By We Appreciate Manga™
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The podcast currently has 136 episodes available.
Is this the final episode of ‘We Appreciate Manga’? I guess we will have to see… Either way James has an announcement to make but first we give a quick review of Godzilla minus one and talk about side chapters of Petshop of Horrors. Skip chapter summaries @ 15:01
Intro music courtesy of Liam Bradbury
Outro music courtesy of Rifti Beats - Youtube
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136: Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
In the additional chapters, young Chris Orcot treks out into the labyrinthine back rooms of the petshop to find out Q-Chan’s human form. Unlike the rest of the Pets in Count D’s shop, who appear as human to Chris, Q-Chan only appears as a Wolperdinger, a horned rabbit like creature with wings. As Chris explores the hidden rooms, he meets a grim looking figure who obliges him but unfortunately for Chris, the remedy he acquires has no such desired effect on Q-Chan.
Another chapter shows a Totetsu (a mixed goat and tiger creature) by the name of T-Chan. T-Chan is looking down in the dumps before Leon finds out that it is because he is in love with one of D’s new pets. Leon and the gang help him pluck up the courage but because of T-Chan’s proclivity to eat the one he loves it results in T-Chan being rejected. It becomes a bonding experience for both Leon and T-chan.
The Flowers and detective chapters feature the police detective Leon Orcot, D does not trust Leon enough to take care of pets so he gifts him a gatolatto plant. The plant grows well thanks to Leon’s appreciation and care but eventually Leon is wounded from a gunshot and is hospitalized. On his miraculous recovery he asks D to water his plant for him, only to be told that the flower has already bloomed and withered to death in his place. Was it really the plant that saved Leon? D has given people stranger things.
Part two, has D playing matchmaker only for Leon to interfere and end up winning the affection of beautiful creatures. What Leon does not realise is that he is being used to pollinate women. Like a honey bee!
Part three includes a strange kimono arriving at the pet shop. With the Kimono’s colour representing Sakura (cherry blossom) but being made from the blood of insects. And in the last chapter that we speak of today, we see Chris sent on an errand but D and Leon spy on him using cameras and disguises, very much like the Reality TV show ‘Old Enough!’ (a.k.a. its literal translation ‘My First Errand’) Afterwards they spend the night gazing at the full moon and D tells Chris of the rabbit in the moon, and the princess whose kingdom has become extinct. Chris tells D that maybe the rabbit princess is still on the moon and is just hiding.
Topics:
· Thoughts on Godzilla Minus One and Hollywood.
· Pareidolia, do you see a rabbit, a woman, or a man when you look at the moon?
· The future of the We Appreciate Manga Podcast.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The cherry blossom looking dye in one story is often used as a food colouring can trigger allergies, look for anything labelled carminic acid, carmine or cochineal on red coloured foods.
· Unlike the west Chinese and Asians countries tend to say there is a rabbit in the moon, not a man in the moon. Some when they look at a full moon, say the image is a silhouette of a rabbit hunched over and is mixing herbs, creating an elixir for immortality. (Personally, I like to think that its churning butter but some Japanese may say it is pounding rice cake mixture - J) Depending on the sun’s position and your position on the earth if you were to Look at the dark spots of the moon you will find that the sea of fertility and the sea of nectar are the tips of its ears.
Osamu Tezuka retells the origin story in the first volume of his 1972-1983 manga ‘Buddha’ where an old man asks three animals to help him find food. One of the three animals then dives into fire and gives its life so that the old man does not starve. Because of its sacrifice it is then honoured by the God Indra and immortalised by having its image drawn on the moon.
· Chang’e the Chinese moon goddess is a figure that dates to Zhou Dynasty,
and having had poems written about her during the Tang Dynasty.
· The rabbit princess or moon princess also has similarities to princess Kaguya, the main character who appears in ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’ a late 9th of 10 century story with no attributed author. Sailor Moon is also based on this character and because of the tale’s use of space travel, it is considered an early form of science fiction.
· The story of the shamanistic princess Himeko is not necessarily pre-historic as Will states but certainly an ancient Japanese one, having dated back to years between 220 and 270 (Yayoi period). As a legendary figure Himeko appears in the first volume of Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Phoenix’ and the Yoshiki Okamoto (Buroson) manga ‘Lord’.
· Utsuro – Bune (Hollow Boat) is a legendary account of an unidentified object arriving on the shores of the Hitachi province of Japan in 1803.
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Author Matsuri closes out the final chapters and leaves no stone unturned, Chris speaks, Q-Chan shows off their human form and a climatic meeting with D’s father finally happens. In a clever way, Matsuri switches from an episodic structure to a serial form, bringing the narrative home!
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135: Petshop of Horrors vol. 10
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The story advances to its conclusion when Chris Orcot’s extended family arrive. Chris knowing that he is adopted by his aunty and uncle forgives them and his cousins, but in a moment of crisis he learns to speak up and call for them, Chris’ voice is heard by his cousins and he is taken home, even if the pets at the shop did not want Chris to leave them, Chris makes his own decision to live in peace with his real family. When Chris looks back at what he had with D in the pet shop he finds they no longer resemble the humanoids he once had a relationship with, they truly seem like animals now.
