Spacebattleship Tiramisu

In space age 0156, there is an intensification of battles between the Earth Federation and space migrants. The Federation launches a cutting-edge space military warship, the Tiramisu, to create a breakthrough in the war. The star crew member, the young Subaru Ichinose, is a genius pilot with looks and brains, but he has difficulty adapting to the communal living within the warship. He hides in his personal airplane Durandal, a general humanoid mobile weapon, and keeps demonstrating strange behaviors. For example, he rushes through his meal with other members and tries to enjoy deep-fried skewered pork alone in the cockpit, but accidently scatters batter and cabbage into the zero-gravity space. It is a gag-comedy that is more about Subaru’s battle to protect his own world within the warship than it is about battles with the space migrants. As the detailed drawings of the missiles and warship show, this piece has the solid drawing style of a full-scale sci-fi manga, but the events in it are the common laughable acts one might see in modern Japan, and this gap brings laughs. Adapted in 2018 for TV and stage.
kuragebunch (Shinchosha)
http://kuragebunch.com
October 2015-Series still in progress
© Satoshi Miyagawa Kei Ito/Shinchosha

The strongest elements of this manga are “joke,” “mockery,” “parody,” and “boneheaded-ness.” “Humor” is the most advanced human emotion. Next to it, things like “tears,” “expression of feelings,” and “art” are so much less important. As one can see from the fact that the word “humor” is derived from “human,” “laughter” is indeed proof and privilege of being human. I could go on and on, but the fact that our jury members, who normally tend to prefer “works that stir the emotions,” inadvertently winced at the idiocy of Spacebattleship Tiramisu, but then found themselves throwing such high scores at it is testament to the “unquestionable funniness” of this work. There has never been such an extravagant “bonehead manga” on which “boundless artistic talent” has been wasted. After reading this, try watching Gundam, Yamato, or Evangelion and you’ll find that now they too seem funny somehow. This “poison that changes one’s perception,” is what makes “gag manga” so terrifying. (MINAMOTO Taro)