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Webcomic: Sakana

A Comedy with a side of Slice of Life, Sakana, created by Madeline Rupert

, is one of the more popular webcomics hosted on Smack Jeeves. It follows the lifes of two awkward Japanese brothers working at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. Taro, the older brother, while a Nice Guy and very protective of his younger brother, is kind of a sociopath, and the younger brother, Jiro, is a talented register worker, but terribly afraid of girls. Other important characters are their friends, family and co-workers, especially Taisei, the slightly silly and always cheerful best friend of Jiro, and Yuudai, the gruff and snarky primary register worker, who bears a constant grudge against Jiro for being better at selling fish than he [Yuudai] is.

The plot revolves mainly around the awkward yet hilarious situations the brothers encounter, such as Jiro's misadventures with girls, but is not afraid to delve into more serious matters.

Start here

The comic is also available on mangamagazine now, check it out

You can find more art and info at Mad's deviantART account here

and at her Tumblr here

This comic contains examples of:

All There in the Manual: Like many webcomic artists, Mad often answers questions about her characters on her tumblr blog, which often leads to this. But, in an example of Tropes Are Not Bad, she keeps details which are crucial to the story to herself and answers only questions that help build the world and the characters even more, making the characters even richer than they already are in the process and giving way for lots of possible fanwork.
Adorkable: Most of the characters, but particularly Jiro.
The Alcoholic: Taisei is "drunk 50% of the time".
Anime Hair: Jiro has this due to it looking like a shark fin. It apparently grew this way over time, since he didn't had it as a child.
Animal Motifs: Each of the primary characters' design is based on some kind of seafood: Jiro has hair similar to a shark fin, Taro's design is based on a whale, Taisei's hair looks like jellyfish and Yuudai resembles an eel.
B Side Comics: SAKANA Sundays is a collection of various lighthearted short stories that don't interfere with the main storyline.
Berserk Button: Don't ever try to do something bad to Jiro. Taro WILL hurt you.
- Oh, and for those concerned, don't ever mention in front of Yuudai that Jiro is the better register worker.
- Yuudai is pretty sensitive to people talking about his scar.
Big Brother Instinct: Taro is a pretty cool big bro, he cares a lot for his little brother, and is always there to help him out, threatens Yuudai with a knife when he's about to say something bad about Jiro (and later punches Yuudai in the face when Yuudai's seemed to do that again) and is always concerned that Jiro may be hurt. This also applies to the time when Taro was a delinquent, but then it was taken to rather hilarious extremes:
Taro: DATE MY BROTHER OR I'LL THROW YOU DOWN THE STAIRS!!!
- And in the end, he really did it.
Black Bead Eyes: A lot of the characters have these, unless they are shocked.
- Subverted with Taisei, whose eyes naturally have a crazed expression about them. It's the reason for his Blinding Bangs; he doesn't like to put people off.
Blinding Bangs: Taisei has these, but sometimes you can see one eye or both.
Bloody Hilarious: In many of the comic strips featuring Taro in his job as a butcher, he cuts fish with such a vigor that the blood splatters all over the place. And it ALWAYS leads to hilarious situations.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being the silly, adorable, naive man that he is, Taisei also is the assistent director for a pretty big company and is probably the smartest man of the cast.
But Not Too Foreign: Yuudai is half-swedish. He says that that's the reason for his hair.
- Averted with Jan.
Can Not Spit It Out: Jiro has been in love with "cashier girl", the girl who's working across from him for two years, and had not the courage to talk to her casually, or even ask her name. It's a good thing he has Taro and Taisei to help him out.
Cast of Snowflakes: Thanks to the artists style being pretty recognizable, no character looks like the other. Even Jiro and Taro, who are brothers. Also, every character has a dictinct personality and their own quirks.
Comedic Sociopathy
Comically Missing the Point: Taisei is a master in this.
Cool Old Guy: Ren Sakana treats his nephews like favorite sons, and even gives them the afternoon off so Taro can keep an eye on Jiro while he goes on a date.
