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 by

Yūji Iwahara is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from art school he joined Hudson Soft as a graphic artist for video games such as '' Mega Bomberman'' and '' Kishin Dōji Zenki FX: Vajra Fight''. He made his manga debut in 1994 in ''Afternoon'' wi ...

. The series was released in the United States by

CMX Manga CMX was an imprint of DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It was DC's line of manga translations. CMX was known for its censored release of ''Tenjho Tenge'' and the print version of Fred Gallagher's ''Megatokyo'' web manga seri ...

and follows a young girl as she returns to her grandfather's house after his death, only to get drawn into a series of misadventures with a mysterious shape changing boy.

Synopsis

The series follows Misaki, a 14-year-old schoolgirl that comes to the town of Hohopo to inherit her grandfather's house and land. Once there she soon discovers that the lake contains a "hohopo", a creature similar to the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

in appearance that has the capability to transform into a young boy. Naming him Neo, Misaki soon has to keep him safe from people that would harm him or exploit him in order to gain fortune and fame. During her misadventures Misaki gets kidnapped by a woman intent on retrieving gold that sunk to the bottom of the lake after a botched kidnapping, but is eventually set free. Hiding Neo becomes more of a challenge after he becomes incapable of transforming back to his human state. As a result a hitman that came to the town looking for the ransom money starts hunting for Neo in order to sell him as a strange find. During all of this Misaki begins to remember things about her past and realizes that she has a strong bond to Neo due to a set of experiments that her grandfather performed on both her and Neo.

Characters

Children

*Makishima Misaki: A 14-year-old girl from Tokyo. *Neo: A sea creature that is capable of transforming into a human child after kissing various humans. *Okouchi Sanae: Misaki's friend, Sanae lives in Hohoro. *Asai Tokuko: A shy and quiet girl that is kidnapped due to her family's extreme wealth. *Okouchi Taiyo & Ken

Adults

*Makishima Kyoichi: The awkward widowed father of Misaki, and would be love interest of Nishioka Aoi. *Nishioka Aoi: She was a childhood friend/rival of Misaki's mother, Kaoru. *Fujikawa Reiko: Tokuko's piano tutor and kidnapper. *Fuyukiko Bando

Reception

Anime News Network's Jason Thompson praised the series' artwork and storyline. Mania.com also gave a positive review, calling the manga a "hidden gem".

References

External links

*{{ann, manga, 4111 2000 manga CMX (comics) titles Kadokawa Shoten manga Shōnen manga