Absolute Duo

Absolute Duo
First light novel volume cover
アブソリュート・デュオ (Abusoryūto Duo)
Genre	Fantasy, Harem, Romance, Action
Light novel
Written by	Takumi Hiiragiboshi
Illustrated by	Yū Asaba
Published by	Media Factory
Demographic	Male
Imprint	MF Bunko J
Original run	August 24, 2012 – ongoing
Volumes	7
Manga
Written by	Takumi Hiiragiboshi
Illustrated by	Shin'ichirō Nariie
Published by	Media Factory
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Monthly Comic Alive
Original run	April 27, 2013 – ongoing
Volumes	1
Manga
Absolute Duo Tea Party
Written by	Takumi Hiiragiboshi
Illustrated by	Tōru Oiwaka
Published by	Media Factory
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Monthly Comic Alive
Original run	October 27, 2014 – ongoing
Anime television series
Directed by	Atsushi Nakayama
Produced by	Hidetake Komiya Kazuo Ōnuki Keisuke Kaminaga Makoto Ito Mika Shimizu Uesama
Written by	Takamitsu Kōno
Music by	Atsushi Hirasawa
Studio	8-Bit
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
Network	AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, KBS, TVA, BS11
English network	US Funimation
Original run	January 4, 2015 – March 22, 2015
Episodes	12

Absolute Duo (Japanese: アブソリュート・デュオ, Hepburn: Abusoryūto Duo) is a Japanese light novel series by Takumi Hiiragiboshi with illustrations by Yū Asaba. Media Factory has published seven volumes since 2012 under their MF Bunko J imprint. It has received two manga adaptations. An anime television series adaptation by 8-Bit began airing from January 4, 2015.

Plot

Tor enrolls in Koryo Academy, a high school where its students battle each other with weapons known as Blaze (焔牙/ブレイズ, Bureizu) as training to become future peacekeepers. Although most students manifest their Blazes as melee weapons, Tor's ability manifests as a shield, making him an Irregular (イレギュラー, iregyurā). The school uses a special Duo system in which students are assigned partners. Tor is paired with Julie Sigtuna, a silver-haired beauty from Scandinavia, and must share a room with her.^[1]

Characters

Main characters

Tor Kokonoe (九重 透流, Kokonoe Tōru)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka^[2] (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo^[3] (English)

Tor is the viewpoint character in the light novel series. He enrolls in Kouryou Academy with the hope of getting stronger so he can avenge the death of his little sister Otoha (音羽).^[4] He is dubbed an Irregular for having a shield for a Blaze. He learns a powerful punch attack to use in conjunction with his Blaze. Julie sometimes refers to him as Thor. After spending some time with Julie, his goal switches from avenging his little sister to becoming strong so that he can protect Julie. He obtains the Level 4 Sublimition which is "Ageis Desire"

Julie Sigtuna (ユリエ・シグトゥーナ, Yurie Shigutūna)

Voiced by: Nozomi Yamamoto^[2] (Japanese), Bryn Apprill^[3] (English)

A beautiful girl with red eyes and silver hair, styled in twin tails who becomes Tor's partner at the academy.^[4] She takes a liking towards Tor and after some time she becomes his duo. She is from a foreign country named Gimlé in Scandinavia. Her Blaze is a Sword Type, known as Twin Blades. The reason she came to Japan and enrolled to Kouryou Academy is because she wants to get stronger to avenge her family's death; the scar on her back serves as a reminder of the incident. Because of this she seeks out Tor for help and to teach her his Final Move. Julie says "Yes" and "No" in Danish/Swedish/Norwegian and German: "Ja" (ヤー, Yā) and "Nej" (ナイ, Nai).

Tomoe Tachibana (橘 巴, Tachibana Tomoe)

Voiced by: Ayaka Suwa^[2] (Japanese), Whitney Rodgers^[3] (English)

One of the female protagonists and Tor and Julie's classmate. She is a typical yamato nadeshiko character, who is smart and talented and possesses a dignified atmosphere. She cares very much about the people who are close to her especially Miyabi, whom despite of being weak still chooses her to form a duo. She is very much into martial arts and Shogi. She can never tolerate idly work, so she always wakes others when they're about to be late. Being a vegetarian, she often gives Toru a plate of vegetables to maintain his stamina and power. Her Blaze is a Kusarigama.

