You have just met your untimely end through means that you probably cannot recall. However, instead of traversing to the afterlife, you find yourself in floating in midair, in a room of pitch back. Your senses have been stripped from you and your emotions have been dulled as you apathetically wander aimlessly in the darkness.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, you start to hear the deep and loud disembodied voice of what sounds like a man.

“Welcome young traveler to a realm of imagination and wonder unbeknownst to most.” He said in a calm manner as his words echoed throughout the area.

“I am aware of your flustered thoughts and uneasy mind, but I assure you, there is no need to fret. Everything will be revealed in due time.”

Following the unknown man’s words, an aura of tranquility soon enveloped your entire being, extinguishing any feelings of apprehension and anxiety from your body.

“For now, you must prepare yourself for what has yet to come. Your journey is just about to begin.”

To reiterate what I just said, you have finally perished from the real world, but instead of your life ending, you have been given a chance to start anew. For some reason, the Gods of Manga and Anime have decided to grant you the chance to live out your fantasy in an alternate realm only a few know about.

Inspiration for this story will be drawn from quite a few Shonen series; animated, drawn, and written. I will not list down each and every one of them since such a task would be too tedious and would just produce a large wall of text. As much as possible, I shall stray away from characters considered to be Canon as well.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. However, if it pertains to certain issues regarding overlapping worlds or the current status of the world itself, I shall not answer such inquiries. For the former, we will solve such issues when they present themselves to us in the role play. As for the latter, these things will be revealed throughout the story. I prefer this method to fortify the idea that you being brought to a world you know nothing about. Well, only initially of course. Eventually, you will realize that where you are now, is simply a smorgasbord of the shows, novels, and comics you are quite fond of.

Name: What you want people to call you.
Age: How old do you want to be?
Gender: There are two, pick one.
Appearance: Do you still look the same or did something change? A mutation perhaps?

History: What was life like before, you know, death?
Personality: What type of person were you?

Rank: E
Abilities: You can choose one.
Skills: You have to be good at something. So come on, tell me.

Inventory: What do you have on you right now? Only include stuff of value. I don't need to know the random miscellaneous things you want your character to bring around.

Favorite Anime/Manga/Graphic Novel: Give me your top three

Mizushima Katsuo played by Professor_Wyvern
Hilda Maristela played by Rin
Jimmy played by malmshodes
Ran Hoshigane played by Grey Star
Charlie "Chuck" Ford played by Zero Hex
Isamu Opiana played by Dblade26 (Inactive)
Nate played by Duthguy
Junko Kaizuka played by Shisa

Name: Katsuo Mizushima (or Mizushima Katsuo for Surname then Given)
Age: 15
Appearance


History: Katsuo was just a seemingly regular kohai of the Japanese High School education system, who had a passion for the western music of disco, and dime novels of the American Wild West. He made sure to make time to practice the art of disco, and keeping up with other prominent examples of American culture, when he wasn't engaged in regular after school activities, or cram school, or hanging out with pals at the local arcade, local roller rink, going over to catch a flick (which he'd always insist be a Western.), or just hanging out at his or their house. And of course, those were secondary (well sans Cram school), to him doing well in school, so he could score high on the University Exam, then get through University with good marks, then get into an American Law School.
Personality: Katsuo is a bit of a goofball, who can get fairly obsessive over things (such as Disco), and is hot-blooded concerning those topics of interest. He tries to balance out his desires of doing whatever he feels like, against what may happen in the future. He tends to rush into situations, mostly out of fun, unless he sees the longsighted risk in which case he'd avoid doing it.

Rank: E
Abilities: Funky Footwork-Katsuo has the ability to turn the surface of shoes soles slippery

Skills: Katsuo is a marvelous disco dancer, and is fairly decent at fighting games and excellent at DDR. He also is knowledgeable about the laws of America. Katsuo is also a decent skateboarder, who can do a few tricks, but mostly just uses his skateboard to get to place to place. He is also knowledgeable about how to properly dye hair.

Inventory: Multi-colored Afro, bundle of homework, chewed up pencil, American Law Book, skateboard, a container of red and brown hair dyes, and color changing contact lens, school backpack.

Favorite Anime/Mange/Graphic Novel: The Law of Ueki, Bobobo-bo_Bo-bobo, Deadman Wonderland

Name: Hilda Maristela

Age: 18

Appearance: Whee. She looks pretty much exactly the same after being brought to Shonen Land.

History: Despite being raised by a loving, supportive family, Hilda has always been rather insecure and a bit of a shut-in. Even though she possesses great drive and passion deep down, she can't see it for herself. Mostly she's just let herself get lost in her nerdy passions and her love for cooking.

