The allure of the “real thing” discovered through reprinted T-shirts【20th UT ARCHIVE vol.2 The Genius Bakabon】

Countless alluring graphics have adorned UT items to date. As we mark UT’s 20th anniversary this year, an archive project has started to reprint some of our past offerings. What kinds of feelings and emotions rest in the motifs that have transcended time and are loved by people all over the world? 　Let’s explore this through the words of the creators and those involved. For this second installment, we are featuring the Tensai Bakabon (The Genius Bakabon) manga, which made its UT debut in 2008. We spoke with Reiko Akatsuka, the daughter of Tensai Bakabon creator Fujio Akatsuka and president of Fujio Productions.

In search of laughter, a source of explosive life energy.

Q. The character Genius Bakanon is used on this T-shirt. Straight to the point, why has The Genius Bakabon continued to be loved through the ages?

A. The Genius Bakabon sometimes does things that are so unexpected and outlandish, yet does them in a world where the absurdity progresses at such a good pace that this is taken as a matter of course. I think the staging, set in universal everyday life, can be shared even though times change. It is left up to the reader to decide what to poke one’s nose into and what to find amusing. The way the manga can be read is not forced; there is inherent freedom. There is simplicity and also easily understandable elements, the destructive power of a gag that destroys meaning rather than seeking to define it, and the enjoyable and refreshing feeling of being able to recognize and endorse stupidity. I think the fact that the series can be enjoyed again and again from varying perspectives is why it continues to be loved over time.

Q. Including Genius Bakanon, what was Fujio Akatsuka most particular about when it came to drawing characters?

A. Fujio wanted his manga to be broadly enjoyed by everyone. It appears he was aiming to create cute, pop-like, friendly characters so that even small children who could not yet read the lines could enjoy them. He also said, “There really isn’t anyone I don’t like. That’s why my characters are cute in some way.” In fact, I feel that Fujio’s manga, including The Genius Bakabon, do not exclude any specific type of people but rather express a position of affirming and accepting all human weaknesses and strengths.

The frontispiece (an illustration facing the title page of a book) from the April 9, 1967 issue of Weekly Shonan Magazine, which is the issue the series started from.

Q. What do you think a gag was for Fujio?

A. My mother passed in 2008; my father, Fujio Akatsuka, passed later. When I was sinking into the depths of deep sorrow, I casually reached out and grabbed an Akatuska manga that was on the altar and began reading it. After a little while, I found myself laughing out loud, intrigued by its meaninglessness and silliness. At that time, I felt an emerging warmth of energy that stomped out my sadness and lifted me out of the depths of my sorrow. People can laugh even at times such as this! Laughing is the best feeling ever! Laughter is explosive life energy! These are the things I realized. I believe what Fujio sought in gags was this explosive life energy that comes from laughing. Fujio had harbored a lot of sad feelings since his childhood. That is why I think he knew the importance of laughing, something directly linked to the act of living.

A scene from Genius Bakabon

Q. So, what do you think manga was to Fujio?

A. There was no boundary between his works and his personal life; he lived a manga-like life. In his later years, he was a free as the character from the series Bakabon’s Papa. For Fujio Akatsuka, I think manga itself was his way of life.

Q. If Fujio could see the UT created this time, what do you think his impressions would be?

A. Fujio was very happy that his characters were used in T-shirt designs and often wore such T-shirts himself. Especially at home, he was always wearing T-shirts. I think he would be very amused and pleased with the T-shirt, and I think he would wear it all the time.

In the Sahara Desert of Morocco, Reiko Akatsuka adopts the pose for the “whoa” gag performed by Iyamisu, a character that appears in Fujio Akatsuka’s manga “Osomatus-kun.”

PROFILE

Reiko Akatsuka | Born in Tokyo, Japan. Artist / Representative of Fujio Productions Ltd. Moved to England in 1994. Graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Goldsmiths, University of London in 2001. Since 2002, she has been a gallery artist at the London gallery Danielle Arnaud. She continues her creative activities splitting her time between Tokyo and London. She is the author of the book “Bakabon no Papa yori Baka na Papa” (A father sillier than the character Bakabon Papa).