Junko Mizuno signing at NEW PEOPLE Sat/22
Junko Mizuno will be signing her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU
Vol. 1, on Saturday, August 22 at 2pm at NEW PEOPLE The Store in San
Francisco’s Japan Town.
PELU has been getting great reviews. This is your chance to meet Junko and pick up a signed copy of her newest release!
NEW PEOPLE
1746 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Saturday, August 22, 2pm
Praise for Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU:
…Fluffy Gigolo Pelu
suggests that her work is only veering into more vividly mischievous
territory. It offers a look at an exercise that is comparable to taking
the broken crumbs from the bottom of a bag of candy and trying to melt
them into a lollipop – bright and supposedly sweet, but deformed and
foul smelling where it’s burned. Pelu’s stories of alienation,
unconventional pregnancy and huffing are overtly cracked, but the view
that it presents of less incendiary subjects like office work
dreariness and career dissatisfaction similarly fit into its scheme of
candy colored unhappiness.
…noting the diversity of Earth’s population, Pelu leaps into a magic
mirror hoping to find someone like himself. His mad anti-trip-to-Oz
whirlwind is captured in a montage of dreary meetings, lottery wins,
and over eating – framed by a psychedelic expectoration of bubbles.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu features enough dire absurdity that it’ll
force you to laugh.
– Scott
Green, Ain’t It Cool News
Whether her stories
titillate you or not, it’s hard to deny their unique place in the world
of manga. Sans narrative, they’re vintage candy wrappers that you hold
on to because you know you’re going to want to just look at them again
sometime down the road. In that respect, maybe Little Fluffy Gigolo
Pelu is the lovelorn-tragedy-laced Laffy Taffy of the bunch.
…is there enough love on our cruel planet to include a vomit-green,
bow-tie-wearing cotton ball like Pelu? Maybe the answer lies in volume
two, but I’m digging the journey so far.
– Joseph
Luster, Otaku USA
…certainly does not
disappoint if you love Mizuno’s mix of cute / grotesque humor.
– Deb
Aoki, About.com Guide to Manga
Beautiful artwork and
character designs that find the sexiness in Japanese “kawaii” pop
culture. Unapologetic in pushing the envelope in decency and standards.
– The
Anime Almanac
The book is filled with
bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter
where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many
unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomitting an acid-like substance all over
the town’s local poodle ranch.
– John
Jakala, Robot 6
Now it can be sold! Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu
Hear ye, hear ye! Junko Mizuno's latest manga LITTLE FLUFFY GIGOLO PELU Vol. 1 is on sale NOW! And publisher Last Gasp has updated their official page with preview images. Look for a news there (and here!) about an upcoming Junko Mizuno event/signing shortly.
In the meantime, we at jaPRESS are in crank-in mode to begin translation and editing Vol. 2 .
"Poodle Ranch Devistated by Pet Hippo's Stomach Fluids"
Oh yeah. Advance copies of LITTLE FLUFFY GIGOLO PELU have arrived, making this a positively scintillating "#mangamonday" for me! The book is the latest Junko Mizuno-jaPRESS-Last Gasp joint and will be available for civilian purchase in early September by which point several other Pelu related events will also be in the air. Amazon link for cheap pre-ordering here.
From the back of the book:
Meet Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu, a cute extraterrestrial critter who travels to Earth to find happiness in the form of a bride. Prepare to be astounded as the search for fulfillment takes him from the surface of his fantastic alien planet to an off-kilter modern Japan inhabited by aspiring idol singers, sassy girls, paint-sniffing bad boys, sushi chefs with unspeakable secrets and the body-switching students of a mysterious high school. But where, oh where, is Pelu’s true love to be found?
Artist Junko Mizuno unleashes her unique graphic storytelling sensibilities on a tale that's frequently adorable, sometimes grotesque, and always fluffy.