Personality: Hilda is rather insecure about herself, harbouring low self esteem and issues related to her percieved inability to live up to what others expect of her. Her confidence is easily shattered, and she can be a bit of a crybaby at times. However, her strongest trait is that once she finally finds her footing and gives something her all, she will not back down and becomes immensely hot blooded, courageous and determined. If she cares about something, she will stop at nothing to protect it. Otherwise, though, she's just generally rather shy, insecure and kind of a nerd. Secretly, she is actually a very big fan of boy's love and yaoi.

Rank: E

Abilities: Having eaten the Sparkle-Sparkle Fruit (Kira-Kira no Mi, because I can), a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, Hilda has the power to create light, which she initially mostly uses to make bright flashes and sparkles. As a Devil Fruit user, she shares the same weakness as any other, namely that if she is submerged to at least knee-depth in water her powers will be disabled and she will become paralyzed and unable to move her body.

Skills: Hilda is pretty intelligent, and is usually far more comfortable working with computers than she is with other people. She's a quick learner, easily absorbing new information. Whilst never being particularly atheletic, she's been taking martial arts classes for a few years, and is moderately skilled with kung fu and tai chi. Most notably is her cooking skills, however; if she had more confidence in herself she could easily be a professional chef, as every meal she prepares tastes wonderful and is beautifully presented, and her repertoire is rather diverse (even if she mostly prefers Italian, Mexican and Szechuan cuisines).

Inventory: A fully charged laptop, a ring binder filled with various recipes she has collected over the years, and a small collection of essential cooking supplies and utensils, most notably her favourite wok.

Favorite Anime/Manga/Graphic Novel: Gurren Lagann, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, One Piece.

Name: Jimmy
Age: 19
Appearance:To say there were some differences after Jimmy's move to the anime world would be an understatement. Before, he was tall,5'11 with a somewhat rounder body. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were a slightly lighter shade of brown. His skin was medium tan, despite hours in the sun. When he found himself in the anime afterlife, his skin was the shade of paper, he was under 5'5, with a gaunt face and wiry body. The oddest thing was his eyes, which were now different colors. One was a brown so dark it could only be distinguished from black if you ignored personal space, and the other was a blue so light it looked like steel.

History: Life before the anime world was split into a couple of parts. First, there was the regular stuff that you'd die if you didn't do: eating, sleeping, showering. Then, there was work, which he felt took up too much of his time. After that, school, which he felt he didn't give enough of his time to. From there came writing, because he didn't want to work in retail for the rest of his life, and then stand up, which was the current alternative if writing failed even though he was better at the writing. Finally, there was the celebration of nerdom them, which would never get the kind of time it deserved.
Personality: Jimmy was a failed comedian back in the old world, so there's usually a funny side to whatever it is that life is throwing at him. He can stop talking, but there's no shutting off his mind, which is usually doing its best to record every single detail, and do its best to bring out understanding. He spends a lot of time wondering how he'd like to be seen so tries out different mannerisms, or words. On the occasions when he has to talk, there's no stopping him. If an audience is lacking, he'll become it, and laugh at anything he finds funny, or scowl and shake his head whenever something stupid is said or done.

He's a bit of an amateur philosopher, and lives by a code, which is centered on the idea that before anything else comes the protection of innocence, and works its way out.

Rank: E
Abilities:
white aura- when activated, Jimmy's entire body is surrounded by white light. The protection offered by this light is the equivalent of four stacked firm pillows. The aura can be focused around certain areas of the body, increasing the defense.
Skills: Writing, observing people, chess, telling jokes, playing the banjo, logical thinking, acting, analytic

Inventory: Headphones, Ipod, 3ds with case and a few games, wallet, backpack and a Dresden novel

Favorite Anime/Mange/Graphic Novel: Fairy Tail, Naruto, Bleach

Age: 20

Appearance: Falling into place!

History: A third generation Japanese person who is aspring to become an architect. Currently in her fourth year of college and a mainstream otaku living in San Francisco, California. She works part time at a book store and is a member of several anime-related clubs and a rather avid gamer. Is somewhat eccentric due to her rather unaverage family members, of which there are a lot of.

Personality: Possessing a special exuberance seen in people half her age, Ran is a girl with lots of energy to spare. A person who enjoys being physical, she learns better by doing than by sitting around. Enthusiastic and peppy, she does her best to cheer people up and bring positive energy to wherever she goes. Though easily excitable and rarely ever shy, she has a stubborn side concerning ideals such as fair play, honesty, and morals. Though ditzy, she is quite a bit sharper than she lets on and makes good use of her rather active imagination to get creative in all matters.

