Let’s look at the common trope of bullying and what you’ll encounter whether you’ve read for years or just started minutes ago.

The Bullying Tropes in Manga

The effects of bullying tend not to be explored heavily in manga. When it is, it’s often fuel for the protagonist(s) to improve themselves and go beyond what they were before. You know, the bully target who was either quiet or a good soul and now they’re powerful and social or powerful with an even greater heart.

Manga’s approach will see the protagonist just endure and power through either to improve themselves or prove their bullies wrong. Who knows, the bully might even become a friend now that they have respect for the former weakling protagonist.

Never mind actually addressing the bullying or finding out what the f**k is the bully’s malfunction. Actually, even with writing being deeper and more layered in many popular and cult series than say in the 80s and 90s, it’s not unusual to see the bully have a smidgen of deep backstory.

The Actual Bullies in Manga

That’s even if they’re the a notable antagonist or eventual ally. Sometimes you just need a henchman or villain with enough to justify their actions in that moment. Perhaps the thought process is “We’ll make it up in character development going forward.”

There are some exceptions in popular series. The antagonists in Naruto generally have a reason for their actions and we tend to get a deep look at why they are the way they are. For the younger ninja of Naruto’s generation, it’s mainly a case of that Offspring classic “The Kids Aren’t Alright.”

Yet none of them became bullies. There are underlings or elite under an arc’s big bad who will bully opponents but their identity isn’t “bully”.

No, for that you’ll have to look at high school action dramas or delinquent series like Crows. There you have the honorable or cool gangs that you cheer for. They’re friends and their seniors or juniors who have a mind for organization. They have something resembling goals for the future.

Some members decide to get legit work, a couple are considering moving up to the yakuza, and smattering are looking to go to college. Hell, you might have a few who are athletes or artists and there’s a future there. Then you have the legit bullies: the gangs that are just violent psychopaths led by a sociopath.

These guys would be the knife-licking thieves in any other series. They’re the guys Kenshiro explode-punch in Fist of the North Star. Their only goals for the future are yakuza, drug trafficking or holding down the block as a violent bouncer at a club (all overlapping career fields).

Why they do what they do isn’t explored as deeply, they’re foils for the main gang the series is about. They came in aggressive and they want more turf.

Bullying in Manhwa and Manhua

Keeping along that line, the gangs in a series like Weak Hero have members who are definitely your knife-licking thief underlings but your leaders all have a reason for why they’re cold and vicious. We get at how they got here and how their actions saw them take to bullying as a tool for domination and intimidation.

Mind you, these are delinquent gangs that emulate the organized crime groups of their countries. You have some members who are reserved to entering that world after high school because they have that killer instinct and can fight.

But about your bullies who aren’t gang affiliated in manhua and manhwa? Why do they bully? Here’s where we finally get into what makes bullying in these form of comics different from their Japanese cousin. Bullying is tied to status in the sense that an antagonist’s family background and influence gives them the juice to bully.

Whether it’s modern day China or South Korea, ancient China and or a mythical version of the Joseon period; an antagonist can bully and justify their actions simply because they’re above the protagonist and the hoi polli.

In modern day manhua and manhwa, such as Rooftop Sword Master, bullying comes from children of influence and is extreme to the point of making Tak Se’Young who he is. That’s something else you see in manhua and manhwa with bullying: the act of bullying being reverse engineered.

As a young, reclusive adult recovering from the trauma of what happened at school because of bullying, Tak becomes resentful and wants vengeance. This drives him to embrace a mystical sword and self-train in wielding it. The young man becomes a hulking, sword-swinging behemoth bulldozer.

Considering his actions, he’s move of a chaotic killdozer but this is him harnessing revenge because of bullying. When he actually reverse engineer it is by becoming the bully to his former bullies. He targets them begins taking them out when he deems their repentance to be a bit on the weak side. They’ve moved on in life and have families and careers. Meanwhile, Tak was left in that moment. To make them feel the helplessness be experienced, he became the bully.

In Weak Hero, Grey becomes the bully to delinquents who bully as well as those who target his friends. He fights to survive his situations among more devoted delinquents but also gets a rush from fights. Bullying for him is a means to send a message and intimidate.

