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

Iou Kuroda is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist. Biography Born in Sapporo as one of two twins, Kuroda moved many times in his youth. He graduated from Hitotsubashi University. The pen name "Kuroda Iou" (in Japanese order) is a combination of his f ...

. It was originally serialized in the ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Spirits Zōkan Ikki'' (re-branded as ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in Underground comix, underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off (media), spin-off to S ...

'' in 2003) between November 2000 and December 2002, with its chapters collected in two ''

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. ''Sexy Voice and Robo'' is currently unfinished. Kuroda stated that he had planned to continued the story some day. The series was licensed for English release in North America by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

, who released it in a single volume in July 2005. It was adapted into a 11-episode

Japanese television drama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...

, which aired on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

between April and June 2007. In 2002, ''Sexy Voice and Robo'' received the Grand Prize of the sixth

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Plot

The story is about the adventures of a 14-year-old girl named Nico Hayashi, who uses her talents of changing and altering her voice to manipulate men over the phone who want to participate in

enjo kōsai , shortened to , is a type of transactional relationship similar to the Western sugar dating. It is the Japanese language term for the practice of older men giving money and/or luxury gifts to attractive young women for sexual favors. The female ...

. Through this she learns a lot about human nature, and gains a keen understanding of people through their voices. An aging gangster notices her talents and decides to hire her to solve various cases. While Nico is on her first case, she meets with a geeky man named Iichiro Sudo, who has an obsession with robot toy models. This obsession that leads Nico to call him "Robo", and the two become an unlikely team. After completing her first case Nico proclaims herself "Sexy Voice" and a variety of short loosely linked character-driven adventures ensue.

Characters

; / : ; / :

Media

Manga

''Sexy Voice and Robo'' is written and illustrated by

. It was serialized in

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 ...

's ''Spirits Zōkan Ikki'' (re-branded as ''

'' in 2003) from November 30, 2000, to December 25, 2002. Shogakukan published the chapters into two ''

'' volumes, released on November 30, 2001, and February 28, 2003. ''Sexy Voice and Robo'' was unfinished. In January 2007, Kuroda stated on his blog that he planned to write a continuation some day. In 2016,

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

republished the series with new cover illustrations and two additional stories on March 23 and April 22. In North America,

released the series in a single 400-page volume on July 19, 2005.

Volumes

Drama

An 11-episode

, starring

Kenichi Matsuyama is a Japanese actor. He is known for his affinity for strange character roles, and he is best known internationally for playing L in the 2006 films ''Death Note'', '' Death Note 2: The Last Name'' and '' L: Change the World'' in 2008. He was ca ...

as Robo and

Suzuka Ohgo is a Japanese actress. Biography Ohgo was born in Zama, Kanagawa. She began acting in 2000 when she was seven, then joined Sunflower (Himawari), a theatrical company. She debuted with the company at the Meiji-za in ''Story of a National Thief ...

as Nico, was broadcast on

from April 10 to June 19, 2007.

Reception

''Sexy Voice and Robo'' won the Grand Prize of the Manga Division at the sixth

in 2002.

References

External links

* on

website * on VAP website * {{Monthly Ikki 2007 Japanese television series endings Japanese television dramas based on manga Mystery anime and manga Nippon Television dramas Seinen manga Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Viz Media manga