Obscure Adventures in Geek and Nerd Culture

The Jungle Books have been adapted into manga stories multiple times.   When Jirō Kuwata was only sixteen years old, he made a barebones Jungle Book manga in January 1952. It is likely the first Jungle Book manga that people might have known of.  The first major Jungle Book manga was drawn by Ken Segoshi for the Shueisha Omoshiro library in 1953. Takao Ito wrote and drew a Jungle Book manga in late 1953, but with a long-haired Mowgli. In 1957, the legendary Peko Chan artist Kazuo Hatakeyama drew a Jungle Book manga/picture story for a World Masterpiece Theatre type line.  From 1958 to 59, the internationally beloved Fujiko Fujio duo made their own comical take on The Jungle Books starring goofy looking creatures. In fairness, that was a decade before Doraemon, their biggest international success, was first made.  From 1961 to 62, Kyuuta Ishikawa made his own take on the Jungle Books, which was rather loyal to the stories. Its variant of Mowgli has inspirations in bot...

This is a reissue for Hakusensha which will contain thirteen prequel books about Barumba himself in a lot of detail.  Since some of them are only flashbacks in previous JDM-only editions, they will become their own stories from the Export Edition onwards.  For Hakusensha (all revised and drawn by Shinobu Ohtaka) The ultimate origin story  The Hopeless Wilderness  Japanese (絶望の荒野)  Foreign, non-English versions:  Baby Barumba/How Barumba came to Be Japanese (赤ちゃんバールンーバ)  Foreign, non-English versions: Croatian (Beba Barumba), Dutch (Hoe Barumba ontstond), German (Wie Barumba entstand) The subsequent prequels  Barumba and the Babysitters/Barumba gets Babysat  Japanese (バールンーバそしてベビーシッター)  Foreign, non-English versions: Dutch (Barumba krijgt een babysit)  Barumba The Nomad/Barumba Explores new Lands  Japanese (遊牧民バールンーバ)  Foreign, non-English versions: Croatian (Barumba Istražuje Nove Zemlje)  Barumba The Acrobat Japanese...

The DKNLK show’s frequent budget constraints, likely caused by the heinous nature of GMA itself, have led to some embarrassingly funny, yet rather saddening choices. Some of the most insane are especially for Tarzan At Jane, an episode which aired during one of the show’s early years. There are a couple of differences between it and most official adaptations, which themselves play just as loose with the source material.  The first difference is that, although they’re supposedly leopardesses, Sabor Senior and Sabor Junior are played by Diva Montelaba in a cheapish, cruddy tigress costume. Thankfully, both have somewhat distinctive personalities unlike in the more boyish Disney variants where they are just generic beginner villainesses, albeit big and dangerous leopardesses.  The second difference is that the special episode’s eponymous Tarzan is played by a handsome Filipino, which is saying a lot because there already was a Japanese Tarzan played by Fuminori Ohashi and a defin...

How do Shōtaro Ishinomori’s works outsell Sōji Yamakawa’s own in a constant fashion? The rise of not only anime and manga as we know today, but also Japanese Tokusatsu, have played a role in how the former gained export and meme potential before dying shortly after his 60th birthday. In other words, Shotaro Ishinomori was much more prepared for the long run than what his spiritual predecessor from Koriyama would imagine.  It didn’t really hurt that he was a juggernaut who not only guest starred in his own works, but also wrote theme songs for some of them and voiced a stocky character for The Age of The Great Dinosaurs, which also was his only directing credit.  Although both were from Japan’s Tohoku region, Ishinomori moved out into Tokyo at 18 years old. So, despite not being a pupil of Yamakawa himself, he influenced the former more than any of the latter’s own pupils were by him.