Gakuen Heaven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title, Original Japanese: 学園ヘヴン
Title, Romaji: Gakuen Heaven
Title, Translation: Academy Heaven
Gakuen Heaven is a popular franchise that is based on the PC game Gakuen Heaven: Boy's Love Scramble that was originally released by the company Spray. The franchise gradually expanded to include three Playstation 2 games, drama CDs, manga, and anime.
Contents |
[edit] Anime Information
- Original Work：SPRAY VisualArt
- Game Character Design：Higuri Yuu
- Director: Hiiro Yukina (ひいろゆきな)
- Series: Takahashi Natsuko (高橋ナツコ)
- Script: Takahashi Natsuko, Hiiro Yukina etc.
- Anime Character Design: Nakayama Yumi
- Opening Theme: School Boys by YAMOTO
- Ending Theme: Panorama by Fujioka Takahide
- Music Production: Dusk Production
- Music Composer: Nishioka Kazuya (西岡和哉)
- Produced by: BL Academy Supporting Committee
- First Air Date: 1st April 2006
- Channel: AT-X Anime Channel (Cable)
- Total: 13 Episodes
[edit] DVD Information
- Episodes 1-2 (released on 7th July 2006)
Special Edition: GNBA-7210
Normal Edition: GNBA-7211
Price: 5250 yen - Episodes 3-4 (released on )
Special Edition:
Normal Edition:
Price: 5250 yen - Episodes 5-6 (released on )
Special Edition:
Normal Edition:
Price: 5250 yen - Episodes 7-8 (released on )
Special Edition:
Normal Edition:
Price: 5250 yen - Episodes 9-10 (released on )
Special Edition:
Normal Edition:
Price: 5250 yen - Episodes 11-13 (released on )
Special Edition:
Normal Edition:
Price: 7350 yen
Anime Works has bought the rights to make DVDs for North America. The first volume will contain the first 5 episodes and will be out on January 9, 2007.
[edit] Character Information
- Ito Keita: First year
Description: During the middle of the school year, he received a letter of admission from Bell Liberty Academy. Though he seems to be an average guy without any sort of special skills, he is a very warm and friendly person.
Special Ability: Luck - Niwa Tetsuya: Third year
Description: As the president of the student council, he excels in almost everything, from academics to sports and extracurriculars; he is also known as the "King" at the academy. He has an aversion to cats.
Special Ability: Charisma - Saionji Kaoru: Second year
Description: He is the head of the school Treasury/accounting department. Strikingly beautiful, he shares the same amount of influence as Niwa Tetsuya, and is called the "Queen" among students. He is very strong intellectually but performs very poorly in physical education.
Special Ability: Intelligence - Endo Kazuki: First year
Description: He is Keita's classmate and the first friend Keita makes at BL Academy. He leads a double life as a student of BL Academy and as its chairman; as the school's late chairman, Endo's grandfather's last wishes were for Endo to succeed his position. Endo's innocuous and perpetually friendly demeanor do not betray the fact that he is also an excellent executive. Endo is also a part of the school's handicrafts club.
Special Ability: Sewing or making dolls - Nakajima Hideaki: Third year
Description: He is the vice president of the student council. He appears to be brisk and cool with most of the students, and can usually be found trying to hack the school's treasury records, much to the chagrin of Shichijou Omi.
Special Ability: Sex Play - Shichijou Omi: Second year
Description: Saionji's acquaintance since childhood, he is a person who always smiles. He is extremely talented with computers and can also be extremely dangerous when he wants to. Currently, he helps Saionji at the Treasury/Accounting Department.
Special Ability: Computers - Naruse Yukihiko: Second year
Description: He is the captain of the tennis club at school. He takes an immediate liking to Keita and calls him "Honey. A little oblivious at times, he is extremely passionate about Keita and is always trying to ask Keita out on dates.
Special Ability: Tennis - Shinomiya Kouji: Third year
Description: He is the captain of the archery club. He is a very responsible, big-brother figure. He also holds the position of Dormitory Head. He has a little brother who has cardiac problems. He is very close with Iwai Takuto.
Special Ability: Archery, Laundry, Cooking - Iwai Takuto: Third year
Description: He is the president of the art club and a genius artist. On the moody, self-introspective side, he is very soft-spoken and very humble about his skills as an artist. He is very close with Shinomiya Kouji.
Special Ability: Painting/Drawing - Taki Shunsuke: Second year
Description: He is a superb cyclist who ranked the third in the National Tournament. Cuter and shorter than others of his age, he is characterised by his Kansai Ben dialect. Taki also does freelance delivery work for most of the student body.
Special Ability: Cycling; Lack of Luck - Umino Satoshi: Teacher
Description: Although he is the oldest character, he is also the youngest in terms of outer appearance. He is extremely good at research but can barely take care of himself as he is quite absent minded. He is both a teacher and researcher for the Bell Liberty Group.
Special Ability: Research - Ozawa Kakeru: First year
Description: One of the twins who tease Keita. The twins are never seen apart and they sneak around a lot. They are always getting in to trouble and the are the "kings of doubles tennis". Also nicknamed the "terrible twosome".
Special ability: Sneaking,tennis - Ozawa Wataru: First year
Description: the other twin who teases Keita. The twins are never seen apart and they sneak around a lot. They are always getting in to trouble and the are the "kings of doubles tennis". Also nicknamed the "terrible twosome".
Special ability: Sneaking,tennis - Matsuoka Jin: School Nurse
Description: the school nurse of Bell Liberty, he is Kazuki's mentor and former tutor, and the two are very close. It is revealed in later episodes that he attended Bell Liberty himself with his friend, Yoshizumi Hiroya, to whom he was very close. He has a dark secret and will go to any means to fulfill his own agenda.
Special Ability: Medicine - Yoshizumi Hiroya:
Description: childhood friend of Matsuoka Jin, they attended Bell Liberty together. Not a major character, he went into medicine like Matsuoka after graduation, but contracted the "X7 virus" and is currently hospitalized.
Special Ability: Medicine - Toono-sama: Cat
Description: He is Umino's plain and overweight cat. - Kuma-chan: Teddy bear
Description: Since the school chairman "never shows his face," he speaks through this teddy bear.
[edit] Summary of the Anime
Ito Keita receives a letter of admissions from Bell Liberty Academy, a prestigious all-boy's school that only accepts the cream of the crop. Though he doubts his ability to succeed at such a school because 1) he is a transfer student coming in the middle of the year, and 2) he has no special ability that he can speak of, he accepts the admission. Keita is picked up by Niwa, the president of the student council, and from then on, he is warmly welcomed by everyone to BL Academy.
Keita's first actual friend is Endo Kazuki, who immediately takes Keita under his wing and takes care of him to the extent that Keita laughingly dubs him "grandmother." The two of them become a steadfast pair, but in the days that Kazuki is not around, Keita has no trouble finding other company among the other students.
Occasionally Keita has flashbacks to his childhood, where he playing with a slightly older boy whom he calls "Kazu-nii." He can't remember much except that he and "Kazu-nii" were close at one point, but these memories seem irrelevant to his current life, so Keita dimisses them.
Meanwhile, Kazuki is involved in a power struggle with the Vice Chairman of the board. The Vice Chairman is distinctly annoyed that the former chairman chose to leave his position to Kazuki, and views Kazuki as a young and incompetent despot incapable of running BL Academy, much less Shinsisuke Corporation, the business group that owns BL Academy and many scientific research and development companies. Indeed, Kazuki rejects many of the Vice Chairman's proposals and seemingly "abuses" his power by admitting a student of no particular skill-- in this case, Ito Keita-- to BL Academy. Keita unwittingly becomes involved in the power struggle between the Chairman and Vice Chairman. Kazuki stakes his position on the outcome of the school's annual "MVP Battle--" that is, if he and Keita do not manage to win the competition, he will resign his position as Chairman. During the MVP Battle, the Vice Chairman hires hitmen to try and take out Keita, but Keita escapes death each time. In the end, Keita and Kazuki win, and Kazuki gets to keep his position as the Chairman of the board.
