From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black God (黒神, Kuro Kami
?) is a Japanese manga series written by Dall-Young Lim and illustrated by Sung-Woo Park. Square Enix publishes the manga in Japan's bi-monthly seinen magazine
Young Gangan. The story is initially
set in modern day Tokyo, then
changes to the island of Okinawa in the middle of the story. The
word "Black" in the title refers to the character Kuro as it means
black in Japanese. "God" in the title refers to the fact that Kuro
is a superhuman or a Tera Guardian. In France and other French-speaking countries and
territories, the manga goes under the name Kurokami:
Black God.
The manga is created entirely by a Korean manhwa team led by both Lim and Park. They would
occasionally make fun of the fact that none of them were fluent in
Japanese in omake segments drawn
at the end of each manga volume.[1]
Black God was among four manga titles licensed by Yen Press along with Zombie-Loan,
Alice
on Deadlines and Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna[2] when it
was announced by their panel at the 2007 New York
Comic Convention.[3] Seven
volumes are already released with a 8th volume scheduled for a
February 2010 release.
It has been adapted into an anime animated by Sunrise, and first aired in Japan and
in the United
States on January 8, 2009, while South Korea aired it on January 9,
2009.[4]
Synopsis
Keita Ibuki is a 19-year-old independent and struggling freelance computer
programmer who, with two of his friends, is developing and trying
to sell a video game program to big-time video game companies in Tokyo. While trying to stay afloat
and survive financially with money being given to him by his
21-year old childhood friend Akane Sano. (In the anime, he is an
ordinary high school student.) He has a chance meeting on one night
with a high Mototsumitama named Kuro while eating alone at a ramen
stand. He gives her his dinner, a bowl of ramen, and tries to
protect her when she is attacked in an ambush by an unknown Tera
Guardian. Keita loses an arm during another fight between Kuro and
another Tera Guardian, but Kuro is able to save his life by
exchanging his arm for hers since she has enhanced healing
abilities like all Mototsumitamas. (In the anime, his heart is
injured and their hearts are exchanged instead.) This creates a
contract between them, which makes her more powerful than before.
However, Kuro warns Keita that they need to be together all the
time because her heart will become necrotic if it is away from the
main body.
As Kuro stays with Keita and gets acquainted with him while
meeting with other Tera Guardians and their human masters, they are
targeted by the strongest Tera Guardian clan of the East, the
Shishigami (Lion God) Clan in an attempt to kidnap Akane and bring
about the destruction of the coexistence balance, which Tera
Guardians are supposed to protect. Meanwhile, Keita is determined
to find out why his mother died after seeing her double as a young
boy and to find out who is responsible for trying to destroy the
coexistence balance on Earth.
Characters
Main protagonists of Black God. From left to right: Akane, Kuro
with Punipuni and Keita.
Main
Keita Ibuki (伊吹慶太, Ibuki Keita
?) Voiced by: Daisuke
Namikawa (Japanese), Jason Anthony Griffith
(English)
- The main character. As a child, he and his mother met a person
who looked exactly like her. The next day, she died. Years later,
he's a struggling video game programmer. One day, at a Ramen house,
he met Kuro, offered her food and his story began there. He does
not appear to be aware of Akane's feelings for him.
- In the anime version, Keita is portrayed as an ordinary high
school student. Unlike his manga counterpart he is neither
extremely arrogant nor openly antagonistic of Kuro. He does not
physically assault her either to express his displeasure and
finally unlike his manga version Kuro trades their hearts not their
arms when forming a contract. He is a sub (substitute) in the
anime, but it is unknown in the manga whether he is a sub or a
root.
Kuro (クロ,
Kuro
?) Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya
(Japanese), Laura Bailey
(English)
- Keita's partner. As a child, she was princess of the Tera
Guardians. However, tragedy met up with her when her most cherished
brother slaughtered her whole tribe. She came to the human world to
stop him. Her manga version fights using boxing having learned it from a former
professional boxer while her anime version does not have any
particular style. Both however use an Exceed which massively
increases her offensive power. In the anime, her exceed is the
Mega-exe, though in episode 16 it changes to Giga-exe when Keita
and Kuro connect their tera to become one. She seems to care deeply
about Keita, but it is not quite clear in the manga if she holds
romantic feelings toward him yet. However, in the anime, she
professes her deep love for him toward the end of episode 22. She
is a reincarnation of one of the three parts of masagami.
Akane Sano (佐野茜, Sano Akane
?) Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara
(Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
- Keita's childhood friend. Her doppleliner is Reishin's partner,
Yuki Kaionji. She has romantic feelings for her childhood friend,
Keita. In the anime, she is later to be revealed to be Reishin's
contractee after the holy land appeared, and also known to be the
ultimate master root.
