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Is this the final episode of ‘We Appreciate Manga’? I guess we will have to see… Either way James has an announcement to make but first we give a quick review of Godzilla minus one and talk about side chapters of Petshop of Horrors. Skip chapter summaries @ 15:01
 
Intro music courtesy of Liam Bradbury
Outro music courtesy of Rifti Beats - Youtube
 
 
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
 
136: Petshop of Horrors: Flowers and Detective
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
In the additional chapters, young Chris Orcot treks out into the labyrinthine back rooms of the petshop to find out Q-Chan’s human form. Unlike the rest of the Pets in Count D’s shop, who appear as human to Chris, Q-Chan only appears as a Wolperdinger, a horned rabbit like creature with wings. As Chris explores the hidden rooms, he meets a grim looking figure who obliges him but unfortunately for Chris, the remedy he acquires has no such desired effect on Q-Chan.
 
Another chapter shows a Totetsu (a mixed goat and tiger creature) by the name of T-Chan. T-Chan is looking down in the dumps before Leon finds out that it is because he is in love with one of D’s new pets. Leon and the gang help him pluck up the courage but because of T-Chan’s proclivity to eat the one he loves it results in T-Chan being rejected. It becomes a bonding experience for both Leon and T-chan.
 
The Flowers and detective chapters feature the police detective Leon Orcot, D does not trust Leon enough to take care of pets so he gifts him a gatolatto plant.  The plant grows well thanks to Leon’s appreciation and care but eventually Leon is wounded from a gunshot and is hospitalized. On his miraculous recovery he asks D to water his plant for him, only to be told that the flower has already bloomed and withered to death in his place. Was it really the plant that saved Leon? D has given people stranger things.
 
Part two, has D playing matchmaker only for Leon to interfere and end up winning the affection of beautiful creatures. What Leon does not realise is that he is being used to pollinate women. Like a honey bee!
 
Part three includes a strange kimono arriving at the pet shop. With the Kimono’s colour representing Sakura (cherry blossom) but being made from the blood of insects. And in the last chapter that we speak of today, we see Chris sent on an errand but D and Leon spy on him using cameras and disguises, very much like the Reality TV show ‘Old Enough!’ (a.k.a. its literal translation ‘My First Errand’) Afterwards they spend the night gazing at the full moon and D tells Chris of the rabbit in the moon, and the princess whose kingdom has become extinct. Chris tells D that maybe the rabbit princess is still on the moon and is just hiding.
 
Topics:
 
·       Thoughts on Godzilla Minus One and Hollywood.
·       Pareidolia, do you see a rabbit, a woman, or a man when you look at the moon?
·       The future of the We Appreciate Manga Podcast.
 
 
 
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
 
 
·       The cherry blossom looking dye in one story is often used as a food colouring can trigger allergies, look for anything labelled carminic acid, carmine or cochineal on red coloured foods.
·       Unlike the west Chinese and Asians countries tend to say there is a rabbit in the moon, not a man in the moon. Some when they look at a full moon, say the image is a silhouette of a rabbit hunched over and is mixing herbs, creating an elixir for immortality. (Personally, I like to think that its churning butter but some Japanese may say it is pounding rice cake mixture - J) Depending on the sun’s position and your position on the earth if you were to Look at the dark spots of the moon you will find that the sea of fertility and the sea of nectar are the tips of its ears.
 
O

Author Matsuri closes out the final chapters and leaves no stone unturned, Chris speaks, Q-Chan shows off their human form and a climatic meeting with D’s father finally happens.  In a clever way, Matsuri switches from an episodic structure to a serial form, bringing the narrative home!
 
 
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135: Petshop of Horrors vol. 10
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
The story advances to its conclusion when Chris Orcot’s extended family arrive. Chris knowing that he is adopted by his aunty and uncle forgives them and his cousins, but in a moment of crisis he learns to speak up and call for them, Chris’ voice is heard by his cousins and he is taken home, even if the pets at the shop did not want Chris to leave them, Chris makes his own decision to live in peace with his real family. When Chris looks back at what he had with D in the pet shop he finds they no longer resemble the humanoids he once had a relationship with, they truly seem like animals now.
 
