you know, some things that are fun, tried and true, tested, while at the same time I don’t want to dip my toe in too many tropes. When you have some of the fun stuff—and I think tapping into that well in certain ways can be very interesting, get you guys talking, and more importantly, be interesting pushing the story forward without overpowering anything—keeping it fun, relatable, complex, maybe multiple relationships happening at once, hopefully emotional and not feeling forced or dragged out. Real, and staying away from too many tropes, keeping things fresh.

One of the other things that I’m going to do—this is what I am going to do, beyond all of this—is have some that you will not see coming. And I don’t mean, oh you know, the pairs—I mean stories that end up tragic, like romantic stories that end up dark even, like dark tragic, not just regular tragic, because I live to bring tears to your eyes. Let the Niagara fall from your eyeballs.

To summarize: Whyt is keenly aware of bigger trends with romance in shonen manga. He gives his firmly centrist opinion on it all, but ultimately reassures us that he’s going to do something different. We also learn that he’s not Japanese, which is a fact so pressingly important he needs to say it twice.

This is a lot of Whyt’s YouTube channel: outlining broad tropes he identifies in manga, and promising that his manga is different. And I can see why his channel’s amassed the following that it has. This attitude speaks to people who care deeply about manga, can identify the tropes they dislike, and have that feeling that oooo, if I was given a shot, I’d make one so much better than the big guys!

The thing is, these generalizations aren’t telling me anything about the story.  The way Whyt pitches his manga reminds me of the way culture-obsessed dipshits will pitch a story. You know the type: guys who will say “this comic’s great, because it’s not Woke.” Or on the other end of the spectrum: “this comic’s great, because it has Representation.” And anyone who’s not deep in the trenches of Twitter will respond with: what can you actually tell me about the story? 

Whyt’s fixation on how he’s evolved past manga cliches feels like an apolitical evolution of this mindset. He can identify something that’s broadly “wrong” and reassure us that he’s coming in hot with something fresh. So we’re left with a lot of hype for a manga that’s totally not like other manga, and we know our buddy Whyt wouldn’t lie to us.

And I get it: I like talking about my OC’s and manga. I know I’ve never made anything worthy of a director’s commentary, and yet I keep blustering along like I’m a true hidden genius, an artisté too sophisticated for the likes of Shonen Jump or that women’s porn magazine that didn’t want my manga about the ikemen who eats box. But I save the behind-the-scenes-breakdown as a victory lap after I’ve actually made the damn thing. Hyping up what I have planned doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t exist yet! Between the time I get my idea for the World’s Best Manga and when I actually draw the damn thing, life is going to happen, I’ll have gotten bored of whatever chick I was dating at the time and taken a cheap flight to Norway and felt profoundly moved by the beauty of the Northern lights and now I want to draw this manga with a thinner pen weight and now the entire thing has a different vibe. Shit changes! Art is unpredictable! Even if I’m challenging myself to make a manga in a week, what I put on the page is going to be different from what I had planned. That’s just how it is. But not for our buddy Whyte! He has the best manga in the universe tucked away in his noggin, it’s gonna turn out awesome, he just needs some time to draw it.

I know I’m sounding unnecessarily bitter, so now’s the time for me to take a deep breath and step back, since I know I’ve gone on this tirade before (usually privately, at 3AM, to whatever girl who hasn’t gotten bored of me yet). I’ve touched on this concept in other posts, so I’ll keep it snappy: I’m grossly fascinated by Whyte because what we value in art is so wildly opposite. He’s great at anatomy, he’s very precious about his ideas, and his composition flatly sucks. Meanwhile, I’m terrible at anatomy, I’m too eager to throw out ideas, and I value composition above anything else.

Him being so gung-ho confident about what he’s going to make is yet another attitude of his that I could never have. It’s a step away from “Ideas Guy” talk, which is the absolute lowest rung on the creative process. And I know it’s rich that I’m calling him an Ideas Guy when he has books on the shelf, but, bro, that’s what he sounds like! How else can I describe this perpetual hype-man speak about what’s coming up next!!

Anyway, the point of my increasingly negative tirade is that when I heard this line: “Similarly, Gideon ventured on his solitary quest. His reasons shrouded in his own complex web of motivations and secrets.”

—I audibly groaned, because I could imagine Whyt’s smarmy PNGtuber avatar promising that really cool shit about this character is just around the corner.

Anyway, back to our main story.

