A friendship made in Inferni
My Best Friend Marneao, is a webcomic written and illustrated by El Autor of Sea Snail Studio, hosted on Webtoons. It started to be published on July, 2016,
Life was pretty lonely for Jacob, a nerdy guy who wanted to have a best friend to hang out with, see his favorite shows, read his favorite manga like Yowamushi Pedal, watch YouTube channels, you know, the usual stuff. So he decided to sell his soul to find the perfect friend! And not just any friend: the son of Lucifer himself, Marnaeo.
Jacob and Marnaeo become the best of friends in a flash, hanging out and having the best days ever!... except that by going to Earth, Marneao broke a lot of laws and made the Right Hand of God, Baraquiel, absolutely livid. Baraquiel made Lucifer send demons to take his son back to Inferni, either dead or alive, Baraquiel doesn't care.
Marneao will have to fight against demons in order to stay with his Best Friend.
My Best Friend Marneao is El Autor's fourth series after Salvatore, Adam, and T.Kin Ball, and the first to be published in English. It is a Fighting Series inspired by Shonen Jump works.
My Best Friend Marneao provides examples of:
- Acrofatic: The webcomic has really big fighters among its characters, with Fleites and Gabriel being pretty destructive and fast.
- Air Jousting: The demons are able to fly, and the battle of Marneao against Nagore and Giancarlo takes place in the sky.
- Ambition Is Evil: According to Marneao, after the previous God died, his successor (the current God) Miguel started to become more hungry for power, and decided to explore and conquer other places in the universe. He made the demons build portals as if they were slaves, and force them to use a weird substance that could turn them into mindless monsters.
- Anyone Can Die: No one is safe from dying in the comic. Not even Jacob at the end of the comic's first part.
- The Armies of Heaven: The Angelinato, armored-looking soldier angels who fight against abominations, but also have Inferni under their command.
- Artifact Title: Jacob dies at the end of the comic's first part, making the title not as relevant as you may think.
- Author Appeal: El Autor really likes Yowapeda, constantly making allusions to the series, and two plot-relevant characters are inspired by characters from Yowapeda.
- Big Bad: Baraquiel. Once Marneao goes to the human world, is he who demands Lucifer to either retrieve him back or kill him. He is, however, only the Right Hand of God, though, making God's successor to be the Greater-Scope Villain responsible for how hellish the setting is.
- Black Speech: When Inferni characters speak their natural language, it sounds harsh and evil. It doesn't seem to have any side effect for the humans, they just think is a weird language. Marneao convinces the kids at school they are speaking Canadian.
- The Cameo: Dante Cavagnaro, one of the protagonists of Sea Snail Studio previous works, Salvatore, appears as a Inferni Citizen in chapter 28.
- Deal with the Devil: Jacob sells his soul in order to gain a best friend, and he gains it in the form of Marneao, the son of Lucifer. When a human sells their soul, the demon that accepts the deal is bound by contract to give the human whatever it asks for. Jacob becomes sad to hear this, thinking none of the fun they had was for real... and then it reveals Marneao never accepted his soul because no demon would accept Jacob' request, and simply escaped from home.Marneao: I'm not bound by any contract because there never was one! I'm having fun with Jacob because I want to have fun with him!
- The Devil Is a Loser: Lucifer may be king of Hell, but he is constantly abused by his superior, the Angel Baraquiel. Poor devil had it rough. The comic second part reveals he wasn't even a bad guy to begin with, he was Jahveh's best friend who has to work with the ones responsible for his death.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: As the comic's lore was explored, the early references and implications about the world's Christianity beliefs become puzzling in hindsight. One special mention is of "would God sacrifice his own son?", a reference to Jesus, a character that doesn't exist in Marneao's world.
- Establishing Character Moment: Baraquiel is introduced in chapter 4 in a bad mood, insulting the living crap out of Lucifer and telling him to solve the fact his kid is on Earth, even if he has to kill him. Lucifer then asks if God would kill his own son.