Afterwards D mysteriously leaves and closes shop upon getting heat from the FBI. Agent Vesca Howell teams up with Chris’ older brother, the detective Leon Orcot to track D down. The two share what they know about D before they go their separate ways. Afterwards D appears to Leon and leads him to a high-rise penthouse to discuss things over tea and sweets. But Leon is not fooled since the imposter is Count D, the father of the missing D. Although this raises many questions as to why he looks like he in his twenties and is the spitting image of his son. Leon however falls for Count D’s trap. And like in previous chapters, Leon must once again fight in the wilderness of a mythological dreamscape.
 
Meanwhile Agent Howell confronts the real D and loses the fight to apprehend him. D realises that Howell is only after his lookalike father and so he takes him to Count D. Both agent Howell and D arrive in time to help save Leon. It is at this point that D’s personal pet, Q-chan transforms into his human form, revealing himself to be D’s grandfather.  Just in time for the existential crisis that is Count D’s plan to spread a virus that causes human extinction. However, Count D is shot dead and Howell dies in the confrontation, The OG Count, Grandfather D takes his son’s remains so that he can reincarnate him and Leon takes a leap of faith with D to safely escape the tower. Soon afterwards, D parts ways with Leon.
 
Eventually after twenty years pass, the pet shop is re-opened and mysterious deaths occur. Detective Orcot makes his way there to meet D, but this is not a reunion, in fact this is a meeting between the adult Chris Orcot and D’s son, the reincarnated Count D who died twenty years ago.
 
 
Topics:
 
 
·       Aino Matsuri’s switch from an episodic style of storytelling to a serial one.
·       Chris’ dilemma
·       Chris’ unrealistic form of mutism.
·       Is Count D human or not?
·       The Misanthropic villain.
 
·       The final chapter relies heavily on specific tropes so to create a feel of finality. The Tower itself is symbolic, appearing as a Tarot card after the Devil card. The Tower is almost always depicted having been struck by lightning or facing some sort of explosion or fire at the top. It represents, divination, to reach heaven and God and to experience a great revelation but one with an arduous cost. In many stories it is the protagonist’s greatest challenge before they confront the truth that waits for them above, and usually by defeating the villain above it causes the tower to collapse, this is symbolic of a return to status quo, to humble and “ground” the heroes but also render the challenge of ever climbing it again to be mute. Also, like the biblical “Tower of Babel” anyone who attempts to climb or build it alwa

Listen with discretion and care since on today’s episode we speak about intergenerational trauma, modern slavery, and human trafficking. Pretty intense stuff for a fantasy manga but Akino Matsuri is an expert anthologist when it comes to episodic storytelling. Skip plot summaries @ 7:17
 
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134: Petshop of Horrors vol. 9
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
Dreams:
A young woman pines over D, having recognised him from her dreams. D tries to find one of his supernatural pets for her but fails upon realizing that she already has such a spiritual companion. A Phoenix has given Monica the chance to constantly reincarnate herself and move to the next life if she fails to achieve her wish in one life. Her wish to win the heart of D. Monica’s dreams are in fact flashbacks to a past life where she had met one of D’s ancestors. D begins to feel sorry for Monica and decides to date her, he regretfully informs her that he cannot love someone who is human albeit very cryptic as to his reasons why.
 
In the end Monica decides to take a plane home but D sees the plane blow up in a fatal accident. The Phoenix appears to D once more and claims that she will no longer be reincarnated. The reason being that D did have feelings for her, thus Monica’s wish came true, even if he chose not to pursue a relationship and her life was cut short after it.
 
Desire:
A criminal working his way into the ranks of an organisation needs to acquire a pet tiger from D so that he can be king of the concrete jungle that is China town. The man sends a little girl, Xiao Hua, as a mediator so that she can butter up D with gifts to win the man’s approval. However, the Xiao Hua notices a hanging wall scroll painting in D’s tea room, and in that painting is a tiger.  The tiger only appears in the painting upon greeting its master.  Learning that Xiao Hua is destined to own the tiger, D gives Xiao Hua the painting.  Afterwards D learns of Xiao Hua’s lifeless body appearing in a back alley.  D takes it upon himself to find justice for her and retrieve the painting.  A fight ensues as D intrudes into the triad’s house but D has a trick under his sleeve that turns the tables on Xiao Hua’s killer.
 
Death:
A mother comes to the pet shop after the death of her daughter’s pet, she buys a new one only for it to be mysteriously killed.  As D investigates the deaths of the pets, he finds a family that has inter-generational trauma and the making of a serial killer.
 
