Ral Grad: Research Notes

Tucker:

Title: 

• Blue Dragon: Ral Ω Grad 

• Japanese: BLUE DRAGON ラルΩグラド (ブルードラゴン ラル・グラド）

  • Yes, the “Blue Dragon” is part of the title (since this is a spin-off of the XBOX360 RPG)

  • The omega is completely aesthetic and not pronounced

  • The “Ral” and “Grad” are totally made up names as far as I can tell, so go ahead and pronounce them with a standard English pronunciation

Author

• ART: Obata Takeshi 小畑 健

  • Oh-bah-tah, Tah-kay-shee

• Story: Takano Tsuneo 鷹野 常雄（たかの つねお)

  • Tah-kah-no, Tsɯ-nay-oh

Characters

• Ral

  • What you’d expect

• Grad

  • What you’d expect

• Mio

  • Mee-oh

• Opsquria オプスキュリア

  • Ops-kyuu-ree-ah

  • Probably a play on the English/French word “obscure” and its Latin predecessor “obscurus,” literally meaning “dark” (the way we typically use “obscure” in English was originally just a metaphorical second definition)

• Malero

  • Mah-lair-oh

• Golbago

  • gol-bah-go

• Aia

  • Ah-ee-ah

• Quru-Quru クルクル

  • Koo-roo koo-roo

  • The Qs are just a fancy way of writing Ks here

• Nui

  • Noo-ee

• Duofurqué

  • As far as I can tell, this is completely made-up, garbled fake French. What they were probably going for was “Bifurqué,” the equivalent of English “bifurcated.” 

• Sir Ganette

  • Gah-net

• Senol

  • Dfas

• Lela リーラ

  • Weird spelling choice for the localization, since it should be pronounced like “Leela” 

• Sunsu

  • Sɯn-sɯ

• Gensui

  • Ghen-sɯ-ee

• Byonne ビヨン

  • Bee-yone

• Mische ミーシュ

  • Meesh

• Makiri

  • Mah-kee-ree

Other

• Délire-Monstre

  • (I’ve copied general notes on French below the general notes on Japanese….the use of French in this series so far is too throwaway for me to put too much more work into explaining its pronunciation, since it’s much, much more complicated than Japanese)

  • I’m no expert in French, but this doesn’t seem grammatically correct to me. Is it supposed to be something like “monster of delirium”? 

• Flamme Bleue

  • Means “blue flame,” obviously

• Le Noir

  • Means “the blackness”

• Aube

  • If this is indeed supposed to be French like everything else, it should be pronounced like “obe” (like “oboe” with the “oh” at the end)

  • Literally means “dawn” in French…not sure what that has to do with souls

• Jugil

• Kabil

• Chaîne Lord

  • Chaîne pronounced “shen”

  • Is the French word from which the English word “chain” comes, as you can probably guess

• Lulira

  • Loo-lee-rah

• Chauve-souris Noire

  • French for “black bat”

• Roi-Serpent

  • French for “snake king”

• Cinq Chevaliers

  • “Five knights”

• Dure-faucille

  • “Hard sickle”

MaxyBee:

Manga Details

Writer - Tsuneo Takano

• Notable people they were an assistant for

  • None known

• Notable people they had as assistants

  • None known

• Other works

  • None known

• What the fuck, then?:

  • So this is another case of a writer with little to no info available. There’s been speculation in both Japanese and English-speaking manga communities that this is ANOTHER pseudonym for Tsugumi Ohba/Hiroshi Gamo, though nothing has ever been revealed, at least to my knowledge. Personally I’d believe it, just because Ohba seems to hate women, and… well… Takano certainly sees them as objects. 

Artist - Takeshi Obata

• Notable people they were an assistant for:

  • Ryuji Tsugihara (of Yoroshiku Mechadoc fame) on Super Patrol

  • Makoto Niwano on The Momotaroh

• Notable people they had as assistants:

  • Nobuhiro Watsuki (of Rurouni Kenshin and highly publicised pedophile conviction fame. Oh and Gun Blaze West) on Arabian Majin Boukentan Lamp Lamp and Rikijin Densetsu

  • Yusuke Murata (of Eyeshield 21 and One Punch Man fame) on Hikaru no Go 

  • Ei Ando (of One Piece Party fame) on Hikaru no Go

  • Kentaro Yabuki (of Yamato Gensoki and To Love Ru fame) on Hikaru no Go

  • Ryo Ogawa (of Ya Boy Kongming! fame) on Death Note

  • Yoshiyuki Nishi (of Muhyo & Roji and Bokke-san fame) on Hikaru no Go

• Other works:

  • Cyborg Grandpa G (1989, 4 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)

    • The rare solo adventure from Obata, starring an old man who robotocises himself, his dog, and occasionally other stuff. Listeners will remember this from its feature episode, Shonen Flop episode 89!

  • Arabian Majin Boukentan Lamp Lamp (1991-1992, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Susumu Sendo

    • A rambunctious genie fights djinn and causes chaos, all while trying to stay free of the lamp he was trapped within. Partially scanlated, with a translation based on the French edition, which is like a game of telephone at that point.

  • Legends of Strong Men -The Oni’s Successor- (1992-1993, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Masaru Miyazaki

    • A biographical manga looking at Takanohana Koji, a Yokozuna and true sumo legend of the 90s. Partially scanlated if you know where to look.

  • Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon (1995-1996, 4 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Masaru Miyazaki (as Maro Sharaku)

    • A traveling bunraku puppeteer, Sakon, and his 100-year old puppet, Ukon, solve mysteries together (alone?). Partially scanlated if you know where to look. Received an anime adaptation some 3 years after its cancellation, presumably as a result of Obata’s rapidly rising stock during the serialisation of…

  • Hikaru no Go (1998-2003, 23 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Yumi Hotta

    • Boy with multi-toned hair is possessed by ancient spirit to play games, namely the classic board game of Go. Breakout hit for Obata, and a series that increased Go’s popularity in Japan by leaps and bounds. Has multiple video games, an anime, and a 2020 chinese live-action drama series.

      • Read Hikaru no Go at Shonen Jump!

  • Death Note (2003-2006, 12 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)

    • Look, you know what this is. I know what this is. Let’s not waste anyone’s time explaining this complex tale of cat and mouse and two more cats after the first cat dies. Has too many adaptations to count, but notably a pretty good Netflix adaptation (fuck you), a novel by Nisio Isin, a musical, and THREE Nintendo DS games.

      • Read Death Note at Shonen Jump!

      • Read Death Note: Short Stories at Shonen Jump!

  • Bakuman (2008-2012, 20 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)

    • A couple of school friends try to make it in the cutthroat world of Weekly Shonen Jump. Treated as an encyclopedia by people who struggle with the concept of fiction. Has an anime, a film, a novel, and a Nintendo DS game.

      • Read Bakuman at Shonen Jump!

  • All You Need is Kill (2014, 2 vols, Weekly Young Jump) written by Ryosuke Takeuchi

    • Based on the light novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. You may have seen the Hollywood film adaptation Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Or the exact same adaptation when it was called LIVE. DIE. REPEAT. It's Groundhog Day in alien-fighting form. 

      • Read All You Need is Kill at Shonen Jump!

  • School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei (2014-2015, 3 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Nobuaki Endo

    • Episode 49 of Shonen Flop. Boy lawyer clears names of schoolyard innocents while being written by a guy who should probably be on a list.

      • Read School Judgment at Shonen Jump!

  • Platinum End (2014-2021, 14 vols, Jump Square) written by Ohba Tsugumi (aka Hiroshi Gamo)

    • Part angel-powered humans competing to become God, part musings on justice, part platform for Ohba to express his unsavoury opinions on women and the gays, Platinum End could really do it all, despite constantly declining sales. Has an anime that I’m told people watched.

      • Read Platinum End at Shonen Jump (web only)!

  • Show-ha Shoten! (2022-present, 5+ vols, Jump Square) written by Akinari Asakura

    • A brilliantly funny series about stand-up comedy, using Asakura’s comedic writing and the impeccable comic timing of Obata’s comic layouts and goofy cartooning to make one of the most laugh-out-loud series of the modern age… except when it makes you cry, that is.

      • Read Show-ha Shoten at Shonen Jump!

• Publishing

  • Run Dates: 

    • December 4th, 2006 to July 9th, 2007

  • Series it replaced

• Over Time by Yoichi Amano (of Akaboshi: Ibun Suikoden and Stealth Symphony fame) (3 vols, flop)

• Series that replaced it

  • Sket Dance by Kenta Shinohara (obligatory chance for someone to mention Witch Watch) (32 vols, big hit)

• Series that started at the same time as it

  • Contractor M&Y by Akira Akatsuki (of Medaka Box and Shounen Shoujo fame) (2 vols, big flop)

  • Jyuki Ningen Jumbor by Hiroyuki Takei (of Shaman King and Butsu Zone fame) (1 vol, MASSIVE flop)

• Chapters/Volumes: 

  • 29 chapters/4 volumes

Manga Itself / Misc thoughts

• RalΩGrad is a tie-in to the attempted JRPG franchise Blue Dragon, which people in the west would mostly know for its Xbox 360 game by Artoon and Mistwalker, featuring designs by Akira Toriyama, a scenario by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, and music from the legendary Nobuo Uematsu. RalΩGrad is easily the most peculiar part of the media mix project, but here’s the full list of Blue Dragon material for anyone interested:

  • Blue Dragon (Xbox 360 Turn-based RPG)

  • Blue Dragon (Anime, 102 episodes)

  • Blue Dragon Plus (Nintendo DS RTS)

  • Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow (Nintendo DS Action RPG)

  • Blue Dragon: The Seven Dragons of the Sky (V-Jump manga, 1 volume, sequel to first game)

  • Blue Dragon ST (Monthly Shonen Jump manga, 1 volume, same world as video game)

  • Blue Dragon RalΩGrad (Weekly Shonen Jump manga, 4 volumes, doing its own weird thing)

  • Blue Dragon Role Playing Card Game (it’s a card game)

• The omega between Ral and Grad in the title is actually supposed to be a ☊ apparently, the ascending node in astrology. It is often referred to as the ‘dragon’s head’. So there you go.