Afterwards D mysteriously leaves and closes shop upon getting heat from the FBI. Agent Vesca Howell teams up with Chris’ older brother, the detective Leon Orcot to track D down. The two share what they know about D before they go their separate ways. Afterwards D appears to Leon and leads him to a high-rise penthouse to discuss things over tea and sweets. But Leon is not fooled since the imposter is Count D, the father of the missing D. Although this raises many questions as to why he looks like he in his twenties and is the spitting image of his son. Leon however falls for Count D’s trap. And like in previous chapters, Leon must once again fight in the wilderness of a mythological dreamscape.
Meanwhile Agent Howell confronts the real D and loses the fight to apprehend him. D realises that Howell is only after his lookalike father and so he takes him to Count D. Both agent Howell and D arrive in time to help save Leon. It is at this point that D’s personal pet, Q-chan transforms into his human form, revealing himself to be D’s grandfather. Just in time for the existential crisis that is Count D’s plan to spread a virus that causes human extinction. However, Count D is shot dead and Howell dies in the confrontation, The OG Count, Grandfather D takes his son’s remains so that he can reincarnate him and Leon takes a leap of faith with D to safely escape the tower. Soon afterwards, D parts ways with Leon.
Eventually after twenty years pass, the pet shop is re-opened and mysterious deaths occur. Detective Orcot makes his way there to meet D, but this is not a reunion, in fact this is a meeting between the adult Chris Orcot and D’s son, the reincarnated Count D who died twenty years ago.
Topics:
· Aino Matsuri’s switch from an episodic style of storytelling to a serial one.
· Chris’ dilemma
· Chris’ unrealistic form of mutism.
· Is Count D human or not?
· The Misanthropic villain.
· The final chapter relies heavily on specific tropes so to create a feel of finality. The Tower itself is symbolic, appearing as a Tarot card after the Devil card. The Tower is almost always depicted having been struck by lightning or facing some sort of explosion or fire at the top. It represents, divination, to reach heaven and God and to experience a great revelation but one with an arduous cost. In many stories it is the protagonist’s greatest challenge before they confront the truth that waits for them above, and usually by defeating the villain above it causes the tower to collapse, this is symbolic of a return to status quo, to humble and “ground” the heroes but also render the challenge of ever climbing it again to be mute. Also, like the biblical “Tower of Babel” anyone who attempts to climb or build it always comes to a misunderstanding when they meet someone at the top.
· Another symbolic scene is Leon becoming trapped in the forest, like “Jonah and the whale” Leon must face penance/consequence for his lack of faith and suspicion of D, it is a purgatory and womb like state that once he escapes from, he gets more purpose. It is also a traumatic instance of being isolated from society and one’s tribe and in such stories those who survive the proverbial whale get a chance to better themselves or do better in the next life.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The Mountains of Kunlun China is specifically a belt of mountains that stetches through the centre and around parts of China, from the Tibetan plateau to the Tarim Basin, bordering on the Gobi Desert. It has mythical properties and is analogous to the Greek’s Mount Olympus and the Tower of Babel, in that many creationist stories revolve around the mountains, which are deemed as the birthplace of China as a nation.
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Listen with discretion and care since on today’s episode we speak about intergenerational trauma, modern slavery, and human trafficking. Pretty intense stuff for a fantasy manga but Akino Matsuri is an expert anthologist when it comes to episodic storytelling. Skip plot summaries @ 7:17
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134: Petshop of Horrors vol. 9
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Dreams:
A young woman pines over D, having recognised him from her dreams. D tries to find one of his supernatural pets for her but fails upon realizing that she already has such a spiritual companion. A Phoenix has given Monica the chance to constantly reincarnate herself and move to the next life if she fails to achieve her wish in one life. Her wish to win the heart of D. Monica’s dreams are in fact flashbacks to a past life where she had met one of D’s ancestors. D begins to feel sorry for Monica and decides to date her, he regretfully informs her that he cannot love someone who is human albeit very cryptic as to his reasons why.
In the end Monica decides to take a plane home but D sees the plane blow up in a fatal accident. The Phoenix appears to D once more and claims that she will no longer be reincarnated. The reason being that D did have feelings for her, thus Monica’s wish came true, even if he chose not to pursue a relationship and her life was cut short after it.
Desire:
A criminal working his way into the ranks of an organisation needs to acquire a pet tiger from D so that he can be king of the concrete jungle that is China town. The man sends a little girl, Xiao Hua, as a mediator so that she can butter up D with gifts to win the man’s approval. However, the Xiao Hua notices a hanging wall scroll painting in D’s tea room, and in that painting is a tiger. The tiger only appears in the painting upon greeting its master. Learning that Xiao Hua is destined to own the tiger, D gives Xiao Hua the painting. Afterwards D learns of Xiao Hua’s lifeless body appearing in a back alley. D takes it upon himself to find justice for her and retrieve the painting. A fight ensues as D intrudes into the triad’s house but D has a trick under his sleeve that turns the tables on Xiao Hua’s killer.
Death:
A mother comes to the pet shop after the death of her daughter’s pet, she buys a new one only for it to be mysteriously killed. As D investigates the deaths of the pets, he finds a family that has inter-generational trauma and the making of a serial killer.
