Super Dog Rilienthal: Unedited Audio and Recording Notes

Manga Details

• Tucker on the title

  • Suggested pronunciation: Rill-ee-en-thal OR Rill-ee-en-tall

    • In case you were wondering, using the “th” sound in the word “neanderthal” is pretty much exclusively an English thing. The “h” is silent in the original German and every other language just pronounces it as a “t” sound. The word means “Neander Valley,” which is where the original fossil was discovered in Germany. In modern German spelling, “Thal” is now “Tal.” The word comes from the same source as the English word “dale.”This is another instance of the English title not being a translation of the Japanese title, but an alternate title chosen by the author

  • The Japanese title is a play on the dual meanings of “kashikoi.” When referring to a person, it means smart/clever. When referring to a pet, it means that they are well-behaved/trained. 

  • What’s up with “Rilienthal”? Current theory: The last part of it is obviously a reference to the Neanderthals (suggesting that this dog is a new, human-like species), while the first part is probably taken from the Japanese pronunciation of “Realize Device” リアライズデバイス, which is what the codename RD-1 stands for. I think there’s probably an influence from the mascot character Rilakkuma, as well (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilakkuma) 

• Daisuke Ashihara

  • Notable people they had as assistants

    • Ippei Goto (Hi-Fi Cluster)

    • Shin’ichiro Ooe (Hero! Caesar-san)

    • Kenta Tsuchida (Toge Toge)

    • Hiroki Tomisawa (Super Smartphone)

  • Other works

    • World Trigger (2013-present, 27 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump/Jump Square)

• Publishing

  • Run Dates: 

    • September 14, 2009 to May 10, 2010

  • Series it replaced

• To Love Ru by Kentaro Yabuki (Yamato Gensouki) (18 volumes, MEGA HIT)

• Series that replaced it

  •  Shonen Shikku by Yuto Tsukuda (Tenmaku Cinema) (2 vols, flop)

• Series that started at the same time as it

  • Hokenshitsu no Shinigami by Sho Aimoto (Muddy) (10 vols, did okay)

• Chapters/Volumes: 

  • 32 chapters + epilogue/4 vols

About the Manga

• Plot

  •  The Hino siblings Tetsuko and Ani wait for their parents to return from a trip when someone approaches with a box, saying that they’re not coming. Instead they’re getting a new little brother who is actually in this very box. His name is Rilienthal and he is an intelligent talking dog. Ani accepts him pretty quickly but Tetsuko doesn’t because she doesn’t want the family to be weird. On the bus ride home they’re attacked by men in black looking for something called “RD-1.” Rilienthal starts glowing and suddenly a little girl’s book about the ocean comes to life. The entire bus is submerged in the abyss as a sea monster attacks. Rilienthal is RD-1 and his power is to take peoples innermost desires and make them real. I think. Kind of. Eventually by calming down the little girl they’re able to return to the real world. Tetsuko then knocks the bad guys out with kung fu and Ani dismantles their guns because she is a martial arts master and he is a mechanical genius. They exit the bus to find that they landed right outside their house. Next, Tetsuko, who refuses to go to school, wants to dodge her teacher so a bunch of steps open up in the house leading them way past where it should end. While watching tv, Ani feels bad that Rilienthal is alone and so the main character of the show they’re watching, lightning Mitsuhiko, pops out of the tv. He’s followed by a Gomuzou, a balloon soldier who is Mitsuhiko’s enemy. A fight ensues and Gomuzou ends up being Rilienthal’s friend as Mitsuhiko, also his friend, goes back to the tv world. 

  • Akira, one of the men in black from earlier comes by to try and kidnap Rilienthal again, but Rilienthal and Tetsuko are having a super cat drawing contest leading to Akira being flown back home with a new friend: Space Cat. Ani and Tetsuko’s Nextdoor neighbors, twins Sakura and Yuki, come over to welcome them back and Yuki tells Tetsuko a scary story about a haunted ship. Suddenly Tetsuko, Ani, Rilienthal, and Sakura are transported to a haunted ship where they meet a young ghost girl named Marie who Rilienthal invites to live at their house. Ani is then kidnapped by Shinshi and Lowrise of the men in black. Shinshi and Rilienthal play chess against each other for the fate of RD-1 very poorly, ending in a draw. They become friendly rivals and smirk at each other. Rilienthal goes to the library to get books on chess so he can get better at it when Tetsuko runs into Usami, who gets incredibly jealous of her since she’s there with Sakura who she has a crush on. Usami tells Tetsuko that she’s weird which leads to a massive giant coming to attack Tetsuko. Gomuzou sacrifices himself to protect Rilienthal and it’s revealed that Tetsuko is the source. She grew up on trips with their parents and spent a lot of time living and foraging in the jungle. When she finally went to school she ate a bug which made everyone call her weird, causing her to stop going. As a result, being called weird is her biggest fear. The giant disappears and back home Rilienthal creates a new magic room which can create rooms if you draw them on paper and can connect to anywhere if you can picture them clearly. The Hino family is then attacked by Reiichirou and his servant Olga who work for the men in black. Reiichirou hates Ani, who has no clue who he is, because they were both child prodigies who went to college at a young age and people said Ani was smarter than him. Ani and Tetsuko kick their asses and they call a truce. Next, Rilienthal is still devastated over Gomuzou, his best friend, and so decides to go into Lightning Mitsuhiko’s world to get the evil witch Kanarin to fix him.

