Champagne: Research Notes

Tucker

Author:

• Jou, Araki 城 アラキ（じょう アラキ）
  • “Joe, Ah-rah-kee”

Characters:

• Sawagi
  • Sah-wah-ghee
• Sakiyama, Ema
  • Sah-kee-yah-mah, Eh-mah
• Sakaki, Junsuke
  • Sah-sah-kee, Jun-s’kay
• Rin
  • Reen
• Kurebayashi
  • Kuh-reh-bah-yah-shee
• Tajima, Tamie
  • Tah-jee-mah, Tah-mee-eh
• Kizaki, Ryuuichi
  • Key-zah-key, Ryuu-ee-chee
• Kojima
  • Koe-jee-ma
  • (psst…the way we English speakers normally pronounce the name of the famous game designer is pretty bad. Remember, Japanese has no stressed syllables, so try not to say “Ko-JEE-muh”
• Mishima
  • “mee-shee-mah”
• Tokunaga, Masayoshi
  • “Toe-kuh-nah-ga, Mah-sah-yo-shee”
• Imai, Toshimitsu
  • “Ee-mah-ee, toe-shee-mee-tsu”
• Kuwahara, Kousuke
  • Kuh-wah-hah-rah, Koe-s’kay
• Mihara, Kazuki
  • “Mee-ha-rah, Kah-z(u)-key”
  • The “zu” likely gets the whispered vowel effect, so in fast conversation is can sound more like “Kaz’ki”

Other:

• Dom Pérignon
  • “dõ- pey-ree-nyõ”
  • Named after 17th-Century French monk Dom Pierre Pérignon (the “Dom” is a title, like “don” in Italian and Spanish and “dominus” in Latin) who pioneered many modern wine-making techniques, including the use of corks in bottles and preserving carbonation. However, the product itself has no direct connection to the historical figure.
  • See notes about nasalized vowels in the French pronunciation section below!
• Moët et Chandon
  • “Mo-eh, eh, shã-dõ”
  • It’s what the Killer Queen keeps in a pretty cabinet as she says “Let them eat cake” just like Marie Antoinette
  • Yes, the first word is pronounced pretty much exactly the same as the Japanese word “moe.” Deal with it.
  • The diacritics on the e in Moët are there just to let you know for certain that it’s the start of a new syllable rather than part of the one that came before
• Veuve Clicquot
  • “Vøv, klee-ko”
  • See “EU” (ø) section of notes below for more info on this vowel sound.
  • In French, written qu is pretty much always just pronounced as a “k” sound. The “u” is purely historical. (pretty much never gets the English “kw” sound)
• Brut
  • “Brüt”
  • This word has an exceptional spelling! The final “t” is actually pronounced! This is pretty uncommon!
  • See notes below about the vowel sound
  • I actually was super confused about how to pronounce this before I looked into it, so I’m glad I can actually order this style of wine if I ever travel to France and not sound like a jackass
  • Means “raw” in French
• Pol Roger
  • “Pole Roe-zhay”
  • Word-final written “er” is usually pronounced as /e/ (“ay”) in French. It’s a historical thing.
• Louis Roederer Cristal
  • Loo-ee, Roe-deh-rare, crease-tahl
  • The “r” at the end is pronounced, because this is a German name! The “oe” was probably originally pronounced as /ø/ (“oe” is another way of writing ö in German), but the family in France just pronounces it as an “oh” sound these days. Apparently. Took me a bit to figure that out.
• Belle Époque
  • “Bell, ay-poke”
• Perrier-Jouët
  • “Pear-yay, zhoo-ay’
  • Again, the diacritic on ë is just telling you clearly that it’s the start of a new syllable
• Amour de Deutz
  • “A-moor de døts”
  • See the “EU” section below for more info on this vowel sound.
  • In the original German, it was probably pronounced more like “doits”
• Heidsieck
  • “Hide-seek” OR “ide-seek” OR “hide-zeek”
  • This one seems to have several acceptable pronunciations, but the first two listed are more common
  • Founder was an ethnic German immigrant from what is modern-day Romania
  • The third pronunciation is how the name would be pronounced originally in German. (“s” at the beginning of syllables of German are almost always pronounced like our “z”)
• Monopole
  • moe-no-pole
• Charles
  • “Sharl”
  • It’s one syllable in French!
• Piper
  • “Pee-pare”
  • Another German name, r at the end gets pronounced
• G.H. Mumm
  • “Moom” (original German pronunciation) OR “müm” (most common French pronunciation)
• Ficelage
  • “Feece-el-ahzh”
• Grognet
  • “grow-nyay”
• Blanc de Noir
  • “Blã deh nwar”
  • “C” is not pronounced (spelling exception for this word…compare to Spanish “blanco”)
• Pinot Noir
  • “Pee-noe nwar”
• Meunier
  • “mø-nyay”
• Blanc de Blanc
  • “Blã deh “Blã”
  • “C” is not pronounced (spelling exception for this word…compare to Spanish “blanco”)
• Chardonnay
  • “Shar-don-nay”
• Sommelier
  • “Some-lyey’
• Liqueur d’Expedition
  • “Lee-kør deks-ped-ee-see-õ”
  • In words ending in “-tion” in French, the “t” is pronounced like an “s” (the spelling is a historical leftover from the Latin ending “-tio”)
• André Clouet
  • “Ã-drey, kloo-ay”
• Brut Nature
  • “Brüt nah-tür”
• Taittinger
  • Teh-tɛ̃-zhay”
  • The “ɛ̃” is pronounced like the “e” in the English word “bet” but nasalized
• Bollinger
  • “Bol-lɛ̃-zhay”
• Vieilles Vignes Françaises
  • “vee-ay(y) vɛ̃ɲ frã-sez”
  • This is very difficult to pronounce for a non-French speaker. Just listen to my sound file if you need to say it
  • The “es” at the end is not pronounced unless the following word in the sentence begins with a vowel
• Phylloxera
  • “Fill-OX-era”
  • The failure of wine/brandy production in the turn of the century is also what contributed to the popularity of absinthe, btw (and its banning for most of the latter 20th century, since wine producers didn’t want the competition once grape production bounced back, so they made up a bunch of misinformation about the “dangers” of absinthe that persist to this day, even after its re-legalization)
• Provignage
  • “Pro-vɛ̃-nyazh”
• Krug
• Clos d’Ambonnay
• Salon
• Reims
  • Rɛ̃s
  • Extremely old, exceptional spelling
  • Sounds a little close to the English word “rince”

