Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo! Masaru-san
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga
turned anime
that enjoys a large cult following in Japan.
It was the first series written by Kyosuke Usuta
, and was one of the first "gag/nonsense" manga which have become popular in the recent decade in Japanese publications. The manga (79 stories in total) appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump
from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, it was turned into an animation by the Japanese network TBS and ran 48, 7 minute episodes as part of the television show block "Wonderful." The anime follows the first 48 chapters of the manga nearly word for word, for the dialogue used in the series and the scenes drawn were lifted directly from the manga panels. It is mostly unknown outside Japan, because the humor relies heavily on the Japanese language
and knowledge of the culture, but it does have fans in other countries. Jonathan Bethune, in Publishers Weekly
said, "Usuta’s writing consistently avoids the obvious gags found in typical shonen comedy and instead challenges readers with its clever satire
and wit."
Neither the anime nor the manga have been licensed for distribution outside of Japan.
High School's extracurricular "Sexy Commando
Club" consists of 5-6 male members including the Principal, a female manager, and a small mysterious pet. The strange art of Sexy Commando (which extends back to Japan's Muromachi period) is a martial one; however, instead of focusing on how to defeat an opponent with physical force, the art focuses on how to distract the opponent to the point he's unable to fight. There are many techniques, though the Club tends to favor the unzipping of the trousers (Elize no Yuuutsu).
The various techniques used by Masaru are all based on the "Elize no Yuutsu" move. This move involves ominously voicing "Ahh" while unzipping the trousers. The trousers can be pulled down, or an object pulled from the trousers. Sometimes twinkling eyes are also part of the technique. After the "Elize no Yuutsu," the options are endless. Masaru's first attack (the "Love Me Do") in the manga involved pulling down the trousers and then walking like a baby chick.
Another "Elize" based technique involved a flower blooming through the zipper, summoning forth a cloud of butterflies. Fuumin himself performed the "Elize" and then pulled dentures from his pants, commenting that his grandmother had lost them last year. The move was somewhat less successful than Masaru's. Some other schools with Sexy Commando Clubs incorporate other types of moves. A Samba High School student's move, called "After School Campus," consisted of putting both arms up, shaking the hips, and saying "Ufuuuuun" in a sexy manner.
. Sakakibara Nobuyuki (or during his sexy mate years "Violence Nobu-chan") is one of the greatest Sexy Mates ever to fight in the Sexy Commando Tournament, winning 6 years in a row. The tournament hall, like Masaru's house, is covered in cloth.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
turned anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
that enjoys a large cult following in Japan.
It was the first series written by Kyosuke Usuta
Kyosuke Usuta
is a prominent manga writer well known for working in the anthology Weekly Shonen Jump. Primarily a gag-manga writer who creates strange characters in normal, realistic surroundings, his two best known works are Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo!! Masaru-san and Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar.-External links:*...
, and was one of the first "gag/nonsense" manga which have become popular in the recent decade in Japanese publications. The manga (79 stories in total) appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump
Weekly Shonen Jump
is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, it was turned into an animation by the Japanese network TBS and ran 48, 7 minute episodes as part of the television show block "Wonderful." The anime follows the first 48 chapters of the manga nearly word for word, for the dialogue used in the series and the scenes drawn were lifted directly from the manga panels. It is mostly unknown outside Japan, because the humor relies heavily on the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and knowledge of the culture, but it does have fans in other countries. Jonathan Bethune, in Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
said, "Usuta’s writing consistently avoids the obvious gags found in typical shonen comedy and instead challenges readers with its clever satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and wit."
Neither the anime nor the manga have been licensed for distribution outside of Japan.
Background story
WakameWakame
, Undaria pinnatifida, or Miyeok in Korean, is a sea vegetable, or edible seaweed. It has a subtly sweet flavour and is most often served in soups and salads....
