OK, I admit that I went a bit far with the self-censorship on this one. ._.
Let’s not get into why I at one point thought that that particularly panel was a good idea, and instead just be grateful that I realized that it wasn’t a good idea before it came to publishing it. Plus some extra gratitude for the established presence of the censorship bar around here, which helped me cover it up without breaking the format.
And I think any reader can readily use their own imagination to replace the missing panel. After all, Youichi is so much defined by his traditional and stereotypical delinquent outfit, you can imagine that getting put into any number of other outfits could have a highly demotivational effect on him. Now you’re free to imagine any of them, and feel reasonably sure it will be a better choice than my original one. >_>
The key aspect remains unchanged, anyway: Youichi didn’t really benefit much from the Training Camp From Hell. As a juvenile delinquent he is by definition a non-conformist (aside from conforming, obviously, to every stereotype of juvenile delinquents, which doesn’t count) and thus needs to be highly self-motivating from the start. Breaking down his personality and building it back up, as required by the tough training camp trope, couldn’t possible result in somebody more motivated than he was at the start.
So, today’s take-aways are ultimately: – you can not intimidate somebody wearing a frogmouth helmet (due to the high level of protection it offers, and because the person wearing it can’t even see you) – Pazuzu isn’t a good fashion advisor
More on Thursday.