Red Hood
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Shounen
Author: Kawaguchi Yuuki
Serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump
Publisher: Shueisha
Red Hood
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Is this from an assistant that worked on My Hero Academia? They style in the faces is pretty similar.
So far I enjoyed the first chapter. I liked the designs, the tools the plot so far.
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I like the art but WHY would you put the color spread at the start that shows the ending to the first chapter?
That's a weird choice.
Nothing really gripping with the first chapter but it could grow into something.
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The monster design was cool, with cartoony movements but stylized as horror. Red Hood looks like Kusuri from 100 girlfriends.
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That is the most meaty Red Hood I've ever seen, a real bombshell.
I guess her child appearance is meant for travelling incognito.
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Yeah, Grimm is such a babe (as in, her adult form). I like that the werewolves look really freakish and monstrous and not generic.
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Is this from an assistant that worked on My Hero Academia? They style in the faces is pretty similar.
I was wondering that aswell. Not only the main characters but one of the villagers totally looked like Endeavor without his powers activated. I was wondering if the MHA mangaka wanted to challenge himsef and do two series at the same time.^^
So far I enjoyed the first chapter. I liked the designs, the tools the plot so far.
Same here. Nothing spectacular but interesting enough for me to want to see where this goes. Gonna follow this manga for now.
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The werewolf was clearly based on the Demogorgon from Strager Things, but it was a nice read overall and the art was really good.
I'll keep checking it out. -
Reminds me of that other series made by Kishimoto's twin brother.
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The art was really nice, but other than that it was merely ok. Nothing really stood out.
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I am weak for fantasy settings, the first chapter was fun, not great, but still fine. It shows promise though, I am really looking foward to the monsters designs, I hope the author keeps them weird instead of straightfoward ones.
Aside from the nice designs, the art itself was pretty good, you can really see Hori´s influence.
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Same. Art is good, the monsters could be especially enjoyable if author doesn't stick with werewolves as the only adversaries.
Story is a vanilla shonen introduction though. Waiting to see if it can improve, but the art alone won't be enough to hold me if not. -
The art was good, but what was up with those panel lines and boxes on the two pages with the book? Way to ruin a perfectly fine potential doublespread.
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That's a trick to tell you the order of reading (top right, bottom right, top left, bottom left instead og top right, top left and then bottom). My guess is that the text was supposed to follow the same way you'd read the book, but it was ambiguous so they added the lines.
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I liked these first chapters, although I feel that right now the author has a pacing problem, since it seems this first introductory arc is not over yet. The art is good and there are some really cool panelling choices, but like with Hori, sometimes it´s hard to follow the action (the art is sometimes too busy for me) The main characters have a good chemistry going on so far, the fact that the kid doesn´t have a grand dream is nice too.
Overall I hope this survives, but I won´t get my hopes up, Jump can be too merciless.
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The big wolf and the witch seem like the first hint of a major enemy, which is good because it gives the manga a direction. They'll probably wrap the next chapter as an epilogue like they did with Dr. Stone (and with i tell c, which flopped anyway), it seems like a common thing when the early chapters lose steam.
Right now, the worldbuilding is lacking. We know werewolves, magic materials and magic tools exist, but it's not clear the accesibility of these materials and tools, or the technology level of humans, or the standing of the humans vs werevolves (plus other creatures) conflict. -
I, for one, was amusing myself with the slower pace. The only hard sequence I found to follow was how the wolf was somehow precisely above the chimney when Lou "fired" it. Nice read all in all.
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So far the story hasn't been doing much for me, but it looks like next chapter might be the actual inciting incident that tries to grip us for the rest of the series.
That's fine but the author hasn't earned my trust yet, I don't know that this is going to be any sort of long runner. He didn't blow us out of the water with potential in the first chapter, so it's gotta do something big now.
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I'd rather the author won't rush things and take his time, dialogue and narrative are what make a story.
In fact, I have to say that I'm impressed by how much time he spent writing what is essentially just the prologue, few authors take this long to wrap things up.
But the appearance of those two is not a coincidence. They were biding their time, and the wolves were just pawns.
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I like the art. It seems – self-aware? The gun is a "checkov series", everything seems a bit over the top. I guess I also thought Black Clover was satire for the first few chapters too so maybe I'm wrong.
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It has me hooked for now we'll see where it goes from here.
extra point for enemy design
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A five chapter prologue, can't recall when was the last time I read one this long.
