Futari Ecchi
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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 written and illustrated by Katsu Aki. It has been 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 manga magazine ''
Young Animal In the English language, many animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''Book of St. Alba ...
'' since December 1996, with its chapters collected in 92 volumes as of November 2024. The series follows a
newlywed Newlyweds are people who have recently entered into a marriage. The time frame during which a married couple is considered newlywed varies, but for social science research purposes it may be considered as up to six months into the marriage.Rebecc ...
couple in their mid-twenties, both virgins when they married, and chronicles their sexual explorations. The manga combines erotic elements with factual and informative statistics. Its title ''Futari Ecchi'' ("two person
ecchi is a slang term in the Japanese language for playfully sexual actions. As an adjective, it is used with the meaning of "sexy", "dirty" or "naughty"; as a verb, means "to have sex", and as a noun, it is used to describe someone of lasciviou ...
") is a play on a slang term for
masturbation Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...
, ''hitori ecchi'' ("single person ecchi"). Two spin-off manga have been released, ''Futari Ecchi for Ladies'' focusing on the sexuality of women and ''Futari Ecchi Gaiden: Akira, The Evangelist of Sex'' focusing on Akira. There are also two sex manuals and an art book. The series was adapted into a three episode live-action television drama that aired on WOWOW in 2000. A four-volume
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
(OVA) series was produced from 2002 and 2004. In 2011, a twelve-episode live-action
web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
was streamed on
Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...
. Also in 2011, a live-action theatrical film series began. Four films have been released. A second three episode OVA series was released in 2014 by Production Reed. In 2007, the manga series was licensed in North America by
Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licens ...
as ''Manga Sutra'', only four volumes were released, comprising eight Japanese volumes. Also in 2007,
Media Blasters Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment company that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American mar ...
licensed and released the OVAs on DVD as ''Step Up Love Story''. The series had 29.5 million copies in print by February 2018 and is most famous for being a how-to guide combined with a story.


