Harenchi Gakuen

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Harenchi Gakuen
Harenchi Gakuen.jpg
Cover of the first volume Harenchi Gakuen
ハレンチ学園
GenreErotic comedy[1]
Manga
Written byGo Nagai
Published byShueisha
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runAugust 1, 1968 – September 25, 1972
Volumes7
Live-action film
Directed byYuji Tanno
Written by
  • Gan Yamasaki
  • Tatsuhiko Kamoi
Music byNaozumi Yamamoto
StudioNikkatsu
ReleasedMay 2, 1970
Runtime82 minutes
Live-action film
Harenchi Gakuen: Shintai Kensa no Maki
Directed byYuji Tanno
Written by
  • Gan Yamasaki
  • Tatsuhiko Kamoi
Music byNaozumi Yamamoto
StudioNikkatsu
ReleasedAugust 1, 1970
Runtime85 minutes
Live-action film
Harenchi Gakuen: Tackle Kiss no Maki
Directed byIsao Hayashi
Produced by
  • Sanehiko Sonoda
  • Kunifumi Tokieda
Written byTatsuhiko Kamoi
Music byHajime Kaburagi
StudioNikkatsu
ReleasedSeptember 12, 1970
Runtime83 minutes
Television drama
Directed by
  • Yoneyuki Shibata
  • Yuji Tanno
Written by
  • Keishi Kubota
  • Tatsuhiko Kamoi
StudioTV Tokyo Medianet
Original networkChannel 12 Tokyo (now TV Tokyo)
Original run October 1, 1970 – April 1, 1971
Episodes26
Live-action film
Shin Harenchi Gakuen
Directed byIsao Hayashi
Produced by
  • Sanehiko Sonoda
  • Kunifumi Tokieda
Written by
  • Gan Yamasaki
  • Tatsuhiko Kamoi
Music byHajime Kaburagi
StudioNikkatsu
ReleasedJanuary 3, 1971
Runtime83 minutes
Manga
Heisei Harenchi Gakuen
Written byGo Nagai
Published by
Magazine
DemographicSeinen
Original runMay 13, 1994 – December 12, 1995
Original video animation
Heisei Harenchi Gakuen
Directed byHiroyuki Muramatsu
StudioPink Pineapple
ReleasedFebruary 2, 1996
Runtime47 minutes
Live-action film
Heisei Harenchi Gakuen
Directed byHiroyuki Muramatsu
Written byJunki Takegami
Studio
ReleasedFebruary 2, 1996
Runtime82 minutes
Manga
Harenchi Gakuen ~The company~
Written by
  • Go Nagai
  • Teruto Aruga
Illustrated byTeruto Aruga
Published byShueisha
MagazineBusiness Jump
DemographicSeinen
Original runMarch 1, 2007 – April 16, 2008
Volumes3
Wikipe-tan face.svg Anime and manga portal

Harenchi Gakuen (Japanese: ハレンチ学園, lit. "Shameless School") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga was one of the first to be serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in 1968 and became the first big success for Nagai. Harenchi Gakuen is widely considered the first modern erotic manga and credited for being the first ecchi manga series.

The series has been adapted into five live action movies, a live action television series, and an OVA. The live action TV series contains an animated opening sequence which is a recurring element of Go Nagai's works where live action and anime are combined. Other examples include Pro-Wres no Hoshi Aztecaser featuring completely animated action sequences during scenes in which the hero uses his powers and Cutie Honey when the titular heroine appears before the cast, the next scene continues with a full animated opening sequence.

Characters[]

Yasohachi Yamagishi (山岸 八十八, Yamagishi Yasohachi)
AKA Boss (親分, Oyabun). The violent yet pure hearted protagonist. He is the son of a butcher. He is assumed dead at the end of the 1st series, but is alive in part 2.
Mitsuko Yagyū (柳生 みつ子, Yagyū Mitsuko)
AKA Jūbei (十兵衛). The beautiful descendant of the Yagyū ninja family and the heroine of the story. Like Yamagishi, she is assumed dead at the end of the 1st series, but seen alive in part 2.
Fukurokōji (袋小路, Fukurokōji)
AKA Ikidomari (イキドマリ, Ikidomari, Dead End) Yamagishi’s subordinate. During the Harenichi War, the harsh situation forces him to experience shell shock and he commits suicide.
Sayuri Yoshinaga (吉永さゆり, Yoshinaga Sayuri)
AKA Hige Godzilla (ヒゲゴジラ, Hige Gojira, Bearded Godzilla). He greatly resembles a caveman, sporting a bushy beard around his mouth, wearing tiger pelt, and usually carrying a club. A teacher at the school, he speaks in a style of Japanese typically used by women. At the end of the 1st series he is seen severely wounded and crawling away from a pile of dead bodies.

