Mad Scientist, First Appearance in "Perman": "Bull Missile" / Dr. Mad Scientist's Bizarre Inventions ①

Are you familiar with the mad scientist of the Fujiko F. world, Dr. Mad Scientist?

In the 80s "New Perman," he is a scientist who, upon receiving requests from the All-Japan League of Villains to defeat Perman, creates one genius invention after another.

The name Dr. Mad Scientist (Ma-do Sai-en) is derived from mad scientist, but I think the way the kanji are used is also brilliantly mad and a wonderful naming choice.

He has long hair, a mean look in his eyes, and a high (or rather, long) nose. He is always in a lab coat, and his trademark is "heavy rain". (I will explain this later.)

He is a genius who creates inventions that corner Perman time and time again, but whether it is because the villains use them poorly or because the inventions themselves are flawed, the operation always fails.

However, in any case, there is no doubt that he is an important villain character in the world of New Perman, an enemy who attacks Perman repeatedly alongside the League of Villains.

Actually, Dr. Mad Scientist is not a character who first appeared in "Perman." He appeared in SF short stories in 1972 and 1982, and had already perfected his convenient and charming character traits.

His first appearance was in the unique SF short story "Kanshin" (Body Swap) (September 1972). I will leave the details to the article below, but Dr. Mad creates a drug that enables "body swapping." He was shot at the end, but it seems he survived (?).

He appeared again 10 years later in the SF short story "Baisoku" (Double Speed) (June 1982). Here, he invents a watch that manipulates time, allowing one to move at many times the normal speed.

However, he says he created it by accident without understanding the principles, so it seems it was not an invention he made on purpose.

Then, the year after "Double Speed" was published, "Perman" was revived and serialization began, and Dr. Mad Scientist was selected as the villain to face off against Perman.

There are a total of 9 episodes in which Dr. Mad appears in "New Perman," and in every episode, he creates genius inventions that torment Perman. (Of course, there are some silly, bizarre inventions too...)

So, this time, under the title "Dr. Mad Scientist's Bizarre Inventions", I will take up several episodes of New Perman featuring Dr. Mad. I want to examine Dr. Mad's surprising genius, his pathetic tendency to fail for some reason, and his awkward relationship with the League of Villains, and have a good laugh.

"Perman" began serialization with a fanfare in four magazines (three episodes) simultaneously starting in April 1983. To distinguish it from the "Perman" serialized in the 60s as a collaboration with Mr. A, it is called "New Perman".

Significant setting changes have been made from the "Old Perman" of the 60s, and I have summarized the points in a previous article, so please refer to it if you like.

As mentioned in this article, the organization that serves as Perman's enemy in the "Old Perman" series, the "All-Gad-Ren," has been renamed to the "All-Aku-Ren." The head of the league is a major villain named Don Ishikawa, said to be a descendant of Ishikawa Goemon, and this character remains unchanged.

This work is also the first appearance of the renamed "All-Aku-Ren" in the "New Perman" series, and it is worth noting that the organization is introduced once again along with Mr. Don Ishikawa.

This work was in color when it was published in the magazine, and this color plays an important role in the story.

The story begins in the midst of a torrential downpour with thunder roaring, as a car arrives at an old mansion that doesn't look like anyone lives there. Two men with villainous silhouettes emerge from inside, conversing, "Is this Dr. Mad's mansion? It looks like a haunted house."

The old, creaky gate opens with a groan, and a small robot that looks like an alien with a single leg and a wheel comes out to greet them. The two men, wearing head towels, follow the robot into the mansion.

However, the place they are guided to after being told "Please come in" is, of all things, a toilet. The two men are enraged, shouting "How rude!!", but a voice comes from a speaker in the building saying, "P-Man, you made a mistake again. I'm in the basement."

The men look on with suspicion, asking, "Is this Dr. Mad guy really capable?" The robot named P-Man leads the two to the basement.

The men doubted the doctor's ability, but since he created a robot (P-Man) with a complete sense of self, his ability seems unquestionable. It appears that the fact that the doctor's ability was underestimated by the All-Aku-Ren side is what leads to the awkward relationship between the two parties from here on out.

In the basement where mysterious research is being conducted, Don Ishikawa of the All-Aku-Ren and Dr. Mad meet for the first time. Don Ishikawa is introduced by his subordinates as a person feared as the Emperor of the Underworld. This explanation is also directed at the reader, and the structure shows just how dangerous an enemy Perman has caught the attention of.

