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Is this the final episode of ‘We Appreciate Manga’? I guess we will have to see… Either way James has an announcement to make but first we give a quick review of Godzilla minus one and talk about side chapters of Petshop of Horrors. Skip chapter summaries @ 15:01
Intro music courtesy of Liam Bradbury
Outro music courtesy of Rifti Beats - Youtube
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136: Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
In the additional chapters, young Chris Orcot treks out into the labyrinthine back rooms of the petshop to find out Q-Chan’s human form. Unlike the rest of the Pets in Count D’s shop, who appear as human to Chris, Q-Chan only appears as a Wolperdinger, a horned rabbit like creature with wings. As Chris explores the hidden rooms, he meets a grim looking figure who obliges him but unfortunately for Chris, the remedy he acquires has no such desired effect on Q-Chan.
Another chapter shows a Totetsu (a mixed goat and tiger creature) by the name of T-Chan. T-Chan is looking down in the dumps before Leon finds out that it is because he is in love with one of D’s new pets. Leon and the gang help him pluck up the courage but because of T-Chan’s proclivity to eat the one he loves it results in T-Chan being rejected. It becomes a bonding experience for both Leon and T-chan.
The Flowers and detective chapters feature the police detective Leon Orcot, D does not trust Leon enough to take care of pets so he gifts him a gatolatto plant. The plant grows well thanks to Leon’s appreciation and care but eventually Leon is wounded from a gunshot and is hospitalized. On his miraculous recovery he asks D to water his plant for him, only to be told that the flower has already bloomed and withered to death in his place. Was it really the plant that saved Leon? D has given people stranger things.
Part two, has D playing matchmaker only for Leon to interfere and end up winning the affection of beautiful creatures. What Leon does not realise is that he is being used to pollinate women. Like a honey bee!
Part three includes a strange kimono arriving at the pet shop. With the Kimono’s colour representing Sakura (cherry blossom) but being made from the blood of insects. And in the last chapter that we speak of today, we see Chris sent on an errand but D and Leon spy on him using cameras and disguises, very much like the Reality TV show ‘Old Enough!’ (a.k.a. its literal translation ‘My First Errand’) Afterwards they spend the night gazing at the full moon and D tells Chris of the rabbit in the moon, and the princess whose kingdom has become extinct. Chris tells D that maybe the rabbit princess is still on the moon and is just hiding.
Topics:
· Thoughts on Godzilla Minus One and Hollywood.
· Pareidolia, do you see a rabbit, a woman, or a man when you look at the moon?
· The future of the We Appreciate Manga Podcast.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The cherry blossom looking dye in one story is often used as a food colouring can trigger allergies, look for anything labelled carminic acid, carmine or cochineal on red coloured foods.
· Unlike the west Chinese and Asians countries tend to say there is a rabbit in the moon, not a man in the moon. Some when they look at a full moon, say the image is a silhouette of a rabbit hunched over and is mixing herbs, creating an elixir for immortality. (Personally, I like to think that its churning butter but some Japanese may say it is pounding rice cake mixture - J) Depending on the sun’s position and your position on the earth if you were to Look at the dark spots of the moon you will find that the sea of fertility and the sea of nectar are the tips of its ears.
Osamu Tezuka retells the origin story in the first volume of his 1972-1983 manga ‘Buddha’ where an old man asks three animals to help him find food. One of the three animals then dives into fire and gives its life so that the old man does not starve. Because of its sacrifice it is then honoured by the God Indra and immortalised by having its image drawn on the moon.
· Chang’e the Chinese moon goddess is a figure that dates to Zhou Dynasty,
and having had poems written about her during the Tang Dynasty.
· The rabbit princess or moon princess also has similarities to princess Kaguya, the main character who appears in ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’ a late 9th of 10 century story with no attributed author. Sailor Moon is also based on this character and because of the tale’s use of space travel, it is considered an early form of science fiction.
· The story of the shamanistic princess Himeko is not necessarily pre-historic as Will states but certainly an ancient Japanese one, having dated back to years between 220 and 270 (Yayoi period). As a legendary figure Himeko appears in the first volume of Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Phoenix’ and the Yoshiki Okamoto (Buroson) manga ‘Lord’.
· Utsuro – Bune (Hollow Boat) is a legendary account of an unidentified object arriving on the shores of the Hitachi province of Japan in 1803.
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Author Matsuri closes out the final chapters and leaves no stone unturned, Chris speaks, Q-Chan shows off their human form and a climatic meeting with D’s father finally happens. In a clever way, Matsuri switches from an episodic structure to a serial form, bringing the narrative home!
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135: Petshop of Horrors vol. 10
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The story advances to its conclusion when Chris Orcot’s extended family arrive. Chris knowing that he is adopted by his aunty and uncle forgives them and his cousins, but in a moment of crisis he learns to speak up and call for them, Chris’ voice is heard by his cousins and he is taken home, even if the pets at the shop did not want Chris to leave them, Chris makes his own decision to live in peace with his real family. When Chris looks back at what he had with D in the pet shop he finds they no longer resemble the humanoids he once had a relationship with, they truly seem like animals now.
Afterwards D mysteriously leaves and closes shop upon getting heat from the FBI. Agent Vesca Howell teams up with Chris’ older brother, the detective Leon Orcot to track D down. The two share what they know about D before they go their separate ways. Afterwards D appears to Leon and leads him to a high-rise penthouse to discuss things over tea and sweets. But Leon is not fooled since the imposter is Count D, the father of the missing D. Although this raises many questions as to why he looks like he in his twenties and is the spitting image of his son. Leon however falls for Count D’s trap. And like in previous chapters, Leon must once again fight in the wilderness of a mythological dreamscape.
Meanwhile Agent Howell confronts the real D and loses the fight to apprehend him. D realises that Howell is only after his lookalike father and so he takes him to Count D. Both agent Howell and D arrive in time to help save Leon. It is at this point that D’s personal pet, Q-chan transforms into his human form, revealing himself to be D’s grandfather. Just in time for the existential crisis that is Count D’s plan to spread a virus that causes human extinction. However, Count D is shot dead and Howell dies in the confrontation, The OG Count, Grandfather D takes his son’s remains so that he can reincarnate him and Leon takes a leap of faith with D to safely escape the tower. Soon afterwards, D parts ways with Leon.
Eventually after twenty years pass, the pet shop is re-opened and mysterious deaths occur. Detective Orcot makes his way there to meet D, but this is not a reunion, in fact this is a meeting between the adult Chris Orcot and D’s son, the reincarnated Count D who died twenty years ago.
Topics:
· Aino Matsuri’s switch from an episodic style of storytelling to a serial one.
· Chris’ dilemma
· Chris’ unrealistic form of mutism.
· Is Count D human or not?
· The Misanthropic villain.
· The final chapter relies heavily on specific tropes so to create a feel of finality. The Tower itself is symbolic, appearing as a Tarot card after the Devil card. The Tower is almost always depicted having been struck by lightning or facing some sort of explosion or fire at the top. It represents, divination, to reach heaven and God and to experience a great revelation but one with an arduous cost. In many stories it is the protagonist’s greatest challenge before they confront the truth that waits for them above, and usually by defeating the villain above it causes the tower to collapse, this is symbolic of a return to status quo, to humble and “ground” the heroes but also render the challenge of ever climbing it again to be mute. Also, like the biblical “Tower of Babel” anyone who attempts to climb or build it always comes to a misunderstanding when they meet someone at the top.
· Another symbolic scene is Leon becoming trapped in the forest, like “Jonah and the whale” Leon must face penance/consequence for his lack of faith and suspicion of D, it is a purgatory and womb like state that once he escapes from, he gets more purpose. It is also a traumatic instance of being isolated from society and one’s tribe and in such stories those who survive the proverbial whale get a chance to better themselves or do better in the next life.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The Mountains of Kunlun China is specifically a belt of mountains that stetches through the centre and around parts of China, from the Tibetan plateau to the Tarim Basin, bordering on the Gobi Desert. It has mythical properties and is analogous to the Greek’s Mount Olympus and the Tower of Babel, in that many creationist stories revolve around the mountains, which are deemed as the birthplace of China as a nation.
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Listen with discretion and care since on today’s episode we speak about intergenerational trauma, modern slavery, and human trafficking. Pretty intense stuff for a fantasy manga but Akino Matsuri is an expert anthologist when it comes to episodic storytelling. Skip plot summaries @ 7:17
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134: Petshop of Horrors vol. 9
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Dreams:
A young woman pines over D, having recognised him from her dreams. D tries to find one of his supernatural pets for her but fails upon realizing that she already has such a spiritual companion. A Phoenix has given Monica the chance to constantly reincarnate herself and move to the next life if she fails to achieve her wish in one life. Her wish to win the heart of D. Monica’s dreams are in fact flashbacks to a past life where she had met one of D’s ancestors. D begins to feel sorry for Monica and decides to date her, he regretfully informs her that he cannot love someone who is human albeit very cryptic as to his reasons why.
In the end Monica decides to take a plane home but D sees the plane blow up in a fatal accident. The Phoenix appears to D once more and claims that she will no longer be reincarnated. The reason being that D did have feelings for her, thus Monica’s wish came true, even if he chose not to pursue a relationship and her life was cut short after it.
Desire:
A criminal working his way into the ranks of an organisation needs to acquire a pet tiger from D so that he can be king of the concrete jungle that is China town. The man sends a little girl, Xiao Hua, as a mediator so that she can butter up D with gifts to win the man’s approval. However, the Xiao Hua notices a hanging wall scroll painting in D’s tea room, and in that painting is a tiger. The tiger only appears in the painting upon greeting its master. Learning that Xiao Hua is destined to own the tiger, D gives Xiao Hua the painting. Afterwards D learns of Xiao Hua’s lifeless body appearing in a back alley. D takes it upon himself to find justice for her and retrieve the painting. A fight ensues as D intrudes into the triad’s house but D has a trick under his sleeve that turns the tables on Xiao Hua’s killer.
Death:
A mother comes to the pet shop after the death of her daughter’s pet, she buys a new one only for it to be mysteriously killed. As D investigates the deaths of the pets, he finds a family that has inter-generational trauma and the making of a serial killer.
Desperation:
D and Chris are abducted by a woman who, mourning the loss of her dead lover, intends to exact revenge on the police detective Leon Orcot. T-Chan, the Totetsu is shot in the struggle to prevent D and Chris from being taken. However, their captor does not know that she is pregnant.
Topics:
· The Power dynamic we see in the ‘Desire’ chapter implies that Xiao Hua is a child slave who may have arrived in the U.S. due to human trafficking. At the time of this podcast episode being published, Modern slavery and human trafficking seems to be more prevalent in the U.K. according to this Vice article by Amandas Ong and the BBC.
