見た目地雷系幼馴染 by tetto

 Sometimes I get that Japan somehow managed to spring out another fashion trend at the top of every hour - usually a minor variation of an already existing one, sometimes with some controversy attached as a bonus. It just churns trends. 

One such trends is so-called 地雷系 (jirai-kei), literally "landmine fashion". From an aesthetics point of view, it's really nothing more than a minor spin on that McGoth we used to associate with places such as Hot Topic a few years (or was it decades?) ago, plus a smattering of color, usually pink, here and there. Been there, done that, really nothing to write home about. The entire novelty of the style lays in the controversy that gives it its name: from what I gather, this style is associated with "landmine girls", aka girls that prop a cutesy goth exterior with involvement in drugs, alcohol, street partying, the rich kids gangs lifestyle etc etc. I mean, would you willingly step on a landmine, or date a "landmine girl"?

This lengthy tangent comes about because it's essential in order to understand the joke behind the series of  dōjinshi tetto dedicated to their very own landmine character - one such publication being 2022's  "見た目地雷系幼馴染" (Landmine girl childhood friend). Offering their own admittedly slightly ham-fisted twist on the stereotype, this dōjinshi (full color, 24 pages, stapled) shows, in a series of full-page pinups, the daily life of a landmine girl that does everything a landmine girl is not supposed to do: cook a healthy meal, help the aged, dote over cute animals, give her bus seat to a pregnant woman, etc etc. She is occasionally accompanied by a nonplussed, more stereotypical landmine friend; and occasionally addresses an invisible, arguably male friend, visual novel style. 

Yup, this is the entirety of the skit. No complaints from me, as the very light subversion of the stereotype is fairly amusing, and tetto's tract is cutesy enough, while firmly rooted in an anime aesthetics. Essentially the dōjinshi is a series of visual punchlines, which would make it perfectly fit for eventually becoming a 4-koma or a comedy anime. 

All in all a very simple but cure operation, worth taking a look.