Manga Mavericks EP. 9: Your Favorite Character Dressed in Drag

Wow, it's been a while huh? Almost a month! Man, you guys must have been devastated, going without hearing our pristine sexy voices for so long. Sobbing in a corner like Sugao from Shonen Ashibe and hugging your makeshift Colton and/or Sid body pillows tightly, impatiently tapping the refresh button hping, ever so desperately, for a new episode to load. But that episode never came. So you sat there, wallowing in a mess of piss and tears, eyes red from sleepless nights waiting, ears perked for any hint of our beautiful voices. Your friends and family worried. You'd become a podcast-aholic. You needed your fix, and Manga Mavericks was your drug or choice. Finally, enough was enough. Your family put you in therapy. You resisted at first, but slowly, the therapist gained your trust. You talked. You learned things. About yourself, your problems. You joined Podcastaholics Anonymous, and over time, you got over your addiction. You were free. FREE! ...Or so you thought. The addiction could only be suppressed, not overcome. Deep inside, you still hungered. You re-listened to older episodes, but it wasn't enough. You needed more. Desperate, you tried other manga podcasts, but they didn't satisfy. But you kept listening. You started listening to two at once, then three, then four, then more. Just lying there, engulfed in your insidiously comfy reclining armchair, your life slowly wasting away from a sedentary lifestyle devoid of emotional fulfillment. But you decided enough is enough. "Screw podcasts, I'll watch anime instead!" Weak and malnourished, you blindly clicked upon a random link to a random show on Crunchyroll, hoping you'd land on something light and charming to make the pain go away. And what do you know, you got a comedy. "Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth." Huh. Well, Rock Lee is a pretty cool character, so a show about him show be pretty decent. You hit an ep up. You watch. But...what's this? Dogs pissing on people's heads? Characters steeping in piles of poop? Is this what's become of anime comedy? Then, it happens. A simple image. Rock Lee dressed in women's clothes. Ten Ten makes a big deal of it. Something along the lines of "Oh Lee, you so silly for dressing like a girl. You're a MAN! HUR DUR DUR!!!" You stare, trying to process the incomprehensible scene before you. Then you realize - this is the joke. No, not the fact Lee is dressed in drag and that's somehow supposed to be funny in of itself. That's lame. No, the joke is your life. You're a twenty-something jobless fatass spending your days listening to podcasts and watching crappy chibi comedy spinoffs of overrated shonen action shows. Now, THAT's funny! You snort. Chuckle. Laugh. Laughter that pierces the walls of your decrepit domicile, frightening neighbors who've long thought your home was just an abandoned wreck waiting for demolition. You tear up, roll around the floor in a fit, unable to stop. Then, suddenly, your laughter becomes a cry. A cry for help, freedom, purpose. Ah, what a tragic life! Woe, is the Millennial! Woe, these insufferable first-world problems! Must we want so? Must our desires overwhelm our sense?! Will nothing break the death hold that our destructive desperation for endless entertainment entraps us?! But suffer no longer, my friends! Your titular mavericks Colton and Sid have returned once again to give you to low down on all the hip news and happenings in the manga world. We may have missed a week, but the industry kept on rolling, and we're here today with an extra long episode to cover all the exciting highlights that came out of May! From new manga debuts to new licenses to controversial Kickstarters, there's a lot of ground to cover and we gave ourselves a lot of time to do so. Plus, discussion of the latest Jump Start, Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary, what makes a good gag spinoff comedy, the historical and empathetic legacy of Barefoot Gen, and much, much more! Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @sniperkin