Cyborg Grandpa-G: Research Notes (Patreon)

Tucker

Title:

• Cyborg Jii-chan G    ( CYBORGじいちゃんG )
  • “Jii-chan” is an informal, affectionate way of referring to one’s grandfather

Author

• Obata, Takeshi 小畑 健（おばた たけし)
  • Oh-bah-tah, Tah-keh-shee

Characters

• Kaizou, Tokijirou 壊造時次郎（かいぞう ときじろう）
  • Kai-zo, To-kee-jee-roe
  • Family name is a homonym for the word for “rebuild” (think of the “Kai” in Dragon Ball Kai) but is written as “broken build” instead
  • Personal name is written as “time + next + man”

MaxyBee

Six word summary: How about… Robocrop. Is that anything?

Author - Takeshi Obata (originally as Shigeru Hijikata)

• Notable people they were an assistant for:
  • Ryuji Tsugihara (Yoroshiku Mechadoc)
    • on Super Patrol
  • Makoto Niwano (The Momotaroh)
    • on The Momotaroh
• Notable people they had as assistants:
  • Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin, convicted pedophile)
    • on Arabian Majin Boukentan Lamp Lamp and Rikijin Densetsu
  • Yusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21, One Punch Man)
    • on Hikaru no Go
  • Ei Ando (One Piece Party)
    • on Hikaru no Go
  • Kentaro Yabuki (Ayakashi Triangle, To Love-Ru)
    • on Hikaru no Go
  • Ryo Ogawa (Ya Boy Kongming!)
    • on Death Note
  • Yoshiyuki Nishi (Muhyo & Roji, Bokke-san)
    • on Hikaru no Go
• Other works:
  • Arabian Majin Boukentan Lamp Lamp (1991-1992, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Susumu Sendo
    • A rambunctious genie fights djinn and causes chaos, all while trying to stay free of the lamp he was trapped within. Partially scanlated, with a translation based on the French edition, which is like a game of telephone at that point.
  • Legends of Strong Men -The Oni’s Successor- (1992-1993, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Masaru Miyazaki
    • A biographical manga looking at Takanohana Koji, a Yokozuna and true sumo legend of the 90s. Partially scanlated if you know where to look.
  • Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon (1995-1996, 4 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Masaru Miyazaki (as Maro Sharaku)
    • A traveling bunraku puppeteer, Sakon, and his 100-year old puppet, Ukon, solve mysteries together (alone?). Partially scanlated if you know where to look. Received an anime adaptation some 3 years after its cancellation, presumably as a result of Obata’s rapidly rising stock during the serialisation of…
  • Hikaru no Go (1998-2003, 23 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Yumi Hotta
    • Boy with multi-toned hair is possessed by ancient spirit to play games, namely the classic board game of Go. Breakout hit for Obata, and a series that increased Go’s popularity in Japan by leaps and bounds. Has multiple video games, an anime, and a 2020 chinese live-action drama series.
      • Read Hikaru no Go at Shonen Jump!
  • Death Note (2003-2006, 12 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)
    • Look, you know what this is. I know what this is. Let’s not waste anyone’s time explaining this complex tale of cat and mouse and two more cats after the first cat dies. Has too many adaptations to count, but notably a pretty good Netflix adaptation (fuck you), a novel by Nisio Isin, a musical, and THREE Nintendo DS games.
      • Read Death Note at Shonen Jump!
      • Read Death Note: Short Stories at Shonen Jump!
  • Blue Dragon: Ral Ω Grad (2006-2007, 4 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)
    • Breast-obsessed shut-in uses his sentient shadow to save the world. Loosely based on the Blue Dragon video game franchise.
      • Read Ral Grad at Shonen Jump (web only)!
  • Bakuman (2008-2012, 20 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)
    • A couple of school friends try to make it in the cutthroat world of Weekly Shonen Jump. Treated as an encyclopedia by people who struggle with the concept of fiction. Has an anime, a film, a novel, and a Nintendo DS game.
      • Read Bakuman at Shonen Jump!
  • All You Need is Kill (2014, 2 vols, Weekly Young Jump) written by Ryosuke Takeuchi
    • Based on the light novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. You may have seen the Hollywood film adaptation Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Or the exact same adaptation when it was called LIVE. DIE. REPEAT. It's Groundhog Day in alien-fighting form.
      • Read All You Need is Kill at Shonen Jump!
  • School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei (2014-2015, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Nobuaki Endo
    • Episode 49 of Shonen Flop. Boy lawyer clears names of schoolyard innocents while being written by a guy who should probably be on a list.
      • Read School Judgment at Shonen Jump!
  • Platinum End (2014-2021, 14 vols, Jump Square) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)
    • Part angel-powered humans competing to become God, part musings on justice, part platform for Ohba to express his unsavoury opinions on women and the gays, Platinum End could really do it all, despite constantly declining sales. Has an anime that I’m told people watched.
      • Read Platinum End at Shonen Jump (web only)!
  • Show-ha Shoten! (2022-present, 5+ vols, Jump Square) written by Akinari Asakura
    • A brilliantly funny series about stand-up comedy, using Asakura’s comedic writing and the impeccable comic timing of Obata’s comic layouts and goofy cartooning to make one of the most laugh-out-loud series of he modern age… except when it makes you cry, that is.
      • Read Show-ha Shoten at Shonen Jump!
• Bonus Obata trivia (in case we take a while to circle back around to him):
  • On September 6, 2006, Obata was arrested for illegal possession of an 8.6 cm knife when he was pulled over in Musashino, Tokyo for driving with his car's headlights off at 12:30am. The artist claimed he kept the knife in his car for when he goes camping.
  • Alongside his serialisations, Obata has also made several high-profile one-shots with collaborators such as Masanori Morita (Hello Baby), Nisio Isin (Uro-oboe Uroboros!, RKD-EK9) and Otsuichi (Hajime)
  • Among Obata’s many accolades are a Tezuka Award, Shogakukan Manga Award, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, an Eagle award and topping the prestigious ‘Kono Manga ga Sugoi’ rankings in 2010 with Bakuman.
  • There’s also nominations for ANOTHER Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, Angoulême International Comics Festival’s official selection, an Eisner award, and the Manga Taisho.
  • Has done character designs for the anime film Bubble, the Wii video game Castlevania Judgement, and PS2 video game Yoshitsune-ki, among other work.
  • For a special one-off event in Weekly Shonen Jump, Yoshio Sawai parodied Death Note and Obata/Ohba parodied BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo, with predictably insane results.
  • His collected works have sold well in excess of 70 million copies in Japan alone.

