''Kanpai!'', or , is a

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 culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 ...

Maki Murakami is a Japanese manga artist most famous for the boys love manga ''Gravitation'', which, in addition to the ''Gravitation'' novel, is published in the U.S. by Tokyopop. Biography History She began working as an assistant to the older sister of on ...

. Originally published by Sony Magazines, its two volumes were published in English 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 ...

. Although ''Kanpai!'' is the title officially acknowledged by Tokyopop and used on the covers and the Tokyopop title page (as opposed to the original title page by Murakami, which is also used), only ''kimi no unaji ni kanpai!'' is used in the book itself in all other instances. Sony Magazines published the manga first ''

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 ...

'' volume under the Birz Comics imprint in March 2001. The first volume was republished and a second volume was released by Gentosha on December 24, 2001. Tokyopop released the series on September 13 and December 13, 2005. The series was republished into a "special ban" on December 24, 2011 and follow-up, ''Kimi no Unaji ni Kanpai! R'', was published on June 23, 2012.

Characters

; : He is a

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

guardian in-training, as monsters are nearly

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

and overhunted by mankind. He carries a squared timber as a weapon, and was raised by Ponta-san. Shintarou shows up at the Taino Municipal Middle School one day as a new student, claiming to be

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian (which fails to explain his native Japanese name and firm grasp of the language) but the first thing the other students notice about him is that he perfectly matches the description of a murderer in that morning's newspaper—which is completely correct; Shintarou had killed an

exorcist In some religions, an exorcist (from the Greek „ἐξορκιστής“) is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or performs the ridding of demons or other supernatural beings who are alleged to have possessed a person, ...

the night before in defence of a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

. He sees Nao's

nape The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...

and soon falls in love…but with her nape, not Nao herself. In volume two, it is revealed that Shintarou seems to be half vampire- and half human. He seems to live in a mountainous area of Tokyo with his father (who is apparently staying temporarily). ;Ponta : He is a talking

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

. He was charged by Shintarou's father to raise him and help him earn his temporary guardian's licence by killing three hundred exorcists. ;Nao Arisaka : She is a typical, spoiled, beautiful girl. Incredibly

narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

, she is pined for by almost every male (teachers included) in the school, and delights in crushing their hopes. She later becomes Shintarou's "meal for life" after he bites her neck and sucks her blood to revive himself after being killed by Sakurai Miko. ;Akiko Nakamura : She is Nao's best friend, and apparently has powerful

brainwaves Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by ...

that can pick up the supernatural. She seems to suffer from

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

, and faints at times of high excitement. She eventually gains a strong friendship with Miko's ceremonial spirit, and can call him to her aid. ;Kenken : He is the

Shintarou saved. He is caught by an exorcist eating a girl he had just killed, and would have died without Shintarou's help. The exorcist later comes after Shintarou and Nao as a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

. The werewolf appears and holds him still, commanding Shintarou to run them both through with his timber—which he does without any hesitation, to the disgust of Nao and the exorcist. The shock of the werewolf's death transferred his soul to the exorcist's body. Shintarou dubs him "Kenken-kun" and he begins attending middle school with Nao and Shintarou (although the exorcist's body looks to be in its twenties). ;Yabe : He is a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

. He first appears hostile, as he goes to extremes to keep Shintarou from Nao. He lingered on because of his unrequited love for her. She eventually grants the desire keeping him from moving on—acknowledging him as an equal being by calling his name. However, instead of going to heaven, he somehow returns to his human body and begins attending school again. He seems to have trouble holding onto his body, though; he is often killed again and barely manages to return to his flesh in time. ;Papa : Shintarō's father. He is a full

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

and an apparent womanizer. He is determined to have Sakurai Miko as his wife after he defeats her and drinks her blood. He seems rough with his son, though seems to care enough about him to come to his aid. ;Noriko Kuroma : Short, hyperactive, and paranoid she is a deranged girl who is known as the president of the Occult SF Sorcery Investigation Club. She draws a magic Square to drag the supposed ‘demon’ out of Shintarou and actually releases his true vampire form. ;Mysterious Exorcist : He is a Yuki from

Gravitation In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...

look alike, but has a mere difference of a ponytail. His name is speculated to be Zin (or Jin as Zi- is translated into J from Japanese) but it is unmentioned in the manga. He appears to be after Yamada’s father but accidentally runs into Shintarou himself. It is unknown the reason why he allows Shintarou to live, and ends up fighting against Papa Yamada.

References

External links

''Kanpai!''
at

*{{ann, manga, 5452 2000 manga Fantasy anime and manga Gentosha manga Madman Entertainment manga Seinen manga Tokyopop titles Vampires in anime and manga Anime and manga about werewolves

Characters

Further reading

References

External links