Those Who Hunt Elves
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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 ...
series written and illustrated by
Yu Yagami is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the manga ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', which was adapted as an anime series. His works ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', '' Dokkoida?!'', '' Go West!'', and '' Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify'' have been l ...
. The plot revolves around three travellers, the eponymous "Elf Hunters", and the elven sorceress Mistress Celcia. The anime was released in North America on VHS and DVD 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 G ...
and later re-released by
Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
. On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed ''Those Who Hunt Elves'' among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China.


Plot

Elf Hunters seek five spell fragments that have been placed on the skin of elves, similar to tattoos, throughout the magical world they have been transported to. When they find them, they will be able to return to Japan. The Elf Hunters travel by means of a
Type 74 The is a main battle tank (MBT) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). It was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a supplement to the earlier Type 61. It was based on the best features of a number of contemporary designs, placing ...
tank, which has been transported to the magical world with them. The reaction of various elves as the team attempts to strip them naked is a primary basis for much of the show's humor, and are more ridiculous than suggestive. The series is also known for breaking the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
, mostly from Junpei.


Characters


Elf Hunters

; : :A 19-year-old
Karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...
ka & strongman with incredible fighting ability, Junpei is the muscle of the group as well as being the only male in the group. However, his rather rough way of saying things as well as his eye for beautiful women get him into trouble more often than not. He is constantly arguing with Celcia and obsessed about
curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in trad ...
and, briefly,
heliocentrism Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth ...
. Junpei abhors fantasy stories and might be atheist or agnostic. He is infatuated with Airi but is clueless to Celcia's own feelings for him as well despite their constant bickering. Junpei carries a wallet filled with membership cards from various dojos, and a condom with the words "Use with Airi Only!" written on the wrapper. ; : :A 16-year-old high school girl and military
otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorat ...
. She's a tomboy but not to the point where she loses her femininity. She drives and maintains the tank (to which she has a strong attachment) and also acts as a sniper from time to time; she often sets landmines and booby traps. Despite her love of modern military hardware, Ritsuko also displays a more sensitive and innocent side: she falls in love with the cute Pichi and maintained a belief in
Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrela ...
long after her peers had abandoned it and is also frightened to death of ghosts. Over the course of the manga, she gradually falls in love with Junpei. Ritsuko carries a
Howa Type 64 The , is a Japanese battle rifle used exclusively by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japanese Coast Guard. It is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon which is chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO round and uses a detachable 20-round box maga ...
Battle Rifle, SIG SG 550 assaut rifle, SIG P226 semiautomatic pistol,
Heckler & Koch USP The USP (''Universelle Selbstladepistole'' or "universal self-loading pistol") is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns. History Design work on a new family of p ...
, G36 Assault Rifle, PSG1 Sniper Rifle, a sheath knife, some C4 and a Colt M16A2 Assault Rifle. She also speaks fluent English and German. ; : :A 24-year-old Japanese-American talented actress, Airi is as skilled as she is beautiful. Able to cut from one emotion to another in an instant, and even disguise herself as someone else, Airi's talents come in useful for getting out of sticky situations that require trickery rather than brute force. Airi also has an ability to quickly and accurately assess any given situation and to plan for its eventual outcome. Although aware of Junpei's blatant affections for her, she does not reciprocate (although she does use them to her advantage, for example when getting Junpei to volunteer to be live bait to catch a giant shark by saying "Pretty please"). Airi carries a katana and a make-up compact kit. ; : for Season 1 and Shelley Calene-Black (English) for Season 2 :The unfortunate elf who happens to get tied up with her world's new visitors, Celcia offers to transport Junpei and the others back with a spell, but gets distracted in the process and causes her spell book pages to be spread out all over the world. She is a bit of a ditz and a bit psychotic and is constantly at odds with Junpei, but she is just as determined to get him and his friends back to their own world as they are – even despite her own feelings for Junpei (who she's actually in love with but publicly butts heads with). Generally, she wants them to get back home because they tend to cause a LOT of trouble. During the efforts to retrieve the spell fragments, Celcia displays an uncanny knack for getting stuck in animal form – first as a dog (Pochi), into which she'd willingly transformed, and secondly into a panda. The reason for her retention of these forms is that it is she who recovers spell fragments from the bodies of other elves, only for them to become cloven to her. Unfortunately, if they become cloven to her while she is in another form, it traps her in that form. Also, some of these marks are rather annoying. One, for instance, is a goofy looking
black eye A periorbital hematoma, commonly called a black eye or a shiner (associated with boxing or stick sports such as hockey), is bruising around the eye commonly due to an injury to the face rather than to the eye. The name refers to the dark-colo ...
; another gives her a set of whiskers. ; : for Season 1 Eps. 5 -9 and Christopher Bourque (English) Season 1 Eps. 10-12,
Tiffany Grant Tiffany Lynn Grant (born October 11, 1968) is an American voice actress and script writer who is known for her English-dubbing work for ADV Films on such anime films and television series as ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', in which she voiced the cha ...
(English) for Season 2 :The Type 74 tank is possessed during the show by the spirit of a cat known as Mihke. Mihke is first met by Elf Hunters possessing a giant teddy bear, which is then attacked by villagers, who explain that the spirit has been harassing them for some time. Upon the destruction of the bear, the spirit possesses a toy dog, found floating in a river by Ritsuko, before this too is destroyed. ; : :A small, white, teddy bear-like interdimensional creature with the ability to produce toilet paper, to whom Ritsuko takes a liking. Pichi ends up proving an incentive for the group, especially due to a plot involving a scarcity of toilet tissue.


