[Meeting…] Paifu and José Rodríguez

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese cartoonist and screenwriter known worldwide for dragon ball, his most popular work. Apparently Toriyama ended up a little tired of Son Goku and company, so he decided to take a break until he recovered from the hard work that that series entailed until he found the desire and inspiration to do something new.

Cowa! It was his first more or less long work after dragon ball, so there were many expectations for the Japanese author. However, thanks to the fact that Toriyama does not usually go beyond his own limits in terms of innovation, a simple drawing served to indicate that what we were going to find would not follow the style of the last years of dragon ball, but would return to the style of previous works such as Dr. Slump, a series that took place in Penguin Village, a strange town inhabited by monsters, robots, talking animals and aliens.

Being aware of this similarity, Toriyama himself made some illustrations that were reminiscent of his old work, the most obvious being the one used as the cover of the first Spanish edition of the manga, where we see the protagonists of Cowa! Paifu (or Paifuu) and José Rodríguez in an image that reminds us of the crazy races of Arale Norimaki (protagonist of Dr. Slump) and his companion Gatchan (Gajira).

GOOD NIGHT FROM CABO MURCIELAGO!

Cabo Murciélago is a small town far from big cities where ghosts, animals and humans coexist, despite their different habits (ghosts are nocturnal) and beliefs (ghosts are afraid of happy and kind things). If it weren't for that particularity, the town would be like any other with its shops, schools and children running back and forth after leaving school.

Two of those children are Paifu (a half-vampire, half-Koala boy) and José Rodríguez (a ghost with the ability to change shape) who spend the night getting into mischief or playing.

Both characters are total opposites of each other: Paifu is determined, lying, unconscious, quite bossy, kind at times (even though he is ashamed of it) and due to his mixed nature, he becomes an aggressive koala man when he sees a cross. José Rodríguez is shy, sincere, indecisive and so cowardly that when he is scared he cannot let out one of his loud winds.

THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE

One of Paifu's (but not José's) favorite games is to take bravery tests, which are somewhat ridiculous if we take into account that they are both ghosts and therefore, few things should scare them. However, we must not forget that they are children, so doing anything they know they should not do is a brave feat, no matter how insignificant it may be. One of those tests of bravery consisted of spying on a hut on the outskirts of the town, where a human lives who is said to be a murderer. This test ended with the inevitable accidental encounter between these two children and the human, who does not turn out to be as bad as they paint him, despite having a strong temperament.

The relationship between both ghosts and the human (Mako Maruyama) will become much stronger when a lethal disease (that only affects ghosts) reaches Cape Bat, at which time they will need Maruyama's help to be able to go to a witch's house to ask for medicine before the epidemic claims its first victims.

As it could not be otherwise, Maruyama will make his trip accompanied by Paifu, José and another ghost boy named Aapon, who will show that despite being children they can be really useful thanks to their supernatural abilities, and that all help is little when you have to travel a long path that includes several cities, a desert and a forest where they say a very dangerous monster lives.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

when i bought Cowa! I was just hoping to meet the Toriyama I met in Dr. Slump and in the first stage of dragon ball (corresponding to Goku when he was a child) because he was already more than fed up with "invisible combats" and Kame Hames capable of destroying planets, as well as the levels of super saiyans and enemies that regenerate or absorb their rivals in order to unnecessarily lengthen the story.

In that sense, the manga did not disappoint me, its casual style and its curious characters make it very entertaining, although it is obvious that it is aimed at an audience that is more childish than youthful and in general does not reach the level of quality (or madness) of Dr. Slump. Toriyama fans will notice that there are multiple nods to his best-known works, some very subtle and others extremely blatant (like the familiar appearance of the witch's assistant).

I remember that when I finished reading Cowa! I was left wanting more, I would have loved to know more about the rest of the inhabitants of Cabo Murciélago and see what happens with Paifu and his friends.  Although I always had hopes that Toriyama would recover these characters in some moment of boredom, I fear that this will not happen in the short term, since the new tasks of the Japanese author are once again linked to dragon ball in one sense or another.

If you want to know more about Paifu and José Rodríguez, the only thing I can recommend is the manga Cowa! which fortunately was published outside of Japan in a self-contained volume. Due to the renown of its creator and the fact that some of his short works have been republished for a few years, I don't think it will be too difficult to obtain.