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While people all over the world love spotting a cute girl, Asia seems to get a special kick out of finding an attractive woman in unexpected places. We’ve seen the online community go gaga over pretty teachers, badminton players, and even butchers, but now we’re entering the new frontier: Beautiful evacuee from a bank taken over by an attempted arsonist.

And of course, there’s also manga fan art of the captivating temporary captive and her equally dramatic-looking coworkers.

Shortly after 8:40 in the morning on May 22, Tatsuhiro Abe walked into the branch of the Kashimadai Hirawata Japan Agriculture Bank in Miyagi Prefecture’s Osaki City. The unemployed 60-year-old, who’d been having a financial disagreement with the institution, was carrying a bucket of what was reported as a “gasoline-like liquid,” which he began splashing around the service counter and lobby area while brandishing a lighter and demanding to speak to the bank employee in charge of his account.

This was perhaps excessive, seeing as how the ratio at the time of seven staff members to one customer in the building probably would have produced speedy service even without the threat of flame-based violence. Unable to calm the man down, the employees instead called the police, and once the authorities arrived, the hostages made their escape, thankfully with no one sustaining any injuries, leaving Abe alone and holed up inside the bank.

Safely outside and in the protection of the police, the bank employees found their composure, and one of them also managed to find exactly where the news crew’s camera was pointed.

▼ Next time you’re having trouble snapping a nice selfie for a profile pic, apparently all you need to do is spend a little time in the company of a dangerous maniac.

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It wasn’t long before this surrealistically TV drama-like image made its way to Taiwan. It then caught the attention and sparked the imagination of artist Da Bo Lu, who also goes by the screen name Tappl, who whipped up this manga-style illustration of the woman, two of her coworkers, and a fireman who was on the scene.

▼ “Faith. Happiness. Justice. Perfection.”

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If the font looks familiar, it’s because this fictional poster for Odoru Dai Nokyo Ten The Movie – Tatekomori Jiken! (Dancing Great Agricultural Cooperitive Branch The Movie – The Standoff Case) is almost identical to that of popular Japanese police drama series Odoru Daisosasen, also known as Bayside Shakedown

Odoru Daisosasen The Movie

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Tappl isn’t the only one to give the group a manga makeover, either.

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While these women were standing around looking cool outside the building, police negotiators were attempting to convince Abe, who was still inside the bank, to give himself up. As you may have guessed, though, Abe was not in a clam, rational mood, and around 10:25 he lit the liquid on fire. Police quickly swept in with fire extinguishers, put out the flames, and subdued the disgruntled senior citizen.

Abe has since proclaimed that he had no criminal intent, insisting “I didn’t intend to start a fire, but the flame got lit.” The second half of his statement seems to suggest that Abe is blaming spontaneous combustion for the aborted blaze, but the first half of his profession of innocence doesn’t really mesh with the fact that he was carrying around a supply of flammable liquid and announced to the bank employees “I’ll set it on fire!” Without speaking to the suspect directly, though, we can’t entirely rule out the possibility that a bucket of gasoline is just Abe’s personal good luck charm, sort of like a heavy, smelly rabbit’s foot that can also power your car for a couple of miles.

Related: Tappl’s Plurk page
Sources: Livedoor, Yahoo! News Japan
Top image: Plurk (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Twitter, Plurk, Amazon Japan, Twitter (2)