ZYSRGV
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- Nov 24, 2021
Hello, everyone! Many of you are probably familiar with this guy already, and if not, you should be. He’s one of the biggest names out there that are semi-regularly producing zako doujins, which is admittedly a small niche, but noteworthy nonetheless. Please keep in mind that his work is also pretty gory, and that extends to some of the samples I'll be posting here. So if you’re sensitive to that, turn back now. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.
I once did a deep dive on this guy that may have gone a little too deep, and discovered that he used to publish a webtoon about a very angry magical girl. It’s all in Korean, and under a different pen name, AND doesn’t really seem to be zako-focused, so it's really just a footnote here.
However, as BeastAnime, the man has been active on Pixiv as early as 2010. Honestly, a lot of his work from this era is very rough, unfinished, or both. Still, I do think it’s interesting and getting to see this stuff for the first time was a major factor in me deciding to make a Pixiv account and use the site regularly. Here’s some highlights:
Up until now, I haven’t really talked about why I think this guy is important enough to get his own thread, or even why I like him. This is a big reason. Prey Ship was BA’s first major project, and one that would be posted to multiple sites, including the now-defunct Sexy Amazons where I first discovered it. It was also crowdfunded - on IndieGoGo, of all places! Of course, this was back in 2014, when crowdfunding was a novel concept and nobody was entirely sure what they could get away with and where yet.
So let’s talk about the work itself. In my opinion, it’s a masterpiece. The uniforms may be impractical, but they strike a balance between sexy and cute, which is far more important. The anime artstyle contrasts with ugly monsters and gratuitous gore to form a weird mix of emotions. On one hand, BeastAnime is really good at drawing death scenes that are really hot. On the other, there’s no hero/heroine to root for, no reason to wish violence upon the zako beyond the sake of violence. And there’s something freeing about that, ironically. I like that even though the girls are hopelessly outmatched, and the whole point is to watch them get slaughtered, there’s nothing stopping me from hoping against hope that they'll survive anyway. Maybe I’m just too much of a simp by nature, but I still feel bad watching zako die, no matter how much I enjoy it.
Back to Prey Ship, there’s a lot of variety on display. Girls get tentacled, chomped on, decapitated, swallowed whole, sliced apart… you get the idea. The body count is easily in the dozens. The zako themselves, while rarely getting a chance to show any personality or emotion beyond abject terror, do get some fun moments. There’s a couple having sex at the beginning that get rudely interrupted (probably the first lesbian scene I’d ever seen, if you can believe it), one girl showing up late and watching helplessly as her CO gets violated in a corridor full of corpses, the captain mounting her futile last stand towards the end… so many little details to appreciate. The ending is pretty bleak, but that’s gonna be a recurring theme here. This was what sent me down the zako rabbithole, so I’m a little biased, but even though the art isn’t on par with later works I still think it’s one of his best. If you can handle gore, I can’t recommend this enough. If you can’t, I’m not sure I can recommend anything else.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
This doujin came out shortly after Prey Ship, and to be honest, it’s not my favorite. Even putting aside my bias against dicks, I don’t like the androgynous design of the protagonist. The zako are all blondes, making them feel more generic. There’s a fairly low body count (by BA standards, at any rate), and more rape/necro shenanigans. If that sounds like it might be up your alley, feel free to give it a try, but IMO you won’t be missing out on much otherwise.
Verdict: Not Recommended
Ah yes, this one. One of the more popular works, to be sure. Features some kind of zombie bioweapon that goes haywire and slaughters the organization controlling him… with his dick. Noteworthy for the black-and-white art, copious amounts of henchwomen in suits, and over-the-top cumtastic gore. Great showcase of the progress Beast made in-between Prey Ship and the rest of his work.
As for my personal opinion, well… it’s a little mixed. I don’t mind it being black-and-white, since the art is still very high quality. It just comes back to me not liking dicks, honestly. Because that’s how the main guy fights! His dick is arguably a more important character than the entire rest of his body. Heck, talking about him like he IS a character is a little weird, because he’s more like a force of nature. He’s super-fast, and his dick is harder than diamond, capable of penetrating anything (or anyone, as the zako find out). Credit where it’s due, BeastAnime gets very creative with how this plays out… and I’ll leave it at that.
The zako are nice, though. We have a fun array of minibosses: There’s the head maid at the beginning who damages the zombie’s control mechanism, indirectly causing the ensuing massacre. Then there’s a girl with braided twintails who’s skilled enough to scratch him, and my personal favorite, the nurse who temporarily suppresses him and tries to reinstate the control mechanism. She certainly gets the most… unique death. Overall, while not my exact cup of tea, I think it’s nonetheless a safe bet for the average zako enjoyer.
