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Tactics (タクティクス) is a manga series collaborated between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. It is serialized and currently running in Comic Blade Masamune. Sakura Kinoshita supplied the character "Kantarou", and Kazuko Higashiyama supplied the character "Haruka". The manga was released in North America by ADV Manga in 2004.
Story
Ever since he was born, Kantarou has had the 6th sense to see demons, and has become friends with them. One day a youkai told him about an oni-eating tengu, and ever since then Kantarou has been in search of it, and one day, on a youkai busting case, finds him. He then names the tengu "Haruka", and in naming him forces the tengu to be his servant.
Characters
- Ichinomiya Kantaro
- Haruka
- Youko
- Sugino
- Muu-chan
- Reiko
Translation
Not unlike ADV Manga's licensed English releases of Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, only two volumes of Tactics have been produced by the company. These volumes were produced on a seemingly erractic schedule, with the first volume released on October 26 2004, and the second volume released on May 24 2005. The release of newer volumes has been put into much speculation, as ADV Manga currently does not have the manga listed on their official website. However, there are rumors of the delay being mostly due to a large layoff period in the company's history.Many people were confused when ADV Manga changed Sugino's gender to a 'she' and Muu-chan's gender to a 'he'. Some people felt that it was wrong to change Sugino's gender, because it affects how the relationships between Sugino and other people, and Muu-chan to other people look like.
Anime
The animation studio Studio DEEN adapted the manga of Tactics into a 25-episode anime series, which ran on Japanese television from October 5 2004 to March 29 2005.
Plot Summary
Ever since he was little, Kantarou (or Kan-chan as Youko calls him) has always been able to see and talk with youkai, and he swore that he would find the famous oni-eating tengu and become friends with it.His search takes years as he endures the persistency of his editor to finish the latest manuscript and the nagging of Youko, but finally he manages to meet with the oni-eating tengu and names him Haruka, thus binding him to his service. (In Tactics, a demon cannot go against the will of the person who gave it its name.)
Now, as a famous ethnologist and 'youkai buster' on the side, along with Youko and Haruka, Kan-chan works to exorcise various youkai and oni that cause people trouble. However, as Haruka's sealed past catches up with them all, it will take more than a few exorcised demons to get them through these troubled times.
Music
A CD for season 1 will be released on 27 June 2006- Opening Theme: "Secret World" by MIKI
- Ending Theme: "Mienai Chikara" by Akiyama Miki
Japanese Staff
- Director: Hiroshi Watanabe
- Series Composition: Kenichi Kanemaki
- Dubbing Director: Kazuhiko Inoue
- Script: Kanemaki Kenichi
Screenplay:
- Hiroyuki Kawasaki
- Katsuhiko Takayama
- Masashi Kubota
- Masashi Suzuki
Storyboard:
- Chiaki Ima
- Hiroshi Watanabe
- Masashi Kojima
- Mitsuko Oyake
- Shinpei Miyashita
Episode Director:
- Chiaki Ima
- Hiroshi Watanabe
- Shigeru Ueda
- Music: Kei Haneoka
- Character Design: Mariko Oka
- Art Director: Michiyo Akutsu
- Chief Animation Director: Mariko Oka
Animation Director:
- Minefumi Harada
- Miyako Tsuji
- Youichi Ishikawa
- Yukiko Ban
Director of Photography: Akio Abe
Japanese Cast
Kouki Miyata as Kantarou- Takahiro Sakurai as Haruka
- Tomoko Kawakami as Youko
- Nana Mizuki as Suzu
- Soichiro Hoshi as Sugino
- Omi Minami as Muu-chan
Original Doujinshi by Mad Cookie Monster
Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama form a doujinshi circle called Mad Cookie Monster. They individually go by the pseudonyms Wasabi Katsuo and Wasabi Maguro, respectively. This circle has released many doujinshi for their own series, including Tactics, some of them containing explicit yaoi pornography. One of the rarest and best known of these titles is "Love Sick," a 72-page doujinshi containing an illustrated short novel and an explicit yaoi comic, featuring the pairing Haruka x Kantarou.
Mad Cookie Monster has also produced fan comics for other series, including Harukanaru Toki no Naka De.
External links
- Studio DEEN's Official Tactics Website (Japanese)
- Official Tactics Manga Website (Japanese)
- Tactics @ FrontierWorks (Japanese)
- TV-Tokyo's Official Tactics Anime Website (Japanese)
"Tactics (manga)"