From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rumic World (高橋留美子傑作短編集, Takahashi Rumiko Kessaku Tanpenshū ^?) is a series of short manga stories created by Rumiko Takahashi, mostly created early in her career before Ranma ½. These tend to be comedies. Later stories were published under the series title Rumic Theater.

"Rumic World" is also the series name under which Central Park Media and Manga Entertainment released in North America and the UK four anime OVAs in 1992 based on Takahashi's stories: Fire Tripper, Maris the Chojo, Laughing Target, and Mermaid Forest. Some of these stories, along with newer stories, were also animated as part of the Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou (Rumiko Takahashi Anthology) anime series. Even though Manga Entertainment has released all of its UK and American catalogue to Australia, all of the Rumic World series did not make it into Australia due to Manga's Australian division's takeover by Madman Entertainment, which after takeover, released most of Manga UK and Manga USA's catalogue until 2001 when Madman integrated Manga Entertainment's Australian division. Madman staff have rumored to release the Rumic World series on DVD under Manga Entertainment's label, and Madman still licence and distribute Manga's titles like Macross Plus, and Space Adventure Cobra.

Japanese Edition

Rumic World was first released in Japan in the tankoban format, but was rereleased in wideban format, which included many of the original colored pages of the series. Rumic World stories were originally published in the magazine Shonen Sunday, as opposed to Rumic Theater stories, which were published in Big Comic Spirits. Not all stories have been collected into book form.

English Edition

Viz Media initially published two Rumic World stories in English: Fire Tripper (1989) and Laughing Target (1990). It subsequently (1996) published five volumes of the Rumic World collection, three under that name (Rumik Trilogy vols. 1-3) and under the "Rumic Theater" name (Rumik Theater and Rumik Theater: One or Double). The contents of the five volumes correspond to the five Japanese-language collections: Rumic World vols. 1-3, Tragedy of P, and 1 or W).^[1]

Some of Ms. Takahashi's stories were printed in Manga-vizion magazine. [more on this as I research it]

All were printed in "flipped" style ^[2] in a larger comic-sized format. They are no longer in print.

Stories

Volume 1:

• "Fire Tripper": A gas explosion sends young Suzuko and Shuu 500 years into the past, but she lost Shuu in the way, Shuu ended up 10 years before her and is then 15 years old. They both somehow return to the future and then back to 500 years ago. Shuu and Suzuko marry.
• "Maris the Chojo": An alien policeman sees a kidnapped quadrillionaire her ticket out of debt.
• "Those Selfish Aliens": Aliens, the government, and fishmen implant bombs in a poor individual.
• "Time Warp Trouble": Warriors from feudal Japan inexplicably pop into a high-school classroom.
• "The Laughing Target": When they were children, Yuzuru Shiga and his cousin Azusa Shiga were engaged, and Azusa will make sure that Yuzuru stays hers, no matter what.

Volume 2:

• "Wasted Minds (Dust Spot)": Follows a pair of two bickering government agents. (A five-part miniseries)
• "The Golden Gods of Poverty": A boy's parents try to use him to make money, but they only succeed in contacting the Seven Lucky Gods who are also broke.
• "The Entrepreneurial Spirit": A woman leads seminars for a get-rich quick scheme.

Volume 3:

• "That Darn Cat": Rumiko Takahashi remembers having to take care of her neighbor's cat.
• "When My Eyes Got Wings": A couple befriend a sickly child with a secret and his destructive pet bird.
• "Wedded Bliss": A wedded couple can only let out their tension from working all day by fighting with one another, until their neighbors threaten to have them moved.
• "Sleep and Forget": A girl relives a past life involving her lover and an evil witch back from the dead in the form of a dog.
• "A Cry for Help": A fairy gives a boy a frightening split personality thanks to the wind-up key she inserts in his neck.
• "War Council: Student councils go to war with one another over a stamp.
• "The Face Pack": A man can change his appearance at will and leads a "masters of disguise" club.

Rumic Theater:

• "The Tragedy of P": A woman is asked to take care of her husband's boss's penguin in her no-pets allowed apartment.
• "The Merchant of Romance": A woman tries to keep her father's wedding chapel open, but they are broke.
• "House of Garbage": Someone keeps mistaking a man's front stoop for a garbage drop-off.
• "Hidden in the Pottery": A woman gradually starts to learn secrets about her mysterious neighbor who killed her mother in law.
• "One Hundred Years of Love": An old woman is sure that a teenage boy is her reincarnated lover.
• "Extra-Large Size Happiness": A young wife is plagued by a gremlin with a giant head who only she can see, but in this stroy, gremlins are meant to help people, that's why it stops her from buying a house built in unstable ground.

Rumic Theater: One or Double:

• "Excuse Me for Being a Dog!": A boxer tries to hide the fact that he turns into a dog every time he bleeds.
• "Winged Victory": A rugby team with 999 losses is cheered on by a ghostly girl whom only the team captain can see, this girl turned out to be the first captain of the team, who died from a disease, after that, they won the season.
• "The Grandfather of All Baseball Games": A man uses the money his grandson makes in sandlot baseball to lavish his elderly girlfriend with gifts.
• "The Diet Goddess": A young girl goes through a rigorous training exercise to fit into a dress and impress her crush while developing feelings for her stern coach, also, the man who she lost weight for, likes fat girls.
• "Happy Talk": A girl thinks her dead mother might be working as a hostess in Tokyo, so she and a classmate hire a detective to find her, but they find a gay friend of her mother, who took her name after she died.
• "One or Double": An accident places the soul of a fanatic kendo coach into his favorite pupil's crush and he will not leave until his pupil can get at least one point on him, but when he leaves they had found his body and he came back.
• "To Grandmother's House We Go": A woman poses as her dead friend to claim a 500 billion yen inheritance with the help of the girl's dead grandmother.
• "Reserved Seat": A singer deals with stage fright and memory blackouts after his grandmother, an avid Takarazuka fan, dies. It turns out his grandma possesses him and goes to their concerts in his body.
• "Shake Your Buddha": A hilarious debate between the future Buddha and an idiot yam fanatic during a food shortage over whose methods can lead to Japan's survival.

Rumic Theater: The Executive's Dog: (Japanese Release Only)

• The Executive's Dog: A man must deal with the growing stress of both his job and his family watching after his boss' dog.
• Aberrant Family F: A girl fears her parents are planning to kill her and her brother and then themselves during their vacation.
• As Long as You Are Here: A former businessman must work a meager job in a store to support his sick wife, but finds hope from a foreign co-worker.
• Living Room Lovesong: When he does not cry at her funeral, a man is haunted by the ghost of his wife, who stats to make his life miserable.
• Middle-Aged Teen: A middle-aged businessman is found in a hospital by his family. And he tells them he's thirteen.
• In Lieu of Thanks: A woman gets stuck in the middle between two feuding neighbors in her condo, an elderly woman with a talking pet bird, and a young woman who has a secret.

Notes and References

1. ^ http://perfectedition.yuku.com/sreply/49716/t/Published-English-editions-of-manga-comic-format-Please-help.html
2. ^ Text in the Japanese language reads right-to-left so manga artwork is composed right-to-left. For English editions the artwork is often mirrored - or flipped - to read left-to-right.

External links

• http://www.furinkan.com/rumictheater/
• The Rumic World by Rumiko Takahashi