· If you are a witness to human trafficking and modern slavery you can use this website and the “stop app” to report it and gain support. Please be aware that this no substitute for contacting the police, and if possible, one should contact the police, be it 911 (or 999 for U.K.) otherwise use the following website as a second choice and download their app, if for some reason you are afraid of contacting the police.
https://www.stopthetraffik.org/
· The International Salvation Army is a charity organisation that also intends to abolish slavery and human trafficking, they can provide resources such as housing and protection for those in need. https://www.salvationarmy.org/isjc/MSHTR
· It is guaranteed that 1 in 3 serial killers have abused animals, with it being the same chance as a coin toss in finding 2 in 3 killers being animal abusers. As an experiment feel free to research it yourself. Hopefully three serial killers have already came to mind and it will come as no surprise that one of them hurt animals. In fact, there was a true-crime documentary inspired by the phenomena that exemplifies this trope, Netflix’s ‘Don’t F**k with Cats’.
As of 2016 the Unites State’s FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) added animal abuse cases to its National Incident-Based Reporting System. John Thompson of the national sheriff’s association said animal abuse is not just a crime that harms animals but to people as well, claiming it “a crime against society,” and “By paying attention to [these crimes], we are benefiting all of society.”
· But there is also another factor that facilitates the development of serial killers, that being child abuse. In his 1989 book Serial Killers, Joel Norris describes the cycles of violence as generational: “Parents who abuse their children, physically as well as psychologically, instil in them an almost instinctive reliance upon violence as a first resort to any challenge.” For a good article on the matter there is ‘From Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder’ written by Nicola Davies for Psychiatry Advisor.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The mythical Phoenix goes by the name Ho-oh in Japanese and Feng Huang in Chinese, since the Yuan Dynasty the name Feng Huang is gender neutral, as it combines the word for both female and male Phoenix. They have Chinese origins.
· The Tiger is an endangered animal according to the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened species. Multiple subspecies of the tiger is also considered extinct.
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Come join our book club and listen as we read Akino Matsuri’s horror stories, one that is about a mermaid. Another about a family that move into a house that has a dark history. And a woman who seems to have looks, fame and fortune, as well as mysterious past. Skip plot synopsis @3:34
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133: Petshop of Horrors vol. 8
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
D goes to a beach resort with Leon and Chris. Leon is there only to pick up ladies but when Chris and D help a girl find a lost ear-ring they are rewarded a boat trip by the girl’s grandfather, a man who spends his years chasing a mermaid he once saw at a young age.
A violent wave hits the boat causing D to fall overboard, when they find D washed up on shore, he does not seem to be his usual self. D only recognises the girl’s grandfather, calling him Shido, which is odd because Shido did not give out his name. The next day D predicts a volcano erupting, all islanders set out to sea but they lose D once again. The next time they find D he is with a mermaid, having had a body swap experience, D is now back into his own body. Having been saved previously by the mermaid, he was able to repay the favour by letting her reunite with her long-lost love, Shido, whom had no memory of her, since the only way he can keep his memories is if he stays with the mermaid. They leave Shido behind with her, but unfortunately for Leon this means he will forget the existence of mermaids.
The second story involves an entire family who have recently moved in to a new house. The family enter the pet shop looking to buy one however they do not seem to agree on what pet they want. The Count ends up choosing a pet for them that just so happens to appear to each family member as the pet that they originally wanted, for example, to the grandmother it appears as a cat but to the youngest son it appears as a gecko, D names the pet Tenko (or Tiān hú / Ten-chan depending on whichever translation) but the rest of the family bicker about what new name to give it.One lonely girl in the family sees Ten-chan as a human, and it becomes clear that the pet favours this girl who seems down in spirit and isolated from the family. In truth the girl is a ghost, a part of the family that previously owned the house. D, having a sense of what’s up checks with the police and visits the house. When he arrives, there is a house fire, the family escape except for their pet, who stays inside with the ghost. D comes to save Ten-chan who as it turns out, is a kitsune (a mythical nine-tailed fox), but not before they exorcise the ghost and let her pass on to the other side.
In the story “Deja-vu” D lets Chris decide what pet to give to a woman who seems to have everything. Searching the pet shop, he sees the child like ghosts of twin sisters, Meanwhile the detective Leon discovers the woman patron to be a missing person, long thought to be dead and intends to reunite the woman with her sister. When the time comes for the woman to meet her pet, she is forced to confront her inner child. Or as D calls it, a beautiful bird.
Note: The bonus chapter ‘Flowers, Detective and the Detective’s Little Brother’ will be spoken about on a later episode of our podcast which will cover all bonus chapters.
Topics:
· The mute character Chris and the use of children and other side characters functioning as plot devices.
· For more Mermaid lore, check out A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits, a treatise by Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim) The 1819 French fantasy novella, Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Anderson, and there is also Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics.
· Video that shows the Cresta mall mermaid incident in Johannesburg
· https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Mary-Mirror-Psychoanalytic-Folkloristics/dp/1604731877 Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· Shido as a character is an homage to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Shido is chasing a mermaid believing it to be a portent of doom, its appearance being a bad omen. In truth the mermaid has pre-cognition and the power to change a person’s memory as well as save those from the disasters she predicts. They are very similar in that Captain Ahab and Shido both own boats, have scars that remind them of a perceived injustice and an obsession that leads them to chase. For Ahab it is the white whale, for Shido it is the mermaid.
· The Déjà vu story shares a certain similarity to Truman Capote’s novel ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ in that Holly Golightly is a woman who flees her family to become a wealthy socialite in New York. Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe too, who was born Norma Jean Mortensen with her natural hair being a curly red and not her iconic straight blonde, she would defy her husband Jim Dougherty to pursue a career in showbusiness, albeit (and by his own account) he was initially supportive of her ambition until it became clear that she had to be single to get a contract in Hollywood.
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Today we talk about the importance of character-based story telling superseding social and political commentary, be it human trafficking, weight loss and police brutality. Albeit a fantasy story, there is an argument that a character’s catharsis through such heavy and controversial topics can bring catharsis to the reader. Skip plot synopsis @ 3:37
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132: Petshop of Horrors vol. 7
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The first chapter, ‘Doom’ has the detective Leon get involved with the killing of his partner and co-worker Max whilst apprehending his childhood friend who is also killed in the incident. To ease Leon’s mind, D gives him a butterfly as a pet, however this butterfly can travel through Leon’s dreams and show him his desires. This results in Leon experience time travel where upon dreaming of what things could be like, he then experiences the reality within a waking nightmare, thus experiencing the butterfly effect.
In ‘Donor’ we see that Leon is assigned to find a missing donor heart whilst D is surprised by the arrival of his sister. A sister whom is willing to give her own organs so to donate to D, eventually the sister poses an existential threat that results in D killing the woman in his defence. When Leon finds a bloodied-up D, we see that D holds not the body of his sister but instead of an orangutan.
In ‘Duty’ a child soldier, on the run from assassinating a mafioso, hides in the Pet shop and takes D and Christopher as his hostage.
Whilst in the final chapter, ‘Diet’ shows us three characters. A catwalk model by the name of Irene who is given alternate medicine / diet pills from D. Plus two other patrons which include a boxer by the name of Nash and young girl by the name of Em (Emerelda). All three of them have issues with their weight and intend to make sure they lose a few pounds.
Context:
· Arguably the most famous of all Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu) stories—"Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly"—appears at the end of the second chapter of his work, named "On the Equality of Things". This is the main inspiration for the Petshop of Horrors chapter ‘Doom’ although there is a sort of time travel aspect, the logic depicted however is that Leon is experiencing a dream of how things could be different.
· ‘The Butterfly Effect’ is a metaphor that has its roots in deterministic philosophy and chaos theory. It describes how small-scale disturbances can cause large-scale events. Attributed to mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz. when describing the cause of Tornados.
· Many diets and fads revolving around weight loss took place during the 80’s and 90’s as gyms and “super-models” grew in popularity. Most of this was influenced by the controversial 1972 book ‘Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever’ which promotes a high cholesterol diet which results in heart disease. In Chris Van Tulleken’s book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ he explains how caloric restriction is not a long-term solution to weight loss as it is an evolutionary, survival and genetic advantage for weight loss to reduce when starved for long periods. Chris however does explain that an increase in obesity over the years after the 1950’s is due to highly processed and chemically augmented foods. Specifically designed not to satiate hunger but sell for profit. Anyone who is willing to go a drastic change in diet should always consult their doctor beforehand. Sadly, many eating disorders exist due to such diets, the social mores, and the ever-changing landscape of nutritional research.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· Xenotransplantation is the name of the procedure where animals are used for organ donor transplantation in humans. Currently pigs are being used in clinical trials as of the date of this podcast being uploaded. The idea of “transgenic pigs” first being used going as far back as 1995.
· Naomi Campbell, a British supermodel most famous during the 1990’s, considered a muse by designers like Jean Paul Gaultier with her contemporary Kate Moss. She is often mistaken to be the first black woman to appear on the front cover of Time magazine in September 16th 1991, in fact singers Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price and Aretha Franklin predate her by a few decades. With Marian Anderson appearing on the December 30th 1946 issue.
· It is possible and dangerous to lose weight from a parasite. Often caused by eating raw meats and a lack of hygiene. Of course, parasites that take the identity of their host is still just the stuff of science-fiction.
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Continuing with their book club podcast, Will and James talk about volume 6 of the surreal fantasy horror josei manga, Petshop of Horrors! Today’s stories are very much a reflection on the chaos of childhood and the pressures that family can sometimes put upon us.
Skip chapter summaries @ 4:22
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130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 6
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
When Leon and D get abducted by terrorists they are forced to partake on the quest to the legendary city of El Dorado and its lost gold. In the end the leader of the group faces a dilemma as to wherever or not he should sacrifice his mystical jaguar for the gold.
On December, the night before Christmas, Christopher’s uncle and aunty come to the pet shop to take the young Christopher as their adopted child. However, Christopher refuses and hides down the basement where he meets something that can only be described as King Ghidorah, with an earthquake inducing dissociative identity disorder.
In the chapter ‘Distance’ the youngest daughter of a family of musicians, Catherine, is raised as such but has no talent. She distracts herself when the family dog has puppies and takes the runt of the litter to see D, although D is no veterinary doctor he decides to look after it for her. Once the Puppy recovers, she takes it for walks and lets it sit whilst she plays sports. When the time comes for her big piano recital performance the puppy bites her finger, rendering her index finger muscle useless. A sense of relief comes over Catherine as she no longer needs to play. It becomes to Catherine that she can now choose what path she wants in life as her talents clearly lie more so in sports than music.
