Harenchi Gakuen

Origins

In 1968, while Shueisha was getting prepared to launch its first manga publication, Shōnen Jump, in order to compete with other magazines from rival companies (like Shōnen Magazine from Kodansha and Shōnen Sunday from Shogakukan), Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists publishing in the new magazine. He contemplated this, since he had to design a long-running series instead of the autoconclusive short stories that he had been developing until that point. He accepted and the series became a big success, being the first for Nagai and making Shōnen Jump sell more than one million copies. With Harenchi Gakuen, Nagai became the originator of ecchi manga, opened the door for a series of taboo-shattering gag comics and also became the symbol of an entire generation. This work has influenced the world of manga, effecting both social mores and what was considered appropriate for manga.

Harenchi Gakuen started with the idea of making a manga around a school. Nagai liked the word "Harenchi" (scandal), used commonly to advertise adult movies. For him, scandal and school were like oil and water, and he thought that mixing them would be funny. At first, Nagai didn't have an idea of what stories to develop, but his assistant at the time was boasting about how he had peeped on the girls during their physical examinations from a hole in the roof of his school; this idea was developed into the plot of the manga. Originally, open erotic references didn't appear in Harenchi Gakuen. The first physical examination scenes only showed from the shoulders up. But there were a lot of girls drawn, and their images became popular. The editor asked Nagai to go further, which Nagai was eager to do.

The inspiration for Harenchi Gakuen came from the West. Nagai liked foreign movies, and used to read Playboy magazine. For the depiction of breasts, he took particular inspiration from the Venus de Milo. According to Nagai, what he in fact drew was not about eroticism per se, but about Japan's culture of shame. He wanted embarrassment to be the eroticism of the stories.

Characters

Yasohachi Yamagishi (山岸 八十八, Yamagishi Yasohachi)

AKA Boss (親分, Oyabun). The violent yet pure hearted protagonist. He is the son of a butcher. He is assumed dead at the end of the 1st series, but is alive in part 2.

Mitsuko Yagyū (柳生 みつ子, Yagyū Mitsuko)

AKA Jūbei (十兵衛). The beautiful descendant of the Yagyū ninja family and the heroine of the story. Like Yamagishi, she is assumed dead at the end of the 1st series, but seen alive in part 2.

Fukurokōji (袋小路, Fukurokōji)

AKA Ikidomari (イキドマリ, Ikidomari, Dead End) Yamagishi’s subordinate. During the Harenichi War, the harsh situation forces him to experience shell shock and he commits suicide.

Sayuri Yoshinaga (吉永さゆり, Yoshinaga Sayuri)

AKA Hige Godzilla (ヒゲゴジラ, Hige Gojira, Bearded Godzilla). He greatly resembles a caveman, sporting a bushy beard around his mouth, wearing tiger pelt, and usually carrying a club. A teacher at the school, he speaks in a style of Japanese typically used by women. At the end of the 1st series he is seen severely wounded and crawling away from a pile of dead bodies.

Cast of Harenchi Gakuen (film 1970)

Miyuki Kojima as Mitsuko Yagyu

Shunji Fujimura as Hige Godzilla

Jo Shishido as Macaroni

Hosei Komatsu as Marugoshi

Toru Yuri

Bokuzen Hidari

Osami Nabe

Midori Utsumi

Cast of Harenchi Gakuen: Shintai Kensa no Maki (film 1970)

Miyuki Kojima as Mitsuko Yagyu

Shigeo Takamatsu as Hige Godzilla

Jo Shishido as Macaroni

Konpei Hayashiya as Marukasa

Hiroshi Kondo as Marukoshi

Masahiro Oyake as Yasohachi Yamagishi

Ruriko Ito as Keiko Yoda

Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei

Jun Otani as Fukurokoji

Ichiro Attack as Kazama

Midori Hoshino as Ayuko

Hiroko Masuda as Hiroko

Akemi Kurata as Akemi

Kacho Tsukitei as Kacho Tsukitei

Anne Mari as Sister Antoine

Kazuko Miyagawa as Sister Emily

Osami Nabe as Tadanori Yagyu

Hyoei Enoki as Katsuko Yagyu

Toyoko Takeche as Yayoi Yagyu

Kin Ishii as Daihachi Yamagishi

Kyoko Kozakura as Hana Yamagishi

Hiroko Ikeda as Mami Yamagishi

Cast of Harenchi Gakuen: Tackle Kiss no Maki (film 1970)

Miyuki Kojima as Mitsuko Yagyu

Shinji Maki as Hige Godzilla

Jo Shishido as Macaroni

Bonta Seshi as Marukoshi

Taro Tairabon as Marukasa

Hiroshi Chiba as Yasohachi Yamagishi

Kishiro Kawakami as Munenari Yagyu

Toyoko Takeche as Yayoi Yagyu

Hyoei Enoki as Katsuko Yagyu

Akira Oizumi as Tadanori Yagyu

Jun Otani

Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei

Keisuke Otori as Kyota

Utako Kyo as Torako

Cast of Harenchi Gakuen (TV series 1970)

Miyuki Kojima as Jubei (Mitsuko Yagyu)

Shiro Otsuji as Hige Godzilla (Yurio Yoshinaga)

Shobun Inoue as Marugoshi sensei (Matagoro Araki)

Eiji Go as Macaroni sensei

Kokan Katsura as Parasol sensei (Marudan Marukasa)

Bokuzen Hidari as Yomuin Jinbe

Fumihiko Kobayashi as Yasohachi Yamagishi

Cast of Shin Harenchi Gakuen (film 1971)

Yayoi Watanabe as Jubei Yagyu

Shigeo Takamatsu as Hige Godzilla

Jo Shishido as Gebageba

Eric H. Eric as Silkhat

Katsuwo Umino as Kotaro

Straight Combi as arufata

Akira Oizumi as Shungiku

Hiroshi Chiba as Yasohachi Yamagishi

Machiko Nakajima as Mami

Jun Otani as Ikidomari

Ichiro Attack as Fusen

Chieko Harada as Tomoko

Tomoko Aki as Yoshiko

Hiroko Masuda as Hatsugo

Bokuzen Hidari as Jinbei

Susumu Abe as Kabagon

Toyo Fukuda as Hana

Kensuke Tamai as Haitatsu Yubin

Cast of Heisei Harenchi Gakuen (film 1996)

Senna Matsuda as Little Jubei

Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi as Yasohachi Yamagishi

Rika Harada as Jubei

Sugisaku Imagawa as Koji Fukuro

Kei Mizutani as Sexy Hygiene Teacher

Nobuyoshi Kuwano as Hige Godzilla

Daijiro Harada as Chief of the Section of Bureau Education of the Intelligence Cabinet

Moe Ishikawa

Natsuko Tohno

In Other Media

The series is occasionally alluded to in Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact!