Tactics (manga)

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Tactics

タクティクス (Tactics)
Genre	Shounen, Action, Fantasy
Manga
Authored by	Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama
Publisher
Serialized in	Comic Blade Masamune
Original run	–
No. of volumes
TV anime
Directed by	Hiroshi Watanabe
Studio	Studio DEEN
Network
Original run	October 5, 2004 – March 29, 2005
No. of episodes	25

Tactics (タクティクス) is a manga series collaborated between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. It is serialized and currently running in Comic Blade Masamune. Sakura Kinoshita supplied the character "Kantarou," and Kazuko Higashiyama supplied the character "Haruka." The manga was released in North America by ADV Manga in 2004.

1 Story
2 Characters
- 2.1 Translation
3 Anime
4 Original Doujinshi by Mad Cookie Monster
5 External links

[edit] Story

Kantarou Ichinomiya is a young man with the ability to see goblins and other mythical beasts. He's made a full-time hobby out of it, writing books and articles on Japanese folklore while doing some freelance goblin hunting on the side. Rather than hunting them out of malice, though, Kantarou tracks down goblins because he wants to befriend them. When an assignment leads him to a rural shrine up in a mountain, Kantarou's life takes a momentous turn . The legendary demon-eating goblin is sealed in that shrine, and when Kantaro breaks the seal, he finds himself partnered up with the mighty creature he's been seeking since childhood. With his new, impeccably dressed goblin friend Haruka, Kantarou is surely prepared to take on all sorts of mystical tasks.

As Haruka's past slowly comes back to him, his relationship with his master starts to crack. Haruka struggles with his past and yearns to learn of everything he had forgotten, especially the identity of the person who had sealed him within the huge rock boulders. This is the point where Minamoto Raiko and his group of soldiers come in. Together with another formidable demon, Raiko and his attendants plot many plans to try and force Kantarou to cancel the name contract or make Haruka awaken his real powers, such that they would be able to capture Haruka and present him to "that person" whose identity is unknown. If the name contract is not cancelled or if the master dies, Haruka's power would forever be restrained and he would not be able to be used by the antagonists.

[edit] Characters

Ichinomiya Kantarou
Haruka
Youko
Sugino
Muu-chan
Reiko
Ayame
Hatsumi Ryoukan
Raiko Minamoto
Watanabe

[edit] Translation

Not unlike ADV Manga's licensed English releases of Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, only two volumes of Tactics have been produced by the company. These volumes were produced on a seemingly erractic schedule, with the first volume released on October 26, 2004, and the second volume released on May 24, 2005. The release of newer volumes has been put into much speculation, as ADV Manga currently does not have the manga listed on their official website. However, there are rumors of the delay being mostly due to a large layoff period in the company's history.

Many people were confused when ADV Manga changed Sugino's gender to a 'she' and Muu-chan's gender to a 'he'. Some people felt that it was wrong to change Sugino's gender, because it affects how the relationships between Sugino and other people, and Muu-chan to other people look like.

[edit] Anime

The animation studio Studio DEEN adapted the manga of Tactics into a 25-episode anime series, which ran on Japanese television from October 5, 2004 to March 29, 2005.

[edit] Plot Summary

Ever since he was little, Kantarou (or Kan-chan as Youko calls him) has always been able to see and talk with youkai, and he swore that he would find the famous oni-eating tengu and become friends with it.

His search takes years as he endures the persistency of his editor to finish the latest manuscript and the nagging of Youko (a fox youkai), but finally he manages to meet with the oni-eating tengu and names him Haruka, thus binding him to his service. (In Tactics, a tengu cannot go against the will of the person who gave it its name.)

Now, as a famous ethnologist and 'youkai buster' on the side, along with Youko and Haruka, Kan-chan works to exorcise various youkai and oni that cause people trouble. However, as Haruka's sealed past catches up with them all, it will take more than a few exorcised demons to get them through these troubled times.

[edit] Music

A CD for season 1 will be released on 27 June 2006

Opening Theme: "Secret World" by MIKI
Ending Theme: "Mienai Chikara" by Akiyama Miki

[edit] Japanese Staff

Director: Hiroshi Watanabe

Series Composition: Kenichi Kanemaki

Dubbing Director: Kazuhiko Inoue

Script: Kanemaki Kenichi

Screenplay:

Hiroyuki Kawasaki

Katsuhiko Takayama

Masashi Kubota

Masashi Suzuki

Storyboard:

Chiaki Ima

Hiroshi Watanabe

Masashi Kojima

Mitsuko Oyake

Shinpei Miyashita

Episode Director:

Chiaki Ima

Hiroshi Watanabe

Shigeru Ueda

Music: Kei Haneoka

Character Design: Mariko Oka

Art Director: Michiyo Akutsu

Chief Animation Director: Mariko Oka

Animation Director:

Minefumi Harada

Miyako Tsuji

Youichi Ishikawa

Yukiko Ban

Director of Photography: Akio Abe

[edit] Japanese Cast

Kouki Miyata as Ichinomiya Kantarou

Takahiro Sakurai as Haruka

Tomoko Kawakami as Youko

Nana Mizuki as Suzu

Soichiro Hoshi as Sugino-sama

Omi Minami as Muu-chan

Matsukaze Masaya as Minamoto Raiko

Tobita Nabuo as Hatsumi

[edit] Original Doujinshi by Mad Cookie Monster

Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama form a doujinshi circle called Mad Cookie Monster. They individually go by the pseudonyms Wasabi Katsuo and Wasabi Maguro, respectively. This circle has released many doujinshi for their own series, including Tactics, some of them containing explicit yaoi pornography. One of the rarest and best known of these titles is "Love Sick," a 72-page doujinshi containing an illustrated short novel and an explicit yaoi comic, featuring the pairing Haruka x Kantarou.

Mad Cookie Monster has also produced fan comics for other series, including Harukanaru Toki no Naka De.