Marmalade Boy

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Marmalade Boy
ママレード・ボーイ (Marmalade Boy)
Genre	Shōjo
Manga
Authored by	Wataru Yoshizumi
Publisher	Shueisha TOKYOPOP EMA Planeta de Agostini
Serialized in	Ribon Magazine
Original run	May 1992 – October 1995
No. of volumes	8
TV anime
Directed by	Akinori Yabe
Studio	Toei Animation TOKYOPOP
Network	Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Anime Selects La 2 Etc...TV
Original run	13 March 1994 – 3 September 1995
No. of episodes	76
Movie: Marmalade Boy (Movie)
Directed by	Akinori Yabe
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	March 4, 1995
Runtime	26 minutes
Game: Marmalade Boy
Developer	Bandai
Publisher	Bandai
Genre	Dating simulation
Platform	Super Famicom, Game Boy
Released	January 27, 1995 (Game Boy), April 21, 1995 (Super Famicom)

Marmalade Boy (ママレード・ボーイ Mamarēdo Bōi) is a manga created by Wataru Yoshizumi and serialized in the monthly manga magazine Ribon by Shueisha. The manga was later adapted by Toei Animation into a 76-episode anime TV series which aired on the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. There was also a short animated movie (only slightly longer than a normal episode) produced in 1995, which was a sort of prequel to the series. Marmalade Boy was also made into a 30-episode live-action television series (Chinese: 橘子醬男孩; pinyin: Júzǐjiāng Nánhái) which aired in Taiwan. The manga is published in English by TOKYOPOP, which has also released the anime in four box-sets in co-operation with Studio E.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Manga 4 Anime 4.1 Theme songs 4.2 Japanese Staff 5 Live-action television series 6 Games 7 Trivia 8 External links

[edit] Plot

Miki's ordinary life is turned upside-down when her parents suddenly announce that they are getting divorced in order to swap partners with a couple they met in Hawaii. They seek her approval of the change, telling her that they have arranged a dinner to meet the other couple, as well as their son who is about her age. At dinner, the adults share their plans of living all together in one big house and Miki reluctantly gives them permission. The other couple's son, Yuu, turns out to be fun and attractive, and Miki finds herself falling for him. Of course, it doesn't help matters when Yuu kisses her while she is pretending to be asleep in the nurses room at school. Little by little, Miki accepts her new family arrangement.

At school, a long time classmate and former crush of Miki's, named Ginta, becomes jealous of Miki's new 'friend' and decides to try and gain her affections. He kisses Miki unexpectedly, for which he gets slapped. When Ginta later admits to Miki that he has loved her for years, and that his earlier rejection of her was a misunderstanding, Miki struggles between which of the two she wants to be with. Ginta tries to force Miki to choose between himself and Yuu. After a bit of indecision, Miki chooses Yuu. Yuu shares that he was the child of his mother and some man other than his father. Miki sympathizes with him and the two become boyfriend and girlfriend. As the series progresses Miki becomes very attached to Yuu...so much so that she is jealous whenever she sees another girl with him. It makes matters worse when his old girlfriend, Arimi, will do anything to get Yuu back. However, Miki has no reason to be jealous because Yuu is totally devoted to her.

Meanwhile, Miki's best friend, Meiko is dealing with her own problems. She is seeing one of the teachers, who is affectionately referred to by the students as Na-chan. She loves him very much, but dating a teacher is taboo, and when they are caught, Na-chan resigns his position and leaves for Hiroshima. Meiko is depressed, but is encouraged by one of the seniors at school who likes her to write a story, and she ends up acclaimed as an author. After much hardship, she and Na-chan end up together.

Miki later gets a part time job in order to help fund a trip with Yuu and one of her coworkers, Kei-kun, falls for her and tries to win her affections. At the same time, a cute model is trying to steal Yuu away from Miki. Yuu and Miki fight briefly, however, the two overcome all obstacles to stay together. As a result, their love for one another only grows stronger. Unexpectedly, Miki discovers that a transfer student from America, Michael, will be living with them for a while. He is attractive, and all the girls chase after him, however, he seems attached to Miki. Yuu suddenly decides to go to America to study architecture as an exchange student. Miki misses him terribly, and on top of that, she is pursued by both Kei-kun and Michael. Due to a misunderstanding, Miki is led to believe that Yuu is cheating on her. She flies to New York and the situation only gets worse. She decides that she is too lonely, and has turned into an awful person while having to wait for Yuu, so she breaks up with him.

Back in Japan, Kei-kun and Michael force Miki to choose between them and she reluctantly starts dating Kei-kun. He treats her well and she is happy, but she still can't forget Yuu and feels lonely somehow. Yuu comes back to Japan for summer vacation and Miki is even more troubled. She cries when Kei-kun is about to kiss her, then tells him she is sorry. She runs off and makes up with Yuu. Back together again, their happiness is cut short when Yuu finds evidence that leads him to believe Miki is actually his sister. He breaks up with her and goes back to New York. Sad and unable to forget Yuu, Miki goes to New York to confront Yuu and he tells her she is his sister and they can't be together. Upset, Miki runs off and gets lost in Manhattan. She is bullied by a gang, but Yuu shows up and saves her just in time. The two decide that their love is too strong, and that even if they are siblings, they want to be together. At the airport, the rest of the family shows up because they were worried about Miki. Miki and Yuu confront their parents for not telling them they were siblings in the first place. The adults burst out laughing as they tell the couple that they have mistaken the situation and that they are not siblings after all as Yuu is really his father's son and not another man's. The two are relieved and happy. At the end of the series all the main characters attended the wedding of Meiko and Namura.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Marmalade Boy Characters

