The works of Sho Shibamoto (The Jackalope, Pandemonium Wizard Village, Flower Knight Dakini)

Chapter 11 has been translated.

This is one I've been anticipating as now I'll finally be able to add some new entries to the character pages.

Chapter 12 will come out in English sometime around Christmas.

EDIT: On the character page, do you think I should put Damini with her family or leave her in the Thunder Beasts category?

Edited by ROTHY on Nov 20th 2023 at 7:07:03 AM

Sorry for the double post (triple technically), but I wanted to bring up that Alsh and Aljun are called Arju and Arjun in the original. Sho told his translator to change their names to avoid confusion.

Just a random question: if any parts of the "trilogy" ever get adapted into an anime series or film, which director or studio would you like to see tackle them? For some reason, I can't help but picture Pandemonium being made into a film adaptation directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Don't know why. It just seems fitting.

Probably Wit Studio doing either Jackalope or Pandemonium. Probably the former getting a film and the latter a series. Either way, ideally I'd want them to have fun expanding the stories, preferably with some of the cut plotlines.

I didn't know who Wit Studio were until I looked it up and learned they were the people behind the Ranking of Kings anime, among others. I think I can see why you think Wit Studio would be ideal for adapting The Jackalope. It would definitely have a similar style and vibe as Ranking of Kings (or Nichijou if you prefer) with the flatter colors and stuff, which fits the more simplistic, almost childlike art style Sho had at the time.

If Dakini gets an anime adaptation, MAPPA would definitely be one of my first choices. That studio has proven itself capable of animating crazy, well-choreographed fight scenes like in Jujutsu Kaisen, which Dakini has more than a few of.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Nov 30th 2023 at 6:00:03 AM

Yeah, I can see that. I was thinking of The Girl from the Other Side when I made my suggestion too.

Now, who would you cast for the voice actors?

Here's my incomplete list:

Zipher: Kappei Yamaguchi

Domika: Megumi Toyoguchi

Molte: Rie Kugimiya

Eiden: Chikahiro Kobayashi

Dakini/Damini: Nana Mizuki

Holy shit, how did I not find out about the The Girl from the Other Side film? It looks beautiful. I was imagining the hypothetical Jackalope adaptation having an art direction that resembles Nichijou, but one similar to The Girl from the Other Side fits Sho's hatching-heavy drawings much better. ^note  By "hatching", I mean this drawing technique.

As for the hypothetical voice actors, I don't exactly have a clear idea of who should voice what character (and I'm not familiar with Japanese voice actors in general). But if I were to cast someone as Molte, that someone would be the actress who voiced her in this fandub that you posted. She conveyed Molte's character perfectly, and her delivery drips with the schadenfreude you'd expect from a creepy, grinning little girl who has it in for sad, strange little men like Zipher (especially if they get a little too friendly with her adoptive mother).

And now for the soundtracks. Who would you like to see compose the soundtracks for the hypothetical adaptations?

In the case of Dakini, Keiichi Okabe (who composed the soundtracks for Yoko Taro's games from NieR onwards) would be a good contender in my opinion. As I mentioned before in this thread ^note Which nobody even noticed. , the tropical setting and mythological motifs of Dakini give off a unique, very South/Southeast Asian vibe compared to other entries in the trilogy. Thus, I think the soundtracks could be in the same vein as some of Keiichi Okabe's compositions, which heavily use windchimes and gamelan (I think) instruments that can help give off that ethereal South/Southeast Asian feel. And there should be drums. Especially drums if we're dealing with Dakini and the Thunder Beasts' leitmotifs, which makes sense if you know what natural phenomena drums are typically associated with.

For example:

• This battle theme from Nie R Reincarnation. It would accompany the first time we see Dakini in battle mode.
• This song from the same game. Perfect for Dakini's debut where she stares at the sky.
• This song from the NieR remaster (or remake, idk). I can imagine this playing during the end of Chapter 3, in which Dakini recovers from being triggered by a tomato. (heck of a brand new sentence, i know)
• This version of "Song of the Ancients" from the above game.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Dec 28th 2023 at 8:43:55 AM

Now it's my turn to express my unfamiliarity with a subject. I'm no expert when it comes to composers, but I could at least describe what I want the soundtrack to sound like.

Your Dakini suggestions fits pretty much perfectly. The first one even sounds like something that could play for a promo video.

