Yamato Gensouki: Research Notes

Tucker

Title: 

•  Yamato Gensou-ki 邪馬台幻想記 （やまとげんそうき）

  • Yah-mah-toe Ghen-sew-key

  • [the g above is the “hard” g, as in “again”]

  • Oh boy, this title. 

    • Yamato is the family name of the emperors of Japan (the same family has ruled longer than any other dynasty in recorded human history). The Yamato Era was the first era where the Yamato emperors came to power in Japan. Yamato is also used to refer to Japanese people and their culture in general (the “Yamato-damashii,” Japanese spirit/soul). The term Yamato in the title is alluding to all three of these meanings.

    • Gensou is fantasy. 

    • The “ki” at the end isn’t a word on its own, but a particle that can be slapped to the end of a noun to mean something like “record/chronicle of ___.” 

    • If I had to give this an English title, I would have chosen something like “Yamato Fantasy Chronicles”

Author

• Yabuki, Kentarou 矢吹 健太朗（やぶき けんたろう)

  • Yah-bɯ-kee, Ken-tah-roe

Characters

• Shion 紫苑（しおん）

  • Shee-own

  • Written as “purple garden”...think this might be the rare case where the protag’s name doesn’t have any sort of thematic double-meaning

• Iyo 壱与（いよ）

  • Ee-yo

  • Written as “one/singular” and “bestow,” which is much more thematically appropriate than Shion

  • Seemingly based on Himiko, the Empress-Priestess of Yama-tai described as sending an envoy to China in the 3rd century CE 

• Nashime ナシメ

  • Nah-shee-may

  • Seemingly based on a diplomat described in Chinese records as being an envoy sent from the Empress-Priest of the Yama-tai state in the Japanese islands to the court of a Chinese emperor

  • By having his name just in katakana, they may be suggesting that he’s foreign (probably from China originally)

• Shida

  • Shee-dah

• Himiko

  • Hee-mee-ko

  • Based off Chinese historical records; see note on Iyo

• Yamaji

  • Yah-mah-jee

• Shura

  • Shɯ-rah

• Renza

  • Ren-zah

• Haru

  • Hah-rɯ

• Kouma

  • koe-mah

MaxyBee

• Kentaro Yabuki

  • Notable people they were an assistant for

    • Takeshi Obata

      • on Hikaru no Go for the first three months (left to do Yamato Gensoki)

  • Notable people they had as assistants

    • Shiho Kashiwagi (Cocoa!)

      • on Black Cat (also his ex-wife)

  • Other works

    • Black Cat (2000-2004, 20 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)

      • Train Heartnet is a former assassin and current ‘sweeper’ (bounty hunter) whose past comes back to haunt him. Think Final Fantasy VII meets Cowboy Bebop. A comfortable hit with a Gonzo anime (with a wildly divergent storyline), a fistful of light novels, and a couple of video games. 

        • Read the Black Cat manga on the Shonen Jump app and website. 

        • Watch the Black Cat anime on Crunchyroll.

    • To Love Ru (2006-2009, 18 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump) written by Saki Hasemi

      • Rito Yuuki is a fairly basic kid with a crush on his classmate Haruna, until his life is upended by an accidental engagement to Lala Satalin Deviluke, the runaway princess of planet Deviluke. It’s a sci-fi ecchi series from here! The title’s a pun on the words Love and Trouble. Big hit, two anime series, two video games, and a MUCH BIGGER SEQUEL. Ended ambiguously at a point the creators considered convenient, but BOY HOWDY are there ever fan theories as to why it ended.

        • Purchase the To Love Ru manga from Seven Seas Entertainment.

        • I think To Love Ru is streaming on Hidive in the US? It’s not on the UK version so I can’t link it.

    • Mayoi Neko Overrun! (2010, 2 vols, Jump Square/Jump SQ.19) based on the light novel by Tomohiro Matsu

      • An incomplete adaptation of the original light novel series that Yabuki worked on until he was ready to return to To Love Ru. Centres around a sweet shop called Stray Cats. Shonen Flop eligible, actually. 

    • To Love Ru Darkness (2010-2017, 18 vols, Jump Square)

      • A relaunch of To Love Ru, carrying on Rito’s love troubles, but shifting the focus significantly to Lala’s sister Momo, and SIGNIFICANTLY upping the already lewd content, taking full advantage of Jump Square’s slightly older audience. Had two anime series and three video games.

        • Purchase the To Love Ru Darkness manga from Seven Seas Entertainment.

        • Once again, told the anime is on Hidive in the US, cannot check.

    • Darling in the Franxx (2018-2020, 8 vols, Shonen Jump Plus) based on the work of Code:000

      • Who do you turn to for the official manga adaptation of your horny doggy-style “please breed” propaganda mecha anime? The newly freed-up master of horny shonen manga! Horned girl meets boy, robots are piloted. 

        • Purchase the Darling in the Franxx manga from Seven Seas Entertainment.

    • Ayakashi Triangle (2020-2023, 16 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump/Shonen Jump Plus)

      • Matsuri is an exorcist ninja protecting his ayakashi medium friend, Suzu. His life gets upended when a battle with Shirogane, the king of ayakashi, ends with Shirogane turned into a fat little cat and Matsuri cursed to be a G-G-G-GIIIRL?! An action-romance that balances lewdness with action and the occasional dash of gender stuff. Had an anime.

        • Read the whole series (except for chapters 74 and 75, long stort) on Manga Plus.

        • Purchase the Ayakashi Triangle manga uncut and uncensored from Seven Seas Entertainment.

        • Watch the Ayakashi Triangle anime on Crunchyroll.

• Publishing

  • Run Dates: 

    • February 15th, 1999 to June 14th, 1999

  • Series it replaced

• Hareluya II BØY by Haruto Umezawa (33 vols, hit with an anime)

• Series that replaced it

  • Survibee by Tsunomaru (3 vols, flop)

• Series that started at the same time as it

  • Field no Okami: FW Jin! Shukyuden by Yoichi Takahashi (2 vols, flop)

  • Daisuou ~Dice King~ by Munenori Michimoto (2 vols, flop)

• Chapters/Volumes: 

  • 18 chapters/2 volumes (1 volume on rerelease)

Manga Itself / Misc thoughts

• Iyo’s design was reworked for Kyoko Kirisaki in Black Cat, who in turn was reused in To Love Ru. This sort of recycling and reuse of characters is a bit of a staple of Yabuki’s work.

• In the decades since this flopped it has become quite relevant again, serving as a canonical prequel to Yabuki’s 2020 series Ayakashi Triangle where [SPOILERS] it turns out that main duo Matsuri and Suzu are the latest incarnations of Shion and Iyo respectively, the latter being retconned to be the Ayakashi Maiden, just like Suzu. 

• Some bonus author trivia:

  • Yabuki is a big fan of Dragon Ball, and once won a contest for suggesting a fusion between Gohan and Trunks. 

  • Yabuki is brothers-in-law with Witch Watch creator Kenta Shinohara, which is to say that their current wives are sisters. 

  • Early in his career Osamu Akimoto of Kochikame fame praised how he drew girls, encouraging him to keep working on them to the point that, decades later, it’s literally what he’s known for. 

• Volume extras (1 volume version) include:

  • Full-page sketches of major characters, made years later during Yabuki’s time on To Love Ru.

  • An afterword.

  • That’s it.

    • Weirdly the original release had a bit more, or at the least credited assistants. The rerelease I got was mostly useless.