Publishing

• Run Dates
  • May 2nd, 1989 to November 28th, 1989
• Chapters/Volumes:
  • 31 chapters/4 volumes (reprinted as 2 volumes)
• Series it replaced:
• Tsuide ni Tonchinkan (18 vols, hit, gag manga)
• Series that replaced it:
  • Ace! by Yoichi Takahashi (of Captain Tsubasa fame) (9 vols, did okay, baseball)
• Series that started at the same time as it:
  • Hayato 18-ban Shobu by Ryuji Tsugihara (of Yoroshiku Mechadoc fame) (2 vols, flop, golfing manga)
  • SCRAP Sandayu by Yudetamago (of Kinnikuman fame) (2 vols, flop, about a robot with a bucket for a head)

Manga Itself / Misc thoughts

• Debut work of one of the most important artists in modern Jump.
• The fan translation was handled by strangerataru for a good bunch of these chapters, a dude who came up in the scene around when I did, giving very dry, literal translations to a lot of classic Jump works that, while clumsy and hard to understand at times, were the best we could hope for back then. He’s long since moved on to doing muscle fetish art on deviantart, living his truth.
• Mangakas Makoto Niwano and Nobuhisa Tsuruoka cameo at least a couple of times throughout the series, the former being Obata’s mentor and the latter being his friend.