ギチギチくん

by Suehiro Maruo, 丸尾 末広

Gichigichi-kun is a mysterious forth grader, who uses secret magic. Although sometimes cruel, he always fights against evil kids in school.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Horror, Humor, Japan

158 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 1996

About the author

Suehiro Maruo ( 丸尾 末広) is a Japanese manga author and illustrator.
Maruo graduated from junior high school in March 1972 but dropped out of senior high school. At the age of 15 he moved to Tokyo and began working for a bookbinder. At 17, he made his first manga submission to Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it was considered by the editors to be too graphic for the magazine's format and was subsequently rejected. Maruo temporarily removed himself from manga until November 1980 when he made his official debut as a manga artist in Ribon no Kishi (リボンの騎士) at the age of 24. It was at this stage that the young artist was finally able to pursue his artistic vision without such stringent restrictions over the visual content of his work. Two years later, his first stand-alone anthology, Barairo no Kaibutsu (薔薇色の怪物; Rose Colored Monster) was published.

Maruo was a frequent contributor to the legendary underground manga magazine Garo (ガロ).

Like many manga artists, Maruo sometimes makes cameo appearances in his own stories. When photographed, he seldom appears without his trademark sunglasses.
Though most prominently known for his work as a manga artist, Maruo has also produced illustrations for concert posters, CD Jackets, magazines, novels, and various other media. Some of his characters have been made into figures as well.

Though relatively few of Maruo's manga have been published outside of Japan, his work enjoys a cult following abroad.
His book Shōjo Tsubaki (aka Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show) has been adapted into an animated film (Midori) by Hiroshi Harada with a soundtrack by J.A. Seazer, but it has received very little release.

Reviews

[catita (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ese panel (?) en el que aparece Boris Karloff... ufale, mi amigo.
Dejando de lado el Arte que se pega Suehiro, la historia en sí no es tanto de mi gusto (le faltó sordidez), pero dentro de todo es muy divertida.

[Hungry Bug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Раптово добра і непорочна манґа від великого ероґурного майстра 🖤

[Susanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

No acabo d'entendre aquest còmic dintre de l'obra de Maruo... ja no és que sigui d'inferior qualitat formal o estilística, que ho és... és que és una cosa absolutament diferent!! Mentre el llegia pensava: això és com una mena de manga tipus "Astroboy" (que no me l'he llegit però em recordava el tipus de dibuix naïve per a un públic infantil però ple d'escenes com pujades de to i de vegades violentes. Aquest nen estrany que fa trastades... És que no entenc res, és un còmic molt dolent que no encaixa gengs dintre de l'estic "Eroguro" de Maruo, ni en el cas de que es tractés d'un còmic de baixa qualitat d'ell, els dibuixos són totalment diferents!

[Robin Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! I wasn’t sure if this was intended to be comedic, but I did find myself laughing out loud.

One of the stories featuring leading character, Gichi Gichi, was an incident in which he was to be a human sacrifice.

Another good one was when a burglar posing as Santa Claus demanded to be fed by a random house wife and serenaded by the husband. All while entertaining the children, sitting on his lap.

Of course in all of his misadventures, Gichi Gichi uses his “secret techniques” to conquer each mishap.

[Daniel Andreu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-lectura.

En su época no le vi tanto interés a este volumen como a otros, pero ahora me ha parecido maravilloso y divertidísimo, lo he disfrutado al 200%. Es tan tonto y absurdo que no me ha podido parecer más delicioso. Esa especie de Doraemon pasado por la batidora retorcida de Maruo es tan majo como terrorífico, y esos ojos mirando al infinito me fascinan.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

very funny that maruo's oeuvre is generally so outre and deliberately confrontational and disgusting that this generally light-hearted practically child-appropriate manga is one of the more unexpected things to come from his pen. and then gichi gichi decapitates a bully on the last page with a thrown vinyl record

[Ai · Rating 4 out of 5]

♥️
- Jo… Menos mal que chupo banquillo.
- Aaah, yo quiero ver la tele junto a la estufa…

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the archaic manga style here once again. Its drawn in a less realistic more superficially children oriented style. Its hard to place this one. On the one hand its obviously much less extreme than most of Maruo's other comics, but on the other hand the fact that its a fake children's comic makes it even more creepy. The main "hero" who is supposed to be a good guy really just wears a single face expression throughout the whole story. He has intense magical powers which give him an extreme advantage over anyone else in a fight, and while he mostly uses these powers for good, the fact that he has them at all feels like a loaded gun in the room, plus he occasionally uses these powers in morally questionable ways. And given the childlike atmosphere its all the more disturbing when some truly adult content does occur.

[Sophia F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was bizarre and kind of disturbing, but also quite creative. Gichi Gichi in general pretty much creeps me out, but actually has a good heart. He uses interesting magic-like forces to punish people who do bad things, but in the end what he did ruined his 'good guy' image, because of something someone did to insult him. It's a short manga, and worth the time to read it, but also creepy and fairly disturbing.

[Mariano Lastiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gichi Gichi Kid no es algo que uno espera del maestro del ero guro. Es más bien una necesidad de escribir un comic familiar. Sin embargo, incluso dentro de esos limites, hay alguna pincelada de humor negro. Pareciera como si el duo creador de Doraemon estuviera enojado con los niños, y los tratara un poco más mal de lo habitual. En eso, GGK triunfa. No esperes mucho más que eso.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Suehiro Maruo, how I love you...
One of his less weird ones, actually...

[Deniz Rudin]

sortof great? it starts off feeling like something uncharacteristically kid-friendly but by the end Maruo just can't help himself