Characters

; :The series' protagonist, a 25-year-old foreign cosmetics maker and elite
salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...
. He was introduced to Yura through an omiai. He is very critical of his own sexual abilities, but that does not hinder him from having sexual fantasies with any pretty girl in his vicinity (ultimately, though, he stays faithful to Yura). Nevertheless, after his marriage he attracts the attention of a lot of female admirers. In addition to his inexperience, Makoto suffers from
premature ejaculation Premature ejaculation (PE) is a male sexual dysfunction that occurs when a male Ejaculation, expels semen (and most likely experiences orgasm) soon after beginning sexual activity, and with minimal penile stimulation. It has also been called ''e ...
. :He is voiced by
Mitsuo Iwata is a Japanese actor, voice actor and singer who was born in Tokorozawa, Saitama.Endo, Akira et al. "Voice Actor Spotlight". (November 2006) ''Newtype USA''. pp. 110-111. He is previously married to voice actress Rikako Aikawa. Mania.com prais ...
(radio drama) and
Yūji Ueda is a Japanese actor, voice actor and singer from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for voicing the roles of Sagara Sanosuke in ''Rurouni Kenshin'', Akito Tenkawa in '' Martian Successor Nadesico'', Valerino in the 1992 series of '' C ...
(2002 OVA), Yuichi Nakamura (2014 OVA) and portrayed by Sō Yamanaka (TV series), Shinnosuke Fukushima (web series),
Riki Miura is a Japanese actor from Hiroshima Prefecture. Miura made his acting debut in 2005. His first major role has been as Gou Fukami/Geki Violet in '' Juken Sentai Gekiranger''. He announced on March 10, 2018 that he will retire from the entertainmen ...
(1st film) and Hikaru Okada (2nd film). ; :Makoto's wife. Also 25 years old. Makoto is the first man she has ever kissed or had sex with. She is loving, but extremely naïve on sexual matters and too shy to try something new by herself (even through the series she is fully determined to overcome her limitations and be a better lover to Makoto), as well as insecure about her looks; she is unaware how beautiful and charming she is. She is also the target of attention by many men (although their behavior is – compared to the women who adore her husband – mostly passive longing). She additionally has the knack of befriending most of the women whom she should consider her rivals for Makoto's affections (Makoto's colleague Makie Sugiyama is a notable exception). Yura is also a big fan of
undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a cadaver, corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's o ...
-themed
horror movie Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include monsters, apocalyp ...
s. When she was in high school, she was a member of the Tennis club. :She is voiced by Yumi Ichihara (radio drama) and
Tomoko Kawakami was a Japanese voice actress. She was also known by her pen-name Tomozou (とも蔵), and her Christian name Cecilia (セシリア). Having graduated from the Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, she was a member of Production Baobab. Ca ...
(2002 OVA), Ayumi Tsunematsu (2014 OVA) and portrayed by Chika Inada (TV series), Nana Nanaumi (web series) and Yūri Morishita (films). ; :Yura's 20-year-old sister. Sexually experienced and rather promiscuous (to the point where, early in the series, she keeps a boyfriend and three "sex friends" – in addition to miscellaneous flings), she constantly teases and goads both Makoto and Yura into improving their "night life". At first in an on-and-off relationship with her "number-one boyfriend", Taku Yamada, for most of the series, she eventually decides to settle down, even marrying the son of Makoto's boss Katori, though their matrimony rapidly disintegrates soon afterwards following personal differences. :She is voiced by Fumie Kusachi (radio drama) and Naoko Takano (2002 OVA),
Chiwa Saitō is a Japanese voice actress represented by I'm Enterprise. She is best known for her anime roles, which include Hitagi Senjougahara in ''Monogatari'', Homura Akemi in ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', Yona in ''Akatsuki no Yona'', Chloe von Eizenb ...
(2014 OVA) and portrayed by Ayaka Tomoda (web series) and Miyuki Yokoyama (films). ; :Makoto's older brother. A 29-year-old
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
. He is very nosy and frequently pesters Makoto about his sex life and fancies himself as Makoto's tutor on the topic of pleasuring the wife. In order to appease his own sex drive, he frequently visits
brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
s. :He is portrayed by
Yuichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese actor and full-time member of the 4-man theatre troupe . His nickname is "Tuti". He is best known for his stage roles as Shuichiro Oishi of the '' Prince of Tennis'' musical series, '' Tenimyu'', and as Gin Ichimaru in the rock m ...
(3rd film). ; :Makoto's 17-year-old sister. Initially she has a rather romantic look on a relationship, and her quest for true love lets her drift through a number of affairs before she finally finds happiness with her first boyfriend, Yosuke. :She is portrayed by Natsumi Kamata (web series) and
Kirara Asuka is a Japanese model and former adult video (AV) actress. Career Before her debut, Kirara Asuka was a female waitress working at a Kyabakura (Hostess club) in Roppongi. One day, a scout from an adult video company visited the store as a guest, ...
(2nd film). ; :Makoto's sister-in-law and Akira's 27-year-old wife. She is annoyed at Akira's habit of patronizing brothels. :She is portrayed by Sasa Handa (web series) and Rika Kawamura (3rd film). ; :Makoto's father. A 52-year-old company officer. He is overly sensitive about his sex life, and far too protective of his youngest child, Jun. :He is portrayed by Bengaru (3rd film). ; :Makoto's mother. A 54-year-old housewife. Akiko proves to be more liberal (and encouraging) than her husband is when it comes to the topic of her sex life. :She is portrayed by Motoko Sasaki (3rd film). ; :Yura's father. A 49-year-old
camera operator A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...
. He has a liking for cats and dogs, and raises a large number of them. He is also a fan of the
Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...
. While not as active as his daughters, he still enjoys a fulfilling sexual relationship with his wife Chiharu. :He is voiced by Ken Mizukoshi (2014 OVA). ; :Yura's mother. A 47-year-old with a youthful appearance and a tender personality. Like her husband, she is a cat/dog aficionado. She frequently suffers from
lumbago Low back pain or lumbago is a common disorder involving the muscles, nerves, and bones of the back, in between the lower edge of the ribs and the lower fold of the buttocks. Pain can vary from a dull constant ache to a sudden sharp feeling. ...
. :She is voiced by Aina Yasukuni (2014 OVA). ; :Makoto's second cousin and an
obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and
gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...
. At the request of Makoto's mother, she moved in next door to the Onodas to encourage them to reproduce. A very dominant personality, she was still a virgin at age thirty, but she finally does get settled down with Koichiro Matsuzaki. :She is portrayed by Momoko Tani (3rd film). ; :Rika's "number-one boyfriend", who is a rather self-centered sexist. And just like Rika, he is not very concerned about having more than one relationship, although he does react jealously when he finds her involved with other men. Eventually, however, Rika dumps him, settles down, divorces and rekindles their relationship. :He is voiced by
Kappei Yamaguchi , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and '' rakugoka'' affiliated with Gokū and 21st Century Fox.Doi, Hitoshi"Yamaguchi Kappei" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. After making his ...
(2002 OVA) and portrayed by Yukio (web series). ; :Jun's first and current boyfriend; also her former classmate and now fellow student. Jun had her first time with him, but due to their then differing views of a relationship they broke apart for a couple of years before finding each other again. They have since moved together and are exploring (and deepening) their feelings for each other. :He is portrayed by Rakuto Tochihara (web series).


