is a Japanese
manga series written and illustrated by
Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was serialized in
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
's
''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' from July 2001 to October 2004, with Its chapters collected in sixteen ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes. A sequel, ''The Law of Ueki Plus'', was serialized in the same magazine from April 2005 to June 2007. It was licensed in North America for English language release by
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 ...
. A fifty-one episode
anime
is hand-drawn and 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 Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television series adaptation produced by
Studio Deen was broadcast on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...
from April 2005 to March 2006. In North America, the series was first licensed by
Geneon
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distributi ...
in 2005 and later by
Discotek Media
Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...
in 2018.
Plot
The story starts out with the Battle of the Supernatural Powers, a tournament to decide which Celestial (heavenly being in the original Japanese version) will be the next King of the Celestial World (God in the Japanese version).
Each of the 100 King Candidates (God Candidates in the Japanese version) is required to choose a junior high school student to act as their power user. The student is given a unique power and told to eliminate as many enemies as possible. The winning King Candidate will become the new King of the Celestial World and the winning student will receive the Blank Talent (Black Zai in the Japanese version), a talent that can be anything they choose.
While this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness, Kosuke Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift.
''The Law of Ueki Plus''
Two years after the tournament in ''The Law of Ueki'', Kosuke Ueki is now a 3rd year student in Hinokuni Junior High School. For some reason, everyone in the real world has lost their memory of their most important person, including his friends who participated in the tournament two years ago. Ueki is the only one unaffected, and is fighting in order to restore everyone's memories. He follows a little sheep named U-lu to another world called Hangekai where he meets new companions and gains new abilities.
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by
Tsubasa Fukuchi, ''The Law of Ueki'' was serialized in
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' from July 25, 2001, to October 13, 2004. Shogakukan collected its 154 individual chapters in sixteen ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes, released from December 18, 2001,
to January 14, 2005.
In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by
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 ...
in 2005. The sixteen volumes were published from August 8, 2006,
to February 10, 2009.
A sequel, , was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from April 6, 2005, to June 20, 2007. Its 46 individual chapters were collected in five ''tankōbon'' volumes, released from August 8, 2005,
to September 18, 2007.
Anime
A 51-episode
anime
is hand-drawn and 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 Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television series adaptation by
Studio Deen was broadcast on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...
from April 4, 2005, to March 27, 2006. The series is directed by
Hiroshi Watanabe, with series composition by Toshifumi Kawase and music by
Akifumi Tada
is a Japanese anime music composer and video game composer.
Discography Video games
;Composition
*'' Bomberman 64'' (1997)
Anime
;Composition
*''Captain Tsubasa Road to 2002''
*''Fight Ippatsu! Jūden-chan!!''
*''Cyborg 009 The Cyborg So ...
.
Avex collected the series on seventeen DVDs. Episodes 1–27 were released on nine volumes from August 10, 2005, to April 12, 2006. Episodes 28–51 were released on eight volumes from May 10 to December 13, 2006. The first opening theme for episodes 1–32 is "
Falco" by
Hitomi Shimatani
is a Japanese pop singer signed to the Avex Trax label.
Shimatani started her career as an Enka singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the dance/pop style for her music. Shimatani's music has also a ...
, and the second opening theme for episodes 33–51 is "No Regret" by
Kumi Koda
, known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs.
After debuting with the single " Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, " Real Emot ...
. The first ending theme for episodes 1–15 is by
Aiko Kayo
is a female Japanese given name.
is a Japanese surname, also romanized as Aikoh or Aiko.
Aiko or Ayko is also a traditional male given name in Scandinavia and especially northern Germany. In Germany it is considered one of the old "gentry ...
. The second ending theme for episodes 16–32 is by
SweetS
Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...
. The third ending theme for episodes 33–42 is by The Ivory Brothers. The fourth ending theme for episodes 43–50 is by
Romi Park
Due to technical issues, Park's name is often written as due to the '' Hyōgaiji'' status of (which is the kan'on reading of the kanji). She has also been referred by 朴路美 and 朴王路美. is a Japanese actress and singer affiliated wi ...