Desperation:
D and Chris are abducted by a woman who, mourning the loss of her dead lover, intends to exact revenge on the police detective Leon Orcot.  T-Chan, the Totetsu is shot in the struggle to prevent D and Chris from being taken. However, their captor does not know that she is pregnant.
 
Topics:
 
·       The Power dynamic we see in the ‘Desire’ chapter implies that Xiao Hua is a child slave who may have arrived in the U.S. due to human trafficking. At the time of this podcast episode being published, Modern slavery and human trafficking seems to be more prevalent in the U.K. according to this Vice article by Amandas Ong and the BBC.
·       If you are a witness to human trafficking and modern slavery you can use this website and the “stop app” to report it and gain support. Please be aware that this no substitute for contacting the police, and if possible, one should contact the police, be it 911 (or 999 for U.K.) otherwise use the following website as a second choice and download their app, if for some reason you are afraid of contacting the police.
https://www.stopthetraffik.org/
 
·       The International Salvation Army is a charity organisation that also intends to abolish slavery and human trafficking, they can provide resources such as housing and protection for those in ne

Come join our book club and listen as we read Akino Matsuri’s horror stories, one that is about a mermaid. Another about a family that move into a house that has a dark history. And a woman who seems to have looks, fame and fortune, as well as mysterious past. Skip plot synopsis @3:34
 
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133: Petshop of Horrors vol. 8
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
 
D goes to a beach resort with Leon and Chris. Leon is there only to pick up ladies but when Chris and D help a girl find a lost ear-ring they are rewarded a boat trip by the girl’s grandfather, a man who spends his years chasing a mermaid he once saw at a young age.
 
A violent wave hits the boat causing D to fall overboard, when they find D washed up on shore, he does not seem to be his usual self.  D only recognises the girl’s grandfather, calling him Shido, which is odd because Shido did not give out his name.  The next day D predicts a volcano erupting, all islanders set out to sea but they lose D once again. The next time they find D he is with a mermaid, having had a body swap experience, D is now back into his own body.  Having been saved previously by the mermaid, he was able to repay the favour by letting her reunite with her long-lost love, Shido, whom had no memory of her, since the only way he can keep his memories is if he stays with the mermaid. They leave Shido behind with her, but unfortunately for Leon this means he will forget the existence of mermaids.
 
The second story involves an entire family who have recently moved in to a new house. The family enter the pet shop looking to buy one however they do not seem to agree on what pet they want. The Count ends up choosing a pet for them that just so happens to appear to each family member as the pet that they originally wanted, for example, to the grandmother it appears as a cat but to the youngest son it appears as a gecko, D names the pet Tenko (or Tiān hú / Ten-chan depending on whichever translation) but the rest of the family bicker about what new name to give it.  
One lonely girl in the family sees Ten-chan as a human, and it becomes clear that the pet favours this girl who seems down in spirit and isolated from the family. In truth the girl is a ghost, a part of the family that previously owned the house. D, having a sense of what’s up checks with the police and visits the house. When he arrives, there is a house fire, the family escape except for their pet, who stays inside with the ghost. D comes to save Ten-chan who as it turns out, is a kitsune (a mythical nine-tailed fox), but not before they exorcise the ghost and let her pass on to the other side.
 
In the story “Deja-vu” D lets Chris decide what pet to give to a woman who seems to have everything. Searching the pet shop, he sees the child like ghosts of twin sisters, Meanwhile the detective Leon discovers the woman patron to be a missing person, long thought to be dead and intends to reunite the woman with her sister. When the time comes for the woman to meet her pet, she is forced to confront her inner child. Or as D calls it, a beautiful bird.
 
 
Note: The bonus chapter ‘Flowers, Detective and the Detective’s Little Brother’ will be spoken about on a later episode of our podcast which will cover all bonus chapters.
 