Desperation:
D and Chris are abducted by a woman who, mourning the loss of her dead lover, intends to exact revenge on the police detective Leon Orcot. T-Chan, the Totetsu is shot in the struggle to prevent D and Chris from being taken. However, their captor does not know that she is pregnant.
Topics:
· The Power dynamic we see in the ‘Desire’ chapter implies that Xiao Hua is a child slave who may have arrived in the U.S. due to human trafficking. At the time of this podcast episode being published, Modern slavery and human trafficking seems to be more prevalent in the U.K. according to this Vice article by Amandas Ong and the BBC.
· If you are a witness to human trafficking and modern slavery you can use this website and the “stop app” to report it and gain support. Please be aware that this no substitute for contacting the police, and if possible, one should contact the police, be it 911 (or 999 for U.K.) otherwise use the following website as a second choice and download their app, if for some reason you are afraid of contacting the police.
https://www.stopthetraffik.org/
· The International Salvation Army is a charity organisation that also intends to abolish slavery and human trafficking, they can provide resources such as housing and protection for those in need. https://www.salvationarmy.org/isjc/MSHTR
· It is guaranteed that 1 in 3 serial killers have abused animals, with it being the same chance as a coin toss in finding 2 in 3 killers being animal abusers. As an experiment feel free to research it yourself. Hopefully three serial killers have already came to mind and it will come as no surprise that one of them hurt animals. In fact, there was a true-crime documentary inspired by the phenomena that exemplifies this trope, Netflix’s ‘Don’t F**k with Cats’.
As of 2016 the Unites State’s FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) added animal abuse cases to its National Incident-Based Reporting System. John Thompson of the national sheriff’s association said animal abuse is not just a crime that harms animals but to people as well, claiming it “a crime against society,” and “By paying attention to [these crimes], we are benefiting all of society.”
· But there is also another factor that facilitates the development of serial killers, that being child abuse. In his 1989 book Serial Killers, Joel Norris describes the cycles of violence as generational: “Parents who abuse their children, physically as well as psychologically, instil in them an almost instinctive reliance upon violence as a first resort to any challenge.” For a good article on the matter there is ‘From Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder’ written by Nicola Davies for Psychiatry Advisor.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The mythical Phoenix goes by the name Ho-oh in Japanese and Feng Huang in Chinese, since the Yuan Dynasty the name Feng Huang is gender neutral, as it combines the word for both female and male Phoenix. They have Chinese origins.
· The Tiger is an endangered animal according to the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened species. Multiple subspecies of the tiger is also considered extinct.
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Come join our book club and listen as we read Akino Matsuri’s horror stories, one that is about a mermaid. Another about a family that move into a house that has a dark history. And a woman who seems to have looks, fame and fortune, as well as mysterious past. Skip plot synopsis @3:34
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133: Petshop of Horrors vol. 8
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
D goes to a beach resort with Leon and Chris. Leon is there only to pick up ladies but when Chris and D help a girl find a lost ear-ring they are rewarded a boat trip by the girl’s grandfather, a man who spends his years chasing a mermaid he once saw at a young age.
A violent wave hits the boat causing D to fall overboard, when they find D washed up on shore, he does not seem to be his usual self. D only recognises the girl’s grandfather, calling him Shido, which is odd because Shido did not give out his name. The next day D predicts a volcano erupting, all islanders set out to sea but they lose D once again. The next time they find D he is with a mermaid, having had a body swap experience, D is now back into his own body. Having been saved previously by the mermaid, he was able to repay the favour by letting her reunite with her long-lost love, Shido, whom had no memory of her, since the only way he can keep his memories is if he stays with the mermaid. They leave Shido behind with her, but unfortunately for Leon this means he will forget the existence of mermaids.
The second story involves an entire family who have recently moved in to a new house. The family enter the pet shop looking to buy one however they do not seem to agree on what pet they want. The Count ends up choosing a pet for them that just so happens to appear to each family member as the pet that they originally wanted, for example, to the grandmother it appears as a cat but to the youngest son it appears as a gecko, D names the pet Tenko (or Tiān hú / Ten-chan depending on whichever translation) but the rest of the family bicker about what new name to give it.
One lonely girl in the family sees Ten-chan as a human, and it becomes clear that the pet favours this girl who seems down in spirit and isolated from the family. In truth the girl is a ghost, a part of the family that previously owned the house. D, having a sense of what’s up checks with the police and visits the house. When he arrives, there is a house fire, the family escape except for their pet, who stays inside with the ghost. D comes to save Ten-chan who as it turns out, is a kitsune (a mythical nine-tailed fox), but not before they exorcise the ghost and let her pass on to the other side.
In the story “Deja-vu” D lets Chris decide what pet to give to a woman who seems to have everything. Searching the pet shop, he sees the child like ghosts of twin sisters, Meanwhile the detective Leon discovers the woman patron to be a missing person, long thought to be dead and intends to reunite the woman with her sister. When the time comes for the woman to meet her pet, she is forced to confront her inner child. Or as D calls it, a beautiful bird.
