The Flower of Dekoppachi ( (花のデコッ八 Hana no Dekoppachi), also titled in some editions as Extraordinary Ataro Side-Story: Flower of Dekoppachi, is a gag series by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro. It ran as a spinoff of Extraordinary Ataro through 1968 to 1969.
Overview[]
The series was created as an extra feature of Ataro, to commemorate the Toei series that was due to air on NET soon. While the main Ataro series would usually focus on Ataro (at least at the time) or those around him that he'd get into situations with, this feature was meant to showcase Dekoppachi as its very lead.
While some stories could be seen to take place within the same world as the main series, the settings of the characters would be played with for other chapters; Ataro and Dekoppachi could be salarymen and adults, Ataro could be an inventor, and the world around them could also be quite different.
The third chapter of the series, "The Flower's Guardman", is notable for featuring the first time that Nyarome would be depicted as a bipedal, speaking cat. This would soon carry into the main series itself. Dekoppachi's girlfriend Kako (first seen in the fourth chapter "Mina is a Cute Robot") would also be imported over, but on a one-time basis. Some of these stories, such as the one with Mina, would find themselves loosely adapted into the anime format.
Serialization[]
- Weekly Shonen Sunday: October 20, 1968 special edition, January 1969 New Year issue, and March 23, 1969 Spring Break special
- Deluxe Shonen Sunday: May to September 1969
- "Fight at the Marathon" (マラソンのたたかい, Special Edition October 20, 1968)
- "A Salesman's Tears" (セールスマンの涙, New Year 1969)
- "The Flower's Guardman" (花のガードマン, Spring Break 1969)
- "Mina is a Cute Robot" (ミーナはかわいいロボット, May 1969)
- "Mini Mini Dekoppachi" (ミニミニデコッ八, June 1969)
- "Dekoppachi's Underground Workplace" (デコッ八の地下鉄職場, July 1969)
- "The Eastern Sea's #1 Boss Kemunpas" (東海一のケムンパス親分, August 1969)
- "The Case of the French Dog" (フランスイーヌの場合は, September 1969)- Features Iyami as a French humanoid dog named Apoleon.
Reprints[]
- Akebono (1970): The "Flower of Dekoppachi" chapters were bundled into the 7th "Complete Works" Ataro volume.
- Kodansha (1990): The chapters appear in this imprint's 7th volume of Ataro as well.
- Takeshobo (1994): The "Flower of Dekoppachi" chapters are all placed in volume 7.
- Shogakukan (2002): The Takeshobo volumes were digitized for the "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" DVD-ROM set, and a print-on-demand version is available via ComicPark.
- eBookJapan (2009): "Flower of Dekoppachi" and "Gag + Gag" were split into an "Extraordinary Ataro Side-Story" volume containing all the stories belonging to both.