The Numbness of Scatan

Cover to volume 1 of the Akebono reprints.

**The Numbness of Scatan** (しびれのスカタン *Shibire no Sukatan*) was a gag work credited to Fujio Akatsuka and Kunio Nagatani on behalf of Fujio Pro. It was serialized in Shonen Gahosha's Shonen Picture Report through the years of 1965 to 1968.

## Overview

The human boy Ken Iwate becomes a target of ridicule for other kids in the neighborhood, but after meeting the alien Scatan, the two become fast friends. Ken will rely greatly on Scatan's "Numbness" rays to resolve whatever problems may arise, whether from a trio lead by his rival Geso Boss or from other sources and events.

The *Scatan series* itself had come about due to the explosive popularity of Osomatsu-kun by 1965, when Shonen Gahosha requested an equivalent work that could be a great hit. As Akatsuka was becoming exceedingly busy during this time, he was unable to fully handle another serialization as he initially intended. The series was thus officially billed as a collaboration between Akatsuka and Nagatani.

However, it is said that only Scatan was wholly designed by Akatsuka and his ultimate involvement only went as far as the initial series pitch, while the rest of the writing and art were the responsibility of Nagatani, leading to it being considered more of the latter's work even if it's also still officially considered a Fujio Pro series altogether. This matter lead to some controversy in it being included in the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set, as Nagatani had wanted royalties from it and his TV Magazine run of *The Genius Bakabon*, due to being works authored by him.

Unfortunately, owing to the issue with racial depictions in some other Akatsuka works of this time, the series is also notable and rather controversial for containing examples of blackface and human-eating tendency when showing two chapters involving an African child and her father that have come to Japan. The situation itself is resolved in an unfortunate manner itself, with the children putting the two into a packing box to mail them back to their country.

Over the course of the series, the style changes to become more super-deformed and less stiff when it concerns Scatan's design. Characters like Memeko also become less utilized in the group of kids, while others like Hechako are introduced to be foils for Scatan. The title of the work also changed in the original publications, to be expanded to **"Travel the World with the Numbness of Scatan!"** (しびれのスカタン世界をいく！), as it would feature Ken and the others going on a world trip and running into different adventures along the way.

As Fujiko Fujio A's *Kaibutsu-kun* ran in the same magazine, Scatan originally showed up in the August 1966 chapter with the copyright of "Fujio Pro" annotating his cameo. This was retained in early reprints, but was censored due to such authorship issues starting with the Fujiko Fujio Land edition; Scatan was erased from the panel, though his dialogue strangely remained.

## Characters

There is not a usual presence of Akatsuka's Star System in the title, with it mostly being confined to its own kind of setting. However, Kunio Nagatani's caricature does appear as Ken's father, as well as a cop and as himself.

Iyami is once shown to have a surprise guest cameo in "A French Tanabata", until Scatan hits him with a rock to stop his obnoxious singing. Chibita and Jajako are also shown on a one-time basis in a crowd scene.

The characters can be said to have design elements of others previously seen from both Akatsuka and Nagatani's output in Fujio Pro.

### Ken Iwate

(岩手ケン *Iwate Ken*)

A simple, kind young boy hailing from Iwate Prefecture. As the way of saying such in Japanese is "iwate-ken" (岩手県), he confuses other children when giving similar sounding answers when they ask his name and where he's from, leading to some mockery as well. He and Scatan bond over being considered outcasts and weird among others.

Ken notably resembles a chubbier, pig-nosed version of Osomatsu, but with a single bucktooth and some elements lending to him being a prototypical Bakabon figure. When startled, he'll strike a "Sheeh!" pose, but that comes to be associated with his own cry of "Hweeh!".

### Dora

(ドラ)

Ken's cat, who bears an eyepatch-like marking over his right eye. He can accompany Ken where he may go, and is the first to encounter signs of alien life when he runs into Bom Bom.

### Ken's Parents

A Nagatani-esque father and a small mother are seen to be Ken's simple, loving family who often remain off in their own sections of the plot unless required to do anything more.

### Scatan

(スカタン)

A Martian that was born in the "Kansai region of Mars", justifying why he speaks in the Kansai dialect. When angered, he will use his numbing electric shocks on those responsible. He and Ken first meet after their pets encounter each other, and Ken is introduced to his family.

Scatan's other powers and unusual Martian manifestations can cause further excitement and chaos in town, if something more is needed than his "Numbness". Many citizens of his home planet look similar to him, if not identical, and one such identical cousin known as **Ahondara** shows up once to cause trouble in town.

