AC (Anime Chocobo)

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Note: all creator names have been edited for privacy and have been replaced by deviantart account names.

AC, short for “Anime Chocobo” (also Chokobo) is the name of a popular Japanese-style manga, as well as the name of its author-group. Original creation of blank_death, xAKaTOx, and sasameyuki (circa 2000) featured in the American Shonen-Jump style magazine, Otaku Soup (Destiny Publications).


The three artists, who knew each other through a tutoring facility called the Kumon center (owned by blank_death’s mother), decided to collaborate on a comic, later named AC, in which each of the artists would be represented by a character of their own design in an alternate world, specifically Demon Academy (DA). All of the AC characters board together at an old renovated inn that has come to be called “the AC house”. Over the years new members were added, old members lost touch, and characters were given boyfriends and girlfriends, some of whom outlived the original characters. Though output is rare, the most current of the AC members still keep the comic alive.

Contents

[edit] History

AC started with three original characters, namely Terron (xAKaTOx), Yume (sasameyuki), and EMC (blank-death). Later, these three were given boyfriends and girlfriends at sasameyuki’s behest, which were named Yuki, Ryuki, and Roku, respectively. Both Yuki and Ryuki fizzled out and, after permanently leaving the Kumon center, sasameyuki’s Yume also “disappeared” from the comic, though her boyfriend, Roku, remained for much longer. Through a series of auditions, blank-death’s friend slave2f8 joined the group (circa 2002) with her character, Sora (who oddly enough had a crush on a character named “Yukito” at the time, which fit in nicely with the “Yuki” “Ryuki” “Yukito” set; ironically, the only “love interest” who survived in the long run was Roku, the sole partner without “yuki” in his name). blank_death and slave2f8 then collaborated to create a character for their friend scrwdconscience, who added her character, Hakaba, to the group (circa 2004). The final high school members were Kura-Ewe (another RL friend of blank-death), whose character, Nya-kun (also designed by slave2f8), is considered the unofficial replacement of Roku. Also, after leaving Kumon and moving to Arizona, xAKaTOx added DJRiku to the group with her character, Riku (thus beginning an onslaught of AC-edition SoraXRiku).
AC died out for some time, but experienced a kind of plot “time-skip”, during which time Terron supposedly killed Roku and left for the military. Riku’s whereabouts are currently unknown, but it is suspected that she drunk herself into oblivion on one of her many binging excursions. Regardless, Riku seems to unofficially “disappear” during the time skip. Nya-kun goes abroad to get “re-acquainted” with his roots, and so when AC re-opens, only Sora, Hakaba, and EMC are definitely inhabiting the AC house.


[edit] Time Skip

Whereas the High School version of AC is very one-shot-y, the post-time-skip(PTS) episodes follow a more structured plot. In the first PTS episodes, Yume proves herself to be not only very much alive, but has made a name for herself abroad, and returns to the AC house with Roku’s ghost in tow. Nya-kun returns from abroad, and meets Yume for the first time (Roku’s ghost also takes up temporary residence in his room, since it was originally Roku’s room before Terron killed him and Nya-kun moved in). It is soon discovered that Nya-kun has experienced a mix-up at the airport, and when he opens his mumbling suitcase, he finds Fazu, whippedcreme’s character and the most recent addition to the AC team, packed inside. Riku’s whereabouts remain unknown.


[edit] Characters

Terron ~ TRN
Represents: xAKaTOx
Eyes: Black/Brown
Hair: Silver
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 80kg
Terron is part wolf-demon and full horn-dog. His distinguishing facial marking is a red upward-swiping slash on his left cheek. In an omake side story, it was once revealed that he somehow houses the devil, Akuma, and the angel, Tenshi, within his body (this prompted a brief side story called "Core Entities"). He enjoys reading hentai and talking about war and bloody videogames. His bet friend in the house is EMC. Terron tries to make Roku more “manly” by forcing him to read his hentai collection, but instead dements him and ends up falling victim to the pretty-boy. Terron’s girlfriend is Ryuki, though she gradually vanishes from the story line (time of disappearance undeterminable). Terron himself somehow disappeared during the “Time Skip”, though it is known that he killed Roku before he left to join the military. His exact whereabouts are a mystery. This is largely due to the removal of his creator, xAKaTOx, to Arizona. Terron has a pet mini dragon named Chiisai who is the acknowledged mascot of AC, even after Terron’s disappearance from the comic.


