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Even though this was the first freeform track I heard, I never stopped to think about who the eponymous character actually was. After a while, I managed to come across a YouTube comment that read as follows:
Read the offending unicode here. (The forum seems to delete even a topic where this is a reply.)
I wouldn’t dare try to translate that, but it seemed to point fairly clearly to this:
There might not be anything more to it than simply a passing thought he once had about that comic, but seeing as this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere else I thought I’d share it here. If there in fact is more to it, I’d really be curious to know!
Some info about the comic you mentioned:
- The MAL page, according to which:
The fifth and sixth chapters of Gedatsu Man were published in English by VIZ Media in their underground manga anthology Secret Comics Japan on July 6, 2000.
- A note from the comic: Gedatsu is a Buddhist term for “salvation of enlightenment”.
And to get an idea from the content, from bakaupdates’ mangaka page:
Hironori Kikuchi made his debut with the comic story ‘Fruits’ in the magazine Garo in 1995. Although the editorial staff was confused by the lack of story line the comic presented, it was intrigued by its scenery and the expressions of the characters. The crazy, dangerous atmosphere of Kikuchi’s work was in sharp contrast to his skillfully drawn backgrounds and characters, which at cursory glance seem cute. This hallucinatory quality of the strip made one of the editors call it “a drug you read”. In 1998, Garo published the series ‘Gedatsu Man’ – an absolutely nonsensical comic that makes you fear for its creator’s sanity. Kikuchi, however, is a very normal, proper and sincere person, and a great fan of ’70s and ’80s hard rock. ‘Gedatsu Man’ has been translated in English and published in the underground collection ‘Secret Comics Japan’.
When reading this, I couldn’t help wonder: did BTW make musical drugs? If so, I believe he succeeded.
Why didn’t I think to look a bit further, huh? Thanks for the additional info! I still wonder if anyone here knows more about the “Tankobu Heso Taro” character, but if it was a stream-of-consciousness deal then maybe he wasn’t very clearly defined to begin with.
When reading this, I couldn’t help wonder: did BTW make musical drugs? If so, I believe he succeeded.
My first thought was “that would be whatever music the reader likes”, but thinking about it a bit more, the quirkiness, extreme variety, high energy even when sad, and overarching theme of embracing absurdity do make Betwixt’s work seem to arguably embody the mentality of hallucinogens and stimulants. I wonder if he was an Earthbound fan.
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