Furiten-bun?

 This was something my late brother brought back from Japan in the early 1980s(?) No info on it.

So I did a search and came up with....

The image displays the cover of a Japanese manga compilation titled Furiten-kun by Masaaki Ueda.  

• Title: フリテンくん (Furiten-kun)
• Author: 植田まさし (Masaaki Ueda)
• Publisher: バンブーコミックス (Bamboo Comics)
• Note: This specific edition is labeled a "pirate edition" (海賊版) and a "special edition" (特別スペシャル編集).

" Furiten-kun " is a four-panel comic and anime series written by Masashi Ueda . It is one of Ueda's most famous works . ^[ 1 ]

overview

Since 1979, ^] it has been serialized in Takeshobo magazines such as " Kindai Mahjong ," " Kindai Mahjong Original ," "Manga Gambling Punch," and " Monthly Gaguda ." It was later transferred to " Manga Life ." In the 1980s, it was adapted into an anime film . and an original animation (OVA) was released.

In May 1982, he won the 28th Bungeishunju Manga Award.  .

When it was published in Kindai Mahjong, it mainly featured works that dealt with mahjong and gambling , in line with the magazine's theme , and also included erotic material to appeal to its readership, but after Manga Life , the magazine's readership shifted to women, so the aforementioned erotic material almost disappeared, and it became an omnibus of various themes. From the middle period onwards, it could in a sense be called a "manga without a protagonist." Standard themes in the later stages of the series included one-panel comics set on a deserted island , and monsters and non-humans such as Dracula and werewolves . , and nonsense comedy material that could not be used in the author's other works.

On the cover of the book

• 90% of people who can laugh are normal
• People who can only laugh 30% of the time are abnormal
• People who can laugh 100% are also abnormal.

(Convenience store ) also written in

A renewed version, " Shin Furiten-kun, " was serialized in "Manga Life," and after the magazine was discontinued, it was transferred to " Manga Life Original, " where it has been serialized since the September 2022 issue .  The success of this work prompted Takeshobo to launch numerous four-panel manga specialty magazines, and some four-panel manga artists even created an urban legend that "the current Takeshobo building was built with the sales of 'Furiten-kun .'" During the period when 'Furiten-kun' was not being published, the same author serialized "Niko Niko Egao."

Now as my brother never revisited Japan I have to assume this is an early 1980s copy. If you know better let me know!