#reijiro otogami

[mamangasick]

PPPPPP

Mapollo 3

[comradeyurika]

The PPPPPP popularity poll had the only possible outcome at number one. Everyone bow down before Mimin.

[miminmimikyu]

Every time with PPPPPP I keep thinking "am I reading too much into this" (-> probably -> who knows! -> no way to confirm now!). Today, I'm really impressed with how much the volume extras of volume 7 & 8 pack a punch despite them being really really simple. So I'm going to read (too much) into it again x_x

Volume 7 covers the end of the 4v4 piano battle, Chocho's death and its direct aftermath (ch 53 - 61).

After each chapter there's an extra page that's blank save for a stave with a single note like this, similar to the rings the sextuplets wear/wore:

(excuse the crappy phone quality, this twitter thread by @/ppppppupdates has the extras from all the volumes pulled from the digital versions which are much clearer. I've linked to a few of them here and there).

The first note is C (Do) and the note moves up the C major scale with each chapter. To me, this came off as "very ominous countdown". You reach the end of the chapter, turn a page and BAM, the note's crept up again. It took me out of it for a second while still building suspense and still maintaining the flow of the story. The last note is B (ti/shi). This happens after chapter 59, which is when Chocho dies. So the scale was counting down (ok, up) to Chocho's death, where the chapter ends on a "pi-----"/"beeeeep" sound effect.

I know the fact that the scale doesn't end on C probably has more to do with there only being 7 siblings + only 7 chapters preceding this moment, but I also like how the scale remains unfinished. Since the last note (B/ti) is the very unstable 7th degree in the scale my brain automatically wants the melody to resolve to C but it's cut short like Chocho's life is

(There are still two chapters in the volume after that but the extras are more like the previous volumes: Most of it is Sadame-centric, like the cover (little graphs depicting his ability, the acknowledgment page is a warped version of the electronics shop where Sadame and Meloli and the inside back cover is of Meloli and Sadame). Also, there's a conductor's baton for Furusu and the results of the popularity contest)

Volume 8 already immediately sucker punched me by having no one on this page. Then, in a break from the small drawings between chapters from previous volumes, each of those pages has a full-page portait of each sibling, starting with Reijiro, Mimin, Fanta (all smiling), then Sorachika, Don and Shikato and finally, after the final chapter-- a smiling Brilliant (?) Lucky dressed in the clothes he's wearing on the cover of volume 8.

The final extra pages are small items representing members of the Otogami family

Rejiro and Mimin

Fanta + the three pairs of polyhedron earrings might refer to Sorachika, on an Shitako?

Sorachika (scarf), Shikato (apple) and Don (score)

Gakuon, though I think it also could be referring to Brilliant Lucky as he's also associated with the necklace and his portrait has him wearing it while Gakuon/Sorachika(?)'s hand reaches for it

Lastly, there's a melancholic acknowledgments page (a room almost completely empty except for a piano) and the back inside cover (depicting the end of a measure, quite a definitive "the end" imo)

Interestingly, none of the extras depict or refer to Mediocre Lucky (unless the final portrait is what would have been Lucky's final form after, idk, he and Brilliant Lucky accept each other). Maybe this is fitting because his only appearances in volume 8 are 1) passed out in the cemetery in chapter 64 and 2) in that rigid, almost caricature-like form in chapter 70 where he's banished to the darkness by Brilliant Lucky.

All in all I think these extras make the volume end on an even sadder note than chapter 70 did on its own. A lot of them just remind me of stuff that we won't get to see: A happy Brilliant Lucky never appears in the actual story-- the story ends with Brilliant Lucky lashing out in anger and rejecting Mediocre Lucky. And if that final portait is (Mediocre) Lucky himself, then it's also a version of Lucky that we never got to see-- Lucky didn't get this good ending. Even the personal items on the extra pages are split between "siblings Lucky has saved" and "siblings Lucky has not saved" (& Fanta): Arcs that we got vs. arcs that we never will get.

[leehama]

🎹 Mimin, Reijirou, Meloli, and Sadame from PPPPPP!  PPPPPP is my favorite series running in Shonen Jump right now, I love these funky traumatized piano kids

(I’ll draw Lucky one day... if I can ever figure out how to draw his hair...)

[wickedsick]

Gakuon otogami stop abusing your children challenge

[pin-yao]

[mamangasick]

PPPPPP

Mapollo 3

[miminmimikyu]

Colour illustration of Lucky Sonoda (and Reijiro Otogami, Ako Furusu and Dada-sensei) from PPPPPP by Mapollo3. It was displayed at Jump Festa 2022 [x]

Translation: "Thanks for coming! Have fun!"

[miminmimikyu]

Illustration by Mapollo3 showing the blood types of the different members of the Otogami family [x]

B: Chocho, Reijiro, Mimin, Don A: Fanta, Lucky AB: Gakuon, Shikato, Sorachika

[miminmimikyu]

Early design of Reijiro Otogami from the serialization draft of PPPPPP [X]

[miminmimikyu]

Re: Otogami sextuplet earrings: Did you notice that as each child went through their arc, they replaced their earrings with a different pair symbolizing someone they aspire to or love the most? Reijiro got stars and Mimin took bows, obviously for Lucky and Meloli, but it's easy to miss that Fanta swapped his out for jewels - like himself! I love this symbolism and I want everyone to notice it! Also you have good takes and I am also devastated by the loss of PPPPPP. :(

Aa thank you for this ask! I noticed it too! (lemme just paste the side by side comparison i made a while ago but didn't post, waiting for just one more sibling arc rip ;_; )

Fanta's change really stumped me for a while but I like your take that the jewels represent himself! What I also liked about Fanta's earring change is that it was much more subtle than the other two: like you said his change was easier to miss, the shapes were quite similar. And that's so fitting: Mimin and Reijiro completely broke with Gakuon and had an obvious earring change, but after Fanta had his realisation he decided to stay and continue to perform under the Otogami brand. So it makes sense that the jewels don't look so dramatically different to his original earrings.

I'm happy you liked my PPPPPP takes, PPPPPP was such a fun manga to pick apart and analyse with how much symbolism was in there. I really wanted to know what Sorachika, Don and Shikato's earrings were going to turn into... It's so unfair that we won't know now.

[miminmimikyu]

[pin-yao]