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Higepiyo Anime Inspires Manga in Ribon Mag
posted on by Egan Loo
The May issue of Shueisha's Ribon magazine announced last week that the Higepiyo comedy television anime series has inspired a manga spinoff that will launch in the June issue on May 1. The Higepiyo anime itself is inspired by Risa Itou's earlier four-panel gag manga in Shueisha's Chorus magazine. Before Higepiyo, Itou created the more risque Oruchuban Ebichu comedy manga and anime.
The story of Higepiyo (literally "Mustache-Peep") revolves around Hiyoko, a "surreal" bird that happens to have a mustache. Hiyoko can talk with "Piroshi" — Hiroshi, the human boy who bought her at a night fair — and the two are tight friends. In fact, Hiyoko teaches Hiroshi how to win brawls in elementary school, and she sometimes fights a bullying girl on Hiroshi's behalf. (Hiyoko is actually an experimental test subject that escaped from a laboratory.)
The anime premiered in Japan on April 3 with direction by Atsushi Takeyama (episode director on Jyu-Oh-Sei, Honey and Clover II) and scripts by Natsuko Takahashi (Ōoku: The Inner Chamber film, Antique Bakery)
Image © Risa Itou/Shueisha, Higepiyo Production Committee
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