Advance! Kentaro (すすめ！ケン太郎 Susume! Kentaro) was a short-term action/adventure manga by Fujio Akatsuka and Kenichiro Takai, serialized in Manga King through 1962. It succeeded the final run of Nama-chan.
Overview[]
Kentaro Yamada is a child scientist who's discovered a titanium alloy called "Titaniumless" essential for rocket engines, carrying on the work of his deceased elder brother. However, one day Kentaro discovers that his brother did not die at all but was abducted, and his quest to find his brother leads him into further mystery and a battle against being hunted down along the way.
This series is somewhat of an atypical fare for Akatsuka, in being a straight-on action and suspense-filled series for young boys. As Akatsuka was very fond of films, it would appear he attempted to craft a manga that had the touch of an adventure movie.
As with Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28, Osamu Tezuka's Boy Detective Rock Holmes, and similar series of the time, Kentaro appears to have been crafted with an escapist nature with a young protagonist who can be a scientist, drive, and get into thrilling situations that normally would be restricted to an adult. In addition to Akatsuka's name seen in the credits, Takai is also billed as an assistant for the story, and it appears that he had started to collaborate on Osomatsu-kun during this time as well.
In the middle of the series, the overarching story of Kentaro searching for his brother was interrupted in favor of it focusing on standalone plots related to his adventure. Due to Akatsuka becoming busy with the duties for -kun and Akko-chan's Got a Secret!, Takai took on more and more of the art responsibility for the remainder of the work.
Characters[]
Kentaro Yamada[]
(山田ケン太郎)
A 10-year old scientist and our protagonist. He is on a mission to find and rescue his older brother, but each lead brings him into thrills and danger.
The Man in Sunglasses[]
(サングラスの男)
A mysterious adult man who accompanies Kentaro on his journey.
Ichiro Yamada[]
(山田一郎)
A scientist and the older brother of Kentaro, believed deceased prior to the events of the manga.
Mother[]
The mother of Kentaro and Ichiro, who knows the secret to what really happened to her elder son.
Serialization[]
- Manga King: June to December 1962
After this, Kentaro would not be referenced further as a character although he is acknowledged briefly in the Star System glossary of There's No Wonderful Business Like That of a Gag!
There may have been an opportunity for some form of a "Kentaro" to be revived in Shonen Book by 1965, as a new title notice listed a new work "Do Anything!! Kentaro" with a similar but somewhat different-looking protagonist (comparable to the changes made between Kantaro's design in 1961 to his re-use as Chibita). Due to unknown reasons, these plans were quickly nixed and the series that was released was titled Akatsuka-kun Can Do Anything with a protagonist named Dorutaro ($-chan for short).
Reprints[]
For such a short-term feature, there has yet to be reprint of this series at all, not even in the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set. It remains to be seen if it ever will be restored and reprinted. Some pages of "Advance! Kentaro" could however, be seen on display at the Fujio Akatsuka Memorial Hall in Ome, and a previous 1997 Fujio Pro exhibition guide displayed miniature thumbnails of the manuscripts.
One of the series' frontispieces was also utilized as artwork in the EPOCH Akatsuka trading card game set released in 1999.