Honō no Tenkōsei (炎の転校生, "Blazing Transfer Student") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Shimamoto. It was serialized in the Shogakukan manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1983 to 1985. Honō no Tenkōsei was adapted into a two-episode original video animation (OVA) anime series in 1991 by Gainax. A live-action series, titled Blazing Transfer Students, premiered on Netflix in 2017.
| Honō no Tenkōsei | |
 First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Noboru Takizawa | |
| 炎の転校生 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy, parody, sports[1] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Kazuhiko Shimamoto |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Imprint | Shōnen Sunday Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Sunday |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | July 20, 1983 – November 13, 1985 |
| Volumes | 12 |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Katsuhiko Nishijima |
| Produced by | Shouji Murahama |
| Written by | Toshio Okada |
| Music by | Kohei Tanaka |
| Studio | Gainax |
| Released | May 21, 1991 |
| Runtime | 25 minutes |
| Episodes | 2 |
| Television drama | |
| Blazing Transfer Students | |
| Directed by | Toshio Lee |
| Written by | Yuko Kawabe |
| Music by | Toshihiko Sahashi |
| Original network | Netflix |
| Original run | November 10, 2017 |
| Episodes | 8 |
Plot
editNoboru Takizawa transfers to a school where all disputes are settled through fighting. He quickly runs afoul of the school bully, Saburō Ibuki, who has a boxing match with "God's Hall Monitor", Kōichi Jōnouchi, to determine who will date the lovely Yukari. Takizawa is enraptured with Yukari, and decides to intervene in the fight which Ibuki won by bending the rules. Takizawa loses the fight in the first OVA to Ibuki's deadly finishing punch, but in the second OVA Takizawa develops his own finishing punch and eventually wins the day.
Characters
edit- Noboru Takizawa (滝沢 昇, Takizawa Noboru)
- Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki
- Yukari Takamura (高村 友花里, Takamura Yukari)
- Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka
- Saburō Ibuki (伊吹 三郎, Ibuki Saburō)
- Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
- Kōichi Jōnouchi (城之内 考一, Jōnouchi Kōichi)
- Voiced by: Shō Hayami
- Chiaki Takano (高野 千明, Takano Chiaki)
- Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (credited as Schoolboy A)
- Jun Namekata (行方 純, Namekata Jun)
- Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (credited as Schoolboy C)
Media
editManga
editHonō no Tenkōsei, written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Shimamoto, was serialized in the Shogakukan magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from July 20, 1983, to November 13, 1985.[2][3] The individual chapters were collected in twelve tankōbon volumes, released from February 18, 1984, to January 18, 1986.[4][5]
OVA
editHonō no Tenkōsei was adapted into a two-episode original video animation (OVA) anime produced by Gainax. The anime reunites director Katsuhiko Nishijima and character designer Yuji Moriyama of the original Project A-ko and features storyboards by Sumio Watanabe.[1] The OVA features an opening vocal theme written by Shimamoto Kazuhiko, arranged by Kohei Tanaka, and performed by Toshihiko Seki. The ending theme, Yumemiru Ki Mo Chi Dreaming Heart (夢みるキ・モ・チ 〜Dreaming Heart〜), was composed and arranged by Tanaka and performed by Noriko Hidaka. The Honō no Tenkōsei OVA parodies anime of the 1970s, particularly Tomorrow's Joe, and is complete with intentionally jerky animation, dirty-looking cels, thick black lines, and retro character designs, much like Shimamoto's drawing style.[1]
According to Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post Honō no Tenkōsei was released on both VHS and laserdisc, but not DVD.[6] It was released on Blu-ray by Pony Canyon on March 19, 2014.[7][8]
Live-action series
editA Netflix original live-action series called Blazing Transfer Students[9] or Honō no Tenkōsei REBORN was released as a sequel set years after the original story. The story revolves around seven students all named Kakeru who transfer into the school.[10] It was released on November 10, 2017, and was directed by Toshio Lee.
Reception
editAs of March 2017, the manga had over 1.6 million copies in circulation.[11]
Anime News Network's Justin Sevakis, commenting on the anime, said that "while the animation has that slightly soft shot-on-film look, the heightened contrast and angular designs that were meant to evoke the past have instead kept it looking modern."[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Sevakis, Justin (April 16, 2013). "Pile of Shame - Blazing Transfer Student". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
- ^ 週刊少年サンデー1983年31. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
- ^ 週刊少年サンデー1985年48. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
- ^ 炎の転校生 1 [Blazing Transfer Student 1] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. 18 February 1984. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
- ^ 炎の転校生 12 [Blazing Transfer Student 12] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. 18 January 1986. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
- ^ Beveridge, Chris (February 18, 2014). "Japanese 'Honoo no Tenkousei' OVA Blu-ray Anime Packaging Revealed". The Fandom Post. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ^ 炎の転校生 BLU-RAY SPECIAL【完全初回限定生産商品】. PonyCanyon.co.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ^ 炎の転校生 BLU-RAY SPECIAL【完全初回限定生産商品】. Oricon Style (in Japanese). Retrieved June 5, 2015.
- ^ "'Blazing Transfer Students' Is Wonderfully Weird As You Expect A Live-Action Anime To Be". Decider. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ "Blazing Transfer Student Manga Gets Live-Action Show on Netflix Worldwide". Anime News Network. March 26, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ ジャニーズＷＥＳＴ海外デビュー 「炎の転校生」初実写化のオリジナルネットドラマ. daily.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved March 26, 2017.
External links
edit- Honō no Tenkōsei (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia