Gorillaman

fans may be familiar with ‘Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad,’ Harold Sakuishi’s long running series about a rock band. Prior to ‘Beck’s’ start in 1999, however, Sakuishi had already put out three separate series, their earlier styles almost unidentifiable to his more modern hit. In 1988, his debut work ‘Gorillaman’ began in Young Magazine, during a period when delinquent youth, or “yanki,” manga were a major subgenre within boys’ and mens’ anthologies. like many yanki manga, it never received a TV anime adaption.Gorillaman did have an OVA. The series opens with a tough-looking, suit-clad man walking down the street, when suddenly a bucket of water falls from aconstruction site and hits the passerby flat on the head. As workmen rush to his side, we catch our first close look at the protagonist, whose facial features seem rather exaggerated. Was it a result of the accident, as I initially thought? No, as it turns out, his face just happens to resemble that of a gorilla’s, hence the title. In fact, we quickly learn that he isn’t a salaryman or a gangster, but rather a student named Ikedo , who is transferring into Shiratake High School. Nicknamed “Gorillaman”. Ikedo starts things off on the wrong foot just by being his usual self. He is completely mute, which frustrates faculty while making him a target of bullying among some students. While walking to his seat, Ikedo is tripped by Fujimoto, a more traditional looking yanki student who becomes a sort of secondary protagonist for the story. The charismatic and sociable Fujimoto leads the “Fujimoto Corps,” a gang of various other fellow delinquents within the school. In many ways, Fujimoto fits the role of the goofy, good-spirited yanki protagonist, Fujimoto tends to play the role of protagonist to a degree, with conflicts and romances centered mostly around him, while Ikedo falls into the background as seemingly just another follower.