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A poignant volume that introduces a new character to the lore and explores feelings around death and childhood. And it may come as no surprise that even a horror Shoujo manga somehow has to reference ballet, we all seen Black Swan right? Skip plot summaries @ 6:11
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130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 5
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
In the first chapter, ‘Dual’ a congressman appears to D asking for the legendary Kirin. At first D denies the existence of such a creature deeming it as a myth, but in truth it is the Kirin who chooses the owner. The Kirin can make the dreams of its owner come true, granting them great power but at an extreme cost. In the end the Kirin chooses the congressman’s aide/assistant and so he makes the greatest sacrifice.
In ‘Day Nursery’ we are introduced to Leon Orcot’s little brother, named Christopher, a mute child who stays at the Petshop under D’s care. It comes as a surprise when Christopher sees the pets as humanoids, the same as D and can converse with them telepathically. Christopher has survivor’s guilt due to his mom dying from a complicated pregnancy and a feeling of being unloved from his brother Leon. Yet he finds a mother figure in the elderly black bird, Madame Sultana. On the day that Leon is injured he has a near death experience where he dreams of his mother who coincidentally looks like Sultana, or at least the way Christopher sees Sultana. In this realm both Leon and his mother talk about Christopher. On the same day Madame Sultana dies and D can sense the disturbance in the air. Soon enough Leon is apprehensive to be sending Christopher to a specialist school, his stoic nature hides it, but he gives his little brother a hug before he drops him off.
Continued in ‘Darling’ Christopher brings in a missing runaway Cat with emerald green eyes and a necklace for a collar, the cat feeling as if she is unloved and only valued for her necklace. The necklace being crown jewels and whomsoever wins the affection of the cat is owner of the jewels and in turn the next heir to the throne. With the cat choosing to stay with D she wishes for a life of a commoner and D trims her fur/ hair at her request, he then claims sovereignty due to possessing the necklace and holds the cat ransom. However, D’s plan is to see if the rightful prince Saleem can recognise their cat. But like how a prince recognised Cinderalla, so does the prince recognise his cat. D sees how much the cat and the prince love each other and so he gives the necklace back. Christopher however gets his first taste of jealousy.
The last chapter of this volume reads a lot like, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Jeanne Lecroix, jealous of not being able to play the lead role of Swan Lake spends the afternoon at D’s pet shop. There he shows her many of his pets all performing for her, including a bloody cockfight. Through comparing the performance with her abilities, she feels inadequate. Therefore, D gifts her a blade, telling her that with it she will achieve her desire. Later D takes detective Leon to see Swan Lake and we find out that Jeanne has torn apart her rival’s black swan costume, it is then decided that Jeanne will play the black swan and her rival Dominique will play the white swan. By the end of the second act Jeanne gets an ovation and it becomes clear that she is wanted for the third act, However Jeanne goes missing, having won the heart of her prince co-star she is never seen again after that performance.
Context:
· In Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake the role of both the black swan and the white swan is conventionally played by the same person. This is why in the chapter ‘Dance’ Jeanne is jealous of Dominique since it is a dual character role.
· Depending on the translation you are reading, the country that Saleem is prince of is either fictional or based on the country of Yemen.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· A Kirin (Qilin) is based on Chinese mythology, often mistaken for a giraffe in eastern languages but can also be mistaken for a Shishi in the west, the mythical Chinese lion like dog. A Kirin is more like a deer mixed with a dragon in that it has hooves and antlers along with scales. If someone from the Ming dynasty saw a giraffe then they may have mistaken it for a Kirin. They even share the same name.
· Madame Sultana is a Myna, which is a Starling bird native to India, it can talk like a parrot, even going for lower frequencies of speech than the average parrot. Although symbolically it is more representative of a crow in how it is a pomgeist or conduit for the deceased.
· The Cat in the chapter ‘Darling’ is named Pandora. It means “all giving” and “gifted” named from the Greek creationist myth.
· The Dying Swan solo dance was created by Mikhail Fokine for Camille Saint-Saëns's ‘The Swan’ for the Ballerina Anna Pavlova, having premiered in 1907 as a special occasion piece, It is inspired by the Alfred Tennyson poem of the same name and of course it would be adapted and used for future Swan Lake performances. In the words of Fokine's granddaughter, Isabelle: "The Dying Swan does not make enormous technical demands, but rather enormous artistic ones because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience, which is emerging from someone who is attempting to escape death."
· La Syphide is a dance original choreographed by Filipo Taglioni in 1833 but
Sadly, the 1836 August Bournonville choreography is the only one to have survived, since Bournonville did not have the rights to the original music thus he created a new version of the dance. It is not to be confused with the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides, another ballet involving a mythical sylph. A Sylph being a spirit of the air.
· “Pas de deux” is a ballet term for a dance duet. Literally translated from French as “Step of two”
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Does anyone remember Tamagotchi? Or maybe you had a Giga-Pet growing up? Whatever the case a virtual pet goes by many brand names and today we read one story that is both inspired by the virtual pet craze of the 90’s and the lore behind hermaphrodites (that’s intersex people for those in the know). We also have one story inspired by Dracula and another involving race horses. This is gonna be a fun one! Skip synopsis @ 9:44
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129: Petshop of Horrors vol. 4
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Synopsis:
When the only witnesses to a murder seems to be to fishes, detective Leon Orcot has D, the mysterious and bohemian Petshop manager take care of them. During the investigation they hunt for one suspect a woman who perhaps dated the murder victim. As things develop D works the case with Leon as an advisor and they soon come across a new witness. A cyber-pet in the form of a digital fish, they learn that like the fishes the murder victim themself was a hermaphrodite, someone capable of changing their gender or at the very least be able to pass as both genders. It becomes clear that the murderer was possibly transphobic. But luckily the cyber-pet had cameras connected and was able to record the crime, although Leon finds it hard for a pet’s words to be admissible in court. D assures him that machines are valued in court, because machines do not lie.
In Dark-Horse, Leon and D are on a film set and witness one of the stunt women, Betty, having an accident.
The horse breaks its leg, meaning that it will need to be put down, which upsets Betty. D comforts her and learns that she is working part time as a stunt woman, with plans of becoming a jockey and using her own horse to compete in a derby. Betty takes D to her stable and finds she has one horse named sudden death, much to her surprise D recognises that the horse is deaf as well as very calm around the man.
Not long after this Betty’s father ends up in hospital, and to pay for his hospital bills she goes to visit D and see what horses he can make a deal with. Of course, it is no surprise D has one called Nightmare, but Betty is taken back to see that the horse that broke their leg is now recovered and being looked after by D.
In the end Betty decides not to sell her horse, and instead use Sudden Death to compete in the derby. D promises to help her win and plans to make a miracle happen.
On the day of the race, D attends with Leon to support Betty and Sudden Death. He gives Leon a whistle to cheer on Sudden Death. And Leon, because he is an idiot uses the whistle. Because of this Sudden Death wins the race. And in turn it proves D’s theory that the horse is a thoroughbred descendent of Matchem, and thus recognises the legendary and somewhat enchanted whistle.
Leon finally has a reason to arrest D since he rigged the game. However, D makes it clear, since they both placed a generous bet on the horse and Leon did blow the whistle, this means Leon is an accessory to the crime.
The last story of this volume is a sort of ‘X-files’ meets ‘Murder She Wrote’ style chapter called ‘Dracula,’ which tells the story of a vampire on the loose in America who is specifically targeting east Asian men that fits the description of D.
Leon is assigned to protect D as he is partnered with FBI profiler, Norma Langley. She protests the theory of a vampire and explains the cause of death is poison made to look like a vampire attack. But things get tense when leaves Leon to look out on D whilst she decides to catch their unsubdued vampire by herself. Leon gets into a fight with one man, suspecting him of wanting to poison D with his gifts of cake and wine.
But the two make up and Leon gets him a beer, he learns that the man is named Alex, still mourning the loss of his dead lover.
In the climax of the story Leon decides that the safest place to hide D is by locking him up in a cell at the police station. Leon then investigates D’s home and finds a photo of what appears to be D, Norma, and Alex in the same room. Even if one denies the existence of vampires the correlation is too strong to be coincidence.
In a twist of fate. Norma shows up at the station and mortally wounds D, then she waits for the vampire to show. And he does show, Alex flies in and comes just in time to protect D but first he drinks the blood from D’s wound, “ending the contract” as he claims. By drinking D’s blood Alex turns into vapor and dies leaving no corpse. Norma tells D she lost the bet, thinking that Alex would move on the from the death of his lover and instead reunite with her, but Alex chose to reject Norma and unite with his lost love in death.
When Leon makes it back to the station, he finds the coffee pots are laced with tranquilizer and sees that D is accompanied by a bat within his prison cell. The bat flies out through the bars and out the window. D is the last person to see Norma, who turned out to be a fake FBI agent after all. Leon refuses to believe that she was a vampire.
· The chapters “Flowers and the Detective” will be talked about in a separate episode since these chapters share one continuity and act as a lore building side story to the plot. Having three parts and an additional chapter or two.
Context:
· Cyber-Pets (or Virtual-Pets) are pocket sized electronic toys that can be carried on a key ring. They were popular in the mid to late 90’s with Bandai’s Tamagotchi being the most famous (itself a portmanteau of the Japanese words “egg” and “watch”). Tamagotchi were also a precursor to Pokémon’s rival Digimon, Whilst Giga-pets were a western competitor to Tamagotchi, released by Tiger Electronics with licensed deals to make Giga-Pets tie-in merchandise for existing franchises, such as Rugrats™ for one.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The term “Hermaphrodite” has origins in Greek mythology. Hermaphroditus being the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, whose story is told in Ovid’s metamorphoses.
· There are two types of hermaphroditism, Sequential and Simultaneous, the most common in fish is sequential, meaning it can only be one gender at one time. A Clown Fish, (think of titular character of Finding Nemo) will become male first, even becoming sexual but since these fishes exist in a hierarchy, they serve the sexually dominant female. If the female dies, the sexual male, becomes a female. So, it is male first, then maybe it will become female when it gets higher up and become the alpha of the group. They are not polygamous; males tend to stick by one female.
