UPDATE ON TSUGE ONE-SHOT PROJECT

    Hello probably non-existent readers of this blog!

    In my post for Nekoi & Gousakon's "Soap Bubbles," I mentioned that I was planning to release a Tsuge one-shot in the near future. However, when I finished translating it, I realized that the story, "Yanagiya Shujin," might be in the then-unreleased official Tsuge collection Nejishiki from publisher Drawn & Quarterly. I just got a hold of my copy, and it is indeed included as "Master of the Willow Inn." So instead of publishing my scanlation, I encourage any of the few people who may have seen my earlier post to pick up the official translation instead, part of a beautifully-presented set of Tsuge collections that they have been publishing over the past few years. It also includes multiple of Tsuge's most famous works, including the surreal titular "Nejishiki" and one of my own favorite one-shots of all time, "Master of the Gensenkan Inn." You can find the book on the Drawn & Quarterly website.

    Though I'm fairly busy with my studies, I may be releasing more scanlations soon. I'm considering translating some Osamu Tezuka one-shots, but we'll just wait and see.

Rutoto Nekoi & Yousuke Gousakon - "Soap Bubbles"

     Recently I was skimming through a volume of an 80's hentai magazine looking for an illustration that Suehiro Maruo contributed to it. This piece caught my eye, though, because of its early 80's bishoujo art style. And because it was nearly a silent comic, I figured I might as well translate it.

    Though published in Melon Comic (a short-lived bishoujo magazine sometimes written off as a sub-standard version of Lemon People) in June 1984, this certainly isn't a pornographic story. In my opinion, it has an almost gekiga-esque feel. If I understand correctly though, the seemingly disparate manga cultures of bishoujo/lolicon and gekiga actually had at that time some overlap in both readership and creators themselves, and I believe you see that cultural overlap here quite well. In "Soap Bubbles," we have a dreamlike atmosphere that might not feel out of place in Garo or COM, and an art style/story that evokes the more artful works of cult bishoujo mangaka Hideo Azuma.

    The piece is a collaborative work between a writer named Yousuke Gousakon and mangaka/illustrator/musician Rutoto Nekoi. The latter is occasionally misidentified as a pseudonymous alias of her more widely successful husband, mangaka Senno Knife. When this story was published in the early 80's, Senno Knife was a fledgling mangaka contributing to a variety of bishoujo/hentai magazines such as Melon Comic and Lemon People. Based on the thanks given to him at the end of the story, I imagine that he played a role in arranging the collaboration between Gousakon and his wife, but I can't be quite sure. Today, Senno Knife is best known for his horror manga, some of which (such as Valkyr and the collection The Mantis Woman) have received official English-language releases.

   I never imagined that an ephemeral work like this one would be my first release for Ryouki Translations, but as the name Ryouki (猟奇) Translations suggests, I am out to "search for the bizarre," and I have to admit that Nekoi and Gousuke's manga fits the bill.

    I plan to be releasing a story by the visionary mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy this one-shot.

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