Note: The bonus chapter ‘Flowers, Detective and the Detective’s Little Brother’ will be spoken about on a later episode of our podcast which will cover all bonus chapters.
Topics:
· The mute character Chris and the use of children and other side characters functioning as plot devices.
· For more Mermaid lore, check out A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits, a treatise by Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim) The 1819 French fantasy novella, Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Anderson, and there is also Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics.
· Video that shows the Cresta mall mermaid incident in Johannesburg
· https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Mary-Mirror-Psychoanalytic-Folkloristics/dp/1604731877 Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· Shido as a character is an homage to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Shido is chasing a mermaid believing it to be a portent of doom, its appearance being a bad omen. In truth the mermaid has pre-cognition and the power to change a person’s memory as well as save those from the disasters she predicts. They are very similar in that Captain Ahab and Shido both own boats, have scars that remind them of a perceived injustice and an obsession that leads them to chase. For Ahab it is the white whale, for Shido it is the mermaid.
· The Déjà vu story shares a certain similarity to Truman Capote’s novel ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ in that Holly Golightly is a woman who flees her family to become a wealthy socialite in New York. Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe too, who was born Norma Jean Mortensen with her natural hair being a curly red and not her iconic straight blonde, she would defy her husband Jim Dougherty to pursue a career in showbusiness, albeit (and by his own account) he was initially supportive of her ambition until it became clear that she had to be single to get a contract in Hollywood.
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Today we talk about the importance of character-based story telling superseding social and political commentary, be it human trafficking, weight loss and police brutality. Albeit a fantasy story, there is an argument that a character’s catharsis through such heavy and controversial topics can bring catharsis to the reader. Skip plot synopsis @ 3:37
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132: Petshop of Horrors vol. 7
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The first chapter, ‘Doom’ has the detective Leon get involved with the killing of his partner and co-worker Max whilst apprehending his childhood friend who is also killed in the incident. To ease Leon’s mind, D gives him a butterfly as a pet, however this butterfly can travel through Leon’s dreams and show him his desires. This results in Leon experience time travel where upon dreaming of what things could be like, he then experiences the reality within a waking nightmare, thus experiencing the butterfly effect.
In ‘Donor’ we see that Leon is assigned to find a missing donor heart whilst D is surprised by the arrival of his sister. A sister whom is willing to give her own organs so to donate to D, eventually the sister poses an existential threat that results in D killing the woman in his defence. When Leon finds a bloodied-up D, we see that D holds not the body of his sister but instead of an orangutan.
In ‘Duty’ a child soldier, on the run from assassinating a mafioso, hides in the Pet shop and takes D and Christopher as his hostage.
Whilst in the final chapter, ‘Diet’ shows us three characters. A catwalk model by the name of Irene who is given alternate medicine / diet pills from D. Plus two other patrons which include a boxer by the name of Nash and young girl by the name of Em (Emerelda). All three of them have issues with their weight and intend to make sure they lose a few pounds.
Context:
· Arguably the most famous of all Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu) stories—"Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly"—appears at the end of the second chapter of his work, named "On the Equality of Things". This is the main inspiration for the Petshop of Horrors chapter ‘Doom’ although there is a sort of time travel aspect, the logic depicted however is that Leon is experiencing a dream of how things could be different.
· ‘The Butterfly Effect’ is a metaphor that has its roots in deterministic philosophy and chaos theory. It describes how small-scale disturbances can cause large-scale events. Attributed to mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz. when describing the cause of Tornados.
· Many diets and fads revolving around weight loss took place during the 80’s and 90’s as gyms and “super-models” grew in popularity. Most of this was influenced by the controversial 1972 book ‘Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever’ which promotes a high cholesterol diet which results in heart disease. In Chris Van Tulleken’s book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ he explains how caloric restriction is not a long-term solution to weight loss as it is an evolutionary, survival and genetic advantage for weight loss to reduce when starved for long periods. Chris however does explain that an increase in obesity over the years after the 1950’s is due to highly processed and chemically augmented foods. Specifically designed not to satiate hunger but sell for profit. Anyone who is willing to go a drastic change in diet should always consult their doctor beforehand. Sadly, many eating disorders exist due to such diets, the social mores, and the ever-changing landscape of nutritional research.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· Xenotransplantation is the name of the procedure where animals are used for organ donor transplantation in humans. Currently pigs are being used in clinical trials as of the date of this podcast being uploaded. The idea of “transgenic pigs” first being used going as far back as 1995.
· Naomi Campbell, a British supermodel most famous during the 1990’s, considered a muse by designers like Jean Paul Gaultier with her contemporary Kate Moss. She is often mistaken to be the first black woman to appear on the front cover of Time magazine in September 16th 1991, in fact singers Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price and Aretha Franklin predate her by a few decades. With Marian Anderson appearing on the December 30th 1946 issue.
· It is possible and dangerous to lose weight from a parasite. Often caused by eating raw meats and a lack of hygiene. Of course, parasites that take the identity of their host is still just the stuff of science-fiction.
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Continuing with their book club podcast, Will and James talk about volume 6 of the surreal fantasy horror josei manga, Petshop of Horrors! Today’s stories are very much a reflection on the chaos of childhood and the pressures that family can sometimes put upon us.