Miyabi Hotaka (穂高 みやび, Hotaka Miyabi)

Voiced by: Ayaka Imamura^[2] (Japanese), Ashleigh Domangue^[3] (English)

One of the female protagonists who is a buxom girl, she forms a Duo with Tomoe. She is also in Tor's class and tends to be shy around others.^[4] Her shyness especially around boys comes from how she used to be in an all-girls school before coming to Kouryou Academy. She lacks stamina that keeps her from doing any physical activity for long periods of time. She eventually comes to realize she is in love with Tor and confesses, but as he was about to accept her feelings, he instead turned her down telling her that he's too weak. Despite his rejection, she takes Toru´s words to her heart, even accepting Equipment Smith´s offer to become stronger, getting a Unit suit, despite having to fight against her friends. Her Blaze is a huge and heavy lance which is capable of doing large scale destruction, however she has a hard time using it as she lacks stamina.

Lilith Bristol (リーリス・ブリストル, Rīrisu Burisutoru)

Voiced by: Haruka Yamazaki^[2] (Japanese), Caitlin Glass^[3] (English)

A transfer student from England came from an affluent family. She is a very exceptional student whom at a young age has learned how to shoot and hunt, however, she is also selfish and arrogant. She is called an "Exception" and due to this, she claims to be able to do anything regardless of the rules. She went to Japan in order to form a duo with Tor after hearing news about his capability and being special just like Lilith, however much to her disappointment Tor declines. She later falls in love with Toru, and declares he will be her future husband and win his heart. Though she is officially enrolled in Kouryou Academy, she never attends class claiming that she had already finished her studies a long time ago which is why she prefers loitering around the school garden sipping tea with her confidant Sarah. Her weapon is a rifle, and she is a superb marksman. Though she is armed with a weapon that she can fire from a distance, she is surprisingly very agile to the point that she can shoot anybody at point blank range.

Other characters

Sakuya Tsukumo (九十九 朔夜, Tsukumo Sakuya)

Voiced by: Yui Horie^[5] (Japanese), Felecia Angelle^[3] (English)

The Chairman of Kouryou Academy, and is always seen wearing a Gothic Lolita dress. Her way of running the school is so ruthless that she actually encourages battle amongst the students. She's known as the Blaze Diabolica.

Rito Tsukimi (月見 璃兎, Tsukimi Rito)

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura^[5] (Japanese), Jennifer McDaniel^[3] (English)

Tōru's homeroom teacher, who is always energetic and dresses like a maid with bunny ears, which greatly disturbs her entire class.^[1] She has two personalities; the first one is always childish and a happy person who likes calling her students various names, while the second is foul-mouthed (and her true personality), sadistic and ruthless, not even thinking twice about attacking her students. Despite her cold attitude, it is shown that she does care for her students, as she defended them against K's attack and even gave them a thumbs up. She doesn't appear to like a lot of attention on her, as she is seen running away from a bunch of students the next day. Her Blaze is a sword. She gains Level 4 Sublimition from Sakuya and she has a new ability "Ouburos"

Imari Nagakura (永倉 伊万里, Nagakura Imari)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu^[5] (Japanese), Michelle Rojas^[3] (English)

Imari is the first person Tōru talks to after entering the school.^[4] However, she is soon expelled from the school after losing against Tōru during the entrance ceremony's combat exam. Her Blaze consists of a single sword, which she wields like a katana. She reappeared when Tōru's class were sent to summer training camp at some remote island where Kouryou Academy has another branch, where students like her who failed the combat exam from the main branch where actually transferred there and were trained to become shinobis. She was also one of the greeting parties who ambushed Tōru's class the moment they arrived to the island.

Tora (トラ, Tora, lit."tiger")

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae^[5] (Japanese), Anthony Bowling (English)

Tōru's childhood friend who is also considered an Irregular. His Blaze is a katar. His full name is Aoi Torasaki (虎崎 葵, Torasaki Aoi) (in the manga and the anime).

Tatu (タツ, Tatsu, lit."dragon")

Voiced by: Yoshihisa Kawahara^[5] (Japanese), Tyson Rinehart (English)

A silent classmate and Tora's roommate, he is the tallest person in class who has a muscular physique. His Blaze is a naginata. His full name is Ryutaro Tatsuno (辰乃 龍太朗, Tatsuno Ryūtarō) (in the manga). Rito oftens calls him "Barbarian".

K

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai

A soldier of Equipment Smith. His real name is Kevin Wayfair (ケヴィン＝ウェイフェア, Kevin Weifea). Since he lost his family at a young age, he was sold to Equipment Smith, who made him a ruthless killing machine that only cares about power and results.

Equipment Smith

Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)

A scientist who developed the Unit suits and resents Sakuya's grandfather for defeating him many years ago, believing Units are superior to Exceeds. His real name is Edward Walker (エドワード·ウォルカー, Edowādo Worukā). After K is defeated and he begins to insult him and calling him a failure, K kills him.

Silent Diva

Voiced by: Ai Kayano

Silent Diva is a very beautiful young woman, with her light blue hair coming down to her hips, and she has purple clothes with diamonds on each side of her hair, and she has purple eyes, just like Sakuya.

Sarah

Voiced by: Nozomi Nishida (Japanese), Alex Moore (English)

Sara is Lilith Bristol's butler who is a girl. Sara comes from a family that serves as theirs butlers.

Media

Light novels

The first light novel was published on August 24, 2012 by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J imprint. Seven volumes have been published as of December 2014.

No.	Title	Release date	ISBN
1	告白は蒼刻の夜に	August 24, 2012[6]	ISBN 978-4-04-066487-3
2	嘘と真と赤い紅	December 25, 2012[7]	ISBN 978-4-04-066470-5
3	渚に揺れる恋物語り	June 25, 2013[8]	ISBN 978-4-8401-5228-0
4	黎明せし異能の境界	November 25, 2013[9]	ISBN 978-4-04-066029-5
5	闇ノ銀狼、光ノ深淵	March 25, 2014[10]	ISBN 978-4-04-066312-8
6	風と焔と雷と	July 25, 2014[11]	ISBN 978-4-04-066911-3
7	禁忌の果実	December 25, 2014[12]	ISBN 978-4-04-067312-7
8	アブソリュート・デュオ	March 25, 2015	—

Manga

A manga adaptation with art by Shin'ichirō Nariie started serialization in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive from April 27, 2013, and has been collected in a single tankōbon volume. A second spin-off four-panel comedy manga adaptation titled Absolute Duo Tea Party (アブソリュート・デュオ TEA PARTY) with art by Tōru Oiwaka will also be serialized in Monthly Comic Alive magazine with the December 2014 issue to be sold on October 27, 2014.^[13]

Anime

An anime television series adaptation by 8-Bit was announced at Media Factory's 2014 Summer School Festival event.^[14] It began airing on January 4, 2015 on AT-X. It also later aired on Tokyo MX, Sun Television, Kyoto Broadcasting System, Television Aichi Broadcasting and Nippon BS Broadcasting on later dates.^[15] Crunchyroll began streaming episodes to parts of Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa in the same week, and Funimation has licensed the anime, broadcasting English-dubbed episodes on its online service starting March 16.^[16][17][3]

The opening theme song is "Absolute Soul" by Konomi Suzuki, the first ending theme song is "BelievexBelieve" by Nozomi Yamamoto, the second ending theme song is "Apple Tea no Aji" (アップルティーの味, lit. The Taste of Apple Tea) by Nozomi Yamamoto and Haruka Yamazaki, and the third ending theme song is "2/2" by Ayaka Imamura and Ayaka Suwa.

