Enchanter (manga)

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Kawachi. The manga was serialized in October 2002 in Square Enix's magazine ''Monthly Gangan Wing''. The manga is licensed in North America by Digital Manga. The manga was adapted into 2 drama CDs.

Plot

The story revolves around "Enchanters" or ''Kikō majutsushi'' ("machinist-magicians"), people who can build enchanted items with the power gained from their contracted demon. The enchanted items can then carry special effects like "hardened," "water resistance," or effects like "evil repelling."

The protagonist, Haruhiko Kanou, is a regular high school student with the gift of fixing and building mechanical and electrical appliances. His motivation comes from his secret love towards his next-door-neighbor and childhood friend, Yuka Fujikawa, who is a few years older and now teaches at Haruhiko's high school.

An enchanter, Fulcanelli, and his beloved contract demon Eukanaria roam the secretive world of magic and sorcery with Fulcanelli being the top. Fulcanelli, however, died a little before the start of the story, and Eukanaria wanted to revive him with the stone that contains his soul. But Fulcanelli had no wish to be revived, but didn't want to hurt Eukanaria and kept silent.

Eukanaria found the perfect body for Fulcanelli, which is the protagonist Haruhiko. To Haruhiko's surprise, Eukanaria looks exactly like Yuka, and he himself looks exactly like Fulcanelli. Eukanaria tried to seduce him into giving her his soul so she can place Fulcanelli's soul into Haruhiko's body using four different procedures. Haruhiko either has to sign a contract, die, have sex (there is a moment when the soul becomes unstable), or lose the will to live.

Characters

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A 17-year-old student, Haruhiko is compatible with Fulcanelli's soul, and because of this he is constantly pressured into giving up his body to Eukanaria, who he loves. Kanou is the story's main protagonist, is skilled with mechanical things, and may become a great enchanter. His main love interest is Eurkanaria, his homeroom roommate and friend who he wants to be more than friends with. He became good with machines because he wanted to help her since she isn't good with them. He constantly has fantasies about her. A running gag is that he is constantly called impotent or spineless for his lack of progress with her and for when his collection of adult magazines is found by others. He's been training to fight under Yamamoto.

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Yuka Fujikawa is a teacher at Haruhiko's school and is his childhood friend. She is six years older than he is and is a gentle person, placing the students welfare above her own. She is constantly the target of demon attacks since she is the perfect type of target for them. She looks like Eukanaria and her MD player holds a demon warding stone placed by Fulcanelli, hinting at some kind of connection between them. She has a demon as a pet called Neraga to watch over her—ironically, it was the first demon to attack her searching for Fulcanelli's power.

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Eukanaria is a demon who resembles Yuka (down to her measurements), who loved Fulcanelli. She wishes to use Haruhiko's body for his soul and is willing to even sleep with him if it means getting his body. She constantly tries to seduce Haruhiko by acting like Yuka, but has shown some concern for Haruhiko. Unlike most demons, she is used to the human world. She's given so much of her power up that she is more human than demon. She seems to have been vicious in the past (as stated by many other characters), but Fulcanelli changed her. She hates how she was in the past, and states that if Fulcanelli can't be resurrected, she would lose all reason for living. She loves Haruhiko, but refuses to confess her love for him just like Haruhiko, but she also is in love with Fulcanelli.

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Fulacanelli is a powerful enchanter turned demon. He was admired by demons and enchanters for his power. His soul is inside a demonstone and hasn't been able to manifest himself since he gave Haruhiko his extra power. He is the lover of Eukanaria, brother of Paracelsus, and kind-of has feelings for Eurkanaria

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Paracelsus is another enchanter whose true body is a skeleton (he can transform into the form of a young man); he is also a physician and a pervert. He constantly gives Haruhiko advice and help. He seems to like Eukanaria, and usually tries to touch her, which results in him getting hit. He also tries to help Haruhiko with Yuka, and even suggests that he hurry up and sleep with her as a way to prevent her from being targeted by demons. He's actually a strong fighter—not even Fulcanelli was able to beat him. He has an assistant named Ai. He was modeled after real world alchemist and physician Paracelsus.

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Ai is a demon child who works under Paracelsus. She is good at making clothing and is combat capable. She never talks, but tends to appear out of nowhere.

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Ranvoa is a blue-haired demon who has history with Eukanaria. She knows about Eukanaria's past, and has even suggested that Haruhiko kill her to get out of giving up his body. She has an enchanter named Adolf, whom she's in love with. She is ignorant towards the human realm due to little interaction, and as such does not understand things like why Haruhiko wouldn't sleep with Eukanaria, despite sharing the same bed. She originally boasts of wanting to return to her own world, even if it meant stealing Fulcanelli's power from Haruhiko, but this was strongly inferred as a front as shown by her visible signs of facial frustration whenever Adolf mentions returning her back without him, along with her eventual outburst at Adolf's overall lack of self-confidence/assertiveness to demand that they stay together, even if it meant living in the human world. She ultimately decides to stay with Adolf with the help of Haruhiko. It is inferred that she herself was once in love with Fulcanelli.