EMC (Evil Monster Creature) ~ EMC
Represents: blank_death
Eyes: Red
Hair: Black fur covering entire body
Height: 183cm
Weight: 77kg
EMC is an anubis demon (though on multiple occasions it has been claimed by other characters that he has “bunny ears”, many believe this is why he always wears a hat that pins them down and makes them less noticeable). His distinguishing facial marking is a pair of crossed z’s, one on each cheek. He is the most violent member of AC by far, and is almost never seen doing anything but sleeping, disemboweling, or watching TV. He has a fowl temper, and is unique in that he speaks in the English equivalent of Kansai-ben (saying “de” instead of “the”, “ya” instead of “you”, “ain’t gonna” instead of “not going to”, etc.). EMC’s companion character was his girlfriend, Yuki, whose presence was short-lived (she appeared in only a few story lines). After his creation, EMC became tied to a companion series to AC by blank-death called “Core Elements” which delved into the pasts of EMC and Terron. In this series EMC was tied to the human character, Eri, whose form EMC will take on if he looses enough blood. Interestingly, Sora is very fond of Eri, and so tries to bleed EMC out every chance she gets. EMC’s pet is Wyrrin, the blue pygmy dragon, who was sent to the AC house as an egg via snail mail. EMC is the most constant of the AC characters, being the only unremoved original character.


Yume ~ 夢
Represents: sasameyuki
Eyes: Green
Hair: Strawberry Blonde
Height: 152cm
Weight: 48kg
Yume was the sole female in the original AC cast, and is the shortest of the “normal sized” characters (Hakaba, who is part pixie, is smaller). Her distinguishing facial markings are pink floating cheek bubbles that never disappear. She is plushie-crazy and as ditzy as they come. She has a fan of death, which she uses to attack the furniture and her housemates with techniques such as “Love Wave”. She is obsessed with Kuriboh (she herself was based off Yu-Gi-Oh’s Dark Magician Girl). Yume’s unofficial pet is a Kuriboh. It is uncertain whether this is somehow an actual Kuriboh, or some kind of limited edition robot, since both are highly possible. Yume’s boyfriend was the late Roku, who was killed after violating Terron while Yume was at the mall buying more Kuriboh merchandise. Though they supposedly worked things out in the Slave Collar arc, Yume herself disappeared from the storyline, and then Roku himself was supposedly killed by Terron during the time-skip. It was originally scripted that Yume had died, and that it was in fact a mechanism in her fan which then summoned Sora to the AC house (bee-style). In the post-time-skip (PTS) episodes however, Yume comes back to the AC house with Roku’s ghost in tow. We then learn that she has been abroad making money and a name for herself as “Queen of Dreams” (a pun on her name, Yume, which means “dream”), the newly famous and highly acclaimed yaoi artist. It turns out that she became popular through her series “Hontou ni Suki yo” (In Truth, I Really Like You) which features Terron and EMC in a tangled and (to the other AC characters) hilarious “impossible love” which involves, among other things, EMC breaking down in tears and confessing his undeniable love for Terron. Yume has currently re-setup residence in the AC house.


