Uwasa no Midori-kun!!

Uwasa no Midori-kun!! (うわさの翠くん!!, lit. "The Rumored Midori-kun!!") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gō Ikeyamada. It premiered in Shōjo Comic in December 2006 where it ran until its conclusion in October 2008. The individual chapters were collected and published in ten tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan. Two of its chapters are used in Gō Ikeyamada's Shōnen x Cinderella. The manga is licensed in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing, in Indonesia by Tiga Lancar Semesta and in France by Kurokawa.

The manga was adapted into a Nintendo DS game called Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Natsu Iro Striker (うわさの翠くん!! 夏色ストライカー), which was released by Idea Factory on September 20, 2007. In August 21, 2008, Idea Factory released another Nintendo DS game for the series called Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Futari no Midori!? (うわさの翠くん!!2 ふたりの翠!?).

Story

Yamate Midori is a 15-year-old girl and is a tomboy. One day, Midori meets a boy called Hino Tsukasa, who came to the island she lives on for a holiday. He teaches her to play soccer and she falls in love with the sport. Inspired by Tsukasa, Midori continues to play soccer in hopes that they would meet again someday. When they do meet again, Tsukasa loses her trust by doing something unforgivable. He seduces her on the first date, even going so far as to claim that they'll marry someday, in order to convince her to give him her virginity which she'd been saving for her future husband. The next day she finds him demanding payment from his teammates for having won the bet, laughing about how easy it is to get a "country girl" to have sex, and speculating that he'd do it with her a few more times before leaving; when he discovers that she heard all of this, he arrogantly tells her that she's at fault for being too trusting, and that she should be proud to have had sex with a future soccer star like himself. Determined to defeat Tsukasa on the soccer field, and bring him down for what he'd done, Midori disguises herself as a boy and enrolls in an all-boys high school that rivals Tsukasa's and joins their team. Unfortunately for her, a boy in her dorm finds out her real gender almost immediately.

Characters

Main Characters

Midori Yamate (山手 翠, Yamate Midori)

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Drama CD), Rie Kugimiya (Digicomi Version)

15 years old. She is a 1st year, a girl disguised as a boy, at Aoba 3rd High School. She lives in Aoba 3rd dormitory. She has part time job as a waitress (she uses a black long hair wig) to earn money. At the beginning of the series, she loves Tsukasa. As the result of his reprehensible behavior, she detests him, but actually she still loves him. During the series, she begins to develop feelings towards Kazuma, though she doesn't seem to realize her love for him. In the end of the manga, she calls out Kazuma's name while she's asleep, as an evidence showing he's her true love. She decides to let go of her first love, Tsukasa Hino, in order to come to Kazuma. In the end, Midori married Kazuma and had a daughter named Akane, and they moved to Midori's island to start a new life. There, Midori, Kazuma, and Akane reunited with Tsukasa, his wife, and son Kakeru.

Kazuma Shinbashi (新橋 カズマ, Shinbashi Kazuma)

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Drama CD, Game), Hiroyuki Yoshino (Digicomi Version)

15 years old. He is a 1st year at Aoba 3rd High School. He lives in Aoba 3rd dormitory. He knows Midori is a girl because of unexpected incident between them at the begin of series. He loves Midori very much and is willing to do every thing for her to keep her smiling. He acts as her protector and is willing to put his own feelings and happiness aside if it means to help Midori and make her happy. He is even usually seen helping her get closer to Tsukasa because he thinks that will make her smile. In the end, Midori confesses her love to Kazuma and they begin dating; he proposes to her after graduation. Years later, they are married and have a daughter named Akane.

Tsukasa Hino (氷野 司, Hino Tsukasa)

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Drama CD, Game), Yuichi Nakamura (Digicomi Version)

17 years old. He is a 2nd year at Josei High School. He is the Josei soccer club ace. He seduced Midori, lied to her to make her have sex with him, for entertainment and as a bet with friends; when she found him out he told her she shouldn't have trusted him so easily but that she'd be able to brag about getting to have sex with someone so far out of her league. He actually falls in love with Midori, but because of his dark past, he cannot show his feelings directly. In order to protect Midori, and also to bring her happiness. He constantly sexually harasses her when they are alone. Tsukasa also gets very jealous whenever Midori is with Kazuma smiling brightly. They eventually reconcile when Midori discovers his dark past and date for a while. Near the end, they break up. Tsukasa later marries and has a son named Kakeru.

Aoba 3rd High School

Kouki Sagara (相楽 光輝, Sagara Kouki)

Voiced by: Reiko Takagi (Drama CD, game)

A 2nd year at Aoba 3rd High School. He is Aoba 3rd soccer club striker. He is the son of Sagara Yuki and Moriyama Miki (the main protagonist of 'Get Love!!' series by the same author) and the boyfriend of Mamoru Kaji. Like his father, his body also small.

