is a Japanese manga created by

Go Nagai , better known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of Japanese science fiction, science fiction, fantasy, Japanese horror, horror, and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with ''Meakashi Polikichi'', b ...

. It is loosely based on the

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

deity '' Susanoo''. With this manga, Nagai won the

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

in the ''shōnen'' category. The original serialization of Kodansha was suspended in 1981, but the success of the novels written by Yasutaka Nagai, prompted

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines ...

to request Go to resume his work on ''Susano Oh''. With this, the manga would be published for a period of ten years, from 1979 to 1989. Even so, the manga was left with an open ending for a possible next part. An RPG video game adaption titled was released in Japan by Hudson on April 27, 1989, on the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

. A board game based on the series called ''Dreadful Susano Oh King Go Nagai'' was released by a company called Epoch.

Plot

Highschool freshman Shingo Susa follows his childhood friend and crush Sayuri Yukishiro to their school's ESP club, whose members attempt to research psychic powers. However, they later discover there are two real psychics in the school: Chigusa Mitsurugi, the beautiful president of the club, and Rei Uryu, a resident prodigy who opposes Chigusa and offers to enhance the psychic potential of anybody who follows him. Uryu tries to recruit Susa, whom he knows to have an immense power latent, in order to help him fight for justice, but Susa declines out of loyalty for Chigusa. Eventually Shingo and Sayuri become a couple, but a savage gang of delinquents attack them and rape her. The trauma blows up Shingo's bottled psychic potential and creates a violent, powerful alternate personality bent on getting revenge. Now as a changed person, and having lost track of Sayuri, Shingo fights through

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

, thugs and his school's corrupt club alliance until discovering that the attack was ordered by a sinister organization named Nosferatu. The latter plans for world domination and has its own team of psychics, led by a mysterious woman named Carmilla, who has influence over the club federation. Shingo leads a school revolution against them, helped by Chigusa,

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

club leader Goda,

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...

genius Tatsuya Mido and other students, and eventually overthrows their regime. It is then revealed that Carmilla is actually a disguised Uryu and that Sayuri worked for him all along. Uryu staged the entire plot in order to liberate Shingo's powers and use him, as an incarnation of the legendary Susanoo, to destroy human civilization, so he could rebuild the world with only psychic humans. However, his plan is too successful, as Shingo loses control of his powers: a part of his soul leaves his body, hijacks a coming star, and becomes a prophesied apocalyptic monster, the

Yamata no Orochi Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also written as 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知) is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent that appears in Japanese mythology. Both the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' record the ...

. His influence causes demons from other dimensions to start sliding into the world, possessing humans and provoking disasters, while Shingo's body lies apparently dead. Chigusa reveals herself as the heir of an ancient clan of descendants of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

, as well as the incarnation of ancient goddess Marici, and commands an Atlantean space force formed by clones of her in an attempt to destroy Yamata no Orochi. Shingo's family is also revealed to know the prophecy regarding him, and they join the Atlanteans in their fight. At the same time, Sayuri (who really fell in love with Shingo despite her duplicity) convinces Uryu to try to redeem Shingo by playing the roles of Ame no Uzume and Ame no Tajikarao, respectively. The story of the manga ends in midst of the

climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

. In an additional epilogue in the manga's 1996 revised re-edition, Chigusa manages to neutralize the Yamata no Orochi in a secret Atlantean outpost in the Face of Mars. In an Earth ravaged and in a postapocalyptic state, Uryu and Sayuri come out of their refuge and look for Shingo, while Goda has overcome the possession of a demon and is now hunting other monsters. Shingo then comes alive again under the form of Susanoo, apparently now in full control of his powers, and walks past Goda before stopping in front of Uryu and Sayuri. The outcome of their encounter is not revealed.

Media

Manga

Susano Oh

*Kodansha (''KC Magazine'', 1980–1981) *Kodansha (''KC Phoenix 10'', 1996) *Kodansha (''Kodansha Manga Bunko'', 2000–2001) *Fukkan.com (''Kanzen Hatsude Shūkan Shōnen Magajin-ban'', 2021–2022) *001 Edizioni (''Hikari Edizioni'', 2022–present) This edition is an

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

translation for the European market.

Susano Oh Densetsu (Manga Version)

*Kadokawa (''Kadokawa Shoten Yamato Comics Special'', 1985-1990) First five volumes of this edition are a reprint of the original Weekly Shōnen Magazine serialization. Volumes six and seven contain ''Susano Oh Densetsu Hi Kami Ko'', ''Shin Susano Oh'', ''Susano Oh Densetsu Yami no Majin Hen'', and ''Susano Oh Densetsu Gaiden''.

Novels

Susano Oh Densetsu (Novel Version)

*Kadokawa (''Kadokawa Novels'', 1982-1987) *Kadokawa (''Kadokawa Library'', 1988-1990)

References

External links

''Susano Oh''
at ''The World of Go Nagai'' webpage.

at ''The World of Go Nagai'' webpage.
''Susanoo''
at D/visual.
''Susanoo''
at Gonagainet. {{Kodansha Manga Award - Shōnen 1979 manga 1985 manga 1987 manga 1989 manga Go Nagai Kadokawa Corporation franchises Kadokawa Shoten manga Kodansha manga Nihon Bungeisha manga Shōnen manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōnen)