Heroes of the Yakuza - Okane Noboru

Okane Noboru is a secondary character in my novel, “What the Luck?” In the novel, one of the characters mentions she had a “Heroes of the Yakuza Coloring Book” when she was young. As a goof to celebrate the release of the audiobook version of the novel, I actually created the coloring book.

I ended up putting quite a bit of effort into the creation of the coloring book. I had created 14 different 3D characters, tattooed them in Substance Painter, converted them into black-and-white line drawings, and even wrote an amusing biography for each of them. The result was 100 single-sided pages of Yakuza fun!

If you are interested in adult coloring books, and by “adult” I just mean more complex and intricate than those aimed towards children with nothing to do with naked people, then check this one out as it is both amusing and oddly therapeutic. To be honest, I didn't think I would be the sort of person to enjoy a coloring book, but sometimes after a hard day at work, it is nice to reduce your focus in life down to the question of what shade of green to use for the leaves in a scene.

What the Luck?: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L6H9GSI/
Heroes of the Yakuza Coloring Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DBY31Z7/

The coloring book starts with Okane Noboru and his bio reads as follows:

We will start this book with Okane Noboru. While it would be true to say that he is someone’s doting grandfather, he is also the current leader of the Ishiku-gumi, the most powerful Yakuza group in Japan. Despite his age, Noboru has remained quick of thought and flexible of mind throughout his rule. He is an imposing man to approach, but his natural disposition is surprisingly even-tempered.
Noboru is uncharacteristically forward-thinking and believes that the group must continually adapt to the changing times in order to flourish. During his reign, Noboru has moved the group away from petty crimes like gambling and loansharking, and now prefers to concentrate on the much more profitable white-collar crimes, like slowly taking over control of a mega corporation’s board of directors through bribery and intimidation.
Another example of his willingness to change with the times is his acceptance of the marriage of his only granddaughter, Natsuko, to an American from Texas named Bill Brabham (although he does still reserve the right to break all of Bill's fingers if he makes her cry).
While Noboru’s mindset might be somewhat progressive, his taste in tattoos is very traditional. His motto is, “You can't go wrong with skulls.” Most of his body is covered in a repeating pattern of skull-and-crossbones that features a lot of black ink to show that he is man enough to take the pain. After all, you cannot get to the top without cracking a few skulls.