Skip chapter summaries @ 4:22
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130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 6
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
When Leon and D get abducted by terrorists they are forced to partake on the quest to the legendary city of El Dorado and its lost gold. In the end the leader of the group faces a dilemma as to wherever or not he should sacrifice his mystical jaguar for the gold.
On December, the night before Christmas, Christopher’s uncle and aunty come to the pet shop to take the young Christopher as their adopted child. However, Christopher refuses and hides down the basement where he meets something that can only be described as King Ghidorah, with an earthquake inducing dissociative identity disorder.
In the chapter ‘Distance’ the youngest daughter of a family of musicians, Catherine, is raised as such but has no talent. She distracts herself when the family dog has puppies and takes the runt of the litter to see D, although D is no veterinary doctor he decides to look after it for her. Once the Puppy recovers, she takes it for walks and lets it sit whilst she plays sports. When the time comes for her big piano recital performance the puppy bites her finger, rendering her index finger muscle useless. A sense of relief comes over Catherine as she no longer needs to play. It becomes to Catherine that she can now choose what path she wants in life as her talents clearly lie more so in sports than music.
A poignant volume that introduces a new character to the lore and explores feelings around death and childhood. And it may come as no surprise that even a horror Shoujo manga somehow has to reference ballet, we all seen Black Swan right? Skip plot summaries @ 6:11
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130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 5
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
In the first chapter, ‘Dual’ a congressman appears to D asking for the legendary Kirin. At first D denies the existence of such a creature deeming it as a myth, but in truth it is the Kirin who chooses the owner. The Kirin can make the dreams of its owner come true, granting them great power but at an extreme cost. In the end the Kirin chooses the congressman’s aide/assistant and so he makes the greatest sacrifice.
In ‘Day Nursery’ we are introduced to Leon Orcot’s little brother, named Christopher, a mute child who stays at the Petshop under D’s care. It comes as a surprise when Christopher sees the pets as humanoids, the same as D and can converse with them telepathically. Christopher has survivor’s guilt due to his mom dying from a complicated pregnancy and a feeling of being unloved from his brother Leon. Yet he finds a mother figure in the elderly black bird, Madame Sultana. On the day that Leon is injured he has a near death experience where he dreams of his mother who coincidentally looks like Sultana, or at least the way Christopher sees Sultana. In this realm both Leon and his mother talk about Christopher. On the same day Madame Sultana dies and D can sense the disturbance in the air. Soon enough Leon is apprehensive to be sending Christopher to a specialist school, his stoic nature hides it, but he gives his little brother a hug before he drops him off.
Continued in ‘Darling’ Christopher brings in a missing runaway Cat with emerald green eyes and a necklace for a collar, the cat feeling as if she is unloved and only valued for her necklace. The necklace being crown jewels and whomsoever wins the affection of the cat is owner of the jewels and in turn the next heir to the throne. With the cat choosing to stay with D she wishes for a life of a commoner and D trims her fur/ hair at her request, he then claims sovereignty due to possessing the necklace and holds the cat ransom. However, D’s plan is to see if the rightful prince Saleem can recognise their cat. But like how a prince recognised Cinderalla, so does the prince recognise his cat. D sees how much the cat and the prince love each other and so he gives the necklace back. Christopher however gets his first taste of jealousy.
The last chapter of this volume reads a lot like, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Jeanne Lecroix, jealous of not being able to play the lead role of Swan Lake spends the afternoon at D’s pet shop. There he shows her many of his pets all performing for her, including a bloody cockfight. Through comparing the performance with her abilities, she feels inadequate. Therefore, D gifts her a blade, telling her that with it she will achieve her desire. Later D takes detective Leon to see Swan Lake and we find out that Jeanne has torn apart her rival’s black swan costume, it is then decided that Jeanne will play the black swan and her rival Dominique will play the white swan. By the end of the second act Jeanne gets an ovation and it becomes clear that she is wanted for the third act, However Jeanne goes missing, having won the heart of her prince co-star she is never seen again after that performance.
Context:
· In Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake the role of both the black swan and the white swan is conventionally played by the same person. This is why in the chapter ‘Dance’ Jeanne is jealous of Dominique since it is a dual character role.
· Depending on the translation you are reading, the country that Saleem is prince of is either fictional or based on the country of Yemen.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· A Kirin (Qilin) is based on Chinese mythology, often mistaken for a giraffe in eastern languages but can also be mistaken for a Shishi in the west, the mythical Chinese lion like dog. A Kirin is more like a deer mixed with a dragon in that it has hooves and antlers along with scales. If someone from the Ming dynasty saw a giraffe then they may have mistaken it for a Kirin. They even share the same name.
· Madame Sultana is a Myna, which is a Starling bird native to India, it can talk like a parrot, even going for lower frequencies of speech than the average parrot. Although symbolically it is more representative of a crow in how it is a pomgeist or conduit for the deceased.
· The Cat in the chapter ‘Darling’ is named Pandora. It means “all giving” and “gifted” named from the Greek creationist myth.
