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Menajelio no Yuutsu (roughly translated to "Depressing Menagerie") is a comic series created, written, and illustrated by Yuki Hayashiro, AKA Menagerie. The style is a hybrid of western comic books and eastern manga, with character designs closely resembling the style of real-world artist Yoshitaka Amano. The series follows Jerry, Sheila, and Kimiko through their day-to-day lives in Michigan with a handful of extended focus shifts to Keltorus and his "Vandolian Star Empire", and is currently in its eleventh year with over a hundred issues, including numerous specials and a fair-sized book of concept art. Each issue is a fair-sized book with around two hundred pages per.

Yuki Hayashiro strives to keep in touch with her fanbase, routinely perusing fanworks and even canonizing the pieces she likes by putting them up on the series's official Facebook page. From time to time, she'll also hold a "Create-a-character" contest, where the winner gets their character added to the long list of recurring characters.

Characters

Jerry Williams/Menagerie

Jerry Williams is mostly a loner, but is good at heart. He was expelled from college after a mishap early in the series and settles in to live with his teacher, Sheila O'Harris. The two had a brief intimate relationship before unclarified problems in the bedroom brought it to an end.

Sheila O'Harris

Sheila O'Harris is your stereotypical "cool professor", and often drops in on student parties or hosts them herself. She has an attraction to the bad boy type, which leads her to accept Jerry as a temporary housemate when he is forced to find new lodging. Her attraction to him died out after she realized that she mistook his unrepentant attitude regarding his accidental destruction of the college's mysticism wing.

Emperor Keltorus Vandole

Emperor Keltorus is the emperor of the Vandolians and their Vandolian Star Empire. Portrayed early in the series as a wicked, manipulative person, he gets a bit of character development in the fourth year, painting him in a more positive light as a masterful tactician with endless patience and pure intentions. He is physically unimposing but makes up for it with his charisma and intelligence. His surname is only ever used in non-canon side stories included in the special issues.

Kimiko Yamanoue

A female tengu who was summoned by Jerry. She fell in love with him at first sight and initiates an awkward courtship that lasts the good part of two issues before the two are engaged to be married. As a summoned creature, her first appearance gets a splash page with her name written in the language of the country of her origin and her creature type with a small description of her role in legends. Her name was written in kanji translating to "Noble Child of the Scarlet Mountain".

Cory Heissman/Cordrus

Abducted by Doctor Moreau while on a Monster Island safari, Cory Heissman was transformed into an ant manimal before Menajelio no Yuutsu takes place. He is sent to investigate a crashed alien transport and gets infected with a sentient cordyceps fungus that calls itself Veldrus. He eventually overpowers Veldrus's will and their personalities merge to create Cordrus. While originally an easygoing slacker type, Veldrus's influence has sparked a fiery passion within him.

Contest Characters

Sarah Handannahaf/The Jaguannybat

A friend of Sheila's who is often seen at parties hosted by the latter. A humanoid chimera created by an African sorcerer residing somewhere in the Sahara desert, though her backstory never receives much detail. The creatures that went into her creation are a jaguar, an iguana, and a fruit bat with Sheila often joking that she also got bits of a rabbit's personality judging by her behavior. She seems to have been created to add more fanservice to the series, as in nearly all of her appearances she is seen either holding a phallic object in a suggestive manner or draping herself over any unoccupied character - sometimes shifting from one back to another between panels. Created by the winner of the first "Create-a-character contest" in 2007.

S'gaan Riley/The Sahagin

An alien from Jupiter's moon, Europa. An aquatic, finned humanoid, she has to wear a special suit provided by Emperor Keltorus to survive Earth's temperatures and atmosphere in the issues following her first appearance, however, this limitation is removed with the aid of Sheila and Jerry's magical abilities. Created by the winner of the second "Create-a-character contest", also in 2007. Notably, she appeared way back in issue #21 as an unnamed, unspeaking background hero waiting in line for hero registration.

