Here at Heisei Etranger we are serious business 24/7. This is all in pursuit of one goal: uncovering the buried secrets of anime’s past. Today we bring you this breaking news courtesy of the November 1987 issue of Animage. Join us as Minda Nao [1] unveils the shocking truth of Riqunni’s religion in Royal Space Force — and also that koi fish jet thing from Twilight Q: Mystery Case File 538.
Special thanks to AnimArchive for the source page scan, which can be found at their excellent blog here.
Note: Originally I meant to post this a year ago, but humor in general didn’t really seem appropriate given the state of the world at the time.
(Click the image to see an enlarged version)
Title:
MINDY SPOT
No. 11 Minda ☆ Nao
Panel 1:
RIQUNNI VS. CRYSTAL TRIANGLE’S GOD
Gutter 1-2:
PART 1
Panel 2:
Riqunni: Everybody! God is weeping for us.
Riqunni: Please listen to the words of god!
Panel 3:
Shirotsugh: WHAT!?
Shirotsugh: Th-…
Panel 4:
Shirotsugh: This is what you believe in?
God: I AM GOD!
Riqunni: Urgh… When you put it like that…
Gutter 4-5:
PART 2
Panel 5:
Riqunni: The day of judgement approaches!
Riqunni: Those who live in sin will surely be cast into hell!
Panel 6:
Shirotsugh: FOOL!
God: AGH!
Panel 7:
PLONK
Panel 8:
Shirotsugh: Look. God is dead.
Riqunni: Urgh… How pitiful…
Panel 9:
TWILIGHT Q
MYSTERY CASE
Panel 10:
Girl: Fish! Fish!
Panel 11:
RIP!
Panel 12:
Bah Bah Bah Bah
Panel 13:
Skyfish: That’s right! I’m Skyfish, the new member of the Autobots. I can transform into a jet and a koi fish. I’m a transforming triple!
Gutter 13-14:
BONUS
Panel 14:
Man: QQQ’s Q. ♬ QQQ’s Q. Dance to Twi-Q’s folk ♪ song, Q-Q-Q. ♪ [2]
Panel 15:
Man: Heave-ho. ♬ Nonsensical Twi-Q. I can read the punch line too. ♪ Heave-ho, Twi-Q.
Panel 16:
Man: Heave-ho, ♬ Twi-Q. Here it comes!
Minda: More lyrics past this and I’ll be in hot water! Please come up with the rest yourself.
Source: The November 1987 issue of Animage.
- Minda Nao is an old pen name for Kōichirō Ōta, who goes by the pen name Nao Minda these days (technically, his old pen name was just “Minda ☆ Nao” in hiragana whereas now it is “Minda Nao” but in kanji). Yes, the coach in Gunbuster is named after him. He contributed parody comic strips to anime magazines in the 80s, and around this time became friends with Toshio Okada. Entering the 90s, Minda Nao worked at Okada’s General Products on some of their adult PC-88 games. He contributed the original concept, screen-wrote, and directed Battle Skin Panic and Cybernetic Hi-School IV Ape Hunter J. In other words, he was unabashedly an otaku — a perfect fit with his Gainax peers. Zimmerit has a section about these games in its Secret History of Gainax article.⬏
- This is a parody of the 1965 Little Ghost Q-Tarō song Little Ghost Q Folk Song [Oba-Q Ondo, オバＱ音頭], which sold like gangbusters back in the day. Look, translating Japanese lyrics in a way that makes sense is beyond me — especially when said lyrics acknowledge their own nonsensical nature. Just go check out the original song on YouTube, and do the accompanying Bon dance.⬏
Heisei Etranger 