Also worth noting is that with manhwa and manhua these bullies tend to take from difficult people in South Korean and Chinese society and media. People of influence getting away with crimes because of their status, nepotism, and/or networking.

The form of bullying in Rooftop Sword Master and Weak Hero is a very common trope in martial arts or murim series like Star Martial God Technique and The Fist Demon of Mount Hua. Here you will have your new generation martial arts prodigy from a influential clan or prestigious martial sect who looks down on others because they wield great power and skill. Or some really nice gear.

Then along comes our murim protagonist who might have history with this bully or has seen their deeds. They come to the conclusion that this jerk needs to be clapped to sleep and proceed to beat them in combat. Then while beating them mercilessly (to teach them lesson), the bully will accuse the protagonist of bullying them.

The cherry on top of that is can be the pummeled prodigy kicking rocks back to the clan head or their lineal predecessor in a sect to beg for vengeance. However, I’ve always liked a good, old putting your op in the dirt and putting all their gear and treasures in the good, old spatial storage.

Call it ethical bullying, I suppose.

What series have you noticed feature bullying as a major character or story element? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.

Gaming since 1989 and headbanging since 1999, James is a talented writer, podcast host, and lifelong comic book fan who loves all things old-school and retro. His passions include RPGs, wrestling, and classic gaming culture. You can also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Two strengths for Saints Row included always having fun locations and its turf war approach. We’re going to look at both.

Location, Location, Location

Open-world crime games typically run with a fictional location inspired by a real world city. GTA has Vice City (Miami), Liberty City (New York), and San Andreas (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas) while Mafia has Lost Haven (Chicago), Empire Bay (mostly New York), and New Bordeaux (New Orleans).

Saints Row has its own fictional areas with Steelport and Stillwater being the two main focuses. The 2022 reboot introduced Santo Ileso which is based on Las Vegas. It’s another strong location but there were a few things that didn’t make this a contender for replayability for me. It wasn’t a dismal game but it wasn’t as fun of an adventure as the previous four were.

That’s for another time.

Stilwater in Saints Row 2 and Steelport in SR: The Third were my favorite locations in the franchise. The player spent the first SR game assisting in taking a small gang to the top of the city only to wake up from a coma and find the gang in shambles. Not only that but they’ve lost a lot of turf and parts of the city are changing.

Mind you, between the first and second game—canonically five years apart—the city grew in size. That just meant more room to groove, more space for chaos, and more activities! You could even go on the stroll in SR2. That was very new when you’re used to just picking up sex workers in GTA games and having them drain your money while the car rocks.

In SR: The Third, the gang has gone from a recovered street gang to gangsta celebrities. They’re in a different city away from their power base of Stilwater and the Ultor Corporation isn’t the threat here. Steelport is run by The Syndicate which is made up of three gangs. There’s also the threat of the government’s anti-aging task force which has shown up to drop the hammer.

At the time, there were grumblings about the new location but there will be grumblings about any particular feature or element of a game. I did find the city to be not as active as Stilwater while appearing to be larger—which is always a problem.

That aside, what you were able to do in the city and missions that had you out and about in Steelport were very fun. It also helps that the team you put together in SR2 are better rounded out which is something that would continue in SR4 with the characters having matured while remaining immature and bringing in some new faces.

Turf Wars in Saints Row

Turf wars or gang wars made their debut in open-world crime gangs with GTA: San Andreas. Saints Row, The Godfather, and to a degree Mafia improved on that mechanic. Of the three, Saints Row did the most with it because it was tied closely to the gameplay and story.

Volition got away from that element somewhat in SR4. Sure, there’s still turf to fight for but your main character The Boss is trapped in a simulation and the main opposition comes from an alien controlling things.

No, the first three Saints Row games and to a lesser degree the reboot got turf wars right. Rival gangs were introduced, they were prominent in areas they controlled, and the main missions focused on taking them down and taking over their spots. Success resulted in some perks for the gang, being able to go through a piece of turf without enemies lighting you up, and seeing Saints purple on the map indicating your territory.

Sometimes the battles were pretty spicy, especially if the law showed up or were just passing by. Most of the times, it was your usual slam all the enemies in this mission until you wipe the waves or achieved some objective. In some ways, it was very straight forward but it wasn’t purely “clap the ops to sleep.”