· Humans do not experience hermaphrodism like animals. They do not change sex as some sort of Darwinist response to their environment or their age. However, intersex people do exist. At birth you either have male or female sex organs but some are born with both sex organs. Studies have claimed that in terms of fertility the biology of intersex people favoured motherhood more than fatherhood, (although fatherhood could be possible, the studies show it is rare) [Peculiar in that it supports that women are the “default” gender, with males having nipples develop in the womb before they develop gonads, women too may have an enlarged clitoris which may be mistaken for male genitalia, of course this is supposition. – James]
· Although not mentioned by James and Will, a person defined as an intersex person could be someone whose puberty is halted or interrupted by underlying conditions, such as, Turner syndrome, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) or XYY (Klinefelter) Syndrome to name a few.
· The coronation of Victoria as Queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, she was 19 years old at the time. According to Lucy Worsley’s book, ‘Queen Victoria - Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow’ the coronation was a bit messy as far as coronations go; the royal treasurer threw silver medals commemorating the event at the crowd which caused quite a ruckus.
· Matchem is a famous thoroughbred horse who was used for breeding between 1758 and 1781. Eclipse and Herod are also famous horses for the same reason.
· His many offspring, include Pumpkin, won up to 1,000 racing matches. And another of Matchem’s offspring, Conductor, gave off a good family tree of winners, including Trumpator who begot, Sorcerer, who then begot Smolensko and Wizard. Why do horses have crazy cool names?
· One of D’s horses is a clear a reference to Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting of the same name. The image of the horse in the manga is based on the same horse in Fuseli’s 1791 rendition, because of its popularity Fuseli made multiple versions of the painting. All of them depict a woman sleeping, with a demon resting on top of her and a horse peering into the room behind a curtain. A lot do consider it the first depiction of sleep paralysis in an oil painting.
· Alex has a bottle of Tokaj (Tokay) wine as a gift to D. Named after its vineyards in Hungary. It is the same wine that Dracula gives to Johnathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s famous novel!
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Dog lovers will love this one yet we are now seeing author Akino experiment with the characters. She also explores some social commentary and posing morally difficult questions. It goes without saying, today is a heavy episode about the horrors of fascism and war.
Skip synopsis @ 7:23
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128: Petshop of Horrors vol. 3
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The first story Diamonde, involves D taking a pro-active stance on preventing artificial insemination. However, the story leaves one to wonder if the sperm was even human to begin with.
Second story, Desire, has D confront a little girl named Maggie who abuses her pet dog. D offers her to trade her dog for a younger sister of her choice. In doing so the sister she and her family fosters quickly becomes more popular and loved than Maggie. Consumed by jealousy Maggie then must deal with the horror of abandonment. But not to worry, this one does have a happy ending, bonus points if you are a dog lover.
Third story, Dessert, has a serial killer on the loose, meanwhile D falls in love with a man’s cooking. But what D does not realise is that he is next on the menu.
The fourth story which we will unpack a lot today is “Devil, which is about an old woman named Rosemary. Rosemary has dementia but through a chance meeting with D her memories of the second world war are triggered. She mistakes D for his grandfather who gave her a teddy bear which acted as a charm that would protect her. D identifies the teddy which helps to bring her lost memories back. Once again, the teddy saves her life when a bullet from a neo-Nazi almost hits her chest. The episode raises the question on wherever it is the right thing to ask dementia sufferers to remember war.
Context
·
· Are there people really have poodles with their noodles? For the sake of avoiding any semblance of prejudice we won’t provide the source to such facts, however desperate times can call for desperate dietary measures.
· Since “Count D” is a lover of all animals, he does not fit the offensive Asian stereotype of someone who eats dogmeat and is in fact vegetarian.
· The chapter ‘Devil’ refers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the manga was printed in 1996 the conflict evolved from the late 80’s, with the events surrounding the Palestinian declaration of independence and “the first intifada”. There is a more convoluted history, with Israeli independence pre-dating many events but this is historical information that does not serve today’s episode.
· As of the date of the upload, November 5th 2023, we are dealing with another wave of emotional charged misinformation and propaganda. U.S. President Joe Biden seems to have retracted his statement, or at the very least his words have been used as misinformation regarding the death and circumstances of 40 babies.
· People are reposting the attacks that happened a while back in Syria as if they were happening in Gaza today. And we are truly seeing an unprecedented amount of war crimes posted on social media 24/7 in HD. Which are not only taking a toll on our emotional wellbeing but are influencing us to respond in brash ways.
· Despite the division between Jewish and Islamic communities surrounding the conflict around Gaza, there is evidence that both parties have more in common than one would think.
· In the story we have Rosemary (Born Elizabeth Schneider) who ends up hiding from Nazi forces. If you are interested in the testimony of such people in real-life, please go to the following website: https://www.het.org.uk/education/outreach-programme/survivor-stories
Fascism (As defined by Merriam-Webster)
1: A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
· It is important to note that the word “fascist” has become a slur, a fascist is not simply someone who disagrees with you, it is someone who profits from the subjugation and opposition of an individual, believing it to profit their nation.
· For more information, ‘Stuff You Should Know’ podcast made good episode about fascism, and one that is highly recommended for beginners on the subject.
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Cat lovers will enjoy the continuation of our spooky season read along, as James and Will experience multiple stories from the Petshop of Horror. There’s one about a dangerous mermaid that resembles someone’s dead wife, another about jumping into someone else’s dream and a white cat that grants its owner good luck! Skip synopsis @ 7:40
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127: Petshop of Horrors vol. 2
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Continuing from the previous volume, we have four episodic chapters revolving around D's Petshop and the detective Leon Orcot, who suspect the store manager of criminal activity.
The first story, "Dragon" involves D accidentally giving a customer a dragon's egg. With the help of detective Orcot they race before christmas day to retreive it before it hatches.
In the second story, we have William Foster, a man down on his luck, he takes a cat that gives him good luck! To him it appears as a young girl who calls him daddy, her name is Lady. When the man breaks his contract and makes her cry, D force his hand and challenges him for Lady through a game of dice. Can William win back Lady's love without her luck on his side?
The third story "Delicious", revolves around the death of the pop star Evangeline Blue and D finding another exotic cryptid creature in the same ocean that Blue died in. Blue's widow, Jason, finds out that she bought a pet at the shop before her death, the pet itself, a mermaid who looks just like the dead Evangeline Blue. An assiistant manager from Blue's record label, Louise, confesses to the police and Orcot. Explaining how the marriage was a sham and a PR stunt, when Blue found out she became suicidal on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, Jason has mistook guilt for love and has fallen for the mermaid that resembles Blue. By the time police investigate, he is eaten by the fish monster and they find the remains of Blue inside the monster's stomach. Was it guilt that made him think the fish looked like the dead Evangeline Blue? Or was somehow the fish monster a mystical agent, avenging the scorned Blue?
The Final story revolves around D whom after trouble sleeping spends the night at the natural history musuem. Detective Leon Orcot spies on him after seeing him buy off the security, expecting D of making narcotics trade he instead finds him asleep surrounded by a cloud of incense. Soon Leon finds himself breathing in the substance and ends up un a magical trance where he finds he has fallen into D's dream. In the dream spell, both D and Leon experience a pre historical time where animals that are extinct walk the land once more. Leon is willing to kill the animals to survive mucch to the annoyance of D. But D leaves the dream world before Leon does and Leon is left alone to fend for himself. Eventually the two come back to the real world, and D invites him round his home for tea, knowing that Leon has changed a bit and that Leon may know a little bit more about D than he did before.
· During the “Delicious” chapter we see a noticeable plot hole. How could Evangeline Blue purchase a pet if the pet itself was the one that killed her? One theory James and Will did not discuss is the possibility that D deliberately gave a different pet to Jason, knowing that Blue died. Another is that D is lying and is merely avenging Blue’s death.
· The Destruction chapter which shows one character in another's dream is an interesting twist on the type of episodic plot that is made where two antagonising characters develop intimacy.Usually there is body swapping, but in a non-fantasy setting you have characters survive a plane crash or ship wreck and get stranded, an urban setting would involve characters getting stuck in an elevator or trapped because of a cave-in from an earthquake, upon where we learn the hard man character may have a fear of confined spaces or darkness, or one confesses their feelings of love or attraction. Sitcoms tend to involve one character nursing a sick one when doing this story, although sommetimes characters will just be in a confined space so that they become cannon fodder for jokes. Whatever the case, the goal is that the characters know more about eachother then they did before the episode. The destruction chapter is notable for its use of liminal space in telling such a story, without resorting to something like a "spirit walk".
References throughout the manga
· 5 octave range, is a very large range of pitch. The most famous example of such a singer with this vocal range is Mariah Carey. Some vocalists can do a 6-octave range, but this is rare with only a handful in the world being able to so.
· Evangeline Blue has won a Grammy. Where as in reality, Beyonce is the artist with the most grammys won, having 32, with 88 nomiations and earning 6 in one night, the name “grammy” is given because the trophy is shaped like a gramophone and they are given from the Recording Academy. They are basically to music what oscars are to film.
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It is horror season on our book club podcast, so it is horror manga time! Today’s manga is about a pet shop in Chinatown, where the mysterious manager sells mythical creatures and cryptids for pets, but the people who get their pets here cannot help but see these creatures as more human than animal; a mistake that will lead them to their downfall! Skip plot summary @ 7:05
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126: Petshop of Horrors
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Synopsis:
In the heart of L.A.'s chinatown rests a pet shop owned by the mysterious Count D. The grandson to Count D, (who we shall just call D for now) is a mysterious, somewhat effeminate, and eccentric person who acts as the store manager whilst the count is away on business. When the wealthier clientele ask for exotic and rare pets D takes them to the back and sells them cryptids and strange supernatural, sometimes mythological creatures that resemble humans. But before he sells them D has them sign a contract with specific clauses. Something more akin to rules that if broken have dire consequences that D himself refuses to be liable for, but D will on occasion offer advice to those who are troubled enough to have broken them.
Often the rules come in threes, with one mostly telling owners only to feed their pets with fresh water and vegetables, but a rule that almost always occurs tells them to never show their pets to anyone.
Each chapter tells a tale about the owners that sometimes revolves around a moral. Such as the husband and wife who buy what D claims to be a rabbit, which then replaces their dead daughter. Only for their parents to repeat the same behaviour that led to their daughter's demise.
After numerous episodes of owners losing control of their so-called pets; it sparks an investigation from the detective, Leon Orcolt, whom suspects D of using the petshop as a front for drug or human trafficking but Little does the detective know about the surreal nature of the monsters inside the shop.
· Petshop of Horror being a Josei manga, not shojo, implies it is a story for women and not young girls (perhaps young adult, teen audience) Tokyopop publishing gave it 13+ age rating.
· Originally published 1996 in Japan and 2003 in English by Tokyopop, although today Tokyopop is known for its Disney Licenses and manga aimed at young girls, the publishers have not been the same since losing the License to Kodansha manga in 2008, with Kodansha seizing control of their English publication instead of outsourcing it through Tokyopop.
