Kamikakushi no Kaerimichi

[MangaDex]

 

[controversial-me]

If you’re wondering why it looks off its because it uses AI art. Horrendous in my opinion, your mileage may vary.

 

[TooOldForThis]

If you’re wondering why it looks off its because it uses AI art. Horrendous in my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Don't be too quick to judge. Another of their oneshot supposedly came out in 2018 (according to that scanlator) with the same artstyle. ( https://mangadex.org/title/7340f589-e10c-4810-837e-c158b825385c/stardust-restaurant )
You can also see their art style evolve when you look at their other works.

Also, AI Art Turing Test and The AI-Monet Experiment and What It Tells Us About Art (Critics?) Today | by Don Giannatti | Full Frame | May, 2026 | Medium

 

[Claresilver47]

If you’re wondering why it looks off its because it uses AI art. Horrendous in my opinion, your mileage may vary.

It's not AI, it's done by digitally drawing/painting over 3D models or real life reference photos. It's a fairly common technique that results in anatomy consistent characters at the cost of exaggerated facial expression. Unfortunately the painted over style became very popular about 10 years ago and also happened to be easy for AI to be trained on and replicate

 

[controversial-me]

It's not AI, it's done by digitally drawing/painting over 3D models or real life reference photos. It's a fairly common technique that results in anatomy consistent characters at the cost of exaggerated facial expression. Unfortunately the painted over style became very popular about 10 years ago and also happened to be easy for AI to be trained on and replicate

Don't be too quick to judge. Another of their oneshot supposedly came out in 2018 (according to that scanlator) with the same artstyle. ( https://mangadex.org/title/7340f589-e10c-4810-837e-c158b825385c/stardust-restaurant )
You can also see their art style evolve when you look at their other works.

Also, AI Art Turing Test and The AI-Monet Experiment and What It Tells Us About Art (Critics?) Today | by Don Giannatti | Full Frame | May, 2026 | Medium

Well can I say that I was tad bit hasty of my original assessment?

NO I'm still sticking to it BECAUSE I'M RIGHT (by saying that this work was generated by AI). But I will expand on it by saying that since this Artist HEAVILY utilized AI, AT LEAST WITHIN THIS WORK I do not consider it worth MY TIME and since I know that there is a common sentiment against AI art I thought I'd put up the disclaimer.

ALSO this artist generates AI art but is capable of drawing on their own. You can see on the artists Pixiv that their profile has both AI art and non-AI art, with more of their recent works being tagged "AI-generated" INCLUDING THIS WORK. But while this may be a case of the algorithm mislabeling things when you look at the artists profile description it says, when ran through google translate, "I draw something resembling manga. Currently learning about AI." and if that isn't at least an indicator of AI art activity then I don't know what is.

And for the 3D model or real life reference photo's thing I know that its a common technique and I know how to use it, I've seen it in use. But scenes within this manga wasn't made by human composition, many of its scenes are too uncanny for it to be human made, I recommend watching artist use those previously mentioned techniques and you'll see that they will make much more loose and natural poses off of the 3d or physical model then whatever the hell was going on in here.

Also concerning the linked article the article is a cynical, defeatist, and round-about way of saying, "people actually only care about the product and the producers reputation everything else is just fluf and AI art is just the distilled result of consumerism so really there isn't anything wrong about it they can't tell the difference anyways!".

For one I don't know why you included that article in your response, did you mean to imply that I was taking on the role of an art snob? All I did was put the "AI-generated" tag on AI piece that lacked it or did you think I was in the wrong for having values and standards when all I should be doing is shoveling the next piece of slop into my mouth? Just because people are struggling more and more to tell the difference between AI generated content and Human made content that doesn't mean that we shouldn't struggle against it. There is a little more at stake then just the artist livelihood as ironic as that is on this website.

What AI is really showing us, as that linked article would say, is what we already knew about humans already; that human-beings are incredibly lazy. Instead of people grinding years of their life trying to learn the fundamentals of art or scene composition or basic story telling. AI "Artist" would rather just feed a machine a couple of specific prompts in order for them to get that dopamine hit quicker and that sense of accomplishment faster all the while thinking that they actually did anything.

All they really did was check their prompts for grammatical errors.

But is that so bad??? Can't we just have the dopamine now???

Well for one, instant gratification is a sign of immaturity and just because its easy doesn't mean its good, also see "if its too good to be true it probably is" and for further reading on excessive amounts of dopamine I recommend "Too much of a good thing" or an actual article on dopamine.

But in real talk what do you think happens when we endorse or let AI generated content roam freely? Uncontested? We don't get more content, hell we don't get better quality AI or a robot gf. We lose, we slowly lose everything as no one bothers to create content then the great maw that is AI has nothing else to consume except itself.

You see AI-art works because it has a vast field of art in which to feed on and learn from, read this article for more on that. So if we let AI roam uncontested and financially/creatively snuff out the innate human desire for creativity in lieu for instant gratification it eventually has nothing else to "eat" besides its own content, which mind you has its own unique AI errors. This cannabalistic act eventually lowers the quality that is generated to the point its practically undesireable. But let us not forget the biggest casuality in this frenzy, that being, human creativity.

You wanna know what being a senior or a professional in a field means? It means that an individual has remained in a given topic or field for a certain length of time. During that time they didn't make the same mistake again and again at least not forever, they learned, failed, learned, then failed again and again and again. They kept going until at a certain point in time they turned around and saw that people, younger people within the same field, where following within their previous footsteps. Then they go back to help them avoid some of the routes he wished he never took. And in that we see that within human existence the natural progression of a student into a senior.

With AI we don't get another generation of artist. Afterall who can tell the difference.

 

[tammylikesart]

Just a question. Did the artist release this as a commercial/finished release, or it's not official release and it's on Pixiv, translator found it interesting, and translated to English, and kinda published here?

 

[controversial-me]

Just a question. Did the artist release this as a commercial/finished release, or it's not official release and it's on Pixiv, translator found it interesting, and translated to English, and kinda published here?

So on the same post of this work the artist says, again running it through google translate, “I’ve registered a bound version on pixivFactory for my own personal collection. It’s print-on-demand, so it’s a bit pricey at 1,400 yen, but if you prefer physical copies, please feel free to buy one”. So its probably the case you described where its was most likely published for commercial/finished release but its only printed on demand for the listed price. We’re probably missing out on some nuance due to it being google translated but as it stands thats my interpretation of the text.

btw you can read this thing in its entirety on the artist pixiv as the post is itself the raw.

 

[tammylikesart]

Thanks for the detailed response, I appreciate that!

 

[jlnsgr]

Just a question. Did the artist release this as a commercial/finished release, or it's not official release and it's on Pixiv, translator found it interesting, and translated to English, and kinda published here?

All of his AI-generated work is available for free on his Pixiv and Booth accounts. You can choose to purchase a physical version, but it seems to be more of a print-on-demand thing. I would consider those works closer to dōjinshi than commercial works made specifically to be sold.

He has two series that were officially serialized and released as manga, Léviathan and Dragon Hunt Tribe, and those have zero use of AI tools.

As mentioned above, this artist’s style has always been hyperrealistic, even before AI became a thing. He knows how to draw and has proven that before. He seems to release a new chapter or dōjinshi on the 1st of every month, and those do include the use of AI tools. Personally, I see that more as a way for him to practice while sharing what he was able to create or get assistance with through AI tools.
What would be interesting to know is how much of it is AI-generated versus based on his own sketches.

Hope this helps clarify things. I understand that this may make some people uncomfortable, but the reality is that all of it is made available for free and clearly labeled as AI-generated. So anyone visiting his profiles is not being ripped off or deceived.