That was the San Andreas approach and sometimes it didn’t work when a stray Balla gang member was stuck somewhere or at the border of the block or turf you were fighting over and you couldn’t find them. It was always that one guy.

If you’ve played the Saints Row franchise, what was your favorite and least favorite title? Also, it was mentioned in passing but have you played The Godfather?

As always, let us know down below!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

It’s worth noting that in American comics, there is a reason for why it’s not unusual to have corrupt cops, lazy police chiefs, mayors on the take, evil presidents, or cities where the heroes do the job of the police—sans the pay. Then again, if they were paid they would be government superheroes and that’s always proven to be a problem.

No, the reason for this lies in the Comics Code. The short of it was that in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S was in the throes of one its many moral panics/witch hunts. Some stuffy lobbyists, busy-bodies, and politicians came to the conclusion that comics were part of thing ruining the youth—along with devil’s music, devil’s lettuce, and whatever other “subversive elements.”

The Comics Code Wasn’t Having It

Actually, this was just part of a larger witch hunt but that gets into politics and history. One of the terms of the Comics Code involved how law enforcement and government officials are depicted. This particular rule from the 1954 code:

Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

This meant for years, police weren’t to be depicted as corrupt or patsies—even if Batman is doing all their heavy lifting or they’re in a standoff with a bank robber and need Superman to walk them down. You would see both situations in those early comics—before the writing got better—and it’s just vigilantes helping the cops.

Actually, the cops were more accepting of adults in underwear solving their problems back them. The pre-hatred of paperwork days.

That rule was also tied into other rules that made it hard for layered, poignant stories to be written without taking some risk as was the case with EC Comics and the stories they often published. Hell, an iconic franchise like The X-Men had to work around these restrictions. At the time, Marvel Comics set out to produce a superhero group that reflected times while also tackling issues of the times while going on adventures and facing down threats.

Mutants were considered different from humans but you had these other Marvel titles where superhumans were lauded for saving the world or stopping the criminals. The X-Men would do the same but faced prejudice. It’s not like the difference between mutants/mutates/gods/disguised aliens were known to 1960s 616 dwellers.

However, that rule meant that the U.S government couldn’t be depicted as a force of oppression. Another rule tied to this meant that Magneto couldn’t be sympathized with nor could Senator Kelly be punished for targeting mutants:

Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.

Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.

If you present bigotry and racism as an evil, Kelly should be punished but you can’t depict the government unfavorably—even if it’s just the one guy pushing for mutant killing robots. And you certainly can’t have people warming up to Magneto and feeling “Well, Robert Kelly is such a d**k maybe Magneto ain’t wrong.”

Again, rules for comics written during a time when the country was involved in war and social issues—and there was a distrust of the government by people who got shafted and soldiers left out to dry.

By 1970s, those themes were explored and the writing became less “Aquaman saved some sailors” and more “What is Superman even fighting for if you’re all treating each other like this?”

A Dreddful Use of Power

My favorite depiction of the ineffective/incompetent authority in western comics has to be President Robert Booth from the Judge Dredd franchise. This guy was the prime example of “Don’t let him have the launch codes.”

I’ve said a lot about Judge Dredd, Booth, and the world of Dredd over the years but someone who could cause a global nuclear apocalypse as well as a civil war off of big d**king—incompetent. The 22^nd century is a mess and the only effective authority happens to be the Judges. Sure, there’s issues among the Judges and with each decade of publication their power seems to weaken but it’s better than being under Booth.

I suppose you could say that Booth was effective at destroying the world or rather d**king the world, especially with all the mayhem that followed as the U.S and other countries got back “normal”.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

However, there are some woes to watching Crunchy Roll and the main one isn’t even the platform’s fault. I mean, for the most part they’re not producing the series. No, this woe is purely on the studios and perhaps even the publishers of the source material.

Crunchy Roll and Unfinished Series

A series has to do well in sales to warrant any kind of significant investment whether it’s merch or adaptations. Then it has to continue doing well. That’s mainly on the mangaka and the publisher and it’s not unusual to hear of series that just stopped without finishing out the story. Then there’s getting to the point of an anime adaptation. When it’s simply a feature, it’s often a standalone—probably noncanonical—adventure.