Species

Ceucec

Status: Stable The Ceucec(pronounced 'coch' in the anime) are an elf-like species designed by an unknown, possibly extinct, race for the purpose of exploring space. Created to be economical and nigh expendable, they boast dense body tissues with very few body cavities, only have to eat a few bites once per week(with the rest of their nutrients being metabolized from radiation), have extreme long-range sight, and mental processing power that rivals most supercomputers. Almost completely adapted for existence in space, the Ceucec boast a natural affinity towards gracefulness, a sort of telekinetic propulsion in zero-gravity, and eyes that can pick up ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. A monogendered species, Ceucec reproduce pseudosexually through parthenogenesis - while sexual behavior is required to trigger reproduction, the genetic material comes entirely from one parent. Gestation is quick, with the parent laying a single egg after three to four weeks, and the egg hatching two to three months after that. The child is essentially a complete clone of the parent and grows to physical maturity within sixteen months of her birth before her growth tapers off and eventually stops completely. As the Ceucec organize themselves into large communes, sharing workloads equally, childrearing is of course done by the community, with the children being constantly shifted about from home to home to learn everything she needs to fill the most-required role in Ceucec society.

Cameos

Starting in issue 102, Yuki Hayashiro has begun accepting names of heroes willing to make cameo appearances in her comic. So far, she only has a winged reptilian superheroine named Wyvern, signing an autograph for a kid outside of Carl's Gym. Fellow hero Extractor has shown up sleeping on Yuki's couch in Menagerie 63.

Menajelio no Yuutsu

While the series focuses mostly on the romantic lives of the characters, it isn't without its action scenes and departures from the norm. On several occasions, Menagerie and crew have run into trouble.

Year One

Issues Released: 1-10, Specials 1-2

The series' first issue was released in January of 2002 and starts off in Jerry's freshman year of college. Over the first year, Jerry is established as a nice guy who tries to remain aloof to stay out of trouble, and the main focus is Jerry's friends trying to get him to come out of his shell. They eventually succeed and invite him to a drinking party where he meets Sheila, one of the professors who enjoys mingling with the student body and is primarily attracted to the 'bad boy' archetype. Jerry is attracted to her, yet she won't give him the time of day. Until, that is, Jerry becomes sufficiently drunk to accept a dare to break into the Mystical Arts storeroom and read aloud the first book he takes off the shelf, which results in him summoning a dragon and destroying a portion of the school campus. Were this a series based in humor, Jerry likely wouldn't have gotten expelled. Jerry feels minimal guilt over the destruction, which sparks Sheila's interest in him.

The last three issues of the year revolve around Jerry moving in with Sheila as he tries to find a new place to live, since he fears his parents who are described by him as "Heartless people who would want nothing to do with a son expelled from college". There are also intermittent cuts to an Overlord Keltorus who is established as the series' primary antagonist and the Emperor of the Vandolian Star Empire, an empire built up of numerous warlike alien races who were conquered by the Vandolians, the race to which Overlord Keltorus belongs.

Year Two

Issues Released: 11-20, Specials 3-5

Issue #11 was released on January of 2003. There is a several-month skip where Jerry settled in with Sheila, who is revealed to actually be the Mystical Arts professor - specifically Summoning. Issues 11 through 15 are generally uneventful, focusing more on detailing Jerry and Sheila's life together, with Sheila learning that Jerry actually isn't the 'bad boy' sort she lusts after but eventually growing to like Jerry as something more than a friend.

Starting in issue 16, Sheila begins tutoring Jerry on basic summoning spells, with him picking it up with ease. In issue 18, Jerry summons a female Tengu - a Japanese wind spirit - which is instantly smitten with Jerry. Jerry, at heart a nice guy, gives her a chance and an awkward romance ensues, spanning the last two issues of the year, establishing Kimiko as a bold, assertive woman. The December issue ends on the morning after Jerry and Kimiko's first sexual encounter. A bit of full frontal nudity earned it an "adults only" sticker, though an alternate, toned-down version for the younger audiences was released which cut to an outside shot overlaid with narrative at the mistletoe scene immediately preceding the aforementioned encounter.

