Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese sci-fi
light novel
series written by Mizuhito Akiyama
with illustrations by Eeji Komatsu that centers on the relationship between Kana Iriya, a high school girl who has to fight alien invaders, and Naoyuki Asaba, a member of the school newspaper club and one of her few friends. There were four light novels published by MediaWorks
under their Dengeki Bunko
imprint; the series was once nominated for the Seiun Award
. Later, a six-episode original video animation
adaptation was created based on the novels; the DVDs were released in Japan between February 25 and July 29, 2005. Two sound novel video games for the Nintendo DS
were released in Japan; the first in January 2007 and the second in October 2007. A manga
series illustrated by Tōko Kanno was serialized in ASCII Media Works
' seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh
between the October 2007 and March 2009 issues.
The next day, Naoyuki is surprised to find that Kana joins his class as the new term begins. Eventually, both of them take a liking to each other and Naoyuki even gets her to join the school newspaper club. Little does Naoyuki know that Kana is in fact an expert fighter pilot engaged in a war between humans and aliens that has been going on since the Kenneth Arnold incident
on June 24, 1947. The whole world's fate rests in the hands of Kana Iriya and if she can ultimately hold off the invasion in the final battle.
series of Iriya no Sora is written by Japanese author Mizuhito Akiyama
and illustrated by Eeji Komatsu, also known for his work on Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume. The series was four volumes in length and published by MediaWorks
under their Dengeki Bunko
label. Eventually, the series was nominated for the Seiun Award
. The Chinese translation is published by Kadokawa Media
.
series based on the novels was produced by the animation studio Toei Animation
. The OVAs were released as six DVD
s between February 25 and July 29, 2005. Five of the DVD titles are taken from the chapter titles of the novels. The OVA's opening theme was "Forever Blue" and the ending theme was "Himawari", both sung by Chihiro Imai.
based on the series was released in Japan on January 11, 2007 by MediaWorks
. A sequel named Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu II was released on October 25, 2007. On the same day the second game came out, a bundle pack containing the two games went on sale.
adaptation for the series was serialized in ASCII Media Works
' seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh
between the October 2007 and March 2009 issues. Two tankōbon
volume of the manga were released between June 27, 2008 and April 27, 2009 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics
imprint. The manga's artist, Tōko Kanno, is also the artist of the manga adaptation of Oku-sama wa Mahō Shōjo: Bewitched Agnes
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
light novel
Light novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
series written by Mizuhito Akiyama
Mizuhito Akiyama
is a Seiun Award winning author noted for his science fiction light novel series Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu. He graduated from Hosei University, where he had learned about writing novels in a seminar class under guidance from his teacher, Professor Mizuhito Kanehara, from whom Akiyama took his...
with illustrations by Eeji Komatsu that centers on the relationship between Kana Iriya, a high school girl who has to fight alien invaders, and Naoyuki Asaba, a member of the school newspaper club and one of her few friends. There were four light novels published by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
under their Dengeki Bunko
Dengeki Bunko
is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works . It was established in June 1993 with the publication of Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania volume one, and is a light novel imprint aimed at a male audience...
imprint; the series was once nominated for the Seiun Award
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...
. Later, a six-episode original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
adaptation was created based on the novels; the DVDs were released in Japan between February 25 and July 29, 2005. Two sound novel video games for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
were released in Japan; the first in January 2007 and the second in October 2007. A 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...
series illustrated by Tōko Kanno was serialized in ASCII Media Works
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
' seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh
Dengeki Maoh
is a Japanese seinen magazine published by ASCII Media Works . It first went on sale on October 27, 2005 and is sold every month on the twenty-seventh. The magazine features information on video games, manga, and light novels...
between the October 2007 and March 2009 issues.
Plot
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu is a story revolving around a secret war that has been going on below the public's eye since 1947 and a group of people involved in the war, either directly or indirectly. The main protagonist is a young high school student named Naoyuki Asaba who, on the last day of summer break, sneaks into the school at night to swim in secret. However, upon arrival at the pool, he meets the mysterious Kana Iriya, who is there for the same reason. However, she doesn't know how to swim, so Naoyuki offers to teach her how to swim. During this private lesson, a group of people show up in search of Kana and take her back to the nearby air force base where she is staying.The next day, Naoyuki is surprised to find that Kana joins his class as the new term begins. Eventually, both of them take a liking to each other and Naoyuki even gets her to join the school newspaper club. Little does Naoyuki know that Kana is in fact an expert fighter pilot engaged in a war between humans and aliens that has been going on since the Kenneth Arnold incident
Kenneth Arnold
Kenneth A. Arnold was an American aviator and businessman. He is best-known for making what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to have seen nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington...
on June 24, 1947. The whole world's fate rests in the hands of Kana Iriya and if she can ultimately hold off the invasion in the final battle.
Characters
- The main character, Naoyuki is usually a relatively quiet boy who spends time with his close friends most of the time. His parents own a hair salon, and Naoyuki himself is able to cut hair. A member of the school newspaper club, he spent the previous summer keeping a watch out for UFOs near a local military base with the club's chairman for company. At the beginning of the school year, he meets the new transfer student, Kana Iriya, and quickly forms a crush on her. Naoyuki usually tries his best to be assertive when needed, but is also very sensitive and cries several times throughout the series.