Sora ~ 空
Represents: slave2f8
Eyes: Green
Hair: White-Blonde
Height: 178cm
Weight: 68kg
Sora is a mutt, but her elvian blood is evinced in her pointed ears (the only AC character at the time of her entrance to have them). Her distinguishing facial marking is a sea-green downward-pointing slash on the right cheek. Sora was the first non-founding character added to AC after a series of auditions. She is the only housemate who has no transformation/demon state, and is instead a magic user, and at times uses Hakaba to amplify her magic (Hakaba is partly her friend, partly her companion, and partly her undermining underling). Sora often wanders around the AC house half-naked, and so caused some chaos when she first entered the house. Since she is (ironically) the only other character who speaks Japanese, she is very close to Nya-kun, who speaks almost exclusively Japanese. Sora has no boyfriend, but her never-seen “crush” at the time of her entrance to AC was named Yukito. Her pet is a dwarfed dragon named Cherubim (Bim for short) who rarely appears in the comic. Sora is the next most constant AC character after EMC. Sora, though she gets along relatively well with EMC, prefers his alter-form, Eri (who comes out only when EMC experiences extreme blood loss), and so bleeds him at every chance she gets. Sora is almost always seen lounging on the couch or walking through the halls pantless.


Hakaba~ HKB
Represents: scrwdconscience
Eyes: Red
Hair: Black
Height: 28cm
Weight: ~1kg
Hakaba, who was mostly the creation of Sora’s creator, slave2f8, joined the AC cast shortly after Sora’s entrance. Originally she had no distinguishing facial markings, but later black check-lines were added on each cheek. She is a “midget pixie” demon, and is less than a foot tall most of the time, but transforms to a normal-size during the blue moon (which occurs more often in the AC world than in real life). She has wings made of black glass, and is infamous for her voodoo dolls of all the housemates, as well as of other characters. She is often seen reading “Harikiri Fairy Tales”, though it is never determined whether she speaks any Japanese (she never speaks in Japanese in the comics). Hakaba’s closest friend in the house is Sora, though it is uncertain to what extent it is “friendship” and to what extent it is “manipulation” on Hakaba’s part. Hakaba’s pet is Baku, a bomb-wielding mini-rabbit and an official symbol of AC. Hakaba is the most reclusive of the AC characters, and it s rumored that her room would turn even Terron’s stomach (only Roku has actually seen it, but he refuses to talk about it). Along with Yume, Hakaba is one of the only two characters in the house without claws/nails. Hakaba has been caught by Sora in hats and cages, among other things, over the length of the series. She has yet to make an impression in the PTS episodes, but is still definitely living in the AC house when the series opens again.


Nya-kun~ NYK
Represents: Kura-Ewe
Eyes: Green
Hair: Dirty Blonde
Height: ~170cm
Weight: 55kg
Nya-kun (which can only be spelled “Nya-kun”, not “Nya-san”, not “Nyakun”, not “Nya”, etc.) was also created by slave2f8, which is why Nya-kun and Sora have almost mirrored facial markings, Nya-kun’s being a downward-pointing green hook-arrow coming down on his cheek from his right eye. Nya-kun was originally conceptualized as a “replacement” for Roku, when outside factors forced sasameyuki to take an indefinite leave of absence from AC. Nya-kun was based largely off Raenef from demon diaries, and even had his ponytail in early sketches. Nya-kun is adorable, but fashion inept, and always wears clashing colors, patterns, and prints. He rarely wears long pants, but when he does, they’re emo girl-pants. Nya-kun speaks only a few words of English, and so his speech is either bracketed, written in Japanese, or translated through Sora. Nya-kun likes to go shopping, and takes over all of the house’s grocery duties. Nya-kun, as Roku’s replacement, lives in Roku’s old room, but Roku’s ghost haunts him for a while when he first moves in. Despite Roku’s… interesting tendancies, Nya-kun is the only actually gay character in AC. He has a boyfriend, though he never appears in the comic. Nya-kun has one of the longest character background stories at twenty pages (though these were never made public). Nya-kun is known to wear cute panties and bows constantly. The PTS episodes begin with a letter from Nya-kun (who is traveling abroad for the summer) which leads the other housemates to remember when they met him for the first time (it turns out that he arrived in a box from the same agency that Yume “purchased” Roku from, though this had been previously unknown to the housemates). Nya-kun meets Yume for the first time in the PTS episodes, and never meets Terron or any of the “Yuki”s.