Episode list

No.	Title	Original air date[15]
1	"Blaze" "Bureizu" (焔牙/ブレイズ)	January 4, 2015
Tooru Kokonoe attends the entrance ceremony of Kouryou Academy to find that he has to battle with his newly made friend, Imari Nagakura, and win if he wants to stay. After the reveal of his irregular Blaze, he launches his special but dangerous move on Imari, causing for her to lose but also catching the eye of Julie Sigtuna. He is then met with an old childhood friend, Aoi Torasaki on the way to their first class where they are met with their strange homeroom teacher, Rito Tsukimi. During the class, Tooru is shocked to find that his temporary duo partner and roommate is no other than the gorgeous Julie whose been staring at him the whole time...
2	"Duo" "Dyuo" (絆双刃/デュオ)	January 11, 2015
The following day, rumors of Tooru and Julie had spread like wildfire. The two, the only boy-girl duo in the year, become quick friends with Tomoe and Miyabi at breakfast. After they had a strange and weird lesson on the rules and basics, the class then went onto training. More misunderstandings were made by Tomoe. After that, they went onto sparring. Due to Julie's remarkable talent in sparring, no one other than Tooru volunteered to spar with her. The end of the week has come and Tooru had discovered that Julie still doesn't have a Duo after Tomoe's rejection so he runs after her and with the sounds of the bells on her hairband, he finds her standing on the balcony of the clock tower. It was there that they made their Duo oath to each other and became a Duo...
3	"Avenger" "Avenjā" (復讐者/アヴェンジャー)	January 18, 2015
On the day after the official duos have been determined, Rito Tsukimi informed her students in the classroom of the upcoming New Blade Battle which will be held in the next couple of days. In preparation for the battle, Tooru and Julie trained themselves and practiced their combat skills with their Blazes. Later at the sport stadium, Tooru found Miyabi, exhausted, running along the track when she suddenly collapsed. Unconscious, she is picked up and carried back to her dormitory by Tooru. On the way, she wakes up and Tooru encouraged her to keep training in order to become stronger. On the next day, late afternoon, the New Blade Battle starts at 5 o'clock. The duos have 2 hours to survive and eliminate all other duos to win the battle. As the battle continues, the defeated duos are eliminated from the battle. The three last duos remaining are Tooru's, Tomoe's and Tora's. Tomoe and Miyabi are eventually defeated by Tooru and Julie. Tooru and Julie continue and move on to find the other remaining duo. By the time Tooru and Julie gets there, Tora and his partner are found injured lying on the floor. Momentarily, Rito shows up and suddenly attack Tooru, revealing that she is the person who injure Tora and Tatsu. Then she explains that it is her duty to eliminate any student who is not up to the task. The fight between Tooru, Julie and Rito carries on. Afer learning from Rito that by breaking enemy's Blaze the enemy's soul will be damaged, Tooru uses his Mjolnir punch to break Rito's Blaze and end the fight. The next morning, still recovering from the injury, Tooru and Julie sit at the table and have their usual morning tea. They are then visited by Tomoe and Miyabi who bring them refreshments. That night, Tooru wakes up from the repeating nightmare about the past incident. The noises wake Julie up as well. She shows him the scar on her back, revealing that she is an Avenger like Tooru.
4	"Exception" "Ekusepushon" (特別/エクセプション)	January 25, 2015
Being told that they're someone like her, Lilith Bristol travels to Japan in order to meet Tooru Kokonoe, because he is special, just like her. Much later, everyone gathered at the classroom, Tora and Tatsu thanks Miyabi and Tomoe for helping them when they where injured. During the lesson, Tooru thinks about what Sakuya said before. But in the middle of the lesson, Lilith appeareas and tells Tooru to come with her, which annoys Rito. Lilith says that starting from now on, Tooru will be her Duo partner, but Tooru explains that he already has a Duo partner and declined. Later, Tooru asks Julie if she wants to go somewhere the next break, and she says yes. The break starting, Julie and Tooru are on their way to a mall that Miyabi recommended , but Miyabi told him that she already had plans with Tomoe. After buying clothes for Julie, they both eat ice cream while being watched by Tomoe and Miyabi. However, while watching, a group of boys where hitting at them and telling them to come with them. Tomoe resisted, but the boys took Miyabi's hand, which made Tomoe angry and told them to stop, however, Tooru came to the rescue and told them that they're with him, but that made the boys even more angry, but before they could do anything, Lilith quickly came behind them and attacked them with her Rifle. But that was the thing that Tooru was very suprised over; he realizes that rifle is a excepction..
