I'm Violent Tetsu!

Tetsu and Banpaku, on the cover of the eBook edition.

**I'm Violent Tetsu!** (おれはゲバ鉄!) is a gag manga by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, initially done as part of the **Akatsuka Gag Laughter Reserved Seating** features for Weekly Shonen Jump. The scenario and concept of this manga were credited to the author Osamu Sunami, Akatsuka's editor at Shonen Jump at the time.

## Overview

After the success of the *Reserved Seating* stories in Shonen Jump, Osamu Sunami strongly wanted Fujio Akatsuka to produce a regular serialized feature for the magazine. However, Akatsuka was busy with his works at other companies and also felt that he was losing touch of his roots.

In an attempt to help resolve Akatsuka's difficulty with coming up with a new work, Sunami handed over his own story idea to Akatsuka to write and draw out for the magazine. Akatsuka would accept, on the condition it'd be an irregular serialization. Sunami himself had been acquainted with Akatsuka since a visit to Fujio Pro in his college days, and was fascinated with the author ever since. This is what lead to him joining Shueisha, and pushing to work with Akatsuka on a project.

The first two chapters of the series in *Reserved Seating* and the first *Tetsu* chapter under its own name were produced in this irregular manner, along with further outings. The last seven chapters, however, were serialized in a consistent weekly basis.

In the work, a disobedient young boy named Tetsu has his life suddenly uprooted from him when his parents' volatile marriage collapses and his mother decides to flee home, leaving him tied up in the process. His father immediately walks out as well, showing no love or care for his son's state. After three days pass of Tetsu tied up, a burglar enters the abandoned home in hopes to rob it but discovers the starving and miserable Tetsu, who he opts to rescue. Touched by the burglar's kindness shown to him, Tetsu is upset when the man is arrested. Now, Tetsu must make his way on his own, while searching for his parents and running into the criminal that saved him every now and then.

The title exemplifies the standards of "Friendship, Effort, and Victory" that were integral for Shonen Jump titles at the time, as Tetsu's path will show how that no matter what hurdles or criminal temptation he may face, the boy will remain strong and grow even further in maturity and understanding of the goodness in humanity around him.

## Characters

### Tetsu

(鉄)

An elementary school student who hung around the wrong crowd. He is first put through grueling punishment and training by a monk, who he then flees as he reminisces on the robber who saved his life. He winds up in the company of a beggar father and son for a time, before eventually living with a company president during his travels to find his family. But his path takes various twists and turns...

Tetsu is shown to long for a rich, successful life throughout the title, which he eventually earns through his struggles. After the death of his father, he is shown to be the new president of his own company 10 years later, with his mother and Banpaku supporting him all the way.

### Banpaku

(バンパク)

A starving stray dog encountered by Tetsu. He lets the dog have several bowls of ramen to regain his health, trading his jacket over to the seller in the process due to not having money. Banpaku immediately becomes Tetsu's trusted companion on his travels.

In the final round, Banpaku accidentally swallows a watch triggered to be a suicide-bomb that'll detonate dynamite inside an elevator. After being carried into the trap by Tetsu's father, he explodes to pieces, but is shown to have survived and been repaired 10 years later (to the point where even his speech balloons are patched up).

This dog has a characteristic bark of "Ban Ban!", as opposed to the usual sound effect of "Wan Wan!".

### The Burglar Guy

(劫盗のおじさん)

A convict with an X-shaped scar running across his face. He has a soft side for Tetsu, who aims to reconnect with him for his kindness, but their reunions don't go off very easily.

He is pursued by cops through each time they cross paths, except for the last time when he vanishes after robbing a safe at the president's company; he is revealed to have returned the money later due to being touched by Tetsu's honesty. This final encounter leaves Tetsu behind to continue his own virtuous path in life.

### Beggar Duo

A father and son who are very poor and go trash-picking as their profession. Due to Tetsu's association with them for a time, he is dubbed "Scum Tetsu" (Kuzutetsu) by other children. The son has features that seem like a cross between a few different Akatsuka characters (namely C-suke, Ichiro, and Hatabo) and is a bit loud and not very bright.

Tetsu leaves these two behind, however, after running off with money he found in a briefcase among their junk.

### Company President

(社長)

A rich man who takes Tetsu into his own home after he returns his briefcase and remaining money to his business. He has a slight resemblance to Ichiro's dad from Otasuke-kun, though with some differences in the nose and eyes.

### Hiroshi

(ひろし)

The president's son, who has lived a wealthy but motherless life. He and Tetsu initially start off on bad terms, but grow to be friends throughout the story.

