Kedamono: Putting the "Beast" in "Superbeast"
The Pride of Life
is a furry webcomic by Rhandi Fisher.Kedamono is a member of the Vulfpacht tribe, a clan of proud, purple Wolf Men who live in the forests of the Central Continent. Naturally, Keda is the village Butt-Monkey. That all changes, though, when after eating the fruit of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, he becomes a superbeast, a being with fantastic powers and a 500-year lifespan. Unfortunately for him, not only are his new superpowers more of a hindrance than a help, it is also rumored that those who become superbeasts are fated to a violent death. And no sooner has Kedamono acquired his new powers, that trouble comes a-knockin' on the Vulfpacht's village door...
The story draws on the classic action, drama, and comedy tropes of shonen manga, with some pretty explicit Shout Outs to One Piece in particular. The comic updates weekly, with end-of-episode updates to the Ask the Cast segment, and a primer for the comic and related materials is available on the author's Youtube channel.
While still online, the comic has not updated since October 2014.
Tropes Associated with the web comic:
- Accidental Hero: Kedamono saves a peddler by standing on a tree right above two bandits who're about to rob him.
- All There in the Manual: The Tumblr has a lot of other information.
- Animal Stereotypes: Played for laughs in the Ask the Cast segment, where Gaur is sleeping standing up, and Kedamono's favourite hobby is "Gaur Tipping".
- The Vulfpachts, a sort-of hybrid of mountain lions and canids, can roar and howl.
- Animal Superheroes - Kedamono probably fits this trope, what with having super powers and being the main protagonist and all...
- Anachronism Stew - The story looks like it takes place in fuedal Japan or some alternate universe equivalent. But then you have the Zapatos Gang who are basically The Mafia with wings and beaks.
- Justified in the Tumblr, actually - where it's explained that it's a bit more like the real world where some people live in Agrarian societies that don't focus as much on technological advancement like the gryphons.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The fruit of the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Partial subversion in Adolfo, who IS a very dangerous threat to normal people. Lives up to the trope during his fight with Gaur in Episode 02. Seems he doesn't fare too well with people who can actually fight back...
- Blessed with Suck/Cursed with Awesome - Superbeasts who have become so due to eating Yggdrasil's fruit, in that they'll die violently when their alloted life span is up. Arguably extending to all superbeasts, thanks to a society where they are considered less than animals. Subversion of the latter in that most are superbeasts because they desired to be.
- Calling Your Attacks - Averted completely. When an official attack involving a superbeast's power (referred to in-comic as 'talents'), a caption with the attack's name appears. Done mainly to reduce cheesiness and also for reader convenience.
- The Cartel/The Mafia - The Zapatos Gang of Sasamel.
- Fate Worse than Death: Othello intends to do this to Gaur. Involves either reanimation or Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Fantastic Fragility - Eating the fruit of the World Tree grants a person superpowers and extends their natural lifespan by up to 500 years... while at the same time subjecting them to a curse that ensures a violent death. There's also no predicting what sort of powers you're going to get, and you don't get any powers at all until the fruit is fully digested, a process taking eight hours. This last one in particular is something that Kedamono doesn't learn until it's very nearly too late.
- Fantastic Racism - Brought to light by Nickles beating and humiliating the half-breed gryphon, Familiar #2, with the idea that being a half-breed (and therefore lacking gryphon super-strength) somehow made him less than his peers.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot - The comic occasionally runs an Ask the Cast segment, where characters read emails addressed to them. Sometimes the author joins in.
- Furry Confusion - Dogs owning birds? Birds owning dogs?
- Idiot Hero - Kedamono's heart is in the right place, but his first attempt at heroism ends with him mortally wounded, and he only survives because Gaur was able to staunch the bleeding long enough for the World Tree's fruit to kick in.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: According to the author, minotaurs normally live around a place called Cattle'onia. She even said "Sorry for that" on the Tumblr.
- Interspecies Romance - Mussol and Josephine.
- Kick Them While They Are Down - Played straight by Nickles in Episodes 04 and 06.
- Mix-and-Match Critters - Several species of non-anthropomorphic animals in this comic appear with added horns, fangs/tusks, etc. (Ex: Carapace hounds, which are exactly how they sound). Adolfo, Kedamono, and Vulfpachts in general may also qualify.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different : Gaur is a minotaur. According to the author, "Minotaur" is a catch-all term for sentient bovids. A bit of a
Genius Bonus when you consider that a) Gaur is the name of an Indian bison and b) Bisons are bovids. - Our Vampires Are Different - Othello in particular enjoys sunny days and garlic,though he has a diurnal form to be able to do the former.
- Shout-Out: Notice anything familiar about.. *ahem* Familiar #1 and #2's hairstyles? There's only one piece of fiction we could have seen them before...
- Actually intentional there.
- The Smurfette Principle: So far, Minerva seems to be the only female character in the comic.
- Actually, you can see several females in various crowdshots in Episode 07. There are also a handful of female character designs on the comic's Tumblr account.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kedamono soons learns that eating a magic fruit doesn't automatically grants you superpowers, since it have to be digested first in a period of 8 hours.
- Theme Naming - The Zapatos Gang night managers are all named for metals, though Nickles is technically for a denomination of currency.
- The saga continues with Nickles having a younger sister named Penny.
- Othello's superbeasts are named for European dictators: Adolfo (Adolf Hitler), Mussol (Benito Mussolini), and Josephine (Joseph Stalin).
- Toothy Bird: Several of the gryphons shown have rows of pointed teeth.
- Wham Episode: When Kedamono finds Yggdrasil cracked in half.
