Oniisama e...

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Oniisama e...

Cover of volume 1.
おにいさまへ…
Genre Drama, Yuri[1]
Manga: Oniisama e...
Author Riyoko Ikeda
Publisher Flag of Japan Shueisha
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Flag of Japan Margaret
Flag of Italy Starlight
Original run 1975 – 1975
Volumes 3
TV anime
Director Osamu Dezaki
Studio Tezuka Productions
Network Flag of Japan NHK
Original run 14 July 1991 – 31 May 1992
Episodes 39

Oniisama e... (おにいさまへ…? lit. To [my respected] elder brother) is a Japanese manga series by Riyoko Ikeda. It has been adapted into an anime series that aired on NHK from July 1991 to May 1992.

It came to be known in English as Brother, Dear Brother due to the translation given to it by the fansub group TechnoGirls.

The series originally started out as a manga in the early-mid 1970s. The story is about a 14 year old girl Nanako Misonoo (御苑生奈々子 Misonoo Nanako?) who attends a prestigious academy and deals with life as a high school student via writing letters to her "brother".[2] The manga has never been officially released in English, though it has been translated into Italian.

The anime series spans 39 episodes and ends when Nanako is seventeen. The show's themes are dark and controversial. Among them include suicide, abuse, incest, lesbianism, drug addiction, violence, divorce, and disease.[1] The series was dubbed and released in Italy and France, though it was pulled after 26 episodes in France, due to strong adult content.

It was also released in Arabic speaking networks in the early 90s under the title "Akhy El Aziz" (My Dear Brother). It was shown a number of times before being taken off the air; the anime is rarely available to Arab audiences due to its content, as it is uncommon for an animated series with such content to be broadcast in an Arabic-speaking country, although the anime's content did receive some little editing. However unlike the French dub, all 39 episodes were broadcast.

Contents

[edit] Plot

See also: List of Oniisama e... episodes

Nanako Misonoo is a young high school freshman at the exclusive girl's school Seiran School. When she begins her first year at this school, she falls into a world of female rivalry, love, chaos, and heartbreak. She narrates the story of the series in a series of letters to a young man named Takehiko Henmi, who she calls "Oniisama" (Brother). In reality, Takehiko is her teacher at the cram school she went to earlier. She feels such a strong bond with him that she asks if she could continue corresponding with him. He agrees, and soon she begins writing to him as a "brother." When Nanako starts her new school year at the all-girl Seiran School, she is unexpectedly inducted into the school's Sorority despite having none of the looks, talents, or background needed to become a member. As the series progresses, she becomes involved in the lives of the "Magnificent Three", the three most popular girls in the school.

As Nanako continues to interact with these women, she becomes attached to the great but troubled Rei Asaka, whom she wants to help, but cannot get close to due her obsession with Fukiko Ichinomiya. Nanako also becomes friends with a beautiful and lonely young girl named Mariko, who is determined to get into the Sorority and make Nanako her best friend at all costs. Meanwhile, Nanako has problems of her own; she is constantly being bullied by her peers due to her inductment in the Sorority despite no having any of the requirements. Throughout these problems Nanako is supported by her childhood friend Tomoko, the athletic but secretly ailing Kaoru Orihara, and the correspondence with her "brother", who just happens to have some secrets of her own. The series chronicles her first-year at Seiran Academy as she uncovers the past of some of the most popular girls in school, learning of love, loss, and her own family's secrets, including her true relation with Takehiko.

