Sexy Commando Gaiden

Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Masaru Hananakajima
セクシーコマンドー外伝 すごいよ!!マサルさん
(Sekushī Komandō Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san)
Genre
Manga
Written byKyosuke Usuta
Published byShueisha
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runNovember 1995 – September 1997
Volumes7
Anime television series
Directed byAkitaro Daichi
Produced bySatoshi Dezaki
Music byHarukichi Yamamoto
StudioMagic Bus
Original networkTBS
Original run January 6, 1998 – April 3, 1998
Episodes48 + 2 specials

Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san (Japanese: セクシーコマンドー外伝 すごいよ!!マサルさん, Hepburn: Sekushī Komandō Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san, lit. "Sexy Commando Side Story: That's Amazing!! Mr. Masaru") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kyosuke Usuta. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1995 to 1997, with its chapters collected in seven tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation, consisting of 48 episodes of seven minutes each, animated by Magic Bus and directed by Akitaro Daichi, was broadcast on TBS's late night programming block Wonderful [ja] in 1998.

Plot

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Wakame High School's extracurricular Sexy Commando Club consists of 5–6 male members including the principal, a female manager, and a small mysterious pet. The strange art of Sexy Commando (which extends back to Japan's Muromachi period) is a martial one; however, instead of focusing on how to defeat an opponent with physical force, the art focuses on how to distract the opponent to the point he is unable to fight. There are many techniques, though the club tends to favor the unzipping of the trousers technique, known as Erīze no Yūutsu (エリーゼのゆううつ). The club fills up with an eccentric and quirky crowd as it gains popularity.

Characters

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Masaru Hananakajima (花中島 マサル, Hananakajima Masaru)
Voiced by: Yūji Ueda[2]
Before finding the Sexy Commando guide book and venturing on a hermit-like three month vacation from school, Masaru was a new transfer student to Wakame High. After enrolling, he joined and defeated all members of all martial arts clubs in the school (karate, judo, etc.) He has tremendous strength, and a tremendous lack of common sense and understanding of social skills to go with it. He created the Sexy Commando Club after the Karate Club lost all of its members and therefore faced cancellation. He almost always wears blue jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and two golden, metallic rings on his shoulders that he "found" (the rings certainly seem to be extraterrestrial, because Masaru assaulted two aliens that came to reclaim them). The rings also create instantaneous hair growth and interfere with electronic displays (one cash register displayed "Help me" and an electronic scale displayed "Lardbutt" when the rings were near). He loves mustaches, giving strange nicknames, and drawing on the faces of those he has defeated with permanent marker; he often writes the character 肉 (niku, meat) on the foreheads of defeated opponents (this is one of several references in the show to the long-running manga Kinnikuman). He is the club's chief and created the club's song, rules, and symbol mark. In his childhood, Masaru labelled himself as a "Shōjo Commando" but after his father's efforts to change his son, Masaru decided to abandon that title.
Okometsubu Fujiyama (藤山 起目粒, Fujiyama Okometsubu)
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Kanemaru[2]
Nicknamed "Fūmin" (フーミン), is a very normal transfer student to Wakame High School, and is somewhat of a narrator of the story. He also provides the tsukkomi to Masaru's boke. A bit short and weak looking, he unwittingly becomes Masaru's friend and a club member. He adores cats.
Machahiko Kondō (近藤 真茶彦, Kondō Machahiko)
Voiced by: Kazuya Ichijō[2]
Nicknamed Machahiko (マチャ彦), is the tall, blond former chief of the Karate Club. Once Masaru joins the club and defeats all the club members, all students involved in the club quit and Machahiko must recruit new members before the club is disbanded by the school. Masaru then offers to help, and the club is saved, but the name of the club is then changed to the Sexy Commando Club. Machahiko can be instantly encouraged or discouraged by mentioning that what he does is either "manly" or not.
Tsuyoshi Isobe (磯辺 強, Isobe Tsuyoshi)
Voiced by: Yūichi Nagashima[2]
Nicknamed "Kyasharin" (キャシャリン, "delicate bones"), he has hair dyed brown and is a completely emaciated bag of bones, in part due to his addiction to vitamin supplements. He joins the club in order to become stronger, and for a brief period does become stronger, giving up the vitamins for food and exercise. Unfortunately, his reliance on vitamin supplements continues, and every time he takes them, so does his spasmatic cry "Okure-nisan" (a reference to Japanese comedian Mr. Okure, who is also extremely thin). He was also the ace of his baseball team in middle school.
Kojirō Satō (佐藤 吾次郎, Satō Kojirō)
Voiced by: Ryō Naitō[3]
Nicknamed "Afro-kun" (アフロ君, Afuro-kun), he joins later in the story, and is a semi-minor character. After begging Masaru to make him more "individualistic", Masaru gives this model nerd a perm, and then names him "Afro-kun". An opposing Sexy Commando team member later rips two holes from the afro and his hair assumes a more triangular shape. He is extremely smart, but has no sense with girls.
Nobuyuki Sakakibara (さかきばら のぶゆき, Sakakibara Nobuyuki)
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue[2]
Nicknamed "Susan Fumiko Tanaka" (田中スーザンふ美子, Tanaka Sūzan Fumiko), he is actually a former Sexy Mate (Sexy Commando participant) who won the All-Japan Sexy Commando Tournament six years straight. He was formerly a teacher and now is the principal of the school. He suddenly aged when he expended all of his energy pushing the school four inches (101.600 mm) off its foundation in order to inspire a lazy student (who later became Prime Minister). He dons a red ski mask when he wishes to become Susan (and hide his identity to Masaru).
Club Manager Tomoe Kitahara (北原 ともえ, Kitahara Tomoe)
Voiced by: Hiroko Konishi[2]
Nicknamed "Moe-moe" (もえもえ), she joined the group initially believing that the club was actually the "Mustache Club". She shares Masaru's love for facial hair, as her father died trying to grow the "legendary blue mustache". She is always supportive of the others in the club. She also spends a considerable amount of time with Meso.
Club Sponsor Tatsurō Matsuda (松田 達郎, Matsuda Tatsurō)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Takahashi[2]
Nicknamed "Torepan" (トレパン), he is an annoying P.E. coach that sponsors the Sexy Commando Club. He always wears training pants (thus the nickname Torepan), wears aviator sunglasses, and is always tweeting away at a coach's whistle. He one time bets the club's endowment money on a baseball game (Sexy Commando Club vs. Baseball Club) that the Sexy Command Club subsequently wins. The club members pay no attention to him, and consider him a nuisance.
Club Mascot Meso (メソ)
Voiced by: Omi Minami[3]
It is questionable what Meso is, because even though the cute, little yellow munchkin with a blue mustache for eyebrows is the mascot of the team, its zipper (located on his back) has opened various times and various other lifeforms have emerged from inside (the anime's finale has Maetel from Galaxy Express 999 come out). Meso's usual comment is "Mokyu". It has been known to be extremely violent when threatened, and has an impressive set of fangs and claws. It was found on either a spaceship or in a coffee shop called Dosukoi Kissa Je T'aime, depending on the club members' opinions.