5	"Level Up" "Reberuappu" (位階昇華/レベルアップ)	February 1, 2015
After the events of the New Blade Battle, Tooru and his companions sublimate to level 2. Likewise, their stats increase dramatically. Later however, Tooru is forced to leave school with Lilith to go to New Death Land, an amusement park. In the end, Tooru declines her offer to be a Duo once again, and goes back to his dorm meeting up with Julie. Upset the following day, Lilith trespasses on the 2nd year's battles and defeats them all. She then challenges the entire 1st year class to her Survive.
6	"Survive" "Sabaibu" (生存闘争/サバイブ)	February 8, 2015
7	"Silver-Blonde, Yellow Topaz" "Gin'iro no kami Koganeiro no kami" (銀色の髪, 黄金色の髪)	February 15, 2015
On the way to the island for the training camp with a boat, Julie's laying at Tooru's lap because she is feeling bad. Later, Tora and Tatsu tells them that Rito wants to see them; she tells the students that they're going to swim from the boat to the island where the camping is. But Julie can't swim, so Tooru has to carry her. On they're way, Lilith appereas and jumps from the helicopter to play with Tooru, however, he tells her that there's no time to play, which Lilith agrees on. After reaching the island, Tooru is laying at the beach to rest after the long trip. Continuing to reach the camp, the three have to go through the forest, however, some people attacked them - causing them to fight back. But what Tooru didn't expect is that he met someone he is familiar with; which is the lively Imari Nagakura, his opponent during the Kouryou Academy enrollment exam...
8	"Selection" "Hinpyō-kai" (品評会/セレクション)	February 22, 2015
9	"Rebels" "Ribērusu" (神滅部隊／リベールス)	March 1, 2015
10	"Reign Conference" "Reinkanfarensu" (七芒夜会/レインカンファレンス)	March 8, 2015
In the ruins of the facility, Tooru and his friends are searching for a missing Miyabi, only to be stopped by Rito who tells the students that they had to leave the island. Despite Tomoe's and Tooru's plea to stay in for their search, the rabbit teacher tells them that it was under the headmistress orders, forcing them aboard the ship and leave the island. Two days has passed since the incident, Tooru senses something different about Tomoe even her discipline remains unchanged, though only Lilith seeing Tomoe's upset reaction over Miyabi's disappearance while passing though the shower room. In the class, Tooru remarks over Rito's word about not to spread a word about Miyabi's disappearance, which winds up upsetting in his fellow classmates. At the same time, Lilith is cheering both Tooru and Tomoe up in the class before Julie also following suit.
11	"Killing Game" "kiringugēmu" (殺破遊戯/キリングゲーム)	March 15, 2015
Having witnessing Miyabi's strange behavior and her power that defeats the securities with ease, Tooru asks K what were they did to Miyabi which K replies as merely a "gift", power which is combined with Exceeds and Unit. Tomoe comes for Miyabi for her protection from K, only to be shocked as she not only Miyabi hurts her, she also learned from Lilith over her brainwashing. Unable to stand K's mockery, Tooru is going to attack K but instead he is confronting Miyabi. Meanwhile during the Reign Conference, Equipment Smith is gloating by telling Sakuya, who realized that he has been keeping an eye onto the girl who was desperately gaining Tooru's attention, that Miyabi is his best creation. Elsewhere, Tomoe is confronting Miyabi despite suffering her injury from her beating. In an attempt to convince Miyabi to give up her destructive strength, she tells her friend that not even Tooru wishes to see her current state, causing Miyabi to be snapped and attacking her. However, Tomoe tells Miyabi that she would be. Elsewhere, even learning Miyabi's freedom from the mind control, K proceeds defeating the duo by hurting Julie, leading to Tooru's immediate rescue while suffering injuries from K's squad's gun shots.
12	"Absolute Duo" "Abusoryūto Dyuo" (絶対双刃/アブソリュート・デュオ)	March 22, 2015

References

Light novels

Manga

Other

External links

• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Absolute Duo at ComicWalker (Japanese)
• Absolute Duo at Funimation
• Absolute Duo (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia