Peepo Choo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peepo Choo | |
 The first volume of Peepo Choo by Felipe Smith; published by
Vertical on July 13, 2010 | |
| ピポチュー (Pipo Chū) | |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Felipe Smith |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher | |
| Magazine | Monthly Morning Two |
| Original run | June 21, 2008 – February 22, 2010 |
| Volumes | 3 |
Peepo Choo (Japanese: ピポチュー, Hepburn: Pipo Chū) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Felipe Smith. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Morning Two from June 21, 2008.[1] The individual chapters were collected into three bound volumes by Kodansha, which released them between April 24, 2009, and April 23, 2010.[2][3] It is licensed in North America by Vertical,[4] which released the three volumes between July 13, 2010, and December 14, 2010.[5][6]
Felipe Smith was given 2 days to submit 40 thumbnails of Peepo Choo by his current editor, Yukari Shiina.[7][8] Smith drew the first 35 thumbnails and then drew the last five thumbnails in front of the editor in the last 24 hours without sleep.[8][9] The editor accepted Smith's thumbnails.[9] Smith stated he wanted to show the collision of American and Japanese cultures through his work, which is exemplified on the cover of the first Japanese volume where "the girl is flipping you off, and she's got American flag and a Japanese flag ring on either side of her middle finger".[10] He uses the sex scenes and violence for character development to prevent his characters from being "two-dimensional".[10] The characters' loneliness stems from the crowded city of Tokyo and the "need to keep your personal space", which results in "a lot of melancholy".[11] Smith summarizes the issues addressed by the manga as "dealing with pop culture, and the general culture of the two countries and the characteristics of different age groups in those countries".[12]
Smith comments on his output for Peepo Choo, with "In the time I put out one volume of MBQ, I've put out one and three-quarter volumes of Peepo Choo."[7] Jason Thompson commented on the difficulty of translating the "numerous half-Japanese, half-English lines".[13]