Kei Hodaka (穂高 慧, Hodaka Kei)

A 2nd year at Aoba 3rd High School. He is Aoba 3rd soccer club striker. He is Hodaka Ryu's son. He is Kouki's bestfriend and dating his little sister, Maki Sagara

Jin Ebisu (恵比寿, Ebisu Jin)

Voiced by: Romi Paku (Drama CD, game)

A 1st year at Aoba 3rd High School. He lives at Aoba 3rd dormitory in room 204. He is Miyu Motoyama's boyfriend. He is small like Kouki.

Tetsu Yoyogi (代々木, Yoyogi Tetsu)

Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Drama CD, game)

A 1st year at Aoba 3rd High School. He lives at Aoba 3rd dormitory in room 203.

Kaoru Sugamo (巣鴨 薫, Sugamo Kaoru)

Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Drama CD, game)

A 1st year at Aoba 3rd High School. He lives at Aoba 3rd dormitory in room 205.

Tōru Shinagawa (品川 トオル, Shinagawa Tōru)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Drama CD, game)

A 2nd year at Aoba 3rd High School. He is Aoba 3rd soccer club striker. He knows Midori is a girl at first sight. He often skips soccer practice and is a playboy.

Masato Gotanda (五反田 正人, Gotanda Masato)

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Drama CD, game)

A 3rd year at Aoba 3rd High School. He is Aoba 3rd soccer club goal keeper and captain.

Tatsuya Ikebukuro (池袋 龍也, Ikebukuro Tatsuya)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Drama CD, game)

A 3rd year at Aoba 3rd High School. He is Aoba 3rd soccer club defender. He is a troublemaker.

Josei High School

Akira Kawasaki (川崎 明, Kawasaki Akira)

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Drama CD, game)

Tsukasa's friend in Josei soccer club. He knows all of Tsukasa's dark past and problem. He knows Midori is a girl.

Jun Kurihama (恵比寿 仁, Kurihama Jun)

Tsukasa's junior in Josei soccer club.

Tōgo Misaki (三崎 冬吾, Misaki Tōgo)

Voiced by: Jun Takagi (Drama CD, game)

Other Characters

Wakaba Yamate (山手 若葉, Yamate Wakaba)

Midori's mother. She is a single parent.

Mamori Kaji (加持 守里, Kaji Mamori)

Daughter of Tamotsu Kaji from Get Love!. She is Kouki's girlfriend.

Miyu Motoyama (本山 みゆ, Motoyama Miyu)

A shy girl and later becomes Jin's girlfriend. She is Midori's friend at the cafe where Midori has part time job as a waitress.

Yūki (ユウキ, Yūki)

She falling in love in first sight with Masato after he helped her. She is Midori's friend at the cafe where Midori has part time job as a waitress.

Maki Sagara (相楽 真樹, Sagara Maki)

Kouki's little sister and Kei's girlfriend.

Media

Manga

Uwasa no Midori-kun!! was written and illustrated by Gō Ikeyamada. It was serialised in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic in December 2006 where it ran until its conclusion in October 2008. The individual chapters were collected and published in ten tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan.^[1][2] Two of its chapters are used in Gō Ikeyamada's Shōnen x Cinderella.

Games

The manga was adapted into a Nintendo DS game called Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Natsu Iro Striker (うわさの翠くん!! 夏色ストライカー), which was released by Idea Factory on September 20, 2007.^[3][4] On August 21, 2008, Idea Factory released another Nintendo DS game for the series called Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Futari no Midori!? (うわさの翠くん!!2 ふたりの翠!?).^[5]

Drama CD

Based on the manga, a Drama CD, called Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Futari no Oji to Hadaka Hime no Fukushu, was released on March 5, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment. The songs are sung by Hikaru Midorikawa, Akira Ishida, Romi Park and Kazuya Nakai.^[6]

Reception

The fifth volume of Uwasa no Midori-kun!! was ranked 10th on the Tohan charts between October 30 and November 5, 2007.^[7] The ninth volume of Uwasa no Midori-kun!! was ranked 8th on the Tohan charts between August 26 and September 1, 2008.^[8] The tenth volume of Uwasa no Midori-kun!! was ranked 22nd on the Tohan charts between October 21 to 27, 2008 and 13th on the Tohan charts between October 28 and November 3, 2008.^[9]

References

External links

• Uwasa no Midori-kun!! (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Official Idea Factory Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Natsu Iro Striker game website (Japanese)
• Official Idea Factory Uwasa no Midori-kun!! Futari no Midori!? game website (Japanese)