I’ve been dabbling in riso printing! I’ve been trying to figure out how I can translate my soft digital style into a risograph by separating all the color channels. I have not printed them yet, so I have no idea if they’ll work ~ I still need to pick the final colors!
Mairuma Analysis; Rock, Furfur, and the mentorship of Andro M Jazz. (Part 2 of 2)
Because Jazz has, even if just subconsciously, picked up on the fact that there's a clear difference in how they treat him. After the music festival, the misfits recieve gifts from the masters they trained under - a symbol to acknowledge their connection. This implies the masters in question are proud of their students and want to show them off. And Jazz and Allocer get some from Furfur! Sure, he scams them with a trick game and makes them pay for them, but he's still ready to declare to the netherworld at large 'These kids right here? Mine.' And with a little prompting from Iruma, we see them realize this.
Jazz tells Ameri his ambition is revenge, the spiteful desire to see the two men who have given him the most grief in life get their comeuppance. He names his brother outright, and the image above tells us the other is Furfur. So if Jazz equates them both here, why does he seek out Furfur for advice but not Rock?
I also think Furfur's invested in teaching Jazz (and Allocer) specifically because if he didn't want to be doing it, he wouldn't be. When the Trickster Plan is announced, Belial - one of the three greats, with whom Furfur has a preexisting connection - reaches out to ask Furfur to train his grandson, Razzberry. Furfur's response? 'Nah, I'm busy.'
If Furfur's only motivation was self-interest, he'd have ditched Jazz and Allocer to train Razzberry. Belial would pay him his weight in gold to improve his precious grandson's chances, not to mention the influence Furfur could gain if Razzberry actually becomes demon king. But Furfur doesn't take the deal. Like Kalego, he sees potential in Jazz and Allocer, and he wants to push them as far as they can go. He's just happy to have fun messing with and scamming them as he goes. Hell, the above page implies that's how Belial trained him, so he knows the power of spite as a motivator!
So to summarize; I believe Furfur and Rock are different, at least when it comes to Jazz, for one simple reason;
Furfur is invested in seeing Jazz learn and grow. Rock isn't.
Mairuma Analysis; Rock, Furfur, and the mentorship of Andro M Jazz. (Part 1 of 2)
Okay, so I know this is NOT what this blog is for. I do however have WAY too many thoughts about the characters of this series and Kalego-mod is an enabler. WARNING: Under the cut is a LONG ramble by yours truly comparing and contrasting Jazz's relationship with Rock and Furfur, with pictures, to explain why I think Furfur is better. Spoiler warning up to the Mallius Phantom Arc of the manga!
General Furfur is a character that intrigued me immediately when he was introduced. It wasn't because of his striking design or hilarious asshole personality however. I was immediately fascinated by Jazz and Allocer's hellish training under him not because of him, or them, or the seedy bar - but because of Kalego.
Kalego, who keeps a detailed notebook for every single one of his students. Who keeps meticulous track of their progress, their individual skills, and the best way for them to grow past their weakness. Oh, he may grumble and complain, but teaching the misfits is his job and he takes that shit SERIOUSLY. He fought like hell to keep the misfits out of Royal One, but when he failed? He gave them what they earned - a new classroom...
And a boatload of expectations from the rest of the netherworld at large. The misfits made WAVES with that coup, and Kalego knew this would catch attention from demons who would resent this group of teenagers grasping beyond their stations in the strict demon hierarchy. So what did he do? Sit back and gleefully watch the misfits crash and burn? Wait for Poro to come along two arcs later and target them so he could gloat about how they've brought it all on themselves?
Of course not. Not my goat Naberius Kalego. No, Kalego locked in. His students have set the bar impossibly high for themselves and he needs to fast-track them to reaching it. Daleth by the end of the year or bust!
So I knew in my bones there was no. way. in. HELL Kalego would hand over his students, no matter how annoying, to a mentor he wasn't 100% confident was that student's best possible chance to grow, succeed, and learn the skills best suited to them. So when I saw Jazz and Allocer's training under Furfur, I was thinking 'Okay, yeah, I can see how Jazz picks up the right skills here, but why Furfur specifically?'
Well, to talk about how Furfur impacts Jazz, we first have to talk about where Jazz starts out when he comes under Furfur's tutelage. And to do that, we have to talk about Rock.
Andro M Jazz has a terrible home life. This is established early and, in my opinion, pretty brutally.
As an adult, reading this made my stomach drop. Jazz is, what, 15? And he's been abandoned by whatever other family he has to the whims of an older brother who treats him like dirt. In a later arc, the same trauma-triggering illusion ability that causes Iruma to see his parents causes Jazz to see Rock. There's very little wriggle-room to argue Jazz isn't being abused here.
This treatment causes two behaviors we see in Jazz. The first is his burning, wholesomely hilarious desire to be the very best big bro he can be for his classmates. The one he always wished he had himself. The other is... less cute. A lifetime under Rock's thumb has left Jazz in a state of resignation. He expects to be the underdog, to be on the backfoot, and even to fail. He accepts conditions as they are and doesn't really fight for himself when things are unfair to him.
He comforts himself saying things like 'there's always next time' or 'I was never gonna win anyway' to feel better, but doing that stops him from actually reaching for his goals. He keeps himself stagnant because it hurts less to fail when he didn't really want it that badly anyways. He's failing himself. If only there was someone who could show him that.
Oh wait. There is.
Furfur calls Jazz on his bullshit immediately, but not to tear him down. His words are pretty harsh, but when he sees an opportunity to help Jazz past his issues, to teach him, he takes it. He helps. And we've actually seen him do this before!
In the heartbreaker arc, Jazz obtains the Demon's Bank; a safe said to be uncrackable. Problem is, he's not sure how to use it. Interestingly, he goes to Furfur for advice...
...and is rewarded for it. Again, Furfur is happy to mock and mess with Jazz, but as soon as Jazz starts to spiral Furfur snaps him out of it and hands him some solid advice. He hands Jazz the keys he needs to succeed, no scamming fee necessary.
Contrast this with Rock, who's only contribution to Jazz' growth seems to be handing him an earpiercing whistle Jazz ends up paying him for using. Rock seems to see no issues whatsoever with his younger brother not growing and learning. He's clearly indifferent to any negative consequences Jazz suffers from his behavior. Rock doesn't care if Jazz is stuck as his lackey for life, in fact, Rock likes him that way.
Rock is so self-absorbed and comfortable with the status quo he doesn't even understand why Jazz would have a problem with it.
Earlier in the above arc, Jazz gets sat down by Ameri for a heart-to-heart, and he admits something interesting...
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