Manga in the 80's Pt. 2

“what did I get and read?” was of course sorted out (picked & chosen) by individuals from the comic-book the companies themselves or as in the case of Toren Smith who formed a company solely to translate the cream of the crop of Japanese Manga, and in doing so showed the variety of art styles and that of the Japanese story telling.

[I'm sure you all know how fast the amount of Japanese manga was (and still is) printed in Japan.]

With the ubiquitous access to the World Wide Web millions of manga comic-books are at people's fingertips translated or not, how are the late 90's and 2000's generations of fans and beyond find what is good rather than mediocre Fan-service with the art style made popular by CLAMP studios that is so prominent today?

With the post war (second World War) generations of manga artists and storytellers retiring or no longer with us, and with many translated works are still out of print, I hope you will still accompany me in rediscovering the time-capsule when all was new and exciting! 

So from the violent feudal world of “Lone Wolf and Cub” to “Pineapple Army”, not like the most popular genres for a Western audience whose diet of Super Hero vigilantes are more common.

"Pineapple Army" introduces us to “Operation One – Goshi: The Preceptor” published in December 1988 by Viz Comics as a Biweekly mini-series spanning 10 issues. Written by Kazuya Kudo as a side-work alongside the very popular manga “Yawara” and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, who also illustrated “Mai, the Psychic girl” was originally Published and serialized by Shogakukan from 1986 to 1988.

A police detective is run down and kill by an unknown assailant leaving 4 daughters to fend for themselves in New York City and a crime boss threatening to kill them! Jed Goshi takes the job not of a bodyguard but of an instructor, to get the girls combat ready! He's ex-military, a man who trains others to defend themselves on the condition that he never gets involved, but he can not stay detached and uninvolved for very long. You might say equalizes the odds of his threatened clients!!


[That's December 1988 to April 1989 for the USA & UK],
[As I have so few of these comic-books, I can not at this time express an opinion on the work as a whole.]