The Virgo Toraemon

Frontispiece to the first chapter, featuring an early design of Toraemon and his grandfather.

### Original Run

January 15th to September 10th, 1981

**The Virgo ☆ Toraemon** (乙女座☆虎右衛門 *Otomeza Toraemon*) is a seinen gag manga series by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine through 1981.

## Overview

In a series described as being about "Messed-up gags about male functioning", a young boy named Toraemon's family life is turned even more dysfunctional when he becomes impressed by seeing an old-fashioned, strict samurai-like man and decides to bring him home as his new father. This old man was born under the Virgo constellation and contrary to his professional appearance, is a beggar with an insatiable lust for women. Through each short story, Toraemon, his actual alcoholic salaryman father and this "Dad"/"Grandpa" encounter strange occurences brought on by this living arrangement.

Compared to other gag serializations by Akatsuka by this point, there is some level of ongoing continuity in the *Toraemon* series; we are initially introduced to more of Toraemon's family and their living situation, and some chapters are direct carry-overs of developments introduced in the previous issues. This gives the reader the incentive to have to follow the issues, though it can also create trouble for those who might miss out on the story of a week. Of course, there are also some clear gags that don't get further acknowledgment such as with Grandpa's punchline in the 34th story.

While Akatsuka had previously done works for Shueisha's Shonen Jump line, this would be the only time he had produced a series for Young Jump. As the mature audience counterpart geared for readers from their late teens to their 20s, the editorial policy that titles should include "Sex, Love, Violence, and Power" was inspired by Shonen Jump's "Friendship, Effort, and Victory" standard but with a higher degree of freedom. *Toraemon* takes advantage of those points quickly, with many chapters featuring adult content or chaotic happenings. Akatsuka's editor for this series was Osamu Sunami, who he had previously worked with on I'm Violent Tetsu!, but like that work, *Toraemon* could not catch on in popularity and ended with only 35 chapters to its name. The title itself appears patterned after those series like Kikanpo Gen-chan, giving equal billing to "The Virgin"/"The Virgo"-born old man and Toraemon.

Although the character design of the eponymous protagonist winds up changing considerably through the series, the version of the logo featuring his face was never updated and the old design continues to be seen in that sense. As with The Genius Bakabon, though Toraemon is one title character, Grandpa is often the character to drive plots much as Bakabon's Papa would be. The "new series notice" in Weekly Young Jump #2 notably even featured Grandpa's character design, rather than Toraemon or anyone else. Eventually, other characters disappear or are written out and leave the three men to be the sole focus of stories.

## Characters

### Toraemon

The youngest of the three protagonists and our title character, occasionally referred to as "Tora-chan" for short. He is an elementary school boy that goes his own way, yet is at odds with his grandfather over this at times. He also bears witness to the old man's nature and can either assist him, punish him, or react in awkward confusion at such shenanigans.

Besides the situation with his grandfather's quests to get laid, Toraemon must deal with his own encounters with older girls that get his grandfather jealous.

### Dad

An absent-minded, often absent from home, drunk salaryman whose passion and antics come from his love of sake. Like the old man, he has a love for peeping on hot women and finding the best opportunities. For the first batch of chapters in the series, he is often seen as a shabby beggar on the streets, to the disgust of his wife and older son.

Because of the family's rejection of Dad as a father figure early in the series, Toraemon often refers to Grandpa as "Dad" instead and thinks of him more as one. This changes some after Dad returns to the household.

### Grandpa (aka "Dad")

An old bald man with a single hair on his head, and eyes like that of the Police Officer with the Connected Eyes. He is a strict, harsh figure with his sword, but also highly lecherous towards women, especially those much younger than his age. His sword will lengthen or act in accordance to his feelings for women. When ashamed of his failure, he will attempt seppuku.

He cites his "Virgo heart" as being why he is this way, and lives by its expectations.

### Mom

Toraemon's mother is a minor character, tending to be seen reacting to the shenanigans that happen with the men in her family. However, she is notably used in the fifth chapter when she shows silent disgust and opposition to her deadbeat husband attempting to re-integrate with the family, and slips him a sleeping drug in order to kick him out of the house.

She later gives birth to the mysterious Baby, marking the start of another bizarre happening in the series. She is not present for the final batch of stories solely focused around the three men.

### Big Sister

Toraemon's much older sister, introduced in the third chapter. She is comfortable enough to go about scantily-clad in such an introduction story and have a flirtatious, strong personality. She has a later cameo when she takes part in ignoring Dad's existence after he tries to show up for dinner.

Both she and Toraemon's older brother ultimately do not figure much into the series, and disappear as Dad becomes more of a central figure along with Grandpa and Toraemon.

### Big Brother

Toraemon's nerdy older brother, introduced in the fourth chapter. He brutally attacks Dad for being a deadbeat, attempting to drag him through the streets on his motorcycle. After Grandpa puts a stop to the young man's violence with his own attack, the brother shows a great respect. He is next seen in a cameo in the Valentines' Day story, when Grandpa walks in on him in a compromising situation and throws him out of the house.

