Mad Bull 34

Mad Bull 34 (マッド★ブル34, Maddo Buru Sanjūyon) is a manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Noriyoshi Inoue, serialized in Shueisha's Young Jump between 1986 and 1990, and collected in 27 volumes. The series follows the violent exploits of the toughest cop in the NYPD's 34th precinct, "Sleepy" John Estes – known to his enemies as "Mad Bull" – and his partners, Daizaburo "Eddie" Ban and Perrine Valley.

Mad Bull 34
Mad Bull 34 Part 3 - City of Vice UK VHS box art.
マッド★ブル34
(Maddo Buru Sanjūyon)
GenreBlack Comedy, Action, Crime
Manga
Written byKazuo Koike
Illustrated byNoriyoshi Inoue
Published byShueisha
English publisher
Renta!
MagazineWeekly Young Jump
DemographicSeinen
Original run1986 – 1990
Volumes27
Original video animation
Directed bySatoshi Dezaki
Written by
  • Toshiaki Imaizumi (#1)
  • Kazumi Koide (#2–4)
Music by
  • John Michael
  • Curio (#1)
StudioMagic Bus
Licensed by
Released December 21, 1990 – August 21, 1992
Runtime45 minutes
Episodes4
Manga
Mad Bull 2000
Written byKazuo Koike
Illustrated byNoriyoshi Inoue
Published byShueisha
MagazineManga Allman
DemographicSeinen
Original run1999 – 2002
Volumes7 (normal), 3 (bunko)

Mad Bull 34 was adapted into a four-part original video animation released from December 21, 1990 to August 21, 1992. A sequel manga, Mad Bull 2000 (マッド・ブル 2000) began in 1999.

Discotek Media has released the first English language DVD release of Mad Bull 34 on 26 February 2012 in North America, and includes both the original Japanese version with subtitles and the old Manga Entertainment English dub. Of particular note is that they were able to retain the ending theme composed and performed by James Brown.

Plot

Daizaburo "Eddie" Ban, a Japanese-American, joins the New York City's toughest precinct, the 34th. On his first day he is partnered up with John Estes, nicknamed "Sleepy" by his friends and "Mad Bull" by his enemies, a cop who stops crime with his own violent brand of justice. Mad Bull makes no qualms about executing common thieves with shotgun blasts, even if they pose a minor threat. He often steals from prostitutes and does incredible amounts of property damage while fighting crime. Mad Bull's unpoliceman-like behavior often puts him in hot water with his partner Daizaburo and the 34th precinct. However, despite how reckless or illegal these acts are, a good cause is always revealed (for example, Sleepy uses the money he steals from the prostitutes to fund a venereal disease clinic and a home for battered and raped women). Perrine Valley, a police lieutenant, joins Daizaburo and Sleepy later on to help them tackle more difficult cases involving the mafia and drug-running.

Characters
John "Sleepy" Estes (a.k.a. Mad Bull)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese); Allan Wenger (English)

The titular character. A giant of a man who works as an officer in the 34th precinct police department. He runs a prostitution ring in the 34th precinct which makes him a target by other gang bosses wanting to take over the territory. Despite Sleepy's penchant for going beyond the law and doing things that would classify him as a crooked cop, he always has good intentions within the law in his otherwise unusual ways to fight the war on crime. When Sleepy was only fourteen, his family was murdered by gangsters, and since then, he made it his mission to kill every gang boss in New York and rid the city of organized crime. His name is a reference to blues guitarist Sleepy John Estes.

Daizaburo "Eddie" Ban

Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese); Alan Marriott (English)

A Japanese-American who is Sleepy's partner. Daizaburo is the foil for Sleepy as he rather does things by the book whereas Sleepy would rather stop crime using brute force. In the beginning of the manga, Daizaburo is used mostly as comic relief, but later on this role is transferred to Sleepy as his antics become more and more absurd. Daizaburo quickly falls in love with Lieutenant Perrine Valley. His name is a reference to Japanese guitarist Kogen Ban a.k.a. Eddie Ban.

Perrine Valley

Voiced by: Gara Takashima (Japanese); Pamela Merrick (English)

A lieutenant of the 34th Precinct, she helps Sleepy and Daizaburo on some of the more difficult missions. She eventually marries Daizaburo, first in a scheme concocted by Sleepy in an effort to bring a critically injured Daizaburo out of a coma. Later, she, Daizaburo, and Sleepy are kidnapped by cowboy assassins and are remarried after the previous marriage was presumably annulled. Her name is a reference to American actress Valerie Perrine.

Chief Alan

The chief of the 34th Precinct. He and Sleepy often butt heads due to Sleepy's "creative" police work. Chief Alan often fantasizes about Sleepy being murdered because of all the trouble he causes him.

Nickels the Electrician

Voiced by: Garrick Hagon (English)

An inventor with a vendetta against Mad Bull and has ties with the New York underworld. Develops bizarre yet deadly devices ranging from guns built into hard hats to shotguns that strap onto cats. A diabetic addicted to canned coffee that has a particular odor that smells like a mix of sugar and urine. Although his name is romanized in the manga as 'Nickels', his name could be translated as 'Nichols', perhaps a reference to actor Jack Nicholson who the character closely resembles. In the English dub of the anime, he is renamed "Nickels the Mechanic."

Episodes
  • Scandal
  • Manhattan Connection
  • City of Vice
  • Cop Killer

Anime adaptation

The anime adaptation was composed of four, 50-minute OVAs released in 1991. It selected four different stories from the Mad Bull 34 manga and maintained its high level of violence.

The OVA has also been released and dubbed for American audiences by Manga Entertainment, however, they have only been released on VHS. Keith Burgess, the head of Manga Entertainment, said several years ago that he intends to release the entire series on DVD. However, in 2006, Manga announced that they had lost the license to the series, making any sort of official DVD release impossible. Eventually, the license for the series was picked up by Discotek Media in 2012, and was released in 2013.

Reception

References
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