Prior to the Scatan series, similar types of alien design could be seen used at times in series like Osomatsu-kun, minus such antennae. An rubbery alien known as **Nobiru-kun** with a near-identical design also appeared in Nonsensical NO.1. Scatan himself would also show up in places outside this series, particularly if Nagatani was involved in such works.

Since he was the only character naturally of Akatsuka's design, he would sometimes be acknowledged in some retrospectives such as the 1997 Fujio Pro exhibition guide. Osamu Akimoto would also (somewhat incorrectly) recall the Scatan series as being another Akatsuka creation when referencing the character for his "Osomatsu-kun Car" chapter of *Kochikame*.

### Bom Bom

(ボンボン)

Scatan's Martian dog. He and Dora get into a brief fight that ends in Bom Bom chomping on Dora's tail and electrocuting him, scaring him off.

### Scatan's Parents

A pair of much similar yet older aliens who had moved to Earth and live as neighbors to the Iwate family. Scatan's mother is shown to have curly hair to conceal her antennae, while his father's are exposed.

### Memeko

(メメ子)

The lead girl of the series, who comes to be a girlfriend-type figure to Ken. She is shown to stand up against Shariko and not have much time for the gang of troublemakers at the start of the series, being reasonable and kind to Ken when he is bothered by them.

As the series goes on, Memeko is seen less as Ken and Scatan often go off on their own, or are entangled more with Geso Boss and his henchmen on adventures.

### Geso Boss

(ゲソ親分 *Geso Oyabun*)

The rough, bully figure of the title. He orders and pushes Shariko and Sonota around, often quite dealing out quite the physical beatings. He has feelings for Memeko as well, but she is disgusted by his arrogant and brutal nature.

Later on, Geso Boss and the other two are often seen more as friends or 'frenemy' types to Ken, adventuring and hanging around with him and Scatan.

Suspiciously similar copies of Geso Boss and his henchmen, with differently-interpreted designs based from Akatsuka's drafts, can be seen in a 1965 chapter of Akko-chan's Got a Secret!. Otherwise, these characters were not utilized anywhere outside *Scatan* aside from the 1965 version of *Odenkushinosuke*, due to Nagatani's involvement.

### Shariko

(シャリ公)

A lackey of Geso, often concealing his bare head beneath his baseball cap. He can be the punching bag-type of lackey, if Sonota doesn't do anything to earn the ire.

His bald head can also be useful for hiding objects atop of under his hat, notably wasabi. However, a gag can result from such with his plans to use it backfiring if it so happens to slide into his mouth. As the art evolution of the series goes on, Shariko can be seen to gain some hair beneath his cap.

### Sonota

(その太)

A strange, small young boy with swirls for eyes and a triangular nose. He is shown to be another lackey of Geso, and is beat up by both him and Shariko for his failings or is generally pushed around by the other kids due to his small size and annoying way.

He is the first to experience Scatan's "numbing" as punishment in the fight against Ken. Sonota can also be shown to hang his large tongue out, adding to his simpleton impression among the trio.

Sonota would seem to have been a favorite of Nagatani, as he often slipped outside of the Scatan series to cameo in any other Fujio Pro works he had involvement in (as had Scatan); *Odenkushinosuke* (1965), *The Original Genius Bakabon*, *Nyagoro*, and the *Nyarome's Classroom* books are but a few examples.

### Hechako

(ヘチャ子)

A girl Martian that shows up later, differentiated from Scatan by the presence of long black hair. She is a childhood friend of Scatan that declares herself to be his wife, to his repulsion.

She is ruthless in her pranking and cruelty, giving Ken and the others a terrible time along with anyone she sees as being in the way of Scatan. Though she and Scatan can also get into their own fights and zapping matches when possible.

## Serialization

* Shonen Picture Report: April 1965-September 1968

There would be occasions in which there would be two stories published per issue, as well as appendix booklets that contained a few different chapters for readers' amusement.