Year Three

Issues Released: 21-30, Specials 6 and 7

Year Three starts off in February of 2004 with issue #21, where Kimiko urges Jerry to join her in registering to become superheroes. Jerry reluctantly agrees and, with Sheila's help, designs his costume based off of one of his favorite heroes, the Crimson Thaumaturge. Jerry assumes the hero identity of Menagerie while Kimiko creates a name which translates into The Angel of Mount Fuji, and together they rise in power rather quickly over the course of several mini-adventures spanning issues 22 through 27.

Issue 28 focuses entirely on Cory, an ant manimal sent by Doctor Moreau to investigate a crashed alien ship. The first three-quarters of the issue consist of flashbacks Cory's past as an average person who saved up for a safari vacation to Monster Island and was subsequently captured and mutated. In the final quarter, Cory finally reaches the crashed alien ship only to find it manned by Qularr infested with some sort of parasitic fungus with the issue ending abruptly after Cory gets blasted with a puff of spores.

In Issue 29 and 30, Jerry and Kimiko are called to an emergency mission to Monster Island where a nameless supervillain is trying to construct an unknown weapon of mass destruction. However, when Jerry and Kimiko arrive on the scene, they find that Monster Island is completely deserted, with all of the larger creatures dead in completely illogical positions, each corpse infested with the alien fungus from issue 28. Jerry and Kimiko search the island, with cuts to Cory in an unknown location fighting against a man composed of nothing more than a cloud of spores who calls himself Valdrus. Cory's fight ends with his surrender and Jerry finding what appears to be Cory's corpse with the alien fungus growing out of it. As Jerry turns to call Kimiko to him, Cory's corpse rises from its position and raises the corpses of the other creatures of the island to try and kill the couple, introducing itself as Valdrus as it does so. The final two pages of issue 30 consist of a splash page detailing a bird's-eye view of Monster Island, with Valdrus' army of undead beasts concentrated near the center of the island, at the base of the volcano. It would be nearly an entire year before this story arc gets finished.

Year Four

Issues Released: 31-39, Specials 8-10

Year Four starts with Issue 31, released in January of 2005. The entire year focuses entirely on Overlord Keltorus and the forming of the Vandolian Star Empire with each issue developing the various species, with no attention paid to anything happening on earth aside from the three special issues. Keltorus is revealed to be a reasonable sort who approaches with diplomacy and ambassadors first. The Vandolians themselves are portrayed as a culture that has elevated tactics to a sort of art form, with games like chess as the preferred pastime. There are seven races total in the Vandolian Star Empire, and each race gets at least one full issue. To prevent spoilers, all of the non-extinct aliens are drawn in silhouette before their debut.

Issue 32 focuses on the recruitment of the Telvaros, an insectoid hive mind. This was the easiest addition to the Star Empire, with Keltorus approaching the Telvaros, stating his intentions plainly - to unify all of the races of the various galaxies, creating a utopia by force if necessary. Naturally, the Telvaros saw this as a reasonable goal and joined, placing its fearless military power at Keltorus' disposal.

Issue 33 focuses on the conquest of Britaxia, a frigid planet populated by a prideful, low-tech furry humanoid race that had embraced instinct. Keltorus approached these and once again plainly stated his intention, throwing in an offer to civilize the planet of Britaxia, bringing their technology level up to that of the Vandolians. Insisting on using their own strength to advance, the Britaxians attacked Keltorus and his army and were rebuffed. With explicit intention to provoke the Britaxians and demonstrate their superior technology, the Vandolians began to colonize the planet, never initiating a battle and always offering the chance to join the empire. After twenty years and millions of deaths, the Britaxians finally joined the empire and were educated, treated as equals to the Vandolians.

Issue 34 focuses on the conquest of the Seltus, populated by a warlike race of blue-skinned humanoids with no civilization to speak of. When Keltorus approached, they didn't give him a chance to make his offer before mindlessly rushing on him with intent to kill. Keltorus' bodyguards made quick work of the Seltus and a search of the planet was conducted. No signs of civilization were found and the planet was colonized, populated by a mixture of Vandolians and Britaxians with the Telvaros installed as security.

Issue 35 focuses on the recruitment of another hive mind. A reptilian entity known as Vellian which spanned two planets and each of their seven moons. Keltorus approached this one like the rest and a fourth race was added, with contact between Vellian and Telvaros made so that the latter could learn to extend its will beyond a single planet.

