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, known in earlier English versions as ''Adolf'', is a
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 ...
series made by
Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...
. The story is set before, during, and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and is centered on three men with the name Adolf. Adolf Kamil is an
Ashkenazi Jew Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
living in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. His best friend Adolf Kaufmann is of both Japanese and German descent. The third Adolf is
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
, the dictator of
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. ''Adolf'' also features Sohei Toge, a Japanese reporter, and his quest for documents that could turn the tide of the war. The work explores the themes of nationality, ethnicity, racism, and war, and includes elements of
coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
,
spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...
, and historical drama. Vertical, Inc. currently publishes the series in English with Kumar Sivasubramanian as the translator, and
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
formerly published the series in English. It is considered the last completed serialized work of Tezuka's career.


Plot

The story of ''Adolf'' begins in 1936 as Japanese reporter Sohei Toge travels to
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
to cover the Berlin Olympic Games. Upon arriving, he finds that his younger brother, who has been studying in Germany as an international student, has been murdered and had connections with
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
organisations. Furthermore, all traces of information regarding his younger brother's study in Germany has vanished. Investigating the matter, he later learns that his brother's murder is connected to documents he mailed to Japan with information regarding Adolf Hitler. This information is crucial to the Third Reich as it contains proof that Adolf Hitler has Jewish blood. Wolfgang Kaufmann, a
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
expatriate living in Japan, is ordered to find the documents. He expects his son, Japanese-German Adolf Kaufmann, to become a staunch supporter of Adolf Hitler and the German Reich. However, Adolf Kaufmann is reluctant to follow his father's wishes, as his best friend Adolf Kamil is the son of
German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
. Wolfgang dies after complications regarding a search for the aforementioned document: with his dying breath, he forces Adolf Kaufmann (hereafter referred to as Kauffman) to go to Germany in order to join the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
. While at the Hitler Youth academy, Kaufmann witnesses Kamil's father brought to execution after he comes to Europe to try and bring Jews to Japan through
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
. Kaufmann is forced to execute Kamil's father with a pistol as a loyalty test. As Kaufmann becomes more and more indoctrinated, in contrast his mother Yukie becomes more distant from her late husband's German ties. A test to Kaufmann's loyalty to the Reich comes when he falls in love with a German Jewish-Chinese girl, Eliza. He successfully smuggles her to his friend Kamil in Japan, but is unable to get her family to go. A year later, Japan invades China and begins the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...
, ushering in a period of fevered militarism and nationalism in Japan. During this time, Kamil becomes the confidant of one of his teachers, Ms. Ogi, who is involved in the Japanese anti-war movement. As events progress, the lives of the three Adolfs intertwine and become more and more tangled as Sohei Toge searches for his brother's murderer. After being tortured by the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, Toge eventually tracks down his brother's girlfriend, who is revealed to be a spy working for her father, inspector Lampe. He confronts her in anger, and she confesses to reporting Isao to the SS. After a scuffle, he rapes her and leaves for Japan. Shortly afterwards, she commits suicide. In Japan, Toge quickly becomes a target for both the
Kenpeitai The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspec ...
and the German secret police, who routinely chase him down and beat him in an attempt to find the documents. Despite this, he links up with Ogi, and manages to recover the documents his brother sent to Kobe before he died. The documents change locations many times as Toge is unable to find a job due to his status as a suspect. During one of these pursuits, he makes friends with a Japanese police chief, who accompanies him on a chase to an island where Ogi is keeping the documents. However, a Gestapo team under Lampe, who is seeking revenge for his daughter, tracks him down there. Toge manages to evade Lampe after a heated firefight on the island. Though the chief is killed, a memo he wrote earlier absolves Toge of wrongdoing, and the Japanese police stop chasing him. To avoid further trouble, the documents are passed to Ogi and then to Kamil, who is now living with Eliza. In 1941 with the German
invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
, Toge decides that the documents would be best in the hands of Honda, an Imperial Army general's son working for the Soviet spy ring under
Richard Sorge Richard Sorge (russian: Рихард Густавович Зорге, Rikhard Gustavovich Zorge; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Azerbaijani journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during Wo ...
. Before Honda can send the documents to the Soviets, Sorge is captured and the spy ring collapses. Before Honda is executed by his father after confessing to treason, he manages to bury the documents. In the years leading up to 1945, Kaufmann ascends the hierarchy of the Nazi Party and completes his indoctrination as a Nazi. He eventually becomes a loyal subordinate of Hitler and a coordinator of
death marches A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convent ...
as an SS official. In the fallout of the
20 July Plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now  Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...
and Germany on the brink of military defeat under an increasingly unstable Fuhrer, he is sent to Japan by a surviving Lampe to complete his father Wolfgang's mission. Upon arrival, he is surprised to find his target, Toge, married to his mother. He also meets with Kamil, who he is angered to find has become engaged to Eliza. He later traps Eliza and rapes her, and eventually beats Kamil who comes for revenge. During his alienation of his family and friends in Japan, he is disowned by Yukie, who shortly thereafter suffers brain damage during the Allied air raid of Kobe. Kaufmann's continued investigation eventually leads to the buried documents, which he discovers only after Hitler's death renders his entire mission pointless. Kaufmann and Kamil later meet during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in the 1960s, which sees countless atrocities on both sides. Kaufmann, who has joined the Lebanese PLO after being constantly chased down by Israeli
Nazi hunters A Nazi hunter is an individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, or SS members, and Nazi collaborators who were involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against hum ...
, arrives home one day to see his Muslim wife and daughter murdered by Kamil's division. He begins a vendetta against Kamil, and challenges him to a duel. Kamil arrives and reveals his knowledge of his father's execution, and after a firefight, gains his revenge by gunning down Kaufmann. In the 1980s, Toge arrives in Israel to visit Kamil's surviving family after he is killed in a terrorist bombing attack. He resolves to write a book called "Message to Adolf", recounting the stories of the three Adolfs, and what the concept of "justice" can lead to.


