Uniformly Inconspicuous – Chapter 8, Act 2, Strip 8

It seems our friends have been unable to see the forest for the trees – it’s not the ‘uniform’ part of the sparse description provided by Hiroki they should have focused on, but rather the ‘bishonen’ part.

For it’s true that everyone is wearing school uniforms here (which is a lot more universal in manga and anime than in real Japanese school life, because it makes the lives of the artists and animators so much easier), and Hiroki might have failed to explain that the uniforms in question here are a lot more…uh…uniformy? Let’s say ‘elaborate’ than the standard thing…but that still wouldn’t change the fact that bishonen would tend to stick out among the mass of generic pupils by hair color, hair length, elongated proportions, implausible feminine beauty, etc. etc.

So, focusing on that aspect, our heroes might have had a chance of spotting their opponents – if the latter hadn’t gone to the effort to put on clever disguises for added safety. >_> And it’s that fact that matters, not how clever (or stupid) the disguises are…you might think a sombrero and a set of Groucho glasses (with Hispanic style mustache to fit the hat) are not the ideal disguise to stay unnoticed on a Japanese/Canadian/American schoolyard…but that doesn’t really matter. Disguises are never seen through in anime and manga – as long as you put on any kind of disguise, you are per definitionem disguised, and everyone will honor the fact with the appropriate (lack of) reaction.

More on Thursday.