COMIC ageha: "Rina Ayukawa. Model. 28"
Marvel Comics owns the She-Hulk and Wonder Woman does time at DC, but COMIC ageha -- a one-shot 475 yen special from gal mag publisher extraordinaire INFOREST -- has a plucky inspirational super heroine all their own with Koakuma ageha model Rina Ayukawa (l). Here then is her autobiographical saga, a kind of Shocking Suspense Story with a hostess club twist, as told to manga-ka Manami Moriyama of (I am not making this up) "Mama wa Kyabajyo" fame...
Rina is just 19 when this guy / her friend, off the cuff, recruits her to appear as a guest on a late night TV show. "My career as a tarento has begun!" she squeals, not knowing the trials and tribulations of biblical proportions that will follow.
Two years later, Rina is making the most of her "talent", which consists of shamelessly naming off brand goods that unseen suitors have bought for her in front of a camera.
Rina: “This CHANEL bag was a birthday present from Mr. A. This BVLGARI watch was a birthday present from Mr. B.” Celebrity panelist: “Hey Rina, how many birthdays do you have in one year?” (Cue: laughter, applause)
After four well-received stints as a "mashou onna" AKA "a devilish woman who drives men crazy with desire", Rina is soon pegged for more TV appearances. “Everyone began to notice my name and face,” she recalls. But her budding fame comes at an awful cost...
She can't strut around the neighborhood clutching her Gucci bag anymore without people trash talking her directly within earshot. "Is that mashou Rina? Is it really true that she got men to give her all those things?”
Only now, at the tender age of 22, does it begin to dawn on Rina "the more popular you are, the more people will bash you."
And that's just candy and nuts compared to the burn from the Internet! Rina discovers multiple threads about herself (probably on 2chan) that read like the short list of shit you really don't want people to be saying about you to the tune of “I saw her real face and she has really bad teeth and is really ugly. I was so disappointed. I wanted to puke after looking at her. She thinks she’s cool, but I think she’s had plastic surgery and is also having an affair with a rich old man.” (like c'mon, Internet, who isn't?)
An unidentified man in a shiny red car tells Rina, “You don’t have to care about what people say about you on the Internet. As long as you are in the media, people will be nice to you and they'll also bash you, too." But only Rina knows how deep the abyss really is. "Mostly people were gossiping things about me that weren't even true...but sometimes...sometimes they mention things that only a close friend or myself would know about."
The TV producers keep demanding that Rina continue to play the mashou for the camera, and the rumors keep flying. "She's cute but...I heard she had cosmetic surgery." "What an awful girl..." Right on cue, Rina starts losing her marbles like in a bad J-Horror flick. "I'm scared! I'm scared of people's EYES!!!"
Rina loses her appetite and can't even bring herself to woof down mom's home cooking like before. "I had so many problems that I forgot about eating," she tell us instead of a therapist who would only say, "hey, that's show biz."
As Rina begins to drop way below her fighting weight, a kindly TV producer tells her, "There’s a rumor going around that you have an eating disorder. If you have a bad image, you won’t get picked by a sponsor to do a CM. You have to do something about it now." Instead, Rina goes into an extended fetal position on a downward spiral. "My stress made it hard to eat. I didn't have any confidence to keep going...eventually, I lost my regular TV work."
Rina's life is saved when two old friends tempt her back into something approaching normalcy via some magic yakitori skewers. "As my TV work was getting less and less, I finally started achieving some balance in my life." But not in her bank account. Like Scarface if he had lived, Rina has to climb for the top again from the bottom up.
Searching for the meaning to life's inner truths, Rina enters the "yoru no sekai" and becomes a hostess. After she's served a lot of drinks and learned a few lighter tricks, the customers are doing wonders for her self esteem by saying stuff like "Rina, you've gained a lot of weight! You used to be so skinny, but now you have a perfect figure!" Yakitori and working nights lead to a new breakthrough as Rina discovers that she's been called in by her old talent agent. "Its been a while since I heard from him..."
"Hey Rina, have you heard of this crazy magazine called...um...Koakuma ageha? Yeah, I don't get it, but anyway there's this whole "little devils" craze going on right now and the editor in chief remembers your 'mashou' act from TV and was wondering if you'd be interested in doing some modeling for them. Sorry I couldn't help you when you were having a hard time. But I think you're confident and ready now."
