Tsunousagi

Cover

Tsunousagi

***Tsunousagi*** (ツノウサギ, *Tsunousagi*) (Also known as ***The Jackalope***) is a manga by Sho Shibamoto. It stars Jacka, a young rabbit boy with a beetle horn on his head that pretends to be a superhero. He performs his hero duties with the help of his friends, Topo and Algernon.

The manga was published in 2010 by Shogakukan under the IKKICOMIX rare label.

## Plot

The story begins by introducing Jacka starting a day with his duties as a hero. He helps his friends, Topo and Algernon, assist a farmer who's land was devastated by Straight Thunders while having an imaginary battle against robot dinosaurs. On the way back to town, however, they pass a gruff-looking mouse that takes notice of Jacka's horn.

The second chapter is a flashback to the day Jacka started school. He wasn't very social and was bullied by Mustela and Kapiyncho, though Topo decided to befriend him and made him a superhero costume of his own with Algernon's help. After a successful first day of being a hero, Jacka returns home, though his parents don't respond to him.

Back in the present, Jacka starts being bullied by Mustela again, but Topo and Shinoda break the situation up. Algernon goes off on his own to do some research, leaving Jacka and Topo by themselves. They decide to go see a movie about Anubis fighting a tragic monster called Sadness, who's situation causes Topo to cry at. Afterwards, they decide to investigate a rumor about a haunted mansion in the woods. They do find it, and inside of it is a Sky Golem head. Jacka makes a demonstration that whatever managed to take it down must have been extremely powerful, as he drops a rock on a smaller head, which shatters and leaves the head unscathed. Upon further investigating, they find some evidence that someone was there recently, and inside of the head is a scrapbook. When Jacka opens it, a photo of a young rabbit girl with antlers falls out, surprising them.

In a montage, Jacka's horn continues to grow and Algernon is keeping track of something. On the way to school, the trio encounters a childhood friend of Topo, explaining that he returned to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Topo gets flustered around him, though Jacka goes ahead and makes a birthday present for her. Once its time, he goes to give it to her, only to see the childhood friend gifting her with a scarf. Jacka ends up not giving her the present, and arrives at school depressed. However, as class is starting, the gruff mouse from earlier steps into the classroom and lunges at Jacka. His name is revealed to be Beatha and Shinoda used to know him, though he pushes her away. Topo uses her slingshot to hurt and disarm him, allowing for the faculty to restrain him. However, Beatha begins ranting, causing Jacka further grief. He looks at Topo being consoled by and holding hands with her childhood friend and becomes completely overwrought.

The next day, storm clouds are appearing over town. Beatha is being kept in the school's custody. Jacka doesn't show up for school, worrying Topo, who goes to check on him. She goes to his house and finds him in his room and his horn grown into large root-like mass. She tries to go get his parents, only to find out they're only dolls. Jacka explains that his parents died away from home, leaving him all alone. Just then, Beatha walks in, having escaped from the school via a window. He strikes at Jacka's horn, only for his weapon to break. Topo manages to get him to stop, causing him to fall to his knees in defeat. The teachers and students follow his trail of blood to Jacka's home. As they talk right outside of Jacka's room, he becomes stressed out and his horn grows, destroying the walls and ceiling. He explains to Topo that he's become a monster like Sadness, hurting the ones he loves.

In the past, a variant rabbit named Uisce was born to normal parents. They decided to shelter her from the world. Meanwhile, Beatha came across their mansion and befriended her, showing her the outside world. Eventually her parents took notice and allowed her to go outside whenever. One night, the two had a picnic while watching shooting stars. Then, the Sky Golems attacked. While trying to get away, a tree nearly crushed them, but Uisce's horns grew and stopped it from falling. Beatha tried to get her to get her to move, but she couldn't. A tornado was heading straight for her, and she couldn't move. Uisce died, her parents left and never returned, and Beatha struggled to find anything that could give him an answer as to what had happened, but he never did.

The final chapter begins with Jacka and Topo being found by the teachers. Algernon puts together the last of his notes and makes a startling realization and runs back to the house. Beatha had also escaped in the confusion. Any attempt to break Jacka's horn fails, and Algernon arrives to see Jacka in his current state. Algernon explains that a tornado created by the Straight Thunders is imminent. The tornado warning starts, making everyone begin evacuating. Gyobu's attempt to free Jacka fails, and is told to leave him and evacuate already. As the tornado forms, Jacka himself tells them to go. Topo's childhood friend tells her he doesn't want her to die, and Jacka decides to let her open his birthday gift for her. Inside is a drawing he made of Sadness having found a happy ending. Topo has to be dragged off against her will, though she runs across the bridge to town, which snaps behind her. Shinoda and Algernon catch back up, having determined that there's no chance of escaping the tornado even with the evacuation.

Mustela and Kapiyncho encounter Beatha, who's trying to reach the safety of the inside of the Sky Golem head in Uisce's mansion and urges them to follow him. In Mustela's moment of hesitation, the tornado destroys part of the mansion and almost sweeps him into it. Topo manages to reach Jacka, who has a revelation about being a hero, and controls his horn, destroying his collection of miniature Sky Golem heads in the process. Back at the mansion, Beatha caught Mustela and was nearly killed by the tornado, but Jacka's horn saved them. As his horn approaches the tornado, he appears riding it in his hero costume, and the tornado turns into a beast. Unlike before, however, other people can see this. Everyone watches Jacka destroy the tornado. Topo celebrates, only to realize Jacka has disappeared. Jacka, having died, sees his parents again and follows them into the afterlife. Though they searched all over for him, nobody could find him. There's now two interpretations of what happened, that superhero Jacka destroyed the monster tornado, or that only the horns destroyed a normal tornado. His horns left a protective shield around the town. Beatha has rejoined the town, with Mustela and Kapinycho thanking him for saving their lives. Algernon and Shinoda now live together and continue their research. Topo closes the story out, getting a glimpse of Jacka the hero leaping off the barrier.

## Characters

* Jacka
* Topo
* Algernon
* Shinoda
* Gyobu
* Beatha
* Uisce

## Chapters

There are 7 chapters of Tsunousagi:

Chapter 1: Jackalope Rising

Chapter 2: Jackalope Begins

Chapter 3: Sad Monsters

Chapter 4: Jackalope dusk

Chapter 5: Jackalope The Shadow of the fallen

Chapter 6: Not so long ago

Chapter 7: Jackalope Last stand

## Gallery

Full coverJacka and Topo Polar Ice AdTable of ContentsIllustration on front under jacketDrawing of Uisce and Jacka from the back under the jacket