Nekowappa!: Research Notes

Tucker

Author:

• Matsumoto, Na’oya 松本 直也（まつもと なおや）
  • Mah-tsɯ-mo-toe, Nah-oh-yah
  • His personal name is pretty difficult for native English speakers. To make it even more apparent at a glance, I added in an apostrophe to emphasize the fact that the “a” and “o” are part of separate syllables! Resist the urge to say the English word “now”!
  • Remember that there are diphthongs whatsoever in Japanese! More info in the AE/OI/OE/AI/AU, etc. section below!

Title:

• Nekowappa! ねこわっぱ!
  • Means “cat-child”
  • Neh-ko-wah-っpah
  • I used the character っ from Japanese because there is literally no way to represent with English letters a beat of silence!
  • If the beat of silence thing weirds you out too much you can ignore it, but it’s not too hard to get a grasp on (and it also will improve your pronunciation of Italian, since “long” plosive consonants work the same way in that language, too!)
  • Basically, during the “moment” of silence, you’re building up air pressure that is released out of your mouth when you pronounce the consonant sound (that’s why it is technically an “explosive” consonant, but linguists tend to avoid that term because it sounds like you have a bomb in your mouth)
  • An aside: The opposite kind of plosive, an implosive consonant, is the technical term for the “clicks” common in many languages in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Characters:

• Tama
  • Tah-mah
  • I think it’s just supposed to sound like a cat name
• Oyabin
  • Oh-yah-been
  • Comes from the word 親分 (oyabun), meaning “boss.” Changing the syllable at the end from “bun” to “bin” gives it a cuter, kiddier feel (think of “Shigechi” from Jojo Part 4 whose real name was Shigeo)
• Torosuke トロ助
  • Toe-roe-s’kay
  • Names ending in “-suke” are almost always pronounced with the whispered vowel effect, making the “u” vowel sound almost totally drop out. (think of the pronunciations of “Josuke” and “Sasuke”)
• Kitsunebi, Kibimaro 狐火キビマロ（きつねび キビマロ）
  • Key-tsɯ-neh-bee, Key-bee-mah-roe
  • Kitsunebi is the Japanese term for will-o'-the-wisps (small fires seen in the wilderness at night)
  • Literally translates in Japanese to “fox-fire.”
  • Supposedly kitsunebi occurs when fox yokai get married?
• Rikka

Other:

• Tenbatsu 天罰:
  • “Heaven’s punishment” or “divine punishment”
  • Ten-bots[ɯ]
  • When the syllable “tsɯ” occurs at the end of a word in Japanese, in quick speech it usually receives the “whispered vowel” effect, meaning that the vowel sound is very quietly pronounced, to the point it often is not heard. So, a very accurate way of pronouncing this would sound very similar to saying the English phrase “ten bots”!
• Nekomata Shrine
• Kitsunebi Shrine 狐火
  • Kee-tsɯ-neigh-bee
  • Kitsunebi is the Japanese term for will-o'-the-wisps (small fires seen in the wilderness at night)
  • Literally translates in Japanese to “fox-fire.”
  • Supposedly kitsunebi occurs when fox yokai get married?
• Gouka Kinrran
• “Busaiku” (不細工)
  • It’s on Tama’s backpack in Roman letters. It means “poorly-made”/”ugly”

Maxybee

Author: Naoya Matsumoto

• Author twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/ringo_inuS
• Prior works:
  • Nekowappa! is Matsumoto’s debut work
• Later works:
  • Pochi Kuro (2014-2015, 4 volumes, 43 chapters, Shonen Jump Plus)
    • A launch title for Shueisha’s digital platform Shonen Jump Plus. Kuro and Leo, a pair of demons, accidentally fish up a human girl, and after failing to cook her Kuro falls in love, names her Pochi, and they plan to get her back to the human world. (Preview and Bookwalker Japan links HERE: https://bookwalker.jp/series/24501/list/ ) (Series is fully scanlated)
      • Leo is a sort of frankensteiny cat with a floating head, very much in the same design as the cats in Nekowappa!
  • Kaiju no.8 (2020-present, 9+ volumes, Shonen Jump Plus)
    • A 30-something working for a clean-up crew specialising in the aftermath of Kaiju attacks lives his dream and becomes a member of Japan’s defense force after being transformed into one himself and pissing out his nipples. Chaos ensues. Anime announced for 2024. (English release on Shonen Jump app, Manga Plus app, and in volumes from Viz Media. More here: https://www.viz.com/search?search=Kaiju+No.+8 )
• Who they were an assistant for:
  • Toshiaki Iwashiro (on Psyren)
    • Part of a known crew including Yuki Tabata, Ryuhei Tamura, and Teruaki Mizuno.
  • Ryuhei Tamura (on Beelzebub) (you know for Hard-Boiled Cop & Dolphin)
    • Matsumoto designed the character Hatakeyama, a former volleyball club player who now looks like a cat. Check out chapter 70 of the manga to see THAT. Wait, can I insert images here?

(Holy shit, this changes everything)

• Shouei Ishioka (on Belmonde le Visiteur) (FLOP ELIGIBLE)
  • Confirmed in-volume.
• Teruaki Mizuno (on Metallica Metaluca)
  • Confirmed in-volume.
• Yoshi Sawai (Shinsetsu BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo)
  • BONUS INFO. Did you know that English-speaking manga fans just make HUGE leaps of logic and don’t back it up in any meaningful way? WELL, let me tell you, for years people were CERTAIN, UNFLAPPABLY SO, that Naoya Matsumoto was Yoshio Sawai’s WIFE. This was so spread around that places still report this as fact, even though it is not, and has NEVER BEEN true. Even Italian language wikipedia still reports this for whatever reason. Naoya Matsumoto is simply a man who worked under Sawai. Naoya is (usually) a boy’s name, which should have been a clue, honestly. I’d give you some fun citations to follow this up with but for the true experience you need to spend all your time on forums like Mangahelpers and Arlong park through the 00s and never question anything ever.
• Notable assistants:
  • None that I can confirm.

Publishing

• Series it replaced:
  • Kagijin by Yasuki Tanaka (Summer Time Rendering)
    • It’s about keys. FLOP ELIGIBLE.
• Series that replaced it:
  • Lock On! by Kenta Tsuchida
    • It’s about photography. FLOP ELIGIBLE.
• Series in the same serialization round:
  • Shinseiki Idol Densetsu Kanata Seven Change by Shuichi Aso (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)
    • It’s about idols.

Manga Itself

• Six word summary: We have Dr. Slump at home
• There’s a lot of stuff about Tama (the way she runs, her unstoppable strength and straightforward naïveté) that evokes Arale from Dr. Slump. Not a rip-off, but close enough that you can see the direct inspiration.
• Chapters 2-4 were translated by a friend of mine back in 2009. Not really manga trivia, but I was surprised seeing his name in the credits of the scan. In the years since he’s become an excellent translator and the internet’s foremost expert on Weekly Shonen Sunday.
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