Of course, if a manga or light novel gets a following and strong reception, you might just end up with an anime. Some series have pacing issues where the seasons run in a way that certain arcs are stretched out. The broadcasters who air these shows in Japan tend to assign a number of episodes for a season and diehards of the manga all have a favorite arc they want to see animated.

There’s an understanding that we’re starting from the beginning and we know what arcs we’ll have to go through but then there’s that point where it seems unlikely. When you see there’s only 12 episodes and one season for a series, that’s a bit of an “Oof…”

Unannounced Doesn’t Mean Unfinished

The big “oof…” comes when you see a release year before 2020 or 2021. It could be a year or two years between seasons and seeing that just doesn’t welcome confidence. Even two seasons with the last dropping in 2020 isn’t particularly good unless it’s a series that tied everything up in just those two seasons.

I don’t know, a nice 24-25-episode season is a little safer to me. I’m more likely to invest time in watching something if I’m in for the long haul. A five-hour jaunt? Ehh.

There are series that I’m glad to have checked out even with skimpy seasons like Mashle, Yasuke, and Onimusha but I’d like more of all three—and others. For most series, that’s why the manga exists. Again, if the series has hype behind it, it’s either completed or actively getting new chapters. That’s a publisher and studio with overwhelming confidence in the mangaka and their team.

The manga is the failsafe for the entire project. If the broadcaster says “That’s that on that” you still have the publisher putting out the project unless everyone agreed to wrap up the story and move on to a new project.

Also, unfinished is just that: the project’s been canceled but there’s still more store. Unannounced is different as fans are pretty much left in the dark until the publisher, creator, or studio announces that there will be a new season. Depending on the studio’s approach, they could wait until a certain amount of the anime project is done before announcing anything.

It’s an approach that game developers should run with. A good 75% or 80% development done on a new project? Go ahead and drop the trailer or announce it. You’re close to finished. “We have the license to make games for this property”? Keep that to yourself, show your work first.

That’s just me but which concerns you more: a series where you finished or follow the manga but made time for the anime—only for it not to complete the story—or a series where there’s just no updates (only speculation) on a new season?

What series are you waiting for updates on? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I mean, that doesn’t excuse the MC from not sticking up for themselves. They’re sitting there, getting obstacles thrown at them, being nerfed, eating sh*t sandwiches as if they’re buy one, get one free—it’s annoying to read and watch. Regardless, this antagonist has to be put in the dirt!

Yes, Shield Hero comes to mind. As a matter of fact, it’s the first series I thought of because Naofumi was really getting done dirty throughout. Touka in Failure Frame is another prime example of getting done dirty—only he crashed the f**k out early on. It’s different from Extreme Edgy Violence Boss Seyoung the Rooftop Sword Master crashing out and annihilating everything he encountered in South Korea.

No, Touka just decided to do his own thing and let it be known he didn’t care for anyone else. Honestly, Touka was annoying with it to the point that I don’t care anymore. Just smash your opps and look after your core party.

On that note, Failure Frame is a fun series with a pace I enjoy. Shield Hero is a series I got into several years late but it’s great!

Respect All Summons

With that said, this isn’t about hyping series, it’s about getting some respect for all summons. In a nutshell, my thought is this:

“Listen, you summoned me here. I didn’t ask to be here. I got things to do.”

Believe me, being isekai’d to another world sounds like it could be amazing—if you’re sent to another world where you could survive and receive some blessings. Even better if you get a status screen. That’s a lot to request but it should be in the summoning welcome package.

Like, this circle of summoners, this god, this royal family—they have the magical power and aptitude to summon a living human from an entirely different universe to theirs. Many MCs come from a version of Earth where it’s one way, they can’t summon beings to their Earth.

Also, the rules of summoning—and alien invasions for that matter—make the MC’s Earth a lesser world since other worlds can just pluck from them all willy nilly. Then the terms of returning home is always vague. Unless it’s just not possible.

“Yes, we summoned you here to clean up our mess and save the world. You can go home when you defeat the Demon King.”

You could say they’re dealing with world destruction and they didn’t have time to think out this plan. They don’t have all the answers. The last time they had to summon someone was like three generations back about 125 years ago. Important information can be lost in that time and common sense is different for different worlds.

In our world, the smart thing is not to summon anything we can’t send back. That’s just irresponsible. In their world, they probably summon a being to their world every few years just because.

