Despite the fact that the manga Golgo 13 is about as conservative as you can get (openly misogynistic and racist at times, as well), I’ve been a fan since before coming to Japan in 1999. I hadn’t realized that the original anime movie that I saw back in Boston was based on what became the manga with the most printed volumes in the world in July 2021. This year marks its 50th anniversary, and the stories are being reproduced in larger format, grouped according to physical region.
The group of stories based in Japan came out a short while ago (I already got copies of stories based in France and the Middle East, and a book based in Italy is due soon). Interestingly, one of the stories is reproduced from December 2001 — four months after JAXA successfully launched the H-IIA rocket following a previous failure (hence, the “peeled metal plating” title).
Like all Golgo 13 stories, the plot is thus based on real events and uses fictional characters to explain nefarious behind the scenes action. In this case, the project lead programmer “Mr. Sato” has been secretly sabotaging the rocket in order to get money not only from the Japanese government to continue the project but also from foreign agents hostile to Japan (when foreigners in Golgo 13 speak in Japanese, their dialogue is always written in katakana — in this story, the foreigners are likely meant to be Chinese, although this is not explicitly made clear). Meanwhile, former government official-turned-farmer “Tenjo Kanzo” hires Golgo 13 to make sure the rocket successfully launches a new weather satellite, so that Japanese farmers can benefit (mention is also made of some dozen other countries that will use information from the satellite).
Golgo 13 stories are always incredibly detailed and intricately researched. Although the purported main “anti-hero” character shows up less and less in later stories — and the dialogue often reads much more like newspaper or history text book prose — it’s a fascinating glimpse into traditional Japanese culture and beliefs. Honor above all else, beyond good and evil.
Speaking of…
After aborting a launch back in February, JAXA’s new H3 rocket spectacularly exploded the next month (actually, the rocket blew itself up once JAXA realized it was not going to make it into orbit).
Hmm.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence this story was just reproduced.
Keep in mind that the original story was published just a few months after the H-IIA rocket failure/success — Saito’s manga team must have been writing and drawing at a furious pace in the fall of 2001. They refer to the rocket as “H2A” for some reason. Here’s more about the creator of Golgo 13 for interested readers.
M Thomas Apple Author Page 