· The spin offs/sequels to the manga include shin petshop (2005), Passage-Hen (2013) and Ark Adrift (2018) It had a short 4-episode anime adaptation in 1999 by the Production studio Madhouse. At the time of this podcast episode being uploaded, Petshop of Horrors: Ark Adrift is still being made, with Akino Matsuri having worked continuously on the franchise from its inception.
· Episodic stories only work when focused on character, but you can also have the recurring character fit into a basic monomyth like template and just have your recurring character take a base role. In this case D is almost always the supernatural aide or the sage role. As the pets he gives are guised in being remedial to the episodic character's problems but are in fact tests of character.
· Episodic plots tend to have a gimmick in this case, it is the pet which acts as a monster of the week plot.
· Female power fantasy aimed at a more adult audience tends to have men be servents to the female protagonist and the male figure is an extension of the woman's power and influence. The woman is defined by her cabality, or lack of cabality to romantically love such a character whilst maintaining power and influence. At the time of the manga's release the Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner movie, The Bodyguard (1992) was popular. That movie is also like the relationship dynamic seen in Chapter 4 with Dreizhein (a.k.a. Dora-Chan) and Karen. At first Karen feels disrespected and being overly protected by Dreizhen she feels her identity and independency as a mature woman is threatened, Dreizhein is a sexual threat since he is an overprotective man. In such stories the woman learns to accept the man, love him, and trust him, whilst at the same time another suitor betrays her trust. And as often the case, the mythical protector is unable to or at least struggles to love the woman back as it creates fear in the man that it will diminish his ability as a bodyguard. Sometime, in love stories targeted to males, the male figure is only around long enough that so the woman can learn something about herself and the male then goes on to new adventures. Petshop of Horrors has a more fairy tale approach. By having the man become a literal doberman dog by the end of the story the male figure loses their sexuality, it is as if the woman has tamed the man, but only after eliminating all her threats. The bodyguard is no longer seen as a sexual threat and the woman remains virginal for the time being, or at the very least remains motherly to her new pet who has saved her life.
· The store manager has his own animal companion named Q-Chan. Q-Chan is a Wolperdinger (written as Valvertinger in the 2003 English Tokyopop translation). This animal is from German folklore and is a hybrid of a squirrel or rabbit combined with horns and wings. Interestingly Q-Chan looks more like Moogles (or Mogs) from the Final Fantasy videogames, due to having bat like wings. An American version of this creature is the jackelope, a jackrabbit with antelope horns, and unlike deer, antelope do not shed their horns. Hunters and Taxidermists have made ornamental Jackelopes and Wolperdinger. So just because you see one stuffed and on the shelf of a pub does not make them real.
· One of the pets is a reference to Medusa of Greek myth, Medusa was cursed for her vanity, when the jealous goddess Athena decided to make it so that Medusa’s gaze could turn people into stone. One interpretation could say she was cursed with good looks prior to this, as to not blame Medusa since in myth she did not accept the advances of the god Poseidon. Now Medusa is seen as a feminist symbol of female rage. Her head is used as an apotropaic symbol (a magical charm to ward off threats) especially on the accessories by Versace.
· Alice is named after the protagonist of Lewis Carol's “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” Notable for entering a surreal world by chasing a white rabbit.
· Dreizhein (Dora-Chan) has his ears clipped and explains this is standard procedure for those who serve the military (he never explains more than that). There is a history with Doberman dogs being cosmetically altered, having their tails surgically shortened and their ears cut. It is thought that the ears would help them hear better but due the illegality of doing this there has not been a thorough study.
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Steven, James and Will group up to talk about the latest one-shot manga from Tatsuki Fujimoto. Most famous for Chainsaw Man, Fujimoto flexes his storytelling muscles by occasional doing shorter stories. Perhaps this is the key to him being a good storyteller overall. In 'Goodbye, Eri' we get a meditation on how stories are powerful and reality defining. Fujimoto also experiments with a meta-narrative as we see the main character Yuta make his own story up through the course of the pages. Skip synopsis @ 6:46
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125: Goodbye, Eri
By Tatsuki Fujimoto
Translation by Amanda Healy
Lettering by Snir Aharon
Synopsis:
The story starts with 12 years old Yuta receiving a smart phone for his birthday. His mom makes a request towards him, that he must use his smartphone to record her through her sickness, so that he may have something to remember her by when she is gone. The days go by and his mom's health declines as Yuta keeps a cool detachment towards his assignment. But in her last moments, Yuta breaks, running away from the hospital and choosing not to film his mom's final moments. As he runs away, the hospital behind him blows up like an action movie setpiece.
Yuta edited his video footage of his mom into a short film, and after presenting it to his school he gets a class clown reputation and is condemned for mocking his mother. Feeling suicidal, Yuta goes to the hospital his mother died in and thinks of jumping off the roof. He is in terrupted by a school mate, a girl who after seeing the film thinks highly of Yuta's talents and considers the film as something awe inspiring, Eri. Eri decides to show her film collection off to Yuta and school him on how to make a good movie. After a lot of movie watching, the two decide to make one togeather with Eri playing as a terminally ill vampire.
The lines between the two narratives begin to blur, Eri does become terminally ill, just like Yuta's mother and the planned story of the film. But Yuta again gets cold feet, and instead of going to school and facing Eri he hides in his room all day. Yuta's father speaks to him, he reveals that he recorded his mom's final moments and decides to show Yuta the video. In the video, unlike Yuta's film, where we saw a saintly and good mother, we see a side of her that was narcissistic, ungreatful, unloving and abusive. Only wanting Yuta to film her as part of a documentary she wanted to produce, in the hopes that she would survive her illness. Yuta's dad, tells him that he has a gift. That he can choose how to remember someone and portray the goodness in people.
Yuta finishes the film, and it proves a sucess with his school, moving them to tears. But years go by and Yuta dissastified with his film ceaselessly re edits and re cuts it. A much older and once again suicidal Yuta, returns to Eri's den / make-shift theatre after losing his wife and child in a car crash. A familiar voice speaks to him and Yuta finally gets some satisfaction. He finds a way to film a new ending but first he has to say goodbye to Eri.
Topics:
· Zoe thorogood's 'It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth' and meta-narrative storytelling.
· Fujimoto and dominant women.
· Similarities to 'Sundome' and 'Your Lie in April'.
· Fujimoto's way of dividing panels to convey the passage of time.
· Foreshadowing the ending, the unreliable narrator.
· the message, the importancee in story telling, andd how it shapes reality or becomes and how it can be a coping mechanism towards making sense and understanding a senseless world. sometimes escapism. e.g. neil gaiman's death.
· Who out of our hosts is the most like Eri or Yuta?
· Character pastime activity as an excuse to find love and or a driving force for character
Cultural References:
· David fincher's 'Fight Club' (1996), based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuck.
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James and Steven discuss the concluding adult arc of the manga, breaking it down using Joseph Campbell’s monomyth template. And even speak of the bonus skull kid chapters, which separate from the full story also acts as a good rendition of the hero’s journey formula. Skip synopsis @ 5:14
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124: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time vol. 2
Story and Art by Akira Himekawa
Based upon the work of Yoshiaki Koizuma, Tôru Ôsawa, Kensuke Tanabe, Yusuke Nakano and Shigeru Miyamoto
Translation by Jon Werry and Steven Brown
Lettering by John Hunt
Synopsis:
Previously the young Link used the Ocarina of Time gifted to him by Zelda to unlock the temple of time. In doing so he sees the legendary master sword, and just like Arthurian legend, Link is worthy to wield it, although there is a twist in that Link is only worthy to wield it as an adult, hence forth he falls under a sleepy spell within the sanctum of the temple only to awake as an adult. Raul (or Rauru depending on the translation you read) greets him. Raul is the spirit of the sagely owl that has watched over the young Link and appears to him in spirit as an elderly man. He tells Link that the world is a harsh place now since Ganondorf rules but hope exists so long as Link finds the remaining six sages who can banish Ganondorf.
On this quest Link revisits places he travelled to as a child all whilst being tracked down by the sentient shadow of Ganondorf. He finds that the children of the Kokiri forest do not age nor do they recognise Link. The baby dragon he once fostered has become the beastly creature Volvagia, an agent of evil. The young girls he met are now women looking for suitors but one thing is different. Sheik, a mysterious man who helps Link turns out to be the one who is working for Ganondorf and so seemingly betrays Link.
Through being captured Link can find the final sage and free her mind from Twinrova, the soothsaying witch who works for Ganondorf. This brings Twinrova out from the shadows and Sheik shows their true allegiance by attacking the witch. We learn that Sheik is cloaked in a magical spell and is in fact the princess Zelda in disguise. After Zelda reveals herself to Link Gandorf captures Zelda. And so, the final battle between Link and Ganondorf commences, but this time Link has the sages on his side.
In the end Link puts an end to Ganandorf's reign. But heroes are not needed in peace time and Zelda decides to deal with the consequences alone. Zelda uses the Ocarina of Time to send Link back to his childhood, back to the moment before he touched the master sword and before he first met Zelda. Although Link may not look it, he has changed, branded by the experience it is now with a younger Zelda that he may find a better way to save Hyrule.
Topics:
· The symbolism and archetypes of Zelda.
· The refusal of the call, how it is often ignored in some stories and how it is a player’s choice in terms of videogames.
· women representing the final test for boyhood to manhood, winning the boon of love. And what it means to be an adult.
· the skull kid chapters and the monomyth...
the forest is the belly of the beast, the heart of hell. Whilst skull kid is what link may become but he is also the supernatural aid to link. link must prove his worth to his tribe.
· The time travel aspect, the refusal to return.
· Setting up the stakes in the adult arc later rather than earlier, and the effects that has on a plot.
· Why the volvagia fight is not set up very well, relying on flashback.
· OsamuTezuka's ideology is used by Akira Himekawa. This being that any single image in a manga must be striking and be able to stand on its own, this is true but it can be negated if the page itself does not stand on its own. The page must have panels that flow cohesively and be easy to read or else the images look ugly and clash no matter how good a single panel is.
Differences and references to the game:
· The Baga tree is an original character to the manga.
· The fairy Goddess does not make an appearance in the manga.
· In the game Link never rides Epona as a small pony, where as in the manga he does.
· The Skull Kid gets his mask from Link as he does in the game however in the manga the mask is home made and cut from the wood of the Deku tree. Unlike the game where Link (in a side quest of course) becomes a vendor for the mask merchant.
· The chapter that involves Link and a disguised Zelda playing in the Hyrulean square is filled with easter egg sightings of references to the game, be it the Bombchus and the mask shop.
