Chagecha

Chagecha
(チャゲチャ, Chagecha)
Genre:	Shōnen, Parody, Surreal Comedy
Manga
Author:	Yoshio Sawai
Publisher:	Shueisha
English Publisher:
Demographic:	Shōnen
Magazine:	Weekly Shōnen Jump
English magazine:
Original run:	September 2008 - November 2008
Volumes:	1

Chagecha (チャゲチャ) is a manga by Yoshio Sawai, published by Shueisha and serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Jump. It is the first original series created by Yoshio Sawai after Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and it contains much of the same style of humor as Sawai's previous works. Its final chapter was published November 1, 2008, just two months after it began.

Plot

In the city of Gure-Tokyo, yankees (delinquents) are running wild. With only 0.2% of teachers left in the schools and no one willing to stop them, these bad kids can do whatever they want whenever they want. Now, as tensions between the city and the delinquent populations are rising to such a degree that its even being called the “Gure-Tokyo Dispute”, they’re about to go down as legends…

But then, right out of nowhere, a mysterious man known as Chagecha arrives. His goal is to rid the city of yankee control and stop this chaos once and for all.

Summary

After Shinsetsu Bo-bobo, Sawai wrote a short story for the Weekly Shonen Jump known as Black Owl (黒梟, Kuro Fukuro).  This turned out to be the beginning concepts of Chagecha, which started publication in the Weekly Shonen Jump on September 13, 2008.

In Chagecha, the city known as Gure-Tokyo is suffering a delinquent crisis. These delinquents (known as yankees) have overthrown nearly all the school districts, essentially turning them into bases for their criminal gangs, and now have the city at their mercy. However, these aren’t your normal hoodlums by any means… Yankees who have spent enough time living a life astray from society eventually develop powers known as "Yanki", and can use these at will. 

When a man named Chagecha shows up possessing a powerful Yanki and begins putting some of the lowly yankees into place, word of his name begins to spread. He meets a kid named Masato, who has heard of his fights against the yankees and wants to help him free the city of their control. After the stunning defeat of the infamous Guerrilla High, Masato firmly believes Chagecha could bring his school, Gekiatsu High, back to its former glory. Meanwhile, the infamous yankee Kabu Kintamarou is elected as the 3rd-year president of Nannrei Saijukan High, one of the Four Great High Schools of Gure-Tokyo. With his newfound power, he has already begun plans to create a new Gure-Law that allows him to exile all yankees who dare oppose him from the city.

Eventually, Masato takes Chagecha to Gekiatsu High where he meets the school's highest ranking members: Kawai Himawari, Washio Kouzan, Wakana Kotarou, Zenkaiten Doraji, Longhorn Onizawa, and the group leader, Mysterious Tiger Mask. After testing his strength, they welcome Chagecha into the group. However, during Chagecha's welcoming party, they are attacked by Metro Sekiranun High, a high ranking and vicious Yankee School. They are challenged to a Rank Battle on a Yan-Battlefield, where the highest ranking members of two opposing schools battle it out to increase their school's rank. After a long and grueling fight, Gekiatsu High comes out victorious, bringing it from a Gutter-Grade school to a solid B-Grade school. The final chapter ends with the news that, since Gekiatsu has become so known after the defeat of Metro Sekiranun, Yankee Schools all over Gure-Tokyo have sent letters wanting to challenge them. The final scene shows Chagecha and the rest walking with their backs to the audience, and judging by the silhouettes of four figures on the structure ahead of them, presumably on to their next challenge.

While the series was meant to go on much longer than it did, it was cut short due to poor ratings. The reception of Chagecha was mostly negative with many readers saying that it was either too similar to Bo-bobo, or that it was simply uninteresting. It seems that, after Shinsetsu Bo-bobo, the majority of Japanese Jump readers weren’t ready for another crazy series by Yoshio Sawai, and thus Weekly Shonen Jump quickly canceled it after it’s 8th chapter (which Sawai humorously wrote as the “∞th" chapter).

Terms

Gure-Tokyo

(暮東京)/Stray Tokyo: A large city that is overrun with delinquents. It has become wracked with crime and violence.

Gure-Law

(グレ掟): Laws created by yankees that are imposed on normal high school students.

• Human Current(人間川流し): One of the Gure-Laws. Normal highs school students are sent down a river along with watermelons. Only the watermelons return from the journey.

Yankee School

(人間川流し): Schools that have become completely controlled by yankees. They act more as gang headquarters than places of education.

Yanki

(ヤン気ー): Powers that yankees naturally develop when they have achieved a high rank and/or have spent enough time living a life astray from proper society. Yanki can be physically seen on subjects who have it, as it manifests itself as a glowing aura around the individual (the larger the aura, the stronger it is). Each person’s Yanki is different, from the way it is earned to how it is used - even down to the color and smell. 

Yan-Deadly Technique

(ヤン必殺技): Special moves that are preformed using Yanki. Individuals who have Yanki can use these, and each one is different depending on the person and their skill level.

Yanki-Fusion

(極ヤン気ー): A fusion of two individual's Yan-Deadly Techniques which can only be achieved if both users recognize each other’s strength. 

Rank

Ranks are earned by both individual students and schools. Student ranking is based on year and “Yanki skill level” (as opposed to academic strength), while school ranking is based on how many Rank Battles have been fought and won against. School rank ranges from A-Grade (the highest) to Gutter-Grade (the lowest). There is also a division of Yankee Schools that surpass A-Grade and are defined as "Super A-Grade". The four schools who have achieved this status are known as the "Four Great High Schools of Gure-Tokyo".

Rank Battle

(ランク戦): Yankee Schools need to participate in rank battles in order to achieve high ranks and become more recognized. This involves gathering the top members of each school to participate in a team vs. team match, and fighting in an enclosed area known as a “Yan-Battlefield”. A Rank Battle is concluded when one team has defeated all the members on the other team.

Yan-Battlefield

(ヤン戦場): Places where Rank Battles are fought. They are areas of the city enclosed by tall fencing and are filled with hidden weapons participants can find and use during the fight.

Characters

Main Article: List of characters from Chagecha

Trivia

• Chagecha is the shortest running series in the history of Shonen Jump.
• There are various references to Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo seen throughout Chagecha: In the opening page, Don Patch and Dengakuman are seen among some yankees, Ushirokaminaga's remodeled statue bears an exact likeness to Don Patch, "Hanage Shinken High" is listed on a chart of yankee schools as a B-Grade school, and of course, the entire character of the Mysterious Tiger Mask.
• Due to these many references to Bo-bobo, it's possible that the city of Gure-Tokyo exists in the same world as the one Bo-bobo takes place in.

References

Real World