The setup is done, the main antagonist faction has been officially introduced, and the one thing that was holding back the boy is gone. Grimn is infamously known and feared ( read: respected), but that was to be expected.
Looking forward to the next arc.
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Wow,, the official trandlation is literally "That wasn't the power of friendship". If that's not some creative freedom from the translators then pluspoints for the mangaka here.
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This manga still seems intriguing and charming to me. I'm gonna read the first big arc for sure before I reconsider anything about it.
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Bashing the power of frendship is a funny device, though it's been used recently used by Mashima of all people so it didn't have much impact for me. The lumbering giant and the crabs were cool worldbuilding, but it's still to soon to know which element will receive focus. Too many series have an interesting setting but focus too much on a tiny subset.
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Does anyone know what the overall Japanese reception has been on red hood? I really want to see it survive.
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I don't have much hope. Not only was the first mini arc a bit bland, but we had 3 breaks in a very short time which makes people lose interest.
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Lost interest after about two chapters and they bored me to tears. I see this getting the axe. It needs something really big to turn things around because when you lose readers early on; they usually don't come back.
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Jacked Mina was not expected lol.
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Well, we're getting quick exposition on the whole "why does this kid have a wolfsbane axe thing" plotline. People are saying this series will get cut, but I hope it doesn't - if only for the art and setting I'd like to see where it goes.
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It's kinda obvious that one or both of Veelo's parents were big shot in the guild. Now, is the mayor, also a werewolf?
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So Grimm isn't the main character. Sad.
Also fare the well old man Bremen. You were far too good for us.
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While reading the chapter I immediately thought of the Entrance Exam of HxH, but it seems some very personal issues are getting screentime soon and the smell of drama is delicious.
I hope this series doesn’t get axed. I don’t know how it’s doing on the ToC listing but I’ve seen an small yet active support group. It’s def better than most of Magu-chan, Elusive Samurai and the Candy shonen have cooked up to now.
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I hope this series doesn’t get axed. I don’t know how it’s doing on the ToC listing but I’ve seen an small yet active support group. It’s def better than most of Magu-chan, Elusive Samurai and the Candy shonen have cooked up to now.
Does anyone know what the overall Japanese reception has been on red hood? I really want to see it survive.
Does anyone know what the overall Japanese reception has been on red hood? I really want to see it survive.
Since you asked this in both this thread and the actual series thread…
Series are "safe" for their first 10 chapters, (unless they're mega disasters) but their placement order in the magazine tends to be equivalent to how they're generally ranking, based on the polls from three issues earlier.
The first three issues they have no data so a series is just sort of put into the top 5 by default, and it has color pages to boost it for the first two chapter.
The fourth chapter was in issue 35, and it was ranked 9th there and 8th in 36/37. But those placements would have been in response to the super sized first chapter and the second with a color page, 38 is the first time its really getting judged.
And in issue 38 it was 12th.
So its not doing so badly that it's in immediate danger of being cancelled, but it's not doing well either. Its probably not going to make it past 2 volumes unless it's second arc is significantly better than the first and does something to make itself more interesting in a hurry.
Sorry, but it's not that compelling or interesting. The art is good but the first arc is a complete failure of an attention grabber or a motivator and the characters don't have much personality at this point. It's lacking that key "okay, now I want to see this guy survive everything and overcome that initial obstacle" or real hook of "I need to save my sister from being a demon!" or "how do we assassinate a god" or "my entire life is a lie and we've been raised as demon food, how to we escape?" sort of thing.
"I want to protect my village... that burned to the ground and had all the people scatter because the big villains let us go"... just isn't going to cut it. That's not a compelling hook. It had its chance to give us the juicy driving moment in chapter 5 after a slow build up and it completely dropped the ball. It introduced mega-bads and did nothing with them. Nor did it pull any big surprises.
The art is solid and there's some neat things in it like the tank crab, but that's not enough unless we get a lot more of that sort of thing.
Author might need to get a writer to co-work with, or just take another stab at something else down the line with a little more experience.
He might, MIGHT be able to limp along in the middle ranks for a while, but its going to have to improve a lot to stick around. I really wouldn't expect more than two volumes, don't get your hopes up too high.
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I've really been enjoying this series, it's a shame that it doesn't seem to be doing too well. I honestly wish it was in a different Shueisha publication or a different magazine entirely. As I've gotten older I've really come to dislike how strict Weekly Jump is and how quickly some series get axed. Sometimes it takes a while for a story to really get going.
