“Keep giving us polon”: Tetsuo Hara’s message to the authors of Ichigo Aji

The first volume of Hokuto no Ken Ichigo Aji opens with a fake reader mail page. Tetsuo Hara appears as just another reader, living in Musashino, mangaka, fifty-two years old, with a photo caption introducing him as “little Tetsuo Hara, who would like to read a slightly racier Hokuto no Ken.” The facing page gives the same treatment to scriptwriter Kawata Yushi, second-class soldier of the Ga clan, residing at Ichigo Castle. The text is signed by Hara and reads like Hara, but the whole setup is a joke from start to finish, and it should be read as such.

“Keep giving us polon, seriously and without restraint!”

Hello Kawata Yushi, hello Yukito-imouto. Me, thirty years ago, I was drawing Hokuto no Ken in Weekly Shōnen Jump. My memories have faded quite a bit since then, so when I read Ichigo Aji, I imagine the characters from back then moving around like that, and it makes me laugh.

The stupid gags are what I love the most, the “it’s not that it doesn’t hurt when I get hit!” bit, or the moment where Souther tickles Shû. When he puts on Raoh‘s helmet, I liked that too, he looks like a schoolyard bully. I would have liked to see even more of those gags where you strike a pose only to get knocked down right away. I love gags too, I want to come up with some together with you.

And then the polon (the onomatopoeia for a breast popping out of clothing), that’s the best part. (laughs) The nude scenes are funny. The risqué content was a little weak, I’d like to see it step up. After the polon, move on to the peron (lifting the fabric), then go all the way to the aran (the “oh my!” at the result), something like that. (laughs) For the readers, not for me, I’d like you to take it up another notch.

Then, the art! The imitation is extremely precise, but I wondered if my art was really that bad. Then I go back and reread my own work, and I think yeah, it was pretty much like that. (laughs) That said, you could draw it a bit classier.

You only go after Souther, but there are plenty of funnier characters, so go ahead and don’t hold back. On the Nanto side, there’s Shin, Yuda, the Goshasei… let’s see, and then… that’s about it. (laughs) Try every combination. The gags need to go even further into absurdity. But me, I burst out laughing. (laughs) Kawata Yushi, Yukito-imouto, if you’re going to do it, act like fools as if your life depended on it!

Tetsuo Hara, Musashino, Tokyo, mangaka, fifty-two years old.

Reading note

The three onomatopoeia in the text, ポローン, ペローン, アラーン, have no English equivalent and are kept in transcription. The “it’s not that it doesn’t hurt when I get hit!” quote is a line from the manga parodying Souther. The left-hand page, signed by Kawata Yushi, tells how his mother threw out his Hokuto no Ken volumes twice, so he ended up buying the complete series three times: it is not by Hara.

Sources

• Hokuto no Ken Ichigo Aji, Volume 1, comments page.