1. **"I am a Shameless Alien!!"** (わてはハレンチ宇宙人！！, April 1965) - Introduction of the cast.
2. **"Numbness Channel"** (しびれ・チャンネル, May 1965)
3. (サンドにイチドはしびれます, May 1965)
4. **"Scatan's Family Cleaning"** (スカタン一家の大掃除, June 1965)- *unreprinted*
5. **"I am the Martian Ahondara"** (わては火星のアホンダラ, July 1965)- Introduction of Scatan's cousin Ahondara
6. (August 1965)
7. **"Shameless Camp"** (ハレンチ・キャンプ, September 1965)
8. **"Human Candy"** (人間キャンデー, September 1965)
9. **"The Mars New Year is Coming!"** (火星の正月もうきたで！, October 1965)
10. **"Dogachaga Athletic Meet"** (ドガチャガ運動会, November 1965)
11. **"A Muddy Strategy (part 1)"** (どろんこ作戦, December 1965)- *unreprinted*
12. **"A Muddy Strategy (part 2)"** (どろんこ作戦, December 1965 separate appendix)- *unreprinted*
13. (ネズミにごチューい, January 1966)- *unreprinted*
14. (ネズミにごチューい, January 1966 separate appendix)- *unreprinted*
15. (February 1966)
16. **"Ishiyaki Spy"** (イシヤキ・スパイ, March 1966)
17. **"We Want to Go to the West"** (てらは西部へ行きたいよ, April 1966 separate appendix)
18. (May 1966)
19. (June 1966)
20. **"Operation Dream Land"** (ドリーム・ランド作戦, July 1966)
21. (August 1966 separate appendix)
22. **"Numbness Mysterious Disease"** (しびれ奇病, September 1966)
23. **"Thief Corps."** (ドロボー隊, October 1966)- *unreprinted*
24. (サイテーデリック・サーカス, November 1966)
25. (December 1966)
26. **"Cruel Mood New Year"** (残酷ムードのお正月, January 1967)
27. **"Mysterious Zoo"** (怪奇動物園, February 1967)
28. (キケンがいっぱい, March 1967)
29. (ゆうれいはんコンニチハ, April 1967)
30. (町内新聞とゴザーイ, May 1967)
31. (June 1967)
32. (00PPは二度ねる, July 1967)
33. (地球ブッカキ作戦, August 1967)
34. (全国ドロボー組合大会, September 1967)

### Travel the World with the Numbness of Scatan!

The soft retooling and re-titling of the series, focusing on the cast's overseas travels. It also contains some parodies of folk tales.

1. **"The Apache Tribe"** (アパッチ族のさいご, October 1967)
2. (November 1967)
3. **"Jungle Bells, Jungle Bells"** (ジャングルベール ジャングルベール, December 1967)
4. **"Nekobaba and the 40 Thieves"** (ネコババと40人の盗賊, January 1968)
5. (白雪族と七人の子ビン, February 1968)
6. (ケドヨーン！！ モクバカ座, March 1968)
7. (April 1968)
8. (May 1968)
9. (June 1968)
10. **"A French Tanabata"** (おフランスの七夕, July 1968)
11. **"I Want to Go Somewhere Far"** (どこか遠くへいきたい, August 1968)
12. (September 1968)

The series Kurukuru Apartment would be a successor work to Scatan, featuring both Akatsuka and Nagatani in the billing. However, this series had no touch of Akatsuka at all and was solely a Nagatani creation from the start, lasting from October 1968 to March 1969.

## Reprints

* Akebono: 3 volume collection. Chapters are either missing or some are mixed out of order compared to when they were originally serialized, leading to various discrepancies with art style and evolution and where some character appearances are concerned.
* Shogakukan: The Akebono volumes were digitized as part of the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set in 2002, along with a print-on-demand release courtesy of ComicPark. However, due to an inferior copy of volume 2 used for scanning, there is some visible damage on page 25 with a "damaged page" caption emphasizing that.

Due to rights issues and the falling out between Nagatani and Fujio Pro, and the fact that his signature has also been removed in some of his works that were republished (such as "It's Tetsuwan Atom!"), it reminds unlikely and questionable at best if this series would ever receive a full reprint even after his death.

## Media

### Sonosheet

A sonosheet adaptation of the series was produced in September 1965 via Kodama Press' album division. Scatan's voice was provided by Yoshiko Yamamoto (later known as the actress who'd voice *Sazae-san*'s sister Wakame), while Ken was voiced by the child actor Teruo Nakayama.

The lyrics to the songs on the album were written by both Akatsuka and Nagatani, while Nagatani was responsible for the artwork in the read-along story.

Although Scatan was expected to be as great of a hit to possibly even get an animated adaptation down the line (as *Osomatsu-kun* was being optioned for at the time), the sonosheet did not progress to anything greater.

#### Staff and Cast

* Produced by the Kodama Planning and Editing Room
* Screenplay- Nobuhiko Matsushima
* Music- Masahiko Nishiyama
* Cast- Yoshiko Yamamoto, Teruo Nakayama, Kiyoshi Yoshie, Yoko Haga, Keiko Horiuchi, Yuki Minami
* Theme Song ("Scatan's Song") by Vocal Shop and the Suginami Childrens' Chorus

### Meiji Chocoball Freebie Comic

A flipbook-style comic of Scatan was included as a prize with Meiji's Chocoball candy in 1967.

## External Links

* Write-up at the Fujio Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)