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Revenge Doll

Revenge Doll
リベンジドール
Ribenji Dorru

Sentaro Yuda is a manga artist who had a minor hit ten years ago with "Revenge Doll," which was made into a late night anime. Now he is struggling to reignite his popularity when a reader sends him a doll called Sanjusama. The doll is able to place three curses, one for each of its eyes. Little by little Yuda tries out the doll and watches as those around him become injured. Yuda proves to be incredibly petty and spiteful, angrily placing his manga before the happiness of others and sleeping with his assistant Mitsuki simply to spite his other assistant who had a crush on her.

After testing the doll Yuda's situation worsens, his old editor is now editor-in-chief and promptly cancels his latest series, while his assistant Shunsuke Kazami gets promoted to fill the void left by Yuda's cancellation. Having tested Sanjusama on Mitsuki and giving her a stye on her eye and inflicting whiplash on his editor Hiyamizu, Yuda decides to use the fatal third eye to curse Himura, his editor-in-chief. Just as he is about to Himura appears, appealing to Yuda to do his best on the final ten chapters of his series and revealing that he has had some bad news from his doctor and may die soon. Yuda only thinks about how lucky he is not to have wasted his fatal wish on an already dying man.

Mitsuki tries to get rid of Sanjusama but the doll keeps returning to Yuda who finally decides he'll kill Kazami. Instead he remembers the request of the editor-in-chief to do his best and decides to try harder. Little by little his standing in the readers' survey improves and he hopes Shonen Heat will offer him a spot to do another series when his current one concludes. However no offer comes and Yuda realizes if he kills Kazami before he creates his final chapter he'll likely be asked to continue his series to fill the void left by a deceased Kazami. Yuda paints the eye as he shouts Kazami's name but accidently uses correction fluid instead of ink. Ultimately Kazami's series becomes a massive hit and everyone who suffered under Yuda is relieved of their maladies, while Yuda stews at home with nothing to do.

Published In:
  • Big Comic 2013 Vol. 10.25
  • Came the Mirror
Publication Date: October 10, 2013
Pages: 2 (full color) 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
  • This story was done for the 45th anniversary of Big Comic. Rumiko Takahashi wrote at the time, "When I was a child, I read Big Comic when it launched, so I deeply felt that I should draw something for their 45th anniversary."
  • A stye is a reddish lump on the outer edge of your eyelid. It’s filled with pus and inflammatory cells produced when a clogged gland or follicle becomes infected. It’s tender to the touch and can be very painful. Styes are caused by a bacterial infection in an oil gland or hair follicle on your eyelid. These glands and follicles can get clogged with dead skin cells and other debris. Sometimes, bacteria get trapped inside and cause an infection. This results in a swollen, painful lump called a stye.
  • The Sanjusama doll features the act of coloring in the eyes like a Daruma doll.
  • "Here are the results of the latest survey." - Popularity in many shonen magazines is determined by reader postcards that are filled out and mailed in. Weekly Shonen Jump is notorious for its postcards and ranking system. You can read more about that in this article.
  • "Checking the name..." - Name (ネーム) are rough drafts of a manga, like storyboards. They are loose pencil sketches that lack the detailed pen and ink, shading and finishing touches that the final printed manga will have. The amount of detail in each mangaka's name varies, some may only use shapes to show the outlines of figures, but Rumiko Takahashi is well known for having extremely finished name that look basically like pencil versions of her final pages.
  • Revenge Doll has a lot in common with the short story The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs, published in 1902. The monkey paw of the story is a cursed item used to grant wishes as well.