About[]
Originally serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Z, the Popee the Performer Manga was released as a collection on December 18th, 2002[1]. In April of 2015, the book was reprinted.[2] The book has 86 pages,[2] and the comics within vary from the 4-koma format to multiple pages.
The manga features a holographic dust jacket with stained-glass illustrations of Popee on the front and Kedamono on the back, and a similarly illustrated chameleon on the inner flaps. The manga's actual hardcover is a 3DCG render of Papi. As expected of a Japanese manga, the book reads from right to left.
Content[]
The manga contains all of the Popee the Performer manga that was serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Z, as well as introductory content for new readers, and some background information on the show. The manga also contains interviews for both Ryuji Masuda and Wakako Masuda.
Starting on page 3, the manga begins with an introductory section giving a brief explanation of what the world of Popee the Performer is, titled "POPEE THE WORLD" in English, with a Japanese subtitle reading "ポピーザぱフォーマーとは" or "What is Popee the Performer?"
Page 4 is titled "Character Introduction" and subtitled "Character's file" on the top right corner. The page introduces Popee, Kedamono, and Papi, with each character's name initially written in English with a Japanese subtitle underneath, although Papi's name is misspelled as "Papie" in English.
Page 5 continues in the same format, and introduces Frog (With the name as "Kaeru", which is the Japanese word for frog in romanized English) followed by Paola, the Audience, the UFO Girls (introduced as Dancing Girl in English), and then Alien (who is introduced as "Spaceman" in English). To the left of Alien on this page is a box with a question mark in it and underneath it says "Mammy", also in English. Though the original text is in Japanese, a translation into English would say "The general term for a mummified mother."
Pages 6, 7, and 8 show concept art for the show and introduce the setting of the Wolf Zirkus under the title "Create Material" in English. Page 8 also shows Marifa for the first time, and also shows readers what Popee looks like without his hat.
Page 9 is titled "Another World" in English, and shows off some of the music Ryuji Masuda listened to while creating the series.
From page 11 through page 78 are the actual manga pages, interspersed with miscellaneous art by Wakako Masuda. Starting on page 80 are the interviews with Ryuji Masuda and Wakako Masuda.
It's notable to mention that although the manga starts out as a 4-koma, over the run of it's serialization, each chapter becomes longer and more detailed. Some chapters actually include (albeit limited) dialogue. The last chapter, titled "とつぴんぱらりのぷう" (Rough literal translation: "Topsy-turvy", however, this may also be an equivalent to something like "And They Lived Happily-Ever-After")[3] is similar to episode 39, 「FACE」, but ends very differently in that Kedamono actually ends up leaving the circus, whereas in the actual show, the episode doesn't have a conclusive ending.
Where do I purchase?[]
The book isn't too hard to find when you're looking in the right places, but it is hard to find under 7,000JPY ($64.02USD). You may need to use tenso or a proxy service to import the book to your country.
There's more information on how to find the book and other pieces of Popee merchandise on the wiki's guide to purchasing merchandise.
If you aren't looking to own the book physically, someone on tumblr has scanned and uploaded all of the manga pages here.
Trivia[]
- This is the only manga that was re-released as a collection. The Mr. Stain Manga, which is from the same magazine, is discontinued, making it hard to find. It has yet to resurface.
- Funny and Palvan made their first appearances in this manga. They would later compose major roles in their perspective shows.
- The 2002 version of the manga had advertisements of Mr. Stain on Junk Alley.
Gallery[]
Click here to go to this page's image gallery!
- ↑ https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=E6ghNwAACAAJ&dq=isbn:4063301931&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBpIX9spTVAhUMcT4KHaQHBF4Q6AEIJjAA
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/%E5%A2%97%E7%94%B0%E9%BE%8D%E6%B2%BB-%E4%BD%9C-%E5%A2%97%E7%94%B0%E8%8B%A5%E5%AD%90-%E7%B5%B5/dp/4835452046/ref=pd_sbs_1/357-6133258-3724969?pd_rd_w=sDGlA&pf_rd_p=367c54b8-500b-4071-9b4d-65fe16192688&pf_rd_r=V8X7KT6HMH262067MW8Z&pd_rd_r=568179dd-4b1a-4a92-b7e8-db2ce2b34fc0&pd_rd_wg=4l4VU&pd_rd_i=4835452046&psc=1
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/comments/14o60lb/japaneseenglish_seems_to_be_%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A3%E3%81%B4%E3%82%93%E3%81%B1%E3%82%89%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B7%E3%81%86_or/