Prince Shoutoku One-Shot

[Kaibutsu]

(I hope it's okay to post this here, since I couldn't find a forum dedicated to Kazue's other other works.
I came across this magazine in the gift shop while visiting the Nara National Museum.

Me: "Oh! That looks like Mephisto from AnE! This artists has a very similar art style to Kazue!"
Japanese Friend: "...That's because it is by Kazue." *points to kanji on the left*
Me: "Oh. oh. OH! "



Title (gold): Prince Shoutoku
Title (white): 日出づる処の天子 - I think this means something like "The Emperor of Where the Sun Rises." aka Japan.

I didn't have time to take pictures of the inside or read much of it. Also, I didn't want to be a creep.

[NeeNee]

Mephisto in his young years!

[Poppy]

Funny, he looks a bit like a mix between Rin (the eyes) and Mephisto !

[Wikkelsoee]

I need this.

[NeeNee]

You didn't buy it?

It could work really great as an AnE spin-off. The adventures of Mephisto, a few hundred years in the past...

[tardar-sauce]

Yes. So it's a proper oneshot right?

[Kaibutsu]

Lol nope, didn't buy it. It was full color though... Shoot, I should have... -sigh- hindsight is 20/20 :/

It's definitely not about Mephisto, the character just kinda looks like him and therefore caught my eye.
Given the title, I'm sure it's about Prince Shoutoku http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sh%C5%8Dtoku.
There should be no relation to AnE at all, just by the same author.

[NeeNee]

^ Just let us imagine that it was Mephisto using a different name.

[tardar-sauce]

I'm sure it was. Mephisto just possessed a poor dude and had influence on developing the Japanese Government. Sounds like him.

[facets-and-rainbows]

I am intrigued.

Google has taught me the following things:

-This is volume 2 of a surprisingly long series published by Asahi Shimbun where well-known manga authors did biographies/stories about Japanese historical figures (the series is called 週刊マンガ日本史 or "Weekly Manga Japanese History")
-It came out in 2009 and we somehow never knew it existed (why didn't Time Killers tell me about this??)
- Japanese readers also noticed the resemblance to Mephisto
-There used to be a digital version for 170 yen but Japanese iTunes doesn't have it anymore.
- Prince Shotoku really really does look like Mephisto and maybe Rin
- and maybe Angel in like a Mephisto wig or something
-Japanese Amazon has this thing used for 100 yen plus shipping, and there's a seller that ships overseas.
-I can totally afford 100 yen plus shipping.

...I think reading this thread may actually end up costing me 100 yen plus shipping.

[NeeNee]

Make sure to take pictures for us. ^^

[Wikkelsoee]

And maybe translate a bit...

[MetallicArcher]

I need!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaibutsu]

I am intrigued.

Google has taught me the following things:

-This is volume 2 of a surprisingly long series published by Asahi Shimbun where well-known manga authors did biographies/stories about Japanese historical figures (the series is called 週刊マンガ日本史 or "Weekly Manga Japanese History")
-It came out in 2009 and we somehow never knew it existed (why didn't Time Killers tell me about this??)
- Japanese readers also noticed the resemblance to Mephisto
-There used to be a digital version for 170 yen but Japanese iTunes doesn't have it anymore.
- Prince Shotoku really really does look like Mephisto and maybe Rin
- and maybe Angel in like a Mephisto wig or something
-Japanese Amazon has this thing used for 100 yen plus shipping, and there's a seller that ships overseas.
-I can totally afford 100 yen plus shipping.

...I think reading this thread may actually end up costing me 100 yen plus shipping.

OH GOD, I'M SO SORRY!
Next time, I'll just by the damn thing >.<"

[facets-and-rainbows]

Update: Mephisto has totally been living in Japan since like A.D. 600 or so. I have a crappy cell phone picture as proof:

(click to show/hide)

(also I just learned SO MUCH history and it was awesome and I'm so happy with my purchase lol)