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Momoko Sakura's 'GJ8 Man' Character Gets English-Subtitled Net Anime Series
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Chibi Maruko-chan manga creator Momoko Sakura's "GJ8 Man" character is inspiring his own net anime series that premiered on Saturday. The show's first episode includes English subtitles.
The anime follows Joe Gorō, a boy who lives a carefree life in the small historical town of Gujo Hachiman in Gifu Prefecture. One day an old self-professed "water fairy" appears in front of Joe, and tells him to help people, and grants Joe the power to turn into "GJ8 Man" (a pun on Gujo Hachiman, as the NUMBER 8 is pronounced "hachi" in Japanese, and the "hachi" in "Hachiman" uses the kanji for the NUMBER 8).
The YouTube channel has also posted a music video for the series:
The YouTube channel will post new episodes monthly on the eighth of the month. LIGHTAIR Inc. is producing the anime. BOB Hiroo is the director and producer, and also designed the characters alongside Sakura. Hiroo also voices both GJ8 Man and Water Fairy in the series.
Sakura said she created the character because she loves the town of Gujo Hachiman. The "GJ8 Man" character is also serving as the fifth anniversary commemoration character for Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine. When Grand Jump editor-in-chief Fujie Kenji first saw the character, he said he had assumed "GJ" stood for "Grand Jump." He added that even though he was surprised to find out it stood for Gujo Hachiman, he said he still wanted to use the character to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Grand Jump magazine. The character is currently featured on issue covers of the magazine's issues and on preview notices for the magazine's next issues.
Sakura is additionally launching the Chibi Shikaku-chan manga series starting in the 21st issue of Grand Jump on October 19. The "drama of tears and laughter" follows Shikako, a square-headed parody version of Sakura's iconic manga girl Chibi Maruko-chan. ("Shikaku" and "Shikako" are wordplays on the Japanese word for "square," while the "maru" in "Maruko" sounds similar to the Japanese word for "round.")
Source: Comic Natalie
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