- Fake Memories:
- Marneao, with a bit of Reality Warper powers, manages to make everyone think he is Jacob's brother, who was studying in Canada. One of the students who remembered Jacob being a single child suddenly "remembered" him having a brother. He also erases his friends memories after the attack done by Giancarlo, so they don't know the truth about him. After Marneao is taken by the Angelinato after Lucifer's death, everyone forgets about Marneao except for his friends, due to Giancarlo' incident.
- It runs in the family, after Miguel and Baraquiel killed Yahveh, Lucifer had to brainwash the entire angel population to obey their command, otherwise they would end up killed.
- Fighting Series: The webcomic is inspired by many works from the Shonen Jump, making Marneao fight demons in order to stay on Earth, all with superpowers. It also focuses on side-characters fighting.
- Flight: The demons have shown to be able to fly. The battle between Marnaeo and the Plasma Demon woundn't look strange in Dragon Ball Z or Man of Steel.
- Foreshadowing: In chapter 12 and 13, Lucifer mentions that demon soldiers can go berserk if they are angry enough, and they put Inferni life in danger if that's the case. Come chapter 31 and we see what Lucifer was talking about with the Berserker mode Fletes goes through to destroy the Dungeon Keeper, almost defeating him. Likewise, Marneao copies this ability on chapter 33, scaring his old master while fighting for once.Giancarlo: This... could be dangerous.
- Gratuitous Spanish: "¡Viva la revolución!"
- God Is Dead: According to Marnaeo, God died 500 years ago after the alliance between the Inferni and the Angelinato, and was succeeded by an unknown angel. Season 2 would reveal this is a half-truth: God was killed by an angel, Miguel, who stole the power of God and took control over Heaven. Lucifer, wanting to avoid an unnecessary bloodshed, made everyone pretend Miguel succeeded Yahveh.
- Gonk: Amy's twin sister, who is hideous and modeled after Dayon from Osomatsu-san. Amy wished she was as beautiful as her.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Thousands of years ago, after Yahveh and Lucifer found the first human, there was peace between the angels, demons and humans. Demons, being creations of Lucifer, found they were able to have relationships with humans. The protagonist Marneao, Miltch and Medina are offspring from relationships between the two species.
- Holographic Disguise: Similar to Nightcrawler, Marnaeo can hide his true form with a human equivalent. So do other demons, causing him trouble.
- Hell of a Heaven: According to Miltch, since the new God took over, Heaven has been nothing but an elitist city where almost no one enters and that is constantly being attacked by Corrupted. Inferni, by comparison, is not that bad, with many residents taking a second chance to "live", so to speak, their life.
- A Hell of a Time: Inferni is presented as a land of opportunity, where humans can live a happy and reproductive life. It is not presented as glamorous, though, since Inferni hasn't been prosperous for a long time due to Heaven's interference, and is a victim of the Revolution' collateral damage.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Implied, in a conversation.Marneao: And then he said "Wut? What the hell is going on!"
- Interspecies Romance: According to Miltch, humans and demons can marry in Inferni, and is later revealed Nagore's wife is a human. Marneao and Miltch themselves are born from interracial marriages.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: This is what starts the plot, other than the Deal with the Devil of course.
- Jacob wanted a best friend. While he lacked the Friendless Background Marneao has, he never talked much with anyone, fearing they would like different things. Once he and Marn hang out, both of them get more friends, and they later learn that it is better if your friends like other stuff, since it's like their different tastes complement each other.
- Marnaeo was a lonely kid in Hell, with no one to play with. He is very glad to know of a kid with similar tastes to him in the form of Jacob. He then gains more friends in the human world, and this is his main motivation for wanting to return to Earth after becoming the king of Inferni.
- Jerkass: Baraquiel, the comic Big Bad, is an angel that scares the living crap out of demons and angels alike, and a complete utter asshole that doesn't care about anyone or anything, constantly screaming or making others scream for him, not giving a rat's ass about the death of his comrades in battle, treating the demons like slaves, and hating modesty, thinking it is for losers.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Marnaeo can hold his own against two demons three times his size despite having the body of a kid. Probably justified, due to being the prince of demons.