Riku~ 陸
Represents: DJRiku
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: Black
Height: 172cm
Weight: 58kg
Riku was the last AC cast member to be added before the time-skip. xAKaTOx designed and added DJRiku’s character to the house shortly after Nya-kun was added. In a one-shot by blank-death, we see the housemates holding auditions, and Riku is gesticulating and lauding her demolition of a certain group of freshman (a reputation which stuck). Much as with Nya-kun and Sora, Terron and Riku share similar distinguishing facial markings, though Riku has only one upward slash (on the left cheek) compared to Terron’s two. Riku has an official demon form which, though concepted in her character sketches by xAKaTOx, has not yet found its way into actual story pages. It is unclear at this point what exactly spurs Riku’s demon transformation. Though popular amongst the real life members of AC, Riku didn’t appear in actual pages very much, due largely in part to DJRiku’s disappearance shortly after her being added to AC. She is believed to be drunk in a ditch somewhere. In the PTS episodes, though Riku has not yet appeared, there has been no plot point to suggest her official removal from the AC storyline. Both DJRiku’s and Riku’s whereabouts are, at this point, officially unknown.


Fazu~ (no abbreviation)
Represents: whippedcreme
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Purple (Dyed Black)
Height: 162cm
Weight: 52kg
The last character directly representative of a real life AC member, Fazu was the first and only character to be added PTS. Her actual name is Fuzz, but since Nya-kun was the first AC member to meet her, her name has been called by its Japanese pronunciation, “Fah-zoo”, ever since. Fazu is a hodgepodge demon (in essence, a shape-shifter), and is thus capable of innumerable partial- and full-body transformations. The one identifier throughout her different forms is her distinguishing facial marking, a black star partially visible to the outside of her right eye. Despite Nya-kun’s cat ears, Fazu is the only character with a cat tail (which is black). Fazu came to the AC house through a mix-up with luggage at the airport, in which Nya-kun accidentally brought home Fazu in a suitcase. Fazu speaks multiple world languages, and is well-traveled (thus the suitcase). Little is known about Fazu at this point, since she is a very new character, and has not yet appeared in official, public pages, but she is believed to be the distant relative of Unagi Obaa-chan, since they have the same webbed fish-looking ears (though Fazu’s hair largely covers hers). Due to her late arrival in the cast, she never meets Terron (and possibly Riku as well).


[edit] Partners

Roku~ 6, 六
Partner: Yume (unofficially: Terron)
Eyes: (unreleased)
Hair: White
Height: 165cm
Weight: 52kg
Roku was brought into the AC fold as part of xAKaTOx’s idea to create girl- and boy-friends for the original three characters (who were the only ones present in the plot/AC house at the time, since Sora, Hakaba, Nya-kun, Riku, and Fazu had not yet been added). Roku was designed as Yume’s boyfriend, but blank-death and xAKaTOx (through a set of circumstances and discussions that neither of them will cop to or agree on) decided to make Roku gay. Ironically, he was the only “love interest” who did not have “Yuki” in his name somehow, and yet he was also the only “love interest” to survive more than a few episodes, most likely due to his ability to stand alone as a character, and his vast comedic value. In perhaps the longest AC arc to date, Terron tries to make Roku “man up” and abandon his girly, shojou-manga-reading ways by forcing Roku to read all of Terron’s vast hentai collection. However, something goes horribly wrong in the process (probably because, though he means well, Roku has the intellectual capacity of a pea), and instead of making him more manly, Terron’s attempts just make Roku decide to make Terron his love-slave. Through several episodes, a slave collar, and a healthy amount of explosions and scarring sounds, Terron becomes permanently traumatized, Yume and Roku reconcile, and everything goes back to normal (except for the fact that it is this incident which encourages Terron to later kill Roku, and Roku never quite curbs his homophilic tendancies). After his death, Roku briefly haunts Nya-kun, who takes over his room, before vanishing at an undeterminable point in the storyline. Roku’s ghost made his sudden re-entrance in the PTS episodes, when he came home with Yume, whom he had apparently been with during the time-skip. He started as merely a floating presence, then gradually formed a ghostly head, and has now worked his way up to an complete (if see-through) body. It is unclear whether he will somehow return to “life”, but as he is, Roku interacts with the other housemates just like his less ethereal counterparts. After tormenting Kya-kun again for a while after his arrival, Roku currently resides in Yume’s room where he guards her ever-burgeoning plushie collection.