High School's extracurricular "Sexy Commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
Club" consists of 5-6 male members including the Principal, a female manager, and a small mysterious pet. The strange art of Sexy Commando (which extends back to Japan's Muromachi period) is a martial one; however, instead of focusing on how to defeat an opponent with physical force, the art focuses on how to distract the opponent to the point he's unable to fight. There are many techniques, though the Club tends to favor the unzipping of the trousers (Elize no Yuuutsu).
Characters
- Before finding the "Sexy Commando Guide Book" and venturing on a hermit-like three month vacation from school, Masaru was a new transfer student to Wakame High. After enrolling, he joined and defeated all members of all martial arts clubs in the school (Karate, Judo, etc.) He has tremendous strength, and a tremendous lack of common sense and understanding of social skills to go with it. He created the Sexy Commando Club after the Karate Club lost all of its members and therefore faced cancellation. He almost always wears blue jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and two golden, metallic rings on his shoulders that he "found" (the rings certainly seem to be extraterrestrial, because Masaru assaulted two aliens that came to reclaim them). The rings also create instantaneous hair growth and interfere with electronic displays (one cash register displayed "Help me" and an electronic scale displayed "Lardbutt" when the rings were near). He loves mustaches, giving strange nicknames, and drawing on the faces of those he has defeated with permanent marker; he often writes the character 肉 (niku,meat) on the foreheads of defeated opponents (this is one of several references in the show to the long-running manga "Kinnikuman"). He is the club's chief and created the club's song, rules, and symbol mark. In his childhood, Masaru labelled himself as a "Shōjo Commando" but after his father's efforts to change his son, Masaru decided to abandon that title.
- Nickname: Fuumin (フーミン)
- Fuumin is a very normal transfer student to Wakame High School, and is somewhat of a narrator of the story. He also provides the tsukkomiManzaiis a traditional style of stand-up comedy in Japanese culture, which usually involves two performers —a straight man and a funny man —trading jokes at great speed...
to Masaru's boke. A bit short and weak looking, he unwittingly becomes Masaru's friend and a club member. He adores cats.
- Nickname: Machahiko (マチャ彦)
- Machahiko is the tall, blond former chief of the Karate Club. Once Masaru joins the club and defeats all the club members, all students involved in the club quit and Machahiko must recruit new members before the club is disbanded by the school. Masaru then offers to help, and the club is saved, but the name of the club is then changed to the "Sexy Commando Club." Machahiko can be instantly encouraged or discouraged by mentioning that what he does is either "manly" or not.
- Nickname: Kyasharin (キャシャリン) which basically means "living bones".
- Kyasharin has hair dyed brown and is a completely emaciated bag of bones, in part due to his addiction to vitamin supplements. He joins the club in order to become stronger, and for a brief period does become stronger, giving up the vitamins for food and exercise. Unfortunately, his reliance on vitamin supplements continues, and every time he takes them, so does his spasmatic cry "Okure-nisan" (a reference to a Japanese comedian Mr. Okure, who is also extremely thin). He was also the ace of his baseball team in middle school.
- Nickname: Afro-kun (アフロ君 Afuro-kun)
- Afro-kun joins later in the story, and is a semi-minor character. After begging Masaru to make him more "individualistic", Masaru gives this model nerd a perm, and then names him "Afro-kun." An opposing Sexy Commando team member later rips two holes from the afro and his hair assumes a more triangular shape. He is extremely smart, but has no sense with girls.
- Nickname: Susan Fumiko Tanaka (田中スーザンふ美子 Tanaka Sūzan Fumiko)
- Susan is actually Nobuyuki Sakakibara, a former Sexy Mate (Sexy Commando participant) who won the All-Japan Sexy Commando Tournament six years straight. He was formerly a teacher and now is the principal of the school. He suddenly aged when he expended all of his energy pushing the school four inches (102 mm) off its foundation in order to inspire a lazy student (who later became Prime Minister). He dons a red ski mask when he wishes to become Susan (and hide his identity to Masaru).
