The artistically inclined denizens of 2ch’s VIP board have been challenging themselves to convert this panel from an ageing Shōwa period (meaning the 80s and 90s in this case) manga into something more modern – and more moe.

In the process they provide an insightful dissection of some of the changes in artistic conventions manga has seen over the last two decades.

The exchange:

“However you look at it, this is a Shōwa manga – moefy it please!”

“I have high expectations of you guys!”

“Like this?”

“That’s good, keep at it!”

“Fiddle with Gen too!”

“The background still reeks of Shōwa…”

“It looks great now. You guys are too good at this.”

“Her language is still a bit stiff?”

[For those wondering about the text change, the original dialogue of “What has it got to do with you, dad!?” (“tou-chan to nan no kankei ga aru no desu ka!”) has been subtly modernised to “Papa to nan no kankei ga aru no yo!” – switching “dad” for the more moe “papa,” and scrapping a slightly polite form for a more lively and assertive form.]

“GJ! It actually looks better than many actual moe manga nowadays…”

“I ported the text back into the original moe version.”

“Looks very modern now!”

“Why’s he fully dressed…”

“I fixed the background:”

“Her hairstyle still reeks of Shōwa!”

“These days we aren’t allowed nipples any more.”

“Right:”

“We’re putting too much effort into this, aren’t we?”

“Needs an ahoge.”

“What are you, a genius?”

“Difficult to do…”

“I’m not getting any reaction from my penis, compared to the original. Why is this?”

“The lines are a bit thick, aren’t they?”

“There are issues with Gen, I think.”

“Something to do with the tone and shading, and the brush stroke style of the lines, I reackon.”

“Hey, stop hiding her nipples!”

“Here you go:”

“Saved.”

“She has twin tails but her hair is still long in the wrong places.”

“Wait, just what is going on in this scene anyway!?”

“She’s been made to strip to check whether she stole some lunch money or something, then her little brother rushes in and her father comes in and gets angry at the teacher… or something like that anyway.”

“Having the guy keep his clothes on is discrimination, isn’t it?”

“There you are.”

“Colour it!”

“It needs some shading?”

“I think her tears are still too Shōwa.”

“How about this then:”

“Comparison image please.”

“Here:”

“I think she should be saying ‘Nani yo! Papa ni wa kankei nai desho!'”

“Sorry, I just don’t have the right font or Photoshop on this PC so I can’t change the lines any more.”

“Manga has totally changed, hasn’t it?”

“I still think it needs finer lines.”

“Oh?:”

“Now for colour.”

“Doesn’t she have the wrong number of fingers?”

“Her hands look like she got hit by an A-bomb…”

“She needs a hair ornament.”

“Add some lustre as well.”

“If there’s a problem with her hands I’m afraid it’s the result of my artistic ineptitude, sorry.”

“It’s finished, isn’t it?”

“We don’t need Gen any more, get rid of him.”

“What if Gen were redone a bit in the same style?”

“You guys are too good at this…”

“We don’t need her left hand.”

“Let’s fix her mouth!”

“How’s this:”

“Delete Gen already!”

“Make Gen into a cute girl?”

“We really didn’t need her left hand.”

“It looks like she and her little brother have been caught going at it by their father?”

“Gen’s hair needs a makeover, make it longer to make him look more like a modern youth.”

“Saved.”

“This is almost at Jump level now.”

“What happened in this scene!?”

“How about this:”

“Amazing…”

“A bit late, but I fiddled with Gen:”

“K-ON! eyes…”

“Nice!”

“Some colour:”

“Comparison image please.”

“Don’t make Gen so swarthy, you!”

“The original looks like the Photoshopped one.”

“My amateurish colouring:”

“More colouration:”

“I came!”

“Amazing!”

“You’re an angel!”

“Comparison:”

“GIF animated comparison:”

[Looping version:]

“This is amazingly good!”