Punipuni (プニプニ, Punipuni
?) Voiced by: Yumi
Touma (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas
(English)
- Kuro's dog. It is often shown stealing food from Kuro's plate
causing the master and pet to launch into one of their fights.
Supporting
Excel (エクセル,
Ekuseru
?) Voiced by: Yukari Tamura
(Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)
- Her real name is Maria. After she is rescued by Steiner from
"alter egos", who killed her younger brother, she asks Steiner to
make a contract with her to make Steiner stronger. Her childlike
appearance is the result of a mutation caused by her contract with
Steiner; it severely slows down her physical growth and aging
process. As a veteran contractee, she has gained considerable
experience and a keen insight. She possesses several combat
accessories called "thousands", but only two are shown in the
manga. One is the Hexa Ring she wears to create the Hexa Shield
which blocks attacks. The other one is the ring she gave to Keita.
In the omake, it is revealed that the contract between them has
lasted for a century. In the anime, she was rescued by one of
Steiner's split images during the climax of Steiner and Reishin's
showdown. She later forms a contract with Mikami Houjou to avenge
the death of Steiner and Bernhard. In the manga, she and Steiner
are missing after their infiltration mission to the Kaionji base of
operations. In Chapter 71 , however , it is shown that she is alive
after being rescued by one of Steiner's image but loses her left
leg and all of her memories. In Chapter 76 , however, she regain
her memories and form a contract with Mikami Houjou
Steiner (シュタイナー, Shutainaa
?) Voiced by: George Nakata (Japanese), Patrick Seitz
(English)
- A high Tera Guardian of the German High-Council. He prides
himself on his unparalleled combat skills that single him out from
the many high Tera Guardians employed at "The Noble One." He also
possesses nerves of steel, those don't prevent him from getting his
personal feelings mixed up in his duties. His "Exceed: Stampede"
splits his body into four clones with equal mass and power to
attack the enemy. Though the clones follow the command of the
original body, they can also judge the situation of the fight
autonomously. In the anime, he dies during the fight at Pure
Island. In the manga, he is presumed to be dead after their
infiltration mission.
Yakumo (八雲,
Yakumo
?) Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima
(Japanese), Wil
Wheaton (English)
- A Tera Guardian belonging to Kuro's clan. He is quite strong
but tries to avoid getting into fights as much as possible. In
Episode 13 of the English Dub he is voiced by Taliesin Jaffe
but every other appearance he is voiced by Wil Wheaton.
Riona Kogure (木暮月里緒奈, Riona Kogure
?) Voiced by: Shizuka Itō
(Japanese), Emily
Bauer (English)
- Yakumo's contractee. She is a main root who escaped from the
Kaioinji group when she learned they were planning on conducting
experiments on humans like her.
Kakuma (かくま,
Kakuma
?) Kakuma Voiced by: Eri Kitamura
(Japanese), Amanda Schuckman (English)
- One of the two survivors of the Hima clan. She is one of the
twins of the former leader whose entire clan was killed by Reishin
and Hiyou in their attempt to destroy the Tera Stone. In the manga,
Kakuma's contractee is Keita's grandfather Nagamine Ryuujin. Kakuma
sacrifices her life and turns into the tera stone after the
original tera stone was destroyed by Hiyou. Kakuma's Exceed is
Shining Gallop which takes the form of a white galloping horse. In
the anime however, she was sacrificed in order to annihilate the
barrier and open the path to the Pure land, the island holding the
Terra stone.
Makana (まかな,
Makana
?) Makana Voiced by: Eri Sendai (Japanese), Kether Donahue
(English)
- Kakuma's sister. She shares a very strong connection to her
sister, realizing at once when Kakuma was killed. In the manga, she
was left in the protection of The Noble Ones under Bernhard.
Nam
- A Sanshinryon, the rough Korean equavelent of a Tera Guardian,
she came to Japan to star in a TV show, but due to her naviety got
conned of most of her money and had her luggage stolen, which also
included her recommendation letter and directions to the TV studio.
She eventually ended up freeloading at Keita's house after trying
to cook PuniPuni for a meal. She is highly skilled and owns an
artifact "Thousand" sword capable of banishing spirits.
Kaionji
Group
Reishin (黎真, Reishin
?) Voiced by: Katsuyuki
Konishi (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
- Kuro's Brother. He is the central antagonist for most of the
series. He is the creator of the Doppoliner system. His mother, the
priestess of his Shishigami (Lion God) clan told him of her
prophecy that either he would lead the tribe into prosperity and
everlasting order under his rule as "a bringer of peace" or would
be "a bringer of destruction" destroying all in his path. During
the fight at Pure Island, he is betrayed by Kuraki in episode 16 of
the Anime and he returns after his betrayal from Kuraki. His
contractee is Akane, which they formed the contract when the holy
land appeared.
