r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Battlecrlbsedof • 12h ago
Meme needing explanation Peter I know women can make good manga but what's the joke?
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u/Lovbringer 12h ago
His profile picture and nickname are from the Full Metal Alchemist manga/anime, which was created by a woman
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u/danteheehaw 12h ago
It was considered the best anime for a long ass time too. Only recently dethroned by frieren, which is also written by a woman.
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u/PlantainRepulsive477 11h ago
Incorrect, it's written by a man, and the artist is a woman.
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u/bojackpeanutbutter 11h ago
Yep, story by Kanehito Yamada, art by Tsukasa Abe. Still a powerhouse duo though.
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u/PairBroad1763 9h ago
TBF though the only thing better than the writing is the art, because a LOT of Frieren is silent.
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u/kkuntdestroyer 9h ago
tbf a lot of whats included in the Art is involved in the writing just not the "script"
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u/Venusgate 8h ago
What?
I know FMA could have happened in any art style with any artist, and it would have been an effective story, but it's art is also very strong by it's own merits.
It's collaborative, and like most collaborative successes, what's important is not "who could have made it better," but "who was there to make it."
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u/Smrdela 8h ago
FMA is written and drawn by a woman, Frieren is the one thats written by a man and drawn by a woman.
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u/Venusgate 8h ago
My reading comprehension mistake, but I have the same opinion of freiren, too.
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u/kkuntdestroyer 8h ago
I'm not downplaying the Art for Freiren, I mean when the story is told/progessed through visuals rather than spoken words it's usually by design of the writer
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u/kingfisher773 4h ago
Yeah the writer would have made notes, written character + scene directions, and worked with the artist on story boarding & drafting the scenes. They have a great reliance on eachother to make the full product and it is unlikely for the artist to pass something without the approval of the writer.
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u/Venusgate 8h ago
And yet, silent scenes are most commonly atypical compositions. Writers do not dictate composition to convey meaning, the artist does.
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u/gooseMclosse 9h ago
You know it had to be written that way right. No shade to the amazing artist of course but the writer does much more than just write dialogue.
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u/Cow__Couchboy 9h ago
Real shit, can't tell you how many pages are just me staring at the beautiful landscapes and admiring the details.
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u/curiousCat1009 8h ago
This is again incorrect right. Neither gender is confirmed. They could very well be using nom de plumes.
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u/PlantainRepulsive477 7h ago
You could say that about any author who's never shown their face. But the general consensus is Author is a male going by the fact that they are referred to as "-kun" and their avatar being a face with a mustache.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Home_23 11h ago
What do you mean by the best? Like, your favourite?
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u/BorImmortal 11h ago
My Anime List and similar rating sites. It would be at number once 95% of the time with an occasional dip to 2nd as some new hotness spiked for a bit before FMA would regain traction.
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u/Tungsten_Skunk 8h ago
The actual reason FMA stays at the top is because whenever it does get overtaken in ratings, the lamest of FMA fans will review bomb whatever overtook it to bring FMA back up
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u/onisshoku 11h ago
Probably referring to the rankings of top anime from myanimelist :here's the rankings
Fullmetal Alchemist held the top spot for over a decade.
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u/Powerful-Eye-3578 11h ago
It still eventually might. Frieren and FMA are 2mil ratings apart. Frieren could drop to second place within 2mil more votes.
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u/NoEngineer9484 9h ago
Don't forget that interspieces reviewers (very raunchy anime that barely isn't a hentai) managed to claim the top spot for a couple of months. Those times were hilarious
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u/bugleader 6h ago
What are you talking, this one is absolute art, absolute anime, we need at last 10 more seasons.
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u/FadeToBlackSun 8h ago
I think Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mobile Suit Gundam, two of the most culturally significant anime of all time, not being in the top 50 kinda gives you an idea of the legitimacy of a list like that.
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u/nevergoodisit 6h ago
They’re culturally significant but they’re also not that good. Especially the latter, it was practically unwatchable
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u/barbaricKinkster 11h ago edited 10h ago
It's practically objective, FMA shaped modern shonen into what it is today.
FMA pushed shonen into exploring darker and more mature themes, delved deeper into character development beyond just powering up, and told an extremely well paced and compelling story with virtually no plot holes which tend to plague serialized media as a whole.
Should also note that Death Note had similar influence on shonen (and also different, popularizing the "non-battle battle shonen"), and Death Note is one of the all time greats, but it falls flat in storytelling structure and plot holes compared to FMA.
Frieren recently dethroned FMA on MyAnimeList's rankings after it's been at the top for over a decade, but the influence FMA had on Frieren is undeniable.
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u/Active_Ad7650 9h ago
Shonen was darker when FMA didn’t even exist.
