What is the "Urashima Effect"? "World Masterpiece Fairy Tales" / Fujiko F's Urashima Taro (Part 2)

In the previous article, I introduced that Fujiko F. Fujio loved SF (a little mysterious) fairy tales and often used them as subject matter, and that he had released several works with great effort, particularly using the motifs of the Urashima Taro legend.

In this article, I touch upon the formation of fairy tales, where folk tales gain embellishments based on the background of each era as they are passed down. If you are interested, please be sure to read it.

"World Masterpiece Fairy Tales" "Shogaku Yonnensei" December 1975 / Complete Works Vol. 3

In this article, I will take up the fairy tale parody collection "World Masterpiece Fairy Tales", which also includes "Urashima Taro." This work is positioned as one of the projects for "Dora and Baker and One More", which was specially serialized in "Shogaku Yonnensei" magazine from April 1975 to March of the following year.

A brief explanation of "Dora and Baker and One More." At the time, "Shogaku Yonnensei" was simultaneously serializing Fujiko F. Fujio's two major manga, "Doraemon" and "Baker-kun," and in addition to this, they were running a project every month to
crossover the two works.

I believe this project was very significant because it gave birth to "I, What Am I to Momotaro?", in which Doraemon and the Baker-kun family co-starred, and I plan to release a detailed article on this soon.

Although this work does not contain elements of "Baker-kun," it is a fun, relaxed piece that feels very much like a bonus.

"5 Volumes in Total" is the structure of this fairy tale parody collection. The titles are,

Vol. 1: The Ugly Duckling
Vol. 2: Sleeping Beauty
Vol. 3: Urashima Taro
Vol. 4: Hansel and Gretel
Vol. 5: Jack and the Beanstalk

and each is a super-short story spanning a two-page spread. First of all, let's examine "Urashima Taro."

Although this work is short, the themes it uses as a background are quite multi-layered. In particular, it quickly embeds the "Urashima Effect," which is named after Urashima Taro, into its setting.

To explain the "Urashima Effect" briefly... it is a hypothesis about the relationship between the speed of light and time based on the "Special Theory of Relativity" proposed by Einstein, named after the story of Urashima Taro.

In the "Special Theory of Relativity," the flow of time is not absolute but relative. Specifically, when observed from a reference point that meets certain conditions, it is said that time passes more slowly on a spaceship flying at a speed close to the speed of light than it does on Earth., is the accepted view.

Based on this phenomenon, in SF works and the like, there is often a depiction where, after exploring space at the speed of light and returning to Earth, for example, only one year has passed for the traveler, but many years have passed on Earth.

In the story of Urashima Taro, 300 years had passed when he returned from his three-day stay at the Dragon Palace. Because it seems as if he returned from a space flight,, this phenomenon of different time progression is commonly called the "Urashima Effect."

And, inspired by the idea that a phenomenon like Urashima Taro's = the Urashima Effect, there are many derivative works that consider that Urashima Taro was actually on a space trip. exist.

This is also a common story, but it is a pattern of replacing a fairy tale with an SF setting, where "riding a turtle" is a space flight ship, the Dragon Palace is an alien planet, and when he returns, a significant amount of time has passed on Earth due to the Urashima effect.

This work follows this pattern exactly, but since it is depicted in a minimum length of just two pages, its crispness is extraordinary.

"Urashima Taro" is in the form of a picture story that runs manga and narration in parallel. Since we have the chance, let's look at it bit by bit.

From the first narration,

"There is no story that has been passed down in such a mistaken form as the story of Urashima Taro."

"Actually, it wasn't a turtle that Taro saved, but an octopus."

It starts off in such a dazed way. The reason it was an octopus leads to the explanation that what he saved later was an octopus-type alien. And the ones bullying the octopus include children who look just like Gian and Suneo, as well as a boy who looks like Nobita.

Instead of a turtle, he rides a turtle-shaped rocket, heading not to the Dragon Palace, but to "Ryugu-jo, the second star of the Water Turtle constellation."

Taro spends happy days there, and just when he thinks about returning, Princess Otohime tells him,

"Oh, it's not like there's any point in going back now."

She says this in a cheerful yet hopeless way. Then, the explanation of the "Urashima Effect" is inserted, and I really like how concise it is.

"They say that when you fly in a rocket close to the speed of light, the passage of time slows down."

Brilliant.

Taro is shocked to learn that 300 years have already passed, but he decides to just accept it, stops at various stars along the way, and heads back to Earth.

And the punchline of this work is that when he returns, Earth has become "Planet of the Apes". It ends with a panel reminiscent of the well-known movie "Planet of the Apes."

For the record, to supplement information about "Planet of the Apes", the first "Planet of the Apes" was released in 1968. It begins with the premise that the planet they arrived at during their space flight was a world where apes possessed intelligence like humans, and the final scene, which revealed that it was actually Earth in the distant future, was a super-hit that stunned the audiences of the time.

This space flight was also traveling at sub-light speed, so time passed much slower than on Earth. Therefore, the crew members who returned to Earth ended up arriving in a much more distant future, like a time machine. It was truly a work themed around the "Urashima Effect."

Fujiko-sensei must have liked "Planet of the Apes" as well. Although the appearance is quite different, he also left behind a masterpiece called "Reunion One Thousand Years Later", which is thought to have been inspired by it.

This work, "Urashima Taro," combines the common theory that Urashima Taro is an astronaut with elements of Planet of the Apes, resulting in a high-quality parody. It is one of my favorites, with ideas neatly packed into just two pages.

Now, let's briefly touch upon the other works in "World Masterpiece Fairy Tales".

Volume 1: The Ugly Duckling
A story about a duckling who thinks he is the most beautiful among his siblings, heads off alone to find the swans, is turned away for not looking like them, gets dirty while wandering around, and ends up joining a group of crow chicks. It is a silly story with no moral to be learned.

Volume 2: Sleeping Beauty
The sleeping princess wakes up after a hundred-year slumber. However, because she slept too much, she can no longer fall asleep even at night. Frustrated by being the only one awake, she starts making a huge racket in the middle of the night, earning her the nickname "Princess of the Sleepless Forest." This is also a silly story.less.

Volume 4: Hansel and Gretel
A witch captures Hansel and Gretel. She plots to fatten them up to eat them, but she is a bad cook, so they won't eat her food. While she is trying to improve her cooking, she discovers a talent for it. The two children persuade her that if she opens a restaurant, it will be a huge hit, so she opens "Restaurant Witch House." It even includes a parody line from a commercial that was controversial at the time:
"I'll make it, you eat it.".

Volume 5: Jack and the Beanstalk
Doraemon, Nobita, and Gian appear. Out of the five, this is the most ridiculous work. I will intentionally cut the details for this one.

Now, this article has introduced the "Urashima Effect" and the parody work of Urashima Taro as an astronaut. In the next article, I will examine a major work themed around the Urashima Taro legend, which also served as the basis for "Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil."