Inspector Oni

Cover to the Akebono volume.

**Inspector Oni** (鬼警部) is a one-shot by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Separate Edition Shonen Magazine.

## Overview

The one-shot, guest-starring many characters of Akatsuka's Star System throughout its plot, revolves around a relentless detective in the pursuit of a French stripper named Pearl and her boss and lover Moreau, no matter how he may fail. Oni must also experience his own jealousy and feelings towards Pearl, and how fate seems to never give him a break on that in his quest to achieve his goals.

As with some other early 70s Fujio Pro works, its story was developed by Kai Takizawa. It was originally published with colored pages, but these were removed in reprints.

## Characters

### Inspector Oni

The man in charge of trying to arrest Moreau. However, he is weak to the body of Pearl, and his gun responds in tune to his feelings (growing to become a rifle, or suddenly discharging). He is driven mad by his lust for Pearl getting in the way of him being able to do his job properly, and becomes distraught when he learns Moreau has impregnated her in part 2.

His attempts to take out Pearl and her child only result in repeated amusing injuries, though he manages to make it hard for Moreau to find work. Upon the discovery of a dismembered woman in part 4, he deeply fantasizes of getting Moreau executed by guillotine and for Pearl to murder her child and fall in love with him instead.

He is left distraught and suicidal, before he is seen as a strip club owner in part 5 being pursued by a fat, ugly woman he's used as his own "Pearl" (and who only induces vomiting in the club's men). He is last seen engaged in another fight with Moreau, as his woman and Pearl observe.

### Pearl

A young exotic dancer who pleases the crowds at the club. When Moreau is arrested, she goes to rescue him and her beauty and nudity is enough to stun Oni, leaving the two able to flee. A further attempt by Oni to do so only gets him more flustered by the sight of her.

She and Moreau are intruded in on by Oni as he attempts to perform an arrest, only for her to be revealed as pregnant. She gives birth to a baby boy at the start of part 3, which Oni attempts to assassinate from afar (only for him to fail). She is last seen observing Moreau and Oni's fight, holding her son.

### Moreau

The owner of the club, who believes stripping is the ultimate in artistic expressions. He gets into a physical fight with the inspector, showing his own strength. Even when arrested by Oni, he has Pearl to rely on to save him. In part 3, he is continuously fired from jobs due to Oni's interference in revealing him to be a criminal on the run, but he can still take on the man physically and be quite the match.

The positions are switched by part 5, when Moreau crashes Oni's strip club to confront the man and brings his wife and child along.

This character's name was derived from the French symbolist painter Gustave Moreau.

### Star System Members in Roles

These characters can be seen throughout the story, playing some degree of a role within:

* Bakabon's Papa: A worker at the club
* Iyami, Boss Kokoro, Dayon: Patrons watching Pearl dance in the nude. However, Dayon is then seen panels later having quickly changed into the role of the cops who arrest Moreau.
* Kopun A, Chibita: Along with Dayon, they make up a trio of arresting officers.
* Dekapan: As an officer pursuing Pearl, but he winds up ripping off her dress and becoming shocked to see her entirely nude underneath.
* Kopun B: Appears in part 2 as a cop, alerting Oni to Pearl and Moreau's whereabouts.
* Nyarome, Kemunpas, and Beshi: Nyarome is shown introducing the parts, and closing out the story. Kemunpas and Beshi end off part 1, and Kemunpas is shown observing the final fistfight.

## Serialization

* Separate Edition Shonen Sunday: December 1970

## Reprints

* Akebono: 1 volume. "Spartako", "Gang Girl Keroko", "Mr. Iyami: Tomorrow Morning", and "Transformation" put as extra content.
* Shogakukan: Digitized as part of the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set, along with the extra content from the Akebono volume. Print-on-demand version available through ComicPark.