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 Yuichi Hasegawa. It was serialized in the

Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...

magazine ''Monthly Comic Nora'' from 1985 to 1994. The series was adapted into two

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 ...

original video animation , 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 ...

s (OVAs): the 1987 original, fully titled in Japan, and the 1994 remake, simply titled ''Maps''.

Plot

''Maps'' follows a normal Earth boy named Gen. He and his girlfriend Hoshimi meet Lipmira, a scantily-clad blonde woman from outer space, who tells Gen that he is the "mapman," meaning the map to a great treasure is coded in his

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

s. Gen and Hoshimi leave Earth with Lipmira to find the treasure, a quest shared by evil space people whom they are often compelled to fight against. Notable aspects of the series are the spaceships (which look like giant silver angelic women, often described as "hood ornaments") and the robot women that control them, or more precisely embody them for dealings with regular-sized life forms (Lipmira is one of these robot embodiments). Each ship and its pilot have a distinct character, from playful to evil.

Media

Manga

''Maps'' was written and illustrated by Yuichi Hasegawa. It was serialized in the

magazine ''Monthly Comic Nora'' from 1985 to 1994. A total of 17

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 ...

bound volumes were published in Japan between 1987 and 1995. Japan Media Factory re-released the manga in bunkoban format in 2003.

OVAs

Two

OVAs , 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 ...

based on ''Maps'' have been created. The first, ''Maps: Densetsu no Samayoeru Seijintachi'', was produced by

Studio Gallop , sometimes credited as , is a Japanese animation studio founded on December 13, 1978, by former Mushi Pro members. Works TV series 1980s *''Touch'' (1985–1987) (production assistance; animated by Group TAC) *''High School! Kimengumi'' (1985 ...

, directed by Keiji Hayakawa, written by

Kenji Terada is a Japanese scenario writer, anime director, series organizer and novelist. His more notable works include writing the first three games of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. He also worked on '' Batman: Dark Tomorrow'', created the concept for the ...

, and musically scored by Kohei Tanaka. It was released exclusively in Japan on July 17, 1987. The second, simply titled ''Maps'', was animated by

TMS Entertainment , formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946. TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as ''Lupin the Third'', ...

, directed by Susumu Nishizawa, written by

Masaki Tsuji is a Japanese anime screenwriter, mystery writer, manga author, travel critic, essayist, professor as well as mystery fiction novels writer. Tsuji was most active in the business from the 1960s through the 1980s, and worked as a script writer on ...

, and musically scored by

Masahiro Kawasaki was a Japanese musician and composer, born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka. As a musician, he played keyboards in a number of bands, including Ryudo Uzaki's Ryūdōgumi. As a composer for film, television, and anime, he won awards of excellence at the Ja ...

. It was released in Japan in four episodes split into two volumes on July 8, 1994 and February 24, 1995. An English version of this OVA was later licensed by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

and distributed in North America.

1994-1995 OVA episodes

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References

External links

* *
IMDB entry for original 1987 OAV

IMDB entry for 1994 remake OAV

(Negative) review of 1994 OAV from THEM Anime.org
{{TMS Entertainment OVAs 1985 manga 1987 anime OVAs 1994 anime OVAs ADV Films Gallop (studio) Science fiction anime and manga Shōnen manga TMS Entertainment