Bōken Dankichi (冒険ダン吉, Dankichi the Adventurer or The Adventurous Dankichi) is a manga work by Keizō Shimada serialized in Kodansha's boys' magazine Shōnen Club from 1933 to 1939. [1] [2] [3] Strictly speaking, it is in the form of a picture story ( emonogatari) with narrative captions attached to the illustrations.
Dankichi, an adventurous Japanese boy, and his mouse companion Karikō, wash ashore in a South Pacific island after falling asleep in a fishing expedition in the ocean. They find the island is inhabited by natives; Dankichi becomes their king after defeating their leader, bringing "civilized" infrastructures (schools, hospitals, etc.) and customs to the island and defending it from Western invaders. The series quickly become a popular manga, dividing its popularity with Suihō Tagawa's Norakuro, published in the same magazine.
The comic was made in the context of the Japanese Empire expansionist campaign to the South Pacific islands ( Micronesia, Palau, Northern Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands). In the post-World War II period, the manga was criticized for glorifying aggressionism and promoting racial prejudice; the island people were depicted as dark-skinned, thick-lipped naive barbarians in contrast to the "civilized" Japanese; they weren't given names, but numbers (number 1, 2, 3) by Dankichi. Besides, the island fauna (lions, elephants, giraffes,etc.) was stereotypically African. [4] [5]
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: CS1 maint: others (
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Bōken Dankichi (冒険ダン吉, Dankichi the Adventurer or The Adventurous Dankichi) is a manga work by Keizō Shimada serialized in Kodansha's boys' magazine Shōnen Club from 1933 to 1939. [1] [2] [3] Strictly speaking, it is in the form of a picture story ( emonogatari) with narrative captions attached to the illustrations.
Dankichi, an adventurous Japanese boy, and his mouse companion Karikō, wash ashore in a South Pacific island after falling asleep in a fishing expedition in the ocean. They find the island is inhabited by natives; Dankichi becomes their king after defeating their leader, bringing "civilized" infrastructures (schools, hospitals, etc.) and customs to the island and defending it from Western invaders. The series quickly become a popular manga, dividing its popularity with Suihō Tagawa's Norakuro, published in the same magazine.
The comic was made in the context of the Japanese Empire expansionist campaign to the South Pacific islands ( Micronesia, Palau, Northern Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands). In the post-World War II period, the manga was criticized for glorifying aggressionism and promoting racial prejudice; the island people were depicted as dark-skinned, thick-lipped naive barbarians in contrast to the "civilized" Japanese; they weren't given names, but numbers (number 1, 2, 3) by Dankichi. Besides, the island fauna (lions, elephants, giraffes,etc.) was stereotypically African. [4] [5]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (
link)