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

Makoto Isshiki is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for her series '' Forest of Piano'', which has been adapted as an anime film and received the Grand Prize for manga at the 2008 Japan Media Arts Festival. She won the 1994 Kodansha Manga Award for g ...

. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Mr. Magazine'' from 1993 to 1995, with its chapters collected in four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The story follows a mischievous young boy, called Hanada Ichiro, who attains the ability to see and talk to the supernatural after an accident to the back of his head. A 25-episode

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 Madhouse was broadcast on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

from October 2002 to March 2003. A live-action film adaptation premiered in August 2006. In 1995, ''Hanada Shōnen Shi'' won the 19th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in the general category.

Plot

Hanada Ichiro is the troublemaker in a small village. After being hit by a truck and getting stitches in the back of his head, he gains the ability to see ghosts, all of whom want him to fulfill their unfinished business.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by

, ''Hanada Shōnen Shi'' was serialized in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ' from 1993 to 1995. Kodansha collected its chapters in four ''

'' volumes released from January 1994 to July 1995; it was republished in a four-volume in 1999; a five-volume edition in 2002–03; a five-volume edition in 2006; and five-volume edition in 2015.

Anime

A 25-episode

television series adaptation, directed by Masayuki Kojima and animated by Madhouse, was broadcast on

, from October 2, 2002, to March 26, 2003. The opening themes is " The One" and the ending theme is " Drowning", both performed by the American vocal group the Backstreet Boys.

Music

The original soundtrack of the anime series was composed by

Yoshihisa Hirano is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is best known for composing the scores for anime series, such as ''Death Note'', '' Hunter × Hunter (2011)'', and ''Edens Zero''. He has also made the orchestration for video games, mostly in the Final ...

. The album was released on March 24, 2003.

Live-action film

A live-action film adaptation premiered on August 19, 2006. The film was directed by Nobuo Mizuta and stars

Kenta Suga is a Japanese actor who is represented by the talent agency, Central Group, then Horipro. Filmography TV series Films Theatre *''Live Spectacle Naruto 2015'' (as Gaara) *''Hyper Projection Engeki: Haikyu!!'' (as Shoyo Hinata) (2015 — 20 ...

as Ichiro Hanada. It was distributed by

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

Reception

The manga received the 19th

for the general category in 1995. The anime series received the '' Tokyo International Anime Festival'' Grand Prize for the TV Anime category in 2003.

References

External links

* * * {{Madhouse Comedy-drama anime and manga Kodansha manga Nippon TV original programming Madhouse (company) Seinen manga Slice of life anime and manga Supernatural anime and manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)