Asatte Dance Asatte Dance, vol 1. original by Naoko Yamamoto copyright 1989 ISBN 4-09-182 051-4 C 0379 French translation by TONKAM copyright 1995 ISBN 2-910 645-24-X / 2-910 645-23-1 English translation v1.0 by Mahousu, June 1999, no copyright asserted; provided freely as an aid to understanding the original.

Mangas surprise fans of European comics by their diversity and their capacity to address subjects as different as golf and the Gulf War. In Japan,this technique of story telling is as developed as the novel. If every aspect of life can be retold in text, pictures also have this capacity. This is not something to be shown intellectually, the only real proof coming in direct experience. A good lesson for the senses.

In translating Asatte Dance, we didn't choose the easy route. Most manga fans want from the editors the translation of series where action is a key ingredient. This demand is easy to satisfy, but a little frustrating for the one in charge of the collection, who is interested in Japan, but not only for its video games and animation. I have thus decided to invite the most curious of you to a ballad of the daily life of a small passionate group, like so many that exist now in Tokyo. In the course of their story, you will make a true voyage in this country so strange to us. At the end of the seventh volume, you will leave with a certain sadness the actors of a play taking part in that which our great writers call: the human comedy.

A voyager.
[Woof!]

Asatte Dance by Naoko Yamamoto
Volume 1 The luckiest guy in Tokyo

Asatte Dance vol. 1 Table of Contents

Act 1

Great grandfather's ghost:

It's dawn...

Suekichi:

Mmm...

Hmmm...

... Morning...? Already...?

Aahh...

Aya (offstage):

Hey...!

Suekichi:

I've got such a headache...!

Aya:

Say... you think you could move you leg, please...?

Act 1 A brief word from our sponsor

Aya:

C'mon..! Get off..!

Suekichi:

Uh... Excuse me!!!

Fine...

Let's see... here...

I was at...

At... Uh...

Sign:

At the Terayama's

Suekichi:

What could have been going on...?

<Guy:

... have another one, Suekichi!>

<Suekichi:

It's just... I'm not used to it...>

<Guy:

The old man managed to hang on until 90, what an iron will!>

<Guy:

Yep!>

<Guy:

And your dad, why isn't he here? He's dead too?>

<Suekichi:

No, no! He's working; he asked me to go in his place...>

<Guy:

Our Suekichi has become a man>

<Guy:

We haven't been together for so long...>

<Guy:

... Is that so?!>

<Guy:

Yep.. Yep...>

<Guy(Tadanori):

Would you have a moment...?>

<Suekichi:

Mm.. About what?>

Ah...! Yes...!

Aya:

Eh! You see? You're losing your hair..!!

Suekichi:

Wha?!

Aya:

That reminds you of something...?

Suekichi:

But no, let's see!! You interrupted me just at the moment where the memory was coming back to me!!

Aya:

So, you don't remember everything that we did...?!

Suekichi:

Wait! It's coming back to me...!

Aya:

You brute....

Suekichi:

B...bhh BeuuaarkK... Blorg... Beuuurk...! [C'mon! Why should I try to "translate" that!]

Beurk!

Excuse me, but... I think I drank too much yesterday...

Hey...! Tell me! Why did you... did you call me a "brute"...?

Suekichi:

Bah...!?

Hello, everybody!!

Guy:

Hello!

Guy:

'lo!

Guy:

Good morning...

Guy:

Hello, Suekichi!!

Guy (Ikezu@@):

Hello!

Guy:

A E I O U

Guy:

Hey, Suekichi, you don't look so hot...!

Suekichi:

I woke up with a real headache...

Ikezu:

So, Suekichi, tell us about it!!

It seems you had a chick at your place...?!

Suekichi:

... How'd you know that??!

Ikezu:

When we called your place, a girl answered

Shimomura:

OK...! We can get started now!!

Begin!!

Ikezu:

How dare you?!

Guy:

Uh

Hippo guy:

Ha, ha!

