Star #8: =Wally Kisagari=
Through the ages: Manga, 1963, 1980, 2003
See him in action: 1963 EPISODE 7, 1980 EPISODE 4, 2003 EPISODE 27, JUNGLE EMPEROR LEO APPEARANCE
Watch a minute of the 1980 one, it’s probably the best intro to this guy you can get.
Tezuka character list bio: Number 07
[b]
- Real name: Shunsaku Ban. This detective appears in many of Osamu Tezuka’s works. In the original Astro Boy, he appears as Astro’s school teacher. Stage
2 – 1 is named after his manga “X Point on the South Pacific.” The whites of his eyes became wrinkles and his pupils became the eye. Similar changes are seen in other characters, such as Disney’s Mickey Mouse. An interesting detail, given Osamu Tezuka’s great respect for Disney. “Mickey Mouse" is a registered trademark of “Walt Disney Productions.” [/b]
Wally, Mr. Mustacio, Shunsaku Ban, Edgar Pompous, Daddy Walrus, Higeoyaji – this particular character has gone by many names, in many works. His list of appearances extends so far that it’s over a page long even when zoomed as far out as possible, and rather than say what he IS in it’d be easier to chronicle those works he’s NOT present in.
Suffice it to say, Wally is about as iconically Tezuka as you can get. Based off a middle school friend’s doodle of his father, Wally’s character is as crude as his origins; a rough-around-the-edges, prematurely bald, short-tempered older man, he’s not exactly what you’d expect out of a hero, but damn if he’s not one of the most enjoyable personalities in the Tezukaverse.
What he lacks in refinement, he makes up for in sheer charm: An old-fashioned country style, a boundless font of energy, and a heart of gold all serve to endear this guy to readers and make every appearance a treat. He’s goofy and weird, but also single-minded and diligent; he’s excitable and violent, but also just and morally grounded; he’s old-fashioned and strict, but also accepting and forgiving. He covers tons of bases and comes out all the better for it.
He’s Japanese through-and-through (in his own words, a “true-blue third generation Tokyoite”), living in an old-fashioned Japanese-style house, drinking sake and eating sushi, but while he’s set in his old-fashioned ways he’s far from a crotchety inflexible old guy. Wally’s always up for adventure and open to new ideas, and while his role in the Astro Boy series is primarily that of a schoolteacher he’s often seen tagging along with Astro on his world-spanning adventures, providing his own brand of humor and assistance along the way.
And don’t go thinking said assistance is minor or everything; Wally’s a man of many, many talents, and is quite a capable dude when he needs to be. For starters, he and O’shay are long-time friends (Wally’s father owned the place where a young O’shay lived and practiced inventing crude robotics) which means he has a direct link to the Ministry and its resources. Secondly, he moonlights as an accomplished private detective, with connections to Metro City’s police force and some sizable deduction skills, which means he’s quite adept at tracking down and apprehending those villains too slippery for Astro to deal with by himself. And thirdly, he is an ABSOLUTE BEAST.
Wally’s packing some serious guns under that dapper suit of his, and he will have no qualms manhandling you into submission (or just straight-up throwing you through a bus) if you happen to piss him off enough. He’s a master of many fighting styles, a crack shot with a revolver, and has endurance enough to be literally crucified via electric cabling only to pop back a little later slightly annoyed, so it’s generally a bad idea to get on his bad side. Wonderfully enough, one of the best ways to get on said bad side is to be an asshole racist around him, which means he’s one of the few reasonable people around to help Astro when things get dicey. He’s a good guy all around.
‘Course, I’d be remiss in not giving some mention to his non-Astro works here, seeing how the bio specifically mentions them. As it says, his design has changed a bit (compare 1963, 1980 pictures to see how the eyes changed to just the pupils), but his personality really hasn’t ever done the same – here he is as a good-natured but crass ramen shop owner (The Three-Eyed One), here he appears as a tough but kind safari guide/explorer (Jungle Emperor Leo), now he’s an old-fashioned but goofy Japanese fisherman (Wonder 3), and, oh look, a dude in the bleachers boisterously heckling a competitor for not playing fair (Prime Rose). When he shows his bushy face, you can always expect more or less the same old Wally you’ve come to know and love, no matter how small or large a role he happens to take.
Lastly, I just want to take a moment to mention his role in Metropolis (2001), seeing as I made mention of it in the video.
This was my first intro to Wally the character, and honestly it’s one of the reasons I like him so much. He’s noticeably younger here, but still possesses the same traits his older self does – amazing mustache, goofy mannerisms, professional detectiving, and inherent kindness. It’s a good movie that I’d recommend, it used to have a full version up on Youtube but it looks like it’s been taken down (a fate I fear a large portion of this LP will fall into at some point, ACT NOW, the 2003 episode 1 links are already down in America), you can probably find it pretty easily at a library or something, here’s the trailer. EITHER WAY, it would be a good idea to watch it, as a couple BIG characters later down the line star in that movie and it’ll make their roles have more impact when we get there.
That aside, the picture above depicts Wally (known as Shunsaku Ban) alongside his nephew, Kennichi, as they try to track down the organ smuggler Dr. Laughton. Kennichi’s often depicted alongside Wally and ~might~ be showing up later, but what I really want to mention is that bluish guy up there. He’s a robot detective that gets assigned to assist Shunsaku in his investigation, and he gets his name when Shunsaku absent-mindedly recalls his old dog named “Pero”. Well…
That dog existed. It was Wally’s dog in a chapter of Mighty Atom titled “The Hot Dog Corps”. And, wouldn’t you know it, the story revolves around a woman who kidnaps dogs, removes their brains, modifies them, and puts them into humanoid robots to create a legion of obedient super-soldiers. The result:
Pero becoming a blue-skinned humanoid dude with line markings extending down from his eyes.
What does this have to do with the game, or Astro in general? NOTHING! But it’s just an awesome detail that blew my mind when I was first starting my research for this LP, having watched Metropolis a copious amount of times, and I wanted to share it~.
And as for the X Point on the South Pacific thing, I mentioned in O’shay’s bio I don’t really know anything, and I STILL DON’T, I NEVER WILL, HERE’S THE OUTLINE PAGE.
Lots of pictures in this one but I don’t care, I really really like Wally.