This panel goes hard

Read my mind

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

Benika too head over heels to break up with her gf

Yeah, that spy is about to bounce off her unshakable sweetness.

Same. Complete faith in Benika. I bet they could her every little dirty thing Rose has done up to now, and she wouldn't care a bit

Really now Hibai? I kinda hope you die in whatever event the Church is planning.
Also damn the archbishop was badass!

Uh-oh. Hibai's days might be numbered if Rose catches wind of this.

Twist: Benika reveals her own secret training and murders Hibai

Maybe someone should have known something was up when Vatican representatives were pushing real hard for Monster and ZipRecruiter to include the Khyber Pass in their covered regions.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

Dude, that's been a fucked-out trope since forever. Japan loves making institutionalized religions into Secretly Evil Organizations!!!!1 Usually there are demons involved, but not always.

last edited at Jul 13, 2023 2:49AM

Benika too head over heels to break up with her gf

Yeah, that spy is about to bounce off her unshakable sweetness.

Same. Complete faith in Benika. I bet they could her every little dirty thing Rose has done up to now, and she wouldn't care a bit

If she didn't care about the murders then she doesn't love her

God damn an Ak type 3. What an unexpected beauty to see

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

*what is it about world history and the church

Smart move. If you can't bring in weapons, you just have to make them yourself.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

*what is it about world history and the church

Indeed. This is by no means limited to Japanese media, it's pretty much an universal rule and very much grounded in actual history.

This panel goes hard
[snip]

HOOOLY CHAD

Gangsta Pope approved. :-)

Smart move. If you can't bring in weapons, you just have to make them yourself.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

*what is it about world history and the church

Indeed. This is by no means limited to Japanese media, it's pretty much an universal rule and very much grounded in actual history.

That's true, but the Japanese culture has had a very particular history with Catholicism that underlies a lot of the quirks the latter is portrayed with in Japanese media. In other words, just because every culture has a complicated relationship with a global religion, one should not be dismissive of the history of a particular nation with that religion. :-)

last edited at Jul 13, 2023 7:28AM

"The Church" in manga and anime honestly bears barely any resemblance to the real thing. It's kinda like talking about the Roman Empire as depicted in scifi story as alien races or something; it's a vague model, it copies certain iconic elements, but it's otherwise just completely it's own (made up) thing.

The whole refugee uprising thing reminds me of the Independent Eleven Arc from Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex.

Next they'll make them declare the district an independent nation and acquire plutonium to put weight behind their demands

The whole refugee uprising thing reminds me of the Independent Eleven Arc from Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex.

Next they'll make them declare the district an independent nation and acquire plutonium to put weight behind their demands

And then the Americans (try to) nuke them?

Can't deny having noticed similarities before, though.

last edited at Jul 13, 2023 8:44AM

"The Church" in manga and anime honestly bears barely any resemblance to the real thing. It's kinda like talking about the Roman Empire as depicted in scifi story as alien races or something; it's a vague model, it copies certain iconic elements, but it's otherwise just completely it's own (made up) thing.

"The Church" in most stories is usually just a skeleton construct of "an institution", lol. Reality is boring ;)

This panel goes hard

God damn an Ak type 3. What an unexpected beauty to see

Maybe someone should have known something was up when Vatican representatives were pushing real hard for Monster and ZipRecruiter to include the Khyber Pass in their covered regions.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

Dude, that's been a fucked-out trope since forever. Japan loves making institutionalized religions into Secretly Evil Organizations!!!! Usually there are demons involved, but not always.

Home grown Japanese Christian AKs built by the best of the best from the Khyber Pass,what a time to be alive.

And this reminds me of a short lil' anecdote which I can't find anymore.

A pastor/preacher/priest during wild west era mentioned "everyones' time will come and they will go to meet their maker",when later asked why he carried a gun,"in case I met those whose time has come".

Christianity might be no different in terms of how bad it is,like all religions,but the sheer amount of great gun stuff associated with it is amazing,as well as ironic considering the origins of gunpowder.

Especially this :

And,despite definitely being a different church,one man delivered for sure.

I told my brother about this manga and he was like “Oh, and the church is actually a secret organization, right? I would be more surprised if it wasn’t.”

What is it about Japanese manga and The Church!?

Well, originally the Catholic church in Japan basically was an espionage and subversion organization (on behalf of European dominance), and was eventually treated as such by some rulers. I expect the Japanese attitude towards Catholicism is coloured by that history.

Plus, c'mon. Is it really different in Western fiction? Does the title "The Da Vinci Code" etc etc etc ring a bell? I mean, wealthy powerful secretive world-wide organization full of strict hierarchy, presents itself as benevolent but was responsible for mass murders and has been run by Medicis and Borgias, what are the stories you tell about them going to be like?

Benika too head over heels to break up with her gf

Yeah, that spy is about to bounce off her unshakable sweetness.

Same. Complete faith in Benika. I bet they could her every little dirty thing Rose has done up to now, and she wouldn't care a bit

If she didn't care about the murders then she doesn't love her

I don't think she can actually talk about hit man stuff if she wants to continue representing herself as not suspicious herself. Like, how the hell would her presented persona know about that? It would have to be more publicly available history of her experiences as a refugee, or perhaps before becoming one.

But really, I'll be surprised if Benika doesn't shut her down before she even gets into anything much. She's not the type to listen to gossip--I could be wrong, but my expectation is more the "If my love has something she needs to tell me, she'll tell me, and until then I believe in her and I have no need to hear anyone telling tales behind her back" approach.

Feels rather like Benika will start championing the refugee cause too ...

Yeah this feels like what's gonna happen is Benika is gonna learn about how fucked the situation is and gonna be very pro-refugee lol

Feels rather like Benika will start championing the refugee cause too ...

Yeah, definitely. Hibai thinks she's scaring Benika off, but I guarantee she'll come out of this far more sympathetic to the refugees' situation and Rose's struggles in particular.

I think the real question here is, will Hibai and Gina end up wanting to help Rose and Benika? They seem set up to be a personal bridge between the two organizations and our protagonists.

I'm also interested to see whether the organization's reconcile. I didn't expect so, but both sides have been getting development to be more gray than they first appeared. (Babylon is working to protect the refugees by killing those who would profit off their plight, while the Church is fomenting armed attacks and riots)

a) Y’know, I’d normally say there’s a bit of logic to the Babylon leader’s opinion that peaceful coexistence with gradually give rise to acceptance, but with the extent the government is going to in order to maintain the wedge between refugees and other citizens (down to keeping the train lines separated)… yeah, the archbishop has a point here.

b) I love the fact that most of the comments here have basically decided that Gina’s insult for the government agency is now its official moniker.

This is entirely not the direction I expected Hibai to take this. Will surely be an interesting experience.