hentai
Hentai () is a style of Pornography in Japan, Japanese pornographic anime and manga. In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exist in a variety of media, including artwork and video games (commonly known as ''eroge'').
The developme ...
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 U-Jin. The original manga series met with controversy in 1990–1991 in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and was retired from its magazine serialization. It was adapted into an OVA of the same name. The manga was also succeeded by a manga called ''Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed'', and succeeded again by another manga called ''Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed season 2''.
Original manga publication
''Angel'', also known as ''Angel: Highschool Sexual Bad Boys & Girls Story'' (prior to the Japanese controversy), ''Angel: Delight Slight Light Kiss Story'' (after it resumed serialization but before its complete ban) and currently ''Angel: Sexual boys and girls highschool story'' (in order to differentiate it from the sequels), started its publication in the magazine '' Weekly Young Sunday'' published by
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
. Because of the controversy, its serialization was interrupted in 1991 and only three volumes were published by Shogakukan. It was later fully reprinted by Cybele Publishing (also known as Cybele Shuppan), which also included two new volumes for a total of 7 volumes, although Cybele volumes had in fact less pages than Shogakukan volumes. In the cover of the Cybele volumes, the legend "We came back!" can be read above the title, in reference to the incident that provoked its temporal ban. The manga was published in Taiwan by company Li-Yi, in France by Tonkam and in Spain by
Norma Editorial
Norma Editorial is a Spanish comics publisher, with its headquarters in Barcelona.Home Norma Editori ...
in Cybele's edition.
Volumes
*Shogakukan (''Young Sunday Comics'', 1989–1990)
*Cybele Publishing (''Cybele Comics'', 1993) This version includes several autostereograms. Since foreign versions were based on this one, they also include the autostereograms.
*Cybele Publishing (''Cybele Bunko'', 1995–1996)
*Ohzora Publishing (also known as Chu Shuppan) (''Missy Comics'', 2007–2008)
Along with this volumes, there is another collection which combines ''Angel'' with '' Konai Shasei'', another manga by U-Jin. The collection is simply called . Instead of a regular numbering, each volume has a different subtitle.
*Ohzora Publishing (''Missy Comics'', 2006–2007)
The series is also available in ebook format by eBookJapan.
Media
OVAs
''Angel''
The first OVA, a single episode anime titled ''Angel'', was released on VHS and
LaserDisc
LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
Namco Bandai
(commonly known as and formerly Namco Bandai until 2015, also known as Bandai Namco Group,) is a Japanese mass media and entertainment conglomerate founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specializes in toys, video ...
) through their
Green Bunny
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created b ...
label with standard number GBBH-1896.
''New Angel''
The second OVA consisted of five episodes. , was originally released from to . It was produced by Pink Pineapple and Triple X.
In the US, the OVA has been released by SoftCel Pictures. It was originally released in VHS format in 1995, 1996 and 1998 and it was released in both uncut and edited versions for the first four episodes. It was also released in DVD format by the same company in two volumes, the first released in and the second in .
''Shin Angel'' was also released in France, in VHS by Katsumi vidéo and in DVD by Anime Erotik, and also in
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in VHS and DVD by Manga Films (although only the first 4 episodes were released by Manga Films)V- animelicenciado.com"> and on TV by Arait Multimedia.V- animelicenciado.com" />
Video games
A
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
for the NEC PC-9801 based on ''Angel'' and with the same title was released in by the Japanese company Cocktail Soft.
Live-action films
Two adult
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 or ...
films based on the manga were produced. The first one, , was released in and the second one, , was released in . Both films have the participation of Japanese Adult Video actresses Yui Kawana and Mizuki Kanno and were released by the company dez.
Both films were released in the US by
Kitty Media
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 ...
in DVD format in as a single release called ''Angel Collection''.
Manga sequels
In 2006, a sequel of the original manga started in the magazine ''
Weekly Manga Goraku
is a Japanese weekly manga magazine published since 1968, by Nihon Bungeisha. The magazine is published every Friday.
Serialized works
Listed alphabetically by title.
*''69 Denashi'' (Yasuhito Yamamoto)
*''Ad Boy'' (Makoto Niwano)
*''Aisu Otoko ...
moral panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral e ...
against
otaku
is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. ...
was prevalent and several manga were singled out for their contents, among them ''Angel''. PTAs managed to force the suspension of the manga for a while and volume 3 became the last by Shogakukan and the tankōbon became banned. The problem centered in housewives who believed that ''Angel'' was too sexually explicit for a seinen publication and that the manga had become pretty popular. The incident with ''Angel'' eventually lead to the creation of the .
While the manga was still being serialized in the magazine, U-Jin included a "message from the author" chapter as a form of protest. When it temporary resumed serialization, the sexual content was reduced and the subtitle changed to ''Delight Slight Light Kiss Story'', until it was finally banned.
Eventually, publication resumed years later with Cybele Publishing, which re-published ''Angel'' since the beginning to eventually publish the complete manga, now labeled as .
Youth controversy in France
Upon the release of the third volume in France, ''Angel'' was banned from exhibition in stores. The argument of anti-manga people, relayed by the press at the time, was that the manga is dangerous for youth because of eroticism and violence it diffuses. Tonkam, however, for which ''Angel'' was the first erotic manga, finished the translation of the 7 volumes.
''New Angel''
Stig Høgset, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, found New Angel technically good, as the art and animation were good, but felt the story was "boring and stupid". Chris Beveridge noted that the episodes were not scripted by U-Jin, thus lacking some of his distinctive style, and feels that it is an example of a hentai series which merely "spices up" a "regular" anime series. Bamboo Dong, writing for
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
, felt that the writing of the series made it "fun to watch", with humour and interesting backgrounds for the female characters, and noted that the sex scenes are "pretty graphic". Bamboo Dong felt the transition between non-sex scenes and sex scenes was not smooth in the second volume.
Kitty Media
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 ...