Kenya Boy Through the Years

Kenya Boy through the years 

Before the Square Enix phase 

1951 strip

Has quite a lot of different prints. 

Its version of Joe makes music with both an ivory trumpet and a flute.

Its version of Kate has golden strawberry blonde hair with short bangs, which do not really appear much in the succeeding reprints. 

1953 radio drama

Is pretty much lost media, except for its own theme song.

1954 Tokusatsu film 

The hair for its version of Kate is dark reddish brown but otherwise wavy due to budget constraints. 

However, the hair for its version of Zega is somewhat more accurate to the strip, although it’s still just a pair of silvery dyed curtains due to budget constraints. 

1961 manga 

In terms of appearance, its versions of actual Kenyan characters are very bastardised. 

The hair for its version of Kate is still wavy and short fringed, but coloured in a very light ginger/golden strawberry blonde hue like in the Classic Sankei print. 

Its version of Joe makes music with an ivory trumpet like in the strip. 

1961 Tokusatsu show 

Is set in the early 1960s, or at least 1961-62, when Great Britain’s colonial occupation of Kenya was dearly showing its age.

Stars at least four major former teen idols, with the best known one ironically being Hayato Tani. 

The hair for its version of Zega is somewhat more inspired by actual Kenyan hairstyles, but it’s still not accurate to the strip. 

The hair for its version of Kate is coloured in a dark blonde/dark ginger/light auburn hue, even though it is less wavy than in the strip. 

There’s not much R rated killing in the show due to broadcasting constraints of the time.

Its version of Dana is only a rather very large rock python instead of a spirit in the form of a huge snake. 

Also due to budget constraints, its version of Dana doesn’t appear frequently. 

Its version of Joe makes music with a flute as with both the text comic and succeeding anime film, but sometimes wears a leopard skin loincloth. 

1968 strip rewrite 

Is the most likely inspiration for the 1984 anime film.  

Its version of Joe has civilian clothes, which are the bases for those worn by his anime film counterpart.  

1974 strip rewrite 

Is a really short lived distributive co-venture of Suntory and the now defunct Nippon Reader’s Digest. 

Is practically forgotten media, with the sole major exception being an odd mention in a rather good Soji Yamakawa biography. 

1984 anime film 

Its version of Joe makes music with a flute like in the strip and Tokusatsu show. 

Its version of Kate doesn’t have full on bangs like in the Tokusatsu show, but her hair is still coloured in a light golden blonde hue like in the Sankei Junior Books print. 

The Taito/Square Enix phase

Kate is definitely a broken bird from Ireland. Her birth parents turned into eco-terroristic house bombing criminals in the dire situation surrounding her birth country at the time. 

Joe has a birth mum and dad whom he rarely sees. 

Unfortunately, this will be the only chance for the actual story to end not only in its own terms but also being exported for the light novel market, since light novels are still more popular than Emonogatari stories as a cultural force.