This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius for Rina. "I realized that nothing in my life had been wasted. Everything was connecting and I was ready for this opportunity. My friends were always there for me, no matter what state I was in. My family tried to support me even though I couldn’t eat what they cooked for me. Now, because I have experienced failure, I understand people's hearts and humanity. I became a woman who can appreciate many things. I will do my best at everything I can do."
After the stylist, hair, and make-up people have attended to her, the cameraman gives the OK. "Rina, here we go!"
And then she drinks a beer.
THE END
"Pelu, you’re falling for someone out of your class again..."
Kudos to the Same Hat! gang for being the first on the block to spot the new Amazon page, as well as the so-far-unseen cover (!), for Volume One of the English version of Junko Mizuno's manga Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu.
My company jaPRESS handled the production on the translation/editing side of things (I even scanned stats this time, just like a "real" manga editor) and Last Gap is publisher. Expect a summer publicity blitz building up to a September '09 release.
ADULTS ONLY
the fruits of love are always ripe
Slap me on a rubba my brotha and dive straight for the covers! Junko Mizuno brand condoms and lotion (aka lube) are now on sale in Japan! Produced in association with Garden co. ltd., the first wave of products from the Mizuno Garden series come in fancy fold out packages that include exclusive character cards (below) and 'lucky cards' good for prizes. More info about the line - soon to include lingerie and adult toys proper - can be found in Jap/Eng at the Mizuno Garden website.
Quivering confession: I've been told that I helped proof some of the English text on the boxes. Last Gasp and jaPRESS will be publishing Junko Mizuno's Fancy Gigilo Pelu in English later this year.
Sex Education on a Fantastic Planet
Ok. The news is out. Publisher's Weekly just announced that Last Gasp has licensed Junko Mizuno's manga Fancy Gigolo Pelu. My company jaPRESS will be handling the production (like we did for Junko's Pure Trance and Town of Evening Calm) and I'll be co-editing the book along with Last Gasp's Colin Turner and Junko herself, who is closely supervising the English script. The truth is, we're busy working on it already! Look for the finished product in all the usual places come Spring 2009!
Happy Therapy
Ok, Junzo Mizuno was in the Washington Post today, by way of AP and ANN, on account of her upcoming harmonic convergence with My Little Pony, Debbie Gibson, LeAnn Rimes, and Hasbro Toys (details here). So this seems as good a time as any to take a peek into The Miz’s latest book A-ko chan no Beautiful Cinema,which went on sale in Japan earlier this year.
The tome itself is a compilation of 55 short movie reviews that Junko made in her distinctive manga style for Princess Gold magazine. The selection of films, seemingly plucked out of the æther at random, range from Ocean's Eleven, Queen of the Dammed, Minority Report, to Legally Blond 2. And there is nothing predictable about her weird caricatures of movie stars (like Anger Management-era Jack Nicholson, above) as they parade through the Mizunoverse.
But the real highlights come in the form of spot illustrations that have the titular A-ko chan, and her rabbit familiar Kuro, cosplaying as a variety of iconic movie characters ranging from Hannibal Lecter, Rachel from Blade Runner, Barbarella, and Lone Wolf and Cub (above). Cool and crazy...
'Town of Evening Calm' Nominated for Eisner Awards
Fumiyo Kouno's manga Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms has been nominated for a pair of 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards in the following categories.
Best Short Story
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan
'Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms' was published by my company japRESS in association with Last Gasp. I also co-edited it. The jaPRESS has already begun on its next manga project.
comic ageha: "Sayaka. Hostess. 23."
Sayaka Araki is 23 years old, works in a hostess club, and is Koakuma ageha's No. 1 ranked model. This manga, drawn by Momoka Kou (Oujisama to watashi) for the first issue of comic ageha, depicts her Secret Origin.
IN THE BEGINNING...Sayaka was never really meant for small town life. "I thought I was just a normal girl, but maybe I stood out." She had a nice boyfriend and a circle of pals had a thing for brand bags. It was an OK way to pass the time. But still, she gazed off into the horizon. "I wondered what Tokyo was like." After graduation, Sayaka tells her parents she is going to move to the big city and attend nail school there.