The Jackalope would probably have whimsical adventure music at the beginning before the heavy stuff kicks off, at which point all that whimsy is absent for a bit. Then at the end, it all comes back during the climax against the tornado, with Jacka's personal theme being mixed in and ultimately overpowering the tornado's theme.

Pandemonium would be 'melancholic and mysterious' to reflect the unclear nature of everything at the beginning, and be mostly piano and string pieces. Meanwhile, the music associated with the brigade would be oppressive and almost otherworldly, emphasizing their role as outsiders. Probably a Drone of Dread or two in there.

For an example of the former, the song used for the French ad is what I'm looking for.

Edited by ROTHY on Apr 19th 2024 at 6:11:46 AM

I was kind of imagining the same thing for Pandemonium. Pianos and strings for melancholic, mysterious, and down-to-earth music. Maybe throw in some taps on the marimba too. In my head, I hear something like:

• "Empty Tone" from Drakengard 3. Perfect for the ending of Pandemoium in my opinion.
• As well as this song from Nie R Reincarnation. It could play during the scenes of Zipher helping Domika deliver meals to the villagers, or something.

As for Jackalope, I think it could also use a few ethereal and bittersweet-sounding pieces. Something like the title screen theme from Yume Nikki can fit pretty well in the prologue of the story (it feels very "welcome to the world, my beautiful baby boy", doesn't it?). And something like this composition of "Working... please wait..." could make the ending extra tear-jerking. And the credit scene? Something like "Goodbye Everyone" by siinamota would do. Whimsy and bittersweet.

Let's not forget the heavier parts of Jackalope that you mentioned, too. The music for these part should lean more into horror to contrast the more adventurous songs. Imagine this playing when Topo enters Jacka's house to check on him, only to slowly realize something's not right as she hears strange sounds coming from his room. Cue Topo opening the door, followed by the Wham Shot with this ambience playing the entire time afterwards.

And last but not least: the big, floating rubber duckies of doom!

I also have a clear idea of what sort of leitmotif would play when the Sky Golems show up in some form of another, across all three hypothetical adaptations. In the past months, I've been listening to the soundtrack of the original Drakengard, and I thought some of the songs from that game would convey the threat and mysterious, eldritch nature of the Sky Golems pretty well. They drive home the fact that in the Shibamotoverse, demons practically don't come crawling out of hell...

They fly down from heaven.

So why not play something that sounds like a fucked up mockery of church/orchestra/choir music when those horrors start raining death from above? Something like:

• The first part of the Grotesquerie Queen's theme from Drakengard (nicely bass boosted so you can experience the terror and panic of the people of Arkhamheim as it gets swiss-cheesed by straight thunders).
• Or alternatively, "Morceaux" from Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, which all but screams "HELL IS REAL AND ITS ABOVE US."

Jesus Christ, this is a long post. My imagination has been running wild lately and I needed to spill it all out on my keyboard, brains and all.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Dec 28th 2023 at 8:43:04 AM

While ROTHY sleeps, I'm gonna step in and let y'all know: Sho has announced that the first 30 chapters of Yorozu Locksmith Casebook are now free to read on the Manga 5 website.

Chapter 12's translation has been released. 11 also was re-released with a fix to the image sizes.

The reason for the late release is because Sho was working on a Year of the Dragon picture, featuring this fox dragon and her little husband.

I'll get to adding some new tropes when I can.

Just curious, what did you think of the extra music suggestions for the hypothetical adaptations I mentioned in my wall of text? ^note  It took me 5 hours to clean the brains off my keyboard after that long post.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Jan 8th 2024 at 8:12:35 AM

Those are all pretty fitting picks. Maybe less bass-boosted bells, though.

I noticed a rather amusing Running Gag.

In Sho's holiday drawings, there is a tendency for the most antagonistic character from a given manga to be put in the background far behind the other characters. And more often than not, they will look very undignified. Just ask Mustela:

Even Crain is subjected to this karmic punishment:

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Jan 13th 2024 at 7:28:40 AM

I have a question. Why does Dakini appear with white fur instead of black in Chapter 11? Does the manga offer any explanation?

The paella she and Eiden made in the previous chapter was made with a type of squid that is able to not just change its color but its shape. Since she's got a Cannibalism Superpower, she got its ability sometime after eating it. Alsh said she turned white when he first set her down on the bed.

Chapter 13 has been released in English.

