is a Japanese
manga series written by Kazuya Kudo and illustrated by
Naoki Urasawa
is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his ...
. It was serialized in
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 H ...
's magazine ''
Big Comic Original
is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to ''Big Comic'', the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks ''Big Comic ...
'' from 1985 to 1988, with the individual chapters collected into eight ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes.
Takashi Nagasaki came up with the premise of the manga, but Urasawa tried to add humor because he found it "difficult. It initially takes place in New York, but because the editor believed the magazine's demographic was men in their 40s, the setting changes to Europe at a certain point.
Plot
The series stars Japanese-American , a former
United States Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
who served in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. After leaving the marines he fought all over the world as a
mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...
, before retiring in 1979. Now living in New York, he makes a living training others in combat. Goshi does not discriminate against those he trains, whether its
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
i militiamen, salarymen, or four little girls.
Publication
Written by Kazuya Kudo and illustrated by
Naoki Urasawa
is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his ...
, ''Pineapple Army'' was serialized in the magazine ''
Big Comic Original
is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to ''Big Comic'', the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks ''Big Comic ...
'' from 1985 to 1988. It is Urasawa's first major work and he would go on to draw ''
Yawara!
''Yawara!'' (also stylized as ''YAWARA!'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was serialized in ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1986 to 1993, with the chapters collected into 29 ''tankōbon'' volumes by p ...
'' simultaneous with it. The individual chapters were collected into eight ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' 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 H ...
between March 29, 1986, and July 30, 1988.
A six-volume ''
bunkoban'' edition was published between November 17, 1995, and March 16, 1996.
In 1988,
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 ...
began publishing ''Pineapple Army'' in English in a chapterly comic book format. These had new cover art drawn in a drastically different art style by an unknown artist.
But the run was unsuccessful and cancelled after ten issues were released. Although, one graphic novel collecting them was also published with an afterword by
James D. Hudnall.
The manga is also licensed in France by
Glénat, in Spain by
Planeta DeAgostini Comics, and in Sweden by Epix Förlag.
Volume list
Reception
Manga critic
Jason Thompson stated that ''Pineapple Army'' was a modest success in Japan, but failed in America. He speculated that Viz's decision to commission new covers by an unknown artist drawn in a "
Dave McKean-style" might have been misleading when the reader opened them and saw little girls throwing hand grenades.
In 2012, Thompson said that ''Pineapple Army'' was his least favorite Urasawa work available in English. While the art is good, he felt the artist had not developed his own style yet and showed too much of his
Katsuhiro Otomo influence. Thompson largely compared it to ''
Golgo 13
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic'' since October 1968. The series follows the title character, a professional assassin for hire. ''Golgo ...
'' (which Kudo previously wrote for) with its self-contained mercenary stories, but stated that the chapters are much shorter and thus feel rushed.
References
External links
*
{{Big Comic Original
1985 manga
Action anime and manga
Military anime and manga
Naoki Urasawa
Seinen manga
Shogakukan manga