Soon after arriving in Tokyo, Sayaka goes down the rabbit hole. She gets harassed by one of those scout guys working the street and has her designer handbag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie. From this point on, there is no more mention of ever going to nail school...
Instead, she breaks up with her old boyfriend and starts to feel bored. That's when one of her friends suggests working as a hostess in a Kabakura. "I think you'd be good at. You're not that busy now and you'd make lots of money."
"At first, I didn't feel right about it. It was like entering a different world." Her new boss tells Sayaka, "Why don't you call yourself Riko while you work here? Here is your personal assistant." His name is Yamashita, and he's gorgeous! "Let's work hard together!"
Although it takes Sayaka/Riko a while to master mixing cocktails, "Little by little, I tried my best. Every day I was busy and made new friends." Her boss tells her she's in the running for the coveted Number One spot at the club. "Even though I wasn't at the top yet, I finally felt some kind of fulfillment doing mizu shobai work."
Then one night in Kabuki-cho, Sayaka has her bag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie *again*. But this time she bravely fights back and her assailant winds up getting arrested. The street people say, "Wow, you're so strong! You could have gotten stabbed!" and Sayaka knows she's leveled-up. "That was the moment I realized that to live and survive here, I have to be strong and protect myself."
"After drifting from store to store in Kabuki-cho with the name Riona, I took a break. I ended up working in Roppongi. Finally, I started seeing something new that I never saw before." A Wise Old Customer tells her, "It seems like you’ve been enjoying your job recently. It’s been fun to come here to see you."
It may not be on par with the climax of Watchmen, or even the Infinity Gauntlet, but it will have to do: "So many different people come here and I get to see into so many different worlds. This job is so fun! From this day on, I’m going to continue to wear a dress."
THE END
next issue: comic ageha
In Japans, there is comics for everyonez. Even for the readers of Koakuma ageha, Japan's magazine-shaped bible for the "little devil" look and lifestyle. Now take a deep breath, True Believer. We're going...inside!
Mangaka Nampa
In hindsight, I think the best career move I made was briefly quitting everything else to become a manga assistant at Denki Pro for approximately two hours. This allowed me to attend the Young Jump New Years Party where as my new boss explained to me, "Hungry assistants fight for free food, while the gods of manga watch." Also, I got to have ecstatic fanboy moments of pleasure with...
KAZUO KOIKE. I gave him a copy of Otaku USA and told him AIUEO Boy was a personal best (in spite of all the love for Lone Wolf and Cub). I know. I really should have asked "What makes a man a man?" But we already know the answer to that one from reading all his manga, right? GUTS!
I have to admit, it took a few beers to make my balls big enough to approach my own personal Alpha and Omega of Manga...GO NAGAI. He seemed pretty cool about dealing with a crazed foreign fan (a skill probably acquired from run-ins with all those Italians) and slipped me The Card as a parting gift. I told him that God Mazinger was my favorite. In hindsight, it was really dumb not to say Violence Jack or a million other titles, but that's what slipped out of my big mouth first.
We watched Go chat with Koike for awhile and wondered what the hell they were talking about (Heath Ledger? A new Hanape Bazooka? Boobies?). Then there was an opening with HIROHIKO ARAKI, dressed like a host club pit boss, and we grabbed it. I told him I knew his biggest fan in America, Jason Thompson, who edited his JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga while at Viz. The name seemed to set off alarm bells...
Once the mad dash for the food and drink had settled down, most of the party was spent playing this really interesting and exotic Oriental game called "Bingo." Prizes included bicycles, iPods, and a DVD player.
But all these brushes with greatness paled in comparison to actually getting to meet the big guy, the One True Greatest Mangaka Ever, DENKI WATANABE! Without him, I would have been mopping the floor or selling oranges by the freeway. Instead, I nearly got a Bingo and had a pretty good curry.
(Sorry for all the pics of my kimoi dasai gaijin face, but you would cry too if it happened to you!)
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