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U.S. Armed Forces, Maritan Creators Make Joint Manga

The United States Armed Forces in Japan have announced on Monday that they are collaborating with the Maritan manga creators to publish a manga celebrating the 50-year alliance between America and Japan. The official blog of the Maritan manga franchise confirmed the news. Artist Yukio Hirai is best known for Mahō no Kaiheitai Pixel☆Maritan (Magical Marine Pixel*Maritan), the manga/CD set that teaches Japanese people how to talk like a U.S. Marine — with profanity.

The first of four Our Alliance — A Lasting Partnership (Watashi-tachi no Dōmei — Eizoku-teki Partnership) issues will be released exclusively in Japanese at noon this Wednesday. The remaining issues are slated for later this year. Maritan's "Col. Ayabe" is responsible for the story scenario and text in this new manga, and other Maritan contributors also worked on the illustrations. The manga officially marks "the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan" with a story about a Japanese girl named Anzu Arai and Usa-kun, an American boy visiting Japan.

The latest Maritan manga, Maritan Eigo no Drill F*ck-Hen (Maritan English Drills: F*ck Edition), went on sale on Saturday, and the voice actresses Ai Tokunaga (Maritan) and Mai Kadowaki (Jieitan) held a book signing in Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district that same day. Samples of the voice CD that is bundled with the manga can be heard on the manga's official website.

Thanks to military/manga translator Anastasia Moreno for the news tip.

Update: The new manga's character names are wordplays on "USA" and the Japanese pronunciation of "Alliance" ("Arai-ansu"). In the Maritan blog, the title character Maritan says she is shocked that she is not the star of the new manga, but the other characters observe that if Maritan were in the new manga, she would destroy the alliance.