  •  Mitsuhiko takes him to her and she is apparently total goblin mode who is hopelessly in love with Mitsuhiko but has absolutely zero game. She agrees to fix Gomuzou as long as he can stay with her. Rilienthal is happy as long as he knows Gomuzou is safe and he returns to his world. Soon the boss of the men in black appears and he fukkin crazy powerful and magic and shit. He injures Space Cat and kidnaps Rilienthal, taking him to his space headquarters where he reveals Rilienthal’s brother RD-0 who is like a weird black mass that gave the boss immortality. By combining them together they’ll RULE THE WORLD lol and cause human instrumentality or something. The gang gets into the bus sitting outside their house from chapter 1 which turns into a magic spaceship and they travel to the boss’s headquarters. A very complicated fight that I don’t want to describe happens but like everybody shows up including space cat and lightning Mitsuhiko. Kanarin even gives Yuki powers and Tetsuko summons the giant from earlier who punches the boss to death. Then the administrative head of the men in black, Mr. Subain, who I haven’t mentioned until now but has been a character the whole time, is given control of the men in black as the boss fucking dies. Then Tetsuko graduates elementary school and she smiles. Also RD stands for Realize Device.

• Characters

  •  Rilienthal 

    • Super dog

    • A Good boy 

    • Powers

  • Tetsuko 

    • Kung fu master 

    • Afraid of being weird

    • Seems miserable 

  • Ani 

    • Mechanical genius

    • Never opens his eyes 

    • Very chill 

Why it Failed - Dylan

What it Did Well - Tessa

Where it Could Have Gone - Jordan

Misc Thoughts -Tessa

•  

• Maxy Bee thoughts:

  • The names are often very on the nose. Ani’s name is literally ‘bro’. Tetsuko is a tough girl so she’s iron with the feminine -ko on the end. Most names are in katakana too (except Ani), which suggests that the series was focusing on a very young audience.

    • Before serialization, Ani was set to be renamed Akira, but Ashihara changed his mind, using that name for… well, for Akira, instead.

    • You don’t get a more straightforward name than Lowrise Lonely Longhair, with his long hair, lowrise trousers, and quiet demeanor.

  • In volume 2 we get a bit of bad English on the character profile page, where Marie is referred to as a ‘GOST GIRL’. Volumes 3 & 4 fix this error, so presumably an English-savvy editor gave someone a talking to.

  • SUPER SPACE CAT’S FAVOURITE FOOD IS NOT CURRY, IT’S “KYURI”, AS IN CUCUMBER. THAT’S WHY IT LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING CUCMUMBER. 0/100, TRANSLATORS, SEE ME AFTER CLASS.

  • Volume extras include:

    • Character profiles (with occasional author commentary)

    • The layout of the Hino family home

    • Bonus strips of the Hino family’s typical day

    • A guide to the series’ unique zodiac

    • A visual Q&A for the blacksuits’ organisation

    • Various rankings (strength, cooking skill, ease or difficulty to draw, et cetera)

    • The original one-shot for Super Dog Rilienthal

    • A volume-only epilogue

    • Assistant credits

  • WORLD TRIGGER CONNECTIONS:

    • The zodiac system from Rilienthal is used again for World Trigger’s birthdays

    • Yosuke Yoneya wears badges with Rilienthal, Super Space Cat, and Gomuzo on them

    • A bully reads Super Dog Rilienthal in chapter 1

    • A plush of Rilienthal is in chapters 82 and 83

    • The general proportions of Gomuzo (inflated) is similar to the generic Neighbor monsters

    • Whilst Yotaro Rindo and Raijinmaru are their own characters, the way Yotaro rides his trusty capybara is just like Rilienthal on Gomuzo.

    • Yotaro also has the same mouth and similar eyes to Rilienthal

    • The way the organization boss’ body breaks down at the end is similar to how trion bodies break

Final Verdict

• Six Word summary

  • Community

    • Maxybee: manga has serious case of updog

    • dackerson: Super dog, not so super manga

    • Diego (The Phantom Seer): I read "Ramlethal dog" instead |: I read Ramlethal instead, play Strive

    • duderocks the earthchild stan: Just the average puppy owner experience

    • Kpt.Kluless: It’s Truly What The Dog Doin’

    • LordAnubis, #1RedHoodFan/Mourner: What da World Trigger dog doin?

    • mistadavey: It's not as super as ravioli

    • Portal man: most powerful super pet in manga | Rilienthal is a five dimensional dog?

    • Sbubby: What if Ravioli could warp reality

    • Spike: Well, that went to the dogs

  • Dylan: Someone give this dog to Araki (alt: Is it child or animal abuse?)

  • Jordan: a new effective form of therapy

  • Guest: Duck Lips Dog Externalizes Child Trauma