Germanic Authors

Germanic Authors 

Erich Rackwitz 

The Siberian Adventure (Abenteuer Siberien) 

The Mystery of Vineta (Das Geheimnis Um Vineta) 

Baruuba’s Adventures: Villains

The Villains of Baruuba’s Adventures 

Anti villains 

Amanyire (アマニイレ) - A well meaning Tooro guide who lived next door to the safari lodge where Mitzi’s absent dead parents lived when she was a child raised by Barney in NY suburbia. The Houstons were bludgeoned by fellow prisoners and then his pet dog was forcibly kidnapped by them. Even before that, he was in a serial trauma conga line until he’s been deemed ‘too traumatised for a regular punishment’ because he now has PTSD and other mental health issues, which means that, on his return, he unfortunately drowns (but with dignity) later in ‘Barumba in the Mysterious Devil’s Cave’. 

Zoreka (ゾレカ) 

Natukunda (ナトゥクンダ) 

Mashaija (マシャイジャ)

The Krampuses (クランプス) 

The Krampuses are recurring devil may care men who currently loot out some fashion and toys. The members of the Krampus club are mostly moderately sympathetic villains, excluding Orly Drake who does care for his wife and children, and Henry Watson who had left by then since he was a marital rape victim until his death. 

Orly Drake (オルリー・ドレイク) 

Even though he’s quite a complicit bloody whiplash until his trial, Orly Drake, a British man who safely keeps his ethnic Romanichal identity private, does care for his children, which means he decides to repent after a prison year by becoming an atoner.  

Henry Watson (ヘンリー・ワトソン) - Henry was about twenty five when his first child was born. It’s likely that he’d been in a traumatic lawsuit induced grand theft wedding before that. His wife, Mitzi’s school principal, was such a piece of trash that she’d abandon him and off herself. Being in serious traumatic pain for the most part, he didn’t show as much outright antipathy towards Barumba as other villains, making him likely one of the most sympathetic of them all. He was temporarily in prison because his wife picked him up and forcibly conceived a boy with him just after their grand theft wedding. Do mention that his parents are the PTSD ridden soldier-househusband Gilbert ‘Bignose’ Watson and a raging terrorist who died at 66, which meant he’s destined to be doomed. 

Casper Kline (キャスパー・クライン) - A hoodlum who looked after his brother Timothy alongside Linus Aso, before he took a non-criminal job after a big fine. 

More typical villains

Linus Aso (麻生ライナス) - A hoodlum whose more heinous boss mistreats him so badly that he’d rather work with Horace. Although still a shit-bag, he does think the Japanese military is filled with so much corruption that it deserves to get axed. Even fellow hoodlums agree with him. 

Horace Agnew (ホレス・アグニュー) - Horace is from New York. Although a hoodlum dirtbag, he does have redeemable qualities. He had a hard midlife crisis while seeing his wife melting to death with his eyes, leading him to become a rather unscrupulous treasure hunter in the process. Also, his daughter Riley reminds him that he still has to live with those memories for the rest of his life. 

The Devil Cavers (悪魔の洞窟探検家) 

They are likely the main antagonists and villains in some of the Barumba books set before Baruuba Journeys through America. They are a relatively horrid organisation, consisting of generally terroristic racists who often like to cow over other people from different ethnicities. They ran a partly downtrodden market turned sadistic stadium until Barumba’s Treasure Pursuit, when a marauding horde of Tooro peasants took back what’s theirs.

Christof Hardiker (クリストフ・ハーディカー) - Even though he happened to be the thickly bearded boss of the devil cavers in grey, he strongly disliked his job. He was said to be a tortured but somewhat sympathetic man. 

Jill ‘Skull Smasher’ Dick (ジル・ディック) - Jill was a mad scientist school principal in her own right, marrying off poor Henry Watson when he was about twenty one, shortly before Barumba to the Rescue. Then she conceived a boy in prison by forcibly assaulting him and conquering his privates in a horrific way. Both offed each other 3 months after said boy’s birth.

Absolute Monsters

People for Consequence Free Liberty (結果のない自由を求める人々) - As its tempting name suggests, it’s a cultish organisation which contains its own bastardised and twisted version of anything, really. The PCFL’s founding ruler was both a trafficker and a dude who’d screw over anything into smithereens for a long time. He was murdered by the protagonist as a result of how disastrous he was to society. Even a majority of the Devil Cavers were shocked by the founder’s own life. 

Jungle Heroes Lines

Tezuka Productions Fiction House Theatre 

Tida Wanorn: Characters

Nena and her family 

Nena - A girl born from the brief (though legit), sad marriage of her wrongfully convicted father and his boss’s barely middle aged daughter, Nena lived with the Sumatran jungle animals after she and her dad tried to escape the destruction of her mum’s family alive. Fostered and befriended by both a herd of Sumatran Elephants and a family of Sumatran Orangutans (brother, sister, mum and dad), Nena has an adventurous life in the Sumatran rainforest. 

Willem - Willem is a rather unlucky guy.

The recurring characters 

Rudi Lubis - Rudi is the only female one of Nena’s numerous neighbours to have a major role; she is a cunning pain in the butt and she knows it. 

Mia Lim - Trinity’s bubbly daughter and Nena’s friendly rival. 

Sondang Hutabarat - One of Rudi’s friends. 

Hamza Iskander - Natalia’s workaholic and often estranged Lebanese Maronite ex husband. 

Maya Iskander - Hamza’s rather abrasive and obnoxious much younger sister. 

Ken Sihala - Rudi’s butt monkey ex-boyfriend and Maya’s older brother. 

Trini Ching - Medan based estranged childhood friend of Tony Damanik.

Damon Lim - Trini’s often hurt Chinese Indonesian husband.

Ahmad Yusuf - Trinity’s childhood best friend. 

Daniel Lim - Trinity and Damon’s trickster son. 

Tony Damanik - One of Daniel’s friends.

Lia Yusuf - Ahmad’s estranged mother. 

Sheila Lubis - Nena’s dad’s childhood pen pal, a Mandailing from the south of North Sumatra, whose brother is Asma’s husband and Rudi’s father.

Asma - Asma is Rudi’s meaner and filthier mother. 

Harun Lubis - Sheila’s older brother, Jaya’s husband and Rudi’s father. 

Helena Sihala - Nena’s childhood friend from the village. 

Pandapotan ‘Pana’ Hartono - Sonny and Sangkot’s son.

Sonny Hartono - A friend of Harun from Medan, Sonny has a rather screwed up family consisting of himself, his brothers Shen and Ron, and their dysfunctional parents, both of whom died overworking at a factory while Shen was at college. 

Yanthi - One of Asma’s old friends. 

Monang Hutapea - estranged son and the older brother of Sangkot. 

Hotna Hutapea - Monang and Sangkot’s estranged father. 

Cindua - One of Sangkot’s old friends. 

Sangkot Hutapea - After her boyfriend Sonny Hartono got unceremoniously dumped out by his corrupt former superior Kamal Rahman, whose relationship with his low level bandit older brother Shen Hartono remains close but estranged, he couldn’t be seen much again until recently. As a result, Sangkot reluctantly becomes a struggling grassroots democratic organisation’s leader. 

The Main Villains 

Shen Hartono - College dropout turned moody and arrogant gangster-soldier Shen Hartono long worked for his corrupt advisor Kamal Rahman. Being antagonistic and sly, he’d have been very estranged from Sonny before the latter had even graduated high school. Their own highly dysfunctional mum preferred their little brother, who turns out to be a high ranking paramilitary mobster. 

Ron Hartono - Ron is probably the youngest and most deeply screwed up of the Hartono brothers. Whereas Shen is still somewhat redeemable and Sonny being quite an enduring explorer, Ron is quite apathetic and has high ranking gangster friends who are just differently brought up from him. He also is his Acehnese boss’s amoral favourite and his growing adherence to the Acehnese Islamic code is partly a result of it. He often doesn’t care about anyone other than himself for the most part, but what he does show is a seldom seen (albeit reasonable) fear of being abused to death by radical fundies forever. 

Natalia Ginting - Natalia is a sly and cunning Batak Karo cubicle manager working at the office of a macho company looking for husbands. Thankfully, despite being such a sly fox until the final episodes, she just wants to have good friends and would steadily marry the somewhat redeemable Shen Hartono, and helping their rather imperfect love is that their daughter can be a much better person than both of them. 

Kamal Raman - A Hadrami, Kamal Raman is the scheming boss of the company where Natalia worked on. Thankfully, he ain’t a fundamentalist Muslim unlike the greater scope villains of the whole story, the traffickers who tour the island in order to prey on both young women and men alike.

The Wild Man of Aceh: characters

Akim and the previous generation 

Akim is the titular hero of the beginning to the story, who is a young Alas peasant man from Ketambe, which is within the Sumatran rainforest. As a child, he suffered from skin colour discrimination not just by school bullies, but also by the rest of society; thus becoming both a brutal nature hero and a sporty survivalist. He has about five surviving siblings, with Zainab and Jamaluddin amongst them. His real first name is Rashid and his marga is Cibekho.  

Zainab Cibekho - Long Lost younger sister, herself kidnapped by an unscrupulous gangster mentor of hers, becoming his unwilling dragon. 

Jamaluddin Cibekho - Jamaluddin is much younger brother. He is perhaps both the father of two girls and the most likely victim of various sexual violations enacted by a corrupt politician’s dangerously amoral wife. 

Keumala Cibekho - Keumala is Rashid’s main daughter and heroine of the story, who has a thuggish little sister named Mengkalia. 

Mengkalia Cibekho - Keumala’s short tempered little sister. 

Tiger Boy: Characters

The characters of Souji Yamakawa’s Tiger Boy 

Jun Kodama (純児玉): Jun is the son of an ageing couple living in Osaka. Said mother told him that her way more daring friends were killed off by a bevy of corrupt soldiers near Purna. When he was a six year old child in western Cambodia, Jun saw his schoolteacher being kidnapped by mysterious forces. As a result, he lived in the tropical forests of Indochina with a grumpy Indochinese tigress, who herself has only a single surviving offspring (who happens to be a male tiger, stronger than his weak older brother) after eating another due to the latter being unfit for survival. 

Saki Nagahama (長濱早輝): Jun’s inevitable future wife with black hair. 

Shotaro Imaizumi (今泉正太郎): Jun Kodama’s schoolteacher. 

Yuji Kodama (純児ユウジ): Jun’s little brother. 

Kito Mochizuki (望月季都): 

Tahsin (ターシン): 

Attar (アッタール): 

Nuha (ヌハ): 

Toma Kaneko (金子当麻): 

Samantha Wood (サマンサ・ウッド): Samantha Wood, a plain mixed British-Indian, was abandoned by her middle aged Garo mother in the forests near Rongon falls in western Meghalaya, probably because she knew that the former is the daughter not only of herself, but also of a Welsh guy who probably groped her to hell and back.  

Kana Moriyama (森山佳奈): Jun’s plucky childhood friend. Her mother is Noriko and her likely father is the White Skull, a cult escapee. Her uncle is Shotaro Moriyama and her paternal cousin is Joe Moriyama, Kenya Boy/Jungle Hunter himself. 

Jerom (ジェロム) (ಜೆರೋಮ್): A stranded strongman who often traverses through the Indian jungle and is friends with its animals due to being experienced with zoology. 

Suzette (シュゼット) (ಸುಜೆಟ್): A long lost Mangalorean Catholic friend of Matangi, who turns out to be Jerom’s estranged daughter. 

Skanda (スカンダ) (स्कंद): Jun’s pen pal from northern Bali in Indonesia. 

