Ashinano-san, you Magnificent Bastard!
I got out of bed to write this, after one of those nodding-off-to-sleep epiphanies that creep up on you.
I finally, by various and devious machinations, got hold of magazine raws of the 48th and final chapter of the manga Kabu no Isaki. It follows Isaki around as he drives through town on his motorbike -- in a reprise of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou he even takes a picture of it. He's very proud of his bike, it's clear. The series comes to an end at this point, trailing off in a typical Ashinano fashion, but it's been a fun journey if you like that sort of thing as I do.
It was only while nodding off tonight and thinking generally about the story and the final chapter in particular which is entitled "カブとイサキ" or "Cub and Isaki" that it suddenly struck me that the Piper Super Cub that features so much in the manga didn't actually belong to Isaki -- it was Shiro-san's plane after all. So why was the series entitled "カブのイサキ" ("Isaki's Cub")?
And then it hit me. Five years and more in the making, 48 chapters, six tanko volumes (the last one will be released in mid-January 2013), over 900 pages of exquisitely-drawn manga and it's all a joke. In fact, it's a pun and a bilingual pun at that.
Here is an image from the final chapter of Isaki and his Cub. A Honda Super Cub in fact.
Now you know this too, and you can never un-know it. Bwahahahaha!
I should have seen it coming a long time back. YKK had Alpha's scooter and Nai's AT-6 Texan aircraft; Ashinano-san is known for his interest in light aviation planes and odd small-capacity motorbikes as well as a quirky sense of humour. Never mind, he won't get me NEXT time...
I finally, by various and devious machinations, got hold of magazine raws of the 48th and final chapter of the manga Kabu no Isaki. It follows Isaki around as he drives through town on his motorbike -- in a reprise of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou he even takes a picture of it. He's very proud of his bike, it's clear. The series comes to an end at this point, trailing off in a typical Ashinano fashion, but it's been a fun journey if you like that sort of thing as I do.
It was only while nodding off tonight and thinking generally about the story and the final chapter in particular which is entitled "カブとイサキ" or "Cub and Isaki" that it suddenly struck me that the Piper Super Cub that features so much in the manga didn't actually belong to Isaki -- it was Shiro-san's plane after all. So why was the series entitled "カブのイサキ" ("Isaki's Cub")?
And then it hit me. Five years and more in the making, 48 chapters, six tanko volumes (the last one will be released in mid-January 2013), over 900 pages of exquisitely-drawn manga and it's all a joke. In fact, it's a pun and a bilingual pun at that.
Here is an image from the final chapter of Isaki and his Cub. A Honda Super Cub in fact.
Now you know this too, and you can never un-know it. Bwahahahaha!
I should have seen it coming a long time back. YKK had Alpha's scooter and Nai's AT-6 Texan aircraft; Ashinano-san is known for his interest in light aviation planes and odd small-capacity motorbikes as well as a quirky sense of humour. Never mind, he won't get me NEXT time...