- Naked First Impression: After being summoned by Jacob, Marneao appears in his room completely naked and hugs Jacob at that instant. Jacob is speechless, and asks him to put on some clothes.
- Our Angels Are Different: The Angelinato. The angels are presented as armored looking humanoids, with some of them having a giraffe looking face. They live in a futuristic city, having a powerful army led by Archangel Gabriel, and an angel is chosen to be God by a council of judges, with a powerful angel as it's right hand. 500 years before the series, a new god was chosen, bringing a fascistic treatment to the Inferni citizens, and a quest for more power, with Big Bad Baraquiel as his Right Hand. Part 2 reveals Miguel was never chosen to be god as he took the title by force, but Lucifer made the angels believe he was via brainwashing.
- Our Demons Are Different: The Inferni citizens. The demons in the comic are horned humanoid monsters, with sharp teeths and red eyes, while other Inferni residents like Marneao, Lucifer and Miltch are human looking red devils with the classical horns and tail. The King of Inferni title is hereditary, but if a member of the royal family chooses, they can Abdicate the Throne and put another demon on the throne.
- Painting the Medium: The Inferni citizens names and language are written in Black Speech, always, and the Angelinato cast are written in an special font. The Inferni characters names (or a close equivalent as Miltch once said) are revealed by the author after the arc where the demon is presented ends, or at the end of the same chapter they first appear, as an omake.
- Parents as People: Lucifer is shown as a good parent to Marnaeo, but he has to work and constantly takes crap from his superior, Baraquiel.
- Precision F-Strike: Baraquiel constantly does this, especially when he is in a bad mood. Which is always.
- La Résistance: Called, who knew it, "The revolution". Formed around 100 years ago, they are a band of demons fighting against both the Angelinato and the Inferni agents. Due to Marnaeo going to Earth, breaking a law between the two factions, the rebels started to use his face on their flags. They are not good guys, as they are responsible for killing innocent bystanders on Inferni and Heaven.Marnaeo: Yeah... that's not good.
- Reused Character Design: Many of the demons' designs were previously used in Sea Snail Studio's other work, Salvatore. According to El
Autor in his twitter, they are actors, similar to Tezuka's famous star system. For more information, see the characters section. - Shout-Out: To a few shows and memes.
- Marneao and Jacob love Yowamushi Pedal, and they read volume 27 in chapter 1.
- The Let's Play Marneao and Jacob watch in chapter 1 is from BikdipOnABus. The quote is from his Star Revenge 6: Luigi's Adventure
run. - Marneao and Jacob play Mario Kart 8 in chapter 1.
- Marneao and Jacob plan to watch a Gordon Ramsay show in chapter 1.
- The omake in chapter 2 is a reference to Undercover Boss.
- Amy's sister in chapter 5 is a reference to Dayon from Osomatsu-san.
- Marneao sings "A spoonful of sugar" from Mary Poppins in chapter 14.
- The friends play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in chapter 15.
- The mechanic noodles in chapter 17 are a reference to game reviewer Super Bunnyhop.
- The halloween special has two Peanuts references, the ghost with multiple holes at the beginning and Nagore getting a rock.
- The trailer the friends watch in the cinema in chapter 19 is the teaser trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
- Jeffrey quotes a gag from LazyTown in chapter 19, which was a[[Invoked]] popular meme at the time the strip was published.Jeffrey: Who did you expect? Sportaflop?
- Jeffrey's shirt text in chapter 38 is a reference to Osomatsu-san.
- In chapter 40, Marneao compares Cavagnaro's aspect to earthbending. This is a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Jeffrey's shirt in chapter 59 is a reference to Haikyuu!!
- The title of "A tale of inferni" is a reference to A Tale of Two Cities.
- Token Minority: Matt, one of the friends of Jacob and Marneao, is a black kid in an otherwise all-white human cast.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Uriel. He dies in the same chapter he is introduced.