· The Dying Swan solo dance was created by Mikhail Fokine for Camille Saint-Saëns's ‘The Swan’ for the Ballerina Anna Pavlova, having premiered in 1907 as a special occasion piece, It is inspired by the Alfred Tennyson poem of the same name and of course it would be adapted and used for future Swan Lake performances. In the words of Fokine's granddaughter, Isabelle: "The Dying Swan does not make enormous technical demands, but rather enormous artistic ones because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience, which is emerging from someone who is attempting to escape death."
· La Syphide is a dance original choreographed by Filipo Taglioni in 1833 but
Sadly, the 1836 August Bournonville choreography is the only one to have survived, since Bournonville did not have the rights to the original music thus he created a new version of the dance. It is not to be confused with the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides, another ballet involving a mythical sylph. A Sylph being a spirit of the air.
· “Pas de deux” is a ballet term for a dance duet. Literally translated from French as “Step of two”
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Does anyone remember Tamagotchi? Or maybe you had a Giga-Pet growing up? Whatever the case a virtual pet goes by many brand names and today we read one story that is both inspired by the virtual pet craze of the 90’s and the lore behind hermaphrodites (that’s intersex people for those in the know). We also have one story inspired by Dracula and another involving race horses. This is gonna be a fun one! Skip synopsis @ 9:44
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129: Petshop of Horrors vol. 4
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Synopsis:
When the only witnesses to a murder seems to be to fishes, detective Leon Orcot has D, the mysterious and bohemian Petshop manager take care of them. During the investigation they hunt for one suspect a woman who perhaps dated the murder victim. As things develop D works the case with Leon as an advisor and they soon come across a new witness. A cyber-pet in the form of a digital fish, they learn that like the fishes the murder victim themself was a hermaphrodite, someone capable of changing their gender or at the very least be able to pass as both genders. It becomes clear that the murderer was possibly transphobic. But luckily the cyber-pet had cameras connected and was able to record the crime, although Leon finds it hard for a pet’s words to be admissible in court. D assures him that machines are valued in court, because machines do not lie.
In Dark-Horse, Leon and D are on a film set and witness one of the stunt women, Betty, having an accident.
The horse breaks its leg, meaning that it will need to be put down, which upsets Betty. D comforts her and learns that she is working part time as a stunt woman, with plans of becoming a jockey and using her own horse to compete in a derby. Betty takes D to her stable and finds she has one horse named sudden death, much to her surprise D recognises that the horse is deaf as well as very calm around the man.
Not long after this Betty’s father ends up in hospital, and to pay for his hospital bills she goes to visit D and see what horses he can make a deal with. Of course, it is no surprise D has one called Nightmare, but Betty is taken back to see that the horse that broke their leg is now recovered and being looked after by D.
In the end Betty decides not to sell her horse, and instead use Sudden Death to compete in the derby. D promises to help her win and plans to make a miracle happen.
On the day of the race, D attends with Leon to support Betty and Sudden Death. He gives Leon a whistle to cheer on Sudden Death. And Leon, because he is an idiot uses the whistle. Because of this Sudden Death wins the race. And in turn it proves D’s theory that the horse is a thoroughbred descendent of Matchem, and thus recognises the legendary and somewhat enchanted whistle.
Leon finally has a reason to arrest D since he rigged the game. However, D makes it clear, since they both placed a generous bet on the horse and Leon did blow the whistle, this means Leon is an accessory to the crime.
The last story of this volume is a sort of ‘X-files’ meets ‘Murder She Wrote’ style chapter called ‘Dracula,’ which tells the story of a vampire on the loose in America who is specifically targeting east Asian men that fits the description of D.
Leon is assigned to protect D as he is partnered with FBI profiler, Norma Langley. She protests the theory of a vampire and explains the cause of death is poison made to look like a vampire attack. But things get tense when leaves Leon to look out on D whilst she decides to catch their unsubdued vampire by herself. Leon gets into a fight with one man, suspecting him of wanting to poison D with his gifts of cake and wine.
But the two make up and Leon gets him a beer, he learns that the man is named Alex, still mourning the loss of his dead lover.
In the climax of the story Leon decides that the safest place to hide D is by locking him up in a cell at the police station. Leon then investigates D’s home and finds a photo of what appears to be D, Norma, and Alex in the same room. Even if one denies the existence of vampires the correlation is too strong to be coincidence.
In a twist of fate. Norma shows up at the station and mortally wounds D, then she waits for the vampire to show. And he does show, Alex flies in and comes just in time to protect D but first he drinks the blood from D’s wound, “ending the contract” as he claims. By drinking D’s blood Alex turns into vapor and dies leaving no corpse. Norma tells D she lost the bet, thinking that Alex would move on the from the death of his lover and instead reunite with her, but Alex chose to reject Norma and unite with his lost love in death.
When Leon makes it back to the station, he finds the coffee pots are laced with tranquilizer and sees that D is accompanied by a bat within his prison cell. The bat flies out through the bars and out the window. D is the last person to see Norma, who turned out to be a fake FBI agent after all. Leon refuses to believe that she was a vampire.
· The chapters “Flowers and the Detective” will be talked about in a separate episode since these chapters share one continuity and act as a lore building side story to the plot. Having three parts and an additional chapter or two.