Supporting

; : :A priestly elf and acolyte of Celcia who often appears during the group's adventures. Early in the series, she loses her faith and trust in Celcia for she thought she'd betrayed the elven race for helping out Those Who Hunt Elves and sought to stop TWHE by using a powerful spell, but ended up opening a portal and bringing more earth-originated material through. Subsequently, she ended up stripped naked and flowing down a river attached to a log. Despite this, she is later seen as a major supporter of Elf Hunters efforts to return to Japan. Probably because this is the best way to stop them. ; :''Voiced by:''
Motomu Kiyokawa was a Japanese actor and voice actor. Among other roles, he is known for voicing Tem Ray in " Mobile Suit Gundam", Gargoyle in " Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water", Kōzō Fuyutsuki in "Neon Genesis Evangelion", and Tippy in "Is the Order a Rabb ...
(Japanese), Bob Elliott (English) for Season 1 and Rob Bundy for Season 2 ; : for Season 1 and Randy Sparks (English) for Season 2 :They are the two Elven Bishops, with whom Annette and Celcia often consort and often disagree. ; : :An elven wind-priestess. She initially mistakes TWHE as the Legendary Trio when Hammerhead and his pirate crew raid her village. ;Andy : :An inhabitant of Emily's village. ;Bronco : :Andy's younger brother. ;Hammerhead : :Leader of a group of anthropomorphic sea creatures who hunt elves to sell as stuffed hunting trophies. They prove to be no match for Junpei's fighting skills, Ritsuko's weaponry and the T-74 Tank's gun. ;Gabriella : :An Amazon-like female elf. Her forces would be effortlessly defeated by Those Who Hunt Elves and she herself would fall to Junpei. After which she develops feelings for him for his honor as a fighter. ;Dihal : :A female elf and leader of a town beset by skeletal warriors, she drinks a magic potion which causes her to grow, thus enabling Elf Hunters to search her naked frame. She spends the rest of the episodes in her giant form. ;Rapier : :A female elf and accomplished fighter, cursed with the numbers of her defeated rivals on her back. It can't come off until she's defeated her 1,000th opponent. She would fall to Junpei but was relieved of her curse because she learned the true way of the fist that her late
sensei Sensei, Seonsaeng, Tiên sinh or Xiansheng, corresponding to Chinese characters , is an East Asian honorific term shared in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese; it is literally translated as "person born before another" or "one who comes ...
taught her but refused to listen. She thanks him and Junpei for relieving her of the curse. ;Sister Romina : :An elven
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
. ;Emmy : :A ghostly elf who claims to be a lesbian to keep Junpei from stripping her. ;Pierre : :Born-again ex-alcoholic
hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
ier. ;Colleena : :An elf who works in flower delivery. ;Grace : :A human dressmaker. ; : :An elf cursed to eternally wear a magical suit of armor she donned in order to protect her city from an evil giant. After a few comical attempts by TWHE to strip her of the armor, she finally manages to remove it, only to put it back on again. ;Milliea's Grandfather : :A short, shriveled-up elf who is also a pervert who holds an antidote for Millia's armor to come off. ; : for Season 1 and Jay Hickman (English) for Season 2 :The chief elven prosecutor for the world in which Elf Hunters find themselves. He is often looking for ways to end the heroes' reign of terror. ; : for Season 1 and
Monica Rial Monica Jean Rial (born October 5, 1975) is an American voice actress and ADR script writer affiliated with Funimation and Seraphim Digital/Sentai Filmworks. She provides voices for English language versions of Japanese anime films and televisi ...
(English) for Season 2 :A female elf presiding judge who heard the case against Elf Hunters, only to award them a license to keep stripping elves as a means to return home. ;Rosa : :Mermaid elf leader. ;Lana : :Elven thief. ;Nancy : :A healer who has become a recluse after being inflicted with spell fragments. ;Dr. Bruno : :A scientist and astronomer, developing her father's heliocentric theories, much to the chagrin of the astronomical council. However, her theories are very different from the normal scientific definition. ;Beano : ;Mr. Tomato :''Voiced by:'' Donaldo (English) :They are two island-based botanists whose experiments with increasing plant growth exponentially end in conflagration. ;Lilia : :An elf who plays the part of a ditsy schoolgirl in a scenario invented by the Judge to entrap Elf Hunters. ;Mr. Wolf : :A wolf who bears a grudge against humanity after the death of his parents. His plans are thwarted by Elf Hunters, who later save him from four elven hunters. ;Grandma : :Grandmother of
Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brot ...
. ;Elven Hunters :''Voiced by:'' 1.
Jessica Boone Jessica Boone (born May 14, 1984) is an American film, television, and voice actress with extensive experience in Shakespeare and musical theatre, who used to work primarily for ADV Films, Funimation, Sentai Filmworks, and Seraphim Digital, wh ...
:Four psychopathic hunters who are eventually shown as female elves. ;Pulana : :An elf bearing an enchanted Chinese-style dress. She is rescued by Junpei and Ritsuko from the Friskers. ;The Friskers: :The Chairman : :Leader of the Friskers, a group who pride themselves on being the primary stripping faction in the Elf Hunters' fantasy world. Ironically, they worship TWHE as the premiere elf strippers. :Bunny Mask : :Mary the Shepherd : :Man Who Stripped the Emperor : There are several Father Christmases in the world in which Elf Hunters find themselves, including Satan, Infomercial and Salary Man Santas, as well as several female Santas – including Annette. There is also a Dog Santa. :Satan Santa : :Infomercial Santa :''Voiced by:''
Vic Mignogna Victor Joseph Mignogna (); born August 27, 1962)Birthday tweet: * is an American voice actor and musician known for his voice-over work in the English dubs of Japanese anime shows, such as Edward Elric from the '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' series ...
(English) :Salary Man Santas :''Voiced by:'' 1.
Chris Patton Chris Patton is an American voice actor who has worked on a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime series that have been dubbed by ADV Films, Funimation, and Sentai Filmworks. Some of his major roles at ADV include Sousuke Sagar ...
(English) 2.
Andy McAvin Andrew Mark McAvin (born January 4, 1952) is an American voice actor with nearly 80 credits to his resume. He also appeared in over 120 professional theatrical productions including Broadway musicals. He does voice work in anime dubs for ADV Fil ...
(English) ;Regina : :A powerful elven sorceress residing in Treetown, who firstly attempts to lure Elf Hunters into becoming
human sacrifices Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...
by a trick, in order to save her world from destruction at the hands of the Legendary Sorcerer (subsequently ending up stripped), before imploring their aid when her fears become reality. ;Mayor of Treetown : :Helping Regina with her plans. ;Bizarre : :An elven master thief with plans for global domination. She is aided by two goblins. :Goblin 1 : :Goblin 2 : ;Legendary Sorcerer : :Having lain dormant for many years under Treetown, the sorcerer has the power to destroy the world.