Rank: E

Abilities: Ran has the ability to call upon the western elements with the Negimaverse magic system, wind and ice in particular. At the current moment, they manifest in clothes stripping sneezes, strong gusts of wind, and snowballs/ice cubes/icy puddles.

Skills: Ran can draw and cook reasonably well enough, the two being her two main passions. She's also trained in a couple of martial arts with a firm grounding in several others, and has an affinity towards dressing up. Also a very good gamer, especially concerning JRPGs of any kind. She also has rather good hand-eye coordination and is a speed reader along with being a somewhat okay pencil and paper artist.

Inventory: A laptop and smartphone with respective chargers, various art supplies, a couple of sandwiches and a totebag.

Favorite Anime/Mange/Graphic Novel: Toriko, Ranma, Negima

Name: Isamu Opiana
Age: 11
Appearance: pretty much like this

History: Isamu's life was a little bit strange if pleasant enough, mostly helping his parents with running their San Francisco restaurant while learning various martial arts at their insistence from a very, very young age in between friends and school. Aside from that he mostly read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime as a hobby. He generally tries his best to live an ordinary school life despite his parents being more than a little eccentric.

Personality: Isamu spikes between feeling like the only sane and normal person in his family and easily getting caught up in all of their high energy hi-jinks and being just as hyperactive as the rest of them when the mood strikes him. He's actually fairly smart but between martial arts training and helping with his parents' work he tends to fall asleep too much in school and so not exactly be a 'book smart' person. Other than that he generally tries his best to be a good and kind person and be nice to others despite having an occasionally bad temper.

Rank: E
Abilities: Isamu has the ability of Gourmet Cells from Toriko, which currently manifest as a very slight boost in physical abilities and superhuman regeneration after eating food as well as super-accurate time perception though he doesn't know he can do this and currently would have no idea what to do with it. On the other hand, he has an incredibly hyperactive metabolism that means he'll become incredibly weak if he doesn't eat and if he pushes too far his body may start breaking down,
Skills: Isamu's been forced into training in various martial arts for as long as he can remember and so is surprisingly skilled for someone as young as he is. Other than that he's a decent-ish cook and fairly athletic as well as having a pretty good grasp of various manga and anime.

Inventory: A bo staff and a gi and not much else, at the moment.

Favorite Anime/Mange/Graphic Novel: Toriko, HunterxHunter, One Piece

Name: Charlie "Chuck" Ford
Gender: Male
Age: 17

Appearance:
A man of about average height but a heavy, muscular build, Chuck looks so rugged and haggard he appears to actually be at least 25 years old or so. A scarred right cheek and short, dark red hair with thick, manly sideburns and a seemingly perpetual stubble do not help this impression at all. His clothes, however, do not fit his image of a grown man since they're a japanese high school uniform known as a gakuran. Chuck always wears this combo of a navy blue long coat with nothing underneath along with matching pants and shoes. Truth be told, he doesn't really like wearing the uniform everywhere and he used to be much plainer and fatter, but he gained his current looks when he was accepted into the men's private school known as Otokojuku.

History:
Chuck wasn't into anime much. Or anything of the sort for that matter. Sure, he'd read a comic book here or there or seen movies based off them or caught a few cartoons on occasion, he didn't hate the stuff but no one could really say he was into it like some other people he knew. Of course, this all matters only because of the current situation. He was a regular, average high school student who didn't stand out much save for his red hair, his enthusiasm for any combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts and his obsession with manliness. While his own athleticism was rather lacking, it never stopped him from sticking to his ideals of manliness even if it got him a beating more often than not.

His latest addition to the martial arts lineup was strange for his friends and family. After all, sumo wrestling wasn't really a legitimate combat sport nor a very effective martial art. In fact, sumo wrestlers take to MMA and kickboxing matches like a diabetic to pixie sticks. Chuck, however, was enthralled with its links to Japanese tradition and Shinto rituals and, perhaps more than anything else, at the thought of a sport where fat men could excel and be looked upon with respect. Without telling anyone, he began to practice what little he knew of Sumo on his own, ignoring its very strict rules and incorporating a variety of concepts from other martial arts into a sumo framework.

It was these strange obsession with manliness and martial arts that got him into his current situation. After all, the private school known as Otokojuku is always in search of new students to fill the vacancies created by untimely, violent death throughout the year. And since Otokojuku is open to both foreign students and those who are not quite manly but want to be, Chuck was a perfect fit and his transfer immediately approved by the school's principal, Edajma Heihachi. Chuck has no idea that he's dead. He won't recognize the new universe he's stepped into and nothing in his life could possibly prepare him for what's coming. Thankfully, just being accepted into Otokojuku seems to have a positive effect on one's masculinity...

