Takama-ga-hara: Research Notes
Added 2024-05-15 15:00:05 +0000 UTCTucker:
Title:
Takama-ga-hara タカマガハラ
Tah-kah-man-gah-ha-rah
Just remember that all of the vowels are pronounced exactly the same and without any differing level of stress and you’ll be okay
Takamagahara is the realm of the gods in Shinto mythology
I think the localizers added the hyphens so native English speakers wouldn’t lose their minds over a foreign word with more than four syllables
Author
Kawa’i, Juuzou 川井 十三（かわい じゅうぞう）
Kah-wah-ee, Jɯɯ-zo
Don’t know if this is a pen name, but before his debut, he used the name “河井十三”...which is pronounced exactly the same, but just has the first character switched out.
Characters
Yamada, Yamato 山田ヤマト（ヤマダ ヤマト）
Yah-mah-dah, Yah-mah-toe
His personal name, Yamato, is the same as the family name of the imperial family (who are traditionally believed to be descended from the sun god Amaterasu) and is also the term used to refer to the “Japanese spirit” (Yamato-damashii)
Fukada, Kyouji (Fukakyon) 鱶田恭児（フカダ キョウジ）
Inaba イナバ
Oruha, Shouta 織羽勝太（オルハ ショウタ）
Kikuchi
Yakumo, Izumo 八雲出雲（ヤクモ イズモ）
Yah-kɯ-mo, Ee-zɯ-mo
Kumano, Kumaso 熊野熊襲（クマノ クマソ）
Kɯ-mah-no, Kɯ-mah-so
Tayama, Mizuho 田山ミズホ\
Tah-yah-man, Mee-zɯ-ho
Other
Kamiwaza
Kah-mee-wah-zah
Literally “god skill”
Ya’oyorozu-no-Kami 八百万の神
“Manifold gods”...or all the gods. Written literally as “eight million gods”
MaxyBee:
Jyuuzou Kawai
Notable people they were an assistant for
none known
Notable people they had as assistants
Kenta Tsuchida (Lock On!, Toge Toge)
Tatsuyuki “Mikey” Maeda (professional assistant who’s done some stuff on youtube)
Manabu Yashiro (TANK CHAIR)
Kentaro Hidano (Super Smartphone)
Keisuke Gotou (One Operation Joker)
all on Takama-ga-hara (GOT A NOTE ABOUT THIS LATER)
Other works
5080 (2021-2022, 1 volume, Big Comic Superior/Online)
Kawai’s return to manga almost a decade after Takama-ga-hara was cancelled. A slice of life about a 50 year old living as a NEET (‘Not in Education, Employment, or Training’) dependent on his 80 year old parents. Started as a three chapter test serialisation in Big Comic Superior before being moved online, where it ran eight more chapters and then just kind of… stopped.
Publishing
Magazine:
Weekly Shonen Jump
Run Dates:
July 9th, 2012 to November 5th, 2012
Series it replaced
Magico by Naoko Iwamoto (8 vols, did okay)
Series that replaced it
Hungry Joker by Yuki Tabata (3 vols, flop, Shonen Flop episode 15)
Series that started at the same time as it
Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui (21 volumes, GIANT HIT)
Chapters/Volumes:
17 chapters/2 volumes
Manga Itself / Misc thoughts
Takama-ga-hara has a LOT of assistants credited, and that's because of what the author calls "a level of shorthandedness greater than any in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump". As such, instead of a regular crew of assistants, Kawai was supported by literally anyone they could get, be it an established author, a newcomer, or a professional assistant. He only managed to credit people who turned up more than once and STILL ended up crediting fourteen assistants!
The one-shot version of this series failed to win the 2011 Golden Future Cup, losing to Yuki Tabata’s Hungry Joker. Despite this failure it still managed to beat it to serialisation by four whole months, until HUNGRY JOKER REPLACED IT.
The issue of Jump Musashi picks up in chapter 1 while chiding Yamato is the exact same issue Takamagahara debuted in. How meta.
Takamagahara is an actual thing in Japanese mythology, primarily the Shinto religion, as the abode of the heavenly Gods, connected to earth via the floating bridge of Heaven. It is mentioned in the Kojiki as the birthplace of the Gods, is considered to exist in the clouds above the sea, and is ruled over by Amaterasu, the Goddess of the sun.
Similarly, Yomi is hell.
Volume extras include:
Inter-chapter gag sketches
Assistant credits
A three-panel epilogue for our main trio
