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 ...

written and illustrated by Yōko Shōji. It is serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

's '' Shōjo Friend'' from 1977 to 1984. The individual chapters were published into 24 ''

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 ...

'' by

between February 1978 and June 1985. ''Seito Shokun!'' won the second

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

in 1978 for the '' shōjo'' category. The sequel to the manga, ''Seito Shokun! Kyōshi-hen'' was serialized in Kodansha's ''

Be Love ''Be Love'' is a Japanese monthly (bimonthly May 1982 – 2018) manga magazine targeting women published by Kodansha. It debuted in September 1980. It is one of the leading manga magazines for adult women, the second of its kind (the first being ...

'' between 2003 and 2011. Another spin-off, ''Seito Shokun! Saishū-shō: Tabidachi'', was published between 2011 and 2019 in the same magazine. The manga was adapted into several

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

dramas, with two television drama series, from 1980 to 1981 and in 2007. It was also adapted into a live action film and two live action television specials, broadcast on

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- ...

on February 23, 1986, and June 8, 1987, respectively.

Releases

Manga

''Seito Shokun!'' is a manga written and illustrated by Yōko Shōji. It is serialized in

's '' Shōjo Friend'' from 1977 to 1984.

released the manga's 24 ''tankōbon'' between February 1978 and June 1985. In September, 1983,

released a one-shot

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of ''Seito Shokun!'', called .

re-released the manga in 12 '' kanzenban'' volumes, which were released between December 12, 1995, and March 12, 1996.

released a sequel of the manga, called . It was serialized in Kodansha's '' josei'' manga magazine, ''

''. Its first ''tankōbon'' volume was published on April 13, 2004, and its 25th and last was published on August 11, 2011. Another spin-off, , was published between August 2011 and April 2019 issues of ''Be Love''. Its first ''tankōbon'' was published on August 11, 2011, and the 30th and last on April 12, 2019.

Live action film

The manga was adapted in a film released on December 22, 1984, directed by Katsumi Nishikawa, produced by Kadokawa Pictues with the script written by Katsuto Kawabe and Seiko Mafune, starring Kyoko Koizumi (in the lead role as Naoko Kitashirou), Kyoko Kishida, Kenji Haga, Yosuke Natsuki, Ichiro Arishima and Katsunobu Ito. The film's theme music was written by Ken Takahashi, composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa, arranged by Akira Inoue and performed by Kyoko Koizumi herself.

Live action dramas

The manga was adapted into a 28-episode

series, which was broadcast on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

between September 1, 1980, and March 30, 1981. Produced by Toei, the drama was directed by Kimio Hirayama and Takahashi Masaharu, with the script written by

Masaki Tsuji is a Japanese anime screenwriter, mystery writer, manga author, travel critic, essayist, professor as well as mystery fiction novels writer. Tsuji was most active in the business from the 1960s through the 1980s, and worked as a script writer on ...

and Ryō Nakahara and Takeyuki Suzuki and Yoshiaki Koizumi as producers. The series'

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

s, , with lyrics by Kayoko Fujimori and , with lyrics by Yōko Shōji, were both composed by Asei Kobayashi, arranged by Masahisa Takeichi and performed by Satoko Yamano. It starred Mie Ueda. A live action television special, produced by Production Reed, was broadcast on

on February 23, 1986. Directed by Mitsuo Kusakabe, it starred Tomoyo Harada,

Sumi Shimamoto , known professionally as , is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator of film, anime and video games. She has voice acted in Hayao Miyazaki's movies '' Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'', '' The Castle of Cagliostro'', '' My Neighbor ...

and Michie Tomizawa. Another live-action television special, produced by Hori Productions, was broadcast on Fuji TV on June 8, 1987. It was directed by Makoto Naito, produced by Masayuki Morikawa, Nobuyuki Kurauchi and Akifumi Takuma, with the script written by Ryo Ishikawa. The ending theme song, , composed by Tsugutoshi Gotō with lyrics written by

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ma ...

, was performed by Ushirogami Hikaretai. It starred Miki Itō, Shigeyuki Nakamura and Nagare Harigawa. In 2007, Horipro produced a 10-episode live-action television series. Directed by Karaki Marehiro and Tamura Naoki, the drama's 10 episodes was broadcast on

between April 20, 2007, and June 22, 2007. The series' ending theme, "

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. One of the band's most recognizable songs, it was placed number 11 by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the " 500 Greatest S ...

" was performed by Yui, who released a CD containing the theme song on June 13, 2007. The soundtrack for the series was released by

Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...

as a

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

CD on June 20, 2007. The DVD box set for the series was released by

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...

on September 26, 2007. It starred

Rina Uchiyama is a Japanese actress and idol. Career Uchiyama was first discovered in her hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture by the talent agency Sweet Power at the age of 15. She was signed up by the agency, and in 1998, moved to Tokyo to launch her career in ...

, Kippei Shiina, Maki Horikita and Kanata Hongō.

Reception

''Seito Shokun!'' won the second

in 1978 for the '' shōjo'' category. The fourteenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 10th on the Tohan charts between March 11 and 17, 2008. The sixteenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 10th on the Tohan charts between November 11 and 17, 2008. The seventeenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 26th on the Tohan charts between February 10 and 16, 2009. As of 2010, ''Seito Shokun!'' and ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' have sold over 25 million copies in Japan.

References

External links

*
Official Kodansha ''Seito Shokun!'' website
{{Kodansha Manga Award - Shōjo Kodansha manga Shōjo manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)