Gideon was knocked out so bad from that attack, he’s been asleep for three days. Willow was taking care of him the whole time, and when he wakes up he’s still kind of hazy. Willow misinterprets this as she’s done something bad:

Willow’s voice was tinged with worry, her face etched with earnest concern. “I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I just . . . I wanted to make sure we had food and water. Mom always said you can’t heal on an empty stomach.”

Gideon opened his eyes, meeting Willow’s gaze. In her eyes, he saw concern, deep caring, and strength. He took a deep breath, pushing back the shadows of his past. “No, Willow, you did everything right,” he said softly, a small smile touching his lips. “Thank you for taking care of us.” Though still weary, his voice carried a warmth that sought to reassure her. At that moment, the cave felt a little less like a refuge and more like a home, a sanctuary they had built together.

Wellp. Willow finally took some action, but it was all off-screen, and she immediately apologizes for it.

Just think if we didn’t timeskip past this three-day time period. We would’ve seen a charater who’s been laughably passive suddenly need to take care of her comatose mentor in the middle of the woods (I’m imagining Gary Paulsen’s “Hatchet” meets “Weekend at Bernies”). Willow says she managed to find running water and preserved food, and she reassures Gideon that it’s safe since she tested it herself. That story has way more highs and lows: the uncertainty if Gideon is even alive, the relief of finding the food/water, the fear that this might not be safe but she’s going to risk it anyway. But instead of a survivalist horror, we get Willow apologizing.

So Gideon, after experiencing his super dramatic dream/flashback that gets considerably longer screentime than Willow’s “Hatchet” arc, came to a realization: He thought that he may have killed Willow’s father, but, actually, he didn’t!

And I’m just scratching my head like, uh, okay? You thought you did, but you actually didn’t?

This would’ve been a cool thing to bring up sooner. What if when Gideon first met Willow, he has this reaction of “oh shit, it’s that dead guy’s kid!!” and he’s carrying around all this guilt and mixed feelings. And Willow hasn’t seen Dad in awhile, so she’d believe Gideon if he said that Uzoh is dead.

But we, the audience, know that Uzoh is actually alive (since we saw him argue with his wife a few chapters ago). It would also make Gideon’s desire to be a surrogate dad to her make more sense- like yeah, I know they both have golden wands, but this would make it way more personal.

And in all fairness, the story’s aware of this angle— I’m asking for it to be more obvious and pull this trigger sooner. Just think of how different things would go if Gideon’s opener to Willow was “Soooooo I killed your dad, but I can be the dad that Stepped Up.” The two can start their adventure thinking Uzoh’s out of the picture, and the audience is on the edge of their seat, anticipating how our duo will react once Uzoh shows up.

As soon as we learn about Gideon potentially killing Uzoh, he turns around and goes “but, actually… I didn’t. So it’s fine.” Okay? So why the fuck are you bringing this up??? Holy shit this worse than when your girlfriend wakes up grumpy because “we had an argument in my dream >:(”

I’ll let the text explain if you don’t believe me:

“In a past life, one I’ve tried to leave behind . . . I believed I had killed your father,” Gideon confessed, the words heavy with newfound guilt. “After an encounter post-Ebony Peak, I thought I had ended his life. I lived with that belief, without remorse, until now. Getting to know you and understanding the depth of these Golden Wands has forced me to confront my past.”

Willow’s eyes grew wide, a mixture of shock and sadness clouding her features. “You thought you killed my father?” she echoed, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Gideon nodded a solemn affirmation. “Yes, but recent events, the resurgence of my memories . . . they’ve made me question that belief. I’ve been wrong about many things, Willow. And now, I want to make things right. I owe it to you, to myself, to face the truths I’ve been running from.” Willow sat there, processing his words, the revelation reshaping her understanding of the man before her.

What the fuck do you even need to “process,” your dad is fine!! I have a lot of questions about Uzoh and Gideon, but you just wasted my time with something that didn’t happen.

Shortly after, we’re hit with another revelation. Willow realizes that she didn’t actually want to go to Hogwarts, she just was only doing that because Dad wasn’t around, and she was using that as a replacement. 

Willow had always felt a certain weight, a burden that seemed to linger despite her mother Harlem’s loving reassurances. Harlem had always portrayed motherhood as a blessing, showering both Willow and her sister Opal with unconditional love. Yet, Willow couldn’t help but yearn for that missing link in her life, a father’s consistent presence to make her feel whole. She realized that her determination to join Youta’s Guild was fueled not just by a quest for recognition but also by a deep-seated need to prove herself to a father she scarcely knew.

