Smoky B.B.: Research Notes

Tucker:

Title:

• Smoky B.B.

Author(s)

• Writer: Komiyama, Kenta 小宮山 健太（こみやま けんた）
  • Ko-mee-yah-mah, Ken-tah
• Illustrator: Kawada, Yuuya 河田 悠冶（かわだ ゆうや)
  • Kah-wah-dah, Yɯɯ-yah

Characters

• Haimura, Enjirou 灰村 煙爾郎（はいむら えんじろう）
  • High-mɯ-rah, En-jee-row
  • Family name written as “ash village,” personal name written as “smoke person” …once again, very on the nose
• Kazami, Hayata 風見 隼汰（かざみ はやた）
  • Kah-zah-mee, Hah-yah-tah
  • Family name written as “wind-seeing,” personal name written as “falcon-washing”...that “wash” part I’m less confident about, but it seems like a sky/air theme regardless
• Kuhou, Komado 九宝 小窓（くほう こまど）
  • Kɯ-hoe, Ko-mah-dough
  • Family name written as “nine treasures” (referring to the nine players of a baseball team she’s assembling?), personal name written as “little window”
• Kurumada, Kazuto 車田 和登
  • Kɯ-rɯ-ma-dah, Kah-zɯ-toe
  • Family name written as car-ricefield
• Kuhou, Daimon 九宝 大門（くほう だいもん)
  • Kɯ-hoe, Dye-moan
  • Personal name sounds sorta like “diamond,” right? …but it just means “big gate”
• Kitazato, Ayumu 北里 歩（きたざと あゆむ）
  • Kee-tah-zah-toe, Ah-yɯ-mɯ
• Bonda, Ikki 梵田 一旗（ぼんだ いっき）
  • Bone-dah, Ee-っkee
  • (I used っ to symbolize a momentary pause before pronouncing the following consonant, since there’s no way of writing that with Roman letters)
  • The translation lists his name as “Honda,” but as far as I can tell, that is a mistake! Japanese sources and from what I can tell from a kanji dictionary, this dude’s name is Bonda, not Honda!
• Muro, Shouhei
  • Mɯ-ro, Show-hey
• Sakamaki, Tsutomu 坂巻 力（さかまき つとむ）
  • Sah-kah-mah-kee, Tsɯ-toe-mɯ
• Mikami, Shun
  • Mee-kah-mee, Shɯn
• Toratani
  • Toe-rah-tah-ni
  • Means “tiger valley” because of course it has to be that literal
• Seou Kotobuki
  • Seh-oh, Ko-toe-bɯ-kee

Other

• Koushien
  • Koh-shee-en

MaxyBee

Manga Details: Smoky B.B

• Writer: Komiyama Kenta
  • Notable people they were an assistant for
    • None Known
  • Notable people they had as assistants
    • None Known
  • Other works
    • Kikai-banashi Hanasaka Ikkyu (2011, 15 chaps/2 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) w/ Yuuya Kawada
      • A clever young monk engages in games of wits alongside the mysterious ayakashi Karma, at first to defeat him, and then to save him. A golden future cup-winning series that was serialised all on its own, giving us hope of a hit at the time. What fools we were
• Artist: Yuuya Kawada
  • Notable people they were an assistant for
    • None Known
  • Notable people they had as assistants
    • Gen Oosuka (Golem Hearts, Doron Dororon)
    • Yusaku Shibata (ZIPMAN!, Yoakemono)
      • I think Shibata is officially our assistant MVP for this podcast. Man’s worked everywhere!
    • Atsushi Nakamura (AGRAVITY BOYS)
    • Kentaro Satou (Magical Girl Site)
    • Keisuke Gotou (One Operation Joker)
  • Other assistants that are notable but not really worth mentioning on the podcast:
    • Ryuusen Kumada (A Love That Begins After Stepping on a Mine, Missile Bird)
    • Hirokazu Yasuhara (Miss Healer is Acting a Little Strange)
    • Toshinori Yano (From Misunderstandings to Marriage)
    • Junichi Tarutani (Beast Saga)
    • Tatsuyuki Maeda (professional assistant with a youtube channel)
  • Other works
    • Kikai-banashi Hanasaka Ikkyu (2011, 15 chaps/2 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) w/Kenta Komiyama
      • Hey, do you remember earlier, when you read about this Golden Future Cup-winning failure? This is still that.
• Publishing
  • Run Dates:
    • May 27, 2013 to September 09, 2013
  • Series it replaced
• Rookie Policewoman Kiruko by Masahiro Hirakata (3 vols, flop, SHONEN FLOP EPISODE 88)
• Series that replaced it
  • Hachi -Tokyo 23-ku- by Yoshiyuki Nishi (3 vols, flop)
• That's the Bokke-san author
• Series that started at the same time as it
  • Muto Black by Daijiro Nonoue (2 vols, flop)
    • That's The Last Saiyuki's author
• Chapters/Volumes:
  • 15 chapters/2 vols

Manga Itself / Misc thoughts

• I (that is to say, Maxy Bee, researcher and trivia monkey) once wrote a multi-part history of baseball in Weekly Shonen Jump, declaring this the beacon of hope for the genre moving forward. DIDN'T WORK OUT THOUGH, DID IT?
• Volume extras include:
  • Very basic character profiles
  • One-panel comedy bits after some chapters
  • Character sketches of the girls
  • Full-page bonus comics
  • A full-size epilogue/prologue chapter
  • Illustration Gallery
  • Concept art
• There is so little information out there about these creators, who’ve basically disappeared since, that it’s actually a bit sad. Thankfully, friend of the show and former guest Andy’s Islands of Patch Café, Mankin-trad, and (most relevant to this) Manga Properties pulled through MAJORLY for me with a collection of author comments from the magazine run of this series, as well as the author avatars featured earlier. I’ve linked it here but among other things we learn:
  • Yuuya Kawada’s grandparents gave him some locally made juice during a visit
  • Kenta Komiyama has muscle pain
  • Kenta Komiyama enjoyed Masato Sakai’s performance in the TV drama Legal High
  • One of Yuuya Kawada’s friends got married during this serialisation
  • Kenta Komiyama thinks baby geckos are cute