5 Things About BIZARRE UPRISING

A summary of and four questions and answers about Bizarre Uprising, a weekly Webcomic by Razlo and Yuji 28 Go that tells of the misadventures of Mitsu, a mostly inept teenaged vampire.

1. Bizarre Uprising—Manga That’s Not Just Good - It’s Good For You!—is all about a geeky teenager named Mitsu and how he deals with the revelation that he is in fact some sort of vampire. Featuring nubile young babes, a secret society hellbent on taking over the world, and a man in a giant pig costume, the series, which debuted in 2002, was created by college friends Razlo and Yuji 28 Go. Just last night, I had a chance to ask Yuji some questions about Bizarre Uprising on the occasion of it being vampire week here at Geek Force Five.
2. Why vampires (as a subject)?
   Choosing Vampires as a subject is actually more Razlo’s doing, largely because he came up with a few interesting ideas and twists that he wanted to do concerning them, and I wanted to do a webcomic but didn’t really have any ideas for one.  I actually didn’t want to do it at first, because I wasn’t particularly fond of vampire stories at the time (I blame having to read Anne Rice in college), but he convinced me with the promise of getting to draw cute girls and hijinks.
3. What are the characteristics of a vampire in the BU universe?
   They’re actually a bit different from the types of vampires you usually see in most vampires stories.  They have no aversion to sunlight or garlic or any of that, but cutting off their heads or stabbing/removing the heart still kills them (and most everyone else).  They’re strong, fast, can regenerate lost limbs and wounds, and can live a real long time.  They can’t do stuff like turn into bats or mist or whatever, but do have some additional abilities that vary between individuals.  They’re basically people with superpowers that happen to be fueled by blood.  Also, people cannot be turned into vampires.  You have to be born as one.  They’re more like a sub-species of human than a supernatural creature basically.
4. Who would win in a fight, Mitsu or the dude from Twilight?
   I don’t know much about the dude from Twilight besides the fact that he’s sparkly sometimes.  And Mitsu kind of sucks at fighting unless he’s super pissed off, so it might be a tough call.  Mitsu would probably win at videogames though.
5. Is there anything you wish Razlo would write more of (i.e. something you like drawing, but don’t get to draw enough of?)
   Actually, part of the benefit of drawing something that someone else is writing is that it makes me draw stuff that I might not draw otherwise, and that’s always good for improvement.  If it was left up to me, Bizarre Uprising would probably end up being about the girls hanging around, looking cute/sexy and possibly making out sometimes.  It could use some more retro style robots, but just about everything could.