Hey there, welcome to another Manga introduction.....
This time around its the manga 'Gorillaman', by Harold Sakuishi, also the author of BECK (which I also talked about before).
This was the very first serialised manga of Sakuishi, started running all the way back in 1988 on the Weekly Young Magazine. It's not particularly famous, but seems to be held in pretty high regard by those who have read it. Well I haven't read any bad thoughts about it....not that their are many reviews out there. Regardless, I think that this manga is quite good, albeit a little strange in the atmosphere that it produces, although that (for me), is what makes it stand out.
The story follows Ikedo Sadaharu, from when he transfers suddenly to Shiratake High School. The reason for this is not explained until later, but it seems that he has done something very bad. Not only that, but he does not talk at all (well..... almost), and has a tough/ugly face like a gorilla. This catches the eye of the head furyou (delinquent) of the school, Fujimoto, who nicknames him Gorillaman.
Japanese Furyou
Not this..
Fujimoto and his gang befriend Gorillaman (well, starts off more as a person to play jokes on), without realizing just how incredible Gorillaman could be. The first few volumes are generally just a simple Gag Manga (Comedy Manga- Gag as in joke, not the one to stop people from talking/screaming...), depicting their humorous school life and squabbles between other delinquent youths.However, slowly the story begins to delve into Gorillaman's past, about why he transferred, and various other questions that arise throughout the manga.
Being a story about furyou/yankii (yankee is also a word for delinquent), obviously their are many scenes of brawls. Gorillaman just happens to be an incredibly formidable fighter, but his friends don't find out till quite later on, as he generally reduces his foes to bloody piles in seconds without being noticed by Fujimoto and co.
"Whatchoo say punk!!??"
Actually its more like "...........*smack*" for Gorillaman
I don't know how to describe my experience of reading 'Gorillaman', but as strange, but very entertaining and pleasant. It's strange as it seems to be a typical delinquent youth manga, and well it is, as the story mainly has characters having fights, thinking about girls, and getting up to no good. But at the same time there's a weird uniqueness to it, possibly due to the fact Gorillaman does not say a word (...almost) throughout the series, which makes his past that much more mysterious, and attract my curiosity more. It's off beat style of humour also struck my chords well, and the characters, especially Gorillaman are generally quite likable.
In my opinion, the manga 'Gorillaman' is quite a hidden gem. It's definitely not well known in the West, and maybe may not be appealing to the general Westerners tastes. Even so, I would still very much like more people to have a read of this very special manga if you are able to find an English translation, or can read (and understand) Japanese.
Omake おまけ (Bonus)
I couldn't find any scantalations out on the net, so I've done...................a whopping 3 pages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
........haha, sorry but I couldn't be bothered doing anymore, but maybe in the future I'll do some other scenes that I liked. These are the very first 3 pages of 'Gorillaman'.
MANGA + ANIME INTRODUCTION BECK: THE MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD
Today I decided to write about BECK: The Mongolian Chop Squad, a manga by Harold Sakuishi. I have just recently finished reading BECK in manga form after watching the anime adaptation about a year back. It follows the story of a young rock band in Japan, and their struggle to make it big. Although all of the members are touted as being undoubtedly talented and destined to change the music industry, but several powerful forces constantly stand in their way to stardom. I won't go heavily into the story so as not to spoil it, but I'll just explain the beginning.
Basically it starts off with Yukio Tanaka aka Koyuki, a loser Japanese high schooler, who is bored and fed up with his stale life and seemingly dull future. One day, he sees a weird stitched up dog being beaten up by a gang of kids. He scares the kids off and is approached by its owner, Ryusuke Minami. Ryusuke is an extremely gifted for a fairly popular amateur rock band. The two become friends, and Koyuki is introduce the world of Rock music. He is presented a guitar by Ryusuke, and becomes determined to be able to play it after seeing his friends insane skills at playing the instrument.
After messing up a chance at being scouted by a record company, Ryusuke has a fight with his bandmate, which causes the band to break up. Ryusuke decides to create his own band with the dream of being a band that can compete worldwide and sets out to recruit members for a new band. He gathers Tsunetomi Chiba (rap/vocal), Yoshiyuki Taira (bass) and the drummer from his previous band (can't remember his name... because he leaves early on). Koyuki is later invited to the group after they hear him singing, as well as his friend Yuji "Saku" Sakurai on drums. The band steadily improves, and seems destined to make it big. However, many obstacles stand in their way.......
Okay well thats about as much as I am going to bother writing, plus any more would be too much spoiler. The story also includes the high school drama of Koyuki and his growing relationship with Ryusuke's sister. There are many comedic moments, emotional scenes, and references to American and Japanese pop culture so keep an eye out for these, such as on the shirts people wear or people in the background. If you read the manga, then at the start of every volume, there's one or two mock versions of covers from popular albums which adds to the excitement if you are somewhat familiar with such things. Many of the characters are inspired by real life people, a memorable one for me was a guy that resembled famous actor Samuel L. Jackson.
Mock cover of "Ready to Die" by Notorious B.I.G.
Theres plenty more as there are 34 volumes in the manga. There is also an anime version, which is pretty good, but doesn't completely follow the whole series. Because of lack of funds and popularity when airing, the animation company decided to end the series after the first arc, and making the ending quite a let down. On the plus side, it is interesting while it lasts, and also includes some good music. I very much recommend that you give it a listen, although I've only listened to the Japanese versions, the dubbed versions seem to be well received as well, mainly due to the lack of Engrish. I'm satisfied with the Japanese versions especially since the trouble the vocalists have with pronouncing words in their songs (which are mainly in English) is a prominent theme in the series. Anyway, these are my picks:
***"I've Got A Feeling" is a cover of the Beatles
This one is not actually a song by the "band" Beck. Its a song that Koyuki sings at his school festival with some other schoolmates, but I really like the sound of the guitar here. Its also actually a cover of an old anime series called Youkai Ningen Bem (Youkai refers spirit/monsters from Japanese folklore, Ningen=Human, Bem is the character's name).
The others a also pretty good but I figured that you could go take a look by yourselves if you're interested, or just start watching the anime. Either ways good enough for me yo.
Last year a live adaptation film was released in Japan. I haven't watched it yet, but the story seems somewhat altered from trailers obviously so that they don't make the movie run for over 10 hours. The music seems decent from what I've heard (not much) and the actor choices seem okay.
Cast:
Takeru Satoh (佐藤 健) as Koyuki. He's probably most well known for his parts in popular dramas such as Rookies and Bloody Monday.
Hiro Mizushima (水嶋 ヒロ) who starred in Gokusen, and as Kamen Rider Kabuto, played the role of Ryusuke.
Aoi Nakamura(中村 蒼) played drummer Saku, Don't know much about this guy
Osamu Mukai(向井 理) as Taira. He had a part as a cellist in Nodame Cantabile and more recently as the author Shigeru Mizuki of famous manga Gegege no Kitaro in GeGeGe no Nyōbō (ゲゲゲの女房).
Kenta Kiritani (桐谷健太) as Chiba. He also starred in Rookies, and was also a fairly prominent character in the two CROWS movies.
If you're interested then I don't think it would be a bad movie but not great like the manga. Even so I intend to watch it at some point when I get my hands on it, only because I liked the manga and the hope that the music is as good as the tunes from the anime. Heres a trailer for you to look at.....
Aaaaaand thats it from me on BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad for now. I was thinking of looking at the mock albums covers and other musical and pop culture references and writing posts about them but we'll see hey? Depends how bored I am and how lazy I feel....I;m pretty lazy by the way (-_-) sigh