—-----------------------------------------------------------

NOTES ABOUT FRENCH PRONUNCIATION IN GENERAL:

• Nasalized vowels: õ, ã, ɛ̃  ETC. (“on”/”an”/”en”/”om”/”in” etc):
  • I’m using vowels with tildes (squiggly lines above them) to represent nasalized vowels in pronunciations, since we have no way of representing them in the English writing system.
  • Nasalized vowels are produced by simultaneously releasing air through the mouth and the nose while pronouncing the vowel. In French and many other languages, there are many sound pairs where the only difference between vowel sounds is whether it’s nasalized or not.
  • This distinction is kinda starting to appear in English, specifically in African American Vernacular English. Think about the difference between the phrases “go do it” and “we gon’ do it”
  • In French writing, if a vowel  is followed by “n” or “m” without another vowel sound immediately following it (either in the same word or in the following word), the “n”/”m” is not pronounced, but the vowel becomes its nasalized counterpart.
  • A long time ago before the French writing system got codified, these consonants were always pronounced, and the writing system preserves that. When the consonants at the end of many words/syllables dropped out, the nasalized effect the consonants had on the preceding vowels remained, which is why nasal vowels are denoted by the vowel followed by “n” or occasionally “m.”
  • The vowels with the tildes I’m using to symbolize nasalized vowels come from Portuguese, which also differentiates between nasal and oral versions of vowels, but the Portuguese writing system is nice enough to have specific symbols dedicated to nasals. The International Phonetic Alphabet has also borrowed this convention from written Portuguese. Thank you, Portuguese!
• “GN”
  • These letters next to each other usually represent the consonant /ɲ/, which you can think of as being a “ny” sound
  • Similar sounds exists in other Romance languages: in Italian it’s also written as “gn” (think “gnocchi”), in Spanish it’s written as ñ (think “jalapeño”), and in Portuguese it’s “nh” (think “piranha”...though we English speakers ignore the fact that the last syllable should sound like “nya”)
• “EU” (ø)
  • The letters “eu” next to each other in French usually denote a vowel sound that exists in French, German, and other languages, but not English. In pronunciations, I’m gonna denote it as “ø,” which is the IPA symbol for it (comes from the Norwegian writing system, I believe).
  • This is a mid front rounded vowel. The tongue is in pretty much the exact same position as in the vowel /e/ (think “bay”/”fate”), but pronounced with closed, rounded lips. You can practice making this sound by pronouncing a constant /e/ vowel and rounding and unrounding the lips back and forth.
  • In case you’re wondering, this is the same vowel sound represented in the German writing system as “ö.”
  • I actually still have a lot of difficulty pronouncing this myself, and my German exchange partner even made fun of me for it. You’ll get points for getting close, tbh
• “U” (ü):
  • The vowel sound written as “u” by itself in French (as opposed to “ou”) is actually a vowel sound that no longer exists in English, but does in many other languages
  • This is a high front rounded vowel. The tongue is in the same place as when it pronounces the vowel /i/ (think “beet”), but with rounded, contracted lips.
  • The IPA symbol for this vowel is /y/, but that is pretty confusing at first glance for an English speaker, so I decided to use the symbol “ü”, which is how this vowel is written in German.
  • I find this a lot easier to get consistently than /ø/

