is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by Yū Minamoto. It was serialized in ''

Monthly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese manga anthology. It is published by Akita Shoten since March 1970. Manga artists and series * Daijiro Morohoshi **''Mudmen'' *Hideo Azuma **'' Chibi Mama-chan'' **'' Kakuto Family'' **'' Yadorigi-kun'' *Hideyuki Yonehara **'' Choc ...

'' from October 2006 to March 2011. The manga is licensed and released in Chinese by

Sharp Point Press Sharp Point Press () is a Taiwanese publisher of manga and music. It was founded in July 1982. History *1982 - Company established. Mainly publishes military and models related books. *1985 - Started publishing annual Zodiac fortune telling handb ...

. The manga was formerly licensed in North America by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...

as ''Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi!''. It has been adapted into an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series by

AIC AIC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Alice in Chains, American rock band * Alice in Chains: AIC 23, a 2013 mockumentary * Anime International Company, a Japanese animation studio * Art Institute of Chicago, an art museum in Chicago Busin ...

and was broadcast in Japan on TBS between January 8, 2009 and March 26, 2009.

Plot

After learning martial arts in the mountains for 17 years under his father's teachings, Yoichi Karasuma's father orders Yoichi to continue his training to strengthen his spirit with the Ikaruga family in the city, as he has nothing left to teach him (but really because Yoichi has become stronger and far more skilled than him). The current assistant head of the ''Ukiha

Divine Wind , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...

Style Swordplay'' school of martial arts in the city, Ibuki Ikaruga, and her siblings gradually accept Yoichi as a

freeloader {{Short pages monitor On February 26, 2010,

Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside Se ...

announced that

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

had licensed the series for home video in North America and it was later released on DVD, on May 11, 2010. The anime ran for 12 episodes. The series used two pieces of

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

. by

Meg Rock is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer and musician. Biography Megumi Hinata began learning to play the piano at the age of four, and said she first became interested in music in the latter half of elementary school, which she spent in the Un ...

was used for the opening theme, while "Life and proud" by

Aki Misato is a female Japanese J-pop singer from Saitama, Japan. Most of her songs are theme songs for anime and video games. She made her debut in 2004 with her first single Kimi ga Sora Datta (君が空だった), which was featured as the ending theme ...

was the series' ending theme.

Internet radio show

Internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show to promote the anime series called was streamed online every Friday and aired 42 episodes until September 25, 2009 hosted by Lantis website. It had two hosts —

Nobuhiko Okamoto is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actor and singer affiliated with Raccoon Dog. He won the Best New Actor Award at the 3rd Seiyu Awards and Best Supporting Actor Award at the 5th Seiyu Awards. Voice acting career In an interview held ...

and

Rina Satō is a Japanese voice actress with hundreds of television and video game productions, many multi-year, and is active in film and as a singer as well. She won the Best Lead Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. Satō has been appearing since 2003, ...

who played the voices of Yoichi Karasuma and Ibuki Irukaga respectively in the anime series.

Soundtracks

On January 21, 2009,

Geneon (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distributi ...

released a single for ''Asu no Yoichi!''s opening theme, by

. On February 4, 2009,

released a single for ''Asu no Yoichi!''s ending theme, "Life and proud" by

released four

character song An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, ''dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a character ...

CDs for ''Asu no Yoichi!''. The first two CDs were composed by

Miki Fujisue Miki may refer to: Places * Miki, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan * Miki, Kagawa, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan * Miki, Azerbaijan, a village in Astara Rayon, Azerbaijan People * Miki (given name) * Miki (surname) * Miki Núñez ...

and released on February 25, 2009. The first CD, character song for Ibuki Ikaruga, is sung by

Rina Sato Rina or RINA may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Rina (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kento Rina, Indian politician * Mahfuza Rahman Rina, Bangladeshi politician * Tongam Rina (born 1979), Indian journ ...

. The second CD, character song for Ayame Ikaruga, is sung by

Haruka Tomatsu is a Japanese voice actress and singer, employed by Music Ray'n. She received the Rookie of the Year award at the 3rd Seiyu Awards and the Synergy Award at the 9th Seiyu Awards. Tomatsu voiced Asuna Yuuki in ''Sword Art Online'', Zero Two in ...

. On March 25, 2009,

released the last two character CDs, both composed by Masumi Ito. The third character CD, character song for Chihaya Ikaruga, is sung by

Yukari Tamura is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Amuleto (formerly Arts Vision and I'm Enterprise). She debuted as a voice actress in 1997, releasing her debut single "Yūki o Kudasai" on March 26, 1997. Her role as Nanoha Takamachi in th ...

. The fourth and final CD, character song for Kagome Ikaruga, is sung by

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 1990. She won the Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtype ...

Reception

The eighth volume of ''Asu no Yoichi!'' was ranked 26th on the Tohan charts between 9th and 15 December 2008. The tenth volume of ''Asu no Yoichi!'' was ranked 12th on the Tohan charts between July 6–12, 2009. The eleventh volume of ''Asu no Yoichi!'' was ranked 30th on the Tohan charts between November 2–8, 2009. Coolstreak Comics' Leroy Douresseaux commends the manga by saying, "While it offers plenty of cleavage and panty shots, ''Samurai Harem'' is more than just a fanservice manga. It’s also an energetic romantic comedy, made all the nicer by the fact that each of the four sisters has a distinct personality". A later review by Douresseaux comments that the manga "mostly avoids the martial aspects of having samurai and ninja populating a manga series. So far, this series avoids the action, but does have plenty of comedy." Comics Worth Reading's Ed Sizemore criticises the manga's "focusing on the pubic region of girls and women" and "sound effect coming from the girl’s genitalia" as "shameless in its tastelessness" as well as "disturbing". Pop Culture Shock's Ken Haley criticises the manga's art as "bland" but concedes the point that "it does a good job at depicting scantily clad underage girls in compromising positions." The third DVD of ''Asu no Yoichi!'' was listed on the Oricon charts between May 18 and 24, 2009. THEM Anime Review's Tim Jones likens Yoichi and Ibuki with Tom and

Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

respectively from ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

'' "where Tom ''always'' lost against Jerry". Jones compares Yoichi's love rival, Ryo Washizu, as "a mishmash of Kuno and Ryoga from ''

Ranma ½ is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from August 1987 to March 1996, with the chapters collected into 38 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shogakukan. The st ...

''". He's part Ryoga in that he wants to trump Yoichi even if it means training himself to the bone, and part Kuno in that he's an idiot when it comes to women (especially around Ibuki, who he constantly fantasizes of, as well as worries that she'll hate him for something inane that happens to him)." Jones criticises the art with "often drab, uncreative scenery, and the animation is only adequate save for a few fight sequences". He also comments that "the character designs are cute, but the Ikaruga sisters' hair and outfits (save Ayame's) look ridiculous." He also criticises the background music as "entirely forgettable", and the "opening & closing songs won't be staying in your head anytime soon".

References

External links

Official TBS ''Asu no Yoichi!'' website

Official Lantis ''Asu no Yoichi!'' website
* {{AIC TV series 2006 manga Akita Shoten manga Harem anime and manga Martial arts anime and manga NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan Romantic comedy anime and manga Sentai Filmworks Sharp Point Press titles Shōnen manga TBS Television (Japan) original programming Tokyopop titles