Issue 36 was the Lambardians' turn, a race consisting of sapient masses of psionic energies that inhabited corpses to maintain their existence. Lambardian culture considers taking another's body without permission to be the ultimate taboo, and since they are unable to repair lethal wounds, those that sport such injuries are ostracized. Again, Keltorus approached with his vision of utopia and threw in an offer to use his technology to grow artificial bodies for the Lambardians, and again a race was added to the empire with another planet colonized.

Issues 37 and 38 are some of the most violent books in the series, where Keltorus encountered a warlike, xenophobic race that consisted of mute chameleon-like shapeshifters with technology rivaling the Vandolians'. Keltorus was captured by an elite squad of the aliens and tortured as a spy while an elite detachment of his imperial guard was sent to find him, but were picked off one by one until the entire squad was dead. Eventually, the Vandolians launch an all-out assault on the unnamed race and end up completely eradicating them down to the last man, thanks to the Lambardians' ability to sense thoughts. As before, the planet is populated and rather than waste the corpses of the fallen, the Lambardians are allowed to possess them - as the Vandolians are the ones that did the actual killing, the deceased belonged to them by right of conquest.

Issue 39 takes place within Earth's solar system, revolving around the recruitment of a race native to Jupiter's sixth moon, Europa: an aquatic race of androgynous, finned humanoids with an entire earth-level civilization in the watery depths beneath the moon's frozen shell. This race doesn't actually show up until halfway through the issue, and never actually gets named, with the Vandolians surveying the surface before discovering that Europa is comprised mostly of fluid. The native race couldn't even conceptualize anything beyond the surface of their moon, and so the Vandolians' arrival was met with panic. Keltorus sent the telepathic Lambardians in to communicate on his behalf and the Vandolian Star Empire was finally fleshed out to Yuki Hayashiro's liking.

Year Five

Issues Released: 40-50, Special 11

Issue 40 was released in February of 2006 and picks up the story of Jerry and Kimiko where issue 30 left off.

Year Six and Onward

Issues Released: 51-102, Specials 12-23

Nearly a year after Menagerie and Kimiko successfully destroyed the alien infesting Monster Island, Keltorus reached earth. His fleet simply contained the token amount of Earth's orbital defenses in a projected shield, while they landed a shuttle unharmed at the UN Building in New York City. The various countries' leaders were more than willing to hear Keltorus out, but a number rejected his offer. He settled in their countries anyway, which some saw as an act of war. They quickly changed their minds after their initial bombing runs were met with ground troops who did the same amount of damage and quickly subdue any superheroes who try to come to the humans' aid. This is the first time that the readers are able to see the Vandolian Star Empire's military in action, using a number of small, personal shield drones that can shrug off tank shells and bombing runs with ease, simple-looking hand-held energy weapons that can bring down a wall, and telepathic suggestions to remove noncombatants from the field. Eventually, Keltorus moves on from earth, taking a handful of volunteers to travel the stars, while leaving a sizeable army behind to assist with rebuilding and protecting Earth, most notably one of the Europan inhabitants - S'Gaan Riley, AKA Sahagin - whom Menagerie and friends take on as a sort of project, intending to create a sort of magical translator. A full year later, Menagerie makes a magical breakthrough that allows Sahagin to communicate with humans as well as survive outside of its power armor for up to a full day. From issue 74 onward, the series changed gears and started to focus more on the day-to-day lives of the characters rather than purely heroic exploits, with a number of special issues featuring erotic stories set in the Menajelio universe.

Other Series

Thanks to recent events leading to the real Menagerie's heroics being put on an indefinite hiatus, Yuki Hayashiro has had plenty of time to devote to side projects.