Crash into Hello: Taro and the angry looking lady from the train. So far, she was pissed off and mistook him for a woman, and he didn't care much about her because he had his mind on how well Jiro is doing on his date. We have yet to see what comes out of it, but the author mentioned something along the lines that she's going to be a bigger character.
Cringe Comedy
Cuddle Bug: A character trait of Taisei, who is rather prone to cuddling with anything within arms reach.
Date Peepers: Taisei, Taro and Yuudai do this when Jiro is finally on a date.
Deadpan Snarker: Yuudai has his moments. He is understandably confused when this and his general brashness doesn't work on Taisei.
Death Glare: The angry looking lady from the train that Taro runs into.
Ditzy Genius: Taisei is incredibly smart. He's also incredibly silly.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Taro, when wearing the disguise Taisei prepared for him while spying on Jiro. Lampshaded In-Universe by Yuudai.
- Disguised in Drag
The Fashionista: While Jiro is also interested in shoes or frequently goes shopping with Taisei, Taisei is primarily the one who loves fashion, all kinds of cool clothes and shopping. The bad thing is that he can't wear most of the clothes he likes due to his enormous height.
Fetish: Word Of God says that Taro has a fetish for angry sex, along with Big Butts.
Fun with Foreign Languages: When Taro meets Jan, the german assistent sushi chef who speaks no english, they, of course, don't understand eachother and wacky hijinks of Taro trying to get his point across ensue.
Freudian Excuse: It was recently revealed that Jiro's girl issues stem from when he was around six. A little girl in his class declared him her boyfriend, and when he asked what that meant, she decked him. Their relationship after this point consisted entirely of her abusing Jiro while shrieking "BOYFRIEND!"
The Gambling Addict: Genji, Jiro and Taro's cousin. He's first introduced hitting his father up for money to pay off his debts.
Gentle Giant: Taisei is the largest member of the cast (and that's saying something), and he's also the kindest and the happiest.
Green-Eyed Redhead: Jan is one.
Grumpy Bear: Nothing but his cat (and maybe Jiro being "devastated"...) seems to make Yuudais day brighter.
Hates Being Touched: A defensive mechanism of Yuudai, and it's implied that he has a pretty good reason for it.
Hates Everyone Equally: Yuudai claims that he's this, but it seems to be subverted since he adores his cat and seems to get along at least a little bit better with Taro than with everyone else, so he makes exceptions for some.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Jiro and Tasei have been best friends since middle school, and they are practially inseparable, go shopping together and share an apartment. Oh, and after Jiro finally goes on a date with cashier girl, Taisei can't stop worrying about him getting hurt, and so he stalks their date.
- Mad stated that Shigeru and Taro are "bros for life".
Hidden Depths: You wouldn't think that Yuudai, the grumpy guy with the Jerkass behaviour loves cats and everything cute and cat-related, and also is a big fan of anime.
Horrible Judge of Character: Taisei doesn't seem to notice that Yuudai is not exactly Jiro's friend, and instead immediately sees Yuudai as part of the team.
In Touch With His Feminine Side: Taisei loves to go SHOPP-ING~!
- Yuudai apparently also likes Shoujo manga.
  - Jiro frequently watches japanese soap operas. With Taisei.
Japanese Delinquents: In his teens Taro was this, but in his childhood he Used to Be a Sweet Kid, apparently. Now he's more like a Nice Guy, though, unless you get on his bad side.
Jerkass: Yuudai certainly acts this way, but some panels indicate that it's actually just him being fed up with life and having no trust into people. Because if someone (Read: Taisei) would strip Yuudai out of all his layers of his Jerkass-ness, then it shows that he is actually just a shy and a quite lonely person.
- The angry looking lady from the train is mean to Taisei of all people, which quickly earned her this status. Granted, she did have a bad day.
- Yuki, the girl Jiro really wanted to date when he was young, who brushed his off Love Confession pretty rudely.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yuudai in his better moments.
- Also Genji, the cousin of the brothers, could qualify as this, as he apologized (while Taro already left) to Taro after he tried to sponge off some money.
  - Word of Mad is that Genji would love to not be a raging dickhole to his family, but has no idea how not to be a raging dickhole to his family.