Yuki~ Partner: EMC
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Dirty-Blonde covering entire body
Height: (unreleased)
Weight: (unreleased)
Ironically calm and serially clean, Yuki was somewhat the "unofficial mom" of the house during her short-lived appearance in the series. Other than omakes and 4-komas, Yuki only actually appeared in one story arc (with Roku and Terron) and only played a minor role in that. Like Rtuki, she was never directly drawn out of the script, but merely ceased to appear shortly after her entrance. It is highly unlikely that she will ever return to the cast.


Ryuki~
Partner: Terron
Eyes: (unreleased)
Hair: Black
Height: (unreleased)
Weight: (unreleased)
Although she, too, enjoyed only a brief frame of appearance in the series, Ryuki played a much more visible role in AC. She took center stage in the episode which spawned the popular phrase "Help! My girlfriend has PMS and a GUN!!!", and on several occasions made contact with members outside the AC house, unlike the other "partners" in the series. However, Ryuki followed in Yuki's path of sudden disappearance from the series. With Terron off at war, it would currently be pointless for her to return, though she was a popular character.


[edit] Minor Characters

For the most part, AC has a rotating cast of random, spur-of-the-moment backround fill characters who have no purpose, design, or longevity in the series. However, a few supporting characters remain constant.


Nia~
The main reporter for DA (Demon Academy) Live, the student news program at the high school the AC housemates attend. Short tempered, eloquent, and always a solid source of entertainment, Nia is best known for the Halloween special in which she interviewed the members of the AC cast, originating the famous bit

“N: Name?
T: Terron.
N: Age?
T: 16.
N: Sex?
T: Lots, please.“

Lio~
Officially dubbed by Unagi Obaa-chan “dishonorable child of canary and skunk!!!!”, Lio made his first appearance when he was glomped and almost fatally injured by AMC’s quest for “BISHIEBISHIEBISHIE”. Nia, who happened to be with AMC at the time, tended his wounds, and he became a permanent member of the cast from then on. Sora had a brief crush on him at his initial inception into the cast, and still harbors slightly-more-than-friendly feelings for the high school heart-throb.


AMC~
Not-so-loosely based on a cousin of blank-death’s who came to stay with them for the holidays, AMC is EMC’s exact opposite: flighty, hyper, cutesy, and constantly glomping bishies. Her most famous episode appearance includes her quote, “Bishie-glomping wind-speed: …favorable!”. AMC appeared in high density for a brief time, but rarely appears now, though she is still a definite permanent member of the cast.


Unagi Obaa-chan~
Perhaps one of the most “interesting” characters in AC, it is unclear whether Unagi Obaa-chan is male or female (though Obaa-chan, or “grandma”, would insinuate the later). Originally the doctor Unagi-Sensei, Unagi Obaa-chan’s gender has shifted constantly to draw out the maximum possible humour from the situation. Easily recognizable by her fish ears and limbs, as well as her swirly bottle-cap glasses and labcoat, Unagi Obaa-chan shows up whenever the “young whippersnappers” of AC (both minor and main characters) need advice, medical aid, or a good insult. Somewhat like a stalker, she manages to work her way into almost every AC story arc. Most famously, Unagi Obaa-chan accidentally gave Ryuki a loaded gun instead of lingerie after a Terron-centered counseling session in a Valentine’s Day episode, which led to the famous and beloved line “Dude! You gotta help me! My girlfriend has PMS and a gun!!”. Though s/he is a minor character, Unagi Obaa-chan will undoubtedly last to the end of the AC world, if not beyond.


[edit] External Links

Images


Comics, 4komas, Omakes