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Sometimes it takes a while for a story to really get going.
It's fine if a story takes a while to REALLY get going… it does take time to set up things to pay off and soemtimes you need to juggle in new characters before something clicks. (Dragonball was famously not well received at first)... but it should be interesting and compelling and have you grabbed from the start.
Even if the first arc isn't the best the series will ever do, it should still have you desperate to see the hero keep going and suceed at his dream. Doing it all for one of their family, or proving those assholes wrong, or to honor a passed on mentor are great shortcuts for this, but not the only method..
Red Hood has done nothing to make the hero really stand out and his motivation is weak. "I want to go hunt werewolves... so that no other villages have everyone let go by the big bads peacefully" is not motivating.
The end of the newest chapter doesn't really help that either. That's less "oh my what could that lead to?!?" and more "oh, that's how they're going to wrap it up suddenly in 12 chapters."
THis series will probably get canned after chapter 19 to allow for 2 volumes, the artist will keep assisting on something, and then try again in six or nine months with something a little stronger.
I do really like the art though, it reminds mme a lot of Legend from Darkwood, and that was a fantastic short series.
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Red Hood has done nothing to make the hero really stand out and his motivation is weak. "I want to go hunt werewolves… so that no other villages have everyone let go by the big bads peacefully" is not motivating.
Okay okay, we get it. Not enough oomph from the antagonists. You're not wrong, but having humanized, nuanced bad guys from the start without some asspull or flashback (actually, I was abused! ha ha, now I'm a sympathetic boxer) is a strength. It feels more adult than the blatantly manipulative over-the-top evils that some stories go for to hook people. I understand that clickbait works, but I'd like to see a slower start be rewarded.
If it doesn't work out, I'll gladly check out the artist's next attempt(s) in the future.
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Sure, nuanced villains are good.
But its not even about that. You don't have to have a truly hateable or memorable villain to start with. Dragonball and One Piece and Naruto and a whole bunch of other series sure didn't. But there was a promise to be kept, a goal, a mission statement, a desire you could empathize with and root for. Or at the very least, a main character that left a major impression. Heck in Bakuman it's "I want to be a successful manga creator and then we can get married", no antagonist at all. .But that's a driving force you can get behind.
Meanwhile Time Paradox Ghostwriter the lead's motive was "i am going to rip off someone else's work and take credit for it" and that killed the series from chapter 1.
What is the hero's motivation here? What is he trying to accomplish or prove? His end goal? The series is named after Red so is she the actual lead? What's actually pushing him to go through training?
He's just kind of a blank slate right now, and that would be fine if we'd gotten to see his shaping event but… that didn't really happen.
It doesn't HAVE to start with a tragedy or a super evil villain, but... "Werewolves are bad... I guess... so I want to train to beat them hypothetically to protect my village that no longer exists anyway" just... isn't it.
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Sure, nuanced villains are good.
But its not even about that. You don't have to have a truly hateable or memorable villain to start with. Dragonball and One Piece and Naruto and a whole bunch of other series sure didn't. But there was a promise to be kept, a goal, a mission statement, a desire you could empathize with and root for. Or at the very least, a main character that left a major impression. Heck in Bakuman it's "I want to be a successful manga creator and then we can get married", no antagonist at all. .But that's a driving force you can get behind.
Meanwhile Time Paradox Ghostwriter the lead's motive was "i am going to rip off someone else's work and take credit for it" and that killed the series from chapter 1.
What is the hero's motivation here? What is he trying to accomplish or prove? His end goal? The series is named after Red so is she the actual lead? What's actually pushing him to go through training?
He's just kind of a blank slate right now, and that would be fine if we'd gotten to see his shaping event but… that didn't really happen.
It doesn't HAVE to start with a tragedy or a super evil villain, but... "Werewolves are bad... I guess... so I want to train to beat them hypothetically to protect my village that no longer exists anyway" just... isn't it.
I get that too, and the idea of having a 'hook' isn't wild. But I don't think I cared about Ging until decades after Gon decided to leave the village and find his deadbeat dad - I just liked the writing, the sense of adventure, and later the cast of characters. I don't think I was ever emotionally invested in Luffy becoming the Pirate King until well after Arlong Park arc, maybe the Baratie bit, but I liked the 'romance dawn' vibe. Heck, I really enjoyed Memories of Emanon, and Eden It's an Endless World, tons of others, way before there was any compelling storyline, or a reason to sympathise heavily with any characters.
