Friday, October 24, 2008

Japanese jungle jive


I bought this manga in San Francisco in 1973. The clerk said the title of the comic was ACTION, which pretty much describes the 16-page jungle softcore feature I found as I flipped through the contents.

I don't read Japanese, but I know this much:

.left to right from this read must You

The black-haired babe is a Frazetta swipe, but you knew that, didn't you.

As my old Army drill sergeant might bark, "Tennnnnn-HUT! Eyes RIGHT!"

Postscript: make sure you look in the comments section for a translation of the dialogue and story. Wow, thanks Christopher! Doing this work for those of us who are Japanese-language deficient goes above and beyond the call of duty as a blog reader.














8 comments:

joe ackerman said...

I dunno. that's kind of groovy, in a "don't-know-what-the-@*!#'s-going-on-but-I-get-the-jist" kind of way. cool post.

Christopher said...

Thanks for putting this up. I'm always curious to see what comics from Japan looked like back in the day.

I put together a rough translation so you can have a basic idea of what is going on.

Magazine Title: Weekly Manga Fashion

In front of anthropoid who jumps around in the dense jungle, the precarious situation of Goro's life!?

"Super-Lady" Magic Girl Chapter 97

Title: The Strange Story of the Island of Dreams of Young Girls

By Kazama Shiro

1
1 Guy: Oh! When did Magic Girl...?
3 Guy: That's strange. The magic girl...where in the world could she have gone?
4 Guy: Did I fall asleep after I got lost and stopped to take a rest in this jungle?
5 Guy: Oh, well. Magic girl, where did she go? That's it! Maybe she went to find some drinking water.
6 Guy: Wha!?

2
1 Guy: This place...? Th- the mushrooms are monstrous?
2 Guy: Have I fallen into a science fiction world?
3 Guy: Did Magic Girl really go somewhere?
4 Guy: Magic Girl! Hey Magic Girl!

3
1 Guy: Magic Girl! Magic Girl!
2 Guy: What is this? Magic Girl, how far did you go to find water?
3 Guy: But, this jungle is awfully creepy...
4 Guy: It's just like we've come to a lost world.
5 SF: Hee
6 SF: Oo oo oo oo
7 Guy: Yaah! It's an- an- an- anthropoid!

4
1 Guy: Gyaaa! He-he-help me!
2 Guy: Magic Girl! Wh-wh-where are you?
3 SF: Goo ohhhhhhhh
4 SF: Gweh Oo oo oo
5 SF: Goosay Gyaa
6 Guy: Hyaa! Can it be...?

5
1 Guy: Eh heh heh! A buck-naked girl? What's going on with her?
3 SF: Eh heh heh heh Guy: You...thank you. Do...do you understand what I'm saying?
5 Guy: A ha ha I see. You don't mind appearing completely naked. I'm more embarrassed than you.
6 Guy: Are...are you a native of this jungle? That is, you are a beautiful white-skinned girl. I really don't understand how...?

6
1 Guy: Come on. Please say something. Staying silent...it's making me worried (*maybe*)
2 Guy: It's me who's going to go crazy. Aside from that, you've got a great body, hey?
3 SF: Pacheen
4 Girl: You are our friend, right? Follow me, please.
5 Guy: Aha! You can use words, can't you? Ah hah hah, that's a relief.
6 Guy: By the way, do you always go around naked like that?
Girl: Naked? Is there something wrong with that?
7 Guy: N-no. Not really. It's absolutely fine. Ah hah hah.
Girl: Let's move quickly. We don't want the missing link's friends to come and attack

7
1 Guy: Speaking of that...the monkey man right now...what the hell is he?
Girl: Ah? You don't know?
2 Girl: That is our sworn enemy. The horrifying and powerful people that try to control this jungle.
3 Guy: Powerful people? That monkey?
4 Girl: They live by eating us.
5 Guy: Ea-eating!?
6 Girl: Where in the world have you come from?
Guy: Where? I got lost in the wilderness...
7 Guy: More important, what in the world are you?
Girl: Our world is right now in the middle of a war with the monkey men.
8 Guy: W-war!?
9 Girl: Yes! They ferociously, [indecipherable] hungry monkeys. Up until now, we have been powerless and stayed quiet and been their food. But we can't stand it anymore and have risen up, so even a single ally is essential.

8
1 Girl: Fortunately, just recently an outlander like yourself, a powerful woman joined our band.
Guy: Yeah? Strong woman?
2 Guy: This is great! That woman must be Magic Girl!
3 Guy: Even still, Magic Girl is going to keep secrets from me!
4 SF: Oohee
5 Guy: That...is that?
6 Girl: Oo hoo hoo. Mating to multiply our tribe!
Guy: Eee hee hee. This is really magnanimous of them!
7 Guy2: Hoo. Give birth to a strong child, please.
Girl: Leave it to me.
Guy: Waa! M-Magic Girl!?

