is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

written and illustrated by

Yōko Shōji is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for writing ''Seito Shokun!'' (''Attention Students!''), for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored ...

. It is serialized in Kodansha's ''

Shōjo Friend was a shōjo manga magazine formerly published by Kodansha, beginning in 1962. Kodansha used the knowledge gained from publishing magazines aimed at young girls, including ''Nakayoshi'' and '' Shōjo Club'', as well as the experience from publi ...

'' from 1977 to 1984. The individual chapters were published into 24 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' by Kodansha between February 1978 and June 1985. ''Seito Shokun!'' won the second

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in ea ...

in 1978 for the shōjo category. The sequel to the manga, ''Seito Shokun! Kyōshi-hen'' was serialized in Kodansha's ''

Be Love ''Be Love'' is a Japanese monthly (bimonthly May 1982 – 2018) manga magazine targeting women published by Kodansha. It debuted in September 1980. It is one of the leading manga magazines for adult women, the second of its kind (the first bei ...

'' between 2004 and 2011. Another spin-off, ''Seito Shokun! Saishū-shō: Tabidachi'', was published between 2011 and 2019 in the same magazine. The manga was adapted into several

live action Live action (or 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 film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

dramas, with two television drama series, from 1980 to 1981 and in 2007. It was also adapted into two live action television specials, broadcast on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

on February 23, 1986 and June 8, 1987, respectively.

Releases

Manga

''Seito Shokun!'' is a manga written and illustrated by

. It is serialized in Kodansha's ''

'' from 1977 to 1984. Kodansha released the manga's 24 ''tankōbon'' between February 1978 and June 1985. In September, 1983, Kodansha released a one-shot spin-off of ''Seito Shokun!'', called . Kodansha re-released the manga in 12 '' kanzenban'' volumes, which were released between December 12, 1995 and March 12, 1996.

Kodansha released a sequel of the manga, called . It was serialized in Kodansha's '' josei'' manga magazine, ''

''. Its first ''tankōbon'' volume was published on April 13, 2004, and its last was published on August 11, 2011. Another spin-off, , is published since the August issue of ''Be Love''. Its first ''tankōbon'' was published on August 11, 2011, and the latest—the 26th—was released on March 13, 2018.

Live action dramas

The manga was adapted into a 28-episode

series, which was broadcast on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Com ...

between September 1, 1980 and March 30, 1981. Produced by Toei, the drama was directed by Kimio Hirayama and Takahashi Masaharu, with the script written by Masaki Tsuji and Ryō Nakahara and Takeyuki Suzuki and Yoshiaki Koizumi as producers. The series'

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances ...

s, , with lyrics by Kayoko Fujimori and , with lyrics by

, were both composed by Asei Kobayashi, arranged by Masahisa Takeichi and performed by Satoko Yamano. A live action television special, produced by Production Reed, was broadcast on

on February 23, 1986. Directed by Mitsuo Kusakabe, it starred

Tomoyo Harada is a Japanese actress, singer, and lyricist, and was a popular idol in the 80's. She was cast in numerous films and TV-series since her beginning in 1982 in the leading role of the original TV series '' Sailorfuku to kikanju''. Her first role i ...

Sumi Shimamoto , real name , is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator of film and anime and video games. After graduating from the Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, she joined Gekidan Seinenza, a theatrical acting troupe. She is currently indep ...

and Michie Tomizawa. Another live-action television special, produced by Hori Productions, was broadcast on Fuji TV on June 8, 1987. It was directed by Makoto Naito, produced by Masayuki Morikawa, Nobuyuki Kurauchi and Akifumi Takuma, with the script written by Ryo Ishikawa. The ending theme song, , composed by Tsugutoshi Gotō with lyrics written by

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ...

, was performed by Ushirogami Hikaretai. It starred Miki Itō, Shigeyuki Nakamura and Nagare Harigawa. In 2007, Horipro produced a 10-episode live-action television series. Directed by Karaki Marehiro and Tamura Naoki, the drama's 10 episodes was broadcast on

between April 20, 2007 and June 22, 2007. The series' ending theme, "

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band the Who, which became a hit and one of their most recognizable songs. The song was named the 11th greatest song by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It becam ...

" was performed by Yui, who released a CD containing the theme song on June 13, 2007. The soundtrack for the series was released by

Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...

as a

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

CD on June 20, 2007. The DVD box set for the series was released by

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...

on September 26, 2007. It starred Rina Uchiyama,

Kippei Shiina is a Japanese actor. Career Shiina portrayed John Rain and co-starred in Max Mannix's '' Rain Fall'' (2009) with Gary Oldman. He starred in Takeshi Kitano's '' Outrage'' (2010). Filmography Film *''Wangan Bad Boy Blue'' (1992) *''A Night in Nu ...

Maki Horikita is a Japanese former actress. During her career from 2003 until 2017, she starred in numerous Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies, including roles in '' Nobuta wo Produce'', '' Hanazakari no Kimitachi ...

and

Kanata Hongō is a Japanese actor, voice actor and model. He is part of Stardust Promotion and has appeared several times in music videos, movies, TV series, and magazines. His major breakthrough role was as Ryoma Echizen in the live-action film adaptation ...

Reception

''Seito Shokun!'' won the second

in 1978 for the '' shōjo'' category. The fourteenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 10th on the Tohan charts between March 11 and 17, 2008. The sixteenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 10th on the Tohan charts between November 11 and 17, 2008. The seventeenth volume of ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' was ranked 26th on the Tohan charts between February 10 and 16, 2009. As of 2010, ''Seito Shokun!'' and ''Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen'' have sold over 25 million copies in Japan.

References

External links

*
Official Kodansha ''Seito Shokun!'' website
{{Kodansha Manga Award - Shōjo Kodansha manga Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōjo manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)