So I see where you're coming from. From a purely "will it be axed from Jump magazine?" standpoint, that's valuable. I just don't think it's the be all and end all, and I am expressing my hope that the series survives, because I like the vibe.
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You don't have to be invested in Luffy becoming Pirate King… cause you're invested in what that crazy red haired guy gave up for him and the promise made.
King of the pirates is fine and all, but at its core really you just want to see him meet that guy again and make him proud and return the hat.
And in HxH the hook was never Ging. Ging was the maguffin sure, an enigma for someday. But the hook there from the first page when you see Gon wearing that hat of leaves next to that weird tree then catching that fish with legs. It had an interesting world instantly. And then within just a few pages showed the story of Gon and that orphaned baby cat creature, and showcased not Ging, but Kite. He was the showcase and promise of what Hunters could be, not Ging. In that first chapter you had an entire world very promised and the lead character was very well defined.
Red Hood is sort of trying to do the same thing, right down to the exams, but not managing it nearly as well.
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I do find the series endearing for a number of reasons and hope it will pull together and continue, but I have to agree it kinda failed its early game.
When the giant wolf & witch appeared couple chapters ago, the tone was grim so I thought they would obliterate the village down to its last dweller. That would have been dark, Velou's dream of protecting everyone would be shattered, but at least he would have had one hell of a motivation for revenge. Instead it looks like author shied away from his own idea. We got "the big bad lets everyone go, after that people kinda lost faith and scattered" and Velou becomes a hunter…by default ? It makes sense from a logical point of view, but it is still underwhelming. Mr Mayor being alive and in cahoots with the big bads isn't enough to keep me hooked at this time. -
Well, I get your points but I'm reading it all as somehow hard yet short-sighted comments (based on how little we have up until now). They aren't wrong in essence, but they seem somehow to more limiting than it needs to be? Sound very Editorial like, but I'm glad a more unusual approach seems to be the case. Yes, the emotional anchor isn't there yet, but it seems that the Mayor current plot leads to that. Maybe the author intends to use the whole first volume (first 8~9 chapters) do lay it down, dunno. Appareantly it hasn't been well received, but the aesthetic and the slower pace are quite refreshing to me.
Using Seafarer33's exemples, the town destruction could be gore to the extreme and it's an easy way to lure shonen readers, but having powerful characters that aren't short fused and seem to have a plan for a farway future is interesting enough to keep me going.
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Maybe the author intends to use the whole first volume (first 8~9 chapters) do lay it down, dunno.
You don't have that luxury in Jump. That's fine in a novel, but not a weekly anthology fighting hard for space. It doesn't matter if your chapter 21 is amazing if you're cancelled at 20.
Once you've lost readers they don't go back to an old thing they gave up on unless they're bored and reading the whole magazine. Its actually pretty difficult for things to climb back out of the middle.
A slow build is fine but you have to have them along for the ride first.
Sound very Editorial like,
I AM an editor in my professional life so that seeps through sometimes.
I like the idea of the series but I don't see it lasting. Maybe not a meager 16 chapters like Barrage did, but… I don't think its long term prospects are great.
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The first three issues they have no data so a series is just sort of put into the top 5 by default, and it has color pages to boost it for the first two chapter.
The fourth chapter was in issue 35, and it was ranked 9th there and 8th in 36/37. But those placements would have been in response to the super sized first chapter and the second with a color page, 38 is the first time its really getting judged.
And in issue 38 it was 12th.
I thought the first 7 placements were generally marked as "safe"? And series that have color pages, are one-shots, or are still brand new aren't usually counted in the rankings either. So that would make it #7 with all of that applied.
But looking at other new series, Samurai and Blue Box received a similar placement for their 7th chapter and they're both established successes already. Witch Watch was even further down for its 7th chapter.
I think it's too early to tell how Hood will do. Especially with the weird position Jump is in right now where the only guaranteed axe coming up is Candy Flurry. I've never seen the magazine fluctuate so much on their bottom 3 series in a while.
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the aesthetic and the slower pace are quite refreshing to me.
They are to me as well. While I did write that bit about destroying the village, afterwards I realized that a disillusioned/bloodthirsty protagonist who sets out for revenge following extreme drama has been done to death. So at least the author gets cookie points for trying something different.