· Unlike the videogame, Ganondorf appears aged during the climax as he fights adult Link. His hair is no longer red and short but thin, long, and white.
· Link never wears an ear ring in the videogame, however the promotional illustrations by Yusuke Nakano shows him wearing an ear ring, the manga elaborates on this as a gift from Impa. Ear rings was also fashionable amongst young men and boys in the 1990’s.
· The sword technique that Link uses to defeat the shadow is the spin attack. In the game Link has two version of this attack, one being accessible only as an adult.
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The seminal videogame was given the manga treatment in 1999, a lot has changed since then, yet it tells an ancient form of myth that permeates all cultures and spurs on our talk today.
Skip synopsis @ 6:52
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123: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Story and Art by Akira Himekawa
Based upon the work of Yoshiaki Koizuma, Tôru Ôsawa, Kensuke Tanabe, Yusuke Nakano and Shigeru Miyamoto
Translation by John Werry, Honkyaku Center inc.
and Steven “Stan!” Brown
Lettering by John Hunt
A young boy by the name of Link lives in the elusive kokiri forest, he feels himself to be not like the other elf like inhabitants of his home. At a certain age the Kokiri receive a guardian fairy yet link is often bullied for not having one. It is only when the tribe leader and elder of the forest falls ill that he sends the fairy Navi to Link. Link heeds the call of Navi so to help the leader of his tribe, the great Deku tree.
Although Link defeats the monster residing within the Deku tree, he is unable to save the tree’s life. Before it withers, Link is given one of three sacred stones, the stone of
He is also told that the nightmares that plague him are visions of an impending doom and that an evil force has made its move by successfully attacking the Deku tree. Link is also told that he is born of Hylian parents, that he must go to his people and warn the princess of Hyrule, Princess Zelda. And so, Link is given a sword from his former bully, and carves a wooden shield from the remains of the Deku Tree before he sets out on his journey.
Zelda tends to enjoy the company of her subjects by disguising herself as a commoner. She finds Link and sees he is not accustomed to the hustle and bustle of a town square, but they depart when shady types seek out and try to harm the girl, in her haste she drops an ocarina. Eventually Link trespasses on royal grounds and discovers that the girl whom befriended him earlier is in fact Zelda. Link returns the Ocarina that Zelda left behind and she explains to Link how the ocarina is a valuable heirloom.
She tells Link of the nefarious Ganandorf, leader of the Gerudo, who she suspects of conspiracy against her father, the king. She sends Link on a journey to find other sacred stones. If Link succeeds then he will fulfil the prophecy of unlocking the temple of time, and with Zelda's help he will become the hero of time. She also explains the Triforce to Link, three magical relics that allows who ever touches them to recreate the world so that it reflects their heart, or their hatred. She believes this is what Ganondorf is seeking.
Link succeeds in acquiring the stones but on his return to Hyrule, his nightmares have come true. The Kingdom is being attacked on a stormy night. Zelda flees with her bodyguard on horseback. She throws the Ocarina at Link as she is being chased by Ganondorf, whom treats Link with disregard, not knowing the power Zelda has bestowed upon the young boy.
Context:
· According to official sources (Hyrule Historia), ‘Ocarina of Time’ is a prequel to ‘A Link to the Past’ and all previous games in the franchise before 1998. ‘Skyward Sword’ which was released in 2011 would replace Ocarina of Time as the new starting point in the franchise. Some games feature the same Link where as others are more so re-incarnations of Link as he appears in ‘Ocarina of Time’ an example of this is ‘Wind Waker’ where boys wear green when they come of age and the events of Ocarina of Time are mere legend.
· The videogame crash of the 80’s is often described by the legendary anecdote that Atari buried thousands of unsold E.T. cartridges out in a New Mexico desert. On another note, the videogame cartridge was invented by Jerry Lawson for the channel F game console, before Atari’s console.
· Nintendo’s revival of the videogame industry from 1983 to 1988 saw them dominate 80% of the market. Whilst in the UK videogames were more of a cottage industry, with Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and the Amiga from Amstrad being successful. BBC Micro from Acorn was an educational device made to teach computer literacy to children, albeit it had games, it was never made to compete with Nintendo.
1990: NINTENDO and the JAPANESE SOFTWARE boom | The Money Programme | Retro Computing | BBC Archive - YouTube
· Nintendo 64, stepping up to the Playstation (released 93/94) in 1996, shown 3D videogaming done right and with intellectual properties/brands that people notice and care about. Although in Japan Sony was neck and neck competing with Sega. Nintendo’s innovation came from its analogue controller and high spec hardware that had a slot for upgrading RAM. However, the weakness of the Nintendo 64 was down to the manufacturing cost of software. With the cartridge format being outdated for the time.
Topics:
· What Zelda meant to children in the 90’s and our history with the game.
· In the game Link is an avatar for us as players, but does the novel take the opportunity to flesh out the character and make him his own person?
· Link’s popularity with girl characters seems like a heavy male power fantasy then something that has anything worthwhile to say but there is a symbolic take to this too; before Link is ready to be perceived as a capable man, he serves these girls and their affection illustrates him being tested on his growth towards manhood. In other words, a chivalrous man is a heroic one is the perceived message. Link needs to be brave to be loved, and he needs to be loved to succeed.
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Now that the first-generation arcs of Pokémon Adventures are over, James and Will talk about the all action finale. The brilliance of getting us to root for girls in what many consider to be a shonen manga. And we even talk about the Mewtwo versus Lance fight and Pikachu and friends versus Lance! Perhaps there is a bit too many people fighting Lance in this volume but overall, we get a satisfying conclusion. Skip plot summary @ 9:55
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122: Pokémon Adventures vol. 7
Chapters 79 'Airing Out Aerodactyl' and 90 'The Legend'
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Annaliese Christman
Yellow's journey to reunite Pika the Pikachu with the Pokémon trainer Red finally comes to an end, but not before a climactic battle on a remote Island with the Elite Four.
Lorelei cuts the arm of Green only to find it was a trick Ditto in disguise, her real arm, being hidden in her jacket. The Ditto confines and arrests Lorelei and her Pokémon Jynx. Sabrina is not too happy to find that was she handicapped and partnered to a secret ditto throughout the fight, but it worked non the less. One down, three to go.
Agatha's haunter is tricked into attacking the severed body of an Arbok, which can still move even without its head. Blue can counter attack it, in turn Agatha flees as it was the last of her Pokémon. That is two down and two to go.
And Bruce, no longer influenced by Agatha's spell accepts defeat from Red graciously. Afterwards Red seeks out Pika once Bill tells him that Pika is on the island with Yellow. Now Lance is the last one left standing.
Blaine uses Mewtwo to fight Lance but having a psychic link with Mewtwo means he becomes unconscuous during the fight. Mewtwo is also unique as a pokémon since they become weaker with every passing second once out of the master ball and their culture tank. Because of this Mewtwo is not able to defeat Lance and instead retreats it's special master ball not only to protect its own life but the life of Blaine aswell. This leaves Yellow to a showdown within the heart of an active volcano, where she learns that Lance has the same powers as her. Lance also learns of Yellow too by reading Pika's mind. Both Yellow and Lance are from Viridian Forest as is their Pokémon and both have the same powers to heal and read the thoughts of Pokémon.
From Learning how Mewtwo fought previously, Yellow uses Pika's surf move to lure Lance to the lava and generate a whirlpool to trap him. Once Lance is gone, she is helped by her Pokémon and exits the mouth of the volcano. But the recess from battle is short as Lance rises from the volcano with a bubble shield formed by his Gyrados. Yellow gets her hand broken by the Gyrados' bubble beam attack, which is invisible in the bright light of the sun. However Yellow retaliates by having her caterpie form a string net, her Omanyte wets the net and and her Raticate uses it to sense any bubbles that hit it. Pika charges the wet net with ellectricity, making sure to counter attack Lance and trapping him inside it. Once Yellow senses an opening she has her Doduo attack Lance. Sadly, Doduo and the rest of her Pokémon are not strong enough to defeat Lance's. It is at this point another Viridian Pokémon user arrives to assist. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, but in doing so he loses his gym badge to Lance. With Lance having all badges his master plan is active and the island becomes the altar to which it will summon a legendary dragon Pokémon. One that Lance plans to capture and use to conquer the world. In Lance's eagerness he does not realise how weak and worn out from battle his Pokémon are. In the end the powers that he summons becomes a double edged sword for Lance. Yellow's Pokémon have evolved and so she makes her last stand.
Topics:
· The climax and battles of the Yellow arc.
· Giving context as to why Yellow Caballero is revealed to be a girl later in the manga.
· How too many twists can spoil the drama if they zig zag back and forth between similar scenes, often a common flaw in shonen battle manga.
· Giovanni and his son.
References and Trivia:
· Although Lugia looks like a dragon it is in fact the highest Pokémon on the hierarchy of the Legendary bird Pokémon. It is a flying and psychic type. Lugia is also original to the second Pokémon movie (Pokémon 2000) having made their first appearance in that movie. Lugia’s place in the wider franchise came as a surprise to writer and creator Takeshi Shudo, according to this ‘Did You Know Gaming’ video, and Dr. Lava’s blog.
· Arbok’s body being able to move without its head is a real-life phenomenon seen with snakes. Like chickens, snakes and most reptiles have a pre-programmed nervous system that works in response to shock. Especially a shock induced by beheading, according to an article from National Geographic snakes can recover from this, albeit with permanent brain damage. There is also this video of a decapitated snake still being able to bite.
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Coming close to the end of the yellow arc, we finally get answers to long standing questions and see an old character return in time for the final battle. Skip plot summary @ 4:25
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121: Pokémon Adventures vol. 6
Chapters 66 'Punching Poliwrath' and 78 'Victim of Venusaur'
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
Red has disappeared and it is up to his Pikachu (nicknamed Pika in the manga) with the help of Yellow Caballero to find him. In the search for Red they to team up with Pokémon experts and members of the Rocket gang, this leads them to encounter with Bruno, Lorelei, Agatha and Lance, a.k.a. the Elite Four.
Sabrina of Team Rocket uses her psychic "spoons of fate" trick to decide on how to best the four. The spoons bend towards the best partner, Koga teams up with Blue, Sabrina with Green, Lt. Surge teams up with Bill and Yellow with Blaine.
Blue wants to fight Agatha due to the history they share, but paralyzed by her Gengar it is Koga who defeats her in a Arbok versus Arbok fight after having a Golbat versus Golbat fight! Koga revives Blue by hiding a paralyzed heal in one of his shuriken shaped Pokéballs. Agatha has the last laugh by trapping them in a maze of fallen stalactites and having a Gengar shadow them as she lays unconscious.
Lorelei fights Green and Sabrina, making magical voodoo like dolls from ice. Lorelei has the two ladies stuck together in cuffs of ice. As a tactician Lorelei knocks out Green first but Sabrina attacks her cloyster which hides the dolls. Lorelei tells Sabrina that it is useless since all Cloyster must do is shield itself and withdraw. Good thing Sabrina is not trying to steal back the dolls through force. Instead, she uses her venomoth to leech out the life of the Cloyster, much to Lorelei's surprise.
Bill and Lt. Surge find themself fighting on the back of a wild Onyx; Yellow and Blaine notice them through a one-sided mirror, a strange barrier that makes it hopeless for them to help. At this moment Red appears in time to rematch with Bruno, and although Blaine, Yellow and Pikachu can see Red, the barrier prevents Red as well as Lt. Surge and Bill from Seeing them. On top of this, Electrode's self-destruct move has caused a torrent of water to seep into the cave, one that threatens to drown Blaine, Yellow and Pikachu. We also discover what Yellow is hiding under that straw hat!
Topics:
· The opening battle with Red and Bruno, Pikachu's trauma.
· Each of the battles between shown through the volumes.
· The idea of a Pokédex from 1996 in a modern age of Wikipedia and online search engines.
· Religious references and censorship in regards to manga and videogames.
References:
· Misty's use of Starmie as a guiding light /emergency flare is an allusion to the Christian Bible, where three kings (in some translations "three wise men") used a star to guide them to the birthplace of their messiah.
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Does Pikachu have a stand? The manga has a unique take on how and why Pikachu can surf. Did you know you could teach Pikachu to surf? Sip plot summary @ 6:40 We also talk about the inconsistent looks of Blaine the fire Pokémon gym leader.
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120: Pokémon Adventures vol. 5
Chapters 53 to 65, ‘Can't Catch Caterpie’ and ‘Karate Machomp’
Story by Hidenori Kusaka
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
With the disappearance of trainer Red it is now Yellow Caballero’s job to team up with Pikachu and find him. Along the way Red's rival, Blue, teaches Yellow the ways of a Pokémon trainer before they head off on their journey. Soon Yellow has a short run in with members of a fractured team Rocket and eventually Yellow traces Red's previous steps to a hidden Tentacool nest within the ocean, a pocket of air holds the treasure of evolutionary stones and Yellow finds that three of the stones have already been taken.
Meanwhile an old ally of Red and Yellow's is the young Lady, trainer Green. She breaks in to Bill's house (the man who invented the Pokémon to PC transport system, remember?) and tries to find records of Red's Pokémon use, both Bill and Green learn that Red took out an Eevee, but before they learn anymore, they become attacked by Bruno of the elite four. With the use of Green's Blastoise they learn that the fight has been a distraction from the danger that Yellow is in.
Lance, the dragon pokemon expert and member of the elite four attacks Vermillion city whilst Yellow is at a surfing competition. Pikachu is almost abducted by Lance but uses the substitute move and learns how to surf, overpowering Lance which causes him to flee. After learning of Lance's manifesto of destroying humans for the benefit of Pokémon. Yellow asks Pikachu if siding with humans is something they want to do. Of course, Pikachu agrees to side with humans, because Pikachu is cool like that.
The Elite Four have spread out individually to make their attack. Bruno attacks Pewter city, Agatha attacks Cerulean city and Lorelei attacks Celadon city. Lance's whereabouts are unknown but Yellow teams up with Blaine to check out Cerise Island and see if Lance is there. Blaine intentionally gets to the island before Yellow and teams up with Blue at the shore. Once they travel inside the caves the two are ambushed, not by Lance but by the triad leaders of the Rocket gang. Lt. Surge, Sabrina and Koga! Yellow has yet to arrive.
Topics:
· Why Yellow Caballero works as a character!
· The “enemy mine” trope that James refers to pre-dates Star Trek, James talks about the third season finale of Voyager titled “Scorpion” where the crew need the help of an enemy in order to navigate Borg territory. The actual trope namer/codifier could be the 1985 Dennis Quad movie ‘Enemy Mine’ adapted from a Barry Longyear novella. That story also involves a war between humans and an alien race.
· A mention to Red's Poliwhirl evolving in previous chapters brings cohesion to an otherwise bizarre quest for Yellow. Poliwhirl is unique to the manga as Red's first Pokémon, where as in the anime and the Dengeki Pikachu (Electric Tale of Pikachu) manga it is Pikachu who is the first Pokémon that our hero owns. The reasoning behind this is that the lead creative designer of the '96 game, Satoshi Tajiri, considers Poliwhirl to be his favorite Pokémon. Which is unsurprising since Red is based on Satoshi Tajiri.
· The surfing Pikachu is a hidden feature in a few of the games in the series. When certain criteria are met, such as acquiring HM03 for example, you can teach Pikachu surf. There is also a hidden surfing Pikachu mini-game in Pokémon Yellow Edition.
Differences and Comparisons to other Media:
· Lance of the Elite Four has the name "Wataru" in his native Japanese appearance. Possibly derived from the word "Watatsumi", an ocean deity of Japanese creationist myth. In German translations he is given the name Siegfried, named after the dragon slaying hero of norse myth, mostly famous due to Wagner's Nebelunglied Opera. (Which you would have heard of if you watched the movie 'Apocalypse Now'). In English translations he is named after a weapon that medieval knights used.
· In this manga Blaine has it as a disguise but in the anime, he prefers to wear a short-sleeved shirt with hair on his sides sans the usual shades that cover the eyes. This is how Blaine was illustrated and looked like in the manual and early concept art. Blaine also has hair in the anime but will wear a wig and shades to disguise himself. In the '96 Gameboy game and later appearances on the trading cards he is fully bald and wears shades, like his first appearance in the manga. According to... Blaine's design is recycled from unused pixel art of what was supposed to be the president and head scientist/researcher of Silph co. The theory was that you would have a Pokémon battle with this character but it may have been scrapped since the goal was to save them, since when you first meet them, they are a hostage during Rocket's takeover of the Silph building, thus defeating the purpose of seeing them in battle graphics. On top of this, Blaine's original design has a military motif and may have been too much like Lt. Surge. In other words Blaine's disguise in the manga is a nod to his scrapped design. The Obsessive Gamer on Youtube has a video which goes in to better detail.
Blaine was a unique gym leader in that he would have his gym members battle you if you got his Pokémon trivia questions wrong and so he would test the players intelligence. In the anime he would test Ash by speaking in riddles.
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James and Will talk about volume 4 of the Pokémon Adventures manga. Including the new and original “Yellow” who is perhaps the first gender neutral looking character we have seen in an otherwise shonen manga. Skip summary of the plot @ 5:15
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119: Pokémon Adventures vol. 4
Chapters 41 to 52, ‘Ponyta Tale’ and ‘Growing out of Gengar’
Story by Hidenori Kusaka
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
Two years have passed since the events of Volume 3 and the protagonist Red is now missing. A concerned Misty contacts Professor Oak and their talk is interrupted by Red’s Pikachu, a bruised, bloody Pokémon dragging its feet as it enters Oak’s place. A new and mysterious protagonist arrives to pick the Pikachu up and take it with them as they journey to find Red. Much to Oak’s dismay.
Red was last seen after he was invited to Battle with Bruno of the Elite Four. A group of Pokémon trainers who are stronger than the Pokémon gym leaders. It is not long until Lorelei of the Elite Four tracks down the Pikachu it’s new trainer. The trainer proudly states their name as Amarillo, the Spanish word for Yellow. Lorelei also learns that Yellow has telepathic powers towards Pokémon, a sort of Pokémon whisperer that can heal Pokémon with a touch and express great empathy for them, even seeing through them.
Eventually Yellow escapes Lorelei and along the journey meets Red’s friends, whom only want to see Pika (Red’s Pikachu) be reunited with its owner. Albeit they do not have faith in Yellow. Questioning if Yellow is fit for being Red’s substitute. During such a conversation, Pika hears that Red is nearby and tracks his old trainer’s scent. In a twist of fate, Pika falls for an imposter Red. A “Super Nerd” who works for the Elite Four. Desperate, friends of Red and Pokémon gym leaders call Blaine for help. Yellow with the help of the gym leaders defeats the nerd but in doing so a Gastly Pokémon appears to spirit the nerd away. Blue appears and makes a decisive strike that ends the Gastly. Blue tells everyone that the ghostly gas Pokémon most likely belongs to Agatha of the Elite Four. He also tells them of his previous encounter with Agatha and how he found the strength to fight a ghost Pokémon. Blue even criticises Yellow for saving a Caterpie (caterpillar Pokémon) during the battle with the super nerd. Saying that Red could have saved it without putting his own life at risk. Blue decides to take Yellow with him and train but not before Yellow is gifted two new Pokémon for protection. Brock’s Graveller and Misty’s Omanyte.
Topics:
· A criticism of volume 4 is how the villains are perhaps too mysterious for their own good. Their motives remain hidden and not having any context for their behaviour we do not know what they are willing to do to achieve their goal. This does not make an entertaining read since by making the villain mysterious you risk making the stakes too vague to understand. It is not enough to know what characters fight for, we also need to know why. Understandably the villains are trying to cover up something but we do not know what as of this volume.
· Writing mystery is a good way to entice readers and keep them stuck to the story. But Hidenori reveals information too soon, making the sense of mystery trite.
· Yellow as a character is first time we see a gender-neutral looking hero in the franchise. Although addressed as male by others in the story, there is no signifier or trait to tell us that they are male, they also lack traits that tell us there are female. The straw hat and tunic add to this warm, innocent and naïve appearance of a child, a contrast to someone like Lorelei who has a more mature and effeminate appearance since she wears high heels and glasses that comb away her thick hair.
· The origins of Game Freak from fanzine to game design company and Ken Sugimori’s journey from mangaka to designer. For more information on the history of Game Freak and Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri there is the article, The Ultimate Game Freak - TIME and Dr. Lava’s twitter as well as their amazing blog on Nintendo History.
