Hayao Miyazaki's Daydream Data Notes (Expanded Edition)
Manga by Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿 Miyazaki Hayao?)
Price: ¥2800
Overview
Hayao Miyazaki's Daydream Data Notes (宮崎駿の雑想ノート Miyazaki Hayao no Zassou Nooto?) is a series of manga (or rather, "Graphic Essays") which Miyazaki has been (very) sporadically writing in the Japanese scale model magazine, Model Graphix.
They are totally independent manga stories, mecha ideas, or movie ideas about tanks, planes, or battleships from the era before World War II - the "favorites" of Miyazaki.
Older Edition
A caution for Porco Rosso fans: There is an older edition of this book with different cover art dating from 1992. That edition (ISBN 4-499-20602-2, ¥2300) contains only the first 12 stories of the 1997 edition; it does not have The Age of the Flying Boat.
The Stories
The expanded 1997 edition contains 13 episodes in total. They are:
- The Unknown Youngest Brother of the Giants (知られざる巨人の末弟 Shirarezaru Kyojin no Mattei?) : A king of a Vulcan country orders the construction of a huge airplane.
- The Pride of Steel (甲鉄の意気地 Koutetsu no Ikuji?) : A story about the Monitor and the Merrimack, two ironclad ships of the American Civil War.
- Enter the Multigun Tower (多砲塔の出番 Tahoutou no Deban?) : A pig creates a huge tank and kidnaps a girl. Her boyfriend comes after them, and he and the girl finally destroy the tank. Miyazaki wanted to make an anime out of this. He even said, "I want to make the tank go at full speed with Country Road as BGM." (!) There was a plan to make it into an OAV, but the project never materialized.
- The Eyes of a Farmer (農夫の眼 Noufu no Me?) : Based on Andre Malreaux's semi-autobiographical novel L'Espoir, this is a story about a farmer who finds an enemy base during the Spanish Civil War. It features a Potez 540 bomber.
- Steel of the Dragon (竜の甲鉄 Ryuu no Koutetsu?) : A story about the Teien and the Chinen, Chinese battleships in the China-Japan War of 1905.
- Heavy Bomber over Kyuushu (九州上空の重轟炸機 Kyuushuu Joukuu no Juugousakuki?) : A story about a Chinese heavy bomber (Martin 139W) which flew to Kyuushuu in Japan to conduct a night "air raid". But instead of bombs, it dropped fliers calling for peace.
- The Antiaircraft Guntower (高射砲塔 Koushahoutou?) : A story about a huge antiaircraft guntower in Germany and the many Allied air force attempts to remove it.
- Q Ship (Q・ship?) : A story about a "Q Ship" during World War I. A "Q Ship" was an English battleship which disguised itself as a civilian ship by putting sails on its radio mast to fight against German U-boats, who were fooled into taking it as their easy target.
- The story of Anshoumaru (安松丸物語 Anshoumaru Monogatari?) : A story about the Anshoumaru, a Japanese make-shift aircraft carrier.
- Over London, 1918 (ロンドン上空1918年 Rondon Joukuu 1918 Nen?) : A story about the German air raids of London.
- The Poorest Front (最貧前線 Saihin Zensen?) : A story about the Japanese fishing boat Kisshoumaru and her crew, who were commandeered by the Japanese Navy.
- The Age of the Flying Boat (飛行艇時代 Hikoutei Jidai?) : The manga that Porco Rosso is based on.
- The Pig's Tiger (豚の虎 Buta no Tora?) : A story about Hans, a German mechanic and a Tiger tank.
Serialized in:
- Model Graphix, a Japanese scale model magazine, from November 1984 to May 1990.
English Translation
None available commercially. For fan translations of some of these stories please visit Tom Wilkes' web site.
Related Media
- The Age of the Flying Boat - Available as a separate book from Dainippon Kaiga.
- Virtual Sound Radio Drama - Most of the stories from Hayao Miyazaki's Daydream Data Notes were adapted into this series of radio dramas which aired on Nippon Housou in 1995. The entire series is available on a set of 12 CDs.