Daichi Kuraki (蔵木大地, Daichi Kuraki
?) Voiced by: Satoshi Hino
(Japanese), Christopher Kromer
(English)
- He was Keita's best friend named Sawamura during his junior
high school years. While investigating the death of Keita's mother,
he discovered the Doppleliner rule and approached Reishin to offer
his services. In the anime, he no longer shares Reishin's
perspective on the new world and consequently betrays him. His
contract is with Raiga. With Reishin's demise, he has been promoted
by the Chairperson.
Yuki Kaionji (魁音寺雪, Yuki Kaionji
?) Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino
(Japanese), Kathleen McInerney (English)
- She is the daughter of the chairperson of the Kaionji group.
She desires to become a master root in order to surpass her
brothers and to form a contract with Reishin. However, she is only
a sub of Akane Sano. She died in a helicopter crash when she and
Akane escaped in the hotel.
Raiga (雷呀,
Raiga
?) Voiced by: Eiji Miyashita
(Japanese), Matt Caplan (English)
- The Terra guardian with whom Daichi has a contract with. As a
surviving member of the Hima clan, he seeks revenge against
Reishin. His Exceed is the Shiddin sword.
Hiyou (ひよう,
Hiyou
?) Voiced by: Kenji Hamada
(Japanese), Marc
Diraison (English)
- A Tera Guardian who has a contract with Shinobu. His Exceed
acts on liquids, allowing him to either form bullets or stakes or
to make his enemy's body explode using the blood. In the manga, he
died after Kuro performed an exceed on him. However, in the anime,
his body is recovered by Kuraki who drains his terra
afterwards.
Nanase Shinobu (七瀬忍, Nanase Shinobu
?) Voiced by: Touma
Yumi (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)
- The sub of Keita's mother. She is a Minus/Negative Root capable
of absorbing other humans' terra and luck. She made a contract to
escape from death under the Doppleliner rule.
Mikami Houjou (法帖三神, Houjou Mikami
?) Voiced by: Yuko
Kaida (Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
(English)
- A Tera Guardian of the Ginko clan. Her Exceed fortifies her
physical attributes increasing both offensive and defensive
abilities. She works for the Kaionji group in exchange for the
medicine her sub-type contractee requires to survive. After the
death of her contractee, she forms a pact with Excel.
Terminology
- Tera Guardian/Mototsumitama: God-like beings
charged with maintaining the balance of existence. However, they
can become corrupt which result in conflicts between them.
- Doppeliner: one of three people with identical
bodies and minds who share the same fate. Every normal human being
begins as a doppeliner. If two of them meet, they die. The
remaining luck and fate of the two go to the remaining person,
called The Root, giving them unimaginable good luck. In the anime,
this system was revealed to be a curse placed on humans by the
Masagami.
- Minus/Negative Root: When an Alter Ego kills
the doppel liner that should have become the root, all the
remaining luck flows into the Alter Ego, but it is negative luck,
and a Minus Root has to constantly suck out Tera from others in
order to survive, as his Tera will continue to diminish.
- Contract: A pact or a bond made between a
human and a Mototsumitama through sharing limbs. In the manga Kuro
exchanges left arms with Keita to save his life and unwillingly
formed a contract,while in the anime Kuro exchanges her heart after
Keita was hit.
- Synchro: The greatest initiation of a
contract, usually when both partners have a shared will. When
synchro is reached, a Tera Guardian's power multiplies. However
synchro is really strenuous on the human partner because the human
shares all injuries the Tera Guardian receives.
- Exceed: Abilities used in fighting by the Tera
Guardian once synchro has been initiated. Each Tera Guardian has a
unique Exceed, and some may be dangerous to the human partner, due
to the high use of tera.
- Tribal Ends: Humans who have been given Tera
Guardian powers by Tera Guardians.
- Tera: Spiritual life force that inhabits all
life-forms. Mototsumitama usually form contracts with humans with
high amounts of tera because it enables them to use exceed more
often.
- Alter Ego: A human who has met his doppeliner,
yet has not died. Alter egos disrupt the coexistence balance.
Mototsumitama, who are in charge of keeping the balance, carry out
the deaths of alter egos to protect the coexistence balance.
- Thousands: Relics made by the Mototsumitamas
of the old, that are given to humans as a means of self defense. By
channeling their tera, these relics release specific effects (i.e.
Excel's Hexa Ring creates the Hexa Shield which blocks attacks or
heavy gravitational pull). It also has the ability to transfer tera
from one contractee to another.