Shachi (シャチ) (शची) (শচি): A village temple guard’s rebellious daughter. 

Matangi (マタンギ) (मातंगी) (ಮಾತಂಗಿ) (মাতংগী): 

Noriko (法子): Noriko is a rather stubborn female recluse, whose husband was kidnapped by Hafgan’s cult and got hypnotised into becoming the White Skull, only to backfire on it. She is also Kana’s mother by the way. 

Eizo Kodama (純児栄蔵): Jun’s father from a merchant family gone nouveau riche, a Guinea Pig experimented horridly by a terroristic mad scientist, becoming a part time shapeshifting, farting werewolf as a result. 

Michiko Yamada (山田美智子): Jun’s peasant mother, kidnapped by a camaraderie of Japanese mad scientists and unwillingly experimented to become a part time glowing were-bat.

Mabon (マボン) (มาบอน):

Goera (ゴエラ): 

The recurring characters

The White Skull (ホワイトスカル) (বগা মূৰৰ খুলি): Also known as Hibiki Moriyama (森山響), he is Kana’s father, who was brainwashed by a cult (once run by Hafgan as confirmed in his memo) led by the Horned Skull. 

Modron (モドロン): Modron is Amaethon’s partner in crime. 

Amaethon (アメソン): The rather unattractive looking Amaethon is a hairy yeti like character who often is a recurring antagonist in some stories. 

Ceridwen (セリドウェン/ケリドウェン): Aka Ceridwen Danby (セリドウェン・ダンビー/ケリドウェン・ダンビー), she is Guinevere’s friend. 

Arianrhod (アリロード): Blue eyed brunette Ari is from a British Isles-Indian family with Welsh Roots.

Rhiannon (リアノン): Aka Rhiannon Madoc (リアノン・マドック), she is Nudd Madoc’s blonde pigtailed, youthful daughter. 

Blodeuwedd (ブロードゥウェッド): Blodeuwedd is a beach blonde girl from Wales. 

Nudd (ナッド): Aka Nudd Madoc (ナッド・マドック), he is Gwynn Wood’s mentor. 

The minor characters 

Olwen (オルウェン): Aka Olwen Madoc (オルウェン・マドック), she is Nudd’s estranged wife. 

Gwydion (グウィディオン): Aka Gwydion Madoc (グウィディオン・マドック), he is Nudd and Olwen’s young blonde son. In Tiger Boy, as a kid, he was highly stubborn and short tempered. In Kenya Boy, he sacrificed Pryderi to the fire and left the scene intact. 

Ushas (ウシャス/ウシャ) (उषा/उषस्) (ঊষাস/উষা/উষাস/ঊষা): Hafgan’s kennelled mate and The Horned Skull’s senile mother. In Kenya Boy, she killed Hafgan with her own fangs after realising that she was his sex slave all along. 

Gwynn Wood (グウィン・ウッド): Also known as simply Gwynn (グウィン), he was implied and then confirmed to be Samantha Wood’s father when she told Jun about his infamous exploits. Fair enough, he is also friends with the White Skull despite huge cultural differences. 

Creirwy (クレアウィ): Tylen’s little sister, who first appeared as a baby. 

Mannaydan (マンネイダン) (Manawydan): Mannaydan is a well meant escapee of the cult. 

Guinevere (ギネヴィア) (Gwenhwyfar): Aka Guinevere Ifans (ギネヴィア・エヴァンス) (Gwenhwyfar Ifans), she is Jun’s pen pal from Wales. 

The canon fodders 

Durama Imbama (デュラマインバマ): Also known as the ancestress of Hafgan and Ushas. 

Tylen (タイレン): Tylen, although a piece of inevitable fodder, was too good for this messed up world. 

Wanawanga (ワナワンガ): 

The Anti Villains  

Arawn (アラオン/アラウン) (เอราวัณ): Arawn is actually Nudd’s somewhat younger higher up. He is Gwynn’s mutual rival and a former minion of Medraut, aka The Horned Skull. He noticed that his rival gang letted the senile wild woman Ushas to kill her own cousin-enslaver Hafgan. Even worse, he himself was being terrified by the extent of the latter’s own reign of terror. 

Ratri (ラトリ) (रात्रि) (ৰাত্ৰি): The Horned Skull’s older sister, Hafgan and Ushas’ daughter. 

Govannan (ゴバンナン) (โกวานนัน): Govannan was once friends with Tylen, until he was forced to kill him in order to flee Hafgan’s reign of utter terror, along with fellow friends. He is an anti-villain who considers the Tiger Boy to be his worthy opponent.

Pryderi (プリデリ): Even though Pryderi was Hafgan’s younger brother (unlike his namesake), he was insanely perverted, so much so that he couldn’t be officially married for the rest of his life. In Kenya Boy, he was sacrificed by Gwydion to the fire after killing way too many of his fellow asshole relatives. 

Phojo (フォジョ): Nicknamed Phoju (フォジュ) by her little brother Sherja.

Nasekja (ナセクジャ):

Sherja (シェルジャ): 

The Main Villains 

Agni (アグニ) (अग्नि) (অগ্নি): Agni is another perverted youth, but with fluffy black hair and Brown Eyes (which imply that he is a Boro). He was probably about thirteen when he first met Jun. 

Vayu (ヴァーユさん) (वायु) (বায়ু): Vayu is a character who also appears in Kenya Boy. In Tiger Boy, he is a rather hairy young anti villain escaping from a mysterious cult, which is run by a dude who’s probably the White Skull’s former hero, the Horned Skull. 

Surya (スーリヤ君) (सूर्य) (সূৰ্য্য): Surya first appeared as a dark haired Anglo Indian young adult. 

Manyu (マニウ) (มายู) (मन्यु) (মন্যু): He first appeared in Tiger Boy as a perverted brute of a young adult. He was probably 21 in when he first met Jun. 

Madan (マダン) (मदन) (মদন): Madan is the traitorous temple guard who thankfully has escaped Halfgan’s reign of terror. 

Hafgan (ハフガン) (ฮาฟกัน): Hafgan was a really terrible dude whose son is the slightly sympathetic Horned Skull, aka Medraut. 

The Horned Skull (กะโหลกมีเขา) (শিংযুক্ত মূৰৰ খুলি): Also known as Medraut (メドラウト) (เมดรัต), he is Hafgan’s son with a Feral Wizard cousin named Ushas. 

The Beasts 

Fumiko (ふみこ): A Water Leaper owned by the notorious Medraut. She is rather loyal to him and is his moral pet. 

Soria (ソリア): 

The Minor Characters

Mejakchi (メジャクチ): Also known as Mejakchikasindik (メジャクチカシンディク) which means ‘Mejakchi the silent cold’, she is the daughter of a 

Inanoran (イナノラン): 

Durochangro (デュロチャングロ): 

Kaburenche (カブレンチェ): 

Super Pulp Theatre: Instalments

Super Pulp Theatre Instalments 

The Akihito Yoshitomi Section 

Junglee Manchhe

Change No. 1: It’s not revealed to be within or near what would become a protected reserve until the very end. Although the Sita Mata forest is still in Rajasthan, it is located near Western Madhya Pradesh. 

Change No. 2: To make way for another fallible system, the Bhils were forcibly taken over by the colonial British army, along with another force which is just as fallible.

 

Junglee Manchhe: Characters

The Characters of Junglee Manchhe, created by the Paruchuri Brothers.

The hero and his family 

Navneet Vasave: Navneet grew up with a former hoodlum mentor in the semitropical forest whom they call home. He is perhaps confirmed to have parents who were basically the guilty but wrongfully over-punished (and then killed) victims of the infamous Criminal Tribes act. He also mercy killed his own much older sister when he faced the logging mafia Don, who’d have liked to assault her for eternity. He also has a trusty steed, whom he rescued from an abusive horseman friend of another Don! His weapon of choice is a bichuwa, a type of Indian dagger. 

Meera Nayak: Navneet’s wife, whom he’d marry as a result of a lengthy, tiring arrangement decided by her somewhat superstitious father. Then they slowly fell in love and have a pair of sons. 

Lohit Vasave: Navneet and Meera’s younger son. 

Khal Vasave: Meera and Navneet’s older son. 

Navneet’s family 

Mrs Roat: The loving but rather complicated mother of Navneet, his three brothers, and their dead, mentally unstable, much older sister. 

Mr Vasave: Mr Vasave, although quite a deadbeat dad, did care for his wife and five children for a while. Unfortunately, by the time they both died, Amrita was married off to a fellow dude who escaped the control of a logging cartel Don (or more accurately a domineering Goonda above other thugs) at about seventeen years old. She and her equally mentally ill husband unfortunately had to be mercy killed decades later by Navneet. 

Amrita Vasave: After she gave away the older Hari Lal for fostering, Amrita Vasave had to breastfeed Zimbo in secret for the first few years of his life.

Lala’s family 

Uma Kothari: Govind’s wife, who died homeless following a hiking crash. 

Govind Kothari: Govind was a botanist who knew the basics about the biodiversity of southern Rajasthan. Along with his wife, he died homeless following a hiking crash 

Lala Kothari: Uma and Naveet’s surviving daughter, who happens to be the hero’s childhood friend. 

 

Hari Lal and his friends 

Tara Zinta: Dilawar’s much more messed up wife, who committed suicide when Dilawar’s own mother and father in law murdered each other to death. 

Hari Lal: Hari Lal is a snarky real estate agent. The the third part likely has him turn out to be Navneet’s more hoggish second cousin, whom the latter’s own deadbeat, much older sister gave away for fostering.

Dilawar Kapoor: Hari Lal’s rival from somewhere north of Bhanswara. 

Mala Kapoor: Dilawar’s son and morality pet, whom he loves to care for. 

Karmveer Bhatt: Karmveer Bhatt is a former logging thief trying to survive after being kicked out of his abusive master’s headquarters.

Narendra Chalak: Narendra is a snotty real estate agent from what would become a part of modern Rajasthan, India. 

Rajiv Kaul: A childhood buddy of Karmveer Bhatt, Rajiv was forced to become a mere impersonator in the wishes of his own master. He wears a long loincloth made from a tiger opponent whom he killed in his time working for said master. His weapon of choice is a tiger tooth jhanbwah, a type of North Indian dagger. 

Surendra Prasad: Another friend of Kharmveer Bhatt and Rajiv Kaul. 

Durgadhas Arun: Mala and Dilawar’s other friend. 

Merchandising countdown

Collecting old merchandising is a perennial hobby for fellow humans and I. 

ViewMaster: I have two ViewMasters in my woman cave. Both of which are made in the USA and have paper covered reels which are also compatible with my Italian StereoRama. 

Epoch Family Kamishibai: I saw a bunch of old electronic Kamishibai sets (from the Epoch Family branch) on various second hand chains and auction sites online. A brown example conceived in the late 1960s was shaped like the tv set of its time. Another example, from the late 1970s, is red like my Etch A Sketch. Both have compatible slides. 

Toei’s G-Men franchise

Even though the G Men 75 series remains its best known instalment, the whole G Men franchise actually has roots in the 1960s. It should be acknowledged that Teruo Ishii (the king of Japanese cult classics) was its very prolific late originator. The first two instalments were made in 1962 and are regarded as modestly budgeted back to back productions released only a few months apart. Another unrelated film, better known outside of Japan as A Narcotics Agent’s Ballad, was released a decade later, in 1972. Another tv series, G Men 82, aired in 1982.

The Kyuuta Ishikawa Tsukai Bunko collection

Being a fleeting veteran in a world of mostly single shots, The Kyuuta Ishikawa Tsukai Bunko collection of paperbacks by famed veteran doujinshi circle Apple Box Create is a wonderful (but otherwise unofficial) reprinting marvel in the making.  