Characters

*: A Japanese reporter sent to Germany to cover the 1936 Olympics only to find his younger brother murdered. He then proceeds to investigate who killed his brother and why, leading him into a dangerous web of espionage during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He was born and raised in Niihari, Ibaraki (now
Tsuchiura is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 138,033 in 60,069 households and a population density of 1123 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 29.7%. The total area of t ...
). *: A Japanese international student studying in Germany and a member of the Communist movement in Germany. When his organisation discovers a shocking secret, he is brutally murdered. *Acetylene Lampe: A member of the Nazi Party and the Far East Chief of German Intelligence who pursues Toge around the world both to get the documents and kill him for revenge. *Rosa Lampe: Acetylene's daughter and a Gestapo informant. Reports Isao, resulting in his death, and later Sohei which results in his torture. Commits suicide after Sohei leaves Germany. *: A Japanese police chief who takes Toge's side, and lets him stay at his place. Is killed in a shootout with the Gestapo. *: The chief's daughter, who falls in love with Yoshio. Later moves to run a bar with Okei, after Honda's death. *: A widow who wears Yakuza tattoos. Falls in love with Toge and shelters him during a pursuit by the secret police. *: A
geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female J ...
who was secretly working for the Communists. Murdered by Kaufmann when they were involved in a tryst during the Gestapo's search for the documents. *: Sachi's brother, an Imperial Army officer. Loves Yukie and pulls favors for her, including guaranteeing Toge which prevents him from being tortured to death in the beginning of the story. He kills himself after his high position in the Army makes war crimes accusations likely. *: Honda's son. After living in Manchukuo and seeing Japanese oppression firsthand, becomes part of Sorge's spy network. Admires his disgraced aunt's motives, and later becomes friends with Toge and Kamil. Falls in love with Mieko, but is killed by his father after revealing that he is a spy. His father conceals his death as a suicide. *: A half-Japanese, half-German boy living in Kobe. Though he opposes the Nazis at first, he develops a hatred for the Jews during his stay in Germany and persecutes them fervently, only renouncing these views at the end of his life. He later joins the
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
, then
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, then the PLO. He is killed by Kamil, in revenge for the murder of his father. *: Adolf Kaufmann's father and a strong follower of Adolf Hitler. He works for the German Consulate General in Kobe. *: Wolfgang's wife and mother to Adolf. She is unaware of what her husband is doing for the Nazi Party. Later renounces her German citizenship and marries Toge. Dies of injuries sustained during the Kobe bombings, but births their daughter before passing. *: A Jewish-German boy who considers himself Japanese, and who accidentally learns the secret behind Adolf Hitler's ancestry. He joins Toge's group during the struggle for control of the document, and emigrates to Israel with his wife after the war, joining the
Israeli army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...
. *: Also known as Ms. Ogi. Kamil's elementary school teacher who is later marked as Communist for writing anti-war poems. Helps Kamil hide the documents. *: A Jewish-Chinese girl living in Germany. She escapes Germany with the help of Kaufmann, but eventually marries Kamil. *Isaac Kamil: Adolf Kamil's father and a Jewish man who seeks to actively help other Jews around the world. He is murdered by Adolf Kaufmann while in Germany. *
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
: The German dictator himself. Many liberties are taken for the sake of plot, especially concerning his death. *
Richard Sorge Richard Sorge (russian: Рихард Густавович Зорге, Rikhard Gustavovich Zorge; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Azerbaijani journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during Wo ...
: The German communist spy in charge of Soviet espionage in Japan. He plays a prominent role towards the end of the story.


