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 ...

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, Takahashi is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have ...

published in August 1983 issue of '' Shōnen Sunday Zōkan''. The manga was later compiled in ''

Rumic World , can refer either to a series of short manga stories written by Rumiko Takahashi or to a series of original video animations (OVAs) based on those stories. ''Rumic World'' was later reprinted in Japan as , and released in English by Viz Med ...

'' books, which are available in English from Viz Media. It was 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 ...

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

. In North America, this was released on VHS by

Central Park Media Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...

under the ''Rumik World'' series (which also included OVAs ''

Laughing Target is a Japanese manga by Rumiko Takahashi published in February 1983 issue of '' Shōnen Sunday Zōkan''. The manga was later compiled in ''Rumic World'' books, which are available in English from Viz Media. It was adapted into an anime OVA rele ...

'', ''

Maris the Chojo , originally titled ''Supergal'' in U.S. markets, is a one shot manga story by Rumiko Takahashi. It ran in the October 1980 special edition of ''Shōnen Sunday'' and was later made into an anime OVA. The manga was later compiled in the ''Ru ...

'', and ''

Mermaid Forest is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It consists of 9 stories told in 16 chapters irregularly published in Shogakukan's ''Shōnen Sunday Super, Shōnen Sunday Zōkan'' and ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from 198 ...

'').

Plot

The

main character A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the series is Suzuko, a normal Japanese school girl from modern times, but has a strange memory of being trapped in a burning house when she was little. One day, as she is walking home Shuhei, her neighbour's child who has recently had his appendix removed, a huge gas explosion occurs. When Suzuko wakes up, she finds herself in a post-battlefield, in civil war era Japan, with dead bodies all around her. Some men find her in the field, and attempt to rape her. However, a young man named Shukumaru comes to Suzuko's rescue. After Suzuko is saved, Shukumaru takes Suzuko back to his village. He's the village thief/protector. Upon their arrival there, Shukumaru gives his little sister, named Suzu, a bell. He also claims he will marry Suzuko. Shukumaru tells Suzuko that she needs to change her clothes, and at this point, Suzuko comes across Shuhei's shirt. She then realizes that Shuhei must have traveled back in time with her. She tries to find him, but can not locate him. The villagers tease Shukumaru over his not having bedded Suzuko yet, and he is terribly offended. One night, he gets drunk and goes to Suzuko's hut, but all he does is fall asleep. Suzuko soon realizes that she is in fact the little girl in the village named Suzu, and that she was born in Shukumaru's time. She is very worried about this, as she has fallen in love with Shukumaru, and cannot marry him if they are siblings. When the village is burnt, she sees her past self disappear to the future, where she will be adopted and raised as a modern girl. Shortly after this, the leader of the invaders attacks Shukumaru, and Suzuko saves him by disappearing to the future, where she realizes that fire allows her to travel through time, and that is how she survived the house fire she remembers being in when she was little, and how she got to modern times. When back in modern times, Suzuko takes Shukumaru home to take care of his wounds and notices he has a scar on his stomach that is ''exactly'' like Shuhei's appendix scar. Suzuko realizes that Shukumaru is Shuhei, and he must have been separated from her in mid-time switch earlier. Shukumaru is Shuhei from the present, and he had been found and raised in the past all along, thus he is not her biological brother. Suzuko doesn't feel guilty about what happened to Shukumaru, however, when he tells her how much he's enjoyed his life in the past. From there, Suzuko and Shukumaru use the same gas explosion that sent them back in time once before to travel back to Shukumaru's era again, and the story ends as Shukumaru announces they have a wedding to attend to.

References

External links

* {{Pierrot films 1983 manga 1985 anime OVAs Romance anime and manga Shogakukan franchises Rumic World Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Works by Rumiko Takahashi One-shot manga Viz Media manga