I received a few questions about this piece. Mainly what inspired this and a few guesses of what’s happening.

This is a scene from a future chapter that I can’t tell what number it is yet. I wrote this scene roughly, so tough that I don’t know what the dialogue is. It’s just a one-liner about a scene that I know is to come but know nothing about the details of it; who’s present, when, where, how.

I wrote “unfair” in the caption, and it was mostly what I wanted to express through the expressions in this strip.

I’ve been awestruck only twice in my years of watching anime/reading manga, about the strength of a scene that shows the protagonist face to face with a tremendous “unfair” situation. The situation where you (the viewer) and the protagonist themselves are left there thinking “how did it turn like this? I didn’t see it turning out like this!”

I knew this scene is gonna happen, but I never pictured it. And when I sat down to draw it, the feeling of frustration in front of an unfair turn of events came to mind, and I wanted to try and draw good expressions that illustrate that feeling. I wanted to humbly try to produce the same feeling which attacked me when I watched the two examples that have resonated in my heart for years. That’s all.

It’s hardly as intense and strong as the two examples I’ve seen (different genres and way different writing skills), but in the core, they all deal with the same thing; all the conflicted emotions stemming from a suddenly revealed truth.

The two examples are from Hunter x Hunter (… of course), and Fullmetal Alchemist (that series as a whole is a series of unfair events…), which I’ll put under cut for major spoilers.

Hunter x Hunter || Chemira Ant Arc

This could be the strongest scene produced in anime I’ve seen to date (Megumi Han’s performance is the best). When Gon, who’d been working and planning for much time to meet with Pitou; the destroyer of his precious older friend, Kite, finally arrives the tower where Pitou is, he is looking forward with all his dark revenge and hatred feelings to fight Pitou, but he finds her there, fixing the wounds of an innocent girl, and actually begs him to wait on her till she fixes her, breaking her arm even to show her need from him to trust her. This is too much of a conflict for a 12 year old to handle, and Gon has a huge breakdown there. That scene is too similar to what I’m humbly trying to write about in Grey is; the conflict of emotions when you see someone who is bad to you showing good to you, or others, and vice versa.

Fullmetal Alchemist || The Philospher’s stone

As I said, many and many examples come to  mind in this series, but I’ve seen it first and strongest in the first Fullmetal Achemist. I’ve rewatched that anime multiple times back when I had nothing better to do with my life than watch anime, so I remember it better than FMAB honestly, which is truer to the story, and which I need to rewatch or read the manga someday.

The reality of how to make a philosopher’s stone, and the realisation that the two brothers need to kill a great number of people to obtain their goals in itself is the biggest unfair turn of events for the boys, but it was the awful Tucker and what he did to Nina that totally broke every fan of the series first, I bet. Edward in that situation, sad about Nina, angered by Tucker who says their both the same mad scientist that wanted to see how far they can go with their knowledge and then Chimera!Nina stopping him from punching her father to death. that’s just awful. AWFUL.

Here is the end result and some hot shot view at my desk 😛

Tools and Process: I printed the digital lineart in grey, lined with Sepia multiliners and Staedtler grey pens, on Muse manga paper 135gm. Used Uniball Signo White gel pen for highlights. Colors with Sketch Copic Multiliners