9
1 Guy: Wh-what the hell is this!? M-Magic Girl...
2 Guy: Kyaa...M-Magic Girl wh-what have you done?
3 Guy: Boo hoo hoo! You've thrown me aside, and now your together with another man! It's not true Magic Girl! Tell me your true feelings! This is horrible, horrible!
4 MG: Who are you?
5 Guy: Who...? That...it's me, Magic Girl! Did you forget about Goro?
6 Guy: Boo hoo hoo. Is it like this? Magic Girl doesn't know me?
7 MG: Who is Magic Girl? My name is Pontus the heroic amazon!
Girl: Goro, you must have mistaken her for someone else.
Guy: Boo hoo hoo. A legendary amazon, what kind of crazy...

10
1 Guy: Boo hoo hoo. Where the hell is this place? Have I really ended up in a science fiction world?
2 Girl: Hey, Goro. Cheer up!
3 Girl: Let's mate like those two.
4 Girl: Right, that would be good, right? To resist the monkeymen, let's hurry up and increase our numbers!
5 Girl: Ok, let's go.
6 Guy: I am dreaming? That or I've fallen into the Twilight Zone?
7 Guy: Since this is the way it is, anything is ok. I love mating anyway

11
1 Girl: Right here is fine. So then, take me.
Guy: Eh heh heh. For real...
2 Girl: Ooh. Our main foods are these mushrooms and men's mushrooms, hahaha.
3 Girl: Hurry up and let me eat your mushroom.
4 Guy: Huh? Huh?
5 Guy: Aaah! Monkeyman!
6 SF: Gyaa gyaa
7 Girl: Kya! Help me!

12
1 Guy: Bastard!
2 Guy: Yaa! Somebody come please!
3 Guy: Hee! SF: Gogoho goho
4 SF: Supa supa
5 SF: Supa supa supa
6 Guy: Oh! You came for us! You are my Magic Girl after all!
7 MG: I am Amazon! Quickly, run!

13
1 SF: Gya gau supa
2 SF: Gya supa
3 SF: Gyaa gusa
4 Guy: That is definitely Magic Girl! There is no way that there are warring amazons following a Pentezilian(?) queen these days!
5 Guy: Great work, Magic Girl!
6 MG: I am really not Magic Girl! I am Amazon!
7 Guy: Boo hoo hoo. Magic Girl...you have fallen under the spell of this strange jungle and lost your memory.

14
1 Guy: Magic Girl! It's Goro! Please remember!
2 MG: I am a woman warrior! I came here to protect the peace of this jungle.
3 Guy: Magic Girl! It's me, Goro!
4 MG: You are another unfortunate man. To love a girl named Magic Girl so much...
5 MG: Well, I can become her for you.
Guy: Boo hoo hoo. It IS your memory, it's no good!
6 MG: Ok! Come on! You can come and take me.
7 Guy: Boo hoo. To get with Magic Girl in this way...
MG: Ooo. Hurry up!
8 MG: Feed me your mushroom!
Guy: Oh God...

15
1 Guy: Oh! Magic Girl!
2 Guy: Magic Girl..
3 SF Kya
4 MG: What are you doing! Goro! Cut it out!
Guy: Huh? Huh?
5 MG: Disgusting! You were having a dirty dream, weren't you?
Guy: Oh! Magic Girl! That means, it was only a dream just now?
6 MG: Well! Goro, we had a little rest. Let's quickly explore this jungle.
Guy: It looks the same as it did in my dream.
7 MG: Wow! Mushrooms! It's a little embarrassing, but I want to taste them.
8 Guy: Magic Girl! You can't eat the mushrooms here!
MG: You are strange, Goro...?

Christopher said...

I screwed up at the beginning. The title of the comic is indeed "Weekly Manga Action" - I misread the characters in the title until I looked at the full-size version.

Harry Lee Green said...

Your help has been incredible. You've added a lot to the posting, and I really appreciate it.

Christopher said...

I was happy to help. And even happier to be able to read this stuff (and all that you post). Thanks for maintaining a blog that brings out this kind of stuff that I would never have a chance to see otherwise.

20090702 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
20090702 said...

Magic Girl is not wrong but 'magic' and 'girl' are kanji characters' meanings. The super lady's name is pronounced Mako. Ma means magic, ko girl or child.

See Yahoo! auction in Japan:
http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f69006254

HEH said...

Whoah. Great find. Thanks for haring with us.