Strait Jacket (novel)
Encyclopedia
is a series of Japanese manga
and light novel
series by Ichirō Sakaki with illustrations by Yō Fujishiro, published by Fujimi Shobo
and since 2000 has run for ten volumes. It currently has sold over half a million copies
In 2007 a three episode original video animation based on the light novel was produced by Feel Anime Studios
. The OVA series has been licensed for English language translation and DVD
release in the United States
, Canada
and the United Kingdom
by Manga Entertainment
. A film version was aired on the Sci-Fi Channel
as part of their Ani-Monday programming block on October 20, 2008.
metropolis
that appears to be an amalgamation of turn of the century
Tokyo
, San Francisco, and Victorian era
London
. The technology of this world is heavily steampunk
-inspired, with most of it being clockwork
and steam driven, and although electricity
has been discovered, electronic devices are still in their infancy stages. Steam powered factories are prevalent and their massive chimneys dominate the skyline of Tristan, and many of the buildings have gothic architecture
or are cast-iron
and glass
buildings. The public fashion seems to be very much like that of Victorian era London. Although the internal combustion engine
has also been discovered and automobiles exist, vehicles are very rare and those that exist are reminiscent of 1930s models. The primary means of transportation for the public still remain steam trains, tram
s, zeppelin
s, and horse drawn carriages.
Alongside this technology and science exists magic
, which has been proven possible in public demonstrations by Dr. George Greco, although use of magic is only possible for a few talented individuals, and is very dangerous and highly illegal. Due to an invisible contaminant called the "malediction", or simply the "curse
", people who use magic too often are in danger of transforming into horrific, malevolent abominations of nature, completely immune to ordinary weapons and commonly referred to as "Demon
s." The Magic Administration Bureau, also known as the Sorcery
Management Bureau, is set up to attempt to safely explore the nature of magic, officially document it, attempt to provide rational scientific explanation for it, regulate its use and police those who use magic illegally. Magic, utilized in a safe sense by the Bureau, has been used as a viable energy source by the civil service, industry, agriculture, medicine, and the military. Effectively, the Magic Administration Bureau is now in control of every field and every facet of society.
The primary enemies of the Bureau are Oddman, a former left wing terrorist cell, turned mercenary. All of these magic users, even the ones with innocent and well-meaning intentions, are in danger of tapping into the dark side either accidentally or on purpose and themselves becoming bloodthirsty beasts due to accidents or sabotage by Oddman's agents. These Sorcerist agents wear a suit of armor that resists the negative transforming effects of magic. These suits are referred to as "mold armor", or more commonly a "strait jacket", due to the fact they constrain human beings in their natural form. The Sorcerists also use magically-tainted bullets from large hand-carried railguns powered by a combination of steam and magic, which are the only weapons capable of effectively stopping the magically-transformed monsters.
However, the over-stretched Bureau is steadily losing ground and increasingly must rely on outside help. There simply aren't enough Sorcerists to fight the Demons caused by Oddmans sabotage. This deliberate sabotage leads to an increase in accidental demonic transformations and attacks on the public across Tristan. Among those who fight the Demons is an unlicensed, rogue Sorcerist named Leiot Steinberg (also known as Rayotte Steinberg in some English versions), an anti hero who is viewed as a loose cannon bringing the name of Sorcerists into disrepute and causing as much damage as the Demons in his one-man war against them. Yet the Bureau is forced to reluctantly call upon his services in their losing battle. Because Steinberg fights against a sin he committed long ago, even with his mold armor he comes closer and closer to transforming into a Demon every time he casts a spell.
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...
and 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 by Ichirō Sakaki with illustrations by Yō Fujishiro, published by Fujimi Shobo
Fujimi Shobo
is a Japanese publishing company that specializes in the publication of light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. The company started in 1991 as a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.-Magazines published:Light novel magazines...
and since 2000 has run for ten volumes. It currently has sold over half a million copies
In 2007 a three episode original video animation based on the light novel was produced by Feel Anime Studios
Feel (studio)
is the name of a Japanese based company that specializes in the production of anime.-Anime produced:*Coyote Ragtime Show *Da Capo *Da Capo: Second Season *Da Capo II...