Context:
· Cyber-Pets (or Virtual-Pets) are pocket sized electronic toys that can be carried on a key ring. They were popular in the mid to late 90’s with Bandai’s Tamagotchi being the most famous (itself a portmanteau of the Japanese words “egg” and “watch”). Tamagotchi were also a precursor to Pokémon’s rival Digimon, Whilst Giga-pets were a western competitor to Tamagotchi, released by Tiger Electronics with licensed deals to make Giga-Pets tie-in merchandise for existing franchises, such as Rugrats™ for one.
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
· The term “Hermaphrodite” has origins in Greek mythology. Hermaphroditus being the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, whose story is told in Ovid’s metamorphoses.
· There are two types of hermaphroditism, Sequential and Simultaneous, the most common in fish is sequential, meaning it can only be one gender at one time. A Clown Fish, (think of titular character of Finding Nemo) will become male first, even becoming sexual but since these fishes exist in a hierarchy, they serve the sexually dominant female. If the female dies, the sexual male, becomes a female. So, it is male first, then maybe it will become female when it gets higher up and become the alpha of the group. They are not polygamous; males tend to stick by one female.
· Humans do not experience hermaphrodism like animals. They do not change sex as some sort of Darwinist response to their environment or their age. However, intersex people do exist. At birth you either have male or female sex organs but some are born with both sex organs. Studies have claimed that in terms of fertility the biology of intersex people favoured motherhood more than fatherhood, (although fatherhood could be possible, the studies show it is rare) [Peculiar in that it supports that women are the “default” gender, with males having nipples develop in the womb before they develop gonads, women too may have an enlarged clitoris which may be mistaken for male genitalia, of course this is supposition. – James]
· Although not mentioned by James and Will, a person defined as an intersex person could be someone whose puberty is halted or interrupted by underlying conditions, such as, Turner syndrome, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) or XYY (Klinefelter) Syndrome to name a few.
· The coronation of Victoria as Queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, she was 19 years old at the time. According to Lucy Worsley’s book, ‘Queen Victoria - Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow’ the coronation was a bit messy as far as coronations go; the royal treasurer threw silver medals commemorating the event at the crowd which caused quite a ruckus.
· Matchem is a famous thoroughbred horse who was used for breeding between 1758 and 1781. Eclipse and Herod are also famous horses for the same reason.
· His many offspring, include Pumpkin, won up to 1,000 racing matches. And another of Matchem’s offspring, Conductor, gave off a good family tree of winners, including Trumpator who begot, Sorcerer, who then begot Smolensko and Wizard. Why do horses have crazy cool names?
· One of D’s horses is a clear a reference to Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting of the same name. The image of the horse in the manga is based on the same horse in Fuseli’s 1791 rendition, because of its popularity Fuseli made multiple versions of the painting. All of them depict a woman sleeping, with a demon resting on top of her and a horse peering into the room behind a curtain. A lot do consider it the first depiction of sleep paralysis in an oil painting.
· Alex has a bottle of Tokaj (Tokay) wine as a gift to D. Named after its vineyards in Hungary. It is the same wine that Dracula gives to Johnathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s famous novel!
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Dog lovers will love this one yet we are now seeing author Akino experiment with the characters. She also explores some social commentary and posing morally difficult questions. It goes without saying, today is a heavy episode about the horrors of fascism and war.
Skip synopsis @ 7:23
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128: Petshop of Horrors vol. 3
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
The first story Diamonde, involves D taking a pro-active stance on preventing artificial insemination. However, the story leaves one to wonder if the sperm was even human to begin with.
Second story, Desire, has D confront a little girl named Maggie who abuses her pet dog. D offers her to trade her dog for a younger sister of her choice. In doing so the sister she and her family fosters quickly becomes more popular and loved than Maggie. Consumed by jealousy Maggie then must deal with the horror of abandonment. But not to worry, this one does have a happy ending, bonus points if you are a dog lover.
Third story, Dessert, has a serial killer on the loose, meanwhile D falls in love with a man’s cooking. But what D does not realise is that he is next on the menu.
The fourth story which we will unpack a lot today is “Devil, which is about an old woman named Rosemary. Rosemary has dementia but through a chance meeting with D her memories of the second world war are triggered. She mistakes D for his grandfather who gave her a teddy bear which acted as a charm that would protect her. D identifies the teddy which helps to bring her lost memories back. Once again, the teddy saves her life when a bullet from a neo-Nazi almost hits her chest. The episode raises the question on wherever it is the right thing to ask dementia sufferers to remember war.
Context
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· Are there people really have poodles with their noodles? For the sake of avoiding any semblance of prejudice we won’t provide the source to such facts, however desperate times can call for desperate dietary measures.
· Since “Count D” is a lover of all animals, he does not fit the offensive Asian stereotype of someone who eats dogmeat and is in fact vegetarian.
· The chapter ‘Devil’ refers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the manga was printed in 1996 the conflict evolved from the late 80’s, with the events surrounding the Palestinian declaration of independence and “the first intifada”. There is a more convoluted history, with Israeli independence pre-dating many events but this is historical information that does not serve today’s episode.