- Kana is a very mysterious girl who transfers into Naoyuki's class at the beginning of the school term at the end of the summer vacation. She tends to have very little social skills and rarely talks to anyone. In effect, most of her classmates dislike her rude attitude and avoid her most of the time. The truth is, however, that she is humanity's last hope at defeating alien invaders from completely annihilating the human race. To save mankind, she is forced to pilot the "Black Manta", a super advanced fighter jet with astounding maneuverability, with which she often fights the invaders. However, by flying the Black Manta, Iriya's mind and body are constantly under incredible strain causing her to often bleed frequently, especially from her nose. Soon after meeting Naoyuki at school, she quickly develops a 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...
on him and because of this, she joins the school newspaper club to be with him. She places various objects in his footlocker on the days that she is present at school.
- Akiho is one of Naoyuki's classmates and has known Asaba long enough to have developed a crush on him. At first, she dislikes Kana and excludes her from club activities, but after an eating contest where they both overeat and get sick they finally become friends.
- He is the chairman of the Sonohara Wave Press otherwise known as is the school newspaper club. He is always filled with energy and is very loud because of it. He refers to the other members of the club as "Special Correspondents" and often gets very in to his work. Also, he is relatively knowledgeable about computers as once he was able to listen in on Naoyuki's and Kana's conversation when they were on a date together. In the novels, it is mentioned that he is actually quite good in both studies and sports; his record for running the 100 meter dash is eleven seconds.
- Supposedly Kana's older brother, he is an older man who is more or less in charge of Kana and is very protective of her. Usually he tends to be a very care-free type of person, though can sometimes be driven to be very violent, especially when Kana is concerned.
- She is Enomoto's colleague, who is also connected with protecting Kana at all costs. She impersonates the school nurse at Naoyuki's school in order to keep an eye on Kana, though she really does seem to have some knowledge about medicine. Also, she can be a very violent person and once brutally fought with Naoyuki after they had a talk about Kana. Mayumi Shiina is not her real name, which remains unknown; the initials of her true name, as seen in her letter to Naoyuki, is "T.S.".
- Naoyuki's younger sister who is in junior high school. She tends to be very loud and annoying to her older brother and does not back down easily. When Naoyuki went on a date with Kana, Yūko ended up following and spying on them, which is probably because she was interested in finding out who Kana was. After the spying, she got into a fight with Suizenji.
- Naoyuki's classmate, who often hangs out with him.
- Naoyuki's form teacher.
Light novels
The light novelLight novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
series of Iriya no Sora is written by Japanese author Mizuhito Akiyama
Mizuhito Akiyama
is a Seiun Award winning author noted for his science fiction light novel series Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu. He graduated from Hosei University, where he had learned about writing novels in a seminar class under guidance from his teacher, Professor Mizuhito Kanehara, from whom Akiyama took his...
and illustrated by Eeji Komatsu, also known for his work on Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume. The series was four volumes in length and published by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
under their Dengeki Bunko
Dengeki Bunko
is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works . It was established in June 1993 with the publication of Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania volume one, and is a light novel imprint aimed at a male audience...
label. Eventually, the series was nominated for the Seiun Award
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...
. The Chinese translation is published by Kadokawa Media
Kadokawa Shoten
is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
.
List of chapters
Volume 1
Volume 2
|
Volume 3
Volume 4
|
Original video animation
A six-episode original video animationOriginal video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
series based on the novels was produced by the animation studio Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
. The OVAs were released as six DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s between February 25 and July 29, 2005. Five of the DVD titles are taken from the chapter titles of the novels. The OVA's opening theme was "Forever Blue" and the ending theme was "Himawari", both sung by Chihiro Imai.
Episodes
| # | Title | Original sale date |
|---|---|---|
Video games
A sound novel and card game video game for the Nintendo DSNintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
based on the series was released in Japan on January 11, 2007 by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
. A sequel named Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu II was released on October 25, 2007. On the same day the second game came out, a bundle pack containing the two games went on sale.
Manga
A mangaManga
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...
adaptation for the series was serialized in ASCII Media Works
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
' seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh
Dengeki Maoh
is a Japanese seinen magazine published by ASCII Media Works . It first went on sale on October 27, 2005 and is sold every month on the twenty-seventh. The magazine features information on video games, manga, and light novels...
between the October 2007 and March 2009 issues. Two tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volume of the manga were released between June 27, 2008 and April 27, 2009 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics
Dengeki Comics
is a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label which publishes a lesser number of manga volumes...
imprint. The manga's artist, Tōko Kanno, is also the artist of the manga adaptation of Oku-sama wa Mahō Shōjo: Bewitched Agnes
Oku-sama wa Maho Shojo: Bewitched Agnes
is a magical girl anime comedy. It was produced by Media Factory, J.C. Staff, and Amber Film Works, and was broadcast on several television channels in Japan between July and September 2005...
.