### Tetsu's Mother

The first to leave home, she is later discovered to be a poor cleaning lady working at the company and reluctantly assisting her husband in his abduction plot.

She is shown to have survived the ordeal that goes on in the final chapter, and is last seen in the 10-year timeskip having become proud of her son for his advancement.

### Tetsu's Father

After some time of being absent from the series, Tetsu happens to cross paths with his father shortly after he discovers his mother. His father has been revealed to be a violent and unstable criminal who briefly abducts Hiroshi for ransom.

He and his wife return in the final round. Having finally gone off the deep end and being unable to listen to reason, this man carries Banpaku into the dynamite-rigged elevator and dies in the resulting explosion.

### Monster Salesmen

A trio of violent, ugly, super-strong men all attracted to the president's housemaid. Tetsu comes to rely on them for their strength in situations.

## Serialization

* Weekly Shonen Jump: #2-3 merger number to #33

As a shorter-lived but finite feature, it is believed that *Tetsu* marked another turning point for Akatsuka with an exploration into darker-natured gag comedy and humanity tales. However, it was not the most successful in its original serialization, with it being considered a failed work as it often slipped in the polls and its final two stories bottomed out at #10 and #12 in the ranking.

The struggle and failure to catch on with readers is what lead to its abrupt ending, although Akatsuka still managed to find a way to conclude the series (when compared to a title like Mad Dog Trotsky, which leaves off on a cliffhanger). The listing of chapters below refer to how they are titled in Akebono Comics' "Complete Works" volumes and on, and may bear differences from the original serialization in Shonen Jump.

Chapters:

1. **Bad A Bad B**(ワルAワルB, #2-3 merger)- Originally titled "**Tetsu's Debut!**" (鉄 登場!の巻 ).
2. **Bad or Not Good or Bad! ?** (悪寛和尚善か悪か！？, #6)- Originally titled "**The Imitation 'Tetsu' Kid**" (「鉄」見ならい小僧の巻).
3. (第4のワルとフロクのワル, #8)- Originally titled "**Between Night and Morning**" (夜と朝のあいだにの巻).
4. (顔は×でも心は, #9)- Originally titled "**Even in a Junk Shop, Your Heart is Bright**" (クズ屋やっても心はにしきの巻). Magazine serialization contained colored introduction pages.
5. (希望のワルと別れあとに, #10)- Originally titled "**Samba's Farewell**" (別れのサンバの巻).
6. (再び希望とそして不安, #11)- Originally titled "**What Happened to Tetsu at That Time?**" (その時 鉄に何が起こったの?の巻)
7. **Badness Has Also Come** (またまたワルはついてきた, #12)- Originally titled "**Flowers and Tears"** (花と涙の巻).
8. (ここにも小モノのワルがいた, #14)
9. **Come on, Let's Have a Look** (さあワルをふりきれるか, #16)- Originally titled **"The White Bundle of Banknotes Samba"** (白い札束のサンバの巻)
10. (#18)- Originally titled **"Stop it Dad"** (ヤメテケレとうちゃんの巻)
11. **Great Salesman War** (セールスマン大戦争, #20)- (黒い影の ズンドコ節の巻 )
12. (ケッコーな社内ゲバゲバ, #22)- (あなたなーらどする!?の巻)
13. **The Youth of Tomorrow is Long** (若者のあしたは長い, #24)- **"The Story of a Woman's Blues"** (おんなのブルースの巻).
14. (#27)- " **I Want to Go Home"**
15. (#28)- **"Death Fight 54 Hours!"**
16. (#29)- "**Love-Crazy Monster Trio!**"
17. (#30)"
18. (#31)
19. (#32)- **"Tears of Happiness"**
20. (#33)- **"A Young Man Continues His Journey!"**

## Reprints

* Akebono (1970): The series was reprinted in 2 volumes as part of the "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" collection. The Gag Laughter Reserved Seating features of "Oh! Geba Geba", "Geba Geba Brothers", and "Dr. Geba Geba" are reprinted as extra content in volume 2.
* Futabasha: The series was reprinted in 2 volumes in the "Power Comics" imprint, with "The Blue-eyed Delinquent" and "Apache-kun's Great Rampage" as extra content.
* Shogakukan: The Akebono volumes were digitized as part of the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set, with the extra content intact. Unfortunately, the copy of volume 1 that Shogakukan digitized has water damage to some of the speech balloon on page 48, resulting in illegible text. This carries over to the print-on-demand release by ComicPark that uses the same source.
* eBookJapan: 2 volume digital edition