The Laughing Salesman

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The Laughing Salesman
Original title 笑 う せ ぇ る す ま ん
transcription Wasau Serusuman
genre Thriller , drama , his , mystery
Manga
country JapanJapan Japan
author Fujiko Fujio
Illustrator Hiroji Mishima
publishing company Shogakukan , Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha , Chuokoron-Shinsha
magazine Big Comic Manga , Weekly Manga Sunday
First publication 1968-1971
Anime television series
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 1989-1992
Studio Shin-egg animation
length 10 mins
Episodes 127
Theme music Kodoku no Uta
Director Toshirō Kuni
idea Yasuo Tanami
music Kōhei Tanaka
First broadcast October 10, 1989 on TBS
Anime television series
title The Laughing Salesman NEW
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
year 2017
length 24 minutes
Episodes 12
Director Hirofumi Ogura
idea Naohiro Fukushima, Asami Ishikawa, Midori Natsu
music Kōhei Tanaka
First broadcast April 3, 2017 on Tokyo Max

The Laughing Salesman or Warau Salesman ( Japanese : 笑 う せ ぇ る す ま ん, Hepburn : Warau seerusuman) is a Japanese manga series by the mangaka duo Fujiko Fujio , which was adopted twice as an anime series and as other works.

action

The series has an episodic structure, so each chapter or episode is about a different person, but always shows Moguro Fukuzou (The Laughing Salesman) as the main character and follows the following pattern:

At the beginning of a chapter or an episode, a person is introduced who has difficulties with their life, is dissatisfied and is usually in a midlife crisis and is therefore desperately looking for a way out. Suddenly the main character of the series Moguro Fukuzou lies in wait and offers her his help. He introduces himself to the person as a businessman or salesman, which is why he is known to the readership or the public as a laughing salesman . Whereas in the beginning he is still perceived as threatening and mysterious by the person, he develops more and more trust in the person, which goes up to a friendly relationship.

He offers the person a wish to be fulfilled in the course of the action, but sets a condition for it that must not be broken. The person ultimately accepts this wish, hoping for a better life from it, but fails to comply with the condition due to sheer excitement, greed and selfishness or betrays it and is therefore punished by Moguro at the end of the episode and then left behind by him. In the end, the person's life is mostly ruined and Moguro gives the moral of the story and then laughs.

Moguro's customer names are often puns about their situation or predicament, or refer to aspects of Japanese culture or history.

Creation and publication

Manga

The Laughing Salesman was created by the mangaka -Dou Fujiko Fujio , who was already known for the Doraemon manga series , which is very popular in Japan . Motoo Abiko , in contrast to Fujimoto Hiroshi more for young adults with dark themes ( his writing), published the manga in 1968 in Big Comic - magazine by Shogakukan Publishing House as a one-shot under the name The Black Salesman . However, the manga was considered too inappropriate for the publisher and was therefore continued as a regular series from 1969 to 1971 in the manga magazine Manga Sunday by the Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha publishing house. A bilingual (Japanese and English) volume has been released as The Salesman Returns .

Anime

A first anime adaptation of the manga was produced by the animation studio Shin-Ei Animation and presented for the first time as part of the Gimme a Break - Varieté television show in 1989 and first broadcast on TBS from October 10, 1989 to September 29, 1992 . Two-hour television specials were later also produced and aired between December 26, 1992 and December 28, 1993. A total of 112 episodes were published in 3 seasons with an average length of 10 minutes. A DVD release of the series by Pony Canyon will start on March 20, 2013. The anime was also digitally revised and published on various video-on-demand streaming services in Japan.

Directed by Toshirō Kuni and the screenplay was written by Yasuo Tanami , while Kōhei Tanaka composed the music. Takashi Miyano was the artistic director . The opening song is titled Kodoku no Uta (孤独 の 唄, lit.Song of Loneliness) , while the ending is titled Kokoro no Uta (コ コ ロ の, lit.Song of the Heart) . Both are by Tomio Umezawa . Moguru's spokesman is Tōru Ōhira .

A second anime adaptation was first broadcast on Tokyo MX between April 3, 2017 and June 19, 2017 under the name Warau Salesman New and comprises 12 double episodes. It was also produced by Shin-Ei Animation . Directed by Hirofumi Ogura and written by Asami Ishikawa, Midori Natsu and Naohiro Fukushima. The character design was created by Fujio Suzuki and the artistic direction was with Minoru Nishida . A version with German and English subtitles has been published on Crunchyroll . Moguro spokesman is Tesshō Genda . While the old anime was hand-drawn, the new anime uses Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

Further adaptations

In 1991 the Japanese computer game developer Compile published a computer game for the series for the MSX 2 home computer . A visual novel , which was also developed by Compile, was published on September 17, 1993 for the Sega CD game console and adapted 3 episodes of the anime. A live action series first aired on TV Asahi between June 26 and September 18, 1999 . 4 Pachinko slots with the Laughing Salesman motif have also been marketed since the turn of the millennium . A theater adaptation titled The Laughing Salesman: The Stage was planned for performances in Tokyo and Hyōgo Prefecture between April and May 2020 , but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

reception

By June 1999, the manga had sold over 3.5 million times in Japan. The original anime was very popular in Japan because of the black humor . The new anime, on the other hand, was one of the lowest-grossing series of the year. The motive of exchanging the soul for a wish that is evoked under temptation is comparable to a pact with the devil , which is why Moguro takes on a similar demonic role as Mephistopheles in Faust . However, according to Crunchyroll, there is a lack of moral depth and immersiveness as in the similar work Hell Girl and instead more emphasis is placed on humor and drama. On MyAnimeList , users rated the old anime with an overall rating of 6.68 out of 10 points and the new anime with 6.28 out of 10 points. Moguro's famous "Dōn!" Won the Anime Buzzword Contest 2017.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation . Stone Bridge Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1-61172-909-2 ( google.de [accessed May 31, 2020]).
  2. ↑ 実 業 之 日本社: 英語 コ ミ ッ ク ス 帰 ッ テ キ タ せ ぇ る す ま ん ｜ 実 業 之 日本社 . ( jn.co.jp [accessed May 31, 2020]).
  3. ^ Salvador Jimenez Murguía: The Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films . Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4422-6167-9 , pp. 82 ( google.de [accessed on May 31, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Play on generation-msx.nl. Retrieved June 1, 2020 .
  5. ^ Warau Salesman for SEGA CD (1993). Accessed June 1, 2020 .
  6. ^ Warau Salesman. Accessed June 1, 2020 .
  7. ^ CR Warau Salesman 2, Pachinko by Okumura (2002). Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  8. ^ The Laughing Salesman Stage Play Reveals Visual. Accessed May 31, 2020 (English).
  9. ↑ 「世紀末 の コ コ ロ の ス キ マ お 埋 め し ま す「 笑 ゥ せ ぇ る す ま ん 」テ レ 朝 系 で ド ド ラ マ 化」 『Yomiuri Shimbun』 1999 年 6 月 9 夕面 刊 東京 東京 22 夕面 付 東京 東京
  10. ↑ Frederik L. Schodt: Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga . Stone Bridge Press, Inc., 2011, ISBN 978-1-933330-95-2 , pp. 215 .
  11. ↑ Series Data - Quick View. Accessed June 1, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Guest Author: Paying the Price - The Dark Morality of "The Laughing Salesman". In: Crunchyroll. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  13. ^ Warau Salesman. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  14. ^ Warau Salesman New. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Warau Salesman NEW Wins Anime Buzzword Contest for 2017. Accessed June 1, 2020 .