Roasting Apple Black, Chapter 3 (Part 3)
Everything comes back to Deku (who is bisexual, like Ryuzaki)
After Opal and Sano putz around and make smalltalk about dorms and roommates, we cut to the second fellowship: Golem the prison facility.
The bad guy from chapter 1 is being held here, he gets interrogated on the whereabouts of Gideon Banburi, he makes a comment about slavery to the warden (sorry, “one of the cloaks from the capitol” since being indirect is Apple Black’s love language).
How distant of a past was it? (Remember that one of Willow Vitiligo’s goals at the end of the light novel was “abolish slavery.”) Does this fantasy world (still?) participate in slavery? Or could “her kind is used to chains” be a reference to the fact that she’s someone who upholds the prison system?
She does tell him that she’s pro-torture, if only it weren’t for those pesky rules getting in the way.
I am also confused because this bad guy committed a crime in the first fellowship, Newgarth. If the continent of Eden had their own Alcatraz to ship off the bad boys, that makes sense. But they specify this is the “second fellowship,” so, it’s one of the five fellowships (remember, “each country boasts its own guild,” and there’s six countries [but only five fellowships] and I am really, honestly, sincerely, doing my best to keep track of it).
According to the LN, each country has their own guild, so I assume they also have their own fellowship… so... is Golem’s entire fellowship is a prison? (My current assumption for the average wizard’s life is: join a guild -> graduate as a cloak -> work up to a fellowship, and fellowships are similar to a master’s degree and somewhat linked to whatever guild? Now I’m not sure!!!!)
Does Black Bottom Island not have a prison system, or is Golem’s prison system so robust they needed to send this troublemaker to the scariest prison around? Or is the prison just a little haha funny quirk of Golem? Does Black Bottom Island/Newgarth have a prison? Or is there no need, because Golem takes care of it for them?
I know this is some nitpicky-ass overthinking.
But making one of the fellowships just “a prison” sucks.
We see outside of Black Bottom Island, and instead of taking in the fun of a new culture, it's! Just! Prison! And it’s not even done in a way like “bro, watch out for the Fire Nation, those colonizers are bad news” Her goals seem to align with the dudes over at Newgarth, and I think we’re supposed to root for her… since… this guy fought Sano and disrespected the First Fellowship, who I assume are the good guys.
So, are the first and second fellowship allies? Why wasn’t this man given a trial? Again: who am I supposed to root for? And I’m not saying that in the sense that “wow, everyone in this sports anime is trying their best!” No, I’m saying this because everyone is so goddamn unpleasant.
I know this is a tough guy world where ~everyone’s out to get everyone~. Sano keeps saying he fights to end the fighting, so it makes sense that this is a manga with a lot of fighting. I acknowledge this mentality, when wielded properly, can make for some killer fiction. I like Yoshiki Tonogai and Squid Game (I agree with the popular opinion that when it’s good it’s great, when it’s bad it’s a dorky k-drama). And Breaking Bad kicks ass and got even better once it became a meme.
But even if these can go over-the-top with their sadism and edginess, these stories work because they give us a reason to care about the characters! The complexity and the different factions build as their narratives go on. I was never this confused so soon with the aforementioned series.
There’s also plenty of humanizing moments between all of the edginess, because if it’s just constant bitterness, that will wear you out. Walter White has a baby at home. Squid Game gives you that girl from North Korea to root for. Tonogai’s Judge volume 1 ends with a character coming out as gay and sharing how that ostracized him from his friends and family. The gay guy shares that he packed up his shit and moved somewhere new where no one could give him the stink-eye for being a queer, and how that felt so liberating.
There are humanizing glimmers of hope to push you through these dark narratives.
I’m reminded of what Exclamation Point said about My Hero Academia. In an early video, he articulated that My Hero Academia doesn’t start by piling on character on top of character. That story starts with Deku. It makes you care about Deku, singular, one, only Deku. Because if the story started with Horikoshi cramming his roster of OC’s in your face, you would not fucking care about anything happening.
I have thought of this video a lot over the years, because we see this amateur mistake in a lot of works. Newbie authors are excited to share EVERYTHING about their world and introduce their huge cast of characters, or tell you in big detail about all of the exciting factions and countries.
Exclamation Point brings up how Yuri on Ice feelt a bit thin because it had such a huge cast of characters, and getting bits of their backstory took away from the main plot. And I agree! But also I love Yuri On Ice so let me explain why it’s, actually, not a big deal, so when a yaoi anime I like does this, it’s cool, but when Apple Black does it it’s cringe.
Firstly, because the first few episodes do make you care about Yuri and Victor. The OC Pileup, which does exist, doesn’t start going harder until episode 4ish.
And uh. I always saw the huge character roster as part of the charm. YoI is the kind of story you’d get from someone who’s built up their little yaoitopia universe and has a lot of overly-ambitious enthusiasm for their characters. Yes, it takes away from the plot. But I can’t help but feel delighted by this gay sports anime doing their best.
Because Yuri on Ice feeds you just enough about their characters to want to learn more. That is, everyone in YoI feels perfect for elaborating on in yaoi fanfiction.
So let’s bring it back to Apple Black. We’ve seen glimpses of all of the characters. We’re told about this big world. And none of it’s interesting, because all of it looks the same. How many “angry girlboss” characters can one series have? Why does the second fellowship look so aesthetically similar to the first fellowship?
Whyt has said many-a-times that Ryuzaki the Bakugo is a fan favorite. I’m starting to see why.
He’s the least interested in info-dumping, he just punches and gets mad. There’s also only one Ryuzaki. His anger is direct. He’s the underdog and screwup: bad grades, bad manners, bad attitude. He’s not conniving or plotting a bigger scheme, and you know exactly who he is from the moment you meet him. He wants to kick your ass and show off. Time will tell if he his id-driven energy continues throughout the story. As of now, I can say Ryuzaki the Bakugo is the best character here.
Therefore, I have something very exciting to share with everyone today.
Ryuzaki from Apple Black is Bisexual.
This is not a matter of headcanon, fanon, or speculative queer theory. I am speaking with authority, as someone who’s in the top 1% of Apple Black media analysts. There are very few people who have written more about Apple Black than me, and who are as committed to this series as I am. This is something I am saying with absolute confidence: Ryuzaki is bisexual. Since he is the best character, and the best characters are bisexual, he is bisexual.
This will be my mindset as I continue through Apple Black.