. The OVA series has been licensed for English language translation and 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....
release in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
. A film version was aired on the Sci-Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
as part of their Ani-Monday programming block on October 20, 2008.
Plot
Sutoreito Jaketto, or Strait Jacket, is set an alternate history where magic was proven to exist in the year 1899. The use of sorcery spread throughout all facets of society and changed the social and technological development of the world. The location is Tristan, an urbanUrban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
that appears to be an amalgamation of turn of the century
Turn of the century
Turn of the century, in its broadest sense, refers to the transition from one century to another. The term is most often used to indicate a non-specific time period either before or after the beginning of a century....
Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, San Francisco, and Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The technology of this world is heavily steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
-inspired, with most of it being clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
and steam driven, and although electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
has been discovered, electronic devices are still in their infancy stages. Steam powered factories are prevalent and their massive chimneys dominate the skyline of Tristan, and many of the buildings have gothic architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
or are cast-iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
and glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
buildings. The public fashion seems to be very much like that of Victorian era London. Although the internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
has also been discovered and automobiles exist, vehicles are very rare and those that exist are reminiscent of 1930s models. The primary means of transportation for the public still remain steam trains, tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s, zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
s, and horse drawn carriages.
Alongside this technology and science exists magic
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
, which has been proven possible in public demonstrations by Dr. George Greco, although use of magic is only possible for a few talented individuals, and is very dangerous and highly illegal. Due to an invisible contaminant called the "malediction", or simply the "curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
", people who use magic too often are in danger of transforming into horrific, malevolent abominations of nature, completely immune to ordinary weapons and commonly referred to as "Demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s." The Magic Administration Bureau, also known as the Sorcery
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
Management Bureau, is set up to attempt to safely explore the nature of magic, officially document it, attempt to provide rational scientific explanation for it, regulate its use and police those who use magic illegally. Magic, utilized in a safe sense by the Bureau, has been used as a viable energy source by the civil service, industry, agriculture, medicine, and the military. Effectively, the Magic Administration Bureau is now in control of every field and every facet of society.
The primary enemies of the Bureau are Oddman, a former left wing terrorist cell, turned mercenary. All of these magic users, even the ones with innocent and well-meaning intentions, are in danger of tapping into the dark side either accidentally or on purpose and themselves becoming bloodthirsty beasts due to accidents or sabotage by Oddman's agents. These Sorcerist agents wear a suit of armor that resists the negative transforming effects of magic. These suits are referred to as "mold armor", or more commonly a "strait jacket", due to the fact they constrain human beings in their natural form. The Sorcerists also use magically-tainted bullets from large hand-carried railguns powered by a combination of steam and magic, which are the only weapons capable of effectively stopping the magically-transformed monsters.
However, the over-stretched Bureau is steadily losing ground and increasingly must rely on outside help. There simply aren't enough Sorcerists to fight the Demons caused by Oddmans sabotage. This deliberate sabotage leads to an increase in accidental demonic transformations and attacks on the public across Tristan. Among those who fight the Demons is an unlicensed, rogue Sorcerist named Leiot Steinberg (also known as Rayotte Steinberg in some English versions), an anti hero who is viewed as a loose cannon bringing the name of Sorcerists into disrepute and causing as much damage as the Demons in his one-man war against them. Yet the Bureau is forced to reluctantly call upon his services in their losing battle. Because Steinberg fights against a sin he committed long ago, even with his mold armor he comes closer and closer to transforming into a Demon every time he casts a spell.
Cast
| Character | Seiyū Seiyu Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and... | English voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Leiot Steinberg / Rayotte Steinberg | Shinichiro Miki Shinichiro Miki is a Japanese voice actor. He is a member of 81 Produce.Miki is most known for the roles of Kojiro , Takumi Fujiwara , Kisuke Urahara , Akira Yuki , Lockon Stratos , and Roy Mustang .According to the Anime News Network, as of Spring 2007, Miki is... |
Steven Blum Steven Blum Steven Jay Blum is an American voice actor known primarily for his work in anime dubs and video games, using his distinctive deep voice. Among his credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Mugen of the anime series Samurai Champloo... |
| Kapel Theta / Kapelteta Fernandez | Kei Shindou | Lara Jill Miller Lara Jill Miller Lara Jill Miller is an American television, stage and voice actress.-Biography:Miller was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on April 20, 1967. She graduated from Allentown's William Allen High School... |
| Nerin Simmons | Ai Maeda | Bridget Hoffman Bridget Hoffman Bridget Hoffman is an American actress best known for her work as an anime voice actress. She also serves as an ADR scriptwriter and ADR director... |
| Isaac Hammond | Akira Sasanuma Akira Sasanuma is a Japanese voice actor who is a member of Arts Vision.-Notable voice roles:*Crush Gear Turbo *Gundam Seed *Gundam Seed Destiny... |
Crispin Freeman Crispin Freeman Crispin McDougal Freeman is an American voice actor, and Mythology scholar. His roles have included Alucard from Hellsing, Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Karasu from Noein, Togusa from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, as Holland Novak from Eureka Seven, Touga Kiriyu in... |
| Rachel Hammond | Asami Imai Asami Imai is a female Japanese singer and Voice actress who works for EARLY WING. She debuted as a Voice actress in 1999 and as singer in 2009 by releasing her first single "Day by Day / Shining Blue Rain" under the 5pb. Records label. She is also well known for giving voice to Chihaya Kisaragi in THE... |
Kari Wahlgren Kari Wahlgren Kari K. Wahlgren is an American voice actress who has provided English language voices for dozens of anime titles and video games. Her debut role was as one of the main characters of FLCL, Haruko Haruhara. She had a live-action role as Tinker Bell in the 2003 Damion Dietz film Neverland... |
| Reegs | Kenji Nomura Kenji Nomura , nicknamed "Nomuchin", is a Japanese voice actor from Okayama Prefecture affiliated with Aksent. He graduated Kurashikishiritsu Chayachō Elementary School, Kurashikishiritsu Tōyō Junior High School, and Okayamakenritsu Amagi High School.-Television animation:... |
Jamieson Price Jamieson Price Jamieson Kent Price is an American voice actor.Price was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is most well known for his deep and booming voice and can be heard in numerous anime shows and video games. He is also known as Taylor Henry and James Lyon... |
| Brian Meno Moderato | Kouji Ishii | Paul St. Peter Paul St. Peter Paul Schmidl Peter , better known as Paul St. Peter, is an American voice actor. He also uses the names George C. Cole, George Z. Cole and Francis C. Cole... |
| Filisis Moog | Mayumi Asano Mayumi Asano is a Japanese voice actress who was formerly part of Production Baobab.-Television animation:*Angel Sanctuary OVA *Angelic Layer *Armored Core: Last Raven *Bleach *Blood+... |
Tara Platt Tara Platt Tara Platt is an American film and television actress as well as a voice actor. She is married to fellow voice actor Yuri Lowenthal.... |
| Jack Roland | Tatsuya Kobashi | Keith Silverstein Keith Silverstein -Anime:*Blade of the Immortal - Manji*Bleach - Coyote Starrk, Aaroniero Arruruerie , Mabashi, Tesra Lindocruz*Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion - Sōjirō Kusaka*Blue Dragon - Lemaire*Buso Renkin - Masashi Daihama, Mita... |
| Falk | Hiroaki Hirata Hiroaki Hirata is a male seiyū from Tokyo. He stands at 175 centimeters , and is a member of Gekidan Subaru.He is most known for the roles of Sanji , Sha Gojyo , and the Narrator of Digimon Adventure... |
Christopher Smith Christopher Corey Smith Christopher Corey Smith is an American voice actor, mostly working in the anime dubbing and video game industry. Smith began his movie career as a set dresser in 1986, and has been voice acting since 1992... |
| George Thomson | Jin Domon Jin Domon is a Japanese voice actor. He is the husband of fellow voice actress Etsuko Kozakura-Television animation:*Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo *Transformers: Cybertron *One Piece *Blood+... |
Kirk Thornton Kirk Thornton Kirk Thornton is an American voice actor.-Bio:He is known for playing tough or grouchy men in English-dubbed anime and video games. His career includes Hotohori in Fushigi Yūgi and Jin in Samurai Champloo... |
External links
- Anime Official Site - Japanese, English language version not yet available