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Hen (manga)
Encyclopedia
is a seinen
manga
which was the first work created by manga artist
Hiroya Oku
, who is best known for Gantz
.
There are two separate series of Hen, but they share the same setting, and characters from the first series appear in the second.
OVA series. It was released in North America by Central Park Media
under the title Strange Love. This release was marketed as a hentai
anime, but the original manga is seinen
. Hiroya Oku
did not approve of this OVA, because in the anime
there is not a lesbian love relationship between Azumi and Chizuru just a friendship. Still, the anime follows the manga fairly closely through chapter 17, and Chizuru, while not normally a lesbian, is clearly infatuated with Azumi.
television series. The first half starred Shinsuke Aoki as Suzuki, actress Aiko Sato as Sato, and Shigaya Kazuma as Hiroya Oku. The second half starred Asami Jo
as Chizuru and Miho Kiuchi as Azumi. The VHS release had more explicit sex scenes than the broadcast version. The TV version was released on Region 2 DVD in November 2006.
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
which was the first work created by manga artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Hiroya Oku
Hiroya Oku
is a manga artist who is the creator of Gantz, Zero One and HEN, all of which have been serialized in Young Jump. He is currently working on Phase 3 of Gantz, which began in October 2009...
, who is best known for Gantz
Gantz
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. Gantz tells the story of Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato who die in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which they and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens...
.
There are two separate series of Hen, but they share the same setting, and characters from the first series appear in the second.
Suzuki & Satō
- (変) Suzuki & Satō: The first series, 13 volumes—Ichirō Suzuki, a straight young man who becomes besotted with another guy, Yūki Sato, convinced his bishōnenBishonenis a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth ". The equivalent English concept is a "pretty boy".The term describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man whose beauty transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation...
love is a girl trapped in a boy's body. Interestingly, author Hiroya Oku is one of the characters in the story, the best friend of Satō. The first three volumes of this series collect Oku's early short stories, including prototype versions of both Hen series.
Characters
- Played by Shinsuke Aoki
- Played by Aiko SatōAiko Satois a female Japanese judoka. She won the gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2011 World Judo Championships.-External links:* at the judoinside.com....
- Played by Kazuma Shigaya
- Played by Hideki Okada
- Played by Juri Miyazawa
- Played by Miho Kiuchi
- Played by Tomoka KurotaniTomoka KurotaniKurotani Tomoka is a Japanese actress. She starred as the femme fatale female ninja Kagero in Shinobi Heart Under Blade.-Films:*Boxer Joe *勝手にしやがれ!! 英雄計画...
Chizuru & Azumi
- (HEN) Chizuru & Azumi: The second series, 8 volumes—Sexy student Chizuru Yoshida, to her utmost horror, falls in love with another girl, the innocent Azumi Yamada. A prototype version of this story was published in 変(Hen)#2.
Characters
- A beautiful and perfect student that excels in everything she does, Chizuru is every man's dream and she knows it. Playing men for whatever she wants, the young high school model has a great life until she meets her current fling's new neighbors. Instantly Chizuru, a girl who has never known love, falls heavily for the young female neighbor, Azumi Yamada. Chizuru, refusing to admit it at first, quickly comes to realize she must be with Azumi at any cost. Now living with her fake boyfriend, Hiroyuki, just one apartment away from Azumi, she puts forth every effort to constantly be around her crushLimerenceLimerence is a term coined c. 1977 by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov to describe an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction to another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated...
. - Played by Asami JōAsami Jois a Japanese AV Idol from Tokyo. Tokusatsu fans also know her as the villain Shibolena in the Super Sentai series Denji Sentai Megaranger.-Life and career:Jō was born in Tokyo and was a TV commercial model before starting a career in pornography...
(live action), Atsuko Kichiya (anime)
- Azumi is an innocent and average looking young high school girl. However, after moving from KyushuKyushuis the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
to a new city and new apartment complex she meets Chizuru. At first the friendly Azumi tries to be nice to Chizuru, only to be harshly rejected. Eventually though, the two become friends, although Azumi fears that there might be something weird about Chizuru. Azumi, who wishes to become a screenwriterScreenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, one day attempts to join the drama club. There she befriends a young, amateur film maker named Ryuichi Kobayashi. - Played by Miho Kiuchi (live action), Ayumi Sakurai (anime)
- Ryuichi is also a newly transferred high school student that enjoys making movies in his free time. Upon meeting Chizuru in the infirmary, he quickly falls in love with her face, wishing for her to be an actress in one of his movies. Ryuichi eventually befriends Azumi as they attempt to join the drama club. As evidenced from chapter 38 he has an enormous penis.
- Played by Yosuke Kubozuka (live action)
- Karasawa, who appears as the main character for several of the opening chapters, is a new teacher at Chizuru's high school. He quickly falls in love with her after recognizing her as a model. After a little effort, Karasawa is able to trick Chizuru into admitting she is a model, infuriating her. She then convinces Karasawa to let her sleep at his apartment for the night, where she enacts vengeance through teasing him to some degree or another throughout the night. His name is written with the same kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
as Toshiaki KarasawaToshiaki Karasawais a Japanese theatre and film actor. He made his theatrical debut in the play Voice Review Stay Gold in 1987. He specialises in theatrical action sequences such as swordplay and fighting...
. - Played by Hiroki Okayasu (live action), Takehito KoyasuTakehito Koyasuis a Japanese voice actor.-Career:Koyasu is part of the voice actor quartet Weiß consisting of Weiß Kreuz voice castmates Shinichiro Miki, Tomokazu Seki, and Yuuki Hiro...
(anime)
- A young Japanese rockstar, living in his parents mansion (a large Japanese apartment considered to be more like a suite) and on their money, he was yet another fling of the beautiful Chizuru. However, when his new neighbors moved in with their daughter Azumi Yamada, Chizuru quickly claimed him as her boyfriend. Hiroyuki, realizing that Chizuru has a crush on Azumi, but truly believing that she loves him, has formed a plan to seduce and sleep with Azumi, ruining her for Chizuru.
- Played by Shinsuke Aoki (live action), Akira IshidaAkira IshidaAkira Ishida is a prolific male seiyū born in Nisshin, Aichi, Japan.He was a part of Mausu Promotion from 1988 until March 2009...
(anime)
OVA
In 1997, the "Chizuru & Azumi" chapter was turned into a two episode animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
OVA series. It was released in North America by Central Park Media
Central Park Media
Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...
under the title Strange Love. This release was marketed as a hentai
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
anime, but the original manga is seinen
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
. Hiroya Oku
Hiroya Oku
is a manga artist who is the creator of Gantz, Zero One and HEN, all of which have been serialized in Young Jump. He is currently working on Phase 3 of Gantz, which began in October 2009...
did not approve of this OVA, because in the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
there is not a lesbian love relationship between Azumi and Chizuru just a friendship. Still, the anime follows the manga fairly closely through chapter 17, and Chizuru, while not normally a lesbian, is clearly infatuated with Azumi.
Live action
In 1996, Hen was turned into a live actionLive action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
television series. The first half starred Shinsuke Aoki as Suzuki, actress Aiko Sato as Sato, and Shigaya Kazuma as Hiroya Oku. The second half starred Asami Jo
Asami Jo
is a Japanese AV Idol from Tokyo. Tokusatsu fans also know her as the villain Shibolena in the Super Sentai series Denji Sentai Megaranger.-Life and career:Jō was born in Tokyo and was a TV commercial model before starting a career in pornography...
as Chizuru and Miho Kiuchi as Azumi. The VHS release had more explicit sex scenes than the broadcast version. The TV version was released on Region 2 DVD in November 2006.