A short manga version of the UFO Robo Grendizer anime. Released along the anime series, UFO Robot Grendizer follows the adventures of Duke Fleed, the Prince of Planet Fleed, whom disguised as Daisuke, a farm worker, fights against the forces that destroyed his planet, the Vegan Empire, also the creators of Grendizer that Duke stole to fight them. While not originaly considered part of the Mazinger series, Koji Kabuto and the Mazinger mechas appear in this series, making it sort of a sequel. Grendizer introduced the concept of a transformable Robot and a space Mecha, concepts that were later taken into other mecha series. It was extremely popular in Japan, Canada, France, Italy and the Arab World and has a strong following in those countries even today.

Sanpei is a young carefree boy that lives alone with his grandfather deep in the mountains. One day, when Sanpei takes a nap whilst floating down the river on a makeshift raft, he is mistaken for a Kappa and gets pulled underwater by a group of 'fellow' Kappa that are worried about him being spotted by humans, before whisking Sanpei away to the underwater Kingdom of the Kappa. Upon arrival, Sanpei is soon discovered to actually be a human and is immediately is sentenced to execution. Realizing the situation he's in, Sanpei somehow manages to convince the Kappa elders that Human civilization is much more advanced and that they could learn a great deal from the humans should they allow him to live. Unable to trust Sanpei completely, the Kappa Elder removes Sanpei's bellybutton (as this is where they believe his soul to be located) as a guarantee before sending him back to the Human world, escorted by a young Kappa "exchange student" that strikes a frightening resemblance to Sanpei. Thus begins Sanpei's adventures as he seeks to educate the Kappa, foil a persistent Death god, learn about his parents whereabouts, tackle angry Tanuki's, and lastly, win back his bellybutton!

The story begins as a handgun shootout rages between two pilots from opposing countries that have been shot down and forced to land in a wasteland near the Himalayan Mountains. As they continue firing at one another, they notice the sudden appearance of a tiger carrying a human baby in its jaws. The two agree to a truce while they rescue the baby. After the tiger is dispatched the two make a gentleman’s agreement that whoever survives the shootout will look after the baby, and resume their conflict. In the end, the Japanese soldier prevails, but when he collects the baby, he is surprised to find it has a massive tail. Naming the baby Rikiya, or “Ricky” for short, he is brought back to Tokyo and raised as a human being, despite being one of the “Zero Men” – an advanced underground civilization of squirrel-like beings that live under the Himalayas. (Source:Tezuka in English)

Fujio Akatsuka's most popular work, serialized in Shounen Sunday and other magazines! The six children, Osomatsu, Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu, and Todomatsu, along with Chibita, Iyami, Hatabou, and many other unique characters, all cry and laugh together! This series helped establish Akatsuka's reputation as a gag comic artist, long before his other popular manga, Tensai Bakabon. Osomatsu-kun has appeared in numerous special issues of Shounen Sunday. Akatsuka has also included several manga adaptations of routines from Charlie Chaplin movies in the series. ***Note:** Won the 10th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1964.*

*Note: Volume six includes the one-shots Seibu Nagaya Ninbetsu-chou (西部長屋人別帖), and Dai Samurai-den (大サムライ伝)*

In this short series by the master Matsumoto Leiji, we have the tale of Eve, a beautiful woman who has literally fallen to Earth in her spacecraft. Where did she come from, and why is she here?