Not only is that a semi dormant making process, it will be up to about four or five dozen volumes by the time it will be finished. 

The first three reprint Super Rose volumes are amongst the first ones in the whole collection, while Volume 4 is the final Super Rose reprint volume and the eighth one overall. 

Volume 15 is the first of two Shōnen Buruuba reprint volumes, while Volume 17 remains the second and final one. 

Volume 18 is the first Zamba reprint volume in over fifty years. Two other volumes will come up to be sold within a few years time. 

Disney’s Tarzan Reboot: sentences

The Disney’s cyberpunk Tarzan Reboot sentences. Partly borrowed from various sources (via Colombian Tarzan expert Jairo Uparella) and partly from Kuppsala. 

Only in Kituba, Yombe and Vili  

Munu Ke Tarzan/Mu Ke (Le) Tarzan/Yi Ke (Le) Tarzan/Ngé Ke (Le) Tarzan/Yandi Ke Tarzan. (In Kituba and Vili): I am Tarzan/You are Tarzan/He is Tarzan. 

Munu na nzila ya Ngongo. (In Kituba) 

Ni ngé yina me sala yawu. (In Kituba) 

Munu Ke kufua Ngulúmfinda. (In Kituba) 

Only in Mangani dialects

Munu Ka Kreegah!/Mu Ka Kreegah!/Yi Ka Kreegah!/Ngé Ka Kreegah!/Yandi Ka Kreegah/Tarzan Ka Kreegah!

Munu Ka unk gom ara!/Mu Ka unk gom ara!/Yi Ka unk gom ara!/Ngé Ka unk gom ara!/Yandi Ka unk gom ara!/Tarzan Ka unk gom ara!: I’m running fast!/You’re running fast!/He’s running fast!/Tarzan’s running fast! 

Munu Ka unk Yang!/Mu Ka unk Yang!/Yi Ka unk Yang!/Ngé Ka unk Yang!/Tarzan Ka unk Yang! - I’m swinging!/You’re swinging!/He’s swinging!/Tarzan’s swinging! 

Munu Ka Ta Tu/Mu Ka Ta Tu/Yi Ka Ta Tu/Ngé Ka Ta Tu/Yandi Ka Ta Tu/Tarzan Ka Ta Tu: I am an Orphan/You are an Orphan/He is an Orphan/Tarzan is an Orphan. 

Munu Ka Tarzan/Mu Ka Tarzan/Yi Ka Tarzan/Ngé Ka Tarzan/Yandi Ka Tarzan: I am Tarzan/You are Tarzan/He is Tarzan.

Wo Ho Wala Inzo Ke Yud Zu: This village house is big. 

Wo Ho Wala Inzo Ke Yud Eta: This village house is small. 

Munu Ka Go Ze/Mu Ka Go Ze/Yi Ka Go Ze/Ngé Ka Go Ze/Yandi Ka Go Ze/Tarzan Ka Go Ze (In Mangani dialects): I am Mighty/You are Mighty/He is Mighty/Tarzan is Mighty 

Munu Gree Ah!/Mu Gree Ah!/Yi Gree Ah!/Ngé Gree Ah/Yandi Gree Ah!/Tarzan Gree Ah!: I love you so much!/You love me so much!/He loves you so much!/Tarzan loves you so much! 

Ni Meeta Ah!: It’s raining so much! 

Unkyat! Ni Ngulúmfinda Lu!: Look! It’s a mad wild pig! 

Te Ho Ar and, Tarzan Ka kufua Ze Histah/Te Ho Ar and, Tarzan Ka Bundolo Ze Histah: Many nights ago, Tarzan killed Histah. 

Disney’s Tarzan reboot: fruits and animals

The flowers, nuts and fruits of the Mangani 

The west African (Ake Assi’s) toddy fan palm - To Sopu Ben 
The panda nut - Mgo Dan Sopu 

The panda fruit - Gal Dan Sopu Ben 

The bottle gourd - Kambu 

The African mangosteen - Gal Sopu, Bal Sopu 

The conophore nut - Tar Dan Sopu 

The air yam vine (individual fruit) - Mgo Sopu 

The sorrel hibiscus - Ga Ro 

The African breadfruit - Wa Sopu Ben 

The fumbwa Koko - Eta Ga Sopu 

The trees and vines of the Mangani 

The air yam vine - Kamo Mgo Sopu 

The foreign 

The grape - Wa Sopu, Mwa Sopu, To Sopu

The peanut - Eta Koko Sopu 

The orange - Gal Sopu 

The pumpkin - Kambu 

The banana - Bano Sopu 

The coconut - Koko Sopu 

Disney’s Tarzan reboot: characters from official ERB canon

The cyberpunk reboot official ERB canon 

The DragonFoot Tribe 

Kala’s family - Tublat and his mate Yud, Nugal and his mate Kala

Terkoz’s family - Chulk and his mate, Terkoz and his sister Kama

GoLat’s family - ZuTag and his brother GoLat, their nephews Golot and Zuyad 

Teeka’s family - Numgo and his mate Kitar, their daughter Teeka and her mate Taug, their son Gazan 

Gobu’s family -  Karnath and his mate Neeta, his son Gobu 

Gunto’s family - Gunto and his mate Mumka, his brother Thaka, his son Gozan and his brother Taglat 

Kerchak’s family - Ugla and her mate Toog, their son Kerchak and his mate Momga, their son Pagth

The QuickMud tribe 

Akut’s family - Molak and his mate, their son Akut  

Mwalot’s family - Mwalot and his brothers Ungo and Toyat, their uncle Goyad 

Zutho’s family - Zutho and his cousins Gaun and Gayat 

The Westerners

The Dumont family - Henri Dumont and his wife Charlotte Dumont, their son Armand Jacob Dumont and his wife Marine Lapin Dumont

The Porters - Quincy Porter and his wife Jane Fry Porter, their son Archimedes Porter  

The Extended Claytons - Roy Clayton and his mate Edda Ulvaeus, their oldest son Rupert Clayton and his mate May Rutherford, their son William Clayton

The Core Claytons - John Roy Clayton and his wife Lucy Mitford, their son Leif Roy Clayton and his wife Alice, their son the Lord of all Tarzans (aka John Roy Clayton) and his wife Jane Porter Clayton, their oldest son Korak (aka Ken Roy Clayton) and his wife Jeanne Miriam Lapin Clayton, their daughters May Leif Clayton and Charlotte Paul Clayton, their grandson John Paul Clayton and his sister Suzanne Clayton

The Candlers - Mark Candler, his wife Malice Candler and their son Robert John Candler 

The Joneses - Esmeralda Jones  

The Lapin family - Paul Lapin and his wife Isabelle Lapin, their son Pierre Lapin 

The Robuchon family - Raoul Robuchon and his wife Olga Volkoff Robuchon

The Volkoffs - Nicholas Volkoff 

The Baynes family - Murray Baynes and his wife Willabelle Baynes, their son William Baynes 

The Zambia Zimbabwe locals 

Chuma’s Family - Chuma and his mate, his son Kangwa and his mate, their grandson Basuli 

Muviro’s Family - Muviro and his mate, their children Bwira and Wankumbu 

My Tezuka Productions fan arts

Some of my Tezuka Productions fan art can come into DeviantArt. 

I wonder if Tezuka Productions will make another Leo the Lion reimagining? If it’s going to be in the 2003 Astro Boy style, I wonder if it will be in 3D? Not really likely though. 

I wonder if the Ki-Gor name (currently trademarked by its current owner, even though I don’t know its name well) will ever be licensed by the company behind Astro Boy? Similarly unlikely for now. 

Disney’s Tarzan reboot: rules to follow

The ERB Inc Tarzan canon doesn’t even receive a ton of live action adaptations anymore, whether official or not. Even a lot of Tarzan’s more successful Expies are technically making fans crave for more (but not way too much) by exploring their own niches, and that’s okay for them, since the ERB Inc Tarzan canon is way too big to compete with them nowadays. The many trademark shenanigans that Tarzan and his wife Jane Porter carry along are both responsible and culpable as well.

A cyberpunk take on many Tarzan variants (but mostly on the Disney franchise instalments, which currently remain much better known than even the Weissmuller films of decades ago) will have to be made for nerds of many ages and stripes in the future. It has a large cast of main heroes, which is itself a clunky feat. While it’s okay not to defend really warped views on the mythic space as commonly imagined by fellow fans regardless of age, diversity is still a steady and much needed goal. 

Disney’s Cyberpunk Tarzan: deciphering a future masterpiece

Not many people know that Tarzan of the Apes has two dozen sequels written partially or not by ERB, and fewer people know that the (authorised and canonical) Tarzan books are a franchise of their own. 

Instead, a cyberpunk reboot of Disney’s variants will predominantly borrow and twist the scenery and character designs of various different shows, comics and films rather than of the novels themselves, because most of their major characters are on the loopy and complex process of (prohibitively) getting trademarked and being slapped with registers. 

While the main Tarzan does have various human acquaintances, his true human friends are few and far between. He is raised primarily by skunk apes, which are amongst the scariest of the cryptid apes, even though they do have some empathy. 

One of the main Tarzan’s friends, Gorlak, was kidnapped by chimps following a plane crash, but adopted afterwards by varying members of the False Mangani kind, themselves actually semi-humanoids rather than being popularly depicted as a cross between chimps and gorillas. However, he did become aware of such a difficult upbringing when he was young, so his troubling behaviour isn’t pathological, but rather environmental. 

There is a blue eyed redhead Tarzan raised by Carla and fellow gorillas. He is a strong heavyweight who became their transitionary leader (following Matt’s untimely murder by poachers), until Flynt (the latter’s nephew in law) takes over permanently. He is a very stubborn fella, who pounds his chest for different purposes and smashes things when upset. 

Tarzan illustrators

Tarzan illustrators 

People who are North European Canadians and Americans or who come from Europe 

Rex Maxon 

Hal Foster 

William Juhre 

Dan Barry 

Sy Barry 

Jesse Marsh 

Bob Lubbers 

Russ Manning 

Mike Royer  

Doug Wildey 

Warren Tufts 

Bernie Wrightson 

Ernie Bache

Paul Norris

Neal Adams

Jeff Jones 

Klaus Janson 

Ferenc Sajdik 

James Sherman 

Bob Smith 

Frank Thorne 

Rick Hoberg 

Dave Hoover

Jim Mooney 

Bob McLeod 

Mike Royer 

Rich Buckler 

Robert Hall

Mike Grell 

Thomas Yeates 

Erno Zorad 

Gray Morrow 

People who are Jewish 

Roy Krenkel 

Burne Hogarth 

Paul Reinman 

Sam Glanzman 

Dan Spiegle 

Joe Kubert 

Gil Kane 

Joe Jusko 

Adam Kubert 

Andy Kubert

People who are Italian Americans or who come from Italy

Frank Frazetta 

John Celardo  

Pat Masulli 

Alberto Giolitti 

Anthony Di Paolo 

Nick Cardy 

John Romita Sr 

Fernando Fusco 

Roberto Corbella 

Rick Giordano 

John Buscema 

Sal Buscema 

Rick Leonardi 

People who are Filipinos 

Franc Reyes 

Alex Niño 

Ernie Chan 

Nestor Redondo 

Danilo Bulanadi 

Tony DeZuniga 

Rudy Florese 

Steve Gan 

Alfredo Alcala 

Roy Allan Martinez

People who are American Latinos or who come from Spain, Portugal and Latin America

Ruben Moreira 

Luis Bermejo 

Bill Montes

Sealtiel Alatriste Batalla 

Demetrio Sanchez Gomez 

Alfredo Elias 

Boris Vallejo 

Leopoldo Ortiz

Jose Ortiz

Santiago Martin Salvador 

Jaime Brocal 

Pablo Marcos 

Jorge B. Galvez 

Don Marquez 

Sergio Cariello

Tomas M. Aranda 

Roberto Castro 

Wagner Reis 

Benito Gallego 

People who are Afro-Americans 

Eric Battle 

People who are Slavic Americans or who come from the Slavic world 

Zdenek Burian 

Milan Fibiger 

Petar Meseldžija 

Joe Jusko 

Branislav Kerac

Dragan Stokić

Sibin Slavković

Milan Miletić

Miodrag Ivanovic 

Igor Kordey 

Stevan Subic 

People who are Japanese Americans or who come from Japan

Wasuke Abe

Motochiro Takebe 

Shigeru Komatsuzaki 

People who are awesome siblings 

Dan and Sy Barry 

Leopoldo and Jose Ortiz 

John and Sal Buscema 

Andy and Adam Kubert 

I wonder if there’s going to be a slippery slope for Disney’s Tarzan reboots?

Other than anniversaries, not many young casual consumers have seen a lot of officially recognised Disney’s Tarzan content in the past five years. Fair enough, the Disney’s Tarzan franchise is recently gaining considerably more attention from web consumers as they know it. If the Terra Mater show + both Sony’s and Disney’s live action Tarzan reboots do flop in both critical and commercial ways, an animated reboot will have to be webcasted on Disney Plus but can still be coproduced by ERB Inc. and Rough Draft, as it may as well become the former’s first fully digitally animated work. 

While the first Disney attempt, consisting of 3 films, a show and a musical, plus a couple of video games and plays, surely got stale pretty fast. Nonetheless, it thankfully didn’t stale so badly as to become sludge like the hundreds of fellow, otherwise wildly different Tarzan plays, video games, shows, comics and films, whatever official or not. The literary books are, increasingly, mainly an in between of these ridiculous extremes. 

A heavily updated Sony Pictures film series centring around Tarzan and his gang of fellow misfits is in the works and will have a high chance of becoming sludge as well. Even if the three Disney’s Tarzan films can and do get a live action-CGI mix reboot, it sadly will still have a higher chance of being filled with so much boring, sludgy badness too. Another Disney’s Tarzan reboot, this time being a cyberpunk anthology animated entirely in 3d CGI, can begin life as a webcomic storyboard instead. 

In almost all European Union nations, some African ones, and a couple of Asian states, many of their consumers are only recently starting to see more newfound Tarzan content coming into the shelves than ever before! Even funnier and more heartwarming is that said overload has long been there, but it only began to creak out on New Years Week 2021. Said New Years Week, seventy years (and about nine to ten months) after Edgar Rice Burroughs passed away, was when all the fully written Tarzan books made by him had to enter the public domain canons of most nations, excluding a few like the USA.

Disney’s Tarzan: Body Chart

My own Disney’s Tarzan reboot universe has a large and well detailed body chart. 

The Dark Horse, Gold Key and DC design roster 

Russ Manning’s smoothly flowing Tarzan design portfolio was influenced mostly by fellow artists John Celardo, Dan and Sy Barry, Jesse Marsh, Burne Hogarth, Hal Foster, Rex Maxon and (more likely) Ruben Moreira. Bodybuilder turned actor Gordon Scott, his friend Steve Reeves, Lex Barker, Thomas Meighan, Robert Ridgely, Horst Buchholz and Ron Ely were amongst the actors who influenced it as well. Whereas Louise Lorraine, Virginia Grey, Brenda Joyce and Goldie Hawn inspired his Jane Porter design portfolio, Manilla Martan, Chelo Alonso and Barbara Brylska were the main inspirations for his La of Opar design. His Korak design portfolio was influenced by teen idols Rickie Sorensen and Paul Anka, while his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design portfolio was influenced primarily by Olivia Hussey, Karla Schramm and Dany Carrel. Vanessa Brown and Joyce Mackenzie inspired his Alice Clayton design, whereas Kirk Douglas and Jerry Colonna inspired his John Clayton Senior design. 

Neal Adams’ Tarzan design portfolio was inspired by Rex Maxon, Dan and Sy Barry, John and Sal Buscema, Reed Crandall, Joe Kubert and Gray Morrow. Actors Harrison Ford and Jock Mahoney, former footballer Mike Henry and the late action star Peter Duel were its live action influences. His Jane Porter Portfolio was influenced by Joyce Mackenzie and Mia Farrow, while his La of Opar design was influenced by Vanessa Brown and Lauren Hutton. His Korak design was inspired by Michael Keaton and Peter Reckell, while his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design was influenced by Olivia Hussey, Susan Dey, Dany Carrel and Pam Grier. 

Joe Kubert’s moody and somber Tarzan design portfolio was inspired largely by fellow artists Ruben Moreira, Burne Hogarth, Hal Foster, the artist himself, Russ Manning and (more likely) Reed Crandall. Also influencing the design were the artist himself and fellow actors Robert Ridgely, Harrison Ford, Ron Ely, Lance Henriksen, Frank Merrill, Herman Brix and Lex Barker. Actresses Natalie Kingston, Goldie Hawn and Enid Markey once again made an impact on his lovely Jane Porter design portfolio, whereas Beata Tyszkiewicz and Diahann Carroll inspired his well mannered and surprisingly sympathetic La of Opar design portfolio. His, James Sherman, Rudy Florese, Frank Thorne and Joe Orlando’s strong willed Korak design portfolio was influenced primarily by teen idols Bobby Sherman, Michael Keaton and Dirk Benedict, while their moody but lovely Jeanne Meriem Jacot design portfolio was inspired by Olivia Hussey, Susan Dey and Karla Schramm once more. His Alice Clayton design was inspired by Jennifer Howard and Claudia Cardinale, while his John Clayton Senior design was inspired by actors Gordon Pinsent, Donald Sutherland and Kirk Douglas once again. 

Alex Niño’s Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by Chiaki Fuji, Akio Sugino, Francisco V. Coching, Burne Hogarth and Hal Foster. Actors Peter Duel and Ron Ely were amongst its live action influences. His Korak design was influenced by Hideki Saijo and Michael Keaton.

Jeff Jones’ Tarzan design portfolio was influenced by Roy Krenkel and James Allen St John. Actors Steve Bond, Hideki Saijo and Tom Forman have all made an impact on it. 

Mike Grell’s equally moody, but more colourful Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by artists Joe Kubert, Jesse Marsh, Russ Manning, John Celardo, Burne Hogarth and Harry Habblitz. Lance Henriksen and Harrison Ford were the models for it. Also influencing the design were the infamous actor Jock Mahoney and his spiritual successor Joe Lara. Veronica Castro, Diahann Carroll and Olga Breeskin have influenced his mysterious La of Opar design. His Jane Porter design however, is influenced in turn by actresses Mirtha Legrand, Jennifer Beals and Andie McDowell. His grownup Korak design is inspired by Robby Benson, Eric Stoltz and Michael Keaton, while Lena Horne and Andie McDowell once again made an impact on his gorgeous Jeanne Meriem Jacot design. 

Gray Morrow’s closely related Tarzan design portfolio was influenced in turn by artists Jesse Marsh, Gil Kane, Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Rex Maxon and the Buscema brothers themselves. The footballers turned actors Mike Henry and Miles O’Keeffe, along with bodybuilder turned actor Gordon Scott, were indirect live action influences once again, this time on something considered a different beast from its older Marvel comics cousins and comic strip relatives. His Jane Porter design portfolio was influenced by actresses Ornella Muti and Barbara Brylska, whereas his La of Opar design portfolio was inspired by actresses Dona Drake, Irene Bedard and Pam Grier. Michael Keaton and Matt Dillon have made an impact on his Korak design, while Libuše Šafránková, Barbara Brylska and Ornella Muti once again are his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design’s live action influences. 

Thomas Yeates’ Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by artists Joe Kubert, Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Russ Manning, John Celardo and Bob Lubbers. Christopher Lambert, Horst Buchholz, Joe Lara, Herman Brix and the infamous Jock Mahoney were amongst the actors who made an impact on it as well. His La of Opar design portfolio is influenced by actress Shuko Akune and singer-songwriter Taylor Dayne, whereas his Jane Porter design is inspired primarily by actresses Lydie Denier, Khrystyne Haje, Brenda Joyce and Joanna Barnes. His Korak design is influenced by model Markus Schenkenberg and actor James Marsters, while his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design is inspired by actresses Susan Dey and Joyce Mackenzie.

Dan Panosian’s Tarzan design portfolio is influenced predominantly by artists Erno Zorad, Neal Adams, Sam Glanzman, Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert, Nestor Redondo and Alex Niño. Actors Lance Henriksen, Giles Panton and Wolf Larson are amongst the live action influences on this stunning design portfolio. 

The Dynamite, Marvel and Disney design roster 

Greg Guler, Glen Keane and John Ripa’s Tarzan design portfolio is inspired mostly by actors Matt Cedeño and Tony Goldwyn, plus sports icon Tony Hawk. 

Boris Vallejo’s Tarzan design portfolio is influenced by the artist himself and Rex Maxon. Claudia Cardinale, Thelma Tixou and Goldie Hawn have made an impact on his Jane Porter design, while his La of Opar design is inspired by Julie Bell and Pam Grier. 

John and Sal Buscema’s Tarzan design portfolio was primarily inspired by artists Burne Hogarth, Rex Maxon, Ernie Chan, Bill Montes, Ernie Bache, Bob Lubbers, Jesse Marsh, Hal Foster and (more likely) Gray Morrow. Also influencing the design were Lance Henriksen, Charles Bronson and fellow action stars Calvin Lockhart and Steve Bond, the artist and his brother themselves, actors Steve Hawkes and Richard Yesteran, actor-producers Tony Goldwyn and Harrison Ford, and footballers turned actors Miles O’Keeffe and Mike Henry. Eve Brent, Sofia Loren and Bo Derek made a splash on Tony DeZuniga’s and their Jane Porter design portfolio, whereas Bollywood heartthrob Zeenat Aman and filmmaker Jane Musky inspired the iconic La of Opar design portfolio by all three. John and Sal’s Korak design portfolio is influenced by actors Peter Reckell, Tony Goldwyn and Charles Bronson, whereas Sal’s Jeanne Meriem Jacot design was influenced by actresses Virginia Huston and Dorothy Hart. The older Buscema’s John Clayton Senior design was based on John Hurt, while Dorothy Hart once again inspired his Alice Clayton design. 

Tony DeZuniga’s pretty Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by Chiaki Fuji, Nestor Redondo and Burne Hogarth. Also inspiring the design are idol Bobby Sherman and former actor Wolf Larson. 

Pablo Marcos’ rough and manic Tarzan design portfolio is amongst the first to diverge from those of the Buscema Brothers, as it is inspired in turn more by Rex Maxon, Bill Montes, Gray Morrow, Paul Norris, Russ Manning, Joe Kubert, Burne Hogarth and Frank Frazetta than by John and Sal Buscema themselves. Peter Reckell and Wolf Larson were live action influences on this Tarzan design. His Jane Porter design portfolio is inspired by actresses Christie Brinkley, Lauren Hutton and Barbara Brylska. His John Clayton Senior design is inspired by Peter Reckell and Horst Buchholz, while Khrystyne Haje and Angel Coulby have made an impact his Alice Clayton design. 

Bob McLeod’s Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by Frank Frazetta, Neal Adams and the Buscema brothers. Rosanna DeSoto influenced his La of Opar design portfolio.   

Gil Kane’s rough and tough Tarzan design was influenced in turn by Burne Hogarth, Gray Morrow, Rex Maxon, Hal Foster, Jesse Marsh and the Buscema brothers. Ron Ely, Miles O’Keeffe and Tony Goldwyn are amongst the actors who have made an impact on the design, as it is the oldest of three comic strip design relatives in both rosters.

Dave Hoover’s Tarzan design portfolio was inspired by Joe Kubert, Russ Manning, Neal Adams and the Buscema brothers. Also influencing the design were actors Jock Mahoney, Michael Keaton, Ron Ely, Wolf Larson, Tom Meighan and Gordon Scott. Lydie Denier, Connie Sellecca, Kristy Swanson and Jane March inspired his Jane Porter design, while Lynda Carter, Peggy Lipton and Shuko Akune inspired his La of Opar design. Actors Michael Keaton, Christian Slater and Matt Dillon have made an impact on his Korak design portfolio, whereas Peggy Lipton and Shuko Akune once again inspired his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design portfolio. 

Joe Jusko’s Tarzan design portfolio is influenced by Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, Gil Kane and the Buscema Brothers. Sportsmen turned actors Mike Henry, Miles O’Keeffe and Richard Yesteran, plus Matt Cedeño, Tony Goldwyn, Steve Hawkes and sports icon Tony Hawk, have all made an impact on it. Burlesque star Dita Von Teese, Voice Actress Rebecca Shoichet, Actresses Sarah Michelle Gellar and Olivia D’Abo, supermodel Christie Brinkley and filmmaker Jane Musky have influenced his Jane Porter design portfolio, while Zeenat Aman and Pam Grier influenced his La of Opar design. Sports icon Tony Hawk, plus teen idols Robby Benson and Peter Reckell, have all inspired his Korak design portfolio, while Susan Dey and Lena Horne were live action influences for his Jeanne Meriem Jacot design portfolio. 

Eric Battle’s Tarzan design is inspired primarily by Dave Hoover, Jeff Jones, Russ Manning and the Buscema brothers. Actors Christopher Lambert, Adam Beach, Casper Van Diem, Wolf Larson and Joe Lara were live action influences, on a design related more closely to that of Jeff Jones than to those of the Buscema brothers. 

Roberto Castro’s ghetto fabulous Tarzan design portfolio is predominantly influenced by Joe Kubert, Glen Keane, Alex Niño, Rudy Florese, Jeff Jones, Frank Frazetta, Eric Battle and the Buscema brothers. Alexander Skarsgard, Keanu Reeves, Alex D. Linz, Markus Schenkenberg, Christopher Lambert, Herman Brix, Matt Cedeño, Giles Panton, Adam Beach, Miles O’Keefe, Ron Ely, Jesse Williams, Adam Driver, Gary Dourdan, Casper Can Dien, Travis Fimmel, Tokala Clifford, Tony Goldwyn and James Marsters are amongst the actors and models who have made an impact on it. Margot Robbie, Rebecca Shoichet, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Valeria Mazza have inspired his Jane Porter design, whereas Amerie Rogers, Taylor Dayne, Cindy Crawford, Jane March, Brenda Schad and Christie Brinkley have made a splash on his and Wagner Reis’ La of Opar design portfolio. 

Rick Leonardi’s Korak design is influenced by Roberto Castro, Eric Battle and Frank Frazetta. Markus Schenkenberg, Travis Fimmel and Tokala Clifford have made an impact on it. His Jeanne Meriem Jacot design is inspired by actresses Jane March, Jessica Szohr and Libuše Šafránková.

Benito Gallego’s rough and somber Tarzan design portfolio is partly inspired by Sergio Cariello, Eric Battle, Joe Kubert, Gray Morrow, Russ Manning, Jack Kirby, Joe Jusko and the Buscema brothers. Along with Harrison Chad, Alex D. Linz, Brandon Routh, Matt Cedeño, Adam Driver and Tony Goldwyn, Tokala Clifford, Jesse Williams, Miles O’Keeffe, Mike Henry, Steve Hawkes and Richard Yesteran were used as indirect live action influences once again on a design related distantly to Eric Battle’s and Roberto Castro’s own. Also influencing his Jane Porter design are Margot Robbie, Rebecca Shoichet, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dita Von Teese. 

Stevan Subic’s Tarzan design portfolio is heavily inspired by Roberto Castro, Glen Keane, Erno Zorad, John Ripa, Alex Niño, Eric Battle and the Buscema brothers John and Sal themselves. Alexander Skarsgard, Tony Goldwyn, Matt Cedeño, Miles O’Keeffe, Christopher Lambert, Tokala Clifford, Jesse Williams, Steve Hawkes and Richard Yesteran are amongst the live action influences on this design portfolio. His Jane Porter design is influenced by Olivia D’Abo, Margot Robbie, Spencer Locke, Rebecca Shoichet, Sophie Simnett, Dita Von Teese and Christie Brinkley. 

Roy Allan Martinez’s Tarzan design portfolio is inspired by Joe Kubert, Glen Keane, John Ripa, Greg Guler and Roberto Castro. James Marsters, Christopher Lambert, Giles Panton, Tony Goldwyn and Daniel Frogson have an impact on it. Also influencing his Jane Porter design are Sophie Simnett, Spencer Locke, Dita Von Teese, Rebecca Shoichet, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ava Marilyn. 

Afterword

Vu-D, a little known DeviantArt veteran, has proposed a Tarzan design that would make Glen Keane, John Ripa, Greg Guler, Eric Battle, Roberto Castro, Benito Gallego, Stevan Subic and Roy Allan Martinez proud. Also helping is that, despite their questionable views, I respect both Stevan Subic and Benito Gallego’s magnificent works and I know how to separate them from the artists themselves.

But I wonder if illustrators like them will update and multiply their own Tarzan designs for a whole new era? They can and will do it, but for now, it’s very unlikely. Not only do I have a motley of iconic Tarzan designs to mess with, I can turn them all into different characters in their own right when it’s necessary to do so. 

The Big P Productions Timeline

While P Productions has a rather prominent tokusatsu catalog, it is a stockholder primarily known outside of Japan for its UltraMan competitor SpectreMan. 

1964

Its first animated show was the anime adaptation of Kyoto prefecture native Naoki Tsuji’s (controversial and downright values dissonant) second best known manga, 0 Sen Hayato. Naoki Tsuji went on to create the famed art of the original Tiger Mask mangas by the infamous late Ikki Kajiwara. 

It was a subcontractor for a few episodes of the first animated Astro Boy show in 1964. 

1965

Its only adaptation of a Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga was the pilot of a scrapped anime based on Spaceship Red Shark. 

1966

Its first live action success on international airwaves was the tokusatsu adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s own battle giant manga Ambassador Magma, itself the first major colour Toku in world history other than the first show under the UltraMan name.

1967

Its only anime adaptation of a Shotaro Ishinomori manga was that of Don Kikko. 

Its first original animated tv show was the anime Chibikko Kaiju Yadamon (aka Little Monster Yadamon).

Its first live action tv work was the Jidaigeki tv Dorama Kaze. 

Its first original tokusatsu tv show was the Monster Prince, which succeeded in a couple of Asian nations but flopped hard in Japan. 

1971 

Its biggest international original success by far, SpectreMan, began that year. 

1972

The Lion Maru Trilogy began with Kaiketsu Lion Maru, one of its biggest international original successes by far. 

1973 

Kaiketsu Lion Maru ended up with a much less popular (although still good, but not great) sequel, Fuun Lion Maru. The trilogy would remain only two thirds complete until 2006. 

The Lion Maru Trilogy begat an honorary Kamen Rider style spin-off, Iron Man Tiger Seven. 

1983

Its last subcontracted animated movie and tv show were from a Mainland Chinese-Japanese-German coproduced franchise, TaoTao, which heroically remains partly responsible, in an ironic twist, for the fall of Communism in Albania. 

2006 

The Lion Maru trilogy + Iron Man Tiger Seven formally ended with the darker and edgier Lion Maru G. 

Forgotten Pulp Heroes that deserve adaptations

It’s fair to say that, although American pulp is a contentious topic, it does have its defenders and fellow fans. 

A few Anime and Manga industry notes

Here are some notes from the greatest anime and manga industry talents. 

Most constant super couples and love teams 

Go Nagai and Junko Higo.

Leiji Matsumoto and Miyako Maki (ups and downs).

Yoshihiro Togashi and Naoko Takeuchi (ups and downs).

Kōji Morimoto and Atsuko Fukushima. 

Hideaki Anno and Moyoco Anno (ups and downs). 

Hayao Miyazaki and Akemi Ota (ups and downs).

Yoichi Kotabe and Reiko Okuyama (1963-2007). 

Mamoru Nagano and Maria Kawamura (disappointingly screwed up, isn’t it).

Azure Konno and Ayami Kazama.

Most constant siblings

Noboru, Tetsuji and Satsuko Okamoto (the former two died in 2021): do note that these siblings are just three out of painter Toki Okamoto's slightly under a dozen offspring. 

Masashi and Seishi Kishimoto. 

Yasutaka and Go Nagai: do note that these guys are just two out of five brothers, as their two older brothers and younger brother are much lesser known. 

Jenny Dolls

Licca, Jenny and Chabel Dolls 

Ellie (1987) 

Starlight Jenny (1989) 

18 Summer Resort Jenny (1989) 

Princess Jenny (1990)

Chabel’s Mama and Papa (1990) 

Romani Chabel and Danny (1990) 

Melli and Zos (1990) 

Idol Jennies (1991 and 2002)

Tom (1992) 

Ellie’s Club Raph (1992) 

Rainbow Jenny (1993) 

Juliana (1994) 

Nanny Licca (1996) 

Super Action Skateboarding Jenny (1996) 

Kindergarten Licca (1997) 

Calendar Girl Rasta Jenny (2000) 

Calendar Girl Folk Jenny (2000) 

Photogenic Jennies (2000): note that the Platinum, Gold and Chocolate Photogenic Jennies are different variants.  

15 Age Jenny (2000) 

Mama (2001)

Tomoki (2001) 

Shiny Brilliant Jenny (2004) 

Takumi (2005) 

The future that not even George Orwell could tell you about

Imagine a practically dystopian world where addiction to digital equipment is only just the beginning? Definitely. 

I'm so hypocritical to a considerable extent about this possibility. Not only is that mostly true, I'm actually a chronic phone addict who wrote this article. 

A few members from the majority of future minority world children, if they're born to their future parents at all, will unpredictably have hereditary addiction-related disorders; perhaps because most of said future parents will have spent much of their lives being hyper-addicted to a corporatized variant of the net, (gasp) even when they're kids already. It's quite a worry, even as the majority of the world's future humans are starting to get addicted (to a growing extent) to the net.

Understandably, the most screwed up humans are unfortunately winning far too much in terms of net addiction, which gets more harrowing, due to factors such as varying levels dysfunction and a parent’s relative inability to constantly remind children of actual threats. 

Pop culture mockery of the week: Bad Sinetrons

Let’s note that Sinetrons, aka Sinema Elektronik, are soap operas from Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. 

No matter how strong or weak they are, like any other sinetron studio, MD entertainment seems to churn out sinetrons not just to appease and please its execs and shareholders, but also to snag merchandising deals and shill for the most profitable of product placements. 

While there are sinetrons for rural youths who mostly haven’t read a globally popular (but mainly Eurocentric) book series in their lives (as a result, these Sinetrons are in a sub-genre known as ‘Sinetron Remaja’), rural women are the main viewers of these super pervasive shows. 