Verdict: Recommended
Now here’s something you might be less familiar with. You see, around 2015, BA briefly teased working on this series on Pixiv, and after that? Nothing. Silence, for a good year or two.
Except it turned out, the whole time, he had been publishing an actual goddamn Korean webtoon. On the same site as Freezing, if you’d believe it. The premise is that the most powerful man in the world has died, and as part of his will, all of his heirs and their various armies of clone maids must participate in a battle royale in a forest filled with monsters. Last man standing inherits everything.
Our protagonist, Tanya Minigunner (not Minigerner, do not believe the translation’s lies), is a mercenary hired by one of the weakest factions, since they simply don’t have enough manpower otherwise. She’s rude, violent, and angry - not great maid material, in other words. Don’t be fooled, though, she’s not a complete jerk. The head maid responsible for hiring her is Iris, an elegant, mature woman who acts as Tanya’s narrative foil. Their master is Oliver, a young man who acts more like moral support than an actual leader. Over the course of the webtoon, Tanya has to not only fight off monsters and rival maids, but also learn how to bond with her team in spite of her attitude.
Now you might be noticing that I’m doing a lot of plot summary and not a lot of commentary on what usually matters in zako doujins, like the quality of the outfits or how hot the death scenes are. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not lacking in either department, but that’s because this is an honest-to-god example of porn with plot. Turns out, Beast is great at coming up with likable characters when he lets them live long enough. Tanya plays the ever-irritable straight woman thrust into a magical realm, Iris has some great moments showing off her hidden ruthless side, Tanya eventually gets a green-haired best friend who can see right through her, etc. Here, the characters’ lifespans are generally measured in chapters rather than panels. There’s a sadistic freak who hates women, and he’s actually one of the antagonists! Perish the thought. In summary, while Maid Warfare never so much ended as it got axed, and only a third of it has been translated into English, and even then that translation starts off pretty rough, it’s still one of my favorite zako works. Perhaps ever. This is the first thing I’ve seen by Beast that made me go “Huh, maybe he actually has a soul.” He’s easily one of the more ruthless artists in this genre, so when he adds just a teensy bit of restraint to the formula? Peak zako fiction is achieved. A big part of my motivation in making this thread was getting the chance to gush about this specific webtoon, because it really feels like it flew under the radar. Granted, although I love it because of its idiosyncrasies, I don’t think it’ll resonate with everyone. I like that the text and the subtext are at odds about whether or not zako count as people, and that this feels like a war film where everything else on this list better resembles a slasher movie. But I’m hugely biased, and you should not necessarily expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this paragraph to the bowtie zako. In the very first fight, Tanya saves her life and she immediately develops a crush as a result. Classic damsel in distress scenario, but not really something you see happen between zako. Afterwards, she approaches Tanya to share her rations. She attempts to confess, but can’t work up the nerve, so she just kisses Tanya and runs off. Into the sunset. Never to be seen again. There is no followup panel of her getting shot in the head to signal the start of an ambush in Ba Sing Se. No but seriously this was so cute??? How dare BeastAnime dangle the prospect of wholesome zako yuri right in front of my face like this, only to so swiftly yank it away? I have never been so emotionally devastated by a zako’s death before or since.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
Honestly, this has the look and feel of a filler project. The zako, aside from the two researchers at the beginning, are too copy-and-paste for my liking when BA usually nails that balance between conformity and individuality. This is “we have Code QF at home” levels of underwhelming. If you’re deadset on completing your collection, go ahead and buy it, but out of everything listed here it’s easily the most skippable.
Verdict: Not Recommended
I did not originally think to talk about this one, because it’s different from all the other doujins. You see, they have actual plots centered around one specific zako faction. Here, what you’re getting is a bunch of full-page illustrations of zako getting brutally murdered with no attempt at an overarching story to tie things together. There’s plenty of different kinds of zako on display - clone soldiers, nazis, nuns, maids, etc. Although it sounds like more filler, the artwork is high-quality enough to justify its existence IMO. Think of this as a highlight reel that exemplifies the usual concepts and aesthetics you’re gonna see in the rest of BeastAnime’s body of work.
Verdict: Recommended
A death row inmate kills and rapes a bunch of policewomen (as well as a nun and a doctor) as part of his great escape. Apparently this is supposed to reference a manga called Baki the Grappler, but I have no idea how faithful it is to the source material. Honestly, not really my style, but you’re still getting the quality artwork you’d expect from Beast. The “hero” is completely overpowered, it’s fairly short, and there’s a lot of rape. I don’t think any of this is a dealbreaker for most of us, but it’s worth knowing what you’re getting into. If Maid Warfare’s appeal is that it’s a much less traditional narrative centered around zako themselves, this one takes the exact opposite approach of being a very blunt “guy ruthlessly overpowers and dominates a bunch of women” sex fantasy.
