Interest
Baki Manga Gives the Lowdown on Saga Prefecture Appeal
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
When they aren't commenting on American politics, Keisuke Itagaki's intimidating Baki The Grappler characters are helping bring in tourism for Saga Prefecture. The are has recently increased its tourism with a popular Yuri!!! on Ice collaboration and promotional anime, but the Baki The Grappler campaign site is decidedly more weird.
The campaign focuses on eight characters from the manga series and each espouses different charms about the region. The first character is 34-year-old police officer Tsuneo Katahira. He talks about burrowing eel goby, the real-life creature that resembles chest-bursters from Alien. The similarities aren't lost on the prefecture's tourism organization.
The second character is a nameless background character who appeared in the manga's first chapter. He talks about Saga's high-quality sake and its native product Nabeshima Daiginjo, which won an award at the 2011 International Wine Challenge in London.
The third character is Tongue, one of the three Mouth triplets. He promotes the forested coast of Karatsu Bay where daimyo Terazawa Hirotaka is said to have planted the sand and wind-resistant trees. The coast boasts about one million pine trees over a 4.5km stretch.
The fourth character is a hunter from the manga's 276th chapter. In the manga he defeats Yujiro Hanma in a tournament by using an anesthesia gun but in the campaign he wants to talk about squid fishing, specifically cuttlefish which he recommends eating as sashimi, boiled, or as shumai.
The fifth character is a Chinese storyteller. He promotes the prefecture's prominent hip-hop music culture including artists KEN THE 390, KOHEI JAPAN, DEJI, and that K DUB SHINE.
The sixth character is a male cheerleader. He promotes the area's quality beef products. Saga prefecture has what is called "Sagaushi" (Saga Beef), a label only given to meat that is a 4 or 5 on the Japanese Meat Quality Score, and a Beef Marbling Standard of 7 or more. Saga beef is also characterized by "gloss finish" marbling.
The seventh character is Jack Lee Beyond, a fan of the area's Ureshino Onsen, a high salt-content hot spring.
The last, and perhaps more ridiculous "character" is Biscuit Oliva's tuxedo. Oliva is able to tear through his clothes leaving behind only a husk. The site says this move is based on Arita ware, a type of Japanese porcelain.
Source: Comic Natalie