Lately, I realized the reason I was drawn to Sho's shared universe is how it had the same feel and charm as the Little Tail Bronx series. Both take place in a World of Funny Animals, both heavily involve Lost Technology in their lore, both consist of separate stories with a few continuity nods linking them, and both are heavily implied (now pretty much confirmed) to take place after Humanity's Wake. You could say the Hiyokoverse (yes, that's what I'm calling the trilogy from now on) is a Spiritual Successor to the latter, don't you agree?

Speaking of shared universes, has Sho ever stated if his has a title, or will have one in the future. If not, has it yet occurred to anyone to ask him?

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Apr 21st 2024 at 8:21:27 AM

I do see the similarities, yes

As for the name of the shared universe, Sho hasn't decided upon a name for it or the world it's set on yet.

To talk about the new chapter for a bit, the translation suddenly decided to change 'Bough-One' to 'Bow-One' without notice. The new one is slightly closer to the original of Bauwan, which is supposed to sound like two different onomatopoeia for dog barking smushed together. I'm not a fan of the hyphen though.

The Brigade finally got identified as the Sparnin Brigade, which makes referring to them easier with all the knights in Dakini.

Also, I had previously thought that Stock (the dalmatian in the Sparnin Brigade with the electric staff) referring to Kayoh as 'the 99-tailed fox' was a typo, but now that's actually something she used to be called.

Let me say that Stock is such a genuine No-Nonsense Nemesis in Pandemonium, he's pretty much become my favorite minor character from the manga. He wastes absolutely no time thwacking people with the staff to enforce the Brigade's role as a collective Invincible Villain. Contrast that with Kugel (the jackal/doberman with the sniper rifle). He's the Yamcha of the brigade (and plays Combat Commentator just like him). He gets his ass kicked by boobie foxes a lot.

On another note, today I watched the french animated film The Triplets of Belleville. I just wanna continue where I left off regarding the conversation about adaptations, and say that the art direction of the film is very fitting for a potential Pandemonium OVA. The Triplets Of Belleville has a similar sepia filter as Pandemonium, but uses a wider palette of colors. The hypothetical OVA could look good with that art direction and 2000s cell animation feel, and I think it's appropiate considering Pandemonium also a a decent French demographic (if the French releases of the manga and the marketing are any indication). See the trailer for the film so you know what I'm talking about.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Feb 19th 2024 at 9:04:38 AM

Yeah, Stock is shockingly ruthless. Even getting his arm broken barely slows the guy down.

Unless you want to count Faust knocking himself out from gravity, Kugel takes the most punishment out of the entire brigade. What's really strange is that I believe he's ostensibly the second in command, yet you wouldn't guess that from his track record. Interestingly, he is the only person in the Sparnin brigade that we see in during the destruction of Arkhamheim itself. He's the one warning Zipher that it's too dangerous.

I noticed Kugel's unmasked cameo in the flahsback as well. Apparently he makes a reappearance in Dakini... and he still has shoddy luck against Sho's fox waifus as usual. At this point I'm tempted to commission Sho for a drawing of Kugel doing the Yamcha death pose. ^note  The mental image of Kugel dressing as the Sniper from Team Fortress 2 feels just as appropiate, though.

Speaking of Dakini, who's the gloomy-looking dog man without eyebrows in chapter 13? He kinda reminds me of NoHo Frank from Barry.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Feb 20th 2024 at 9:27:18 AM

That would be Garlan. He's the ex-leader of the Great Chain, the group of knights with the really imposing armor. The start of next chapter shows he used to be Crain's boss, before he stepped down after the Pandemonium Incident. If my translation program was accurate, it's because he was the one who told the brigade where to look for the village, he ended up taking the heat for them, and atoning by becoming a golem researcher, though still remaining connected to the Great Chain in some capacity.

Edited by ROTHY on Feb 24th 2024 at 11:09:50 AM

I want to talk a bit about Sho's post-hiatus art style in Dakini, specifically how some characters from previous stories look under the current style. I'm amused by how youthful and oddly handsome Beatha looks in chapter 13 (especially from certain angles). In his debut he looked like a homeless tramp with sleep deprivation, unresolved issues, and a drinking problem (see what I did there... again?), but now he looks like the kind of character whom people would turn into a Tumblr sexyman if the manga became popular enough to inspire fanart (and not just commissions).

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Mar 8th 2024 at 8:55:59 AM