243 – One Shot 20 – Tekkon Kinkreet
This week we take a look at Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet! We talk about Matsumoto’s French comic influenced art style and his story about two orphans living in the streets of the fantastical Treasure Town!!!
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Timestamps:
- 00:00:00 – Intro Song: “New Stranger” by sora tob sakana from Hi Score Girl, Opening, Introductions, WWE vs Game of Thrones, Social Media, Our new RSS feed, Upcoming Retrospective on Tokyo Tarareba Girls
- 00:05:16 – Listener Questions: What are some series(manga, anime, etc.) you have dropped and why?
- 00:016:57 – Whatchu Been Reading: Transition Song: Dragon Ball Z OST “Prologue”, dakazu decides not to spoil Naoki Urasawa’s Asadora!
- 00:18:34 – Darfox wants dakazu’s thoughts on Mujirushi
- 00:19:17 – dakazu finished and really loved Kaori Ozaki’s Kin no Hitsuji
- 00:20:00 – Kurozuka ended up having an abrupt ending along with designs lifted right from Final Fantasy VII
- 00:25:45 – dakazu loved Sakumo Okada’s Mazarian and it’s gimmick of anomalies that mix people together with other objects
- 00:31:06 – Darfox and dakazu share their thoughts on Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru which is written by Masashi Kishimoto
- 00:34:50 – News: Square Enix will be putting out English releases of Hi Score Girl and other works through Penguin Random House Publisher Services
- 00:40:43 – Next Episode Preview and Rundown: Manga in Motion for Tekkonkinkreet, we’ll be reviewing the 2006 anime movie by director Michael Arias
- 00:41:08 – Main Segment One Shot: Tekkon Kinkreet, Transition Song: “A Town In Blue” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation from Tekkonkinkreet, we review the series that launched Taiyo Matsumoto’s career
- 00:43:05 – Darfox and Seamus can’t remember when we reviewed Matsumoto’s No. 5 for one of our first Triple Dip episodes
- 00:44:44 – dakazu explains the origin of the strange title
- 00:45:36 – Darfox was impressed with how the super detailed art wasn’t confusing to follow
- 00:46:55 – dakazu and Darfox debate over how yakuza lieutenant Kimura’s story arc was handled
- 00:49:25 – The story was predictable but dakazu was surprised that Suzuki “The Rat” didn’t end up being the antagonist of the series
- 00:50:24 – Seamus points out that the story was filled with different animals and the city is a stand-in for change
- 00:53:16 – dakazu thinks the design of the assassin leader snake is inspired by Iyami from Osomatsu-kun
- 00:54:08 – Seamus notices how Matsumoto mixes aspects of French comics and Japanese manga to create a genre of visual storytelling
- 00:56:26 – We discuss how White’s character is very much akin to an idiot savant you find in Stephen King novels
- 00:57:31 – The other hosts help dakazu make sense of the events during the dream-like finale
- 00:59:16 – We dispute if White’s character ever changed throughout the story
- 01:01:05 – We explore how Black’s manic decent into violence is juxtaposed with White further disassociating himself from reality
- 01:03:46 – Seamus explains how we’re able to project so many ideas on this book because it stays true to it’s own internal fiction while drawing from the real world outside it
- 01:05:17 – dakazu praises Taiyo Matsumoto’s use of perspective and loves the chapter on Suzuki’s demise
- 01:07:38 – dakazu talks about the parallels between the arcs of Black & White and Kimura & Suzuki
- 01:09:06 – We compare the theme of change to Japan’s history of struggles between modernization/westernization and traditional values
- 01:13:24 – We deliberate over the fate of White and Black at the ending
- 01:16:49 – We give our final thoughts
- 01:19:12 – Next Week’s Topic: Tekkonkinkreet, Social Media Rundown, Sign Off Song: “wish men” by sunbrain from Beet the Vandel Buster