| Sekirei | |
The first volume of the Sekirei manga released on June 25, 2005. |
|
| セキレイ | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Harem, Romantic comedy |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Sakurako Gokurakuin |
| Published by | Square Enix |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Young Gangan |
| Original run | December 3, 2004 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 12 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Keizō Kusakawa |
| Written by | Takao Yoshioka |
| Music by | Hiroaki Sano |
| Studio | Seven Arcs |
| Licensed by | Funimation Entertainment |
| Network | Chiba TV, KBS Kyoto, Nagoya Broadcasting Network, Sun TV, Tokyo MX, TV Hokkaido, TV Kanagawa, TV Saitama, AT-X, TVQ |
| English network | Funimation Channel |
| Original run | July 2, 2008 – September 17, 2008 |
| Episodes | 12 + OVA |
| TV anime | |
| Sekirei: Pure Engagement | |
| Directed by | Keizō Kusakawa |
| Produced by | Hideo Tatsumaka |
| Written by | Takao Yoshioka |
| Music by | Hiroaki Sano |
| Studio | Seven Arcs |
| Licensed by | Funimation Entertainment |
| Network | AT-X, KBS Kyoto, Nagoya Broadcasting Network, Sun TV, Tokyo MX, TV Hokkaido, TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting |
| Original run | July 4, 2010 – September 26, 2010 |
| Episodes | 13 + OVA |
Sekirei (セキレイ, lit. Wagtail) is a Japanese manga series by Sakurako Gokurakuin. The manga began serialization in the seinen magazine Young Gangan published by Square Enix in December 2004 and the first tankōbon was released on June 25, 2005, with ten volumes available in Japan as of June 25, 2010. An anime adaptation produced by Seven Arcs and directed by Keizō Kusakawa aired in Japan between July and September 2008, and a second season aired between July and September 2010. Both seasons are licensed in North America by Funimation Entertainment. The central character of the series is Minato Sahashi, a ronin who failed college examinations twice. His life changes, however, when he meets a girl named Musubi.
Contents |
In Tokyo (known as Shinto Teito (新東帝都 Shintō Teito, "New Eastern Imperial Capital")) in 2020, 19-year-old Minato Sahashi has failed his college entrance exam twice. Moreover, he is awkward around women, and he is unemployed. He is constantly bullied by his mother and his younger sister. In truth, Minato is extremely intelligent, yet his inability to cope under pressure results in his constant failure and he has been called an idiot and loser by several people.
One day, Minato meets a girl named Musubi, who literally falls from the sky. Minato soon learns that she is a "Sekirei" who chose him as her "Ashikabi", a human with special genes that allows them to "mark" (form a contract with) Sekirei. This binds the Sekirei to him and allows them to use their full power in the elimination battle with other Sekirei. Made up of cute girls, buxom women, and bishōnen, the Sekirei fight in a dangerous and sometimes deadly competition known as "The Game" or the "Sekirei Plan" organized by Hiroto Minaka, the chairman and founder of the mysterious and powerful MBI Corporation.
Minato soon learns that being the partner of a beautiful girl is not all fun and games, especially when several other Sekirei choose him as their Ashikabi, each also forming a contract with him. Now, Minato must find a way to survive both the life-threatening battles of the Sekirei Plan and his partners' fierce competition for him.
Sekirei (鶺鴒) are extraterrestrial superpowered beings with a genetic code similar to humans. The Sekirei spaceship crashed on Earth in 1999 on Kamikura Island (神座島 Kamikura-jima), and was found by students Hiroto Minaka (future MBI chairman) and Takami Sahashi (future MBI head researcher and Minato's mother). Onboard, the pair had found 108 life-forms, described as "One pillar and 107 baby birds".[1][2]
The adult and the eight embryos are also known as the "Single Numbers". It is hinted that unwinged Single Numbers are equal or even more powerful than their winged counterparts.[4] All of the Sekirei had undergone adjustments for the "Sekirei Plan", especially the Single Numbers (some of their adjustments were mischievous). The adjustments had been undergone not only for making Sekirei stronger, but also for controlling and stabilizing their power. Each Sekirei has a Norito (祝詞, lit. "Incantations"), a unique ability that allows them to perform powerful attacks. In order to use the Norito, a Sekirei must be kissed by an Ashikabi prior to reciting it.
Also, eight mysterious artifacts called Jinki (神器, lit. "God instrument"),[5] numbered from #1 to #8,[6] were also found on the Sekirei spaceship. If all eight of them are gathered, it is possible that they can be used to terminate all of the Sekirei if the wielder desires.[7] Sekirei that are under the same Ashikabi can also merge their techniques in order to create more powerful techniques. This puts most Ashikabi at a disadvantage, as only a few Ashikabi possess more than one Sekirei.
Ashikabi (葦牙) are humans with unique genes that enable them to empower the Sekirei destined to serve them. Through mucous contact (kissing) between a Sekirei and its Ashikabi, a Sekirei without wings can become a "winged" Sekirei. Unlike Sekirei, who are mostly buxom women or handsome young men, Ashikabi can be quite innocuous as they can appear in any gender, age, and even status. In the series, the power of an Ashikabi can be determined not only by the number of Sekirei he or she has in his or her disposal, but by the bond between them. Four Ashikabi in particular, including Minato, are considered the most powerful ones having titles based on their names followed by what part of the city they rule over. If an Ashikabi dies, all of the Sekirei winged by him or her will also perish.