Origins and production[]

In 1968, while Shueisha was getting prepared to launch its first manga publication, Weekly Shōnen Jump, in order to compete with other magazines from rival companies (like Weekly Shōnen Magazine from Kodansha and Weekly Shōnen Sunday from Shogakukan), Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists publishing in the new magazine. He contemplated this, since he had to design a long-running series instead of the autoconclusive short stories that he had been developing until that point.[2] He accepted, and the series became Nagai's first big success[3] when Shōnen Jump sold more than one million copies.[4] With Harenchi Gakuen, Nagai became the originator of ecchi manga,[5] opened the door for a series of taboo-shattering gag comics,[6] and also became the symbol of an entire generation.[4] This work has influenced the world of manga, effecting both social mores and what was considered appropriate for manga.[7]

Harenchi Gakuen started with the idea of making a manga around a school. Nagai liked the word "Harenchi" (scandal), which was used commonly to advertise adult movies. For him, scandal and school were like oil and water, and he thought that mixing them would be funny.[5] At first, Nagai did not have an idea of what stories to develop, but his assistant at the time was boasting about how he had peeped on the girls during their physical examinations from a hole in the roof of his school; this idea was developed into the plot of the manga.[5] Originally, open erotic references did not appear in Harenchi Gakuen. The first physical examination scenes only showed from the shoulders up, but there were a lot of girls drawn, and their images became popular. The editor asked Nagai to go further, which Nagai was eager to do.[5]

The inspiration for Harenchi Gakuen came from the West. Nagai liked foreign movies and used to read Playboy magazine. For the depiction of breasts, he took particular inspiration from the Venus de Milo.[5] According to Nagai, what he in fact drew was not about eroticism per se, but about Japan's culture of shame. He wanted embarrassment to be the eroticism of the stories.[5]

Live-action series[]

Cast of Harenchi Gakuen (film 1970)
Cast of Harenchi Gakuen: Shintai Kensa no Maki (film 1970)
  • Miyuki Kojima as Mitsuko Yagyu
  • as Hige Godzilla
  • Jo Shishido as Macaroni
  • as Marukasa
  • as Marukoshi
  • as Yasohachi Yamagishi
  • as Keiko Yoda
  • Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei
  • as Fukurokoji
  • as Kazama
  • as Ayuko
  • as Hiroko
  • as Akemi
  • as Kacho Tsukitei
  • as Sister Antoine
  • as Sister Emily
  • as Tadanori Yagyu
  • as Katsuko Yagyu
  • as Yayoi Yagyu
  • as Daihachi Yamagishi
  • as Hana Yamagishi
  • as Mami Yamagishi
Cast of Harenchi Gakuen: Tackle Kiss no Maki (film 1970)
  • Miyuki Kojima as Mitsuko Yagyu
  • Shinji Maki as Hige Godzilla
  • Jo Shishido as Macaroni
  • as Marukoshi
  • as Marukasa
  • as Yasohachi Yamagishi
  • as Munenari Yagyu
  • as Yayoi Yagyu
  • as Katsuko Yagyu
  • as Tadanori Yagyu
  • Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei
  • Keisuke Otori as Kyota
  • as Torako
Cast of Harenchi Gakuen (TV series 1970)
  • Miyuki Kojima as Jubei (Mitsuko Yagyu)
  • as Hige Godzilla (Yurio Yoshinaga)
  • as Marugoshi sensei (Matagoro Araki)
  • Eiji Go as Macaroni sensei
  • as Parasol sensei (Marudan Marukasa)
  • Bokuzen Hidari as Yomuin Jinbe
  • as Yasohachi Yamagishi
Cast of Shin Harenchi Gakuen (film 1971)
  • Yayoi Watanabe as Jubei Yagyu
  • as Hige Godzilla
  • Jo Shishido as Gebageba
  • as Silkhat
  • as Kotaro
  • as arufata
  • as Shungiku
  • as Yasohachi Yamagishi
  • as Mami
  • as Ikidomari
  • as Fusen
  • as Tomoko
  • as Yoshiko
  • as Hatsugo
  • Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei
  • as Kabagon
  • as Hana
  • as Haitatsu Yubin
Cast of Heisei Harenchi Gakuen (film 1996)
  • as Little Jubei
  • as Yasohachi Yamagishi
  • as Jubei
  • as Koji Fukuro
  • Kei Mizutani as Sexy Hygiene Teacher
  • Nobuyoshi Kuwano as Hige Godzilla
  • as Chief of the Section of Bureau Education of the Intelligence Cabinet

