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Author Topic: Obscure manga reference?  (Read 5963 times)

Boo Dudley

  • This is not a secret page hint
« on: October 07, 2014, 05:44:47 PM »
So I picked up a manga called Kingyo Used Books. It's pretty much a manga about manga, yeah. Anyways, there's an ancillary character obsessed with an old detective series called Billy Puck by Mitsuhiro Kawashima, to the extent that he dresses like the boy detective despite being too old. But it was the hat that caught my attention. I coincidentally picked up The Thousand Year Door on a whim, and I noticed Pennington wears the same cap:




It's not a deerstalker so it cannot be a Sherlock Holmes reference. And It doesn't evoke any other influential detective series that I'm familiar with.

There is unfortunately almost no English or Japanese sites dedicated to Billy Puck. Yahoo site is the only page I've found regarding Puck or his creator. But I'm not about to doubt that such a property has a strong cult following there.

The Chef

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« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2014, 07:27:39 PM »
Is Billy Puck the name of the ancillary character in question or the name of the detective series he's obsessed with?

Tavros

  • he was hello
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2014, 12:43:38 PM »
On the topic of if it was a reference, I kinda doubt it. They look similar, but, aside from not being a deerstalker, they also look similar to the famous SH deerstalker. I mean, how many people do you know call it a deerstalker and not a SH hat? Maybe the fact that it's plaid and British-... ish is supposed to evoke a Sherlock Holmes feel.

My two dollars.
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Boo Dudley

  • This is not a secret page hint
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2014, 03:08:48 PM »
Is Billy Puck the name of the ancillary character in question or the name of the detective series he's obsessed with?

I assumed my last lines made it clear that it is the latter (Though, the character in question does go by Billy as a nickname). On that note, Google translate borked up my link. Here's the Yahoo page I meant to link to.

On the topic of if it was a reference, I kinda doubt it. They look similar, but, aside from not being a deerstalker, they also look similar to the famous SH deerstalker. I mean, how many people do you know call it a deerstalker and not a SH hat? Maybe the fact that it's plaid and British-... ish is supposed to evoke a Sherlock Holmes feel.

'Cause people, whether or not they know it's called a deerstalker, know what it looks like without even needing a reference -- two brims and two earflaps (invariably tied at the top). You cannot mess it up even if you're only passingly familiar with SH. It may be that Kawashima intended to evoke SH, but that's not really the point. PM2 gave a character -- a detective wannabe -- a distinctive article (i.e., exact type) of clothing iconic as a cult detective character. For what purpose would they give it to Pennington other than signify his hobby vis-a-vi an establish detective?

FTR, Puck is half-American, half-Japanese (I cannot recall on which matrilineal/patrilineal sides those fall on).
« Last Edit: October 08, 2014, 03:11:39 PM by Boo Dudley »

The Chef

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« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2014, 04:46:07 PM »
Is there any way you can find out the name of the ancillary character? I was wondering because Pennington's name in Japan is "Powan" and I thought maybe there'd be some sort of reference or pun in his name if your theory ends up being true.

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