Differences and Comparisons to other Media:
· The Super Nerd appeared as a trainer class enemy in the original ‘96 game, having a personality between the Pokémon maniac and the Scientist. They are really Geeks who specialise in Poison and Electric Pokémon. They usually have Voltorbs that do the self-destruct move, which in and of itself seems like a commentary on nerd culture. From the original Japanese text their name translates to “Science-man” with the in-game scientist class having a name that translates to “rouge researcher”
· The Elite Four are the last bosses of the original ’96 game and called the Pokémon masters in some cannon. In the anime Lorelei was named Prima, this was so that she would have the same syllables as her original Japanese name, Kanna, which is written using the Kanji for the word cold and/or dread The name Loreilei comes from a slate rock located on the Rhine River at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, believed to have been haunted by a siren that lured sailors to their death. The etymology behind the name has the words Lurein and the Celtic word Lei, which means murmuring, or whispering rock. Agatha may have possibly got her name from Agatha Christie, the famous murder mystery writer and creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Agatha’s Japanese name is Kikuko, and is spelt using the kanji for devil, demon or ghost. Bruno, the fighting type Pokémon master gets his name from the words brawn and brute, his Japanese name, Shiba, is derived from the word, “Shibaku”, which means “to strike”
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In volume 3 of the Pokémon manga we see many plot points start to resolve towards a satisfying climax, friends from unlikely places come together to fight the Rocket Gang and Red faces off against Mewtwo!
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118: Pokémon Adventures vol. 3
Chapters 28 to 40, ‘Peace of Mime’ and ‘A Charizard… and a Champion’
Story by Hidenori Kusaka
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
Continuing from the last chapter, Red’s Pikachu uses the substitute move that makes the doppelganger Pikachu break through the barrier, meanwhile Gary’s Golduck uses a psychic power to find a Mr.Mime responsible for the barrier and so they defeat it.
Both Pokémon trainers, Green, Red and Blue head to the Silph building to fight Team Rocket, but the three are separated and trapped, Koga fights Gary using a Grimer disguised as armor, Red is trapped in an electrified room, powered by a captured Zapdos, he fights Lt. Surge who has special electric proof underwear. Green fights Sabrina under an illusionary veil and uses her Horsea’s smoke screen to black it out, whilst using her scope to see through to Sabrina.
Red uses his Ivysaur’s Razor leaves to cut Lt.Surge’s suit before cutting the cables attached to Zapdos. Surge is electrocuted by calling forth Zapdos’ Thunder Shock. Koga is defeated with the Help of Red but Sabrina proves to be a challenge for Green; since Sabrina has personal psychic powers, she is able to predict Green’s thoughts and actions. But eventually Sabrina is defeated by the song of Green’s Jigglypuff.
The fight is resolved when the Rocket gang flees the chaos of the Silph building and all the good Gym leaders join forces to surround them. Sabrina returns for one last final round but with Red’s Ivysaur having evolved into Venusaur this results in all three of the starter Pokémon at their full power joining forces, combining water, fire, and earth to defeat the legendary bird Pokémon and Sabrina.
In chapters 34 and 35, the incredibly destructive clone of Mew, Mewtwo, is on the loose. Red intends to capture Mewtwo but is helped by Blaine, the man who helped create Mewtwo and is bonded by DNA with the Monster. Red is told that if it feels outnumbered it will create tornados, in a one-on-one fight however Mewtwo is just as strong and capable of throwing down physically. Blaine breaks through the tornado and weakens Mewtwo but it costs Blaine an injury towards himself. Red seemingly goes against Blaine’s advice and unleashes all his Pokémon on Mewtwo. Mewtwo summons another tornado. But the battle ends with Pikachu entering the eye of the storm, concealing a cheeky gift that is key to Mewtwo’s capture. Afterwards, Red gets the final badge from Giovanni, and avenges all the Pokémon that was hurt by the Rocket gang.
Concluding the volume, we have a mini-tournament arc where the trainers enter the Pokémon League, Red and Blue settle their differences and show each other how they have grown. But not before a mysterious figure from the past settles the score mid-tournament and Green is given a chance for redemption. And that concludes the first plot arc of Pokémon Adventures.
Differences and Comparisons to other Media:
· Although the Pokémon Golduck and Psyduck can use select psychic moves they are not in fact Psychic Pokémon, they are often believed to be a double elemental type of water and psychic but, they are just a water type. A reason why people believe this is due to other media such as the anime, trading card game and the manga showing them capable of using psychic power.
· Like the Anime series and the videogame, Sabrina is not just a user of Psychic Pokémon but she also has Psychic powers of her own.
· In the source material (the 1996 Pokémon Gameboy game) Sabrina uses a Venomoth in battle, although it has a psychic move it is only a poison and bug type. A possible reason as to why she uses this Pokémon could be to demonstrate the common “macabre moth motif” Adding to a theme of connecting to sprits of the deceased, with the moth being a symbol for the after-life and the transformation between death and rebirth. The “death’s head” moth has added to this aesthetic/motif thanks to Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker referencing it in their works ‘The Sphinx’ and ‘Dracula’, A moth also appears in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ by Thomas Harris. According to Kristen. M Stanton of Uniguide, The Japanese use moths to depict wandering spirits.
· The Gym badges that Red collects are milestones for progress within the original 1996 videogame. And as mentioned in the manga, holding a badge result in Pokémon of a certain level obeying your commands as well as boosting their stats and allowing them to learn moves from hidden machines depending on the badge itself. Only by collecting all badges can the highest level and legendary Pokémon obey you.
· Mewtwo made his first appearance in the anime alongside Mew through the first shot of the anime opening, a shot that would be imitated in the first movie as he flees Giovanni and flies in the air. He would make his canonical appearance in episode 63. Where Giovanni has him cloaked in a mysterious armor and uses him to fight trainers competing for his gym badge. Gary, a.k.a. Blue loses to Giovanni because of Mewtwo. Ash does not battle Mewtwo or Giovanni for reasons that are explained in the tie in movie. Instead, Giovanni allows Team Rocket’s Jessie and James to take over as gym leaders only to have Ash defeat them for the badge. Where as in the manga, our hero defeats Giovanni after capturing Mewtwo.
· Mew does not speak in his first appearance of the anime (episode 63) nor the game, he would however be shown later to speak telepathically in the first movie and throughout his appearances in the Super Smash Bros. Videogames, specifically the sequel to the original, Super Smash Bros: Melee
References:
· The quote from “the Greek” that Gary mentions is “Give me a long enough lever and I can move the world.” This is from the great mathematician, engineer, physicist, and philosopher Archimedes, in context the quote is a boast showing off one’s understanding of physics. On another note, Archimedes once discovered how to measure the volume of an object and determine its composition by learning about water displacement. Legend says he was taking a bath at the time and cried “Eureka” taking to the streets naked in excitement at the discovery.
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Will and James talk about volume 2 of today’s manga and address how the satanic panic spread to Pokémon.
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117: Pokémon Adventures vol. 2
Chapters 15 to 27, ‘Wartotle Wars’ and ‘Kalling Kadabra’
Story by Hidenori Kusaka
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
The Pokémon trainer Red is witness to his Bulbasaur evolving into an Ivysaur after fighting a Mankey (basically an angry monkey monster). Red encounters the feminine Pokémon trainer Green who tricks him into buying counterfeit items. On their second encounter he manages to get his money back and learns that her Wartotle is the evolved Squirtle that she stole from Proffesor Oak. But Green gets the last laugh because she manages to steal Red’s two Gym Leader badges. (That is what Red gets for showing off)
Once Red realizes what happened to his badges, he finds out that the Rocket gang is chasing after Green, in response he infiltrates the gang’s HQ under a casino (sometimes depicted as a pachinko parlour) there he disguises himself as a member. Red learns of Mew’s incomplete clone, the powerful psychic bio-weapon Mewtwo and that Green has a data disk on Mew that Rocket is after. Red helps green fight Rocket and with the help of her Trickster Pokémon, Ditto, who can mimic the appearance of any Pokémon, she manages to defeat Rocket and as a favour to Red, gives back the badges she took.
Not long after this we see Red fossil hunting as he cuts through a route with a man named Giovanni, the gym leader of Viridian City. Red does not know that Giovanni is spying on Red. Upon determining that Red is not a threat to him the two then part ways and Giovanni gives Red a Fossil.
After numerous adventures including being stranded in the safari zone with no Pokémon and almost drowning before being saved by Misty. Red ends up having to save the Fire Pokémon expert Blaine from the Rocket gang. Blaine is a researcher who worked on cloning Mew for the Rocket gang but has changed face and is now out to stop them. Blaine learns that Red has a fossil and so he sends him on Rapidash back to his lab. There Red figures out how to use Blaine’s fossil machine to bring life to an extinct Pokémon. And so Red acquires an Aerodactyl and uses it to save Blaine from the Rocket gang. Causing the gang to retreat.
In some way to go anywhere means to go forward and to go far means to return. Red returns to Pallet Town to meet Professor Oak once again, only this time it is an imposter. And no, we will not spoil the identity of the imposter on this podcast.
The volume ends with all the Rocket gang members having captured all three legendary bird Pokémon, Koga has the ice bird Articuno, Sabrina has the fire bird Moltress and Lt. Surge has the electric Pokémon Zapdos. The final battle between the Rocket gang and the trainers will take place in Saffron City. In the meantime, a psychic barrier has been put up on Saffron City until then.
A Little Context:
· Satanic panic of the 80’s saw a resurgence with Pokémon, the franchise was accused of teaching kids about the occult according to theists. This is due to many things. One is that Kadabra (Sabina’s Pokémon) looking suspiciously like Baphomet, a humanoid goat person, with the star on his head indicating a pentagram).
· But some people have used more outlandish excuses to convince others that Pokémon is a way for the Devil to take control of kids, (note that that the prior link is the full video of which only a small fraction was heard on this episode) albeit the argument is more against Capitalism being aimed at children if anything.
· kids had seizures whilst watching an episode of the Pokémon anime. This did in fact happen, although not due to some unexplained magic phenomena. The seizures occurred because there was one specific scene in what is considered a “banned episode” of the anime known as “Electric Soldier Porygon” where because of the flashing lights on screen it induced a seizure in those who had photo-sensitive epilepsy. A positive of this episode is that it helped create awareness of the condition with it now being standard practice not to have scenes like this in TV, at least not without disclaimers.
· Did the Pope (John Paul II) actually give Pokémon his blessing? According to a new York Times article the response to the first movie coming out had the Vatican denounce the controversy, Sat2000, a satellite TV station run by the Vatican said “The trading-card and computer game is “full of inventive imagination,” The game did not have “any harmful moral side effects” and was based on “ties of intense friendship”. Sat2000 also said the game told simple stories which allowed children “to enter directly into the story” through role-playing adventures. Also, according to Father Jeffrey V. Romans, his blog states that “oftentimes, these fears and crazes come from a lack of knowledge about a subject or a couple of pieces of sensationalized journalism. Don't fall into the devil's trap! Let's all endeavor to take a close look at these types of subjects before forming a fiery, ironclad opinion”.
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