### The Baby

A strange child born in the nineteenth chapter. He already resembles a young elementary school student than a baby, and has a simple face and bald head that can freely transform into others' appearances or even give him inappropriate features. He considers his Mom's birth canal to be his original "Home", but the place is rather dangerous.

## Serialization

* Weekly Young Jump: #3-4 merger issue (January 15th) to #39 (September 10th) for 1981

Each chapter is numbered in its release, save for the 35th which is marked as "Final Story".

1. "**Dramatic Encounter**" (劇的な出会い, #3-4 merger, January 15, 1981)
2. **"I Hate This New Years' Gift!"** (お年玉キライ！#5-6 merger, January 22, 1981)
3. **"I Want to Throw It Away...!?"** (捨てたいッ…！？, #7, January 29, 1981)- Serialized in full color; the chapter includes a meta joke where Toraemon is initially not colored.
4. **"Misery! Domestic Violence"** (悲惨！家庭内暴力, #8, February 5, 1981)- Toraemon's design starts to evolve with this chapter, with his hairstyle gradually changing.
5. **"The Restoration of Fatherhood!?"** (父権復活…！？, #9, February 12, 1981)
6. **"Fighting..."** (戦いすんで..., #10, February 19, 1981) - Toraemon gains the two ahoge in his design.
7. **"Ah! A Present"** (嗚呼！プレゼント, #11, February 26, 1981)- Toraemon gains his regular freckles.
8. **"A Heart-Pounding Horoscope"** (ドキドキ星占い, #12, March 5, 1981)- Serialized in 2-color process.
9. "**Unrequited Love**" (しつれん, #13, March 12, 1981)- Serialized in full color.
10. **"Somehow...Leaving Home"** (なんとなく…家出, #14, March 19, 1981)
11. **"Celebration: Loss of Virginity"** (祝・童貞喪失, #15, March 26, 1981)
12. **"A Convenient Conversation"** (それなりの会話, #16, April 2, 1981)
13. **"My Fathership Suddenly Changed!"** (父権交代は突然に！, #17, April 9, 1981) -Dad is depicted with a different nose this chapter in error, be it something that stemmed from Akatsuka's drafts or the way the assistant interpreted him in inking.
14. **"One Thing Changes, But Other Things Stay the Same..."** (所かわれど…, #18, April 16, 1981)
15. (#19, April 23, 1981)
16. **"Come On, It's Fine"** (ええじゃないか, #20, April 30, 1981)
17. **"Who's The Father!?"** (父親はだれだ！？, #21, May 7, 1981)
18. **"The Baby that Refuses to be Born"**(出産拒否ベビー, #22, May 14, 1981)
19. **"A Birth Engulfed by Suspicion"** (疑惑につつまれた出産, #23, May 21, 1981)- Serialized in 2-color process.
20. **"Pretend Child-Raising"** (子育てごっこ, #24, May 28, 1981)
21. **"A Deadly Visit Home"** (決死の家庭訪問, #25, June 4, 1981)
22. **"Be Careful of the Bodyguard"** (用心棒にご注意, #26, June 11, 1981)
23. **"Strange Relationship"** (奇妙な関係, #27, June 18, 1981)
24. **"A Night Disturbed by a Chicken"** (トリ乱した夜, #28, June 25, 1981)- Serialized in 2-color process.
25. **"The Terror of the Nocturnal Baby"** (恐怖の夜型ベイビー, #29, July 2, 1981)
26. **"A Scary Mother!?"** (ゾーッとする母親!?, #30, July 9, 1981)-
27. (#31, July 16, 1981)
28. **"Even a Katana Can Pant!!"** (刀だって、アヘーッ!!, #32, July 23, 1981)
29. **"A Confrontation Between Men!?"** (男の対決！？, #33, July 30, 1981)
30. **"The Sea is Calling!"** (海が、呼んでる！, #34, August 6, 1981)
31. **"Do You Love Ghosts?"** (幽霊って、お好き？, #35, August 13, 1981)
32. **"A Mango Person is Born!?"** (マンゴー人間誕生!？, #36, August 21, 1981)
33. **"After the War's End!?"** (戦後は終わった!？, #37, August 28, 1981)
34. **"What is with that Space Weiner?"** (宇宙チンてナ～ニ？, #38, September 3, 1981)
35. **"Flustered Peeping!!"** (ノゾキでフラフラ‼, #39, September 10, 1981)- Serialized in 2-color process.

## Reprints

The series has never been reprinted to date, leaving anyone curious to have to seek out issues from the National Diet Library or to order any online from shopping and auction sites.

Though no official reason has been given for it having been missed out in Young Jump Comics tankobon or digital reprints, it is theorized the radical adult content in certain stories may have made such a prospect unappealing (though when it comes to sealed Akatsuka works, Caster is always given as the No.1 example with such circumstances). It may have also been considered a failed work due to its short length, and by this time there were only a select amount of publishers opting to reprint Fujio Akatsuka.

Like *Caster* and certain other phantom works, the existence of this series was brought to more attention in Hiroshi Nawa's 2014 book Fujio Akatsuka and Media: The Gag Guerrilla Legend of Defeat and Disapproval.

## External Links

* "The Virgo Toraemon" write-up at the Fujio Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)