Menagerie 63

As of the beginning of March 2013, Yuki Hayashiro has begun working on a reboot of the Menajelio series, titled Menagerie 63. Thus far, it's planned to follow the exploits of the real Menagerie and has been announced on the official Menajelio website as "An embellished slice-of-life that's guaranteed to twist the boundaries of reality and fiction". Currently, the first issue of Menagerie 63 is available via digital purchase, but physical copies are expected to begin hitting physical shelves in May. "Issue Zero" starts off in the middle of a mission, with Menagerie investigating a bit of alien piracy in Westside that erupts into a fierce battle, where she works alongside a male version of herself specifically summoned from Babylon(establishing that the original series is a work of fiction in this iteration), and eventually equipping a personal mecha designed to gather samples of matter from stars. Curiously, this happened in the real world the very same hour that Issue Zero was made available.

Issue 1

With the official launch of Menagerie 63 in May, the series details Menagerie's personal history a bit. Perhaps surprisingly, Candice Alexandra had a rather undramatic home life with loving parents. She attended an unnamed high school in Florida and was depicted as a nerdy sort with more interest in drawing than interacting with other students. While she was the target of bullies, her lack of reaction ensured that her later years went by rather smoothly. Candice graduated from high school, and auditioned for a televised contest titled "So You Want To Be An Artist", where contestants would pitch a comic book idea, then live for a few months as their main protagonist. Candice pitched "Menajelio no Yuutsu" - which was later retitled to just "Menagerie" - and made it all the way to second place. However, a publisher liked the idea and picked it up shortly after the show aired.

Blood Ties

Intended to be a one-shot book before the primary character popped up in her drawing room, this series has been adapted into a sort of webcomic that follows the events between Captain Mayara's fateful duel with her commander and her eventual transportation into the real world. Thus far, only the basic layout and the beginnings of what promises to be a long story arc are up on the site.

It begins with typical fantasy-culture exposition: Taking place in an alternate dimension where no extinction events shaped evolution, humanity exists in isolated settlements scattered throughout jungles and deserts across the planet. The plains and mountains are specifically stated to be uninhabitable, with plains being too open for safety, and mountains lacking in building materials; the deserts are habitable only by certain tribes that have mastered agriculture, which is considered a waste of time as it attracts the gigantic reptilian wildlife in the more fertile areas. Blood takes a major role in human life on this planet, being revered as some sort of divine gift, so much so that anyone who so much as tries to stop themselves from bleeding out becomes a social pariah, placed into a caste that acts as surgeons through a sort of religious loophole - since they've already crossed the point of no return, they might as well help keep others from doing so.

With the rough premise taken care of, the story begins. It opens with Captain Mayara and her Commander facing off in a large jungle arena bearing Mayan architecture, each of them wearing massive armor constructed from chainmail, leather, and large bone plates, wielding what's best described as a ten-foot-long ninja-to. In the first attack, Mayara lodges her blade in the ground and her Commander shatters it with a hip check, unknowingly lodging a shard in his legguard's articulation point - an enchantment placed upon a hunter's weapon; if the blade gets lodged in something, a certain gesture will shatter the blade, and the fragments will worm their way towards the enemy's closest vital points.

Mayara continues fighting her commander with the broken hilt, disarming him and triggering a mindless berserker fury in him. He strikes her head with enough force to shatter her helmet, knocking the both of them away with magical backlash from the destroyed armor. Here, Mayara panics and forgets that she's fighting a human, trying to retreat to higher ground and tire him out as hunters typically do. However, she forgot that the commander had magical ability - instead of giving chase, he just summons her, dropping her to the ground in front of her and preparing a massive finishing spell. To counter this, Mayara lifts her foot and kicks her commander squarely in the damaged legplate. Unfortunately, this drives the lodged blade shard into a vital artery and the mana he gathered for the spell releases in a powerful shockwave that knocks the both of them unconscious for several minutes - long enough for the commander to bleed to death.

Thanks to her culture's unique religious taboos, Captain Mayara was forced to wait until her commander's blood dried before she was even able to approach his body to see what sort of help he needed - by then it was too late. After the medics take the commander's corpse away for burial, Mayara decides to attempt to find a way to resurrect him. She picks up a handful of bloody dirt that hasn't dried yet and paints a symbol of repentance on her breastplate with it, striking out into the jungle while her people watch in reverent silence - she was already facing exile for slaying another human, it's the least she can do to try to make reparations.