Don Ishikawa complains to Dr. Mad about Perman. "Ever since that annoying brat appeared, pickpockets, burglars, robbers, and snatchers are all struggling to make a living and crying," Don Ishikawa says while crying himself.

Don Ishikawa and his group ask Dr. Mad to invent a chemical weapon to repel Perman. Dr. Mad readily agrees, saying, "Perman is a worthy opponent."

The next day, it is a clear, sunny day.

Perman is lazily taking a nap in the air, in relaxation mode, thinking, "This is thanks to becoming Perman." However, a bee comes buzzing by, chases him around, and he barely manages to escape by diving into the water.

Dr. Mad observes this clumsy side of Perman from afar. After muttering his impression, "What a sloppy guy," he shouts, "I've got it!!" It seems he has come up with an idea to repel Perman.

13 days later. Don Ishikawa and his group come to the doctor's mansion again, which is once again raining. He says that a miniature test model of an invention called the "Bull Missile" has been completed.

By the way, as you may have already noticed, the setting is that it is always stormy when visiting Dr. Mad's mansion, and this setting will be utilized later.

Dr. Mad's "Bull Missile" has a red eyeball at its tip, which is designed to react to the color red. If this missile is fired at Perman's red cape, it will continue to chase him until it shoots him down.

Inspired by the sight of Perman being chased by bees, the idea is to use a guided missile to corner and defeat him.

Saying he wants to test it, Dr. Mad opens the mansion window, and a boy carrying a red umbrella happens to be walking on the street below. By coincidence, the boy is Mitsuo. He had lost his own umbrella, so he was borrowing his sister Ganko's red umbrella.

Then, a small Bull Missile approaches Mitsuo from behind and hits the red umbrella with a pop, leaving it in tatters with only the frame remaining. "Mom and Ganko will scold me," says Mitsuo. Don Ishikawa and his group are satisfied with the test results, saying, "Wonderful."

Dr. Mad grows more confident, saying, "I will build a missile hundreds of times more powerful than that and blow Perman to pieces."

One week later.

Perman and his friends are just finishing up after solving a case and are about to disperse. As Perman flies off to go home and rest, something comes flying from behind with a high-pitched sound. It is a missile with bright red eyes, and Perman is surprised, saying, "That one from the other day!!"

Moreover, this time it is larger than Perman's body, and its power is clearly immense.

Perman flies around trying to escape, saying, "I feel like I've been chased around a lot lately," but the missile persistently follows him everywhere.

Dr. Mad and Don Ishikawa are watching the scene from afar with binoculars once again. "This is the end for Perman!" they declare prematurely, and deciding to "witness the end," the three of them get into a car and chase after Perman.

Perman is already exhausted, and the distance between him and the chasing missile is closing. "We'll catch him in a moment," the three say as they drive. Then, Perman dives into smoke billowing from a chimney, becoming covered in soot and pitch black.

The Bull Missile had been flying toward the red of Perman's cape, but since Perman has turned completely black, it loses its target. The missile begins to wander around and sets its sights on Don Ishikawa's car.

As it turns out, they had chosen to chase Perman in a bright red car. The Bull Missile zooms toward the car and causes a massive explosion. It ends up being a spectacular case of backfiring...

Perman escaped the danger of the missile, but when he returned home, his mother saw him covered in soot, and Mitsuo ran away. "I'm always being chased, I hate it!!" he cried out.

One of the structural points of this story is that Perman remains unaware of the existence of Dr. Mad and the All-Evil League throughout the work.

From Mitsuo's perspective, he is being chased by something throughout the story: ① bees, ② the Bull Missile prototype, ③ the Bull Missile, and ④ his mother. Mitsuo is chased by the missile without knowing why, and he escapes the danger through a kind of coincidence, but in the end, he still gets scolded by his mother.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes and unknown to Mitsuo, ① the doctor gets the idea for the missile after seeing the bees, ② he attacks Perman without identifying himself, and ③ the doctor and his group end up self-destructing without Perman ever knowing.

By intertwining the surface story with the underlying story, a narrative is created where neither Perman nor Don Ishikawa and his group end up happy.This is truly the work of Fujiko-sensei, a master of short stories.

This work marks the first team-up between the All-Evil Federation and Dr. Mad, where Perman accidentally gains victory by having coincidence on his side (though he himself is unaware of it). The battle between them and Perman has only just begun, and they will go on to face each other eight more times after this.

In the next installment, I will introduce the story of Dr. Mad's reappearance, which was drawn the month after this work.