One of the increasingly blatant problems with Sinetrons, as with any other incredibly dysfunctional creative industry worldwide, is the horrendous mistreatment of effects artists, especially visual effects artists without a consistent deadline, which partially explains the misuse in lots of these Indonesian soaps. 

Disney’s Tarzan reboot: cast of characters

The Disney Tarzan reboot universe’s cast of characters

The gorillas 

Dungy’s family - Zugor and his friend Gerla, Matt and his mate Carla, their son Durk and his mate Marcie, his cousin Terk and her mate Flynt

Utor’s bachelor gang - Kagor and his friend Utor 

The Mangani Civilians

Kroog’s Family - Kellan, his son Thag and his brother Kroog

Thorag’s Family - Thorag and his mate Ndosi, their daughter Teeb 

Zelgor’s family - Zelgor and his son Yokar 

Cheechak’s family - Gufta and her daughter Cheechak

Torik’s family - Torik and his mate Iris, her parents Torglat and Gortak, her siblings Muggy and Zeeta

Zukora’s family - Jax and his mate Zukora

The Mangani Rogues - Etienne and Coralie

The other beasts 

Tantor’s family - Tantor Senior and his mate Christina, their daughter Torda and her mate Cassius, their son Tantor himself

Keela’s family - Keela and her sister Neeka 

Matadi’s family - Matadi and his sister Bunji  

Morok’s family - Metara and her mate Kublat, her son Morok and his mate Gortak, their son Tarchak

Kurok’s family - Kurok and his brother Throg, their sister Chema 

Manu’s family - Cristobal and his mate Mimi, their son Manuel ‘Manu’  

Kembo’s family - Manoka and her brother Kembo 

Horta’s family - Horta and her kids Pum and Prek 

The Jungle Caracals - Muskree and her brother Buskree 

The Sea Monsters - Histah and her gang 

The Westerners

The Harts - Carol Hart 

The Miller-Hauser family - Michael Hauser and his wife Rosanna Miller, their daughter Patricia Hauser

The Diaz family - Ruana Diaz and her son Christopher Diaz

The Kentons - Miranda Kenton  

The Pierce-Rosses - Wayne Ross and his wife Sharon Kane Ross, his daughter Sheila Ross Pierce and her husband Daniel Pierce, their daughter Brenda Pierce

The Rosses - Trevor Ross and his wife Gail Manning Ross, their son Joe Ross 

The Doyles - Robin Doyle and her husband Jack Doyle, their daughter Liz Doyle

The Walthams - Baron Frederick Waltham, his wife Lana Lancer-Waltham, their son Herbert Waltham

The Brookses - Mary Brooks and her husband Eric Brooks, their daughter Meghan Brooks 

The La Ronde family - Philippe La Ronde and his wife Anais La Ronde, their children Cecil La Ronde and his wife Sandra Gardel La Ronde

The Parkers - James Parker and his wife Lisa Parker

The Extended Parkers - Ray Parker and his wife Ashley Brennan Parker, their daughter Vera Jane Parker Shiels and her husband Roland Shiels, their son Kenneth Shiels and his wife Calla Kerrigan Shiels 

The Holts - Hieronymus Holt and his wife Sarah Lyle Holt, their son Lucas Holt and his wife Emily Simmons Holt, their daughter Janna Holt and her brother Edgar Holt

The Hauser family of Merchants - Gina Allwine, her son in law Michael Hauser and his wife Lilian Allwine, their son Barnaby Allwine Hauser 

The Lancers - Thomas Lancer and Lidia Lancer, his nephew Richard Lancer and Russi Lancer, his son Austin Lancer and Gwen Byron Lancer, his grandson Sidney Lancer

The Burke-Lancers - Lisa Burke and her husband Bertrand Lancer, his older son Ronald Lancer, his granddaughter Julie Lancer and her brother Jasper Lancer

The Hauser-Durhams - Colin Durham and his wife Gwendolyn Durham, their daughter Margaret Durham and her husband Hans Hauser, their son Malcom Hauser 

The Eskers - Max Esker and his wife Lynn Beach Esker, their daughter Countess Connie Beach Esker 

The Wrightson family - Wesley Wrightson and his wife Mary Jane Wrightson, their son the Gorilla Tarzan (aka Peter Wrightson) and his wife Eleanor Gillis

Bayliss and Co - Bruce Bayliss

The Links - Lucille Link and Isobel Link

The Carne family - Minnie Carne, her son Derrick Carne and his wife Kathleen Carne, their daughter Nicole Carne 

The Gabon Congo Brazzaville Locals 

Locals from Kouilou Niari Area - Benjamin, Cyrique, Yenge, Reynard, Amaya, Kakengo, Mankaka and Kasongo  

Locals from Gabon - Emerine, Yesa and Akoma 

The Resident Jungle Backwaters 

The Core - The Main Tarzan (aka Dennis Cave) and his mate Jane Pinkerton, his son Korak (aka Anthony Cave) and his adoptive son Dombie (aka Dominic Cave)

Team Vanga - Kaia Kaia, Shira, Gatare and Vanga 

Team Kisha - Kisha, Sulli and Mengo

Naranee’s family - Naranee and Yohro 

Team AKO - Kadjia, Obugha and Achinga 

The Makaia Kingdom - Lualla 

Disney’s Tarzan casting candidates (past and present)

Here are the potential casting candidates for the cyberpunk reboot to Disney’s version of Tarzan. 

The Present - Human Heroes and Anti Villains

Daniel Frogson as the main Tarzan (aka Dennis Cave) - The main Tarzan’s story began when he, his mum and dad, departing from Bristol (via various places), shipwrecked into the heart of the Mayombe rainforest following a terrible boat crash. Sadly, the baby lost her and him to the Mangani raids but was rescued by a shellshocked Mangani, who adopted him instead. 

Ava Marilyn as Jane Pallas Porter - Tarzan's American girlfriend and ultimately wife.

Jade Jordan as Robin Doyle - After days of sailing through dangerous seas, Robin got shipwrecked into the Mayombe rainforest with her young daughter Liz. 

Lara McDonnell as Liz Doyle - A castaway named Liz Doyle got shipwrecked into the Mayombe jungle along with her mum Robin. 

Samuel Joslin as Hieronymus Holt - A sly real estate agent, Hieronymus and his twin sister Sarah Holt deal with semi-seedy outlets. 

Darci Shaw as Sarah Lyle Holt - 

Paul Mescal as Roland Shiels - Roland is Vera Parker’s moody main childhood friend (and later husband), growing up with a gang of apes after his shipwrecked parents, themselves family friends of Ray Parker and Ashley Brennan, were killed by loggers when he was just a toddler. 

Pádraic Delaney as James Parker - the wild man uncle of Vera Parker. 

Hazel Doupe as Vera Jane Parker - Along with a childhood friend who lost his parents to loggers, she lives with her uncle James near the bustling town of Conkouati. 

Landon Liboiron as Derrick Carne - Derrick Carne is Hieronymus Holt’s best friend alongside his own wife Kathleen Carne.

Lucas Neff as Bruce Bayliss - 

The Present - Tarzan’s animal friends and rivals

Shelby Simmons as the voice of Tork (aka Torkina, Tarzan’s tomboy gorilla friend) - Tork is Mumka’s daughter.  

Brandon T. Jackson as the voice of Dungy (Tarzan’s male gorilla friend) - Dungy is Matt and Carla’s surviving younger son, whose dead older brother was Kelvin. 

Buddy Lewis as the voice of Muyo - A vagrant gorilla stranger.

Katt Williams as the voice of Matt - Matt is Dungy’s stern dad and Carla’s unhelpful silverback mate. 

Octavia Spencer as the voice of Carla - Carla is Matt’s erstwhile mate, the main Tarzan’s calm mentor and Mungo’s mum. 

Matt Cornett as the voice of Tantor - Tantor is a forest elephant with a fear not of almost anything including germs but, rather more understandably, of serial loggers, because both of his estranged parents got shot by them when he was a preteen. In order to make his life around, he does save the day in some situations. He’s also one of the main Tarzan’s regular male animal friends, besides Manu and Flynt. 

Sarah Paulson as the voice of Mumka - Terk’s mother. 

Jacob Batalon as the voice of Flynt - Dungy’s vagrant best friend and Torkina’s boyfriend (later mate), who is also one of Tarzan’s fellow regular male friends, besides Manu the mandrill and Tantor the forest elephant. 

Tony Revolori as the voice of Manuel ‘Manu’ - Manu the mandrill is one of Tarzan’s main animal friends, who is a part of a large mandrill crowd led by his maternal grandpa Francisco. 

The Present - Human Villains 

Sam McCarthy as Eric Brooks - Eric Brooks is a power-hungry villain working against the well-intentioned wishes of Hieronymus Holt and his twin sister Sarah Lyle. This is in contrast to his partner in crime, Mary Brooks, who often works more actively outside the Elpido Manufacturing Inc. headquarters. 

Kailey Albus as Mary Brooks - Mary Brooks is a dauntingly adventurous spy.

The Past - Human Heroes 

Dylan Moran as Ray Parker - Ashley’s husband, James’ younger brother and Vera’s father. 

Rainbow Sun Francks as Wesley Wrightson - Peter’s birth dad, who was a nerd, who’d long been trekking for quite a long while. Knowing that he and his wife were on their last legs, they had enough time to realise that their bereaving baby son was to be nursed for a couple of years by gorillas rather than just starving to death. 

Kate Walsh as Mary Jane Wrightson - Mary Jane Simmons was the Gorilla Tarzan’s birth mum.

Sharon Horgan as Ashley Brennan Parker - Vera Parker’s auburn-haired mum, who died sick after they got shipwrecked into somewhere near the city of Pointe Noire. 

The Past - Tarzan’s animal friends and rivals 

Oliver Alexander as the voice of Manu (youth) 

Brock Brenner as the voice of Flynt (Tork’s boyfriend, youth) 

Jeremy Maguire as the voice of Tantor (youth) 

D.L. Hughley as the voice of Zugor - Carla’s estranged dad and Matt’s father in law. 

Julio Cedillo as the voice of Francisco - Manu’s head scratching sick maternal grandpa. 

The hunt for some of the best Kamishibai compilations ever made

Although a couple of Kamishibai history books are rather old, that doesn’t mean they’re easy to find outside of Japan. The one that I borrowed from TAFE is a valuable (although feebly translated and overtly favouring the best known stories) memoir from New York Times bestselling author Eric P. Nash. 

The most popular pre-90s Kamishibai history book in Japan is a retrospective memoir made by the late Kamishibai megastar Kōji Kata; who defined the art style of Golden Bat for nearly 3 decades. First published in 1971, it has two more editions, an updated reprint made in 1979 and (after its author’s untimely death at 79-80 in 1998) a posthumously revised one made in 2004. 

Perhaps the hardest to find of them all was a huge, compiled encyclopaedia of surviving Kamishibai works mostly from the post war Showa period. Although it might’ve bombed so badly in terms of book sales, the really elusive 14 volume set is still quite popular with Japanese academics to this day. Its first seven volumes were made in 1994, while the other seven were made in 1995. 

Sheena: the plot line

Subplots 

Judi’s backstory: Judi and her husband Lucius lived through decades of relative strife (still bad but not as extreme as the situation that Koba’s parents were in), as they were longtime soldiers surviving the deaths of many a relative. As a result, Judi is a wisecracker with rather agitating mental health issues, who’s also unfairly outcasted by her more religiously extremist kin. Her husband is not only pretty distant, but also a hikikomori. 