- Nickname: Moe-moe (もえもえ)
- Moemoe joined the group initially believing that the club was actually the "Mustache Club." She shares Masaru's love for facial hair, as her father died trying to grow the "legendary blue mustache." She is always supportive of the others in the club. She also spends a considerable amount of time with Meso.
- Nickname: Torepan (トレパン)
- Torepan is an annoying P.E. coach that sponsors the Sexy Commando club. He always wears training pants (thus the nickname Torepan), wears aviator sunglasses, and is always tweeting away at a coach's whistle. He one time bets the club's endowment money on a baseball game (Sexy Commando Club vs. Baseball Club) that the Sexy Command Club subsequently wins. The club members pay no attention to him, and consider him a nuisance.
- It is questionable what Meso is, because even though the cute, little yellow munchkin with a blue mustache for eyebrows is the mascot of the team, its zipper (located on his back) has opened various times and various other lifeforms have emerged from inside (the anime's finale has Meteru from Galaxy Express 999Galaxy Express 999is a manga written and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. It is set in a space-faring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer their minds into mechanical bodies, thus achieving practical immortality.The manga won the...
come out). Meso's usual comment is "Mokyu". It has been known to be extremely violent when threatened, and has an impressive set of fangs and claws. It was found on either a spaceship or in a coffee shop called "Dosukoi Kissa Je T'aime," depending on the club members' opinions.
Techniques
Sexy Commando is a martial art. However, in contrast to all other martial arts in where physical assault is required until an enemy is subdued, Sexy Commando techniques are almost always a mental assault. The idea that distraction is the most lethal of all weapons in a fight is central to Sexy Commando. If the enemy cannot act, he loses, no matter what his strength of fighting power might be. One may make a comparison to the boxer who acts like he is becoming too weak to fight. His opponent loses his focus and takes less caution with his opponent. Then the "weak" boxer suddenly unleashes a quick straight punch to the jaw and the combination of the punch with the surprise of being punched leaves the other boxer sprawled on the canvas. This, in a sense, is Sexy Commando.The various techniques used by Masaru are all based on the "Elize no Yuutsu" move. This move involves ominously voicing "Ahh" while unzipping the trousers. The trousers can be pulled down, or an object pulled from the trousers. Sometimes twinkling eyes are also part of the technique. After the "Elize no Yuutsu," the options are endless. Masaru's first attack (the "Love Me Do") in the manga involved pulling down the trousers and then walking like a baby chick.
Another "Elize" based technique involved a flower blooming through the zipper, summoning forth a cloud of butterflies. Fuumin himself performed the "Elize" and then pulled dentures from his pants, commenting that his grandmother had lost them last year. The move was somewhat less successful than Masaru's. Some other schools with Sexy Commando Clubs incorporate other types of moves. A Samba High School student's move, called "After School Campus," consisted of putting both arms up, shaking the hips, and saying "Ufuuuuun" in a sexy manner.
Tournament rules
Sexy Commando tournaments are held yearly in Japan. Schools send 5 students to compete in the competition, and the object is to distract, then defeat the opponent. The team that eliminates the other or finishes with the most points wins. The judge has a red and white feather in a headband, representing the two teams (much like karate). He chants a short prayer and then calls out "Start". The Sexy Mate that begins to move first is awarded "First Sexy," a measly 30,000 points. The sexy mate that either completely distracts or counter-attacks a distracting move is awarded an "ippon" (knockout) and around 1,200,000,000 - 1,500,000,000 points. Spectacular moves are awarded even more points. The award for winning the tournament is tickets to an onsenOnsen
An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
. Sakakibara Nobuyuki (or during his sexy mate years "Violence Nobu-chan") is one of the greatest Sexy Mates ever to fight in the Sexy Commando Tournament, winning 6 years in a row. The tournament hall, like Masaru's house, is covered in cloth.