Tista: Research Notes (Patreon)

Tucker:

Six words: Japan thinks Americans are all Catholic

Author:

• Endou, Tatsuya 遠藤 達哉（えんどう たつや)
  • En-dough, Tahtsu-yah

Title:

• Tista
  • “Teestah”

Characters:

• Tista Roun/Tista Rhone/Tista Lone ティスタ・ロウン
  • Like a lot of the character names in this, it’s hard to get a sense for what the author actually intended, since they are trying to go for Western-sounding names but ultimately failing to come up with anything that sounds natural enough for native English-speakers
  • Her last name is pretty weird. It’s written in a way that suggests that it is adapted from a foreign language (written in katakana), but uses a combination of characters (ロウ) that usually shouldn’t exist in katakana (should be written as ロー) unless you’re writing out a native Japanese word in katakana purely for stylistic reasons.
  • ….So, with that in mind, what the hell is going on with this name? How should one pronounce it?
  • Ultimately, there’s no perfect answer, but I think the following pronunciation is the best we’re going to get:
    • Tee-stah Rone
  • I included my own romanization of her last name, “Rhone,” as I think this looks much more natural and gives the reader a much better idea of how it should be pronounced (also, it’s a real Western-style name: it’s the French name for the Rhein River).
  • The name could also be romanized as “Lone,” which might have been the English word the author had in mind when he named her (thematic naming with all the character’s “alone in the world” horseshit)
• Sister Militia シスター・ミリティア
  • The “Militia” is written in katakana as the Latin version of “Militia” (meaning “military service”) rather than the English pronunciation, so the T here does NOT get the English “sh” pronunciation of it!
  • “Mee-lee-tee-ah”
• Arty Dorowar/Dorower?/Drawer アーティー・ドロワー
  • The fan translation writes his name as “Atty,” but I’m sorry, I can’t see that being the author’s original intention.
  • I’m pretty sure the author intended his first name to be “Arty.” Yes, that’s stupid and incredibly on the nose for an artist, but I really think that’s what it is. When writing English words in katakana, アー almost always is used for words that would have “ar” or “er” sounds. I think whoever translated this forgot this or thought it was too stupid to include in their translation.
  • As for the last name…I dunno, man. It’s pretty fucked up. Written in katana as “Do-ro-wa-a.” To me, it seems like the author was trying to completely make up a Western-style name and failed spectacularly.
  • The only ways I can think this could possibly be pronounced in native English would be Dorower or Dorowar. The -er version is almost not crazy
  • UPDATE: OMG, the fan translation fixed his first name in the second chapter, and they also romanize his last name as “Drawer,” which I bet is totally what the author was going for! What a stupid name!

MaxyBee

Author: Tatsuya Endo

A special note: Endo’s career was a total non-starter for YEARS before Tista, and hasn’t been exactly smooth since, but the split either side of Tista shows an author finally getting somewhere, so I’ve kept all the data separated. It’s also a lot of notes. Sorry. Not sorry.

• Prior works:
  • ONE SHOTS! A LIFETIME OF ONE-SHOTS!
    • Seibu Yuugi (2000, Akamaru Jump, DEBUT)
    • Gekka Bijin (2000, Weekly Shonen Jump)
    • Witch Craze (2001, Weekly Shonen Jump)
    • PMG-0 (2004, Weekly Shonen Jump)
  • Rooftop Detective: Okutan (2006, J-Books)
    • A 2-volume light novel written by Tomohito Oosaki, Endo provided illustrations, as well as a one-shot manga promoting it in 2006.
• Post-Tista works:
  • Gekka Bijin (2010-2012, 5 volumes, Jump SQ)
    • Based on the 2000 one-shot.
  • More one-shots!
    • Rengoku no Ashe (2014, Jump SQ)
    • Rose in Rock, Star in Steel (2017, Jump SQ.Crown)
    • I Spy (2018, Jump SQ)
  • Spy x Family (2019-PRESENT, Jump Plus)
    • Based on the one-shots Rengoku no Ashe and I Spy.
    • You know this one
• Who they were an assistant for BEFORE TISTA:
  • Yasuhiro Kano (on Pretty Face)
  • Yoshiyuki Nishi (on Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation) (yes, the Bokke-san guy)
• Who they were an assistant for AFTER TISTA:
  • Kazue Kato (on Blue Exorcist)
  • Tatsuki Fujimoto (on Fire Punch)
  • Yuji Kaku (Fantasma, Hell’s Paradise) (unsure which series)
  • Amyuu (on Kono Oto Tomare!)
• Notable assistants:
  • Tsuyoshi Takaki (Black Torch, Heart Gear) (FOR ONE WHOLE DAY)
  • Sai Yamagishi (Moon Land) (assisted on Gekka Bijin)
  • Mafuyu Konishi (I Was Born With The Wrong Gender!) (assisted on Spy x Family)
  • Itsuki Yosuga (Inside Anten-sama’s Belly) (assisted on Spy x Family)

Publishing

• Series it replaced:
  • NOTHING! NEW MAGAZINE! FIRST ISSUE!
• Series that replaced it:
  • The Four Kuzumoto Siblings by Satoshi Kinoshita
• The magazine:
  • Jump SQ (said SQUARE) debuted in late 2007 as a replacement for Monthly Shonen Jump, which had become old and stale and no-one bought it anymore. A few series carried over (big things like Claymore and Rosario & Vampire), but mostly this was a big bombastic renewal of what a monthly sibling to Shonen Jump could look like, a cool and trendy sibling that very quickly became obsessed with exorcists, but also a magazine that took chances on creators that weren’t being used in the main Jump magazine. Lots of offbeat stuff, from Tista’s dark snipings to Tsumikabatsu’s sexy goth flower shop, nothing was off the table, and it sold out several times on its debut. So a LOT of people got to read Tista, I guess.

Manga Itself

• Tista has the unusual distinction of MAYBE being the first series in Jump SQ to EVER get cancelled. Several series left the magazine, but continued online for a while before ending. An adaptation of Dragonaut The Resonance ended earlier, but was a planned mini-series. Tista just straight up got cancelled! SHAMEFUL!
  • Why only a maybe? Well, the small tourism/diary manga Living in Akiba by Daisuke Kadokuni ALSO ended in the same issue, but was a small series never meant to even have a volume release, and doesn’t really count. I scanlated a chapter back in the day, though.
• Don’t forget, Viz Media are publishing this in English in May 2023! It’ll look better than the shit-ass scans!