Rumic World

Rumic World (るーみっくわーるど, Rūmikku Wārudo), later reprinted in Japan as Takahashi Rumiko Kessaku Tanpenshū (高橋留美子傑作短編集), is a series of short manga stories created by Rumiko Takahashi, mostly created early in her career before Ranma ½. These tend to be comedies.

"Rumic World" is also the series name under which Central Park Media and Manga Entertainment released in North America and the UK four anime OVAs in 1992 based on Takahashi's stories:

1. Fire Tripper
2. Maris the Chojo
3. Laughing Target
4. Mermaid Forest
5. Mermaid's Scar.

Some of these stories, along with newer stories, were also animated as part of the Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou (Rumiko Takahashi Anthology) anime series.

Even though Manga Entertainment has released all of its UK and American catalogue to Australia, all of the Rumic World series did not make it into Australia due to Manga's Australian division's takeover by Madman Entertainment, which after takeover, released most of Manga UK and Manga USA's catalogue until 2001 when Madman integrated Manga Entertainment's Australian division. Madman staff have rumored to release the Rumic World series on DVD under Manga Entertainment's label, and Madman still licence and distribute Manga's titles like Macross Plus, and Space Adventure Cobra.

Japanese editions

Rumic World was first released in Japan in the tankoban format, but was rereleased in wideban format, which included many of the original colored pages of the series. Rumic World stories were originally published in various Shōgakukan magazines, as opposed to Rumic Theater stories, which were published in Big Comic Original.

First edition

The first edition, Rumic World (るーみっくわーるど, Rūmikku Wārudo), contains the following stories:

Volume 1

• Honō Torippā (炎トリッパー)
• Yami wo Kakeru Manazashi (闇をかけるまなざし)
• Warau Hyōteki (笑う標的)
• Waraete Nemure (笑えて眠れ)

Volume 2

• Sengoku Seitokai (戦国生徒会)
• Katte na Yatsura (勝手なやつら)
• The Supergirl/Chōjo (ザ・超女, Za Sūpāgyaru/Chōjo)
• Gold Finger/Ōgon no Bimbōgami (黄金の貧乏神, Gōrudo Hingā/Ōgon no Bimbōgami)
• Kaibyō Min (怪猫・明)
• Hara Hara Hōru (腹はらホール)
• Warae! Helpman (笑え！ヘルプマン, Warae! Herupuman)
• Warera Facial Pack/Gammen Nakama (われら顔面仲間, Warera Feisharu Pakku/Gammen Nakama)

Volume 3

• Fūfu (ふうふ)
• Shōkon (商魂)
• Dust Spurt (ダストスパート！！, Dasuto Supāto) (consists of five chapters)

Second edition

The second edition, Hozonban Rūmikku Wārudo Takahashi Rumiko Kessaku Tampenshū (【保存版】るーみっくわーるど　高橋留美子傑作短編集), contains the same stories, but in just two volumes and in a different order.

Volume 1

• Katte na Yatsura (勝手なやつら)
• Hara Hara Hōru (腹はらホール)
• Gold Finger/Ōgon no Bimbōgami (黄金の貧乏神, Gōrudo Hingā/Ōgon no Bimbōgami)
• Dust Spurt (ダストスパート！！, Dasuto Supāto) (consists of five chapters)
• Shōkon (商魂)
• Fūfu (ふうふ)

Volume 2

• Honō Torippā (炎トリッパー)
• The Supergirl/Chōjo (ザ・超女, Za Sūpāgyaru/Chōjo)
• Kaibyō Min (怪猫・明)
• Warae! Helpman (笑え！ヘルプマン, Warae! Herupuman)
• Sengoku Seitokai (戦国生徒会)
• Yami wo Kakeru Manazashi (闇をかけるまなざし)
• Warau Hyōteki (笑う標的)
• Waraete Nemure (笑えて眠れ)
• Warera Facial Pack/Gammen Nakama (われら顔面仲間, Warera Feisharu Pakku/Gammen Nakama)

One or Double

One or Double (１　ｏｒ　Ｗ, Wan oa Daburu), also titled Rumic World Rumiko Takahashi Presents "The Collection of Short Stories" (【るーみっくわーるど】高橋留美子短編集, Rūmikku Wārudo Takahashi Rumiko Tampenshū) contains a number of similar short stories not included in the other editions. The use of the word "Rumic World" makes it related to the other volumes branded as "Rumic World". The book is in the same format as the second Japanese edition.