- Pure Place ( also known as Holy Land): A
desolate area which few humans visit which is surrounded by a
barrier made by the Tera Guardian to keep away humans and preserve
the tera flow, keeping it pure.
- European Alliance (also known as "The Noble
One") : An alliance comprised of four Tera Guardian groups in
Europe, which was established with the goal of supporting fellow
Tera Guardians, extinguishing Alter Egos and preserving the
coexistence equilibrium. At present, they manage all of Europe,
Central Asia, and part of Africa. At first the Tera Guardian's
stance was not to interfere in human society at all, so they differ
from the Tera Guardians of Japan and Asian countries who keep to
that doctrine faithfully as they secretly have relations with major
power structures of human society (like royalty, dynasties,
religion, etc.)
The names of the four Tera Guardian groups in "The Noble One"
are: Norman Majestic Council, The Celt Alliance, Roman Cognate and
the German High-Council.
Development
When Black God was being created, written and illustrated by
Lim, Park and their manhwa team, it was done entirely in Korean
first before it would then be translated from Korean to Japanese as
it was meant to be published and serialized for the Japanese manga
market and not for South Korea.[5] The
other works of Lim and Park had been done for the manhwa market in
South Korea.
Adaptations
Manga
So far, the manga adaptation of Black God has been serialized
with 11 bounded volumes already released to the public by Square-Enix in Japan and in magazine form
by Young Gangan.[6] In North America and
in the United
Kingdom, Yen Press
has already released Black God in English with 7 volumes translated
and released with the upcoming 8th volume scheduled for a February
2010 release.[7] Its
first volume was released on October 17, 2007.[8][9]
Black God has also been released in France and also distributed in French-speaking
countries and territories by Editions Ki-oon, but it was marketed
under the title Kurokami: Black God from its original
name.[10] It was
also released in Taiwan and
distributed in Chinese-speaking countries and territories by Ching
Win Publishing Co., Ltd., translated in the Traditional Chinese
language.
Anime
See also: List of
Kurokami: The Animation episodes
The anime adaptation of Black God is to be produced by Sunrise,
directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi with Reiko Yoshida as
the series' supervisor and Hiroyuki Nishimura as the series'
animation director and chief character designer.[11][12]
Among the seiyūs
involved in the upcoming Sunrise production include Noriko Shitaya,
who will play as Kuro, and Daisuke Namikawa as Keita.[11]
Other seiyū who had already been announced for the production
include Sayaka
Ohara as Akane Sano, Yukari Tamura as Excel and George Nakata as Steiner[13].
Its title is called Kurokami: The Animation or Black
God: The Animation. The date for the anime to air on Japanese
TV is on January 2009.[14]
It was announced officially by Bandai
Entertainment that Kurokami: The Animation will air first on
January 8, 2009 simultaneously in Japan on TV Asahi and in the United States on ImaginAsian, followed
by South Korea on January 9, 2009 in AniBOX.[4][15]
The voice actors, announced by Bandai
Entertainment for its US broadcast include Jason
Anthony Griffith, who will play as Keita, Laura Bailey as Kuro with
Julie Ann
Taylor to play as Akane and Stephanie Sheh as Excel.[16]
Reception
Eye on Anime's review praised the manga due to its storyline,
but has criticized Keita for having most of the reader's initial
attention due to his arrogant and disrespectful attitude and
character.[1]
Comicmix said that it was pretty decent since it had "psychic
battles, girls in their underwear, emotional turmoil" as the main
part of the manga, even though they seem to be overused clichés in the review.[17] Mania
noted Black God for having good character development and
creative fight scenes,[18] not
to mention that it has an excellent and thrilling storyline for
readers to follow into without any trouble.[19]
About.com's review
said that Black God was good for the combination of
various genres including action, drama, suspense, humor combined
with the theme of the supernatural in its story and at the same
time, questions the need of having fanservice in the manga as the
review insists that it is not necessarily needed in the first
place.[20] UK
Anime Net's Review said that the art is "solid, imaginative layout.
It never looks rushed and the paneling flows smoothly."[21] Comic
Books Resources pointed out that the fanservice being portrayed in
the manga was rather amusing and not offensive as it was the main
source of Black God's humor.[22]
So far, Comics Village has been the only one to criticize
Black God heavily for having questionable aspects of the
storyline being left out initially without being given the chance
to have them fully explained to its readers, which can make them a
bit confused.[23] On
the other hand, it singles out the art and character details at its
strong side, with the latter being greatly detailed without being
overdone with the "use of speed lines for action scenes and moments
of emotion."[23]
References
External
links
Square Enix
Yen Press
Young
Champ
Wikis
Quiz
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