By Vulture Staff
Leave it to The Assembly of Awe to take the already chaotic world of manga and make it even stranger. The six-man collective — equal parts myth, performance art, and cosmic inside joke — has dropped their first serialized manga: “Ketchup Man and the Condiment Crusaders.”
Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a caped hero made of ketchup, flanked by mustard twins, a mayo mystic, and a rogue packet of relish with questionable loyalties. Together, they face down Japan’s most iconic kaiju, Godzilla and Mothra, in a condiment-fueled clash that reads like Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams remade by Adult Swim.
So how did we get here? According to The Assembly of Awe, the answer depends on which member you ask.
- The Old Man in the Vest insists it began as a parable about “the red stain that never fades.” He delivers this with the gravitas of Homer reciting epic poetry, though it might just mean spaghetti sauce.
- The Guy Who Looks Like a Charcoal Drawing reportedly sketched the first panels in a single night, smudging every page until readers couldn’t tell whether Ketchup Man was triumphant or existentially exhausted.
- The Mischievous Street Wizard claims he hexed a bottle of Heinz 57, and the story “just poured out.” (No one’s sure if he’s joking.)
- The Gadabout Asian Man pulled influences from across the globe — Bollywood dance numbers between battles, Peruvian chili lore for the hot sauce subplot, and a Copenhagen food festival cameo.
- The Regular Guy in the Ball Cap said, simply: “I like hot dogs. Needed heroes for hot dogs.”
- The Actor with a Visor Sewn to His Head hasn’t broken character in interviews, speaking only in lines from the manga itself: “The squeeze is the destiny.”
The result? A fever dream of flavor and destruction. In issue #3, Ketchup Man attempts to reason with Godzilla, offering him a bottle of artisanal sriracha as a peace offering. Godzilla crushes it underfoot. The devastation fuels a condiment-powered mech battle drawn entirely in black-and-white crosshatch by the Charcoal Guy, with splashes of blood-red ketchup inked in by hand.
Critics are already calling it “absurdist genius.” Fans on Japanese message boards have dubbed it Shokuhin no Kami (“God of Food”), while others just want to know why Mothra suddenly starts endorsing honey mustard.
Will this bizarre culinary kaiju epic last? The Assembly of Awe remains cryptic. “Confuse first, inspire later,” the Old Man muttered at the press launch, before wandering off into the night.