Personality: Chuck is generally calm and friendly, an easygoing guy who has no real issues talking to people. He's extremely passionate about combat sports and has well defined ideas of manliness that he'll stick to no matter the situation. Despite his easygoing nature, he can be provoked into rages and was never afraid to come to blows to defend himself or others, even as a pudgy kid who lost the fight more often than not.

Rank: E (Otokojuku first year. Like a lump of rock to be beaten into shape by seniors and instructors alike, but with the potential to become something much greater)

Abilities:
-Spirit of Otokojuku: In Otokojuku's dictionaries there's an entry for death but none for surrender, or so the saying goes. Students in this school are, if nothing else, famous for their extreme stamina. They can exert themselves to tremendous levels, keep on going after receiving abnormal amounts of punishment and successfully recover from the worst kinds of injuries and ailments under proper care.

Skills: Stemming from his own interest in them, Chuck is fairly knowledgeable about a variety of martial arts even if he's never really practiced them himself. He is particularly knowledgeable about sumo wrestling. Other than this he had no real outstanding skills, being almost agressively average. Thanks to the Otokojuku Instant Manliness effect, he is now quite physically capable.

Inventory: Nothing of note currently. Even if stuff like a phone somehow crossed over with him to the other life it would be confiscated at Otokojuku so he doesn't have anything on him.

Favorite Manga (for the purposes of this roleplay at the very least, though they are all manga I've read and enjoy, and they don't really apply to my character):
-Sakigake!! Otokojuku: A private highschool for men ran by a memetically badass WW2 survivor which is focused on taking hardass delinquents and turning them into useful members of society by teaching them the path of manliness, mostly through absurd, torturous methods and lots of fighting. To start with the negatives, it wants to be Hokuto no Ken so very badly it's funny if you've read HnK, it adds up way too many characters to the main group so people just get lost in the shuffle and it never wants to kill anyone in the cast. Worst of all, the series drags on for way too long and essentially has an entirely superfluous arc that is like a crappier version of the previous arc and is abruptly cut off in an almost schizophrenic manner so the manga can move to its admittedly alright final chapter which also feels hurried and cut short.

Having said this, I still think it's worth a read and a lot of fun because of how it mixes admittedly comical shenanigans with manly man fighting, the absolutely insane and not at all normal highschool setting, the entertaining if a bit two dimensional cast and the sheer absurdity of some of the given fighting styles. The manga shamelessly creates martial art styles based around golf, pogo sticks, motorcycles, controlling one's moustache, using bladed tops and so on and so forth and does it all in such a way that you're not sure whether the author is serious or fucking with you.

It's not as good as shonen classics like Hokuto no Ken or even other series about delinquents, manliness and fighting like Rokudenashi Blues, but it's a lot of dumb, shameless fun, the school itself just works quite well for a shonen-centric setting and Edajima Heihachi is so ridiculously badass it's worth the read just to experience the man.

-Kinnikuman: A series about an incompetent superhero who, as it turns out, is the crown prince of a planet known for producing the greatest supermen ever, and his struggles to rise from his status as the worst superhuman ever and become worthy of his title. Started out as a tongue-in-cheek Ultraman parody then shifted its focus towards serious fighting in the guise of super powered pro wrestling. Because why not, pro wrestling is awesome. It has an endearing main character who actually grows throughout the story, an incredibly strong cast of allies and adversaries with very distinctive designs who always gets a chance to shine and also grow as the story goes on and fun match stipulations to keep things from getting too static. It came out in 1979, predating Dragon Ball by 5 years and Hokuto no Ken by 4 and helping to mold the genre. You might be more familiar with its inferior sequel, Kinnikuman Nisei, which was broadcast in the States as Ultimate Muscle.

-Hajime no Ippo: The reason why I'll cite Hajime no Ippo as one of my favorite manga despite it dragging on and the lesser quality of the more recent chapters is that, for the longest time, it was a spectacular example of a sort of magic realism of boxing. I also haven't read Ashita no Joe since it wasn't fully translated till recently. Anyway, Hajime no Ippo just got boxing and its techniques and methods extremely well, and while aspects were obviously romanticized or exagerated (real boxing matches are rarely as entertaining as the stuff that goes down in this manga), it just struck a really good middle ground between stylized action and actual boxing and I wish more martial arts manga had this kind of balance. That this aspect's been, in my opinion, gradually lost in the latest releases bothers me to no end, but I still think quite highly of this work. I'd use other examples of this kind of balance but they're all classified as seinen apparently. If you're interested check out All Rounder Meguru, Holyland or Garouden by Keisuke Itagaki.