[edit] Manga

Manga

	Japan	Kanzenban	North America
Volume 1	ISBN 4-08-853641-X	ISBN 4-08-855107-9	ISBN 1-931514-54-2
Volume 2	ISBN 4-08-853668-1	ISBN 4-08-855108-7	ISBN 1-931514-55-0
Volume 3	ISBN 4-08-853692-4	ISBN 4-08-855109-5	ISBN 1-931514-56-9
Volume 4	ISBN 4-08-853726-2	ISBN 4-08-855110-9	ISBN 1-931514-57-7
Volume 5	ISBN 4-08-853752-1	ISBN 4-08-855111-7	ISBN 1-59182-071-5
Volume 6	ISBN 4-08-853780-7	ISBN 4-08-855112-5	ISBN 1-59182-190-8
Volume 7	ISBN 4-08-853809-9		ISBN 1-59182-191-6
Volume 8	ISBN 4-08-853839-0		ISBN 1-59182-192-4

Novels

The novels are written by Yumi Kageyama, and illustrated by Wataru Yoshizumi.

Japan

• Volume 1, ISBN 4-08-611872-6
• Volume 2, ISBN 4-08-611893-9
• Volume 3, ISBN 4-08-614013-6
• Volume 4, ISBN 4-08-614033-0
• Volume 5, ISBN 4-08-614056-X
• Volume 6, ISBN 4-08-614073-X
• Volume 7, ISBN 4-08-614105-1
• Volume 8, ISBN 4-08-614124-8
• Volume 9, ISBN 4-08-614156-6
• Volume 10, ISBN 4-08-614176-0

Art books

• Marmalade Boy: Koi no Style Book, ISBN
• Marmalade Boy: Yoshizumi Wataru Illust-shuu, ISBN 4-08-855091-9

[edit] Anime

[edit] Theme songs

Opening

笑顔に会いたい (Egao ni Aitai)[I Want to See His Smile] by Rie Hamada

Ending

素敵な小夜曲[セレナーデ] (Suteki na Serenāde) by Miho Fujiwara (Episodes 01-31)

枯れ葉色のクレッシェンド (Kareha Iro no Kuresshendo) by Yasuhiro Mizushima (Episodes 32-53)

夜明けのエチュード (Yoake no Echūdo) by Yoko Ichikawa (Episodes 54-76)

[edit] Japanese Staff

• Original story: Wataru Yoshizumi
• Planning producers: Kōichirō Fujita (ABC), Yasuo Kameyama (Asatsu), Hiromi Seki (Toei Animation)
• Production managers: Yoshihiro Fujimoto, Atsunori Kazama
• Series composition: Aya Matsui
• Script writers: Aya Matsui, Yumi Kageyama, Genki Yoshimura, Atsushi Norō
• Character designer: Yoshihiko Umakoshi
• Art designer: Kunihiro Senda
• Music: Keiichi Oku
• Editor: Masaaki Hanai (TAVAC)
• Recording engineer: Kimitaka Kawasaki (TAVAC)
• Sound effects: Takahisa Ishino (Sound Ring)
• Recording studio: TAVAC
• Film development laboratory: Toei Chemical Industries
• Producers: Toshio Ōno (ABC), Kanako Arai (Asatsu), Munehisa Higuchi (Toei Animation)
• Series director: Akinori Yabe
• Production: ABC, Asatsu, Toei Animation

[edit] Live-action television series

In Taiwan, Marmalade Boy was made into a 30-episode live-action television series called 橘子醬男孩 (pinyin: Júzǐjiāng Nánhái). The series starred pop star Stella as Miki and F4 member Ken Zhu as Yuu; Stella also sang the theme song, "溫室的花 Wēnshì de Huā (Greenhouse Flower)". Although the basic premise was the same, it did not feature many of the characters of the anime, and the love triangles were considerably simplified.

[edit] Games

A Super Famicom game based on the anime was released in Japan in 1995. In the game, the player plays the role of Miki trying to win the heart of one of the three major male characters in the series (Yuu, Ginta and Kei). This game has been highly criticised as being a poor imitation copy of the famous Tokimeki Memorial series by Konami, however. A Game Boy title based on the series also exists. It did not get officially translated to English.

[edit] Trivia

• Sana and Akito from Kodomo no Omocha look somewhat similar to Miki and Yuu (albeit younger versions of them). A fansub website has even compared the two series and calls Kodocha "Marmalade Boy on crack" [1]
• It has been known to many old fans of Marmalade Boy that the anime staff had originally intended for Anju Kitahara and Namura Shinichi to die in the series. However Wataru Yoshizumi objected to it, believing that it will make the series too close to a tragedy. Eventually, the anime staff gave in and allowed the two characters to live: Namura married Meiko as she graduated high school and they went to live in Hiroshima, and Anju was left alone as she practised to become a famous violinist.
• This series marked the debut of voice actress Sakura Tange, who would later become famous for her role as Sakura Kinomoto in Cardcaptor Sakura.
• Some of the characters that apppear in the third season are taken from Handsome na Kanojo, another Wataru Yoshizumi manga that ran from the late 1980s to early 1990s. An OVA based on the series was released in 1991.

[edit] External links

• Marmalade Boy page @ Toei Animation (in Japanese)
• Online Marmalade Boy Encyclopedia (information on the anime, manga, CDs, and related material)
• Heart's Melody (information about Miki and Yuu's relationship)
• Moment (Brazilian site about Marmalade Boy)
• Marmalade Boy drama profile of Taiwanese drama