Verdict: Recommended
The longest-running project, and in many ways his most ambitious. Based on a monster movie called Deep Rising, which is about a group of mercenaries that attempt to hijack a cruise ship, only to find it ravaged by a sea monster.
BA’s version is slightly different. Here, a smuggler is hired by a researcher and her bodyguards to transport them with some valuable cargo across the ocean, only to run afoul of White Lilith, a misandrist terrorist group. They are swiftly executed, with the exception of the protagonist and sole male character, because one of the zako captains was too horny to let a good dick go to waste. Meanwhile, their cargo turns out to be some kind of tentacle monster, which has just escaped from its confines…
The premise doesn’t do it justice, though. In fact, the biggest flaw this series has is probably its slow start. Hardly anyone dies in part one, and the second mostly focuses on the dude escaping and killing some zako along the way. Parts three and four get more violent, as the monster quickly outpaces the dude’s body count, along with introducing a couple more characters who don’t instantly die. Parts 5 and 6, though? Masterpieces. Suffice it to say, if you were hoping for the dude and the zako to team up against the monster, you’ll get all that and more. It’s a rather unique scenario, even if it parallels the source material. The main cast all have distinct designs and appeal, and the ending is too good to spoil. This is the first doujin that takes what BeastAnime learned from Maid Warfare, and applies it to his usual formula. And the result is a modern classic with universal appeal to anyone in this scene who can stomach the gore. If I had a nickel for every piece of Rising Dark fanart I saw, I’d have like five nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but that I’d have any at all is a big testament to its quality.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
And with that, we’re just about caught up with the finished releases! I didn’t spend much time talking about where you can get this stuff (legally, that is), but I used to make purchases through Gumroad, which… isn’t an option anymore, sadly. I’ll be sure to amend this thread with proper resources on that front soon enough, but I think this post is long enough as-is. Speaking of which, feel free to use this thread to talk about your opinions on any BeastAnime works, your favorite zako, your favorite deaths, etc. I’m sure there’ll be plenty to discuss.
Pre-Prey Ship
I once did a deep dive on this guy that may have gone a little too deep, and discovered that he used to publish a webtoon about a very angry magical girl. It’s all in Korean, and under a different pen name, AND doesn’t really seem to be zako-focused, so it's really just a footnote here.
However, as BeastAnime, the man has been active on Pixiv as early as 2010. Honestly, a lot of his work from this era is very rough, unfinished, or both. Still, I do think it’s interesting and getting to see this stuff for the first time was a major factor in me deciding to make a Pixiv account and use the site regularly. Here’s some highlights:
Prey Ship
Up until now, I haven’t really talked about why I think this guy is important enough to get his own thread, or even why I like him. This is a big reason. Prey Ship was BA’s first major project, and one that would be posted to multiple sites, including the now-defunct Sexy Amazons where I first discovered it. It was also crowdfunded - on IndieGoGo, of all places! Of course, this was back in 2014, when crowdfunding was a novel concept and nobody was entirely sure what they could get away with and where yet.
So let’s talk about the work itself. In my opinion, it’s a masterpiece. The uniforms may be impractical, but they strike a balance between sexy and cute, which is far more important. The anime artstyle contrasts with ugly monsters and gratuitous gore to form a weird mix of emotions. On one hand, BeastAnime is really good at drawing death scenes that are really hot. On the other, there’s no hero/heroine to root for, no reason to wish violence upon the zako beyond the sake of violence. And there’s something freeing about that, ironically. I like that even though the girls are hopelessly outmatched, and the whole point is to watch them get slaughtered, there’s nothing stopping me from hoping against hope that they'll survive anyway. Maybe I’m just too much of a simp by nature, but I still feel bad watching zako die, no matter how much I enjoy it.
