Queen in Japan • 日本の愛されたクイーン

Manken Queen is the name of a doujinshi circle responsible for a fan publication that was a mix of Queen fanzine, shoujo manga, and illustrations both related and completely unrelated to Queen and rock music. This doujin circle is held in high regard by shoujo manga enthusiasts, and is often referred to as "legendary" for the sheer number of participants and mangaka who made their professional debut with this group, including Yuu Asagiri, Fusako Kuramochi, Hanako Ishimoto, Misao Hoshiai, Shou Akechi, Shion (Rie) Yoshimura, and Yayoi Takeda. Interviews with famous shoujo and jousei mangaka such as Kimiko Uehara, Toshie Kihara, and Moto Hagio were also printed by this group at different points.

This doujinshi event held in Saitama in early 1975 lists Manken Queen (headquartered in Ikebukuro, Tokyo), and notes that rock illustration volumes will be released once a year, with additional supplemental volumes released four times a year. It also mentions that two different newsletters will be released every three months as well. This seems ambitious, and whether all of this came to pass is unknown.

"Manken" is shortened from the term "manga kenkyuukai", which can be translated as "a society for the study of manga" or more loosely, "manga club". This term is often used as a descriptor for amateur manga and doujinshi clubs and circles, especially in the 70s and 80s. Often these groups were clustered around a certain school or university where a cohort of aspiring young manga artists with the same interests would get together and essentially draw comics and print zines of their favorite subjects. At the time, Western rock music was extremely popular and many doujinshi circles popped up around it.

The story of Manken Queen is an interesting but nebulous one. A lot of the research on this topic brings up conflicting dates and oral histories. This is what I have been able to piece together.

*Manken Queen listed on the map of the first Comiket (lower right corner).*

As Queen was bubbling under in Japan throughout 1974, Watanabe Productions was keen to take it to a full boil and began promoting the band's upcoming tour hard. Japanese music magazines had begun printing items about the band by this time, but of course info distribution was not instantaneous the way it is today, and the language and distance barriers made it even harder to bring Queen content over for Japanese fans to consume. There were barely even any images or footage of the band to share with the Japanese audience at this point (late 1974). So in order to build on the interest that young women were harboring for the band's upcoming Japanese tour, Nabepro cooked up an idea to get manga artists (who were also Queen fans) to draw a series of illustrations inspired by the artists' personal images of Queen, be it characters from the music (The Fairy-Feller, the White Queen, etc.) or of the band members themselves. Nabepro would then exhibit slides of these illustrations at different manga events around the country.

They reached out to a doujin group called Manken JUM and contracted one of their artists, Misao Hoshiai, to create these illustrations. Hoshiai, who was now faced with drawing upwards of fifty full-color illustrations in short order, asked artist Shion Yoshimura of the doujin group Manken ELM to help out. The two doujin groups came together to form Manken Queen. (I have found one source claiming that Manken Queen was as active as early as 1973, but a manga event flyer from February of 1975 seems to contradict this.) In any event, Hoshiai took care of drawing Brian and Roger, while Yoshimura drew Freddie and John. In illustrations where the four appeared together, each party would draw their part and swap with the other artist to finish. Their illustrations were made into slides that were put on display at different events around the country. A manga and doujinshi exhibition held in February of 1975 in Saitama lists a Queen exhibit where some of these drawings were on display. This event lists Manken Queen and the doujin circle The Eccentric Poets amongst the organizers. Additionally, a "Queen display" is noted on the roster of participants at the very first Comiket held in Tokyo in December of 1975. Comiket, a doujinshi convention that currently draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, was originally conceived as a "fanzine fair" for girls and young women, and a Manken Queen booth would appear at each event through at least 1979, sometimes sharing space with The Eccentric Poets.

A Queen sticker sheet (or a copy thereof) can be seen tacked to the window behind a young woman's head here; as this sticker sheet was a promo item issued by Warner Pioneer for the 1976 tour, this picture is likely from a Comiket in 1976 or 1977. Black & white picture sourced from the Comiket Prep Committee.

The artists were not paid by Nabepro, but were offered front row tickets to Queen's first Japanese tour in 1975, as well as access to receptions. As a result, it is said that for the first three dates of Queen's Japanese gigs, the girls in the front row were serene and collected, as though they were holding an audience with the emperor, while the screaming and flailing began with the second row.

Yoshimura became the head editor of Manken Queen, and the band itself also briefly became involved. Before they left Japan, Freddie designed a logo for Manken Queen, with input from Brian and Roger (the term "meddling" was used to describe this). I have seen this logo mentioned a few times but I can't seem to find any actual images of it anywhere. The logo was apparently printed on the front page of early publications and newsletters, but was subsequently lost. When Yoshimura submitted the manuscript to reprint the doujinshi, the printshop went into foreclosure and the manuscripts were seized. The original full-color rock illustrations commissioned by Nabepro reportedly suffered the same fate. However, a couple of months after their visit to Japan, Queen sent Hoshiai a signed page of thanks that ended up being printed in Manken Queen 1.

Ultimately, at least four full volumes ("Rock Illustration Volumes"), numbered Queen 1-4, were published, as well as at least eight supplements numbered I-VIII. There are likely more, but the duplicate numbering system and lack of documentation makes it difficult to say for sure. Although there were as many as 150 members over the years, the core group of artists numbered about 50 and hung out together, going on outings and staying up late drawing in a salon-like environment. Many members went on to draw professionally.

As the years went on, the actual band itself seems to have played less of a part in this doujin's subject matter, although caricatures invariably showed up and the publication retained the name Queen. It's hard to know, however, the extent of Queen content without actually being able to view the books themselves.

These books are quite rare today. Copies of Queen 1, Queen 2, and Queen VII are held at the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library at Meiji University in Tokyo, and have been featured in exhibits from time-to-time. I was able to view these volumes on a recent trip to Japan, but no copies or photos were allowed to be taken. (I wasn't even allowed to bring my phone in with me, so I couldn't look up kanji I didn't know, either.) Many of the illustrations are stunning, even if some are only tangentially related to Queen. The earlier volumes contain anecdotal reports and information about Queen's first trip to Japan in Spring of 1975 that align with what is already known. Queen 4, published in the summer of 1980, was marked as a special commemorative issue.

It's unclear to me whether this doujin circle remained active past 1981, but it seems unlikely. Queen remains beloved in Japan to this day, but the momentum of their early heydays in Japan left along with the 70s. Regardless, Manken Queen holds a unique place in Japanese Queen lore.