MaxyBee

Writer: Araki Joh

• Two notes on the author:
  • Araki Joh is a prolific author. Insanely so, having written some 20+ series since his debut in 1994, most of which are under his the Araki Joh name (he’s used other pseudonyms over the years too). He’s most known for titles centreing around hospitality, be it food service, bartending, hotel service, and more. I PROBABLY shouldn’t list all of his works, but will try to be clever about it and lump sequels and spiritual successors together.
  • Araki Joh has worked with A LOT of artists with flops under their belt, and has successfully rehabbed a few into successes, including infamous failures like KIYU (Katsunori Matsui), also-ran mediocrities like Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts, former Naruto assistant), and rough diamonds that just needed another shot like Yukinori Kawaguchi (Hoop Men, now artist on a popular Tokyo Revengers spin-off). This man is the flop whisperer.
• Prior works:
  • The Sommelier series: about wine experts
    • Sommelier (1996-1999, 9 vols, Manga Allman)
      • with Shinobu Kaitani (Liar Game, One Outs)
    • Shin Sommelier: Shun’s Wine (1999-2002, 8 vols, Manga Allman)
      • with Mikio Shimizu
    • Sommelière (2006-2012, 21 vols, Business Jump)
      • with Katsunori Matsui (Hanakaku -Last Girl Standing-, Number 10, Rocket de Tsukinukero)
  • The Bartender series: about… well, bartending, innit
    • Bartender (2004-2011, 21 vols, Super Jump)
      • with Kenji Nagatomo (Champagne)
    • Bartender à Paris (2012-2013, 6 vols, Grand Jump)
    • Bartender à Tokyo (2013-2016, 8 vols, Grand Jump)
    • Bartender 6stp (2016-2019, 4 vols, Grand Jump Premium)
      • ALL with Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts)
  • Other notable works with failed Shonen Jump artists:
    • Airport (1999-2001, 7 vols, Super Jump) about airport staff
      • with Takashi Noguchi (Ryuudo no Shigu)
    • Hotelier (2018-2020, 2 vols, Grand Jump Mucha) about hotel staff
      • with Yukinori Kawaguchi (Hoop Men)
    • Garçon (2015-2017, 5 vols, Grand Jump) about waiting
      • with Ryu Horie (former assistant to Kohei Horikoshi)
    • Niragi Kioumaru (2004, 5 volumes, Young Jump) about a swordsmith
      • with Shin’ichi Sakamoto (Mortal Commando Guy)
        • has since gone on to do Kokou no Hito, Innocent, and #DRCL, all notable hits, so a BIG name redeemed under Araki
  • And many, MANY more!! TOO MANY MORE! DO LESS!

Artist: Kenji Nagatomo

• Prior works:
  • Hot Milk (2000, 2 vols, Young Jump) FLOP ELIGIBLE
    • Fella from a bodyguard service gets hired to look after a mafia boss’ daughter, who runs a cafe and gets into constant trouble with her bubbly ways and freakish athletic abilities.
  • Bartender (2004-2011, 21 vols, Super Jump)
    • with Araki Joh. Watch the anime. This was big stuff, and the reason the two paired together again for Champagne is how big an impact this had on readers of the more mature Jump magazines.
• Notable people they were an assistant for:
  • Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi BLUES, ROOKIES, Beshari Gurashi)
    • Assisted on ROOKIES
• Notable people they had as assistants:
  • Unknown

Publishing

• Series it replaced:
  • Nothing, really.
• Series that replaced it:
  • Nothing. Grand Jump is weird like that.
• You may be thinking that it’s weird that nothing really ended or began because of Champagne, but Grand Jump is a strange magazine for businessmen who are horny, hungry, and long for the days of their youth. It runs all sorts of stuff irregularly, and if something wraps there’s no guarantee of anything replacing it. As such, cancellations are rare.
• Published as part of a spring campaign in 2018 that aimed to launch FORTY new series across all of Shueisha’s manga magazines. Series included in this campaign are Hakyuu Hoshin Engi, We Are Magical Boys, Olympia Kyklos, a returning from hiatus Terra Formars, World’s End Harem Fantasia, and many, MANY more.

Manga Itself

• This series, despite being some 15 chapters, took almost a full year to publish, having to take frequent breaks from the regular twice-monthly pace of Grand Jump. This probably related to its early conclusion more than any other factors, as GJ is famously patient compared to its sister magazines.
• Araki Joh’s series all tend to use the formula of the taste, origins, or deeper meaning behind a drink resolving personal dramas on an episodic basis, so this is more of the same winning strategy.