Shimomura:

No, not through there!

You go out the other side, and be more ironic!

Ikezu:

You're thinking about her, right? Heh heh!

Suekichi:

What are you talking about?!!

Ikezu:

C'mon! Don't be such a brute!

Guy:

Where did that happen?

Suekichi:

That doesn't concern you...!

Ikezu:

So, you're going to snub us like that?!

Suekichi:

I... I just drank too much at the funeral last night...

Ikezu:

And you were hitting on her during the ceremony...?!

Guy:

Suekichi, king of the sweet talkers!

Shimomura:

How many minutes for the scene?

Suekichi:

Ah!!... Um...

Ikezu:

Hey?! You dreaming or what?!

Shimomura:

Really? We haven't finished paying the bills for the previous play yet?

Suekichi:

And then there's the printer's fees... 70,000 yen!

Ikezu:

That's nothing

Girl:

The tickets were all sold out

Guy:

It's true

Guy:

It's what, then...?

Shimomura:

You know, for once I want to do things in a big way..! I'd like to have real costumes...

And I'd like to perform in a real theater...

Suekichi:

Ah...?

Shimomura:

I've decided to take on some sponsors...!!

Money! It's money we need!!

Suekichi:

Ah...?!

Shimomura:

So? You know somebody?

Suekichi:

Uh, non...

What did I tell you on the telephone?

Shimomura:

A girl replied that you were dead drunk...?

Suekichi:

Eh?! What?!

Shimomura:

It seems you seduced a young widow...

Suekichi:

... I'm going to kill them...!

Shimomura:

I've also heard that you've skipped a bunch of classes at your school, is it true?

Suekichi:

Eh? Bah... Yeah...

Ikezu:

What?! You're still a student?!

Shimomura:

I shouldn't have asked you to be my stage manager... You must have a lot to do...!

Suekichi:

No, no... There's no problem

In any case, I've decided to quit my studies...

Shimomura:

Really?!

Suekichi:

It was a lot of trouble to get into this university. I even had to retake my first year. But now, I'm wondering why I did all of that...

Ikezu:

You're not the only one...!

Most of the students in your position want to do theater...

Suekichi:

Yesterday, during the funeral, I was shocked when I saw the face of my great-grandfather...

An idea surfaced and became fixed in my mind: "No matter what, we are all born to die"...

It seems to me that it's this state which forces people to act...

Theater work remains difficult, but it also becomes something very stimulating!

It's for that reason that I decided to quit my studies and pursue the theater.

Ikezu:

You think you'd do better as a comedian than a stage manager?

Suekichi:

Who would... me??!

Ikezu:

Believe me, you made the right choice!

It wouldn't do you any good to train at the university!

Before being absorbed by society, students spend years sleeping in their classrooms without having

Any personal goals... It's the first step to cerebral necrosis!!

[brain rot]

It makes me laugh! Hah!

Suekichi:

He doesn't seem to care too much for students...

Shimomura:

It was a student who stole his girlfriend from him

Ikezu:

I was sure of it! One of the consequences of cerebral necrosis is hair loss!

Suekichi:

Hey!!

You can't do that?! Are you sick or what?!

Ikezu:

So, are you sure you don't want to be a comedian...?

Suekichi:

Pff...

M?

Tadanori:

We let ourselves in..

Aya:

Ah! You're here finally!!

Suekichi:

But...! It's you, who... who...!!

Aya:

Yes, it's me who... who...!!

Tadanori:

Allow me to introduce myself again...

Tadanori:

As I told you yesterday, I'm here to speak to you about Mr. Daikichi's will

Card:

Tadanori

Lawyer

Phone 3625 721...

Fax 3625 721...

Suekichi:

Hunh...?! About what?!

Satisfied? Dissatisfied? Puzzled? Have something to add? Mail me at mahousu@gmail.com

Uncopyright by Mahousu; provided freely as an aid to understanding the original. Have fun! [The original is, of course, copyrighted as marked above. You should still have fun, though.]