Black Joke is a seinen manga written by Koike Rintaro and illustrated by Taguchi Masayuki.
Japan has become the 51st state of the United States. Prostitution and gambling are banned in Tokyo, but an artificial island, Neon Island, has been created in Tokyo Bay for these activities. The place has become a bustling tourist resort, as well as a battleground for organized criminals from around the world. We follow two young Japanese gangsters, Kiyoshi Kira (brains) and Douji Kodama (brawn), as they run jobs for a powerful syndicate.
The series is thoroughly Not Safe for Work due to excessive gore, some nudity, and general lack of good taste.
Black Joke provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Kira tells Runover that he is rumored to have killed the man who disabled him by running over his Ferrari with his current super wheelchair. Runover chuckles to himself, turns around with a dead-serious face and gives the decidedly more badass explanation that he actually was on a mundane wheelchair when he dragged the man out of his Ferrari and mutilated him before running over his corpse. After revealing he's since upgraded the old wheelchair with deadly weapons and slaughtering some gangsters with them, Runover asks Kira to recount the night to others in any way he wants as long as it's as funny as the Ferrari story.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: Akari is a 25-year-old woman dressed as a gothic lolita.
- Ax-Crazy: Many characters, but specially Runover.
- Blood Knight: Kodama is a mafia enforcer purely because he hates holding back.
- Butter Face: Kodama's mother has long flowing hair, shapely bosoms, long toned legs and a very distinctive face.
- Combat Pragmatist: Any time Kodama thinks he's about to get a real good fight, someone displays this trope and ruins it for him.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous:
- In chapter 40, Orlando beats a naked prostitute to death while she was talking dirty to him, and when a shocked henchman discovers the corpse, he callously says he didn't like how she violated what he considers "sex etiquette" by teasing and domming him like they were close.
- Akari is repeatedly knocked down in an embarrassing pose with her butt up in the air like a Running Gag throughout the story. Towards the end, she appears to meet her demise like that by having half of her head chopped off in a nude fight against a female American agent. In truth, that was doctored footage to deceive the Americans, and it was the villainess who got killed by Akari in such a humiliating way.
- Evil Smells Bad: A pretty weird example in the first chapter, with two homosexual assassins that use a perfume so overpowering it causes Kodama to flip out.
- Eye Scream: Akari effortlessly gouges out a thug's eye with a dessert spoon.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Part of Taguchi Masayuki's art style. Most characters display them including the the evil ones.
- Fingore:
- Don't try to fondle Akari if you like having fingers. Unless you're Kodama.
- She disarmed a hot headed thug by twisting his fingers and then gouged out one of his eyes.
- Friend to All Children: Kodama, of all people.
- Gonk: Too many characters fit the bill.
- Handicapped Badass: The Italian mobster Runover is a pretty over-the-top example. A paraplegic due to a bombing attack, he normally pursues people with a wheelchair doubling as an armed supercar. He's not helpless without it either... At one point he kills a would-be assassin while naked in the bath, with his teeth.
- Hidden Weapons:
- Akari has a variety of weapons hidden under the frills of her outfit.
- Runover's old wheelchair is modified with several weapons like a harpoon launcher, blades on the sides and retractable sawblades on the wheels.
- Manipulative Bastard: Kira, and his boss Todome as well.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: There's a lot of villainous and stylish characters, but Runover stands out the most.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Kodama is a bit taller than 5 feet, but can dish out damage like a war machine.
- Psychopathic Manchild: basically Kodama's entire character.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kodama is red, Kira is blue.
- Running Gag: Often Kodama is getting fired up for a good fight with someone, only to be cockblocked by someone else brutally killing them without warning.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Akari is cold and silent most of the times, but around Kodama she's a coy and affectionate.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Kodama takes after his mother.
- Vice City: Neon Island.
- Would Hit a Girl: Most characters have absolutely no qualms about hitting or even killing females.
