Hen (manga)

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Hen

Genre	Drama, Romance, Seinen
Manga: 変 Hen
Authored by	Hiroya Oku
Publisher	Shueisha
Serialized in	Young Jump
Original run	1988 – 1992
No. of volumes	13 (Complete)
Manga: Hen
Authored by	Hiroya Oku
Publisher	Shueisha
Serialized in	Young Jump
Original run	1992 – 1997
No. of volumes	8 (Complete)
TV drama : HEN
Directed by	Mitsunori Morita, Miki Nemoto
Studio
Network	TV Asahi
Original run	April, 1996 – June 29, 1996
No. of episodes
OVA: Strange Love
Directed by	Daiji Suzuki
Studio	Group TAC
No. of episodes	2
Released	March 21, 1997 February 12, 2002

Hen (romanized as ＨＥＮ in Japan) is a seinen manga which was the first work created by manga artist Hiroya Oku, who is best known for Gantz. An apt English translation for the title "hen" (literally: "strange") in this case would be "queer" because of the double meaning of "strange" and "homosexual" [1].

Hiroya spent countless hours working on Hen. After Hen's production, many H artists and dōjinshi used "tit-motion trails", which were common in Hen. "Tit-motion trails" (or whatever name Hiroya calls them) were blurs that would show the movement of breasts. Hiroya jokes about this in some of the Gantz volumes.

[edit] Plot

There are two separate series of Hen, but they share the same setting and characters from the first series appear in the second.

(変) Suzuki & Satō: The first series, 13 volumes -- Ichirō Suzuki, a straight young man who becomes besotted with another guy, Yūki Sato, convinced his bishonen love is a girl trapped in a boy's body. Interestingly, author Hiroya Oku is one of the characters in the story, the best friend of Satō. The first three volumes of this series collect Oku's early short stories, including prototype versions of both Hen series.

(ＨＥＮ) Chizuru & Azumi: The second series, 8 volumes -- Sexy student Chizuru Yoshida, to her utmost horror, falls in love with another girl, the innocent Azumi Yamada. This was by far the most popular of all the Hen stories. A prototype version of this story was published in 変(Hen)#2.

In 1996, Hen was turned into a live action television series. The first half starred Shinsuke Aoki as Suzuki, actress Aiko Sato as Sato, and Shigaya Kazuma as Hiroya Oku. The second half starred Asami Jo as Chizuru and Miho Kiuchi as Azumi. The VHS release had more explicit sex scenes than the broadcast version. The TV version was released on Region 2 DVD in November of 2006.

In 1997, the "Chizuru & Azumi" chapter was turned into a two episode anime OVA series. It was released in North America by Central Park Media under the title Strange Love. This release was marketed as a hentai anime, but the original manga is seinen, running in Young Jump.

[edit] Characters

Chizuru Yoshida (吉田　ちずる, Yoshida Chizuru^?)

A beautiful and perfect student that excels in everything she does, Chizuru is every man's dream and she knows it. Playing men for whatever she wants, the young high school model has a great life until she meets her current fling's new neighbors. Instantly Chizuru, a girl who has never known love, falls heavily for the young female neighbor, Azumi Yamada. Chizuru, refusing to admit it at first, quickly comes to realize she must be with Azumi at any cost. Now living with her fake boyfriend, Hiroyuki, just one apartment away from Azumi, she puts fourth every effort to constantly be around her crush.

Azumi Yamada (山田　あずみ, Yamada Azumi^?)

Azumi is an innocent and average looking young high school girl. However, after moving to a new city and new apartment complex she meets Chizuru. At first the friendly Azumi tries to be nice to Chizuru, only to be harshly rejected. Eventually though, the two become friends, although Azumi fears that there might be something weird about Chizuru. Azumi, who wishes to become a screen play writer, one day attempts to join the drama club. There she befriends a young, amateur film maker named Ryuichi Kobayashi.

Ryuichi Kobayashi (小林　りゅいち, Kobayashi Ryuichi^?)

Ryuichi is also a newly transfered high school student that enjoys making movies in his free time. Upon meeting Chizuru in the infirmary, he quickly falls in love with her face, wishing for her to be an actress in one of his movies. Ryuichi eventually befriends Azumi as they attempt to join the drama club.

Sushiaki Karasawa

Karasawa, who appears as the main character for several of the opening chapters, is a new teacher at Chizuru's high school. He quickly falls in love with her after recognizing her as a model. After a little effort, Karasawa is able to trick Chizuru into admitting she is a model, furiating her. She then convinces Karasawa to let her sleep at his apartment for the night, where she enacts vengance through teasing him to some degree or another throughout the night.

Hiroyuki

A young Japanese rockstar, living in his parents mansion (a large Japanese apartment considered to be more like a suite) and on their money, he was yet another fling of the beautiful Chizuru. However, when his new neighbors moved in with their daughter Azumi Yamada, Chizuru quickly claimed him her boyfriend. Hiroyuki, realizing that Chizuru has a crush on Azumi, but truly believing that she loves him, has formed a plan to seduce and sleep with Azumi, ruining her for Chizuru.