The Sekirei Plan (鶺鴒計画 Sekirei Keikaku), known to Minaka and others as the "Game", is a competition in which Sekirei and Ashikabi fight for survival until the last one remains. The first anime season ended at the end of the Second Stage.
Sekirei began as a manga series which started serialization in the seinen manga magazine Young Gangan in June 2005, published by Square Enix. As of October 2011, twelve tankōbon volumes have been released.[8]
A drama CD entitled Sekirei Original Drama CD was released on July 25, 2007 by Frontier Works.[9]
The first 12-episode anime series adaptation produced by the animation studio Seven Arcs and directed by Keizō Kusakawa aired in Japan between July 2 and September 17, 2008. The anime is licensed by Aniplex in Japan. The first season is mostly faithful to the overall story structure of the manga series, covering roughly the first fifty-one chapters of the series. The opening theme is "Sekirei" (セキレイ) and the main ending theme is "Dear sweet heart"; both songs are performed by Saori Hayami (#88 Musubi), Marina Inoue (#9 Tsukiumi), Kana Hanazawa (#108 Kusano) and Aya Endo (#2 Matsu). The ending theme used in episode eleven is "Kimi o Omou Toki" (きみを想うとき, "When I Think of You") by Hayami. Six DVDs of the first season were released between October 22, 2008[10] and March 25, 2009.[11] The sixth DVD volume was supplemented with an original video animation (OVA) episode, "Kusano's First Shopping Trip" (初メテノオツカイ Hajimete no Otsukai, "The First Errand"), featuring Kusano participating in the shopping race with Musubi and Tsukiumi. A Blu-ray box set of the first season was released on June 30, 2010 with three Blu-ray discs and one additional CD.[12] At Anime USA 2009, Funimation Entertainment announced that the anime's first season was licensed and a DVD box set was released on November 23, 2010.[13][14]
A second season entitled Sekirei: Pure Engagement (セキレイ～Pure Engagement～) began airing on July 4, 2010[15] on Tokyo MX and on July 6, 2010 on some other Japanese networks.[16] The first episode of Sekirei: Pure Engagement was pre-aired on June 13, 2010. The opening theme is "Hakuyoku no Seiyaku (Pure Engagement)" (白翼ノ誓約〜Pure Engagement〜) and the ending theme is "Onnaji Kimochi" (おんなじきもち, "Same Feeling"); both songs are performed by Hayami, Inoue, Hanazawa and Endo, as in the first season. The ending theme for episode 10 is "Oboeteiru kara" (おぼえているから, "Remembering You") by Hayami. A single containing both songs was released on July 21, 2010. The limited edition of the single came bundled with a special three-minute OVA, classified as episode 0, titled "Two-Topic Gossip" (閑話弐題 Kanwa Ni Dai). The full 28-minute version of the OVA was released with the first BD/DVD volume of the second season on August 25, 2010. At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation Entertainment announced at its panel that they have licensed the second season.[17] It will be released in North America on January 3, 2012.
A video game for PlayStation 2 entitled Sekirei: Gifts from the Future (セキレイ ～未来からのおくりもの～ Sekirei ~Mirai kara no Okurimono~) was released on October 29, 2009 by Alchemist in limited and regular editions.[18][19] Two music pieces implemented for the game's music consist of "Yaksuko I'm with You" (約束 I'm with You, "Promise I'm with You") and "Survive Baby Survive!", both of them performed by Saori Hayami, Marina Inoue, Kana Hanazawa and Aya Endo.[20] The limited edition version was bundled with figures of Musubi and Tsukiumi with Kusano in a panda suit, a 40-minute drama CD, and an illustration of Matsu.[21] While Musubi, Tsukiumi, Matsu, Kusano, Miya, Homura, Uzume and Minato reprise their roles from the anime and manga,[22] four new characters were created by Alchemist consisting of two Sekirei, one Ashikabi and a baby as video game-only characters.
The game takes place in the Sekirei timeline, being played as a visual novel. Minato and the Sekirei in Izumo Inn encounter new characters consisting of Sekirei No. 54, Kuruse (来瀬) (Haruka Tomatsu), Sekirei No. 57, Yahan (夜半) (Ayahi Takagaki), Ashikabi Reiji Koya (甲屋 玲治 Koya Reiji) (Yuichi Nakamura) and a baby referred to as Aka-chan (赤ちゃん) (Haruka Tomatsu).[23] It centers around the discovery of the said baby, who is being pursued by unknown persons after Minato and the Sekirei found her abandoned in the city.[24]
Volume eight of the Sekirei manga made the top 30 manga sold in Japan, holding third place with 103,811 copies sold from February 24 to March 2, 2009.[25] Volume nine placed 17th out of 30 with 65,732 copies sold from December 21–27, 2009.[26] From June 28 to July 4, 2010, volume ten sold 47,019 copies for a total amount of 120,991 in 20th out of 30.[27]