In other media[]

Controversy[]

Harenchi Gakuen was criticized as vulgar because it introduced overt eroticism to children. Male students and teachers were depicted as being preoccupied with catching glimpses of girls' panties or naked bodies. Many parents, women's associations, and PTAs protested.[8]

In particular, the PTA protests over Harenchi Gakuen were notorious. Nagai was bombarded with interview requests from newspapers, magazines and TV. Whenever he flew outside of Tokyo, TV cameras were waiting for him. He was branded a "nuisance" and even an "enemy of society". He, however, had a clear sense of what things he could or could not do with the manga.[9]

At first, Nagai did not think that the opposition was against him, since he was aware of the standards that applied with movies and similar things for an audience below 18 years old. At that time, he never drew sex scenes, avoided pictures of genitals and made nudes cute rather than sexy,[5] though the manga regularly showed male genitals throughout its run, including a castration scene. His fans supported him throughout the PTA protests. They sent him letters where they expressed how they were aware that the adults cracking down on them were reading raunchier stuff than what Nagai was producing.[5]

The protests were not only against the manga, but also against the TV series. The PTA managed to prevent the distribution of the magazine in some parts of Japan.[10] As a result of the protests, when the series was about to be cancelled because of the PTA, Nagai changed the theme in Harenchi Gakuen into a more mature and serious matter, from nonsense gags with sexy touches, to a full-scale war where murder was depicted in the bloody way for which many know him. This led to the famous ending of Harenchi Gakuen, symbol of freedom and of rejection of the hypocrisy, where all students and teachers, while defending their freedom of expression, are killed by the PTA and other parental forces. This was the ironic answer that Nagai gave to the PTA. (In the end, this was not the actual ending of Harenchi Gakuen, as the title would subsequently return to publication for several years.)[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Shonen Jump Exhibition Report: The Beginning of a Legend". Manga.Tokyo. August 20, 2017. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2020. Harenchi Gakuen, the first popular erotic comedy manga
  2. ^ "L'AUTORE / CHI E' GO NAGAI" (in Italian). D/visual. March 3, 2007. Archived from the original on December 29, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  3. ^ "Harenchi Gakuen" (in Spanish). Mision Tokyo. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "L'AUTORE / CHI E' GO NAGAI" (in Italian). D/visual. Archived from the original on December 29, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Connel, Ryan (March 30, 2007). "40-year veteran of ecchi manga Go Nagai says brains more fun than boobs". Mainichi Newspapers Co. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  6. ^ "Tezuka Osamu @ World - Manga works". The Song for Apollo. Tezuka Productions. March 30, 2007. Archived from the original on 2003-04-29. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  7. ^ "Nagai Go (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan)". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  8. ^ (February 2005). "A History of Manga in the Context of Japanese Culture and Society". The Journal of Popular Culture. 38 (3): 456. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.2005.00123.x.
  9. ^ (June 16, 2007). "Go Monkey - a short excerpt of the Monkey Punch interview by Go Nagai". Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Colpi, Federico (1996). "SERIE TV - L'autore". Il mondo di Go Nagai (in Italian). Dynamic Italia Srl. Retrieved April 11, 2008.

External links[]

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