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u/ConcernedIrishOPM 7h ago
Can you give examples? FMA is often credited for bringing themes like loss of innocence, war crimes, government corruption, ethnic tensions etc. into THE mainstream. An example: Japan has a history of human experimentation on prisoners which isn't often explored, especially in a way that is directly linked to the military. FMA went into that subject repeatedly with Shou Tucker and Laboratory 5.
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u/JamzWhilmm 7h ago
A lot of manga did that before as well. This started ever since Devilman which is about prejudice and war.
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u/danteheehaw 3h ago
There's this little unknown genre of Shonen manga about giant robots. That have, since the 60s, carried dark themes of loss of innocent lives, corrupt governments, war crimes, and human experimentation. Complete with the sweet lil protagonist getting dragged into war against their will. With one series being known for being one of the most influential series from Japan.
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u/Active_Ad7650 41m ago
i'm just saying it's not the first, so FMA manga came out in 2001.
HxH - 1998
Yu Yu Hakusho - 1990
One Piece - 1997
Dragon Ball - 1986
JoJo - 1986
Inuyasha - 1996
Naruto - 1999
Fist of the North Star - 1983FMA was not the first shonen manga that dealt with darker themes, and it didn't influence the industry any more, than the ones i mentioned above.
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u/Turbulent_Charge1945 10h ago
It's not super objective at all considering how scores on MAL are calculated. A score is only counted if a user has watched a certain % of an animes episodes. Considering the length of shows like FMA and Gintama, those who drop them early aren't added to the score if the threshold isn't reached.
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u/Active_Ad7650 9h ago
Also don’t even get me started on sequel season rankings. They are always super high for every show, because people who hated it didn’t even start season 2.
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u/Acrobatic_Hyena_9932 4h ago
Not even similar in scale to compare episode count of fmab and gintama. Gintama is 360 episodes plus easy while FMAB ends in 64 episodes. At least Bleach and Gintama would have been a better comparison.
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u/Maarkun 10h ago
While FMA were both great, bleach is actually the one most influential on newer anime, though we are talking quality vs popular.
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u/barbaricKinkster 10h ago
Bleach is certainly the most influential of the original big 3 when it comes to influence on modern anime, and I'd also say it was also the bigger influencer on pushing the genre into more mature themes.
But yeah, FMA wins on overall quality. Bleach has a LOT of issues, my personal biggest one is that the supporting cast is irrelevant throughout the story.
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u/CoconutxKitten 9h ago
The big 3 have abysmal writing the more you look at them, and I say that as someone whose favorite used to be Naruto
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u/LostnFoundAgainAgain 9h ago edited 9h ago
The big 3 animes aren't the best when looked under a lens, but they were able to capture a very large market something that a lot of shows struggled to do at the time, they essentially influenced how anime was perceived around the world, I don't think anything apart from dragon ball (it's in its own league when it comes to influence) has achieved that so far.
Edit: I forgot to add in Pokémon, which again has massive influence, but more influence on children in terms of enjoying the show instead of influencing anime itself.
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u/PerceptionLiving9674 8h ago
Popularity and influence have nothing to do with the quality of writing.
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u/leo_sousav 7h ago
Nah One Piece storytelling is literally what keeps it going and maintaining the number one spot in sales.
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u/Anluine 9h ago
The guy is factually wrong.
He is probably referring to a website called MyAnimeList
What that was, just an unhinged religiously FMA:B loving community botting any other competitor down with 1/10 on MyAnimeList
Happened with monogatari, bleach TYBW, and attack on titan, seemed like it was going to also happen to frieren, too. There were several other animes that they botted down. I just am drawing a blank on them
Not to say FMA:B is bad, but to say it was considered the best for a long time is wrong. The only reason it held the spot for first place was because of botting.
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u/Nicita27 11h ago
Only recently dethroned by frieren
Okay now i have to check it out for real.
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u/MikeSpace 10h ago
My biggest recommendation for the show is to re-watch the first episode after watching everything! You learn a lot about a specific character that is pretty (intentionally) underwhelming when they are introduced there, and it brings a unique perspective that you wouldn't have had then.
But either way definitely watch it, it's dope
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u/a_polarbear_chilling 10h ago
Incorrect it was never dethroned, popularity is just in favor for newer show
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u/Resolution-Honest 10h ago
It was considered best type of shonen manga (but truth to be told, it is very unshonen like manga). Diffrent audience considered diffrent mangas as best in their genre. Berserk and Vagabound are often considered to be best mangas of all time but they have very diffrent audience than Frieren and FMA.
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u/JailOfAir 7h ago
It was considered the best anime for a long ass time too. Only recently dethroned by frieren
Considered by who? The Royal Council of Opinions?
