{"id":30,"date":"2013-12-03T07:32:28","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T07:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2023-02-15T19:50:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T19:50:40","slug":"adventure-of-rock-manga","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/?page_id=30","title":{"rendered":"Adventure of Rock, The (Manga)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Also known as \u30ed\u30c3\u30af\u5192\u967a\u8a18 (Rock Boukenki)<\/h5>\n
\n
\n

\"Rock<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
English Title:<\/strong><\/td>\nThe Adventure of Rock<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
In English?<\/strong><\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Japanese Title:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u30ed\u30c3\u30af\u5192\u967a\u8a18
\nRock Boukenki<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Type:<\/strong><\/td>\nOngoing Serial<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Original run:<\/strong><\/td>\n1952\/07 – 1954\/04<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Published in:<\/strong><\/td>\nShonen Club<\/em><\/a>
\n\u5c11\u5e74\u30af\u30e9\u30d6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Published by:<\/strong><\/td>\nKodansha<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Volumes:<\/strong><\/td>\n2
\nMT-007<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0MT-008<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

The Adventure of Rock<\/em> (1952-54) was originally serialized in Shonen Club<\/em><\/a> from July 1952 to April 1954, and is another of Tezuka’s explorations of the consequences of two different sentient species meeting – comparable to Zero Men<\/em> (1959-60)<\/a>, Captain Ken<\/em> (1960-61)<\/a> and Astro Boy<\/em> (1952-68)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What it’s about<\/h2>\n

The story begins in the year 19XX, when Dr. Dimon discovers a previously unknown planet circling the sun in the exact same orbit as the Earth.\u00a0 Named after it’s discoverer, the planet had been revolving around the sun, at the same velocity, exactly opposite of Earth.\u00a0 However, the planet gradually slows down and gets closer and closer to Earth.\u00a0 After wreaking major havoc by causing a severe storm, it settles into orbit around Earth and becomes a second moon.\u00a0 After some heated discussion among the scientific community, an exploration party is organized and rockets off.\u00a0 The expedition is led by Rock<\/a>, the son of the late Dr. Dimon who has inherited all legal rights to the planet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rock meets the Ruborooms<\/p><\/div>\n

When the party lands on Dimon, they find that it is a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere, and set about establishing a base.\u00a0 However, the expedition quickly falls victim to a strange disease that causes fever and odd swellings.\u00a0 This causes a panic among the crew and they quickly abandon the planet – leaving\u00a0Rock<\/a>\u00a0and Daisuke behind.\u00a0 Rock sets off to explore the planet, and soon discovers Dimon is inhabited by intelligent forms of life totally different from humans.\u00a0 He meets Mirum, one of the Ruborooms, a clay-like people who can change their shape at will, and in an instant several of them become copies of Rock<\/a>.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Daisuke is captured by the Epumu, the bird-like inhabitants of Dimon who treat the Ruborooms like slaves.<\/p>\n

Rock<\/a>\u00a0eventually comes to adopt an injured baby Epumu chick named “Chiko” and raises him.\u00a0 Along the way he learns more about the cultures of Dimon and the differences between human and Epumu civilization.\u00a0 However, when Rock<\/a>\u00a0inadvertently teaches Chiko, how to use fire, he sets off a struggle between the bird-people and the humans.\u00a0 The secret of fire sparks a technological advancement and the Epumu begin developing weapons.\u00a0 Meanwhile the earthlings discover that the oceans of Dimon are actually made of crude oil, and they quickly return with a second expedition.\u00a0 This is the start of an invasion of Dimon by the humans, who bring with them more potent weapons, and the Epumu are sent back to Earth in great numbers as slaves – both as a source of labour and food.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chiko learns about fire<\/p><\/div>\n

Fed up with the tyranny of the humans, the Epumu, led by Chiko, fight back using a form of germ warfare based on the strain of epidemic disease on Dimon, and bring the battle back to earth.\u00a0 Rock<\/a>, acting as an ambassador and trying to reconcile the situation between the two races, is literally caught in the crossfire and is shot.\u00a0 As he lies dying, he speaks to Chiko, and says “Chiko, please listen to my request.\u00a0 Neither race should have gone to the other’s planet\u2026 Return to Dimon\u2026 Take your people with you\u2026”<\/p>\n

With that\u00a0Rock<\/a>\u00a0dies, but his death averts all out war and he is remembered as a hero by both sides.<\/p>\n

What you should know<\/h2>\n

Although the shape-shifting Ruborooms do invoke Tezuka’s favourite theme of transformation, The Adventure of Rock <\/em>(1952-54) is primarily concerned with the struggle against “the other”.\u00a0 As in many of Tezuka’s work, humanoid aliens (or robots) are treated both as human and non-human at the same time.\u00a0 A prime example of this from the text is the sentient Epumu being brought back to Earth as a source of food.\u00a0 So, as Mr. Eo Takatori points out in the Asahi Journal<\/em>, The Adventure of Rock<\/em>\u00a0(1952-54) is a work “which treats a confrontation and reconciliation with an alien culture” (Special Section, p. 42), but this “alien culture” is really one that lies within us and not beyond the horizon.<\/p>\n

In many ways, The Adventure of Rock <\/em>(1952-54) is a manga that deals with plots and themes much too serious for children.\u00a0 The complicated and fantastic plot involving a struggle between human beings and the bird people of another planet is based on an idea taken from War with the Newts<\/em><\/a> (1936) by the Czech novelist Karel \u010capek<\/a> (1890-1938).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rock’s Tragic Death<\/p><\/div>\n

In light of this, it’s interesting to note that the original ending, as published in\u00a0Shonen Club<\/em><\/a>, is significantly different than in later collected editions.\u00a0 In the original version, Chiko and the Epumu invaders attack an airport and steal a rocket.\u00a0 As they are about to escape back to Dimon, Chiko says to Rock<\/a>\u00a0“Good-bye Dad, I’ll never see you again”.\u00a0 Although the inhabitants of Earth expect the Epumu to return with a much larger conquering force, by some miracle Deimon’s gravitational spin once again separates the two worlds.\u00a0 With neither side able to make the journey, both sides were saved.\u00a0 The story ends with Rock<\/a>, alive and well, saying “Good-bye Chiko… Good Luck”.<\/p>\n

However, Tezuka was ultimately unsatisfied with the original ending.\u00a0 As he wrote in the afterword to the Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works<\/em><\/a> edition (MT-008<\/a>), “the serialization ended without most of the children of the time understanding the story” (1977, p. 172).\u00a0 Because of this, when The Adventure of Rock\u00a0<\/em>(1952-54)\u00a0was published as a collected edition a year after wrapping up in\u00a0Shonen Club<\/em><\/a>, Tezuka decided to rework the story, changing the ending into the tragic one where\u00a0Rock<\/a>\u00a0dies.\u00a0 From the perspective of Tezuka’s Star System<\/a> this is significant because, unlike Tezuka’s other “boy heroes” (such as the eternally noble Kenichi<\/a> and Astro Boy<\/a>),\u00a0Rock<\/a>\u00a0is transformed by his experiences – setting him on the path towards his roles in Vampires<\/em> (1966-69)<\/a> and Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71)<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Adventure of Rock was originally serialized in Shonen Club from July 1952 to April 1954, and is another of Tezuka’s explorations of the consequences of two different sentient species meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241,"parent":9225,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,165,296,50,153,339],"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manga","tag-adventure","tag-early-works","tag-ongoing-serials","tag-sci-fi","tag-shonen-club","tag-shonen-manga","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6vZWu-u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":93,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13319,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/13319"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}