Is this the final episode of 'We Appreciate Manga'? I guess we will have to see… Either way James has an announcement to make but first we give a quick review of Godzilla minus one and talk about side chapters of Petshop of Horrors. Skip chapter summaries @ 15:01
Intro music courtesy of Liam Bradbury
Outro music courtesy of Rifti Beats - Youtube
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
136: Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
In the additional chapters, young Chris Orcot treks out into the labyrinthine back rooms of the petshop to find out Q-Chan's human form. Unlike the rest of the Pets in Count D's shop, who appear as human to Chris, Q-Chan only appears as a Wolperdinger, a horned rabbit like creature with wings. As Chris explores the hidden rooms, he meets a grim looking figure who obliges him but unfortunately for Chris, the remedy he acquires has no such desired effect on Q-Chan.
Another chapter shows a Totetsu (a mixed goat and tiger creature) by the name of T-Chan. T-Chan is looking down in the dumps before Leon finds out that it is because he is in love with one of D's new pets. Leon and the gang help him pluck up the courage but because of T-Chan's proclivity to eat the one he loves it results in T-Chan being rejected. It becomes a bonding experience for both Leon and T-chan.
The Flowers and detective chapters feature the police detective Leon Orcot, D does not trust Leon enough to take care of pets so he gifts him a gatolatto plant. The plant grows well thanks to Leon's appreciation and care but eventually Leon is wounded from a gunshot and is hospitalized. On his miraculous recovery he asks D to water his plant for him, only to be told that the flower has already bloomed and withered to death in his place. Was it really the plant that saved Leon? D has given people stranger things.
Part two, has D playing matchmaker only for Leon to interfere and end up winning the affection of beautiful creatures. What Leon does not realise is that he is being used to pollinate women. Like a honey bee!
Part three includes a strange kimono arriving at the pet shop. With the Kimono's colour representing Sakura (cherry blossom) but being made from the blood of insects. And in the last chapter that we speak of today, we see Chris sent on an errand but D and Leon spy on him using cameras and disguises, very much like the Reality TV show 'Old Enough!' (a.k.a. its literal translation 'My First Errand') Afterwards they spend the night gazing at the full moon and D tells Chris of the rabbit in the moon, and the princess whose kingdom has become extinct. Chris tells D that maybe the rabbit princess is still on the moon and is just hiding.
Topics:
· Thoughts on Godzilla Minus One and Hollywood.
· Pareidolia, do you see a rabbit, a woman, or a man when you look at the moon?
· The future of the We Appreciate Manga Podcast.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The cherry blossom looking dye in one story is often used as a food colouring can trigger allergies, look for anything labelled carminic acid, carmine or cochineal on red coloured foods.
· Unlike the west Chinese and Asians countries tend to say there is a rabbit in the moon, not a man in the moon. Some when they look at a full moon, say the image is a silhouette of a rabbit hunched over and is mixing herbs, creating an elixir for immortality. (Personally, I like to think that its churning butter but some Japanese may say it is pounding rice cake mixture - J) Depending on the sun's position and your position on the earth if you were to Look at the dark spots of the moon you will find that the sea of fertility and the sea of nectar are the tips of its ears.
Osamu Tezuka retells the origin story in the first volume of his 1972-1983 manga 'Buddha' where an old man asks three animals to help him find food. One of the three animals then dives into fire and gives its life so that the old man does not starve. Because of its sacrifice it is then honoured by the God Indra and immortalised by having its image drawn on the moon.
· Chang'e the Chinese moon goddess is a figure that dates to Zhou Dynasty,
and having had poems written about her during the Tang Dynasty.
· The rabbit princess or moon princess also has similarities to princess Kaguya, the main character who appears in 'The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter' a late 9th of 10 century story with no attributed author. Sailor Moon is also based on this character and because of the tale's use of space travel, it is considered an early form of science fiction.
· The story of the shamanistic princess Himeko is not necessarily pre-historic as Will states but certainly an ancient Japanese one, having dated back to years between 220 and 270 (Yayoi period). As a legendary figure Himeko appears in the first volume of Osamu Tezuka's 'Phoenix' and the Yoshiki Okamoto (Buroson) manga 'Lord'.
· Utsuro – Bune (Hollow Boat) is a legendary account of an unidentified object arriving on the shores of the Hitachi province of Japan in 1803.
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