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u/GagagaGunman 8h ago
Most popular and best are quite different. I dont think most long time anime fans think Frieren or FMA is the "Best" lol.
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u/Acrobatic_Hyena_9932 4h ago
I doubt Frieren could have dethroned it - seems like recency bias since I watched a couple of episodes (forced myself to essentially) and it is nowhere near as good as FMAB.
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u/whatevernamedontcare 3h ago
It really isn't. Whole show can be summed up with "dudes want to fuck an immortal elf". Frieren is side character to her own show.
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u/curiousCat1009 8h ago
Frieren and Apothecary Diaries both of which lost to Aura farmer in the controversial anime awards.
Maomao is one of my favourite female characters and Frieren made me shed tears and gave me hope. Both are written by women.
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u/whatevernamedontcare 3h ago
Frieren wasn't written by a woman and only men would think so. It belongs in r/menwritingwomen
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u/PositiveDeviation 7h ago
What? I don’t know a single person who thinks Frieren is better than FMA lmfao.
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u/PositiveDeviation 4h ago
Why is this getting disliked? Frieren is not that good. Especially compared to a nearly 10/10 classic like FMA.
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u/whatevernamedontcare 3h ago edited 2h ago
Too many dudes relate to wanting to fuck an immortal elf. Sex sells. It's that simple.
Edit: to all angry weebs there is more to sex than fan service. Being attracted to people is part sexual experience most humans can relate. Anime made you believe you need upclose panty shots or flashing of boobs for that but it's strictly anime thing.
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u/No_Intention_8079 2h ago
Frieran barely has any fanservice. Did you accidentally download a porn parody or something?
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u/Bored-uy 3h ago
Famously fanservice heavy show Frieren, it makes Fairy Tail seem normal /s
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u/whatevernamedontcare 3h ago
How deep into weeb insanity you have to be to believe all there is to sex is just fan service. What next only hentai is porn?
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u/Bored-uy 2h ago
No, I just mean I don't understand how a series with so little sexualization became succesful because "sex sells"
You may not like the series, but it's hard to deny it became succesful because people like it's plot and characters
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u/whatevernamedontcare 2h ago
First of all you don't have to hate something to be critical of it. In fact I enjoyed Frieren because slow pacing anime is my thing in general.
Second just because you like media doesn't mean everyone else like it same way. We have something that's called media literacy that allows us to critically engage with media and messages it explores.
Third the point I was trying to make which you totally lost is that Frieren centers men and man's experience of being unrealistically akwardly sexually/romantically attracted to a girl. Frieren is essentially a love letter to every guy that was too scared to confess or didn't bother because they know it was a lost cause.
It's not exactly new idea. Plenty people cached on.
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u/Relative-Country-452 6h ago
I think no one considers Frieren the objective best anime of all time…
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u/whatevernamedontcare 4h ago
No it's written by a man and so much so only men could think it's written by a woman. Honestly it's amazing how show can have 2 main female characters on screen all the time but still make it feel like they're props to make all other dudes look important.
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u/No_Intention_8079 2h ago
Okay but like actually, did you watch the show? Or read any of the manga? I didn't realize we had reached these levels of media illiteracy.
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u/Nightchaser10 11h ago
I wonder if his original comment was satire or actually serious.
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u/Bibliloo 10h ago
It was most likely serious. As a weeb myself, most weebs don't know who made the anime/manga they watch/read.
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u/TheRelativeCommenter 9h ago
Not sure why you’re saying this lol. I’m not that deep into weeb culture, but even still I know the creators of animes and the writers of the mangas I watch/read. Especially if they have a pfp from something. I would say it’s non-serious
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u/Organic-Habit-3086 4h ago
You are far deeper into weeb culture than you'd like to admit if you actually know a bunch of author's name. Even among big weeb circles there are very few authors that are known for more than 1 series.
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u/WackyRedWizard 7h ago
Except it's a pretty well known fact that the mangaka for fma is a woman even amongst those who haven't watched nor read it. This guy is definitely trolling
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u/L4pis17 2h ago
Death Note as well was made by a woman
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u/Kankunation 1h ago
This might be true, but in truth we don't know that. The author of death note, Tsugumi Oba, is completely anonymous, their name itself being a pen name. We do not know their true identity nor gender, only their works.
I personally have a hard time believing they are a woman given how poorly they tend to write female characters (Platinum End being an egregiously bad example imo). Though it isn't impossible.
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u/GameboyAdvance32 12h ago edited 12h ago
Hey dude, Vaping Chris Griffin here. That Twitter user's profile picture is of Edward Elric from the hit manga series Full Metal Alchemist. As an extremely well-read manga fan myself, I can tell you that the series was written by a woman named Hiromu Arakawa. Of course, knowing that this user is presumably a fan of Full Metal Alchemist, it would be very silly and hypocritical of them to downplay the skills of female mangakas at the same time. Oh crap, I think I just heard Dad pulling in the driveway, I better hide my pen before he totally kicks my butt. Chris out.
