Kyukyoku Choujin R (Ultimate Superman R) is Masami Yuuki's first published manga series from 1985, centered around a
teenage android named R Ichiro Tanaka and the insane adventures he goes through at school. It's a very comical, lighthearted
series, and if you're fluent in Japanese, I suggest you try to find the books, although an ongoing scanlation is available.
Depending on which release you follow, there's four to nine volumes (tankoubon) in Japan.
The following comes from a promotional card that was sold throughout the late 80's. It was in english on the card, so
all grammatical errors are verbatim:
Ugh!! The neck turned 180°! Not only that, a screw jumped off! That pretense at ignorance is something, well, it's
only natural: R. Ichiro Tanaka is an android. Where on earth did he come from, and where is he going?! Voila!! R's most unusual
past has been revealed at last! With Dr. Narihara, his creator, joining in, the noisy Photoprint Club is in panic again. By
the way, what's that personality of R's...? It keeps on changing!
A 14 year-old student named Sango Otojima is in the Camera Club at school, along with a somewhat-normal group of students.
One day, the club is scattered out in the forest, when an airheaded android boy named R bikes by. Turns out that R will
be transfering to their school soon, and joins the Camera Club, later becoming their leader. Also, he loves rice, and carries
around a small rice cooker just in case.
The series is straightforward from there, but a little depth is put into R's past, R's relationship with Sango, and the
rivalry with student council leader Marii. Among these characters are a ghost girl named Sayoko, Marii's freshman sister Erika,
and the brash Tosaka the Senior, whom constantly gives people the finger. Dr. Narihara, R's creator, based R on his teenage
son and only made R as part of a failed attempt to take over the world. Late into the series, he builds R a younger sister
named R Hideko Takamine, or All-Deco.
R and the Camera Club only appear in one OVA from 1991. In this, R and the group go on a Stamp Tour, the deadline
being 6:00 PM. (A stamp tour is when a group travels across Japan to fill a little book with stamps at certain landmarks.)
If they don't complete this, the club will be shut down. This OVA featured Hiroko Kasahara as Sango, and Hiroko also played
her in the numerous audio dramas based on the series. The OVA featured a nearly-famous scene where the club is running short
on time for their last stamp, so Tosaka puts some scrap wood on the back of a bike, R gets at the pedals, and everybody else
is clinging to each other at the back. The 10-kid bicycle gets to the last stamp after all, with a wild entrance and one second
to spare.