Back to Prey Ship, there’s a lot of variety on display. Girls get tentacled, chomped on, decapitated, swallowed whole, sliced apart… you get the idea. The body count is easily in the dozens. The zako themselves, while rarely getting a chance to show any personality or emotion beyond abject terror, do get some fun moments. There’s a couple having sex at the beginning that get rudely interrupted (probably the first lesbian scene I’d ever seen, if you can believe it), one girl showing up late and watching helplessly as her CO gets violated in a corridor full of corpses, the captain mounting her futile last stand towards the end… so many little details to appreciate. The ending is pretty bleak, but that’s gonna be a recurring theme here. This was what sent me down the zako rabbithole, so I’m a little biased, but even though the art isn’t on par with later works I still think it’s one of his best. If you can handle gore, I can’t recommend this enough. If you can’t, I’m not sure I can recommend anything else.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
Head Hunting
This doujin came out shortly after Prey Ship, and to be honest, it’s not my favorite. Even putting aside my bias against dicks, I don’t like the androgynous design of the protagonist. The zako are all blondes, making them feel more generic. There’s a fairly low body count (by BA standards, at any rate), and more rape/necro shenanigans. If that sounds like it might be up your alley, feel free to give it a try, but IMO you won’t be missing out on much otherwise.
Verdict: Not Recommended
Code QF
Ah yes, this one. One of the more popular works, to be sure. Features some kind of zombie bioweapon that goes haywire and slaughters the organization controlling him… with his dick. Noteworthy for the black-and-white art, copious amounts of henchwomen in suits, and over-the-top cumtastic gore. Great showcase of the progress Beast made in-between Prey Ship and the rest of his work.
As for my personal opinion, well… it’s a little mixed. I don’t mind it being black-and-white, since the art is still very high quality. It just comes back to me not liking dicks, honestly. Because that’s how the main guy fights! His dick is arguably a more important character than the entire rest of his body. Heck, talking about him like he IS a character is a little weird, because he’s more like a force of nature. He’s super-fast, and his dick is harder than diamond, capable of penetrating anything (or anyone, as the zako find out). Credit where it’s due, BeastAnime gets very creative with how this plays out… and I’ll leave it at that.
The zako are nice, though. We have a fun array of minibosses: There’s the head maid at the beginning who damages the zombie’s control mechanism, indirectly causing the ensuing massacre. Then there’s a girl with braided twintails who’s skilled enough to scratch him, and my personal favorite, the nurse who temporarily suppresses him and tries to reinstate the control mechanism. She certainly gets the most… unique death. Overall, while not my exact cup of tea, I think it’s nonetheless a safe bet for the average zako enjoyer.
Verdict: Recommended
Brutal Garden: Maid Warfare
Now here’s something you might be less familiar with. You see, around 2015, BA briefly teased working on this series on Pixiv, and after that? Nothing. Silence, for a good year or two.
Except it turned out, the whole time, he had been publishing an actual goddamn Korean webtoon. On the same site as Freezing, if you’d believe it. The premise is that the most powerful man in the world has died, and as part of his will, all of his heirs and their various armies of clone maids must participate in a battle royale in a forest filled with monsters. Last man standing inherits everything.
Our protagonist, Tanya Minigunner (not Minigerner, do not believe the translation’s lies), is a mercenary hired by one of the weakest factions, since they simply don’t have enough manpower otherwise. She’s rude, violent, and angry - not great maid material, in other words. Don’t be fooled, though, she’s not a complete jerk. The head maid responsible for hiring her is Iris, an elegant, mature woman who acts as Tanya’s narrative foil. Their master is Oliver, a young man who acts more like moral support than an actual leader. Over the course of the webtoon, Tanya has to not only fight off monsters and rival maids, but also learn how to bond with her team in spite of her attitude.
Now you might be noticing that I’m doing a lot of plot summary and not a lot of commentary on what usually matters in zako doujins, like the quality of the outfits or how hot the death scenes are. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not lacking in either department, but that’s because this is an honest-to-god example of porn with plot. Turns out, Beast is great at coming up with likable characters when he lets them live long enough. Tanya plays the ever-irritable straight woman thrust into a magical realm, Iris has some great moments showing off her hidden ruthless side, Tanya eventually gets a green-haired best friend who can see right through her, etc. Here, the characters’ lifespans are generally measured in chapters rather than panels. There’s a sadistic freak who hates women, and he’s actually one of the antagonists! Perish the thought. In summary, while Maid Warfare never so much ended as it got axed, and only a third of it has been translated into English, and even then that translation starts off pretty rough, it’s still one of my favorite zako works. Perhaps ever. This is the first thing I’ve seen by Beast that made me go “Huh, maybe he actually has a soul.” He’s easily one of the more ruthless artists in this genre, so when he adds just a teensy bit of restraint to the formula? Peak zako fiction is achieved. A big part of my motivation in making this thread was getting the chance to gush about this specific webtoon, because it really feels like it flew under the radar. Granted, although I love it because of its idiosyncrasies, I don’t think it’ll resonate with everyone. I like that the text and the subtext are at odds about whether or not zako count as people, and that this feels like a war film where everything else on this list better resembles a slasher movie. But I’m hugely biased, and you should not necessarily expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this paragraph to the bowtie zako. In the very first fight, Tanya saves her life and she immediately develops a crush as a result. Classic damsel in distress scenario, but not really something you see happen between zako. Afterwards, she approaches Tanya to share her rations. She attempts to confess, but can’t work up the nerve, so she just kisses Tanya and runs off. Into the sunset. Never to be seen again. There is no followup panel of her getting shot in the head to signal the start of an ambush in Ba Sing Se. No but seriously this was so cute??? How dare BeastAnime dangle the prospect of wholesome zako yuri right in front of my face like this, only to so swiftly yank it away? I have never been so emotionally devastated by a zako’s death before or since.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
Biological Weapon
Honestly, this has the look and feel of a filler project. The zako, aside from the two researchers at the beginning, are too copy-and-paste for my liking when BA usually nails that balance between conformity and individuality. This is “we have Code QF at home” levels of underwhelming. If you’re deadset on completing your collection, go ahead and buy it, but out of everything listed here it’s easily the most skippable.
Verdict: Not Recommended
女戦闘員交戦記録 ユニット損失レポート (Female Combatant Engagement Record - Unit Loss Report)
I did not originally think to talk about this one, because it’s different from all the other doujins. You see, they have actual plots centered around one specific zako faction. Here, what you’re getting is a bunch of full-page illustrations of zako getting brutally murdered with no attempt at an overarching story to tie things together. There’s plenty of different kinds of zako on display - clone soldiers, nazis, nuns, maids, etc. Although it sounds like more filler, the artwork is high-quality enough to justify its existence IMO. Think of this as a highlight reel that exemplifies the usual concepts and aesthetics you’re gonna see in the rest of BeastAnime’s body of work.
Verdict: Recommended
Slaughterer Becky
A death row inmate kills and rapes a bunch of policewomen (as well as a nun and a doctor) as part of his great escape. Apparently this is supposed to reference a manga called Baki the Grappler, but I have no idea how faithful it is to the source material. Honestly, not really my style, but you’re still getting the quality artwork you’d expect from Beast. The “hero” is completely overpowered, it’s fairly short, and there’s a lot of rape. I don’t think any of this is a dealbreaker for most of us, but it’s worth knowing what you’re getting into. If Maid Warfare’s appeal is that it’s a much less traditional narrative centered around zako themselves, this one takes the exact opposite approach of being a very blunt “guy ruthlessly overpowers and dominates a bunch of women” sex fantasy.
Verdict: Recommended
Rising Dark
The longest-running project, and in many ways his most ambitious. Based on a monster movie called Deep Rising, which is about a group of mercenaries that attempt to hijack a cruise ship, only to find it ravaged by a sea monster.
BA’s version is slightly different. Here, a smuggler is hired by a researcher and her bodyguards to transport them with some valuable cargo across the ocean, only to run afoul of White Lilith, a misandrist terrorist group. They are swiftly executed, with the exception of the protagonist and sole male character, because one of the zako captains was too horny to let a good dick go to waste. Meanwhile, their cargo turns out to be some kind of tentacle monster, which has just escaped from its confines…
The premise doesn’t do it justice, though. In fact, the biggest flaw this series has is probably its slow start. Hardly anyone dies in part one, and the second mostly focuses on the dude escaping and killing some zako along the way. Parts three and four get more violent, as the monster quickly outpaces the dude’s body count, along with introducing a couple more characters who don’t instantly die. Parts 5 and 6, though? Masterpieces. Suffice it to say, if you were hoping for the dude and the zako to team up against the monster, you’ll get all that and more. It’s a rather unique scenario, even if it parallels the source material. The main cast all have distinct designs and appeal, and the ending is too good to spoil. This is the first doujin that takes what BeastAnime learned from Maid Warfare, and applies it to his usual formula. And the result is a modern classic with universal appeal to anyone in this scene who can stomach the gore. If I had a nickel for every piece of Rising Dark fanart I saw, I’d have like five nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but that I’d have any at all is a big testament to its quality.
Verdict: Strongly Recommended
Closing Thoughts & Future Expectations
And with that, we’re just about caught up with the finished releases! I didn’t spend much time talking about where you can get this stuff (legally, that is), but I used to make purchases through Gumroad, which… isn’t an option anymore, sadly. I’ll be sure to amend this thread with proper resources on that front soon enough, but I think this post is long enough as-is. Speaking of which, feel free to use this thread to talk about your opinions on any BeastAnime works, your favorite zako, your favorite deaths, etc. I’m sure there’ll be plenty to discuss.
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