Even worse is when they’re summoned and treated like trash because they don’t have a preferred skill or power. Better than that is the audacity to want the MC destroyed when faced with the error of their ways. Just creating the next Demon King through treating them harshly when they shouldn’t be in that world.

So, let’s put some respect on these other world summons’ names and let us know what isekai MCs you’ve rooted for. What series have worlds where you wouldn’t blame the MC for crashing out and becoming the villain?

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

For instance, one trope I hate is the naming of characters and places in most fantasy anime. Normally, the names are European in nature—nothing unique but expected. However, it gets ridiculous when the names are lengthy. When this happens, the name is announced by some haughty noble with an obnoxious amount of self-importance.

It annoys me because it tends to happen more than once in the series because this character is part of a larger family, so them and their siblings all have four or five names, a title, an heir ranking, and so on. I don’t know, many one of the snooty nobles becomes a friend of the main character. You know how it goes.

On that note, the fantasy series Bastard!! can be disgusting with this particular trope as Kazushi Hagiwara uses heavy metal references. I mean, some of the band names and musicians would make for cool character, attack, and location names…I just can’t stand by a spell called “Stryper” blocking a spell named after Slayer.

Sure, 80s Stryper was very good with releases like Soldiers Under Command and To Hell with the Devil, but those albums aren’t Hell Awaits or Reign in Blood.

Incompetent Authority in Anime and Comics

But this is AfroGamers, not The Black Rock and Heavy Metal but Bastard does present us with our featured trope—and a favorite of mine: incompetent authority and government. In the first few episodes of Bastard, the kingdom of Metallicana comes under attack by several powerful foes.

Well, they’re powerful for season one, first half of the season enemies. They’re definitely above the knights’ skill level and paygrade as far as threats are concerned. The kingdom’s council/king’s advisors all elect to summon a sealed away evil wizard—Dark Schneider—to defend them. Summon an old, easily agitated, lecherous magical wild card who tried to turn your kingdom into a parking lot a decade and a half go…to defend said kingdom.

Things have gotten to a state where the kingdom is just down horrendous when you’re asking opps for help. To say the kingdom is weak would be inaccurate, they just can’t deal with the threat of magic and mayhem. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s why characters like Doctor Strange, Brother Voodoo, The Sandman, and Spawn are around: magic and the paranormal have a tendency of messing things up differently from alien agendas and super science.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the nature of the threat is, whatever authority is in charge is typically ineffective at what they do. In the case of Bastard, the council repeatedly requests Tia Noto Yoko to unseal Dark with her virgin’s kiss whenever a threat arrives. You could say that the kingdom had 15 years of peace and didn’t need to bolster its defenses for similar foes but I don’t know maybe…build your forces up anyway. Just as a precaution.

I don’t what the case in the Super Mario Bros franchise is but the Mushroom Kingdom is ridiculously poorly defended. Bowser might as well just walked in each time and snatched the Princess. He never needed his airships, Clown Car, or Koopa Troopas. Now depending on what you think Mario and Luigi’s origins in this other world are—whether they were born in the Mushroom Kingdom or fell in there—entrusting the rescue of a head of state to plumbers just seems irresponsible.

Seriously, where does the confidence come from in that decision? It’s probably the same brilliant minds who figure bringing randoms from another world/dimension to solve their world’s problems is a great idea.

It’s not. There are always additional problems in isekai summoning such as a religious powerhouse or a cult/conspirators working behind the scenes. They’re the wrench in the works. Sure, there’s a world-destroying threat and we’re on a schedule but that doesn’t stop nobles, royals, and clergy from complicating the whole situation.

At the moment, isekai is my favorite manga/anime/manhua genre and this trope always stretches out the story just enough to provide lore and a constant, looming threat to the world and the MC’s quest. If authority just worked as it should, the MC might not be needed half of the time. In these series, the MC is basically a heroic janitor—who might have a blessing or cheat—here to clean up these otherworlders’ issues.

You know, so they can eventually go home.

We can’t get into ineffective authority without touching on Western comics but that’s a-whole-nother piece because there are too many examples to list! Share your favorite or least favorite instances of bumbling or ineffective authority in a series!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now, when I became a fan backstory and history in anime series was often chopped up into scene-appropriate bits. So, if we take a break from the battle at rest period or when the heat is really on and an attack is being charged, we have enough time for a quick story.