Media


Manga

The manga was written and illustrated by
Yu Yagami is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the manga ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', which was adapted as an anime series. His works ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', '' Dokkoida?!'', '' Go West!'', and '' Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify'' have been l ...
. It was serialized by MediaWorks 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 ...
''
Dengeki Comic Gao! , also known as ''Dengeki Gao!'' was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine that primarily contained manga and information about series featuring bishōjo characters. It was published from December 1992 to February 2008 by MediaWorks. The ''Gao'' in ...
'' from June 1995 to March 2003, and collected in 21 bound volumes. It is licensed in English by
ADV Manga 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 Gree ...
, with only the first seven volumes published in English in 2004, before the series went on indefinite hiatus. ADV's website makes no mention of the series in manga form, so it is unlikely the series will be continued.


Anime

Two anime series were created. Both were animated by
Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968 from former Mushi Pro staff. They worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and contributed to all stages of the process, including p ...
and produced by
Amuse, Inc. is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services. The artists include idols, musicians, and so on. Amuse produces TV and radio programs, commercial films, and movies. Other interests are in publication, music software ...
, while the second was also produced by Project E2. Both series were licensed by ADV Films, who released as 4 DVDs. In 2009
Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
released the series in a complete collection set.


Music

Those Who Hunt Elves :Opening Theme: :*"Angel Blue" :*:Lyrics by: Naoko Hamasaki :*:Composition and arrangement by: Chihiro Kiryu :*:Song by: Naoko Hamasaki :Ending Theme: :*"The Genius Comes At The End" (天才は最後にやってくる; ''Tensai wa Saigo ni Yattekuru'') :*:Lyrics by: Natsumi Tadano :*:Composition and arrangement by: Hideki Tsutsumi :*:Song by: Naoko Hamasaki Those Who Hunt Elves 2 :Opening Theme: :*"Round11" :*:Lyrics by: Naoko Hamasaki :*:Composition and arrangement by: Chihiro Kiryu :*:Song by: Naoko Hamasaki :Ending Theme: :*"To a Place Beyond Miracles" (奇跡の向こう側へ; ''Kiseki no Mukou Soba e'') :*:Lyrics by: Naoko Hamasaki :*:Composition and arrangement by: Hideki Tsutsumi :*:Song by: Naoko Hamasaki


References


Further reading

* *


External links


J-pop.com review
* {{Group TAC 1995 manga 2007 manga 2013 manga 1996 anime television series debuts 1997 anime television series debuts ADV Films ADV Manga Adventure anime and manga ASCII Media Works manga TV Tokyo original programming Censored television series Comedy anime and manga Comic Meteor manga Dengeki Comic Gao! Group TAC Japanese webcomics Sentai Filmworks Shōnen manga Television censorship in China Webcomics in print Works banned in China Elves in popular culture Isekai anime and manga