Topics:
 
·       The mute character Chris and the use of children and other side characters functioning as plot devices.
·       For more Mermaid lore, check out A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits, a treatise by Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim) The 1819 French fantasy novella, Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Anderson, and there is also Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics.
·       Video

Today we talk about the importance of character-based story telling superseding social and political commentary, be it human trafficking, weight loss and police brutality. Albeit a fantasy story, there is an argument that a character’s catharsis through such heavy and controversial topics can bring catharsis to the reader. Skip plot synopsis @ 3:37
 
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132: Petshop of Horrors vol. 7
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
The first chapter, ‘Doom’ has the detective Leon get involved with the killing of his partner and co-worker Max whilst apprehending his childhood friend who is also killed in the incident. To ease Leon’s mind, D gives him a butterfly as a pet, however this butterfly can travel through Leon’s dreams and show him his desires. This results in Leon experience time travel where upon dreaming of what things could be like, he then experiences the reality within a waking nightmare, thus experiencing the butterfly effect.
 
In ‘Donor’ we see that Leon is assigned to find a missing donor heart whilst D is surprised by the arrival of his sister. A sister whom is willing to give her own organs so to donate to D, eventually the sister poses an existential threat that results in D killing the woman in his defence. When Leon finds a bloodied-up D, we see that D holds not the body of his sister but instead of an orangutan.
 
In ‘Duty’ a child soldier, on the run from assassinating a mafioso, hides in the Pet shop and takes D and Christopher as his hostage.
 
Whilst in the final chapter, ‘Diet’ shows us three characters. A catwalk model by the name of Irene who is given alternate medicine / diet pills from D. Plus two other patrons which include a boxer by the name of Nash and young girl by the name of Em (Emerelda). All three of them have issues with their weight and intend to make sure they lose a few pounds.
 
 
 
Context:
 
·       Arguably the most famous of all Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu) stories—"Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly"—appears at the end of the second chapter of his work, named "On the Equality of Things". This is the main inspiration for the Petshop of Horrors chapter ‘Doom’ although there is a sort of time travel aspect, the logic depicted however is that Leon is experiencing a dream of how things could be different.
·       ‘The Butterfly Effect’ is a metaphor that has its roots in deterministic philosophy and chaos theory. It describes how small-scale disturbances can cause large-scale events. Attributed to mathematician and meteorologist  Edward Norton Lorenz. when describing the cause of Tornados.
·       Many diets and fads revolving around weight loss took place during the 80’s and 90’s as gyms and “super-models” grew in popularity. Most of this was influenced by the controversial 1972 book ‘Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever’ which promotes a high cholesterol diet which results in heart disease. In Chris Van Tulleken’s book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ he explains how caloric restriction is not a long-term solution to weight loss as it is an evolutionary, survival and genetic advantage for weight loss to reduce when starved for long periods. Chris however does explain that an increase in obesity over the years after the 1950’s is due to highly processed and chemically augmented foods. Specifically designed not to satiate hunger but sell for profit. Anyone who is willing to go a drastic change in diet should always consult their doctor beforehand. Sadly, many eating disorders exist due to such diets, the social mores, and the ever-changing landscape of nutritional research.
 
Historical, scientific, and cultural references:
 
·       Xenotransplantation is the name of the procedure where animals are used for organ dono

Continuing with their book club podcast, Will and James talk about volume 6 of the surreal fantasy horror josei manga, Petshop of Horrors! Today’s stories are very much a reflection on the chaos of childhood and the pressures that family can sometimes put upon us.
Skip chapter summaries @ 4:22
 
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
 
130: Petshop of Horrors vol. 6
By Akino Matsuri
Translation by Tomoharu Iwo and James Lucas Jones
Lettering by Nunu Ngien
 
When Leon and D get abducted by terrorists they are forced to partake on the quest to the legendary city of El Dorado and its lost gold. In the end the leader of the group faces a dilemma as to wherever or not he should sacrifice his mystical jaguar for the gold.
 
On December, the night before Christmas, Christopher’s uncle and aunty come to the pet shop to take the young Christopher as their adopted child. However, Christopher refuses and hides down the basement where he meets something that can only be described as King Ghidorah, with an earthquake inducing dissociative identity disorder.
 
In the chapter ‘Distance’ the youngest daughter of a family of musicians, Catherine, is raised as such but has no talent. She distracts herself when the family dog has puppies and takes the runt of the litter to see D, although D is no veterinary doctor he decides to look after it for her. Once the Puppy recovers, she takes it for walks and lets it sit whilst she plays sports. When the time comes for her big piano recital performance the puppy bites her finger, rendering her index finger muscle useless. A sense of relief comes over Catherine as she no longer needs to play. It becomes to Catherine that she can now choose what path she wants in life as her talents clearly lie more so in sports than music.