is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by . It is a ''

yonkoma , a comic strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2×2 style, depending on the layout requirements of ...

'' (four-panel comic) series originally published in the

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

Weekly Young Sunday was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on March 27, 1987. It replaced ''Shōnen Big Comic'' in Shogakukan's lineup of shōnen titles, and many of the titles in ''Shōnen Big Comic'' were continued in ' ...

''. An English-language translation of the first two volumes of ''Heartbroken Angels'' was published by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, which also serialized the series in its manga magazine ''

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material * ...

''.

Synopsis

''Heartbroken Angels'' is a ''

'' (four-panel comic) series that focuses on vulgar and self-depreciative humor. The series covers a range of subjects using

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

and

toilet humour Toilet humour, or potty or scatological humour (compare scatology), is a type of off-colour humour dealing with defecation, diarrhea, constipation, urination and flatulence, and to a lesser extent vomiting and other bodily functions. It sees subs ...

, including manga narrative conventions and genre tropes,

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in ''Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorativ ...

culture,

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

, and lolita complexes.

Publication

''Heartbroken Angels'' was originally serialized in the manga magazine ''

'' from 1988 to 1991. During its initial serialization, the magazine ran contests where wordless ''yonkoma'' were run, and the best dialogue submitted by readers would be published in the magazine. In Japan, the series was collected into three ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes published by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

. In North America, an English-language translation of the first two volumes of the series were published by

, which also serialized the series in its manga magazine ''

''.

Volume list

Reception and impact

Christopher Kinsey of ''Anime Outsider'' assessed the series as possessing "a penchant for

dick joke In comedy, a dick joke, penis joke, cock joke or knob joke is a joke that makes a direct or indirect reference to a human penis (known in slang parlance as a dick), also used as an umbrella term for dirty jokes. The famous quote from Mae West, "Is ...

s before dick jokes became one of the internet's most depreciated currencies," and praised its satirization of traditional manga narratives. During its initial serialization in ''Pulp'',

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

cited ''Heartbroken Angels'' as "amongst the best things currently being published in the English language". The series is noted for containing the first instance of the term " fap" as

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

for

masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...

, in a story in which God masturbates while looking up a woman's skirt. The use of "fap" in the English-language translation of ''Heartbroken Angels'' directly inspired the term's use in the 1999

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

''The Thin H Line'', which subsequently gained popularity as an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

References

External links

* {{Pulp Manga 1988 manga Comedy anime and manga Yonkoma Seinen manga Shogakukan manga Viz Media manga