Kiro’s backstory: Kiro was abandoned by her dad, just days before he destroyed her senile mum’s life. As a youth, she temporarily lived with gorillas, lions and other animals. In a brutal world where dangerous animals tend to eat each other and chomp on plants, she’d been bitten by cryptids a lot and slowly grew immune to their absurd powers by the time she turned eighteen, thus she uses them to survive by frequently killing the most heinous of people with her own frigging hands. 

Matt’s backstory: Matt and his two brothers were born the products of a military woman’s marital violation on her husband. The mum battered and concussed them to high heaven while her husband also suffered drastically as a result. Their relationship is still so screwed up that, after Matt being gently fired by the CIA, he moved to Tigora to start Cutter Enterprises. 

Shirley’s backstory: Shirley arrived into Tigora with her parents, who were geologists digging for dead plants. The last time that they lived together was only a few days before the latter two committed suicide due to incredibly horrible treatment from their boss, thus kicks the main plot. 

How the Jungle Book came to Taiwan

English Translation created via: http://tysharon.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-post.html

In 1962, The Oriental Publishing House of Taiwan published a Traditional Mandarin version of "The Jungle Book", translated into the language from English (via Japanese) by Liu Yuen Hsiao. Liu Yuen Hsiao said in "Writing Ahead" that this story was written by Mr. Rudyard Kipling, a great British writer; but in fact it was not based on the English version, but instead on a Japanese version ("ジヤングル ブック") written by Yoichiro Minami, published by Kodansha in 1951. The Japanese version of the book title uses the katakana phonetic derivation ‘Janguru Bukku’, which is very special.

The story is set in India, and the protagonist is Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. Mowgli is said to mean "frog" in the wolf language, because the wolf mother thought he was naked like a frog, so she named him "Mowgli". The kid grew up with wolves and some kind jungle friends like Baloo the brown bear and Bagheera the panther. There are also a few enemies for him, like the tigers and the monkeys. Later, he was expelled by the jungle animals and returned to his native human society, but he didn't adapt well yet. After some adventures, he finally decided to return to human society under the persuasion of his jungle friends.

This story is quite romantic, the jungle society is also very civilized and orderly, and the friendship is sincere and touching. It was my favourite book when I was a child. Liu Yuen Hsiao said in "Writing Ahead": When I came to the UK five years ago, I stopped by to visit the London City Boy Scouts' camp. When I chatted with them, I told them that I had also read "The Jungle Story", and they were greatly surprised and shouted. He got up and said, "Ah! You have also read... the Chinese version, you have also read... It". After a while, he seemed to wake up and said, "By the way, Mowgli is an Indian boy! You are Taiwanese Chinese, as both Taiwan and India are in Asia, no wonder you like Mowgli too!". 

In fact, it was Yoichiro Minami who actually went to the UK, not Liu Yuen Hsiao, who was merely a bragging translator. What those London teenagers said: "Oh, you and you're from Japan...", a boy said with a twinkle in his eye, but then another one immediately said, "Yes, Mowgli is an Indian boy, so you from Japan like Mowgli too!". 

Taiwan now also has the "Mowgli Youth Association", which holds the "Mowgli Summer Camp" every year to let everyone experience the natural life. I saw the new live action Disney movie trailer a few days ago, and the beauty is lovely, but Mowgli (as with the 1967 animated Disney movie) has a red loincloth around his waist (and also unmentionable parts), which makes me feel that something is not quite right. A child who grew up in the jungle should be completely naked, like the cover and illustrations of the Japanese version; after all, his wolf brother doesn't wear pants.

Yoshimasa Ikeda (1893-1980) was Yoichiro Minami's real name. He used his alias to translate the Literary Masterpieces, and his own real surname (albeit with Nobumasa as the given stage name) to translate the Jungle Book and etcetera. His indirect influence on Taiwanese children's middle grade literature is rather large. Liu Yuen Hsiao (1917-) is one of the most important translators of Taiwan's Oriental Publishing House. During the Japanese occupation period, he went to Japan to study at university, and after the war he founded the Chung Hsiao Japanese remedial class, and he still taught Japanese a few years ago, which is quite legendary.

Tezuka’s Jungle Kingdom: Characters

The Characters of Tezuka’s Jungle Kingdom 

Robin Kildare: Green eyed blonde Robin Kildare saw his unlucky parents getting killed by extensive corruption when he was about seven. Even before that, he lived with a bunch of former bandits. One of the ex-bandits taught him to become an errand, thus he travels through the southern African subcontinent. A surly beast man found him in a rut, but had trouble writing his first and middle names, thus he called him by the Sir like title Ki-GOR (pronounced Kai-Goor) instead. Robin has a very uneasy relationship with people from other ethnic groups, although he remains a snarky antihero who protects both his friends and most of the animals around them when necessary. He has a dagger and a shield amongst his many belongings. 

Ann Vaughn Kildare: Ann Vaughn is Rupert’s auburn haired girlfriend and later wife, who crashed into the tropical forest and was rescued by Ki-Gor himself. Although he understood consent, she hesitated in dating him as a final option, just until her boss, a food magnate who messed over his own highly underpaid workers, assaulted them and got away with kicking them out into her birthplace. As a result, both had to marry each other and lived there for a while, only to return once they’re reminded that the unlucky village where he once lived was destroyed by its mobsters.

Rue Kildare: Since Robin’s a jewel to his wife, it’s possible that Ann has birthed a son and a daughter. The younger one is a blue eyed blonde called Rue. 

Chris Kildare: Rue’s twin brother, who himself an adventurer in his own right. 

Helen’s friends

George Spelling: George Spelling is a lanky Black guy from Chicago in Illinois. 

Kamazila: A Zulu girl who joined Christopher and Luna in their South African adventures. Being adventurous, her alias means ‘off the paths’ in Zulu, a rather well known Bantu language spoken further southwards in South Africa. 

The Kildare family  

Barry Kildare: Barry was Orla’s husband and Robin’s father. He and Orla were killed off by extensive corruption in the jungle when Ryan was young. 

Orla Gough: Of Ki-Gor’s birth family, it was poor Orla who was the last to die. Her husband was Barry and her surviving son is Robin aka Ki-Gor. 

The Gough-O’Connors 

Jasper Gough: Orla and Erma’s father. 

Erma Gough O’Connor: Tralee born Erma is Colin’s childhood friend and wife, whose chauvinistic parents left her behind in Kenya, so she had to ride on a boat into what would become modern day Uganda. 

Colin O’Connor: Colin is one of the two stand outs of the Jungle Kingdom prequel to Jungle Agents For Hire. 

The Healy family 

Ginger ‘Ginny’ Smithson Healy: Orla’s dissatisfied old friend, Ginger Healy, was the mother of Hugh, Colm and Lucy Healy with her husband Robert. 

Lucy Healy: She is Robin’s long lost brunette friend, raised by the then-newlyweds Colin and Erma since she was about nine when Robert died. Her mother was Ginger Smithson Healy, one of Orla’s friends. 

Robert Healy: Colm, Hugh and Lucy’s well meant but rather chauvinistic father from Ennis in County Clare. Unlike his more stubborn wife Ginny, he was a raven haired missionary with blue eyes. 

Colm Healy:

Hugh Healy: 

The named animals

Ms Marmalade: Aka Marmo for short, she is a bush elephant whom Ki Gor finally befriended when he was looking out for illegal loggers. 

The Mabira Gang: a chimpanzee gang, which roams through the semi deciduous jungles of Kibale. 

Other uneasy allies 

The Gold Witch: 

The Silver Witch: The Silver Witch is herself an Irish castaway who has founded a cult in this variant. 

The Jackal Priestess: 

My reasonable translation of a great review about Life In The Mountains: Mountain Literature

Credited to someone else. 

NHK TV "Kokoro no Jidai" "Life in the Mountains: Mountain Literature"

Toshikatsu Ue's "Life in the Mountains: Mountain Literature", which aired on January 27 and February 2 2019, was rebroadcast on October 13 and 19, and once again received a great response. The January and February broadcasts are introduced in this column (10). The rebroadcast of this time was announced at the beginning of October, just before. It happened to coincide with the publication of Ushioni no Taki, the 9th volume of Ue-san's new collection of folklore novels (distributed on October 21st), so we were really happy with the rebroadcast.

In Kokoro no Jidai and Life in the Mountains: Mountain Literature, Ue talks about his journey from non-fiction to novel. 

"I wrote about my own experience working in charcoal making and forestry, and at the same time, I heard stories from older people about things I didn’t experience, and recorded them in my notebook. That's why I wrote a book about it, but when I started writing novels, I was able to use what I had heard and recorded in my novels. Now, when you introduce a person with a unique personality, create the people around you, or write a love story. My grandfather, my grandmother, my father and my mother, and myself, the world after the Meiji era, or rather the events and circumstances of the world, are all related to me by blood. I've been thinking about the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras."

And in the last scene, Mr. Ue declares: "In about two years (note: the program was recorded in the fall of 2018), I will finish writing this 10th volume (collection of folklore novels), and if I still have the energy and strength left, I will write more, this time about charcoal burning. I've been a charcoal burner for generations, so I'd like to write a full-length novel about the life of a charcoal burner from my ancestors to the present, intertwined with the changes in society. Yes, I will write a story about charcoal burning. No one has written it. It will also be the history of the mountains of Kishu, Kumano."

Next year, in 2020, the 10th volume, the final of the collection of folklore novels, and in 2021, a long novel is planned. Now, we escort runners must do our best not to fall behind. Lastly, I would like to talk about German literary scholar Osamu Ikeuchi. Mr. Ikeuchi, who loved hot springs in mountain villages, passed away on August 30th. Previously, Mr. Ikeuchi reviewed Nagare Segaki in the October 9, 2016 issue of Sunday Mainichi in his column "I want to read it now." Rest in peace.

A wonderful review on Kamishibai

Credited to someone else at an NHK companion site. 

"Kamishibai encyclopedia" from street picture-story show materials

The November 2019 issue of street performer Toshiaki Ueshima's "Street Performer Asia Monthly Report" has been sent. Among them, Mr. Ueshima's article on the street Kamishibai (picture-story show) is interesting. It is said that the Yokohama City Historical Museum regularly performs a picture-story show. In 2010, the same museum held an exhibition titled "Ogami Shibai Exhibition: Reviving Showa Street Culture." There is also a pictorial record.

The article introduces facilities for street Kamishibai (picture-story show) collections in various parts of Japan. When I think of Kamishibai (picture-story shows), I think of Koji Kata's Showa History of Kamishibai (Rippu Shobo, 1971, later Obunsha Bunko and Iwanami Gendai Bunko). I am deeply moved by the fact that it is preserved as a resource in various places.

When I was looking at a nearby library, I came across a book called "Kamishibai Encyclopedia" (planned and produced by Kamishibai Bunka no Kai, Doshinsha, 2017). Kamishibai, a unique form of Japanese culture, has now taken over from street picture-story shows to kindergarten picture-story shows, and then to published picture-story shows, and is said to have spread to 46 countries and regions worldwide. Among the authors are the poet Arthur Binard and the picture-story show and picture book author Hideko Nagano.

The History of modern Kamishibai is quite interesting.

In 1930, the modern day Hirai-E Kamishibai was created as a hand-drawn street picture-story show by Japanese hands. The street picture-story show was a tool to attract people to sell candy. In 1935, there were about 2,000 street picture-story shows in Tokyo. In the 1940s, war propaganda picture-story shows became popular. After the war, the street picture-story show revived from the burnt ruins. Around 1950, it is said that there were 50,000 street picture-story shows nationwide. Publication of educational picture-story shows began in the post-war cultural movement. Around 1960, with the advent and spread of television, street picture-story shows declined.

