--KAMONEGI SWITCHBLADE--
--YASUHIRO NIGHTOW'S ORIGINAL DOUJINSHI--

Before he became a professional comic-book artist, Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow produced a number of original doujinshi (amateur, self-published comics) under the circle name "Kamonegi Switchblade." Even as an amateur, his talent was obvious, and his "Call XXXX" won the Reader's Choice Award at the 22nd Comitia doujinshi event.

Today, these books are highly sought after by fans, and run upwards of $50-100 each. A word of warning to collectors, however: most of these books were printed on cheap recycled newsprint (ironically, most doujinshi made by Trigun fans are made of higher-quality materials), so they're highly prone to yellowing and deterioration. At present, there are no plans to reprint these books, but it's not completely out of the question.

Title: Sandy to Mayoi no Mori no Nakamatachi
(Little Sandy with Monsters in the Megaforest)

Publication Date: 4/30/89
52 pages

Nightow's first book: A young explorer discovers a little girl living on a mysterious island full of weird but friendly monsters. Nothing is quite what it seems in this world.

Nightow's artwork is rich and detailed, although some of the action scenes suffer from the same "just what is going on in this panel?" incomprehensibility as the early books of Trigun. The human character designs are only fair--Little Sandy isn't as cute inside as she is on the cover, but the cute talking monsters are superb--especially when you consider that this came out long before PokeMon.

This book also contains the first appearance of Trigun's feline mascot Kuroneko-sama, here cast as one of the talking monsters.

Title: Bokura no Zujou ni Kare no Basho
(His Place Above Us)

Publication Date: 8/8/90
38 pages

Nightow's ode to summer.
Unlike his other stories, this one is rooted in realism--set in modern Japan, one hot, weary summer, when a cram-school student has second thoughts about the inevitable ordinariness of her future. But then a bit of magic enters her life when she meets a young man who posesses an antique flying machine and the legend of whales in the sky.

Nightow creates a palpable sense of wonder with his Miyazaki-esque flying whale scene. I also really like the cover graphic, the back of which can be seen here.

Title: Christmas Heart
Publication Date: 11/10/91
22 pages

Nightow's take on the Santa Claus myth, apparently written before he had heard of the "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" story.
Santa Claus is bedridden because people just don't believe in him any more, so his granddaughter Claudia goes out into the world to restore people's faith, and she inspires a young boy to build an entire city that is a monument to Christmas.

It feels like a series of vignettes rather than a plotted story, but if Nightow were to flesh it out more, it would make a wonderful children's book to stand alongside Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express and William Joyce's Santa Calls. (Its square shape already makes it look like the picture books I used to have when I was a kid.)

Incidentally, Claudia's black tights seem to foreshadow those of Trigun's Meryl Stryfe.

Title: Call XXXX
Publication Date: 8/16/92
42 pages

The title makes it sound like one of those ads in the back of Young King Ours, but this story is actually Wings of Honneamise: The Nightow Version. A jaded young star astronaut returns to his orphanage roots and regains his humanity before going away on a forty-year space mission.

This story, with its comparatively strong plot, became Nightow's first commercially published work, appearing in the April 1994 issue of Super Jump Alpha. I don't know if Super Jump Alpha reprinted the story exactly as it appears in this book, or if Nightow revised it.

Title: VS

Publication Date: 1992

A Street Fighter 2 book produced in cooperation with manga artist Takaharu(?) Matsumoto.

(image taken from 3/99 Puff Magazine)

Title: Christmas Heart Again
Publication Date: 12/30/93
22 pages

Perhaps the least of Nightow's doujinshi, a sequel to "Christmas Heart.

Claudia returns, along with a mild-mannered friend who works as a greeter in the Grim Reaper Corporation.

Title: Cops in the Space

Publication Date: 1993

A space-detective book produced in cooperation with Takaharu(?) Matsumoto

(image taken from 3/99 Puff Magazine)

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