Otto Carius: Doromamire no tora
(Tigers Covered With Mud)

Manga by Hayao Miyazaki

view enlarged version at Tom Wilkes's Web site

An all-watercolor manga based on Tigers In The Mud, the memoirs of Otto Carius, a German tank commander.

Tiger Ace Otto Carius destroyed more than 150 tanks during his WWII career. Carius originally joined the 20th Panzer Division in 1941, during the attack on Russia. In 1943 he transferred to the 502 Tiger battalion. This unit fought at Leningrad and then in the area of Narva, Estonia. Carius was wounded in the summer of 1944, subsequently becoming the commander of a Jagdtiger company in the West at the beginning of 1945.  He surrendered to the Americans in May.

Miyazaki's manga concerns the exploits of Carius in Estonia during his fight against the advancing Soviet army.  All of the characters appear as pigs.

This series has the subtitle "Mousou Nouto" ("Fantasy Note" -- however, mousou can also mean "wild or crazy idea" or "delusion").  This is a change from the title "Zassou Note" used for previous manga by Miyazaki published in the same venue.

• Model Graphix magazine, from Dainippon Kaiga, 740 yen.
  Although this manga was originally planned as three episodes, it took six episodes (from December 1998 to May 1999) for him to conclude the story.
• Episode 1 appeared in Vol. 169, December 1998.  The issue also has a three-page article about Miyazaki's trip to Estonia, with lots of color pictures (a sample of the pictures).
• Miyazaki also traveled to Germany to visit Otto Carius, who now owns the "Otto Carius Apotheke" or "Tiger-Apotheke" (apothecary); a two-page illustrated article about this visit appeared with Episode 2 in Vol. 170, January 1999 (a sample of the pictures).

• Miyazkai Hayao: Mousou Note "Doromamire no Tora"
  (Hayao Miyazaki: Fantasy Note "Tigers Covered in Mud")
  2002, Dainippon Kaiga, ISBN 4-499-22790-9
  2500 yen

Also contains Hansu no kikan, information about Otto Carius, German military activity on the north-eastern front during World War II, and Miyazaki's trips to Estonia and Germany.

None officially.

• Fan translation (panel-by-panel; hosted at Tom Wilkes's Web site)

None.

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