If this story had to be told by anyone other than the narrator, it was often kept brief and the rest might be revisited. This could be done in an episode or two without eating up more than a third of the episode.

Lore Dumping in Anime

Brevity and pacing with lore are probably the only two things I miss from older writing. In series now, it’s not unusual to be lore dumped as the viewer. Now, lore dumping is when you’re hit with a lot of backstory, world building, history, and explanations of power systems all at once.

In writing, the equivalent is the dreaded wall of text. Sure, there’s punctuation in there but this is a firm brick of writing you’ve dropped there, champ. Or while reading a comic, a character talks so much that there are speech bubbles upon speech bubbles.

Oddly, I rarely run into this in comics because it’s a different pacing for the same material. You just have to read and take in the dialogue or narration. Reading speed and comprehension determines how fast you get through a story. Anime pacing is dictated for the viewer because our main involvement is sitting there and watching with our undivided attention.

Explanations can soak in as they were meant to, other characters can react verbally, you can see everyone’s “live” reaction to these revelations. It’s the power of animation. However, there are times when the same source material can go from an enjoyable read that has you craving more story to something that can stop the pace of the episode.

The Prime Example

The prime example for me was the exploration of everyone’s childhoods during the chunin exams in Naruto. It was surprising at first but welcome because I liked the character, then it kept happening. Now, in OG Naruto, lore dumping happened often. First you had the story of Haku and Zabuza where we learned so much about them that they might as well remained on as characters.

Instead, they were first story arc villain deaths. So when we get to the chunin exams, everyone’s chewing up screen time in the anime—which one of these moody teenagers are getting put in the dirt? That was my thought when watching. I mean, Haku and Zabuza not only gave Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura the business for several episodes, we got their backgrounds. You’d think we were going to see them again or that they escaped death. After they were put in the dirt by Team Uzamaki, it was like “Anybody can get it. The writer doesn’t care.”

Something about that is admirable but also unacceptable because of how much time some people get to cook in anime only to end up being killed off. I mean, at least the deaths are rarely anticlimactic. That’s just another middle finger to the reader or viewer.

What are some series or franchises in anime—or beyond—where you’ve been lore dumped? Let us know in the comments. Also, what series or franchises do you recommend that are good with how they handle their lore?

Maybe they don’t dump on the fan? Share your thoughts.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now take those two and put them together and you have something that is both great and overdone. Martial arts isekai is a safe genre to run with for a creator. There’s another element of this combo that makes this my undisputed favorite genre of manhwa: cultivation.

We’re going to get into a super brief introduction to cultivation manga/manhwa as well as a few examples. Not all of them are isekai series and most are manhwa from South Korea—just a heads up.

What is Cultivation Manhwa?

In manhwa series, cultivation is basically mental, spiritual, and physical training to prepare a martial artist for immortality and to travel different realms. The motivation for protagonists varies from series to series as do their entry into the world of murim—the world of martial artists.

With the end goal being immortality, characters in this world are guaranteed to either encounter danger or have experienced dangers in the past. These dangers often come from other martial artists or mysteries of the world.

The training that all characters undergo—cultivation—has an added benefit of prolonging life. Some characters can be a few hundred years old or fight like younger fighters in their 90s. However, they’re not immortal—they’re simply long-lived and hard to kill.

Of course, because it the nature of the murim world, few live long enough to get that old.

The Murim World

Murim isn’t really distinct to manhwa, Dragon Ball, Flame of Recca, Naruto and Fist of the North Star all take place in worlds where might makes right. Martial arts is the law and the enforcer. You could say that this is less so the case in three of those series because they tend to take place in more civilized times.

The setting of Naruto is an interesting case because it’s modern-ish but there’s still some feudal elements there. It’s what makes martial arts series interesting: they’re normal to the point a fighter can make a living, go on pilgrimages, and reputation is tied to what they do with their ability.

Many cultivation and murim manhwa take place in a world inspired by ancient or feudal Korean. Note that there are series that take place in modern times where murim either evolved into being a part of work, education, and so on or it’s similar to a juiced-up version of how some styles and schools of martial arts exist now.