Contents

• Slim Kannon (スリム観音, Surimu Kannon)
• Inu de Warui ka!! (犬で悪いか！！)
• Obāsan to Issho (お婆さんといっしょ)
• Gambari Masse (がんばり末世)
• Grand Father (グランド・ファザー, Gurando Fazā)
• Takarazuka e no Shōtai ~Invitation to Takarazuka~ (宝塚への招待〜INVITATION TO TAKARAZUKA〜)
• One or Double (１　ｏｒ　Ｗ, Wan oa Daburu)
• Happy Talk (ハッピー・トーク, Happii Tōku)
• Uchi ga Megami ja!! (うちが女神じゃ！！, Uchi ga Megami ja!!)

English Edition

Viz Media initially published two Rumic World stories in English: Fire Tripper (1989) and Laughing Target (1990). It subsequently (1996) published five volumes of the Rumic World collection, three under that name and under the "Rumic Theater" name. The contents of the volumes correspond to the Japanese-language collections, but the stories are in a different order in some of the books.

Some of Takahashi's stories were printed in Manga-vizion magazine.

All were printed in "flipped" style in a larger comic-sized format. They are no longer in print.

Volume 1

• "Fire Tripper": A gas explosion sends young Suzuko and Shuu 500 years into the past, but she lost Shuu in the way, Shuu ended up 10 years before her and is then 15 years old. They both somehow return to the future and then back to 500 years ago. Shuu and Suzuko marry.
• "Maris the Chojo": An alien policeman sees a kidnapped quadrillionaire her ticket out of debt.
• "Those Selfish Aliens": Aliens, the government, and fishmen implant bombs in a poor individual.
• "Time Warp Trouble": Warriors from feudal Japan inexplicably pop into a high-school classroom.
• "The Laughing Target": When they were children, Yuzuru Shiga and his cousin Azusa Shiga were engaged, and Azusa will make sure that Yuzuru stays hers, no matter what.

Volume 2

• "Wasted Minds (Dust Spot)": Follows a pair of two bickering government agents. (A five-part miniseries)
• "The Golden Gods of Poverty": A boy's parents try to use him to make money, but they only succeed in contacting the Seven Lucky Gods who are also broke.
• "The Entrepreneurial Spirit": A woman leads seminars for a get-rich quick scheme.

Volume 3

• "That Darn Cat": Rumiko Takahashi remembers having to take care of her neighbor's cat.
• "When My Eyes Got Wings": A couple befriend a sickly child with a secret and his destructive pet bird.
• "Wedded Bliss": A wedded couple can only let out their tension from working all day by fighting with one another, until their neighbors threaten to have them moved.
• "Sleep and Forget": A girl relives a past life involving her lover and an evil witch back from the dead in the form of a dog.
• "A Cry for Help": A fairy gives a boy a frightening split personality thanks to the wind-up key she inserts in his neck.
• "War Council: Student councils go to war with one another over a stamp.
• "The Face Pack": A man can change his appearance at will and leads a "masters of disguise" club.

Rumic Theater: One or Double

• "Excuse Me for Being a Dog!": A boxer tries to hide the fact that he turns into a dog every time he bleeds.
• "Winged Victory": A rugby team with 999 losses is cheered on by a ghostly girl whom only the team captain can see, this girl turned out to be the first captain of the team, who died from a disease, after that, they won the season.
• "The Grandfather of All Baseball Games": A man uses the money his grandson makes in sandlot baseball to lavish his elderly girlfriend with gifts.
• "The Diet Goddess": A young girl goes through a rigorous training exercise to fit into a dress and impress her crush while developing feelings for her stern coach, also, the man who she lost weight for, likes fat girls.
• "Happy Talk": A girl thinks her dead mother might be working as a hostess in Tokyo, so she and a classmate hire a detective to find her, but they find a gay friend of her mother, who took her name after she died.
• "One or Double": An accident places the soul of a fanatic kendo coach into his favorite pupil's crush and he will not leave until his pupil can get at least one point on him, but when he leaves they had found his body and he came back.
• "To Grandmother's House We Go": A woman poses as her dead friend to claim a 500 billion yen inheritance with the help of the girl's dead grandmother.
• "Reserved Seat": A singer deals with stage fright and memory blackouts after his grandmother, an avid Takarazuka fan, dies. It turns out his grandma possesses him and goes to their concerts in his body.
• "Shake Your Buddha": A hilarious debate between the future Buddha and an idiot yam fanatic during a food shortage over whose methods can lead to Japan's survival.

External links

• http://www.furinkan.com/rumictheater/
• The Rumic World by Rumiko Takahashi