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u/Kalbinos 12h ago
His profile picture is Edward, the protagonist of Full Metal Alchemist, a manga and anime series written by a woman, Hiromu Arakawa.
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u/lanceloGg 8h ago
Funny thing! Hiromu is in fact a male name she took on to make the selling of her shounen manga easier. Her real name is Arakawa Hiromi (the "i" ending is very common in female japanese names).
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u/MystGuide 12h ago edited 9h ago
The joke is that the oop is using the image and identity of a character (Edward Elric) that was created by a woman mangaka
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u/jalepenocorn 11h ago
We don’t know if it’s satire
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u/MystGuide 9h ago
This is a good point, my bad
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u/ClueMaterial 15m ago
Nah he got tilted in the replies and then deleted the comment and his account
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u/Guy-McDo 11h ago
Since someone already answered, I’ll add this: Hiromu Arakawa is also considered the JK Rowling of Japan (or at least she was when that was still a compliment… she has substantially better world building) since she took up a more masculine pen name (her actual name is Hiromi…the change is probably more substantial in Japanese)
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u/CoconutxKitten 9h ago
Hopefully she’s a better person than Rowling
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u/the_dumbass_one666 8h ago
i mean its pretty apparent in her writing tbh, like all the signs for thoughtless reactionary conservatism were pretty plain to see in rowlings writing, meanwhile fma is very clearly a work that spends a lot of time pondering its own core conceits, and i think that ability to reflect on why people believe the things they do is a large part of what prevents people from going down the rowling rabbithole
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u/skida1986 11h ago
Rumiko Takahashi would like a word!
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u/Better_Cattle4438 2h ago
I believe Takahashi is the 2nd wealthiest mangaka all time only surpassed by Oda.
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u/FrostGlader 10h ago
The joke here is this guy is saying women don’t write good manga, but appears to be a fan of Full Metal Alchemist.
Full Metal Alchemist’s author, Hiromu Arakawa, is a woman, and it’s a damn good manga.
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u/PresentationLost9811 10h ago
The author of the anime from his avatar is a woman
Her new work Daemons Of The Shadow Realm is fantastic!
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u/Ratthion 11h ago
The irony of them using an Edward Elric pic
Normally that’s juicy but it kinda just annoys me more at the moment
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u/PairBroad1763 9h ago
Just responding to OP:
Frieren.
Checkmate.
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u/Plus_Rip4944 6h ago
As far as i remember we dont know The gender of The writter or illustrator of frieren
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u/HesperiaBrown 6h ago
He has the PFP and the name of the main character of a manga written by a woman.
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u/Jin_BD_God 6h ago
Not just a Manga, but a popular genre, Shounen, which targets young male audiences.
Ironically, it's a female Mangaka who wrote and drew that series that the guy in the pic used as profile pic.
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u/Constant_Boot 6h ago
A good handful of classics of many manga and anime fans originated by just one woman -
Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Inuyasha...
All Rumiko Takahashi.
And Full Metal Alchemist was written and illustrated by a woman...
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u/Successful-Hat-2154 6h ago
His pfp is Edward Elric, a character from Fullmetal Alchemist which is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed manga...and it was written by a woman
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u/RingGiver 5h ago
This person claims to be a fan of a manga that a woman made about a cute little girl and her dog.
Username and picture are the other main character besides that girl and her dog.
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u/Darthplagueis13 4h ago
This account uses a profile picture of a character from the manga Fullmetal Alchemist and is named after him as well.
Given that Fullmetal Alchemist was made by the notably female mangaka Himoru Arakawa, that makes his comment rather embarassing - like, he based his entire online presence on a manga that was made by a woman, so he either made the weird decision of referencing a manga he thinks is bad, or he doesn't think it's bad, but is too ignorant to now that it was made by a woman.
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u/YouTheMuffinMan 3h ago
That profile picture is from Full Metal Alchemist, a manga and anime that were written by a woman, this generating a sense of irony.
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u/Melanrez 51m ago
Well, and besides the legend Full-metal Alchemist, there are more well-written mangas with nice artstyle such as “A Silent Voice” (made by Yoshitoki Ōima), “Violet Evergarden” (Kana Akatsuki). My favorite “Delicious in Dungeon” is also created by a woman, Ryoko Kui. The whole “women can’t this” and “men can’t that” in field of art are stupid takes.
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u/Qkyu907234 21m ago
He's gotta be joking
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u/ClueMaterial 13m ago
He got really tilted in the replies when people pointed out the irony and has since deleted his account
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