Media

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Manga

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Written and illustrated by Kyosuke Usuta, Sexy Commando Gaiden was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 1995 to September 1997.[4][a] Its 79 chapters were collected by Shueisha in seven tankōbon volumes, released from June 4, 1996, to December 4, 1997.[7]

Anime

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An anime television series adaptation, consisting of 48 episodes of seven minutes each, animated by Magic Bus and directed by Akitaro Daichi, was broadcast on TBS's late night programming block Wonderful [ja] from January 6 to April 3, 1998.[8][9][10][11] The series' opening theme is "Romance" (ロマンス, Romansu) by Penicillin.[12] Bandai Visual later released the episode on three DVD sets on January 25, 2001.[2][13][14]

Reception

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It is considered a hit in Japan; its seven volumes have sold over 7 million copies.[15] It ranked fourth on a 2017 poll of the "strongest" gag manga to ever appear in Weekly Shōnen Jump, conducted by Goo Ranking website.[16]

Jonathan Bethune, in Publishers Weekly said, "Usuta's writing consistently avoids the obvious gags found in typical shonen comedy and instead challenges readers with its clever satire and wit."[1] Commenting on the anime adaptation, Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network called the series Akitaro Daichi's magnum opus in terms of "ridiculous, spastic comedy."[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ It was serialized in the magazine from the 52nd issue of 1997 (cover date December 11)[5] to the 40th issue of 1997 (cover date September 15).[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Bethune, Jonathan (July 6, 2010). "Found in Translation: Kyosuke Usuta's 'Sexy Commmando Gaiden' and Kenta Tsuchida's 'Lock On!'". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h セクシーコマンドー外伝　すごいよ!! マサルさん 1 (in Japanese). Bandai Namco Filmworks. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  3. ^ a b 笑いが止まらない！ ギャグアニメのおすすめランキングTop10. Livedoor News (in Japanese). December 25, 2015. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  4. ^ うすた京介漫画賞：集英社が新たなマンガ賞創設　「マサルさん」作者が審査委員長. Mantan Web (in Japanese). July 29, 2016. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  5. ^ 週刊少年ジャンプ 1995年52号. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  6. ^ 週刊少年ジャンプ 1997年40号. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  7. ^ ジャンプコミックス＞＞すごいよ！！マサルさん. s-book.com (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on June 5, 2003. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  8. ^ 懐かし「ワンダフル」枠の名作アニメ3選。有名声優を発掘した重要作も…！. Magmix (in Japanese). June 24, 2021. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  9. ^ Dennison, Kara (January 24, 2022). "More Shonen Jump Anime for When You've Caught up to Everything Else". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  10. ^ セクシーコマンドー外伝 すごいよ!! マサルさん. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  11. ^ Toole, Michael (April 21, 2013). "Coming Up Short - The Mike Toole Show". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  12. ^ アニメ『セクシーコマンドー外伝 すごいよ!! マサルさん』のOP曲。PENICILLIN最大のヒット曲『ロマンス』はココがすごいよ！【YouTubeでアニソン】. Famitsu (in Japanese). July 30, 2022. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  13. ^ セクシーコマンドー外伝　すごいよ!! マサルさん 2 (in Japanese). Bandai Namco Filmworks. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  14. ^ セクシーコマンドー外伝　すごいよ!! マサルさん 3 (in Japanese). Bandai Namco Filmworks. Archived from the original on November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  15. ^ うすた京介 meets "SRS-X3" [Usuta Kyosuke meets "SRS-X3"] (in Japanese). Sony Corporation. Archived from the original on November 21, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  16. ^ Sherman, Jennifer (October 6, 2016). "Dr. Slump Ranks #1 in Top Jump Gag Manga Poll". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  17. ^ Sevakis, Justin (April 3, 2008). "Elf Princess Rane - Buried Treasure". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
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