· As of the date of the upload, November 5th 2023, we are dealing with another wave of emotional charged misinformation and propaganda. U.S. President Joe Biden seems to have retracted his statement, or at the very least his words have been used as misinformation regarding the death and circumstances of 40 babies.
· People are reposting the attacks that happened a while back in Syria as if they were happening in Gaza today. And we are truly seeing an unprecedented amount of war crimes posted on social media 24/7 in HD. Which are not only taking a toll on our emotional wellbeing but are influencing us to respond in brash ways.
· Despite the division between Jewish and Islamic communities surrounding the conflict around Gaza, there is evidence that both parties have more in common than one would think.
· In the story we have Rosemary (Born Elizabeth Schneider) who ends up hiding from Nazi forces. If you are interested in the testimony of such people in real-life, please go to the following website: https://www.het.org.uk/education/outreach-programme/survivor-stories
Fascism (As defined by Merriam-Webster)
1: A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
· It is important to note that the word “fascist” has become a slur, a fascist is not simply someone who disagrees with you, it is someone who profits from the subjugation and opposition of an individual, believing it to profit their nation.
· For more information, ‘Stuff You Should Know’ podcast made good episode about fascism, and one that is highly recommended for beginners on the subject.
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Cat lovers will enjoy the continuation of our spooky season read along, as James and Will experience multiple stories from the Petshop of Horror. There’s one about a dangerous mermaid that resembles someone’s dead wife, another about jumping into someone else’s dream and a white cat that grants its owner good luck! Skip synopsis @ 7:40
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127: Petshop of Horrors vol. 2
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
Continuing from the previous volume, we have four episodic chapters revolving around D's Petshop and the detective Leon Orcot, who suspect the store manager of criminal activity.
The first story, "Dragon" involves D accidentally giving a customer a dragon's egg. With the help of detective Orcot they race before christmas day to retreive it before it hatches.
In the second story, we have William Foster, a man down on his luck, he takes a cat that gives him good luck! To him it appears as a young girl who calls him daddy, her name is Lady. When the man breaks his contract and makes her cry, D force his hand and challenges him for Lady through a game of dice. Can William win back Lady's love without her luck on his side?
The third story "Delicious", revolves around the death of the pop star Evangeline Blue and D finding another exotic cryptid creature in the same ocean that Blue died in. Blue's widow, Jason, finds out that she bought a pet at the shop before her death, the pet itself, a mermaid who looks just like the dead Evangeline Blue. An assiistant manager from Blue's record label, Louise, confesses to the police and Orcot. Explaining how the marriage was a sham and a PR stunt, when Blue found out she became suicidal on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, Jason has mistook guilt for love and has fallen for the mermaid that resembles Blue. By the time police investigate, he is eaten by the fish monster and they find the remains of Blue inside the monster's stomach. Was it guilt that made him think the fish looked like the dead Evangeline Blue? Or was somehow the fish monster a mystical agent, avenging the scorned Blue?
The Final story revolves around D whom after trouble sleeping spends the night at the natural history musuem. Detective Leon Orcot spies on him after seeing him buy off the security, expecting D of making narcotics trade he instead finds him asleep surrounded by a cloud of incense. Soon Leon finds himself breathing in the substance and ends up un a magical trance where he finds he has fallen into D's dream. In the dream spell, both D and Leon experience a pre historical time where animals that are extinct walk the land once more. Leon is willing to kill the animals to survive mucch to the annoyance of D. But D leaves the dream world before Leon does and Leon is left alone to fend for himself. Eventually the two come back to the real world, and D invites him round his home for tea, knowing that Leon has changed a bit and that Leon may know a little bit more about D than he did before.
· During the “Delicious” chapter we see a noticeable plot hole. How could Evangeline Blue purchase a pet if the pet itself was the one that killed her? One theory James and Will did not discuss is the possibility that D deliberately gave a different pet to Jason, knowing that Blue died. Another is that D is lying and is merely avenging Blue’s death.
· The Destruction chapter which shows one character in another's dream is an interesting twist on the type of episodic plot that is made where two antagonising characters develop intimacy.Usually there is body swapping, but in a non-fantasy setting you have characters survive a plane crash or ship wreck and get stranded, an urban setting would involve characters getting stuck in an elevator or trapped because of a cave-in from an earthquake, upon where we learn the hard man character may have a fear of confined spaces or darkness, or one confesses their feelings of love or attraction. Sitcoms tend to involve one character nursing a sick one when doing this story, although sommetimes characters will just be in a confined space so that they become cannon fodder for jokes. Whatever the case, the goal is that the characters know more about eachother then they did before the episode. The destruction chapter is notable for its use of liminal space in telling such a story, without resorting to something like a "spirit walk".
References throughout the manga
· 5 octave range, is a very large range of pitch. The most famous example of such a singer with this vocal range is Mariah Carey. Some vocalists can do a 6-octave range, but this is rare with only a handful in the world being able to so.
· Evangeline Blue has won a Grammy. Where as in reality, Beyonce is the artist with the most grammys won, having 32, with 88 nomiations and earning 6 in one night, the name “grammy” is given because the trophy is shaped like a gramophone and they are given from the Recording Academy. They are basically to music what oscars are to film.
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The podcast currently has 136 episodes available.