The Mean Family

Cover to the Akebono kashihon.

**The Mean Family** (いじわる一家 *Ijiwaru Ikka*) is a short-term gag feature by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Shojo Friend.

## Overview

This series tells the tale of a cruelty-loving family who will even prank one another, as they set about on making trouble for everyone in the neighborhood. However, the emergence of a neighboring kind family and other nicer people pose a threat to their status quo and they must figure what they can do with such circumstances.

It was considered the first dark-humored work by Akatsuka to be serialized in a shojo-geared magazine, and he would write two follow-up features focusing around different families soon after; "The Meddling Family" and "The Thriller Family".

## Characters

Each of the family member characters have their name pattern after the word *ijiwaru*, "mean"/"unpleasant", to highlight their nature.

### Ijizaemon Warui

The salaryman father of the family, who will even set up traps and trouble for his own boss at the company. He likes to gather the family together to see which of their terrible pranks was the worst for others.

Ijizaemon and the other family members ritually pray to a portrait of their mean ancestor grandfather figure, to where even that portrait will spitefully fall to hit him on the head. After learning of the existence of the Shinsetsu family and their effects on his children, he has his family double down on their cruelty to neighbors to try to fight such an influence.

In the end, after the kindness spreads through the family, he and his wife are the last ones to change.This causes the portrait of the grandfather to get furious, and it is burnt.

### Ijie Warui

The housewife of the family, who considers her great trick to have assumed the disguise of a similar-looking neighbor and having had ordered a bunch of expensive items in her name. She and her husband become appalled to see her daughter around a nice person and daring to invite him over, but she too succumbs to the idea that being kind is much better.

### Ijiko Warui

The older daughter, as devious and calculating with her pranks as any of the others. She is the second to meet the Shinsetsu family, and becomes tearful and touched by their kindness. After she and the rest of the family attempt to keep their cruel nature going, she unexpectedly meets a kind young man named Yamada-kun.

With enough exposure around Yamada-kun, Ijiko's sneering face changes to that of a beautiful girl due to her deciding to get plastic surgery and her personality lightens. This inspires the rest of her family to get plastic surgery as well as modify their own personalities.

### Ijitaro Warui

The second child, a much younger son. He is quick with a prank, and will gladly take part in assisting others in their scheme. He comes across the Shinsetsu family in the neighborhood, becoming disturbed at experiencing their kindness even with how rude he tries to be. He and the rest of the family continue their cruelty spree.

He and Ijitama are the next to be affected by the change in their looks and personalities, to the shock of the parents.

### Ijitama Warui

A cat just as cruel as his owners. He attempted to steal a child's oden, only to be beat by the father and decide to cause a tanker truck to crash into their house in revenge. He is thus declared the "winner" of the family's prank competition and gets to eat their dinner.

Ijitama attempts to destroy a doll owned by the daughter of the Shinsetsu family, but at seeing the young girls' tears, quickly repairs it and is left briefly suicidal from his act of kindness.

### Shinsetsu Family

A patient, nice, and helpful family that provide the first possible signs of change and doubt in the children. They consist of a couple and their young toddler daughter.

### Yamada-kun

A handsome and charming young man new in the neighborhood that Ijiko falls for quickly. The kindness he shows winds up being infectious and she cannot resist him.

## Serialization

* Shojo Friend: Issues #1-6, 1967

The individual frontispieces were not included in reprints, making the feature one long seamless story. This is even the case for the eBookJapan edition, which appears to simply use the "Complete Works" version that was re-used for the DVD-ROM set.

## Reprints

* Akebono: First reprinted as a kashihon in 1967. It was later offered through the "Complete Works" collection in 1970 (with other "Family" stories compiled as extra content), followed by a further release in 1975 and a bunko edition in 1976.
* Shogakukan: The Complete Works edition was digitized for the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set, along with having a print-on-demand edition through ComicPark.
* eBookJapan: Appears in volume 1 of the "Fujio Akatsuka Family Collection" 2-volume eBook release

## External Links

* "The Mean Family" write-up at the Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)