is a romance

manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

by Mitsuru Adachi. It appeared irregularly in the

manga magazine 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

Big Comic Original is a Japanese manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to the manga magazine '' Big Comic'', the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks ...

'' from 1992 through 1997, and was collected in one

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

volume in May 1997. In 1998, it was adapted as an 11-episode television

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series by

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

Plot

''Jinbē'' is the story of the relationship between Jinpei and his stepdaughter, Miku. Miku's mother died after being married to Jinpei for a little over a year, when Miku was 13 years old, and Jinpei has been raising Miku alone since then. The series has a very delicate touch with the romantic issues. Adachi dealt with a similar situation, a brother and sister who are not related by blood, in his earlier series '' Miyuki''.

Main characters

The information in the "Portrayed by" line is for the live action drama. Additional cast members are listed below in that section. ; :''Portrayed by:'' Masakazu Tamura :Jinpei, also known as Jinbē (meaning

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...

), lives with his step-daughter Miku. His wife, Rikako, died three years prior to the beginning of the story after being married to him for just over a year. Jinpei works at Sansun Aquarium. While in college, he was a famous

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for his university's soccer team. ; :''Portrayed by:'' Takako Matsu :Miku is Jinpei's 17-year-old step-daughter, and the daughter of Rikako and Yukio Miyage. Her parents divorced nine years prior to the story's start, and her mother married Jinpei about five years later. She is in the photography club in high school, and is pursued romantically by Jinishi. However, she was always predestined to have a romantic relationship with her step-father, despite their initial denial throughout the story. Sources:

Manga

The series has been collected into one

, published by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

TV Drama

Broadcast on Fuji TV from October 12, 1998 – December 21, 1998, ''Jinbē'' garnered an average 15.9% rating. It aired on Monday nights from 9:00—9:54 pm, with the final episode airing from 9:00—10:24 pm.

Cast

*Jinbei Takanashi: Masakazu Tamura *Miku Takanashi: Takako Matsu *Makoto Teranishi:

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, and a former member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. Early life Kusanagi grew up in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan. Career Music In 1987, at age 13, Kusanagi auditioned to enter John ...

*Michiko Tsujima: Reiko Takashima *Shūichi Ishizuka: Takashi Ukaji *Yukio Miyage: Kōji Shimizu *Manabu Mitamura: Leo Morimoto *Mayumi Ōzaki: Mayuko Nishiyama *Tomoko Machiyama: Mami Kurosaka *Hiro: Masashi Kōda * Masao Imafuku Sources:

Staff

*Original Story: Mitsuru Adachi *Script: Noriko Yoshida *Music: SR Smoothy ''Opus One'' *Executive Producers: Kōzō Nagayama, Tatsuaki Kimura *Producer: Nobuhiro Sugio *Assistant Executive Producer: Masaki Nishiura *Assistant Producer: Chiyoko Asakura *Publicity: Itsuko Onuki *Production Diary: Ryōko Sakuma, Kazuyo Oda *Executive Producer: Masako Tani *Production Chief: Nobuhiro Kayama, Nobuyuki Shintani *Music and Sound Effects: Yoshio Onuki *In cooperation with Kinuta Studio, K&L, Basuku, Active, Two-One, Institute of Cetacean Research, Fennec, FC Plan, Japan Underwater Films,

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

*Production Undewriting: Fuji TV Sources:

References

External links

Official Fuji TV site
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jinbe 1992 manga 1998 Japanese television series debuts 1998 Japanese television series endings Fiction about aquariums Fuji Television dramas Japanese television dramas based on manga Mitsuru Adachi Seinen manga Shogakukan manga