is a Japanese

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 ...

series adapted from the comedic

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

short stories written by English humourist

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

. The original stories were translated into Japanese by Tamaki Morimura and illustrated by Bun Katsuta. ''Please, Jeeves'' was serialized in

Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...

's (girls') manga magazine ''

Melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

'' from 2008 to 2014 and published in five volumes. The series stars the amiable and naive young gentleman

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intellige ...

and his brilliant valet Jeeves. Each chapter of the manga adapts one or two short stories, giving the series an episodic structure, with each chapter being a complete story.

Development

In the years leading up to the creation of ''Please, Jeeves'', butlers became a popular topic for

, with one example being the comic character

Hayate the Combat Butler is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kenjiro Hata. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' magazine from October 2004 to April 2017. Shogakukan released 52 volumes in Japan from February 2005 to ...

. Sometime in 2007, Maki Shiraoka, a senior editor for

, conceived of the idea of a manga series featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. She discussed this idea with another Hakusensha editor, Ayaka Tokushige, who found Tamaki Morimura's translation of ''The Inimitable Jeeves'' and believed it would be a good basis for a manga. They planned to serialize the stories in the bimonthly (girls') manga magazine ''

'' and then release the stories as a single volume at the end of the year. After searching for an artist, they chose Bun Katsuta, who is known for her "retro" style. Early in 2008, while working on adapting Wodehouse's stories into manga form, Bun Katsuta and Tamaki Morimura realised that they needed to know more details about 1920s–30s London, such as what a ten-pound note looked like. They visited London and the nearby countryside together for research and studied English stately homes, shops, and architecture, guided by Wodehouse experts. Editors Maki Shiraoka and Ayaka Tokushige were also part of the tour. The first ''Please, Jeeves'' story was published in the April 2008 issue of ''Melody'' and was an immediate hit.

Publication

The short stories adapted for ''Please, Jeeves'' were originally published between 1919 and 1930. Authorized by the P. G. Wodehouse estate, ''Please, Jeeves'' was serialized in the bimonthly manga magazine ''Melody'', published by Hakusensha, between 2008 and 2014. It was also released in five volumes by the same publisher, under the company's Hana to Yume Comics label. The first three volumes, which are numbered as a set with white dust jackets, were published in March 2009, December 2010, and October 2012, respectively. The fourth and fifth volumes are not explicitly numbered, and have a red dust jacket and blue dust jacket respectively, though both are still stated to be part of the "Please, Jeeves Series". They were published in November 2013 and December 2014. In the manga, Jeeves is called a ''butler'', because the Japanese are not familiar with the word ''valet''.

Volumes

Each volume contains between four and six stories. All five published volumes include the original magazine publication date for each story. The last volume also includes a text translation of the short story "

Jeeves Makes an Omelette "Jeeves Makes an Omelette" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in the ''Star Weekly'' in Canada in August 1958. The story was also included in the 195 ...

" with five illustrations.

References

{{Jeeves, state=expanded Hakusensha manga Josei manga Adaptations of works by P. G. Wodehouse

Development

Publication

Volumes

See also

References