YUPI-LOCKS!
4koma manga created by Kikino in 2009. It tells the story of YUPI, a japanese singer-songwriter exploited by her boss, MrSorny, and her best friend, Shige-chan.
History
October 2008. YUI went to New York on vacations, so they posted a couple of entries about it in STAFF DIARY[1] and talked about it in YUI RADIO. A couple of weeks later, Kikino thought it would be funny to make a little story about it.
He based his character on YUI's original creation, ゆっぴー(Yuppii), a high pitched voice character that appears from time to time in YUI RADIO. It was first posted in YUI-Lover forums and had a very well reception by users, so it became a regular comic, released almost every week for more than a year. Months later it would move into a website of its own.
The Project
After a couple of months, Kikino came up with the idea of turning this into a big project.[2] with the final goal of sending a full edited copy to YUI herself, in sign of apretiation. Two copies of the manga were send on March 12, 2010 to Hisashi Kondo, asking him to give one copy to YUI for her 23rd birthday and keep one for himself.
Later, on April 4th, he said he hasn't seen the package yet. Perhaps, the side effects of the eartquake in Chile on February delayed the delivery process (It normally takes up to two weeks only).
Characters
Main characters
YUPI: Main character.
Shige-chan: YUPI's music producer. He never shows his face on public.
Secondary characters
MrSorny:: YUPI's boss. He is all about money.
YUI: The real one.
Part time guy: Some say he finds partime jobs to be around YUPI and stalk her. Not confirmed by the author.
Toshiko: YUPI's cat. Dangerous member of a yakuza clan.
Kikino!: The egocentric author.
Lou: YUPI's favourite comedian.
Random french guy: He is french.
Special Guests
Icchi: Something I dont remember xD
Teo: Former YUI fan.
Ed and Al: Fullmetal Alchemist characters.
YUPI Travels project
Later on January 2010 Kikino started an activity to involve readers around the globe.
He asked people to take YUPI out for a travel and take pictures of YUPI in different places.
At the end, YUPI was able to travel to more than 20 countries. The project is still ongoing.[3]
External Links
YUPI-Locks! website http://www.yupi-locks.com
YUPI-Locks! Twitter http://www.twitter.com/yupilocks
YUPI-Locks! Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/YUPI/69007172411
References
- ↑ STAFF Diary entry about YUI's trip to NY http://playlog.jp/yuistaff/blog/2008-12-11
- ↑ YUPI LOCKS Project http://www.yupi-locks.com/2009/06/yupi-locks-project.html
- ↑ YUPI Travels project http://www.yupi-locks.com/2009/12/yupi-travels_28.html