Awards

''Adolf'' won the
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 ...
in 1986 for general manga.


Publications

''Adolf'' was published in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
by Cadence Books and
VIZ Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
. The English manga is flipped to read left to right to conform to Western practice. The newer two volume release of ''Adolf'' from Vertical, Inc. is also flipped and is published under the title ''Message to Adolf''. The manga has also been published in Brazil by Conrad Editora, in France by
Tonkam Tonkam is a prominent French publisher of manga and was one of the first publishers of manga in French, issuing its first titles in 1994. It was founded by Sylvie Chang and Dominique Véret with the financial assistance of a Parisian bookseller, ...
, in Germany by
Carlsen Verlag Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg. The publisher's program focuses on books for children, i. ...
, in Italy by Hazard, in Spain by
Planeta DeAgostini Editorial Planeta-DeAgostini is a Spanish-Italian publisher and a subsidiary of Grupo Planeta and De Agostini specializing in collectable books, sold periodically in pieces through newsstands ( partworks). It has its headquarters in Barcelona.< ...
, in the Netherlands by
Xtra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...
and in Poland by
Waneko Waneko is a Polish manga publisher, located in Warsaw, Poland. The founders of Waneko are Aleksandra Watanuki, Martyna Taniguchi and Kenichiro Watanuki. Titles published Manga *'' Adolf ni Tsugu'' *'' Ao no Exorcist'' *'' Are you Alice?'' *'' Ba ...
.


Volumes

Volumes of English translations, in order: * ''Adolf: A Tale of the Twentieth Century'' * ''Adolf: An Exile in Japan'' * ''Adolf: The Half-Aryan'' * ''Adolf: Days of Infamy'' * ''Adolf: 1945 and All That Remains''


See also

*
List of Osamu Tezuka manga This is a list of Osamu Tezuka's manga work in alphabetical order. The English translations of the names used are from the original names found on the official Osamu Tezuka website. This is not a complete list of Tezuka's manga creations. While T ...
*
Osamu Tezuka's Star System is the name given to the recurring characters in manga created by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Throughout his career, Tezuka frequently re-used the same characters in different roles across series; for example, the character Shunsaku Ban appears as ...
* History of the Jews in Kobe


References


External links


Adolf manga at TezukaOsamu@World
*

{{Osamu Tezuka 1983 manga Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Bungeishunjū manga Historical anime and manga Osamu Tezuka characters Osamu Tezuka manga Political thriller anime and manga Seinen manga Vertical (publisher) titles Viz Media manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General) Gekiga Gekiga by Osamu Tezuka Fiction set in 1936 Fiction set in 1937 Fiction set in 1941 Fiction set in 1944 Fiction set in 1945 Fiction set in the 1960s