Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected article

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Instructions

Step 1: Add a new Selected series to the next available subpage by clicking the red link and editing. If there are no more red links, edit this page to add the new subpage at the bottom of the list, save, then click your new red link.

Step 2: On the new subpage, paste this code from the subpage layout guide:

{{Portal:Anime and manga/Selected article/Layout 
  |image=
  |caption=
  |link=
  |text=
}}

Step 3: If the article has a non-free image, set the image field to that image's name (without the [[]]). Do not list a free image as it will just get removed by a bot. Set the caption field to the name of the series/work, and the link field to the article's actual name. The caption field is where the article blurb goes. Use the lead section of the selected biography to fill in the blurb, minus the infoboxes or any images. If the lead is very long, shorten the blurb so as not to be excessively long compared to other entries.

Step 4: Update "max=" to new total for its {{Random portal component}} on the main portal page.

[edit] Adding articles

Feel free to add any Featured quality Anime and manga articles to the above list, within these guidelines:

Articles for adding can be found at Category:FA-Class anime and manga articles or checking the project page news list. If you are unsure or do not know how to add an entry, feel free leave a note on this list's talk page, or on the main portal talk page.

[edit] Selected series list

[edit] Articles 1-20

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/1

Mana

The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu (聖剣伝説? lit. "Holy Sword Legend"), is a console role-playing game series from Square Enix, created by Koichi Ishii. The series began as a handheld side story to Square's flagship franchise Final Fantasy, although most Final Fantasy-inspired elements were subsequently dropped, starting with the second installment, Secret of Mana. It has since grown to include games of various genres within the fictional world of Mana, with recurring stories involving a world tree, its associated holy sword, and the fight against forces that would steal their power. Several character designs, creatures, and musical themes reappear frequently.

In 2003, the series comprised five games; since 2006, it has experienced a revival through the World of Mana campaign, with five new games released in the span of one year. As of 2008, the Mana series comprises eight console games and two mobile games, in addition to four manga and one novelization. The Mana series reception has been very uneven, with Secret of Mana earning wide acclaim, such as being rated 78th in IGN's yearly "Top 100 Games of All Time", and being highly praised for its musical score, while the games from the World of Mana series have been rated considerably lower.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/2

Excel Saga

Excel Saga (エクセル・サーガ Ekuseru Sāga?) is a comedy manga series by Koushi Rikudou,[1] and a TV anime series directed by Shinichi Watanabe.[2] Both the anime and the manga are absurdist comedies following the attempts of Across, a "secret ideological organization", to conquer the city of Fukuoka as a first step towards world domination. Excel, the title character, is a key member of Across and ranks below only the organization's enigmatic leader, Ilpalazzo. In both the manga and anime, the city is defended by a shadowy government agency led by Dr. Kabapu, whose subordinates engage Excel and her junior officer, Hyatt, on several occasions.

The manga focuses on the development of its principal characters by means of satirizing life and culture in Japan: Rikudou notes that Excel Saga developed out of his earlier dojinshi comic Municipal Force Daitenzin as a way both to "laugh off" economic problems of the time and to explore Excel's character, which he felt he had neglected in Daitenzin.[3][4] While the anime maintains much of the satire, it is more gag-based and self-referential, featuring animated representations of Rikudou, Watanabe, and other members of the production staff. It also relies more than the manga on parodies of popular Japanese works, including Dragon Ball, Super Sentai, Space Battleship Yamato, and Fist of the North Star. The English-language reception of the Excel Saga anime was generally positive, likening the humor in nature and quality to the works of Tex Avery and Monty Python.[5] Nevertheless, many reviewers were dissatisfied with later episodes,[6][7] and some censured the series for frequent references to obscure aspects of Japanese culture.[5][8]

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/3

Madlax

Madlax (マドラックス Madorakkusu?) is a 26-episode anime television series produced in 2004 by the Bee Train animation studio. Kōichi Mashimo directed Madlax and the soundtrack was composed by Yuki Kajiura. The DVD version was released by ADV Films in North America and the United Kingdom and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand. According to the director Mashimo, the title is a portmanteau of two English words: MAD and reLAXed, mirroring the authors' intention to portray the two extremes of human being.[9][10]

The story revolves around two young women who seemingly have little in common and do not know of the other's existence, at first. The titular Madlax is a legend amongst the mercenaries and assassins of the fictional civil war-torn country of Gazth-Sonika. "Madlax" is a code name and a substitute for her real one, forgotten along with the rest of her past before 1999, when the war started. The other protagonist is Margaret Burton, the sole heir of a wealthy aristocratic family in the peaceful European country of Nafrece. Twelve years before the story begins, an airliner her mother and she were on crashed over Gazth-Sonika, and its passengers, as well as Margaret's father who lead the rescuers, have been missing ever since. Margaret managed to travel back to Nafrece on her own, though how she made it remains a mystery considering that she too has lost her memories prior to her return; the only thing she recalls is a single word, "Madlax". With this thread linking the two girls, they both independently start investigating the powerful crime syndicate Enfant and its enigmatic mastermind who, for some reason, shows interest in both of them.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/4

Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda (credited as production 2nd) for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998. A PlayStation game with the same title was released in November 1998 by Pioneer LDC.