Doshinsha, the publisher of "Kamishibai Encyclopedia", is primarily known as a publisher of children's books and picture books, but in fact, the company was founded in 1957 as a publisher of kamishibai, and has created a flow of published kamishibai works. As street kamishibai began to decline, it was around this time that published kamishibai began to be rented out at public libraries. This "Kamishibai Culture Association" was born in 2001, and as of October 2019, it is said that there are 958 members in Japan and 50 countries overseas.

Kamishibai has changed from street kamishibai to national policy kamishibai to educational kamishibai, but how has a Kamishibai picture been drawn? It was hand-drawn at first, then printed, according to the chronology. Someone told me that there is such a picture-story show site. It is the "Kamishibai Net" of Nagoya Ryugi Junior College Early Childhood Education Research Institute, and the "History of Kamishibai" in it. 

In 1934 (Showa 9 in this chronology), it is written that "Kenya Matsunaga, who incorporated picture-story shows into the extracurricular education of the University of Tokyo Settlement, created a mimeograph-printed picture-story show 'Life Guide'. There were picture-story shows that were mimeographed as well. Those mimeographed Kamishibais were produced in great numbers during the war.

Shinjuku Shobo publishes 3 books on the history of Japanese pop cultural history; "Gariban Bunkashi", "Gariban Bunka wo Aruku" and "Gariban printed picture-story show".

The cast of Golden Bat

The cast of Golden Bat tends to vary rather wildly in terms of size and lineup. 

Black Bat - the first known character of that franchise, Black Bat is Golden Bat’s magnificent bastard of a spiritual predecessor. 

Golden Bat - the breakout and titular character of the franchise, Golden Bat is a mummified knight from the human past. His screwed up relatives include his dastardly father Black Bat and his adopted son Beanie Bat. 

Kan Nazō - Nazō himself wasn’t fully codified until Kōji Kata came along. By the time the Cold War began, he most definitely gained a mini-UFO dodgem and two fake eyes below his real ones. Although there are no excuses for his terrible actions, he was perhaps a passionately loony fan of his former idol Golden Bat, but only for a brief while. Unfortunately, he was also a victim of his heinous employer’s groping attacks. Later on, his more amicable ex minions medically amputated a few parts of his body (understandably due to them being so infected with polio that it hurts) and still have him frequently ride on a dodgem dumped out of a low budget theme park. A half-Taiwanese Hakka, Kan was unluckily discriminated against in his native Fukuoka. 

Moji Nāzo - Dr Nazō’s much older and promiscuous brother. He and Kan were inseparable until Moji himself became more of a serial pervert at the beginning of his adulthood. 

Beanie Bat - Golden Bat’s little human son, whom he adopted on his travels. Miriam is his girlfriend. 

Silver Bat - Golden Bat’s wicked younger brother. 

Dr Zero Enrico Nero - Kan Nāzo’s Romanesque Italian friend and ally.

The Civilians  

Emily Kline - Emily Kline is the Golden Bat’s friendly young lady agent. 

Miriam - Miriam is officially known as the hero Golden Bat’s pupil. She is a well endowed girl elf from the dreamland. 

Naomi Wise - Naomi Wise is Emily Kline’s short tempered and icy mannered childhood friend. 

Eri Yamamuro - 

Kamishibai survivors unite!

Kamishibai storytelling is not without its often record breaking survivors 

The Golden Bat franchise potentially has a lot of Kamishibai stories to tell. Although not many of them have survived the tests of time, most of the ones that do survive at all have been reprints or (often partial) reconstructions in varying conditions. Frankly, the first consistently named characters of that franchise are Golden Bat and his most monstrous enemies, the magnificent bastard of a spiritual predecessor known as Black Bat (not to be confused with fellow US pulp heroes of the same name) and his more popular replacement, the legendary Doctor Nazō. 

Ichiro Suzuki, who was possibly born in 1905 (or 1906) and who might have left the face of this world a few decades ago, was the franchise’s first known writer, even though Takeo Nagamatsu (1912-61) and Kōji Kata (1918-98) are generally considered to be its true spiritual creators, due to having been referenced more often than not in Japanese popular culture. 

The Prince of Planet Gamma, first appearing at the same time as Golden Bat, has a surviving postwar remake which lasted for about 58 short volumes, not bad for something which is only partially found. One of The Prince of Planet Gamma’s notable post war makers was one of Toki Okamoto’s children, Sanpei Shirato’s fellow sibling, Tetsuji Okamoto. 

The Yoichiro Minami Catalogue

The Yoshimasa Ikeda Compilation seems to be commonly sold in secondhand stores and auction sites all over Japan. Two copies of both volumes 6 and 20 of the Shonen Novel Compilation are in Canberra’s National Library of Australia.

The Wilton Instalments are, in release order: The Roaring Jungle and Capturing The Beasts (both 1933), The Great Amazon Secret and The Jungle King (both 1940), The Deadly Beast Hunt (1941), The Great Amazon Monument (another crossover, released in 1947), The Dinosaur Kingdom (a crossover released in 1949) and Winding Through The Big Green Monument (abridged version released in 1950, uncut expanded edition released in 1954). 

The Cryptid Lands Instalments are, in Release Order: The Flat Deserted Green Island (released in 1938), A Sailor On The Flat Deserted Green Island (released in 1943), The Jungle Mystery (released in 1947), The Flat Deserted Green Island Adventure (reboot/sequel/remake released in 1948), and A Huge Ship In the Jungle (released in 1950). Of these distantly linked books, The Flat Deserted Green Island remains the only one with more than five affordable non-compilation reprints. 

The Lone Island Instalments are The Secret of the Lone Island (1940), A Pirate of the Lone Island (1947) and 15 Boys on the Lone Island (1948). They’re not frequently reprinted. 

The Classic Baruuba Instalments are, in chronological order: The Jungle Orphan, The Golden Lion, The Phantom Footprints, The Kingdom On The Rocks (where Baruuba is a recurring character), The Iron Man’s Fingerprints, The Black Panther Kingdom and The Treasure Pursuit. 

The anonymous Instalments are, The Magic Castle in the Air, The Magic Shiva Statue, The Treasure of the Great Kingdom, The Lion King’s Treasure Sword, The Arctic Star, The Ghost Tower, Nitto Adventure King, Under the Southern Cross, The Fierce Beast Hunting Adventure, The Jungle King ‘48, The Great Pirate’s Treasure, The Terror of Cannibal Island, The Phantom Ship, Beyond the Sea of Magic, The Drifting Beast Ship, Devil’s Hall of Fame, The Skull Mask, The Devil’s Golden Sea Tower, The Magic Kingdom’s Iron Palace, An Ocean Adventure Story, The Devil Sea King, The Single Eared Leopard, The Devil’s Sea Treasure, The Hell Monster, The Magical Sea’s Treasure, The Ogre Bandit and The Demon Island. 

Baruuba’s Adventures: Characters

Characters of Baruuba’s Adventures

Jinhaku and the Chikudate family 

Jinhaku Chikudate (チクダテジンハク) - Being a nature hero mostly raised by Jackal Men and Gorilla Men, he sometimes pounds his (Enkoro) chest with his own half cupped hands, hence being called a Baruuba. He loves to holler through the jungle while swinging. His grandmother was a lowly gardener for the abdicated Okinawan ruler, who became a treasure looter when the Ryukyuan kingdom was taken over by mainland Japan. He also had an epic (Kurwaua) fight, which he used his (Enchumu) spear and (Engabo) shield to kill someone. It would be known by Barumba Journeys Through America that when he was raised by wild animals, his name is still Baroomba/Baruumba (バルンバ/バールンーバ/バルンーバ). Not only does he have green eyes (since his mother was a Sinti), he also has really long, jet black dreadlocks inherited from his paternal grandmother. It is plausible that his western given name is Matthew (マシュー). Since he’s raised by an apeman tribe, he is a mildly ripped wild young man, slim and athletic.

Goren Chikudate (チクダテゴレン) - Jinhaku’s father was a weapons dealing Okinawan on the black market scene. He himself was about forty two when he became un-alive. Both of his parents were mere lowly gardeners working for a particularly foul nobleman. 

Belinda Reinhardt (ベリンダ・ラインハルト) - Jinhaku’s birth mother was a fashion show seller. 

Friends 

Riasa (リアサ) - Riasa made friends with a (Omusaakizi) shaman at one point in her life. 

Orin Shiga (滋賀オリン) - 

Jason Paunovic (ジェイソン・パウノヴィッチ) - A friend of Barumba since childhood, he is the son of a mechanic and her Croatian American Egyptologist husband. Fellow apemen call him by the epithet Wemero/Wemelo (ウェメロ). 

Hareta (ハレタ) - 

Asani (アサニ) - 

Rola (ローラ) - 

Rimi (リミ) -

Kel Dick Watson (ケイル・ディック・ワトソン) - Henry’s surviving sole child and son, who was born after his dad was raped by Mitzi’s school principal when both were married. Even more sadly, he was destined to be alone as both parents died offing each other. 

Kaluwa (カルワ) -

Shaina (シャイナ) -

Sonny Yashio (八潮ソニー) -

Misuli (ミスリ) - 

Nuwazuna (ヌワズナ) - 

Nakati (ナカティ) -

Rungo (ルンゴ) -

Zende (ゼンデ) - 

Mugume (ムグメ) -

Sifa (シファ) -

Mr Asato (安里) -

Mitzi and her colleagues 

Margaret Jones (マーガレット・ジョーンズ) - Margaret is an adult woman in her prime, with the balls to patiently fight off beasts. 

Mitzi Huston (ミッツィ・ヒューストン) - Mitzi’s parents were retired soldier Ron Huston and a journalist/restaurant cook named Nell. 

Patricia/Tricia (パトリシア/トリシア) - Though her full name is Patricia/Tricia Kline (パトリシア/トリシア・クライン), she is simply called by her first name. She is likely the wife of another unscrupulous treasure hunter and a mother to two sons. 

Timothy Kline (ティモシー・クライン) - Patricia’s estranged nephew, Barumba’s sidekick. Poor guy knows that his dad works for his horrible boss. 

Rita Jackson (リタ・ジャクソン) - Rosario’s little sister, Timothy’s friend and one of the school dropouts. 

Riley Agnew (ライリー・アグニュー) - Horace Agnew’s rebellious and thankfully freer daughter. 

Rosario (ロザリオ) - Although her full name is Rosario Jackson (ロザリオ・ジャクソン), she is Riley Agnew’s best friend, who is simply called by her first name. 

Higashionna (東恩納) 

Grace (グレース) - Grace is the rebellious and self exiled daughter of a pirate/smuggler who did a lot of jungle bombing. 

Shinkichi Torishima (鳥島新吉) - Eiko’s father, who mailed some important news to the owner of a prestigious mine where much of the jewels straight out of the grounds were made. He likely died in the mine. 

Reimi (麗美) - 

Eiko Torishima (鳥島栄子) - Eiko Torishima came to work with the resistance during WW2. She is a pen friend. 

The Neutrals 

High Priestess of the Sun (太陽の女教皇) - 

Priestess of the Sun (太陽の女司祭) 

High Priestess of the Moon (月の女教皇) - 

Priestess of the Moon (月の女司祭) - 

Ssewaunaku (セワウナク) - An old man who lives in the lakeside coast near Kampala. 

Characters who have died 

Ron Huston (ロン・ヒューストン) - Ron was the husband of Nell and brother of Barney.