#Shigemitsu Taguchi

[cultfaction]

Ultraman Leo- The Complete Collection is coming to Bluray!

Ultraman Leo- The Complete Collection is coming to Bluray!

The Eye of the Lion is Shining! The mighty hero Ultraseven is crippled while defending the Earth from an invasion by the tyrannical Alien Magma. He is rescued Gen Otori, a young Ultra warrior who had fled to Earth following the destruction of his homeworld, Planet L77 in the Leo constellation. Unable to return to his giant form, the injured Ultraseven resumes his human identity of Dan Moroboshi…

[mahounomanga]

Mahou no Chalk-chan

When you think of magical girl creators, chances are think of people who made one or two transcendentally beloved magical girl series over the course of their careers. While these series and their creators are often deserving of the love they receive, there are also those for whom magical girl stories are their bread and butter, but they receive little to no recognition. Between 1972 and 1974, Midori Shimura would bring into the world three different magical girl manga that do not have corresponding anime, and all three of them, as well as Shimura herself, are quite obscure. Today we'll be taking a look at the first of the three, as well as the woman who created it.

Mahou no Chalk-chan (Magical Chalk-chan) is a manga about a girl known as Chalk-chan, so called because of her magical chalk which makes whatever she draws with it come to life. While I haven't been able to nail down specific plot details, it seems Chalk-chan mostly uses her magic to amuse herself. It's also worth noting she has a panda companion named Tantan, though I'm not sure if Tantan can speak or do magic or anything.

By this point it will probably come as no surprise that I have not read this or any Shimura manga in its' entirety, given that they have never been reprinted outside of their magazine runs or translated in any capacity as far as I'm aware.

Mahou no Chalk-chan initially ran in Shogaku Sannensei from the April 1972 issue to the March 1973 issue. It also ran in Shogaku Yonnensei from the April 1973 issue to the July 1973 issue. The series was co-created by Fuyuhiko Akashi, who is credited with the original concept.

Evidently, Akashi is an even more obscure mangaka than Shimura is. The only other work I could find attributed to him is an Ultraman manga titled Ultraman A, which he worked on alongside Shigemitsu Taguchi.

And then there's Midori Shimura herself. The name is a pseudonym, with her real name being Shizue Aramata. Fun fact: her brother, Hiroshi Aramata, is a renowned author, polymath, and scholar. Anyway, under the pen name of Midori Shimura, she got her start in manga as an assistant to Fujiko F. Fujio and allegedly helped inspire them to create Doraemon. She debuted her first manga of her own in 1971, titled Mari no Hi no Youbi. Shimura would go on to pen various manga tie-ins for stuff like Licca-chan and Gamba no Bouken. Almost all of her manga were published in Shogaku magazine at various grade levels, and the majority of her work is shoujo.

Considering Mahou no Chalk-chan was a joint effort between Shimura and Akashi, I can't say for certain how much creative control Shimura had in the project. But fret not, next time we'll be looking at a magical girl manga that was all her.

[cultfaction]

Preview: Ultraman Ace – The Complete Series (Bluray) Alternate Dimension Being Yapool started invading Earth with an entourage of “Terrible-Monsters” that were more powerful than ordinary monsters.