Lain is influenced by philosophical subjects such as reality, identity, and communication.[11] The series focuses on Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her cold mother, and her computer-obsessed father. The first ripple on the pond of Lain's lonely life appears when she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from Chisa Yomoda, a schoolmate who committed suicide. When Lain receives the message at home, Chisa tells her (in real time) that she is not dead, but has just "abandoned the flesh", and has found God in the Wired. From then on, Lain is bound to a quest which will take her ever deeper into both the network and her own thoughts.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/5

.hack//Sign

.hack//Sign (trademarked as .hack//SIGN) is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise. Twenty six original episodes aired on TV and three additional bonus episodes (Intermezzo, Unison, and Gift) were released on DVD as OVAs.[12] The series features character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, known for his work on Evangelion,[13] and screenplay by Kazunori Ito, who penned Ghost in the Shell.[14] The score was composed by Yuki Kajiura, marking her second collaboration with Kōichi Mashimo.[15]

.hack//Sign is influenced by psychological and sociological subjects such as anxiety, escapism, and interpersonal relationships.[16][17] The series focuses on a Wavemaster (magic user) named Tsukasa, a player character of a virtual-reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World. Tsukasa wakes up to find himself in a dungeon in The World, but he has no recent recollections as he wonders where he is and how he got there. The situation gets worse when he discovers he is not able to log out and is trapped in the game. From then on, along with other players Tsukasa embarks on a quest to figure out the truth behind his abnormal situation.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/6

Azumanga Daioh

Azumanga Daioh (あずまんが大王 Azumanga Daiō?) is a Japanese comedy manga written and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma, originally published in MediaWorks' seinen magazine Dengeki Daioh[18] from 1999 to 2002. It was drawn as a series of vertical four-panel comic strips called yonkoma and depicts the lives of a group of high-school girls during their three years as classmates.

It was adapted as an anime, Azumanga Daioh: the Animation, which was produced by J.C.Staff[19] and aired from April 8, 2002 until September 30, 2002. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo, TV Aichi, TV Osaka, and AT-X[20] in five-minute segments every weekday, then repeated as a 25-minute compilation that weekend, for a total of 130 five-minute segments collected in 26 episodes. The compilation episodes, which were the only versions to include the title and credits sequences, were released on VHS and DVD by Starchild Records;[21] the five-minute segments can be distinguished by their individual titles.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/7

Air

Air is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key which was originally released as an adult game on September 8, 2000 playable on the PC as a CD-ROM. Subsequent versions with the adult content removed were sold playable on the PC, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2. The PC version with adult content was re-released with added support for Windows 2000/XP under the name Air Standard Edition on April 8, 2005. The last releases of Air were made available to play on the PlayStation Portable, and SoftBank 3G and FOMA cell phones.[22][23]

The gameplay in Air follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the differing scenarios of the three female main characters. The game is divided into three segments—Dream, Summer, and Air—which serve as different phases in the overall story.[24] One of the goals of the original version's gameplay is for the player to enable viewing of H scenes depicting the protagonist and one of the three heroines having sexual intercourse.[25] The title of the game is meant to reflect the prominent themes of the air, skies, and use of wings throughout gameplay.

Air has made transitions into other media. A manga series based on the visual novel was first serialized in the Japanese magazine Comptiq and published by Kadokawa Shoten; the manga ran between August 2004 and February 2006 and was illustrated by Japanese artist Yukimaru Katsura. A thirteen-episode anime series created by Kyoto Animation aired in Japan between January and March 2005. A subsequent release of two episodes entitled Air in Summer aired in August and September 2005. While the anime was still airing, an Air movie by the animation studio Toei Animation hit theaters in Japan in February 2005. The anime series, plus the two-episode Air in Summer and the movie were licensed and released in North America by ADV Films. A set of nine drama CDs were also released, published by Lantis between August 2005 and January 2006.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/8

Clannad

Clannad (クラナド Kuranado?) is a Japanese visual novel created by the software company Key, who also produced the successful titles Kanon and Air. Key announced in 2001 a release date of 2002 for Clannad and, after several postponements, finally released a limited version for the PC on April 28, 2004, and the regular version less than four months later on August 8, 2004. The visual novel was later ported to the PlayStation 2 on February 23, 2006, and will be ported again to the Xbox 360 in spring 2008. The gameplay in Clannad follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the five female main characters. According to Jun Maeda, the main scenario writer of Clannad, the title means "family" or "clan" in Irish.[26]

While both of Key's previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult games and then censored for the younger market like most bishōjo games, Clannad was released for all-ages; this led to a certain amount of disappointment among fans of Key's adult works. Partly in reaction to the disappointment, an adult sequel-of-sorts, Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, was released on November 25, 2005.

Clannad has made several transitions to other media: four manga series, the first serialized in the Japanese magazine Comic Rush, the second serialized in Comi Digi +, the third serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine, and the fourth serialized in Dragon Age Pure; an animated movie by the animation studio Toei Animation released on September 15, 2007; an anime series by Kyoto Animation, which also animated the previous Key titles Air and Kanon; and, lastly, two sets of drama CDs, totaling nine in all.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/9

Death Note

Death Note (デスノート Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series primarily centers around a high school student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Death Note was first serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from the first issue in December 2003 to May 2006, with 108 chapters in total. The series has been published in its entirety in 12 tankōbon volumes in Japan and in North America. The series has been adapted into a pair of live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006 and November 3, 2006, and an anime series which aired in Japan from October 3, 2006 to June 26, 2007. Also, a novelization of the series, written by light novelist Nisio Isin, was released in Japan on August 1, 2006.

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/10

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/11

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/12
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/12

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/13
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/13

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/14
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/14

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/15
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/15

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/16
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/16

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/17
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/17

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/18
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/18

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/19
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/19

Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/20
Portal:Anime and Manga/Selected series/20