The modern setting for murim is always an intriguing read but because writers use modern society as the setting, you run into a lot of unscrupulous characters and situations where characters are looked down upon. You’ll see this even in series that are more fantasy or feudally set but end result of magical martial arts violence seems more in place in the fantasy/feudal setting.

Perhaps it’s me but when a character kills another with a blast at a mansion outside of Seoul, dealing with that situation via strings being pulled does little for me. You’ll also notice extremely powerful allies intervening for the weaker main character often early on in the modern-based series.

A favorite series that does this is Cultivation Chat Group where the main character stumbles upon a chat group made of cultivators. Because he is new and initially shows little talent for cultivation, he is protected by a number masters who are all friendly with each other.

Part of that arrangement—and others in a few modern series—is to keep the existence of cultivators a guarded secret. As a result, it’s not unusual to have main characters go on missions to deal with threats to that secrecy. This is the crux of a lot of adventures in The Gamer.

The Fantasy Aspect and Power Levels

Whether it’s feudal, ancient or modern, fantasy plays a huge role in cultivation and murim manhwa because characters are able to wield magic or give effects to their chi or aura in addition to the raw power an attack from them would have.

This is where series can diverge. Mastering the body and spirit can open the door to magic in those worlds but there’s also the system explained. I’ve always maintained that Kinnikuman is the origin of power levels as we know them in manga—as well as tournament arcs—while Dragon Ball popularized the concept.

In manhwa, power levels rarely take the form they do in some manga. While you might get the numerical or letter grade rating system, there’s often a whole system with stages. Each stage is more powerful than the last and feature levels. In simplest terms: an early, mid, and late level to those stages.

For example, in series like God of Martial Arts, Star Martial God Technique, and Martial Peak, a character can be said to be in “the late Nascent stage” which might become right before “Gold Core stage”.

Terminology also varies but one common aspect is that some tribulation is required before advancing and that tribulation tends to come in the form of lightning striking the character. It’s not always the case and sometimes lightning strikes only come into play the closer the character gets towards immortality. One reason I’ve read is that the act of cultivation is the technically against the will of the Heavens and the tribulations are a punishment.

Next time, we’ll dive into a lot of other elements in this particular genre such as mysteries, the importance of bloodlines, and why secrets are so important.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I’m certain that I’m not even halfway through the main storyline but I tend to get into all of the side adventures and random clashes as opposed to focusing on the main story. That is until I hit some sort of progress wall that requires me to advance the main story.

So, the more recent AC titles released since AC III really catch my attention. They’re similar to the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in that you’ve got a lot of freedom to explore the world without there being this linear narrative that either keeps you on track or pulls you back to the story.

Mind you, when I first played these two—two of the four AC games I’ve actually finished—I was all in on the freedom of the open world. Mind you, this was late 2000s open world. Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls III offered a lot to do outside of the main tasks although FO3 would eventually reel you in unless you had the DLC.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes place during the Viking invasion of England in the late 9^th century. It’s surprising that there wasn’t a deluge of titles inspired by Scandinavian folklore and history following the success of Skyrim. Sure, there were a couple of titles but I figured it would be like the zombie wave in games where there was either a zombie survival game or a zombie horde mode deal.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise really did its thing with Valhalla and the invasion setting featuring a great period story that advances the overall story of the Brotherhood vs Templars. However, the story wasn’t the thing that kept me playing.

The Skill Tree and Abilities Are Where Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Really Shines

I’m a sucker for a skill tree. This feature in addition to some good crafting and an interesting open world will have me lost in a game for days and maybe weeks. A game with all three in abundance tends to become my go-to game when I just want to explore and get into some combat or side quests. I’d say AC Valhalla makes a good attempt at that title.

The crafting is decent enough, you have to provide ingots to advance gear to the next tier at the blacksmith but upgrades are left to you and generally require that you have the materials on hand. AC Valhalla is very much a stealth-action title which leans heavily into the RPG elements but not to the extent of featuring a crafting or blacksmith skill tree.

No, the skill tree in this game is based around combat, stealth, and survivability. It’s a simple enough focus but it stretches in multiple directions among the Raven, Bear, and Wolf constellations. These constellations are linked to your gear which—aside from your starting gear—bears the emblem of one of these animals.

