''Cipher'' is a '' shōjo''

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 written and illustrated by Minako Narita. It 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 ''

LaLa ''LaLa'' is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha on the 24th of each month. The magazine's bonus contents are usually calendars for New Year issues, drama CDs, and so on. In a 2006 survey conducted by Oricon, Japanese girls ...

'' magazine from the February 1985 issue to the December 1990 issue, and was collected in Japan in twelve ''

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 ...

'' volumes and seven '' bunkoban'' volumes. A sequel manga series titled ''Alexandrite'' was published in ''LaLa'' from 1991 to 1994, and compiled in Japan in seven ''tankōbon'' volumes and four ''bunkoban'' volumes. ''Cipher'' was also adapted into a promotional English-language OVA titled ''Cipher the Video'' in 1989, with Narita's input and involvement.

Plot

The story of ''Cipher'' is set in mid-1980s

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, mainly

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It concerns the lives of former child stars

twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

Shiva (Jake Lang) and Cipher (Roy Lang), who mysteriously began to trade places until the two became synonymous with each other. Anise Murphy is a classmate of Shiva's, and shortly after becoming acquainted with him ends up entangled in a bet to see if she can tell the two apart after living at their apartment for two weeks.

Characters

* Anise Murphy * Jake Lang (Shiva) * Roy Lang (Cipher) * Rob * Jessica * Ruth * Alex Levine * Haru (Hal) Takeshita * Jean Lang

OVA cast

The voice acting for the OVA was done entirely in English, without a Japanese version. Most of the cast consisted of bilingual Japanese actors and a few native English speakers in Japan.

Media

Manga

''Cipher'' is written and illustrated by Minako Narita. It was serialized in the monthly magazine ''

'' from December 24, 1984, to October 24, 1990. The chapters were later released in 12 bound volumes by

under the Hana to Yume Comics imprint. CMX licensed the series in North America in 2005. It went

out of print An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book that is ...

when

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

shut down the CMX imprint in 2010.

''Tankōbon'' editions

References

External links

* Anime and manga set in the United States CMX (comics) titles Hakusensha manga Hakusensha franchises Magic Bus (studio) Shōjo manga {{manga-stub