Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

We don't currently have an entry on this manga series, but I reeeally feel we should, seeing as how this manga broke records on longest-running manga and volumes sold. The problem is, I haven't heard of this manga somehow, I only knew this existed because several other Shounin Jump manga are paying tribute to Ol' Kochikame by inserting some imagery on their most recent chapter. One Piece slapped a giant M on their first page symbolizing Kochikame eyebrows, while Shokugeki no Soma, Toriko, Boku no Hero Academia both gave a character the signature eyebrows. Haikyuu gave a giant M on a character's jersey.

Anyway, it seems like this is major manga history that we should definitely document.

I think the main thing about Kochikame is that it is very very old. It was made around the same decade as the debut manga for Rumiko Takahashi (Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkou) and Akira Toriyama (Dragonball, Dr Slump, Sand Land). Most English fans won't know about it because there isn't an official translation of it, likely due to it being a gag manga based on a police ward that actually exists in Japan.

Also it's not even the oldest manga series that was still running at the time. That would go to Golgo 13 (which is most infamous for the insanely hard NES game) which is actually still running. 40 years is quite the impressive feat but I would say it's one of those things that are just incredibly Japanese and probably wouldn't translate well.

I'm not against having an article for it, but I doubt a sizable fanbase exists in the western world so I'm not sure if there would be much to talk about other than its history with the magazine Shonen Jump.