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Adolf is an enchanter who serves under Ranvoa. He is flustered by women like Eukanaria, but loves Ranvoa. He loves her to the extent that he reluctantly drains Eukanaria's power to then attempt to steal Haruhiko/Fulcanelli's own power, claiming that it didn't matter as long as Lavoix is happy and free to choose whatever she wants. He lacks self-confidence, but is actually a good enchanter. He and Haruhiko get along rather well due to their similarities for gadgets/engineering. He is very passive and doesn't like harming others.

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Mana Kimura is a classmate of Haruhiko. She has a crush on him. She is good at fixing bikes since her family runs a bicycle shop. She takes care of a crow she hits with her bike, which later turns out to be a demon named Navy. After being chased by Navy and defended by Haruhiko, she becomes an enchanter.

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Navy is a demon who can change into a crow. He became Mana's demon contractor. He wants her to build him a method to fly since he has lost the power to do so himself. He wields an axe and chain in battle. He is somewhat of a masochist, as he loves it when Mana scolds and hits him and has expressed desires to be "more" with her. He was defeated in battle by Haruhiko and sealed in a device that Mana has, so in case he becomes troublesome, she can seal him back up.

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At first she appears to be a clumsy but cute engraver working for Yamamoto. However, two personalities actually exist inside the body; the cute and kind side being a demon, and the ruthless side and original owner of the body an enchanter. The demon side is in love with Haruhiko, while the enchanter is trying to kill him to prevent him from repairing the unit holding the demon side inside her body.

Production

''Enchanter'' received some attention before its official release in North America. In 2006, before the release date, author Izumi Kawachi was invited to Anime Expo in the US, where fans had obtained copies of the Japanese version to read and for her to sign. Kawachi expressed surprise that in contrary to ''Enchanter'''s popularity among males in Japan, the North American fan community consists of a larger portion of females. The favorite character is different from in Japan as well; Paracelsus (a.k.a. the skeleton man in ''Enchanter'', modeled after the real world alchemist, Paracelsus) is the most popular character in North America, while in Japan, the most popular character is Haruhiko. Kawachi remarked that she was a little confused that the humor in the plot is seen differently by Americans.

According to Kawachi, she often has young boys belittled as "useless" and "no good" due to her desire to be treated in such a way by a domineering, cute, older woman. She mentioned Takeshi Obata, the artist of '' Death Note'' and ''Hikaru no Go'', as "one of the artists that influenced" her. Characters Fulcanelli and Haruhiko were modeled off of Japanese actor Haruhiko Kato. In Kawachi's words, she was influenced by "a music video where the singer played two very different characters, with different personalities... that gave me the idea for the dualities of Eukanaria and Yuka, and Fulcanelli and Haruhiko in ''Enchanter''."

Media

Manga

''Enchanter'' is written and illustrated by Izumi Kawachi. Square Enix released the first ''tankōbon'' of the manga on January 27, 2003. Nineteen ''tankōbon'' volumes have been released in Japan with the nineteenth volume released on March 27, 2009. The manga is licensed in North America by Digital Manga Publishing. Digital Manga Publishing released the first ''tankōbon'' volume on July 1, 2006. Ten ''tankōbon'' volumes have been released in North America with the 10th volume released on February 25, 2009.

Drama CDs

The manga was adapted into two drama CDs. The first CD, named ''Kikou Majutsushi - Enchanter Part.1'', was released on November 26, 2004, covering the first eleven chapters of the manga. The second CD, named ''Kikou Majutsushi - Enchanter Part.2'', was released on January 28, 2005, covering chapters twelve to seventeen of the manga. Both CDs had Masumi Asano, Yumi Toma, Koji Tsujitani, Shuichi Ikeda, Ryotaro Okiayu, Yumi Kakazu, Takehito Koyasu and Kyoko Hikami as voice actors for the characters.

Reception

A reviewer for Pop Culture Shock commends the characterization for Eukanaria, saying, " hecould have been depicted as a mere sexpot, is quite possibly the most complicated character in the series. True, she's frequently crass, but shows a surprisingly vulnerable side in volumes five through eight." Comics Village's Lori Henderson criticizes the manga for having " fan service on nearly every page." However, she commends Digital Manga Publishing's presentation of the book with the book "printed in the oversize format, and it comes with a glossy dust sleeve, just like the Japanese editions do." Mania.com's Matthew Alexander commends the manga's artwork saying, "the characters proportions are well drawn and facial expressions are quite varied and descriptive. Not surprisingly the backgrounds are fairly sparse and a little stale when present, but monster design is fairly interesting and the girls are definitely cute, especially when the sexy nighties come out. Line work is clean and the shading is pretty good." Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood commends the manga as "one of the most energetic and comedic manga series I've come across."

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Enchanter (Manga)
2003 manga
Digital Manga Publishing titles
Gangan Comics manga
Shōnen manga