Iguana Girl

Iguana Girl

Cover of Iguana Girl featuring Rika
イグアナの娘
(Iguana no Musume)
Genre Drama
Manga
Written by Moto Hagio
Published by Shogakukan
English publisher Fantagraphics
Demographic Josei
Magazine Petit Flower
Published May 1992
Volumes 1
Television drama
Original network TV Asahi
Original run 15 April 1996 – 24 June 1996
Episodes 11

Iguana Girl (Japanese: イグアナの娘, Hepburn: Iguana no Musume, also translated as Daughter of the Iguana or Iguana Daughter) is a manga by Moto Hagio published in Petit Flower. It was adapted into a television drama in 1996.

It is about a young girl, Rika, whose mother views her as being ugly, and favours her other daughter, Mami. Rika thinks of herself as ugly and as an iguana, but after her mother's death, realises that her mother was also an ugly iguana.

Iguana Girl reflects Hagio's own relationship with her mother,[1] and it took her "years to write this story". Hagio saw an iguana in a documentary on television and identified with it, feeling it was "lamenting its failure to become a human, just like me".[2]

Media

Manga

This story was first published in the November 1991 issue of Shogakukan Josei mangazine Petit Flower.[3] Shogakukan delivered the tankōbon release not until 1994,[4] and it benefited a re-edition in 2000.[5] It will be translated into English as part of the Moto Hagio anthology A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Fantagraphics in 2010.[6]

Television drama

The screenplay was by Kazue Okada, and the episodes were directed by Kazuhisa Imai and Shinjo Takehiko. The cast included Miho Kanno, Yoshinori Okada, Rena Komine, Hitomi Sato, Koji Yamaguchi, Miyuki Komatsu, Takeshi Izawa, Kanako Enomoto, Naomi Kawashima and Masao Kusakari. The theme tune to the series is Elton John's "Your Song".[7] The television drama was released on DVD in 2001.[8]

Ep# Title[7] Director[7] Original air date[7]
1 (のろわれた誕生) Kazuhisa Imai15 April 1996
2 (わたし死にたい…) Kazuhisa Imai
3 (高原の夜、初めての…) Shinjo Takehiko
4 (お母さんの秘密…) Shinjo Takehiko
5 (誕生日…母に捨てられたプレゼント) Kazuhisa Imai
6 (波紋、母が呼んだ家庭教師…) Kazuhisa Imai
7 (母の告白…あなたを殺したい) Shinjo Takehiko
8 (永遠の友情、死、そしてもう一人の母) Shinjo Takehiko
9 (幸せになる権利…) Kazuhisa Imai
10 (悲しい家族旅行…) Shinjo Takehiko
11 (お母さん!お母さん!…おかあさん!) Kazuhisa Imai24 June 1996

Reception

Noah Berlatsky criticises the characterisation of the mother.[9] George Gustines, writing for the New York Times on great graphic novels for 2010, called Iguana Girl "oddly appealing and surprisingly bittersweet".[10]

References

  1. ↑ Thorn, Matt. "The Moto Hagio Interview conducted by Matt Thorn". Matt Thorn.
  2. ↑ Kawakatsu Miki. "Iguana Girl Turns Manga Legend" (PDF). Japanese Book News Vol. 63. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  3. ↑ Thorn, Matt (July 2005). "Moto Hagio Bibliography". The Comics Journal (269): 176. ISSN 0194-7869.
  4. ↑ イグアナの娘 / 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  5. ↑ イグアナの娘 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  6. ↑ Thorn, Matt (March 9, 2010). "Moto Hagio collection, Takako Shimura’s "Wandering Son"". Matt Thorn. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "イグアナの娘 1996年4月クール連続ドラマ MMJ メディアミックス・ジャパン 映像制作 ドラマ制作 ドラマセミナー" (in Japanese). mmj-pro.co.jp. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  8. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005MIHB
  9. ↑ http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/10/moto-hagio-iguana-girl/
  10. ↑ "Graphic Novels and Comics - Gift Guide 2010". The New York Times. 12 November 2010.

Further reading

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