Eventually the Vice Chairman's actions are outed and he is fired. Kazuki reveals himself as the Chairman to Keita, and Keita begins to remember exactly who Kazuki is. Many years ago, when he was a child, Keita was sent to live with his grandmother in the countryside. That summer, he made friends with one of his next-door neighbors, "Kazu-nii," and played with him every day. They grew very close and made a vow to someday attend the same school in the future. Though Keita forgot a good portion of his childhood, Kazuki always remembered; and when he was made Chairman, he invited Keita to BL Academy, thus fulfilling his promise.
[edit] Cast Information
| Character | Anime/PS2 | Drama CD 1 |
|---|---|---|
|
Ito Keita |
Fukuyama Jun |
Same |
[edit] Game Information
| Specs | PC | PS2 | PS2 Type B | PS2 Okawari |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Platform |
Windows95/98/2000/Me/XP、MacOS 8/9 |
Playstation 2 |
Playstation 2 |
Playstation 2 |
[edit] Synopsis (Boy's Love Scramble)
In the original game, the player Itou Keita suddenly received an acceptance letter from the renowned Bell Liberty Academy (also known as BL Academy). Attracted by the prestige of the school, he decided to attend. However, on the day of his transfer, the bridge joining the school and the academy, which was located on a remote man-made island, suddenly raised and his bus fell. Luckily, no one was injured but the accident aroused the attention of both the student council’s president Niwa Tetsuya as well as the head of the accounting department Saiyonji Kaoru. After explaining briefly the cause of the accident, they guided Keita to his classroom where he met his classmate Endou Kazuki, who kindly befriended Keita and showed him around the campus. On the school grounds, Keita met the rest of the important students in the game: Naruse Yukihiko, captain of the tennis club; Shinomiya Kouji, captain of the archery club; Iwai Takuto, captain of the art club; and Taki Shunsuke, a genius cyclist; the vice president of the student council, Nakajima Hideaki; the genius programmer, Shichijou Omi; as well as the child-looking teacher Umino Satoshi. The objective of the game is to solve the mysteries surrounding Keita's sudden transfer to BL Academy.
[edit] Synopsis (Okawari)
This is more like a fan disc than a sequel as the game is very short. It takes place three months after the first game. This time, Keita picked up a cursed ring that would take away his major ability - luck. The characters are the same as in the PC Game and the objective this time is to find the way to release Keita from the curse of the ring.
[edit] Drama CD Information
So far, 5 drama CDs have been released. Aside from the first drama CD, the core cast remains the same for all other products in the franchise and is based on the casting in the Playstation 2 games.
Full Length Drama:
- Gakuen Heaven 1: Mirai wa Kimi no Mono
- Gakuen Heaven 2: Muteki no Sannensei
- Gakuen Heaven 2: Tsuyoki na Ninensei
- Gakuen Heaven 2: Welcome to Heaven
- Gakuen Heaven 3: Happy Paradise
Mini Drama
- Gakuen Heaven: Bitter Chocolate
- Gakuen Heaven: Sweet Candy
For detailed information on the drama CDs, please refer to AudioWiki.
[edit] Manga Information
1. Gakuen Heaven Boy's Love Scramble Artist: Higuri You
Copyright: SPRAY
Publisher: BIBLOS
First Print: March 2004
ISBN 4-8352-1565-6
Language: Japanese
Weight: 200g
Size: B6
2. Gakuen Heaven Artist: Higuri You
Copyright: SPRAY
Magazine: BE x Boy
First Serialized: May 2006
Publisher: BIBLOS
Language: Japanese
One volume of the Gakuen Heaven manga has been published in the US on Nov. 7, 2006.
[edit] Novel Information
1. Gakuen Heaven Author: TAMAMI
Copyright: SPRAY
Publisher: BIBLOS
First Print: October 2002
Publisher: BIBLOS
Language: Japanese
[edit] Radio Information
Beginning from March 2006, there will be a web radio show on Marine Entertainment's site to promote the anime. Personality is the cover voice for Itou Keita - Fukuyama Jun and every 12 days, there will be guests from the regular cast.
[edit] External links
- Anime Official Site
- Spray Official Site
- Web Radio Official Site
- Audio Wiki (Drama CD Information)
- AnimeSuki.com listing of fansub BitTorrent downloads
- YaoiSuki Review (manga) (egistration required)