. The ending theme for episode 51 is "True Blue" by Hitomi Shimatani.
The anime was originally licensed by
Geneon Entertainment
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Th ...
. Geneon released the first 36 episodes of the series on nine DVDs. The first volume was released on May 16, 2006, and the last volume on September 18, 2007.
ImaginAsian TV
ImaginAsian Entertainment, Inc was a multimedia company founded by Michael Hong and Augustine Hong and a group of investors that recognized the emerging importance of "all-things Asian." Based in New York City, its main attraction was a televis ...
broadcast the anime series to the American audience on its Anime EnerG block, starting on January 30, 2007. On July 3, 2008, Geneon and
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon would still retain the license, Funimation would assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. ''The Law of Ueki'' was one of several titles involved in the deal.
Funimation released the entire series on a DVD box set on June 9, 2009. The rights to the series expired in 2011. In May 2018,
Discotek Media
Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...
announced the acquisition of the series. It was released on
Blu-ray Disc on July 31, 2018. The series was added to
Crunchyroll's catalog in May 2021.
Video games
The Law of Ueki was also adapted into a
PlayStation 2 and
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
game released only in Japan. The PlayStation 2 game is called while the Game Boy Advance game is called . They are based on the story of the anime.
Reception
Manga
Luke Carroll of
Anime News Network ranked the first volume as B−. Carroll lauded the concept of Ueki's power to turn trash into trees and the humor of the series, but called it "another run of the mill shounen title". He labeled Fukuchi's art style as "simple" and compared it to ''
One Piece
''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual cha ...
'', as "there is vagueness in a lot of detail", but clarified that it is suited to the comedic tone of the story. Michael Aronson of Manga Life ranked the first volume as C+. He criticized the series for its similar premise to other action manga series and for its "overly hyperactive" characters. Aronson concluded; "fans of hyper action series like ''One Piece'' and ''
Dragon Ball'' will feel at home here. Anyone else will merely glaze over and out." Patti Martinson of Sequential Tart gave a 4/10 for the fourth volume. Martinson compared the content of the volume to the anime adaptation, and wrote; "at times the manga made less sense than the DVD did. However, the characterizations seem to be slightly better, but not enough to make me see what happens in the next volume."
Anime
Carlo Santos from
Anime News Network criticized the series for its "run-of-the-mill" plot and "ridiculous" characters, calling them "underdeveloped", but stated that the series is "
zarre and crazy enough to be entertaining at times". Santos also criticized its "sloppy" artwork, repetitive fights and the English dub, concluding: "Like its titular hero, ''The Law of Ueki'' seems energetic and full of promise, but right now lacks the necessary self-control to succeed." Chris Beveridge of AnimeOnDVD commented that the series "is a real hard sell", commenting that the characters are hard to connect with, the pacing of the first episodes is very fast and its plot is "something that we've seen in its most base form a million times now". Beveridge also criticized the series' artwork, which blends traditional and digital animation, calling it "disconnected at times" and that it makes it look like an "unfinished show".
Jeremy Mullin of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
compared the premise of the series to ''
Zatch Bell!
''Zatch Bell!'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Makoto Raiku. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' between January 2001 and December 2007, with ...
'' and commented that the powers of the characters are similar to those from ''
Fullmetal Alchemist
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine '' Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected th ...
'', "with the conversion factor involved", highlighting as well the variety of ways in which they are used. Mullin concluded: "''The Law of Ueki'' was something I was interested in checking out, and it seems to be worth it. It's full of some good ol' fashioned anime craziness with some positive messages thrown in for good measure."
Notes
References
External links
Web Sunday on Law of Ueki PlusAvex Mode on The Law of Ueki TV Tokyo on The Law of Ueki
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Law Of Ueki, The
Adventure anime and manga
Anime series based on manga
Comedy anime and manga
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