I'm not sure however, whether the slow pace and tone shifts are part of a plan that may bear fruit in the long run, or simply shortcomings of an author under pressure who isn't quite sure how to best tell their story. Time will tell, I'm crossing fingers because I really like the aesthetics here. -
I thought the first 7 placements were generally marked as "safe"?
Yes and no. They're not going to cancel a series that fast because they want at least enough chapters to make a tank out of. But if somethings a flop and they know it by then they'll tell the author to start doing something to turn it around or to start wrapping it up. You can see a lot of short runners doing crazy stuff around that point where they do things to try and change their premise or setup entirely. They generally want it to go at least two volumes, so authors usually have a few more months to pick it up or get things wrapped. Unless something is a mega flop its usually "safe" for the first 15 or so chapters, but that doesn't mean it'll keep running..
But its actual placement in the magazine will move down pretty quickly if the early chapters aren't getting a lot of heat.
And series that have color pages, are one-shots, or are still brand new aren't usually counted in the rankings either.
Not technically, no, but there's still only 20 slots in the magazine per week no matter what. Like in a week where One Piece gets a color page, it doesn't magically bump everything else up. You don't count a series as #1 because it has a color spread that week, but you can still judge its overall place in the magazine.
It's easier for general purposes to count to just take those into account.
But looking at other new series, Samurai and Blue Box received a similar placement for their 7th chapter and they're both established successes already. Witch Watch was even further down for its 7th chapter.
I haven't followed either of those series but Samurai seems to jump around wildly, one week its 13 then its 4 then its 3 then its 14 then its 16 and then the next it's 4th. I have NO idea how to interpret that. I'm not sure if its doing mediocre but has an editor that really believes in it, if it fluctuates a lot from chapter to chapter, or if they think its okay in the back on alternating weeks to let something else shine, but are still supporting it? It's a REALLY weird one.
Blue Box started hitting top 5 almost immediately, and hasn't really dipped below 9 or 10, while consistently getting back to top 5. THough last week it was in the bottom 5? Weird. Maybe they're throwing some stuff in the back randomly now to give other stuff a chance?
Witch Watch is straddling just above the bottom five or in it pretty consistently. Even when it got a color page a couple weeks ago it was at the back of the magazine. It probably doesn't have much longer unless it gets an anime soon to boost it up… but most things don't get animes until year 2.
Especially with the weird position Jump is in right now where the only guaranteed axe coming up is Candy Flurry. I've never seen the magazine fluctuate so much on their bottom 3 series in a while.
Yeah I generally dont watch the numbers too closely because OP is all I really care about but there are some weird fluctuations going on.
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Witch Watch is straddling just above the bottom five or in it pretty consistently. Even when it got a color page a couple weeks ago it was at the back of the magazine. It probably doesn't have much longer unless it gets an anime soon to boost it up… but most things don't get animes until year 2.
And even if you do get an anime if the ratings and the DVD sales suck well that's the end for you.
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You don't have to be invested in Luffy becoming Pirate King… cause you're invested in what that crazy red haired guy gave up for him and the promise made.
To tell you the truth I find absolutely nothing in One Piece chapter 1 compelling enough to make me read the next chapter. Before this actually became my favorite series I ditched it several times. Friends always told me to give it a chance but honestly to this day I find nothing before Baratie remotely interesting and only accept it because it's part of the characters backstory and part of OP overall. That said you don't want to know what was actually the trigger to get me into OP. It literally defies any common sense.^^'
Anyways that said, I know I'm the minority but I honestly don't find OP that compelling in the beginning. On the other hand Red Hood has grabed me with the villain group the big wolf is part of. The the typical shonen villain groups like the Warlords that are never get revealed first but piece by piece being part of a bigger narrative. That I find compeling as it makes it seem as if the author has a world with it's rules and structures set up already. Finding One Piece even as the protagonists clear goal never made gave of that it would be that big of a deal of an elaborately thought out fictional universe in chapter 1 as it ultimately turned out to be. Heck Roger didn't seem that interesting to me until the end of Skypiea were I was introduced to the fact that he found the big belfry and rather that taking it he deemed it necessary to leave it as it is with a message for whoever might follow in his footsteps. OP is great but it's getting greater with time. It doesn't do that much of an amazing first ipression. Not saying Red Hood is aazing now. But it's done enough to show there's bigger things in this world happening. How many people find it compelling is the other question.
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What's with this recent trend of beautiful muscular women. Not like I'm complaining, hehe.