Boys Be...

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Boys Be...
Region 2 DVD cover featuring 11 female characters from the series.
ボーイズ・ビー
(Boys Be)
Genre Shonen, Romance, Comedy, School Life
Manga
Authored by Masahiro Itabashi (story)
Hiroyuki Tamakoshi (art)
Publisher Flag of Japan Kodansha
Flag of United States Tokyopop
Serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine
Original run 1991 – 1997
No. of volumes 32[1]
TV anime
Directed by Masami Shimoda
Studio Hal Film Maker
Network Flag of Japan WOWOW
Flag of Spain Jonu Media , K3; Flag of United States Anime Network
Original run 11 April 2000 – 4 July 2000 (12)
No. of episodes 13[2]

Boys Be... (ボーイズ・ビー Bōizu Bī?) is a manga created and written by Masahiro Itabashi and illustrated by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi, which was in 2000 adapted into a 13 episode anime series by Hal Film Maker.

Three different Boys Be... manga series were serialized by Kodansha in Shukan Shonen Magazine. The second manga series is licensed in North America by Tokyopop and the anime is licensed by The Right Stuf International. The anime is licensed in Singapore by Odex. The first DVD volume of the series was released in North America on February 28, 2006. Comcast and serval other cable providers are currently showing 'Boys Be' On Demand in the United States thorugh the Anime Network

Contents

[edit] Description

The anime focuses upon the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of first love and teenage romance. Six students struggle in their quest to find the perfect partner. Their only enemies are their adolescent limitations.

Each episode begins and ends with a philosophical quote which loosely sums up the episode's content. Boys Be..., while centered on Kyoichi and Chiharu, actually revolves about seven or eight main characters and their love lives.

[edit] Characters, Backgrounds, and Cast

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Kyoichi Kanzaki (神崎恭一 Kanzaki Kyōichi?)
He is a high school boy having difficulty expressing his love for his childhood friend, Chiharu Nitta. Their relationship has encountered turbulence, resulting in a one-time affair with Shoko Sayama.
Yoshihiko Kenjo (剣城美彦 Kenjō Yoshihiko?)
Extremely talented in sports (especially baseball), but has no interest in it whatsoever (sort-of like Initial D's Takumi Fujiwara). He also seems to have no interest in girls... until the day he met Aya Kurihara. However, after her return to France, he met during baseball practice his girlfriend Natsue Horikawa. He also had a run-in with young idol Jyunna Morio when she escaped and got lost from her studio taping.
Makoto Kurumizawa (胡桃沢マコト Kurumizawa Makoto?)
He is the epitome of a girl-obsessed guy, keeping an electronic database of almost all the girls at Otowa-no-Mori with him (to a point of bribing some informers to get the scoop), even using computer dating simulators and guide books. He is also the only techno-geek in the group. After he botched his date with Erika Kawai, he ended up with her best friend (who acted as the bridge between them), Yumi Kazama. He also had an interlude with a nursing intern after getting hospitalized for peeping at a short-skirted girl as she climbed an overpass, and his scooter hitting a mini-truck, but he forgot about her when she saw that girl again...
Chiharu Nitta (新田千春 Nitta Chiharu?)
She is the athletic love interest of Kyoichi, running for their school's track and field team. She has been Kyoichi's friend since childhood, but she also has difficulty expressing love, hence her affair with a guy named Okazaki Yuki.
Yumi Kazama (風間有美 Kazama Yumi?)
This spectacled girl loves to dress in odd clothes, like wearing a sea lion costume at the beach. She acted as an "Erika Kawai Simulator" for Makoto... and eventually fell in love when Rika dumped him.
Aki Mizutani (水谷亜紀 Mizutani Aki?)
Her boyfriend is a photographer now working in Hokkaido, hence her limited love interludes. For most of the series she's maintaining a long-distance relationship.
Erika Kawai ( Kawai Erika?)
The only daughter of a rich family, she was dated by Makoto based upon the results of his dating simulator. Yumi had to help him with her in exchange for dropping his Sony VAIO laptop from the third floor and wrecking it. But Erika dumped him, thinking Makoto loves Yumi instead.
Natsue Horikawa ( Horikawa Natsue?)
  • Voiced by: Manabi Mizuno (Japanese), Sonia Scrancia (English)
She had the desire to stand at the pitchers' mound during the annual Koshien high school baseball championship, but she is a girl, so it couldn't happen. But she did guide Yoshihiko out of his disinterest in the sport... and they ended up as lovers.
Aya Kurihara ( Kurihara Aya?)
This French-Japanese transfer student had a run-in with Yoshihiko when he looked for a ball that sauntered into the library's window. When he crawled to look for it, he knocked the stool where she was standing. Luckily he caught her falling...and after getting a feel of her "lumpy" side, he daydreamed about her... At the start of the second episode, she was the one secretly watching Yoshihiko from a library window.
Jyunna Morio ( Morio Jyunna?)
She is a popular pop idol, and her image is practically plastered on everything from bottled water to TV screens. But Yoshihiko doesn't know that, even mistaking her for a girl distributing flyers. One of her concerts was once attended by Yoshihiko and his eventual girlfriend Natsue.
Nao Nitta ( Nitta Nao?)
She is Chiharu's cute but frail cousin with an overprotective brother. Makoto tried courting her, but her brother is always a step ahead of him.
Shoko Sayama ( Sayama Shoko?)
She is a renegade student hoping to make it big in the music business. With her relationship with Kyoichi, she found the confidence to successfully weather out rivals for a spot in a J-pop band. She dropped out of school to work on her career full-time.
Mizuki Takano ( Takano Mizuki?)
When Makoto broke his leg due to a scooter accident, he was confined to the hospital where Mizuki was an intern. She became his nurse. She may still have a long way to go, but Makoto urged her on. He pledged not to forget her... but...
Chiharu Reicha ( Reicha Chiharu?)
This Finnish-Japanese ex-Tokyoite girl encountered Kyoichi when he went to Hokkaido, acting as his impromptu tour guide that "charges one kiss per transaction." She's flirter, more daring, and free than the Chiharu he knows, and rides a Harley-Davidson. Both cleared each other's minds during their stay together. She is a wood sculptor, as well.

‡Note that there are two women named Chiharu in the story.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boys Be... (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-23.
  2. ^ Boys Be... at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-23.

[edit] External links

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