Credit where it’s due: This is a pretty interesting revelation. Although it comes in pretty clumsily and abruptly, I dig the sentiment. It would also be better if this came in sooner, as in, any time before Gideon gave his appeal for Willow to drop out.

It’s an interesting bit of self-reflection. Realizing that the goal you’re chasing is a misplaced parental longing is surprisingly mature and nuanced, and it makes a lot of sense given this character’s background.

And then!! And then, alright, get this, it’s completely undone a page later!!! Look at this shit, this is the next fucking line in the book:

As Gideon spoke again, Willow pushed aside the heavy thoughts that clouded her mind. “Willow,” Gideon said, his voice soft yet earnest, “I see great potential in you and want to help you harness it. You’re naturally gifted with your Golden Wand, but with my guidance, you can become a master sorceress. It’s not just about my redemption; it’s about unlocking the incredible power I see in you.”

Willow remained silent for a moment, processing his words. Her father’s absence had always left a hollow space in her heart. Gideon’s offer to mentor her, to fill that paternal void, sparked hope, and apprehension. It was more than learning sorcery; it was an opportunity to mend the fragmented pieces of her identity. Finally, Willow nodded, her voice tinged with a hint of vulnerability. “My dad . . . he’s never really been around. I sometimes wonder if he even knows I exist. He’s been a stranger more than a father.” She paused, feeling a surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Composing herself, she continued, “If you’re willing to teach me, Gideon, then I’m ready to learn. Ready to be more than what I’ve been.”

Good on you for recognizing that you were using Hogwarts to fill a dad-shaped hole in your life. And immediately after you’re going to formally accept your kidnapper as your mentor because… you have a dad-shaped hole in your life…??? Do you honestly not realize this enormous contradiction???

I also realized at this moment that it was technically Reagus who kidnapped Willow, and then he handed her to Gideon, so it’s not completely fair to call Gideon the big bad kidnapper. But then I think of all the kidnapper-adjacent stuff he did, so, fuck those technicalities, this Gideon dude is a real weirdo.

I forgot to bring this up in chapter 4, but check this out:

Gideon, perceptive to her emotional shift, inquired, “What’s wrong? Do you see something?”

Willow’s reply, tinged with a pain she tried to conceal, spoke of her longing for the family left behind. “I didn’t see anything. I was thinking of my mom and sister,” she confessed. “I wish there was a way for me to let them know I’m okay. My mom was stressed enough before I disappeared. I don’t want her to worry herself sick. She and Opal are all I have.” The vulnerability in her voice echoed through the ancient trees.

“I know you miss them, but you’ll see them again once it’s safe for you to return home,” Gideon assured her, momentarily pausing before proceeding. “You know you’re one tough kid. As worried as your mom and sister may be at this moment, they probably also know how resilient and gifted you are.”

Willow’s response, a nonchalant kick of a pebble at her feet, carried the weight of unspoken emotions. “Yeah, you’re right.”

And 2 chapters later, after being isolated from her friends/family, she fully accepts this dude as her mentor.

I dunno, man. I wish this didn’t have such groomer vibes. I think the intent of Gideon and Willow is “if your dad sucks, get a new dad.” And that’s a message I fully support (just make sure your new dad lets you call your mom and say you’re okay, otherwise it’s time to fucking run). With all of the “born this way” angst, the driving friendship is a giant middle finger to patriarchal lineage. It’s rewriting something that should be immutable. That would make an interesting message about destiny and autonomy. It’d be cool if this book ends with Willow accepting she can’t control her vitiligo, but there’s plenty of other things in her life she can control. Even who she calls family.

Which reminds me, the power system in the Apple Black universe is basically the Star Wars midi-clorians. Back in the day, people consumed “Black” fruits that gave them powers, that are now extinct. Each generation’s power is slightly more diluted, and how much power you have is set from birth based on how many Black fruits your ancestors ate.

This is also the chapter where we learn about the Ivory and Ebony walls. When you break the Ivory wall, you’re tapping more deeply into your powers. The Ebony wall is the final wall, and its a Big Fucking Deal when you break that hymen because your innate magic goes super saiyan.

Gideon explains the power system to Willow and she laps that shit up. “Whoa! You are incredible and you know so much!” Willow expressed with excitement.

Sounds like she would’ve had a blast at Hogwarts.

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