Sometimes I think my family would make the basis for an interesting 4-koma manga series along the lines of Darling wa Gaikokujin, a comic about a Japanese woman who thinks she’s found the “perfect” American husband but is surprised when things don’t always go as she expects. In the tradition of every magical girl show ever, my daughter would be the main character, since she’s quite おっちょこちょい occhokochoi, translatable as “clumsy in a cute way,” always needing help from everyone around her just like Usagi, Doremi and Madoka. Her brother would be a glasses-wearing egghead, constantly pointing out her faults, which is what he does already, and we could make jokes based on his over-analytical approach to English compared with her tendency to use words freely without actually knowing what they mean. I think I’d make a pretty cool anime father character, a good-hearted but bumbling American who loves Japanese hot springs baths and who sometimes knows things that Japanese have no idea about (like how to write the kanji for ‘rose’ 薔薇). Having my wife as the president of their company (since my wife is president of J-List) would create some humorous situations, too — she could try to pull rank on her husband while at home — while providing an updated vision of women in Japanese pop culture. So if you have any contacts at a major manga studio in Japan, please send them my way! We’ve even thought of a name for the manga: お宅のパパは外国人 Otaku no Papa wa Gaikokujin (Your Father is a Foreigner).
Something like this, maybe.
