The History of the TMNT in Japan (a research essay)

[DrSpengler]

"The (confusing) History of the TMNT in Japan"

This is a research essay (and opinion piece) that I'd been working on for a while. Thought I'd combine my love of the TMNT and my knowledge of the Japanese language and see if I couldn't make sense of the obscenely confusing releases of the various TMNT media in Japan.

Some of this may be old hat to a few of you, but maybe you'll learn something, too.

I had fun researching the thing; reading Japanese fan sites, manga, magazine scans and watching the various dubs (though, admittedly, I could not find any clips of that pesky NHK2 dub outside of the theme song and had to go by second hand info).


And thanks to folks like Adam Winters for making so much of his extensive TMNT manga and magazine collection available online. Definately VERY helpful.

[Mutated Turtle]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

"The (confusing) History of the TMNT in Japan"

This is a research essay (and opinion piece) that I'd been working on for a while. Thought I'd combine my love of the TMNT and my knowledge of the Japanese language and see if I couldn't make sense of the obscenely confusing releases of the various TMNT media in Japan.

Some of this may be old hat to a few of you, but maybe you'll learn something, too.

I had fun researching the thing; reading Japanese fan sites, manga, magazine scans and watching the various dubs (though, admittedly, I could not find any clips of that pesky NHK2 dub outside of the theme song and had to go by second hand info).


And thanks to folks like Adam Winters for making so much of his extensive TMNT manga and magazine collection available online. Definately VERY helpful.

very nice!I bet researching that,ETC, was very confusing.

[Kendamu]

As someone who has always had an interest in Japanese TMNT and loves those manga scans... sweeeeeet. I'm part of the way through the article right now and it's a very fun read.

[Powder]

That was great to read. I've got the super mutants dvd & love the crap out of it. I wish I could get my hands on other japanese tmnt stuff. Its all so vastly different from that which I'm familiar with. I prefer it to a few of the american variations.

[Kendamu]

Oh, hey. I see a pic of the Japanese TMNT 3 movie poster, but I only see descriptions for movies 1, 2, and 4.

[Luzmagica]

Very interesting post!! ..I was curious and I like to know about Japanish versions!!! Thanks a lot for share!!!

[oldmanwinters]

Dude, this is one of your most impressive entries yet! It had been a while since your last update, so I figured you were working on something big! This is the definitive Japanese TMNT write-up that had been sorely lacking!

EDIT: I know it would probably be impossible to list every TMNT publication in Japan, but I don't think I caught a reference to the 9 book series that Shogakukan put out adapting OT episodes and the Super Turtles in #9 (you used a couple of cover scans in the article).

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by Goongasnootch

Oh, hey. I see a pic of the Japanese TMNT 3 movie poster, but I only see descriptions for movies 1, 2, and 4.

TMNT 2 and TMNT 3 share the same paragraph since there wasn't really a whole lot to say about either that warranted two separate ones. TMNT 2 used the same cast as the theatrical dub of TMNT 1, but TMNT 3 used a hodgepodge of the TV Tokyo cast and other talent.

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

EDIT: I know it would probably be impossible to list every TMNT publication in Japan, but I don't think I caught a reference to the 9 book series that Shogakukan put out adapting OT episodes and the Super Turtles in #9 (you used a couple of cover scans in the article).

Hm, did I mix up? The 15 volume Dengeki series of episode adaptations has its own write up in there alongside the aforementioned image scans.

[John Pannozzi]

I should point out that the TMNT III manga adaptation (by Haato Mikaeru) shown below is a different one than the one Splengs mentioned in his article (which was done by Yosuhiko Hachino). Someone better check it out and see how different the two adaptations are (maybe I will).

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by John Pannozzi

I should point out that the TMNT III manga adaptation (by Haato Mikaeru) shown below is a different one than the one Splengs mentioned in his article (which was done by Yosuhiko Hachino). Someone better check it out and see how different the two adaptations are (maybe I will).

Yup, that other TMNT III volume was published by Dengeki Comics, the same company that produced the 15 volume TV episode adaptations, the 3 volume Super Turtles series, and the very cool Mutant Turtles Gaiden.

Here's some pics of it I've found over the years:







I have no idea what kind of book is next to it in this pic. EDIT: Oh, it's just the B. B. Hiller novelization in Japanese.

Since the Comic Bom Bom version of TMNT III is divided into chapters, I wonder if the chapters originally appeared in the Comic Bom Bom monthly series during 1994 before being collected into a single volume. It seems like something they might do.

My guess is that the Comic Bom Bom book will diverge more sharply from the actual movie moreso than the Dengeki edition. From what I've seen of Comic Bom Bom and Dengeki TMNT comics, CBB leaned more toward the surreal, exaggerated stories and art while Dengeki was more content to simply adapt scripts in a more conservative (and less entertaining fashion).

Comparison of the two books' dimensions: