New to Sunday: Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s “Vampidol Tagiru”

Back up on stage again (literally) with the second of the four new Weekly Shonen Sunday serials! This time around, I tackle yet another Shogakukan legend in Kazuhiko Shimamoto. Who despite being a pillar of the publisher is even more obscure than Kazuhiro Fujita who I reviewed before him. Ah, how I wish we could do something to correct this most foul of crimes. Which, I guess I am doing one blog post at a time. Let’s take this entry on tour.

The Author

Kazuhiko Shimamoto

Born April 26, 1961 in Hokkaido Japan, (so he’s a few years older than Fujita-sensei, but they were born in the same place!) his real name is Hidehiko Tezuka. He got his start early, drawing comedy manga in elementary school, and kept up his illustrations through high school, where he drew parodies of anime and tokusatsu works. Once he graduated he went to Osaka to study Film and Media planning, where in 1982 he made his debut in Weekly Shonen Sunday with a oneshot Hissatsu no Tenkousei or “Certain Death Attack transfer student.” Feeling the call of the pen over education, he dropped out of university, left Osaka and pursued manga full-time in Tokyo. Due to his name being similar to certified manga God Osamu Tezuka, he opted to change his name to Kazuhiko Shimamoto to avoid having his manga labeled as “Tezuka manga.”

Beyond just drawing manga, he also designed the characters for the SNES RPG Live A Live, and was the character designer for Mobile Fighter G-Gundam, and even designed the mascot for the anime store chain Animate. Due to stepping in to assist his father in his business as a chairman of Acacia which operates TSUTAYA (a Japanese book store chain) he limited himself to five days a month to write manga and only drew perhaps his most well known series Aoi Honoo or “Blue Blazes” though the closures of the stores located in Sapporo has seemingly left him with more time which is perhaps why he’s been able to not only continue drawing Aoi Honoo but return to Weekly Shonen Sunday with Tagiru for the first time in 33 years.

Anime Tencho, the mascot of Animate.

Honoo no Tenkousei & Aoi Honoo, and their subsequent live action adaptations.

The two series that made it out of their home country (but in live action format, not the original manga) are Honoo no Tenkousei and Aoi Honoo. Both have the word “blazing” in them –and that’s really the best way to describe Shimamoto’s body of work. It just oozes raging hot-blooded shonen. Makes sense that he’d be in charge of character designs for what is a Gundam tournament arc, really. In later years his Shogakukan based works have been semi-autobiographical, as in based on real events, but definitely totally fictional. Though, the amount of pure heat on the pages is undeniable. He’s drawn sports series, sci-fi series, spinoffs for Gundam, Ultraman and even more. When it comes to depicting characters with passion, this is your guy.

Honoo no Tenkousei‘s first chapter lives up to its name.

Meanwhile, big names such as Rumiko Takahashi (above) and Mitsuru Adachi appear in Aoi Honoo

 

The appeal of his works is just how utterly straightforward, over the top, and sometimes bizarre they end up being. Not to mention his one of a kind artwork that strikes a chord in one’s soul even if you can’t read Japanese. Plus the guy has a huge network of people he knows –Rumiko Takahashi and Mitsuru Adachi above, but the Shotaro Ishinomori, Masami Birdy the Mighty Yuuki, and he went to school with Hideaki Anno, and the creator of Studio Bones, Masahiko Minami. And of course, Kazuhiro Fujita of which he has a frienemy like relationship with –and has depicted in his manga as the fictional Jubilio Fujitaka, who’s popular enough in the industry that manga artists refer to Fujita as Fujitaka.

Shimamoto’s depiction of Fujita, err, Fujitaka.

We could spend all day on that rivalry alone, but there’s an interview for that. Shimamoto has had his hands all over the animanga industry for decades, and distilling all of that experience down to one blogpost feels disingenuous –maybe I’ll have to write more about him at some point. But for now, let’s get to the reason for the occasion.

The Serial

Vampidol Tagiru

Starting in issue #24 of Weekly Shonen Sunday is Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s newest series, Vampidol Tagiru. It’s one of the rare times that a double serialization has started in the same issue (Silver Mountain also started this issue.) It is billed as a “Vampire idol story.”

The Premise

The series follows Tagiru who’s an underground (so basically undiscovered) idol with his bandmates Hazuru and Takeru. Tagiru isn’t a fan of being called an underground idol, even if it does describe his current situation –he’s gonna make it big, just give him time! And is addicted to searching himself online to see if he’s gone viral yet. So he’s kind of a big deal –in his head at least. Though even his haughtiness has a limit –he’s beginning to take his personal frustrations out on stage much to the chagrin of his bandmates, and is wondering if this is all he’ll amount to until a dive off the stage lands him in the mouths of some very hot-blooded (or bloodthirsty) audience members…

Tagiru is immediately bitten and begins to undergo a vampiric transformation. His manager Tsubasa checks on him, and despite himself he’s about to bite her but then comes to a realization –suffering, holding back and enduring makes him feel….good?? And it’s with this epiphany that he’s able to go back out on stage and give the best performance of his life. Though now he’s got to keep his new bloodthirsty nature a secret from his bandmates, and the world at large, however he’s not the only vampire on the block.

That…sure was a first chapter, is what I thought when I originally read this, and that hasn’t changed. Vampires in popular media are depicted as sensual creatures in love with the darkness. Tagiru in concept doesn’t drift too far from that. Though rather than the nature of the night crawlers being depicted as sinfully decadent but woefully damned, Vampidol Tagiru is bold in just how…kinky it is. Tagiru himself gets off on being depressed which makes him a better performer and satiates his vampire lust –in short he’s a masochist. In fact, the uniting characteristic in this series is “everyone’s got a kink” –in chapter two a Vampire fangirl finds Tagiru hotter when he refuses to suck her blood, his face twinged in anguish adorable to her. On that note, in this world vampires seem to just be common knowledge, as when Tagiru is bitten, his manger is more upset that the person who booked the locale knew there would be vampires there more so than their existence being this big secret –there’s even some vampire discrimination when a taxi driver of all people demands Tagiru get out of his car when he inexplicably finds out the teen heartthrob is a denizen of the night. It’s all so…weird, but that’s just it. It’s weird but oddly compelling. Shimamoto’s strength of going all in on his storytelling shines here as the world in the work is presented matter-o-faculty to a point that one has to just roll with it.

No means…yes?

With that in mind, it’s hard to classify the series. The label on the tin would lead one to (understandably) believe that it’s about a vampire idol trying to make it to the top, and I guess it is sort of that, since rival units and a struggle to stay relevant do become a part of Tagiru’s troubles, but at the same time, it almost comes off as an Adult Swim-esque raunchy comedy in how the characters have no qualms revealing what gets them off, and in true Shimamoto fashion, it ends up being over the top, which then loops around to being almost a comedy manga! Not gonna lie, I found myself laughing at this more often than I’d like to admit.

It’s read “Eyes Lock on” aka: I’m watching you.

The Japanese Connection

Japanese readers find themselves weirdly turned on (sorry I couldn’t help myself) by the story even though they can’t explain why. Like, obviously with an author as prolific as Shimamoto there’s a certain expectation of what to expect from his series, and while some readers are a little put off that this feels (and looks) different than his previous works, most find Vampidol Tagiru to be hilarious. I hadn’t really thought about it until reading the Japanese expressions, but the artwork here is somewhat different from his simutaneously-serialized-in-Gessan series Aoi Honoo. I thought it might just be because he’s working on both a weekly manga and a monthly one, but the Japanese readers have pointed mentioned more than once that it feels as if he’s changed his artwork specifically to fit something more contemporary in both the frame of the story and the readers of this specific magazine. I can’t say I know for sure, but if that is what Shimamoto is doing, then that’s impressive –it’s one thing to change your artwork based on a schedule or needs of the story, and I’m not saying Tagiru looks completely different, but the intentionality in how he approaches both series is striking. That being said, the table of contents placements (yes I know they’re mostly irrelevant, but they’re worth noting), and how while the impressions I saw on Sunday webry are mostly positive, there are very few of them suggest that the series only has a dedicated but very small backing. Shimamoto is a legend however, so I could see this series running its course based on his name alone, so I’m not worried about it being cancelled.

The Verdict

This series is summed up by an old (but good) meme: Get yourself a man who can do both. Vampidol Tagiru is effortlessly sexy, bizarre, nonsensical, and hilarious. Shimamoto isn’t claiming this will be a traditional famine to fortune golden road series, but the research and interest he’s taken in idol culture is evident on every page. This work may not be for everyone, but for those who like their vampires sexy with a side of silly will find a lot to like about this work. The author has such a history within the Japanese entertainment industry that I don’t see it going anywhere until Shimamoto is ready to wrap things up, and that’s great as Vampidol Tagiru can do anything and go anywhere at this point. Like the Japanese readers, I’m facinated by this series, but even after writing up this blogpost I don’t think I can fully articulate why? Maybe, just maybe, Shimamoto is a vampire and his ice are rocked onto my psyche. Which, honestly? Isn’t too bad a way to go.