, released in English as ''The World Exists for Me'', is a 2001 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. The series is written by

Kunihiko Ikuhara , also known by the nickname Ikuni, is a Japanese director, writer, artist, and music producer. He has created and collaborated on several notable anime and manga series, including ''Sailor Moon'', ''Revolutionary Girl Utena'', ''Penguindrum'' ...

with Seinosuke Ito (credited jointly as

Be-Papas was an artist collective and collective pen name founded by anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara for creating original works. Its membership consisted of Ikuhara, manga artist Chiho Saito, animator and character designer Shinya Hasegawa, scriptwriter Y ...

) and illustrated by

Chiho Saito is a Japanese manga artist, most noted for the manga ''Revolutionary Girl Utena''. In 1996, she received the Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan, Shogakukan Publishing. It has been ...

. The series is Ikuhara and Saito's second collaboration following the anime and manga series ''

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a series created by Be-Papas, an artist collective founded by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The primary entries in the series include a 1996 manga written by Chiho Saito, a 1997 anime television series directed by Ikuhara, and ''Adolescence of ...

''.

Synopsis

Japanese high school student Sekai Maihime confesses her romantic feelings to her classmate Midou while on a school train tour through France. A mysterious boy named Sovieul appears, and the train suddenly derails; Sekai is knocked unconscious, and awakens transported back in time with Sovieul to 17th century France. Sekai and Sovieul travel to the court of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, where Sekai is accused of being a witch working for Montespan, Louis' mistress. In reality Montespan is working with Machiavellio, a man with the ability to jump through time who strongly resembles Midou. They again travel to the 15th century, where Sekai and Sovieul are captured by

Gilles de Rais Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais (), was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later convi ...

Media

''World of the S&M'' was created by

and

, who previously collaborated on the anime and manga series ''

'' as members of the artist collective

. Seinosuke Ito is credited as a co-creator, while Kiwa Takado is credited as associate costume designer. In Japan, ''World of the S&M'' was serialized in the

manga magazine 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 used ...

Monthly Asuka , formerly , is a bimonthly Japanese manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten, aimed at teenage girls. The magazine was established in 1985. It is released on the 24th of every odd-numbered month as of May 2021. Much like its sibling public ...

'' from August 2001 to February 2003. The series was collected into two bound volumes published by

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

in 2002, and reprinted as a single volume by

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 Hit ...

in 2014. In North America, the series is licensed 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 ...

, which released the series as two volumes under the title ''The World Exists for Me''.

Reception

The series received mixed to negative reviews. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' called the series "flat and incoherent", arguing that "with more self-awareness, this magical historical romance could be a parody of goth-styled fantasy manga, but it's played all too straight." In her review for

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

, writer Melissa Harper praised the series' artwork, but criticized its pace and lack of character development. ''Empty Movement'' hypothesized that the series' poor reception was due to its audience "looking for another ''

Utena Utena () is a city in north-east Lithuania. It is the administrative center of Utena district and Utena County. Utena is one of the oldest settlements of Lithuania. The name of the city is most probably derived from a hydronym. The name of the s ...

''," noting that in contrast to ''Revolutionary Girl Utena'', ''World of the S&M'' is "a fairly straight shoujo

anga Anga (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World of the SandM 2001 manga Fantasy anime and manga Kadokawa Shoten manga Shogakukan manga Tokyopop titles Shōjo manga Comics about time travel