Keet: Taisei, although he's rather tall.
- Jan also qualifies.
Kindhearted Cat Lover: Yuudai, who has a cat called Hime which he loves very much, and who is pretty much his only friend.
- Taisei likes them too! But then again, it's difficult to find something he doesn't like.
Loser Protagonist
Love Bubbles: "Cashier Girl" has them and sparkles in Jiro-Vision.
- In chapter seven, a lovestruck Jiro is surrounded by gigantic roses and sparkles.
Love You and Everybody: Taisei, in contrast to Yuudai.
Luminescent Blush: Yuudai! Have some here, here, and, perhaps a more visible one due to it being coloured, here.
- Not surprisingly, it happens to Jiro, too. In The Rant, Mad even hangs a lampshade on it, and on the aforementioned number of Luminescent Blushes Yuudai pulls off.
Mistaken for Gay: Yuudai thought Taisei was Jiro's boyfriend.
- "Are you coming onto me?"
Nice Guy: Taisei, of course. "Cashier Girl" seems to qualify as a nice girl and could be the sanest member of the cast.
Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Taro, of course.
No Name Given: Due to Jiro's shyness when it comes to girls, he hasn't got a chance to ask "cashier girl" for her name. This has developed into a Running Gag of sorts, since every time Jiro gets to talk to her, he always somehow fails to get her name.
- Seems to be a rule with ladies in Sakana; The other prominent female character introduced lately has also no name given yet, which is only adding to the mystery if any of those girls is the girl that bullied Jiro in kindergarden.
No Sense of Personal Space: Taisei. The awkwardness level of it is especially high because he's so tall.
Oblivious to Love: Subverted. After Jiro tries to ask "cashier girl" out on a date, but is too nervous when talking to her to actually do so, he ask her for some change. Depressed, Jiro goes back with the change, but Taro notices a piece of paper with her phone number on it...
Oh Crap: Our three Date Peepers pull an epic one here.
- Jiro also does this pretty frequently. This is probably the best example (beware, spoilers!).
Pintsized Powerhouse: Despite being the smallest character out of all the important characters introduced right now (5'4'' or 163 cm), Taro, former delinquent, is probably the most Badass and strong.
Plucky Girl: "Cashier Girl" sure has to be one when one of her jobs is training gigantic, feral-looking dogs for "companionship".
Recurring Extra: A guy with a cap with the phrase "THIS GUY" on it shows up frequently in the background. He seems to be a Chekhov's Gunman, because the artist revealed that he will have a bigger role in the future.
Rule 63: With official art provided by Mad herself , please enjoy Girlkana.
Running Gag: The brothers epically failing to get "cashier girl"'s name.
- Taro being in awkward situations because of him being covered in blood or looking Axe Crazy due to his work as a butcher.
Salaryman: Taisei
Scenery Porn: There are some rather neat and detailed drawn shots of parks, Harajuku and, of course, the Tsukiji Fish Market.
Serious Business: Because he's a butcher, chopping up fish is Serious Business to Taro.
Ship Tease: Between Taro and Yuudai. No, really.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: Jiro, in an attempt to eat a cheap place on his date, accidentally goes to a place where everyone is this, which only furthers his embarassment.
The Stoic: Shigeru is a pretty calm and cool dude.
Sweet Tooth: Yuudai likes donuts. And Pocky.
Talking In Your Sleep: A common thing for Taisei. He also is described as a "traveling sleeper", meaning he tends to roll around in his sleep, sometimes crushing or coming too close to his poor roommates by doing so.
Trapped By Gambling Debts: Heavily implied about Jiro and Taro's cousin Genji. And his dad Ren is getting sick of bailing him out, so he's gearing up to cut Genji off...
Tsundere: Yuudai is very tsun around his co-workers, and very dere around his cat. The moments where he actually shows his kind side to them are rare indeed. He is not a bad guy, though.
- He is also notably flustered whenever Taisei invades Yuudais normally well-protected comfort zone just by being friendly.
- He was also recently (for a short time) in total dere mode after Taisei complimented him with genuine kindness.
Wham Line: Ohoho. And what a Wham Line it was.
"Cashier Girl": No! You haven't done anything wrong! I'm the monster here! I've felt guilty for so long I just have to say it! I'm sorry, Jiro Sakana. I'll never forgive myself for what I did in preschool.
X Marks The Hero: Subverted, while Yuudai is a main character, he's not really heroic.