How Eguchi Hisashi's Manga About a Trans Girl Nearly Ended "Dr. Slump" Early

[Hellspawn28]

It's kinda crazy to learn that Hibari-kun was so popular, considering I never heard about it until a few years ago when trans YouTubers started promoting it.

Most of the anime that seemed to get brought over outside Japan back then was either toyetic and easy to market and sell to children or hyperviolent and easy to sell to young adults at the video store. Stop! Hibari-kun was neither.

We had Urusei Yatsura be released on VHS when it's neither of those things. It's likely most people didn't know about it back then unless I'm wrong (Kunzait will probably remember and know about it).

[ThunderPX]

If Shen Long can't make me pregnant, what even is the point of being a wish-granting dragon god? Smh

(But no, really, that's some fucked up shit, I hope nobody ever decides that that's a thing)

I always assumed that Shen Long couldn't turn the androids back to humans because of the whole "can't exceed the power of the creator" thing that stopped him from blowing up Nappa and Vegeta before they got to Earth. So I guess all us trans girls have to do is not get stronger than Dende!

[JulieYBM]

If Shen Long can't make me pregnant, what even is the point of being a wish-granting dragon god? Smh

(But no, really, that's some fucked up shit, I hope nobody ever decides that that's a thing)

I always assumed that Shen Long couldn't turn the androids back to humans because of the whole "can't exceed the power of the creator" thing that stopped him from blowing up Nappa and Vegeta before they got to Earth. So I guess all us trans girls have to do is not get stronger than Dende!

Good thing I'm too depressed from being unable to get pregnant to train, then.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

While there is some...very out-dated elements to Stop!! Hibari-kun! I am fascinated by the notion that not only did the massively successful Dr. Slump nearly fall to a comic about a cute trans girl wrapping everyone about her finger, but that if it hadn't ended serialization so soon we might have had more manga taking after it. Heck, assuming that Dragon Ball still eventually happened, could you imagine if Toriyama had made Blooma be a transgender girl? I'm sure I would be even more critical of how Blooma is written, but I'm also kind of just fascinated by the thought.

I could see him taking the Bulma jokes we got and simply adding "She's actually a guy! Har har" to the punchline.

With Roshi, he could have Roshi do the whole "eww gross *vomit*" thing, but that seems too straightforward. A more Toriyama punchline would be that he continues to sexually harass her because he conveniently keeps forgetting that she's trans to the point of effectively not caring.

I'm pretty sure that there's an "eww trans" joke in one of Toriyama's one shot manga, or in one of his failed projects. I know that it's featured in his "Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater" collection because there were Amazon reviews pointing out how offensive it was.
To his credit though despite not having the most progressive sense of humor Toriyama did listen and was willing to make changes to his art with time. His design of Pan's teacher in the new movie is a 180 compared to his designs of black characters throughout the original manga.

[JulieYBM]

While there is some...very out-dated elements to Stop!! Hibari-kun! I am fascinated by the notion that not only did the massively successful Dr. Slump nearly fall to a comic about a cute trans girl wrapping everyone about her finger, but that if it hadn't ended serialization so soon we might have had more manga taking after it. Heck, assuming that Dragon Ball still eventually happened, could you imagine if Toriyama had made Blooma be a transgender girl? I'm sure I would be even more critical of how Blooma is written, but I'm also kind of just fascinated by the thought.

I could see him taking the Bulma jokes we got and simply adding "She's actually a guy! Har har" to the punchline.

With Roshi, he could have Roshi do the whole "eww gross *vomit*" thing, but that seems too straightforward. A more Toriyama punchline would be that he continues to sexually harass her because he conveniently keeps forgetting that she's trans to the point of effectively not caring.

I'm pretty sure that there's an "eww trans" joke in one of Toriyama's one shot manga, or in one of his failed projects. I know that it's featured in his "Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater" collection because there were Amazon reviews pointing out how offensive it was.
To his credit though despite not having the most progressive sense of humor Toriyama did listen and was willing to make changes to his art with time. His design of Pan's teacher in the new movie is a 180 compared to his designs of black characters throughout the original manga.

Oh jeez, I haven't had a chance to read Toriyama's one-shots before. Do you happen to know which one has this nonsense in it?

[VegettoEX]

This is with regard to Go! Go! Ackman, specifically chapter 7.

It's worth explaining that the term is ニューハーフ ("new half") in Japanese, which has its own history/baggage/context separate from our own words in English. My reading has always been that it's more of Toriyama punchlines being the punchlines without much more commentary than that, but that's obviously my own very specific view of it.

I chatted about this with a panel on the Manga Mavericks podcast about "Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater" if you want to hear more opinions in a review-type setting. The Ackman chat starts around 2:12:00.

[JulieYBM]

Turns out I still had my—unread copy—of the US release from Viz. I didn't notice any commentary from an editor, either, so I'm curious how much of the dialogue was toned down. 'New-half' is rendered as 'transgender' in the text.

Wow, yeah, the comic itself is just...bad. It's not funny, and it just uses the image of a trans woman's body for a cheap, meaningless laugh. "Minorities—especially trans women—are to be laughed at" is, in fact, a bad attitude for creators and editors to have. I wish that all of fthe men running Shueisha/JUMP had exercised more empathy.

Poor Josephine Yamamoto...

[jjgp1112]

Reading the full interview, it doesn't sound like Dr. Slump's waning popularity caused Toriyama to want to quit - rather, he'd already wanted to quit, and Dr. Slump losing popularity gave Shueisha a justification to let him quit. And of course, he'd eventually get his request but only on the condition that he have another manga ready after a few months off

[MuscleRobo]

Is the Stop!! Hibari Kun anime very different than the manga? I've only read the manga before and the way a lot of people are talking about it makes me wonder if you get a different impression from it? It wouldn't be the first time! The Kinnikuman anime and manga were extremely different and it was funny when a lot of the anime only elements were adapted into the sequel manga. Very cute short manga though; the last chapter was so funny and introduced a character I wish was there from the start!