Media


Manga

Written and illustrated by Katsu Aki, ''Futari Ecchi'' has been serialized biweekly 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 manga magazine ''
Young Animal In the English language, many animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''Book of St. Alba ...
'' since December 1996. Its chapters have been collected by Hakusensha into individual volumes, with the first one released on August 29, 1997. As of November 28, 2024, 92 volumes have been released. In December 2002, a side story called began serialization in ''Silky'', running for twelve chapters until its conclusion in October 2004. It focuses on the women in the series. The individual chapters were collected and published into two volumes by Hakusensha. Another side story titled began in ''Young Animal'' on June 23, 2017 and ended on November 24, 2017. It commemorates the series' 20th anniversary and is written by Monkey Chop and supervised by Katsu. It was compiled into one volume. There are also two sex manuals and an art book, entitled ''Yura Yura''.
Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licens ...
licensed ''Futari Ecchi'' for an English-language release in North America under the name ''Manga Sutra - Futari H'' in 2007, with two volumes of the original Japanese release combined into a single volume. However, before the release of the first volume, which was published in January 2008, several major retailers had announced they would not carry the title due to its content. A representative of Tokyopop also said that the volumes were expensive to produce. They planned to release the first ten Japanese tankōbon in five volumes, but only four were released, the fourth published in January 2009. Tokyopop ceased all manga publications in 2011.


Radio drama

From January 5 to March 30, 1997, a
radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
was broadcast on
Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...
. The roughly 30 minute program aired on Tuesdays at 1:00am and was later released on two CDs, by
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
Music, as .


Original video animations

Beginning in 2002, a four-volume
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
series was produced by
Chaos Project is a Japanese animation studio that specializes in the production of anime. The studio's main jobs are as a sub-contracting company. Establishment After working with Tsuchida Production, Ayumi Enomoto joined Studio Fantasia was a Japanese ...
. It is split into two stages; the first two episodes, released on July 26 and September 7, 2002, make up one, and the last two, released on November 27, 2003 and January 22, 2004, make up the second. On July 2, 2007,
Media Blasters Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment company that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American mar ...
announced that they had licensed the OVA series at
Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...
. They first released it as ''Step Up Love Story'' on two DVDs, each containing two episodes, on November 27, 2007 and January 29, 2008. On December 30, 2008 it was released in a box set, which was re-released on July 10, 2012 as part of their Anime Works Classic line. Another three episode OVA, telling an original story, was released on October 10, 2014 by Production Reed.


Live-action

A three-part live-action mini-series adaptation of ''Futari Ecchi'' aired on the
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
channel Wowow in 2000. They were titled , and , and all directed by Gen Yamakawa. In May 2011, it was announced that ''Futari Ecchi'' would be receiving both a live-action film adaptation and a live-action web series. The
web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
was streamed on
Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...
and stars Nana Nanaumi and Shinnosuke Fukushima as Yura and Makoto with Takaso Kase as Akira Onoda and Sasa Handa as Sanae Onoda. It premiered in July 2011 and had fifteen 12-minute episodes created. The entire series was released in DVD and Blu-ray box sets on September 16, 2011, with three additional episodes and a bonus DVD with a making-of feature. The film stars Yūri Morishita and Riki Miura as Yura and Makoto, was directed by Kazuhiro Yokoyama and written by Juri Sanemura. The first film was released on June 18, 2011 and received a DVD release on September 2. At an event for the DVD release, a sequel called was announced to begin filming in October. Hikaru Okada replaces Miura as Makoto in the sequel, which hit theaters on December 17, 2011. Just like previously, a third film was announced at the second's DVD release party. The third and fourth films, titled and were both released on May 12, 2012. They were released on DVD on June 15 and August 3 respectively. In 2019 and have been released.


Reception

The ''Futari Ecchi'' manga has 29.5 million collected volumes in print by February 2018; 27 million in Japan, including digital copies, and 2.5 million overseas.


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
Official live-action web series website
*
Anime News Network review of OVA
* * * * {{Ashi Productions 2000 Japanese television series endings 2002 anime OVAs Anime and manga about marriage Anime and manga about sexuality Anime Works Ashi Productions Erotic romance anime and manga Films directed by Kazuhiro Yokoyama Hakusensha franchises Hakusensha manga Josei manga Live-action films based on manga Romantic comedy anime and manga Seinen manga Sex comedy anime and manga Tokyopop titles Wowow original programming Japanese romantic comedy films Japanese sex comedy films