Roasting Apple Black, Chapter 3 (Part 1)

DID headcanon: confirmed

So the gang is taking a night class— “Wand, Orbs, and Cloak Review” because of Sano. I’m not sure why, because:

• Sano proved he was worthy of joining the guild when he won capture-the-flag against Mikael. If a homeschooler tests into a school, isn’t it assumed they’re on the same level as everyone?

• This class doesn’t have a group participation element. We see Master Vishal von Raja (aka Turban Guy) fire off his wand, then Sano fires off his wand, then they cut to everyone at the cafeteria.

• This scene feeds us info about how wands work. Which we, the audience, don’t need. We already got plenty of that in the last chapter, and we’re not learning anything new here.

Well, we do learn that Ryuzaki is a “threenile” (a bastard child), and this is a bad thing, since Vishal uses this as an insult

professor’s speech implies she’s telling Ryuzaki to be quiet, but Vishal says a lot more and he’s the last one talking. It feels awkward.

“Threenile” is etymologically clumsy and I hate it.

So we cut to the dinner scene. Opal is still peeved that the tourist she mentioned in chapter 2 still hasn’t shown up.

This is not meant to be a joke, but it got a hearty chuckle out of me.

Opal is so damn overhyped in Saturday AM’s marketing that I think of her as Poochy (“when Opal’s not around, everyone should be asking, where’s Opal?”). It turns out that even the Poochy has a Poochy. Funny stuff.

Who Poochies the Poochy………..

Anyway, I’m glad Sano can tell her that she should stop being angry. Problem solved! Anger over!! It doesn’t sound condescending and douchey in the slightest. I wonder if he’s the type to tell someone depressed they should just stop being sad.

I’ll also say hats off to Apple Black for avoiding the “angry Black woman” trope here. Yes, Opal is constantly pissed off. But so is everyone (except Sano, Lily the Polite White Girl, and Symon the Reader). Opal doesn’t stand out as a stereotype if everyone’s constantly irate. I think. I hope. I just know Our Beloved Diverse Manga Publisher wouldn’t commit a stereotype, so I know we’re safe here.

And the next scene was just so fucking unbelievably gut-busting hilarious that it was adapted to a motion comic. But before we dig in I want to point out Symon’s opening line:

We learn the social media “Sqweekr” exists in their world, and I hate it. It’s another one of those casual worldbuilding details that breaks their universe the more you think about it, since it implies they have the Internet and social media. So far the characters have relied more on newspapers than the Internet for information, so I’m guessing their world is supposed to feel like the early 2000’s when the Net was a novelty.

I have a lot of questions about the Internet in this fantasy world, but let’s move onto my next nitpick.

The speech bubble that starts with “Hey Opal!” isn’t Symon’s opening line, it’s him saying “That means Relaxed, Sano my friend!”

This has been a consistent problem with Apple Black’s paneling. There’s a lot of panels that are clumsy with their top-down speech bubble orientation.

In all of these examples, my eye naturally goes to the highest speech bubble first.

I think the intent with the second, higher bubble in the first panel is to lead the reader into the second panel…. but you can still do that, and have the first bubble higher than the second. It’s another level of confusion that doesn’t need to happen.

Onward to the hilarious, zany, piss-your-pants Funny scene that received a voice-acted motion comic adaptation.

I’m gonna make some guesses about Whyt’s personal life:

• I’ve gotten into more fights than him.

• I’ve had more people call me a faggot than him.

I know Ryuzaki’s gotten into scuffles over less but this doesn’t sit right with me.

Well, I’m glad we get it confirmed that he’s straight, and this isn’t repressed homosexuality bubbling over (there’s no fucking way he’s bisexual, the lgbtq community barely acknowledges bisexuality, this boomer-ass comic isn’t going to acknowledge bisexuality).

So the joke is Sano is socially inept, so he calls everyone his girlfriend and boyfriend. Wow! Whatta klutz! He doesn’t know how words work! Because calling someone gay on accident sure is a ditzy move! Because polyamory certainly doesn’t exist!

I know I’m sounding like a real triggered sjw. I am, and my feelings are valid, goddammit. But let me explain why this is bad and this isn’t just me lashing out.

We haven’t gotten a lot of character-building moments in Apple Black, it’s all just who-can-beat-up-who, nods to the bounty system, hints at the prophesy. This stands out as the “Funny” moment because it’s an actual human interaction, and at no point is this page trying to cram in any worldbuilding details. Conceptually, I understand why our airheaded protagonists mistakenly calling everyone his boyfriend is funny. I can see why an Apple Black fan would feel endeared to this scene and say its one of their favorites.

But just like everything in Apple Black, it immediately trips over itself and the moment is robbed of any meaning.

After Sano mistakenly and hilariously says Ryuzaki and Symon are his boyfriends, Ryuzaki says with a punch, “Ryuzaki doesn’t swing that way, buddy!” Sano is confused over the way Ryuzaki is using the word “Buddy.” Isn’t “swing that way” the more confusing colloquial language? Shouldn’t that be what he’s asking?

And a page later, Sano is the very cool and analytical face-reader.

Well, Sano, are you the ditz who accidentally calls people your boyfriend or are you the level 99 empath who can innately read people?

Reading facial expressions/body language and understanding slang are two different things. I can meet you halfway there. But uh, how can he read people so well if he grew up in isolation? If he’s so isolated he legitimately doesn’t understand how “boyfriend and girlfriend” is commonly used, how am I supposed to believe that he can zero in on people and peer into their motivations.

Everyone keeps calling him “the Trinity” so maybe this really is some DID at work. If that’s true, the abrupt personality shifts would make a lick of sense. So fuck it, here’s my DID headcanon for Sano:

Nooticer Sano, Cinnamon Roll Sano, Trinity Sano.

Next post ETA: whenever, with a shrug emoji. I had this in drafts and thought itd be Hilarious to post hours after my last post, where i tell everyone I’m sooooo burned out from apple black, guys, i swear im gonna take a break from apple black!! gosh!! and then i immediately turn around and post this. its setting you up and subverting expectations, so that makes it very funny.