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Kimagure Orange Road (きまぐれオレンジ☆ロード Kimagure Orenji Rōdu) is a popular shōnen romantic comedy manga series from the late 1980s.
Written by Izumi Matsumoto (まつもと泉 Matsumoto Izumi), it was later adopted into anime by Akemi Takada, and in the mid 1990s novelized. The series deals with a love triangle between the main character, an indecisive esper named Kyosuke Kasuga, Madoka Ayukawa, a mercurial girl with a tough past, and Hikaru Hiyama, Madoka's ditzy best friend. Kyosuke falls in love with Madoka, and Madoka wants to return those feelings, but cannot because of Hikaru's involvement with Kyosuke.
While the length of the series demands that certain elements are repeated, and a number of running gags abound, the series for the most part avoids falling into formula, and this has increased its popularity.
The series consist of 18 volumes of manga (when first printed), 48 TV anime episodes, 8 OVAs, 2 animated movies, and 3 novels published as Shin KOR (New Kimagure Orange Road). Translations of the manga and novels exist in several languages, including Chinese and French. The Shin KOR novels have not officially been translated into english although all three have fan translations at various websites. In the US, the TV series, OVAs, and the first movie is licenced by AnimEigo, while the second movie, based on first Shin KOR novel, is licensed by ADV Films. In addition, there is a five volume "cinema" radio drama set on compact disc. It has a slightly different storyline than the anime or manga, but more closely resembles the anime. It is put out by Victor Entertainment.
Characters
Names are written in Western order, with the family name after the given name.
Kyosuke is the man in the love triangle. He and his family (excluding his father) are all espers. His two sisters are often scolded for using their powers in public and that made them moving home for many time.
Kyosuke is fairly shy when it comes to girls, and this is used as the source of much of the comedy. His uncertain heart made series to very long.
The archetypical "kimagure" (whimsical) character. Secretly in love with Kyosuke Kasuga, and best friend of Hikaru Hiyama who is herself in love with Kyosuke. This character is specifically constructed from several wildly different allurements. On her first appearance, she appears to be a pleasing but typical girl. But in that same episode, she is revealed to be a tough brawler unpopular with the boys in her school, who consoles herself by playing the saxophone enchantingly. In the anime, her signature weapon is her ability to throw a guitar pick like a throwing star. Further, her parents are professional musicians often touring outside Japan. The story involves her socialization upon Kyosuke's joining her group, as evidenced by her giving up cigarettes in an early episode. He daren't use his powers to win her love, though, for he thinks that would be cheating. Her given name refers to the moon.
She is initially presented as being more unpleasant a brawler, and a tougher talker, than Madoka. By accidentally seeing Kyosuke using his powers, she falls for him and, besides always calling him by the gaijin word, "Darling," reverts to a form of baby talk. She has unrequited love for Kyosuke. Her name refers to the brightness of the sun, and of a sparkling personality. Hikaru is a year younger than Ayukawa and Kyosuke.
One of Kyosuke's younger sisters. Manami is very reserved, but it is revealed in both the manga and anime that she has a wild side that occasionally needs release. In the manga she is especially fond of Ayukawa and would like to see Kyosuke and her get together. However this important manga story never made it into the anime. As such the anime version shows no such preference.
Manami's (fraternal) twin sister. Kurumi is very energetic and argumentative. She's also able to bring these qualities out in Manami as well. Kurumi used The Power to run the 100-meter dash in 3 seconds at her old school. This incident was responsible for the Kasugas moving to the town where the series took place.
In the manga Kurumi wants Kasuga to end up with Hikaru. But, again, this storyline never made it into the anime, and the anime Kurumi shows no such preference.
Kurumi possesses the ability to hypnotize Kyosuke (and only Kyosuke). Although Kurumi appeared to learn this from a book, her actual ability is probably derived from The Power.
Proprietor of ABCB (pronounced ar-ba-ca-bu) cafe located on Orange Road and, consequently, Ayukawa's boss. Is one of the few characters who realizes how Ayukawa and Kasuga feel about each other. He does everything in his power to smooth relations between the two. In the manga he shuts down ABCB after it is discovered that Ayukawa was working there. (At the time of the story, Japanese high school students couldn't hold jobs).
In the novels it is revealed that he bounced back by opening one of the first cybercafes in Tokyo.
Kyosuke's two perverted friends. They're also potential boyfriends for the twins. But most likely the twins are using them as place-holders until someone better comes along. Kazuya Hatta is not to be confused with Kazuya Kasuga.
Komatsu's Seiyuu is Keiichi Namba
Hatta's Seiyuu is Masami Kikuchi
Kazuya Kasuga
Kyosuke's younger cousin. Kazuya looks like a younger version of Kyosuke. On several occassions people have mistaken Kazuya for Kyosuke's son.
Kazuya has The Power as well, but in the form of telepathy. In both the manga and the anime telepathy appears to be his only power. Kyosuke and Kazuya can swap bodies by banging their heads together. On several occasions they've done this intentionally.
The older sister of Kazuya; is the same age as Kyosuke. Akane can use The Power to make people see illusions. She has only been seen using this power to make herself appear as different people; it is unknown if she can create other types of illusions. The illusions appear to be both aural and visual. This power works only on the person it is directed towards, so is probably a mixture of telepathy and hypnosis (elements of The Power which have been demonstrated in other members of the Kasuga family.)
In the anime Akane has the same powers that Kasuga and the twins have, in addition to her illusion power. However, this is not true in the manga.
Akane is considered by many to be a lesbian, for her apparent obsession with Ayukawa and other female characters. Matusumoto Izumi has gone on record as saying that Akane's feelings towards other women are misinterpreted, and are nothing more than innocent hero worship. However, this is very difficult to accept for readers of the manga, in which Akane's feelings are unambiguous. Izumi's comments may have been a simple case of CYA.
Akane's appearance in the manga and anime are quite different. In the manga she looks like a cross between Kurumi and Manami. In the anime her hair is shorter and darker, her face is more stark, and she has violet eyes. Akane only appeared in two of the OVAs, and never in the series. She appeared considerably more often in the manga, almost being a regular.
The cat Jingoro gets his name from the Edo-period wood sculptor Hidari Jingorou, who is thought to have carved the famous Sleeping Cat sculpture at the Nikko Toshogu.
External Links
AnimEigo: US distributor of KOR TV series, OVA, and original KOR movie
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