[edit] Characters

Nanako Misonoo (御苑生奈々子 Misonoo Nanako?)
Voiced by: Hiroko Kasahara
The main character of the story, Nanako Misonoo is chosen to join The Sorority, an elite group at her new high school, eliciting the wrath and jealousy of her fellow classmates. Like many shōjo heroines, Nanako is innocent, caring, sometimes insecure, but always determined to do what is right. She begins the story hoping only to be liked by her peers, but is soon dragged into the lives and secrets of Seiran High's most elite students. She develops a great admiration for Rei "Saint-Juste" Asaka, and their relationship is one of the major driving plots of the series.
Tomoko Arikura ( Arikura Tomoko?)
Voiced by: Waka Kanda
Tomoko is Nanako's childhood friend and arguably the only "normal-themed" character in the series. In the manga, Mariko manipulates her into ending her friendship with Nanako, which Tomoko later rekindles when she realizes the misunderstanding. In the anime, Mariko attempts to end the friendship and almost succeeds, but Tomoko ultimately remains by Nanako's side, and the three of them become best friends for the entire duration of the show, with Tomoko acting as the series' main comedy relief..
Rei Asaka ("Hana no Saint-Juste") ( Asaka Rei?)
Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto
Rei "Hana no Saint-Juste" Asaka is one of the "Magnificent Three" known for her her habit of dressing in men's suits and her great talent in music and French. Incredibly loyal and devoted to the ones she loves, Rei's destructive relationship with Fukiko Ichinomiya leads her to be troubled, obsessed with death, and drug-addicted. She is Kaoru's best friend, and develops a great fondness for Nanako, but her relationship with Fukiko ultimately overshadows everything else in her life and leads to her destruction. The secrets between the two and Nanako's involvement in them is one of the major driving plots of the series. She dies late in the series; in the manga it is suicide, but in the anime it is an accident. Rei's nickname comes from Louis de Saint-Just, a French Revolutionary.
Mariko Shinobu ( Shinobu Mariko?)
Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa
An aspiring Sorority member and a previous member of the junior school attached to Seiran, Mariko becomes one of Nanako's best friends. Mariko distrusts all men because of her troubled family life. Her father is an erotica author who has an affair with an actress and later divorces mother. She is terrified of abandonment to the point where she becomes obsessed with the ones around her.
Kaoru Orihara ("Kaoru-no-kimi") ( Orihara Kaoru?)
Voiced by: Keiko Toda
"Kaoru-no-Kimi" Orihara is one of the "Magnificent Three" and the star of the basketball team, known for her tomboyish way of dress and her great athletic skills. She has a mysterious and deadly illness (breast cancer) kept secret from most of her classmates. As Rei's best friend, she greatly dislikes Fukiko for everything she has done to Rei and the hates very existence of the Sorority. She spends the series trying to live her life to the fullest in spite of her disease, and is the one who supports Nanako when she is bullied and helps Rei when she gets into major trouble. She was romantically involved with Nanako's "brother", Takehiko Henmi, but broke it off after her mastectomy. Kaoru's nickname comes from the anti-hero character, Kaoru Genji, of the The Tale of Genji.
Fukiko Ichinomiya ("Miya-sama") ( Ichinomiya Fukiko?)
Voiced by: Mami Koyama
One of the "Magnificent Three", Fukiko "Miya-sama" Ichinomiya is the President of the Student Society, leader of the Sorority and known for her elegance and dignity. She appears to be calm and generous, but is cruel and manipulative, often psychologically and physically torturing Rei for several ambiguous reasons. Her annual Sorority candidate selections always cause extreme fighting and jealousy among the lowerclassmen. She sponsors Nanako's entry into the Sorority due to secret and ulterior moltives: she is in love with Takehiko. Not knowing that Takehiko is really Nanako's stepbrother, she jealously tries to destroy their relationship by making Nanako love her instead. In the anime, her love for Takehiko is given a backstory: She met and fell in love with him when she was twelve, but he broke her heart.
Aya Misaki ( Misaki Aya?)
Voiced by: Masako Katsuki
Another Sorority aspirant, she tries to make life miserable for Nanako and Mariko when she fails to gain entry.
Takehiko Henmi ("Oniisama") ( Henmi Takehiko?)
Voiced by: Tessho Genda
Takehiko is a favourite tutor of Nanako, and she asks him to be her "Oniisama" - a trusted older-brother figure. Secretly, however, Takehiko is actually Nanako's real step-brother and has a past with both Kaoru and Fukiko.
Furata (?)
Voiced by: Mika Doi
A Sorority member.
Vampanera (?)
Voiced by: Miyuki Matsuoka
A Sorority member.
Takashi Ichinomiya ( Ichinomiya Takashi?)
Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi
Takehiko's friend at university, brother of both Fukiko and Rei. A self-proclaimed metrosexual with a passion for cars, clothes, and handsome men.

[edit] Volumes

  1. Sorority Member Senkou (ソロリティ・メンバー選考 Sorority Member Senkou?) August 20, 1978
  2. (サン・ジュストの秘密 Saint Juste no Himitsu?) September 20, 1978
  3. (さよなら薫の君 Sayonara Kaoru no Kimi?) October 20, 1978

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Shōjo Yuri Manga Guide Version 1.6. Yuricon. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
  2. ^ Generally, brothers in this sense are merely older men who agree to read someone else's letters, like a sort of one-sided pen pal.

[edit] External links