449 Beach Stars II
That stereotype about nerds being pervs really does have some basis.
When it comes overt showing of panties and boobies, only few can resist...
And all Alexander had to do was do some fanservice.
When in truth, he just wanted to lure in more female neophytes into the world of comic books and nerd-hood.
Why else was he racking up female-led properties like Metroid and Wonder Drew?
Essentially, he's looking to recapture the girl fever brought about by a mysterious feeling called love... but it's actually more on 'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love'.
Not long is the day when beautiful girls in costumes are plentiful at conventions.
But, who was he kidding?
Of course, he's in it to profit off of horniness. Increasing the female market demographic is just second.
An abundance of lady cosplayers is a by-product at best.
Also, Alexander just didn't have that much faith in Beach Stars as a whole.
It's obscure as it is... and the only reason he got around to reading it was because he was scoring on some busty beach volleyball babes... both on the court and on the bed.
Not that a manga is proper research material, but it sure beats reading rule books.
Either way, the manga is alright... but even the mangaka was outright weaponizing the "perks" of the female characters.
To draw interest, stuff was drawn.
Panty panels after panty panels, that uncensored boob assault in chapter 9, and some more bouncy boobs.
There's even the inappropriate tension between Nanase Iruka and that male sensei figure... but that's something else entirely.
Maybe Masahiro Morio just has certain taboo ideas in mind.
Not that it was perpetuated but still, a much less taboo idea may have been passed to another.
Alexander didn't have evidence but certain Beach Star premise-s could be seen on another volleyball-ing manga that was published down the line.
That's not to say that shortie-underestimation was exclusive but Nanase Iruka and Hinata Shoyo were really same-same.
Which is also why he decided to plunder this one first and release it decades earlier than the other.
'Haikyu!!' will flourish any other way and through this, Beach Stars will have a far better shot... of course, with some plot corrections and surgical improvements.
Nana Little and Shiela Angel from 'Hayakawa Sanae' was just part of it.
There's that male teacher character, along the lines of Honda Ford from 'Kyosuke Honda', who is apparently quite attractive and becomes the beach volleyball club manager of the desperate girls that want to shift from normal volleyball.
All that had to be done was upgrade some of his parts in lieu of his car brand naming... or up-end some of his undesirable components, especially that aforementioned tension romance with a student, mostly.
On the opposite spectrum, there's the female teacher character, in the sense of being the girl's sensei in beach volleyball, for fun and intrigue. So, Rica Thames from 'Tokuno Ryoko', a tournament coordinator and former athlete with accolades. She's even a part of Top Gun: BVB's seeded players to go against.
A couple more people to go like Nana's eventual duo partner with orange hair. And other high school students cast to fill their little beach volleyball club... but they're nakama gals at best.
Also, aside from the big target rival with stinger serves, there are also other rivals to boot. Like a spiky-haired girl with a serve that allows her to control wherever the ball goes akin to some twister blade. A pseudo-martial artist and player who can enter the so-called "zone" at will. There's also characters that have spikes like halberds and cannons and a booby girl with a block that's akin to a spider trap.
All in all, the fanciful stuff is plentiful, to spice beach volleyball up.
And that's perks from the original Beach Stars and 'The!! Beach Stars'... which is what Beach Stars part II is called. Cause, it's a two-parter, apparently.
In any case, Beach Stars is really just a diamond in the rough... or a gem obscured in the sand...
Or truly just an up-and-coming star... in the beach volleyball genre. Not that there's much to compare.
All in all, with both Top Gun: BVB and Beach Stars... Alexander achieved what he wanted to achieve.
Which is to tackle sports some more. In both video game development and comic publishing.
Beach volleyball was just as good as any, in his opinion.
Though, he's still on the fence about what sport was he going to tackle next...
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Regardless... whatever calculated decision he makes, it would be quite impactful to others.
For the most part, it left many people happy. Even expectant of what's next.
The possibility of Creed Comics and Creed Games dabbling in other sports seemed much higher now.
More than anything else, that's progress. Especially when it seems that their favorite comic creator was back on track, barring that gap last month.
Granted, Alexander Creed's decisions also left some in shambles.
One of them is surprisingly Fanboy himself.
He didn't have much contradictory thoughts on that 17th game that he just bought nor did have much to duke towards more nuclear 18th.
But, Beach Stars did trigger a repressed memory of his.
As a close-by neighbor of ye olde Creed Store, how could he not know what said store had previously sold?
Yes, they sold comics but that obviously wasn't what his parents bought there when they shopped at the place for the first time.
Something they failed to hide under the Batman comics they bought for him.
Maybe his whole comic book hoarding persona was so that he could bury that trauma... but Fanboy didn't even want to think about it anymore.
Though, a doubt persisted in his mind...
Contrary to others, to him, Creed seems to be on track to regress. To their olde ways. Of sexy material selling, of course.
But that's just his tiny gripe as it didn't stop him from ogling at the panties and boobs.
Trying to not associate such perversion with whatever his dad and mom do in their spare time.
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As for the thoughts of other people... well, an old man named Stan Lee was more vocal in saying. "So... even volleyball, huh?"
Neither laughing nor crying, but the noticeable shiver in his wrinkles attests to how he's processing it all.
"It's beach volleyball, actually." Jim Shooter said, affirming. "But yes... even that."
"And there's more where that came from." Something really worried the editor-in-chief of Marvel.
Rather fortunately or fortunately, they are where they are now.
Hopefully, that's enough for them to survive, especially when the industry was going to be nuked with a whole lot more.
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Typically, other movers in the comic publishing world scrambled as well.
Even if sports comic books aren't exactly that revolutionary in their domain... with the likes of All Sports Comics, 'It's Only a Game', and Alf Tupper...
Yet with Creed dabbling in it... there's bound to be some revolution coming. Most probably.
So, a scramble it is. To get in on the trend.
Obviously, not as antagonistic as before, given what happened just recently.
Perhaps the only one who could go down that route was DC... maybe news about their newest beach volley-balling hero would come along... soon...
Granted, DC was actually internally fussing about already.
After all, they're on a quest for peace.
Not for some semblance of peace with their old-new giant comic-booking rival, but actually their own peace of mind.
With The Quest for Peace coming along... they're really more than panicked with the devastation that the so-called Nuclear Man would wreak.
For all they care, that's a more nuclear problem for them to deal with than beach stars and Creed's own nuking situation.