Points spent on any of the constellations improve gear worn by the main character Eivor. However, the Bear skill tree only impacts gear with the Bear on it and not all gear and so on. I’ve been going a Raven-Wolf route after initially spreading the points out and I’m enjoying my adventures in Viking-torn England a ton.

The boosts to stealth damage, weapon damage as well as the skills that can be unlocked in these skill trees really make how I like to attack situations—a mix of up close brute force and ranged stealth—exciting. It also pushes me to respec points and try something different or try out different weapon types. You start with the bearded axe and I’ve gotten very comfortable with it but there are a lot of other weapons in the world and even some mythical ones.

Again, this is an open world game with a lot to do. I’m not even getting into raiding or how Ubisoft really embraced sea combat being a part of the franchise that players love. The developers handling this franchise just get better with navigation and varied combat with each title.

Of course, I still have to check out AC Mirage which I’ve heard is a return to core AC but as it stands with Valhalla—on just the skill tree alone and what can be done with it—I’d say check it out if you haven’t yet or give it a revisit when you’re browsing your backlog.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I’ve discussed the debut of Dragon Ball in the West and its impact both personally and on a large scale. He was my inspiration when I drew homemade comics in middle school an high school. When I became older and learned more about him creatively, one of the things I found interesting was that originally he was a gag artist.

For those unfamiliar, gag manga are basically comedy comics. His parody work Wonder Island 2 almost took him out of the industry since it wasn’t successful. However, he stuck with it and began delivering works that would lay the groundwork to Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball.

Akira Toriyama Had a Distinct Style to His Work

Another thing I found interesting was that he was consistent with his art style. Toriyama also had a distinct style that was different from a lot of anime that became popular in the wake of Dragon Ball—at least in the West. You have to remember, this was the late 1990s, a lot of anime that made it to air had a similar style if it wasn’t the more mature stuff you got from Manga Entertainment, ADV Films, or Viz.

It didn’t have the standard style as far as hair and eyes and he used a lot of expressions you’d see in gag series. You could say that it wasn’t as clean as other styles and that it was a bit dated compared to newer series such as Naruto and One Piece which debuted while the series was still broadcasting in the U.S.

I found his style easy to copy and I practiced as a kid. The facial expressions, clothing styles, attacks—even his story pacing were elements of his style I really took to. I also shared his dislike of doing backgrounds in panels. His style was so unique that I thought he did artwork to the original Dragon Quest Dai series and not the talented Koji Inada.

Writing-wise, his Dragon Ball work had a formula where Goku had to get to a fight or there was something that made it difficult for him to make it to or stay in the fight. As a result, his allies often took a beating before he arrived and handled the big bad.

Dragon Ball Z also featured this thing in Goku’s fights where it was rarely a clean win. He had to die to kill his brother Raditz. While he did a lot of damage against Vegeta, Gohan really made it so that the Prince of Saiyans couldn’t continue the fight and had to retreat. He and Gohan defeated Cell and so on.

However, despite noticing these and character tropes, he made a great series that influenced others and held up years later. His work had a canonical timeline and an extended universe. In that sense, it was bit ahead of the times as many anime series were contained stories with Slayers, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Kinnikuman being contemporary series that featured a continuous storyline told across time or different, large arcs as opposed to smaller arcs.

Akira Toriyama did a ton for the anime and gaming industries and for fans of both. As for me, while he inspired my art style—when I drew—more importantly, he made me a fan of this stuff and opened the door to more series than I could ever finish and more artists than I can remember. Growing up as a Black anime fan, Dragon Ball Z was a craze and adults in their late 30s and early 40s can still tell stories of just waking up on Saturday morning and sitting through the meh cartoons just to get to a replay of last week’s episode—followed by the new one.

Goku was the first animated hero I saw who made the ultimate sacrifice—within the first few episodes—over saving a son he’d miss chunks of his childhood. You also saw him mature more throughout the series—as much as he could mature, anyway.

That was Toriyama really showing the passage of time with timeless characters and making essential characters out of side characters.

Finding Toriyama’s other works piqued my interest in the other works of other mangaka outside of their popular work.

Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama and thank you for being a part of my childhood—and adulthood—as well as those of many other fans’ around the world.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.