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Showing posts from August, 2023

Mowgli in Mangaland

The Jungle Books have been adapted into manga stories multiple times.   When Jirō Kuwata was only sixteen years old, he made a 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. It 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.  In 2010, Julien Choy drew the definitive manga version of The Jungle Books, albeit starr

Yoshimasa Ikeda Barumba Prequel Revisions

This is a reissue for Shueisha which will contain ten prequel stories 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 Shueisha (all revised and drawn by Shinobu Ohtaka) The origin story  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) 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: (曲芸師のバールンーバ) Foreign, non-English versions: Croatian (Akrobata Barumba), Danish (Akrobaten Barumbar), Dutch (Barumba de Acrobaat), German (Barumba der Akrobat) Barumba Guards his Boun

Introducing the Handsome Pinoy Tarzan

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 definitive Ind

Ishinomori and Yamakawa: a history of contrasts

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.