Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar

Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar^[1] (ピューと吹く! ジャガー, Pyū to Fuku! Jagā, lit. "Blow, 'Pyū'! Jaguar") is a Japanese gag manga written and illustrated by Usuta Kyosuke, about recorders, musicians, and their bizarre daily lives. It has a vague overall plot, but is mainly episodic. Although it is about aspiring musicians, a series of Drama CDs and video games have been released, as well as an OVA made in flash animation. A live-action film, starring Jun Kaname as Jaguar, was released on January 12, 2008. The DVD was released on June 23, 2008.

Story

The story starts out with Kiyohiko "Piyohiko" Saketome trying to take a band audition. In his way he sees a strange man named Jaguar carrying a big case, which turns out to be holding only a small recorder. Piyohiko tries not to get distracted by him but fails, because when Jaguar plays his recorder, the most beautiful, passionate guitar-like sound comes out of it. He tries more and more record companies, but every time he meets Jaguar and somehow manages to miss his audition. Finally, Piyohiko gets accepted at a record company only to find at his new dorm that he is roommates with Jaguar. Jaguar becomes a teacher and sets up a recorder class at their music school, and Piyohiko ends up in that class instead of the guitar class he wanted...

Characters

Jaguar Junichi (ジャガージュン市, Jagā Jun'ichi)

Jaguar is a strange man who likes to play the recorder. He and Piyohiko are roommates in Gari Dormitories, where he runs a recorder class. He is a musical genius, able to play any instrument with astounding skill. His performances can conjure up vivid images in people's minds. Jaguar can even make his recorder sound like a guitar if he wants.

Jaguar appears to have no purpose in life but to teach his recorder class, although his lessons are so lazy that it's the same as doing no work at all. However, he is strangely transcendent and nothing at all seems to truly bother him. He always wins his battles, and can always convince people to see his way. He contrasts Hammer, who has the same lazy lifestyle but is always the loser.

Later on, it is revealed that Jaguar is one of several children brainwashed in an experiment to create a band so amazing that it could shake the world, and bring world peace using the power of music. The laboratory where this experiment took place was called the Hotel Riverside Laboratory, also known as "Softcream". Jaguar's "father", one of the scientists at the lab, opposed the brainwashing and released all of the children.

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara

Live-Action Film: Jun Kaname

Kiyohiko Saketome (酒留清彦, Saketome Kiyohiko)

Nickname: Piyohiko (ピヨ彦 Piyohiko)

Piyohiko is a normal man who dreams of being a great guitarist. Even though he thinks flutes are lame, he's in the Flute Class (mostly because of Jaguar) and, ironically, his family owns a flute shop (and his father is as weird as Jaguar). Piyohiko is the narrator of the story and is very similar, if not identical, to Fu-min from Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san (both play the role of tsukkomi to Masaru/Jaguar's boke (see Manzai), and are very similar in appearance).

Voiced by: Junichi Kanemaru

Live-Action Film: Manabu Ōmura

Hammer (ハマー, Hamā)

Real Name: Hiromitsu Hamawatari (浜渡浩満, Hamawatari Hiromitsu)

A Hip hop ninja who lives in the attic above Jaguar and Piyohiko's room. He wants more than anything to be cool and popular, but goes about it in a way that always ends in failure and humiliation. He is known for ending his sentences with YO, adding -dono to people's names, and referring to himself in the first person as Sessha (拙者, an archaic word for "I"). Despite this he refuses to admit he is a ninja, because it would be bad for his trendy image.

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Live-Action Film: Hiroaki Ogi

Takana Shirakawa (白川高菜, Shirakawa Takana)

A female student who once belonged to the Idol department before joining the flute department. She is also the internet idol Chim Li (チムリー) and is highly self-conscious. When she is talked to by others, she abuses or hits them because she is very shy. Since she is good at her way of abusing, she tends to act as a sadist automatically. As a result, she will please those whom she abused.

Voiced by: Izumi Kasagi

Live-Action Film: Mai Takahashi

Porgy (ポギー, Pogī)

Real Name: Wataru Hogi (保木渡流, Hogi Wataru)

Bassist and lyricist in the popular band JULY (ジュライ jurai). Very handsome and pretentious, he likes to show off his poetry skills to his squealing fangirls. After meeting Jaguar, though, he is never the same again. Jaguar destroys Porgy's confidence in his poetry by first beating him in a poetry contest, then telling him that his poems are nothing but pretty lies. Porgy becomes unable to write and is kicked out of JULY, eventually spending his life stalking Jaguar and challenging him to poetry contests as his masked alter-ego Wrestler Mask (レスラー仮面 Resuraa Kamen). He is also trying to get back his position in JULY, but they have already replaced him with a new bassist.

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono

Billy (ビリー, Birī)

A man who looks like a typical delinquent, with a regent hairstyle. He is aggressive toward Jaguar and his friends, but is really a soft-hearted guy who's just lonely and friendless. He is Hamidento's guardian and tries to be a good father, but doesn't notice that Hamii doesn't appreciate it. Like Hammer, he strives to get attention but fails miserably.

Voiced by: Yūji Ueda

Hamidento (ハミデント, Hamidento)

Nickname: Hamī (ハミー)

A cute little robot under the care of Billy. He doesn't acknowledge Billy as a parent at all, and while he pretends to be cute and loveable around him, a mean side of him comes out when Billy's not around. He smokes and sometimes acts like a teenage delinquent, and has everyone he knows ranked in order of respect. Jaguar is inexplicably high on the list, Hammer is always on the bottom. He also has amazing fighting power. Hamii is the series' mascot character.

Voiced by: Yūji Ueda

Chichijirou Saketome (酒留父字郎, Saketome Chichijirō)

Piyohiko's father, a maker of weird and rare flutes. Is close buddies with Jaguar due to their shared interest in flutes and desire to make Piyohiko play them. Piyohiko's dislike of flutes is most likely because of his father, who hopes for him to take over his business. Chichijirou is so laughably uncreative when designing flutes that to him, every one of Piyohiko's average ideas seems like a stroke of genius.

Michael (間池留, Maikeru)

A mysterious Caucasian man whom Jaguar treats as his father. His name is written Ma-ike-ru, with Japanese characters for "between", "pond" and "stop". He sometimes turns transparent, and there are many not-so-subtle hints that he is a ghost. Jaguar believes his "father" is Japanese, and most certainly not a ghost.

Video games

Two video games based on Jaguar have been released by Konami. The first game, Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar: Ashita no Jump, is an RPG for the PlayStation 2 released on March 18, 2004. Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar: Byō to Daru! Megane-kun, an action game for the Game Boy Advance, was released on April 29 of the same year.

Characters from Jaguar have also appeared in the Nintendo DS game Jump Super Stars and its sequel Jump Ultimate Stars, with Jaguar featured as a playable character in both games.

Jaguar Junichi appears as a support character in J-Stars Victory VS, a fighting game for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita.^[2] Its European and North American release marks the first release of Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar material outside Japan.

References