From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Psyren (PSYЯEN-サイレン-,
Sairen
?) is a Japanese shōnen manga
series by Toshiaki Iwashiro. Psyren
follows Ageha Yoshina, a high school student who is chosen by
Nemesis Q as a participant in the game Psyren. The games take place
in a world known a wasteland known as Psyren, which is revealed to
be the world after a decade. Ageha and his friends then attempt to
change the future and save the world from becoming the Psyren they
know.
Psyren has been continuously serialized in the Japanese
manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since the
December 3, 2007 (issue 2008-01), and has been collected in eight
tankōbon volumes as
of November 2009.
Plot
One day while heading home, Ageha Yoshina finds a public pay
phone ringing by itself. He picks it up, receiving no answer except
a calling card with the word "Psyren" printed on it. After Sakurako
Amamiya, a girl in Yoshina's class, disappears after mentioning
"Psyren", Ageha uses the calling card in hopes of finding her.
After answering a long and detailed quiz on a pay phone, he is
asked if he wants to go to Psyren. The next day, he answers a
ringing phone and is immediately drawn into the world of Psyren. A
world which is inhabited by monsters called Tavoo. A world where
players must fight to survive using the psychic powers known as
PSI.
During their many trips between his world and Psyren, Ageha and
his friends learn that Psyren is actually the world a decade into
the future. They learn the cause of the world's destruction is a
group known as W.I.S.E and a meteor known as Uroboros.
Characters
Protagonists
- Ageha Yoshina (夜科 アゲハ, Yoshina
Ageha
?)
- Ageha is a brash young high-schooler who offers to take care of
anyone's problems for the price of 10,000 yen. When he becomes a
participant in the game Psyren, Ageha is trained under Amamiya and
Matsuri to master his PSI abilities. During his second trip to
Psyren, Ageha's power manifested as a massive black sphere that
attacks anything with PSI. This power was later identified as
"Melchsee's Door", an ability that creates a highly concentrated
ball of pure burst energy. This ability seeks out any PSI energy in
the area and completely eradicates it; it also obliterates any
physical matter it touches.
- Sakurako Amamiya (雨宮 桜子, Amamiya
Sakurako
?)
- A girl in Yoshina's class who used to be bright and lively but
for an unknown reason, became cold and cynical. She specialises in
weapons, normally taking one with her on her trips to Psyren. If
caught unarmed, she is able to improvise and create a make-shift
weapon. Her Burst is over satisfactory; she is extremely proficient
in Rise, capable of quickly latching on to, and breaking, the arm
of Shiner; her Trance is strong enough that it is able to create a
scythe in her Mind Jack: Insanity Size. She also has some skill at
creating illusions to deceive her opponents.
- Hiryū Asaga (朝河 飛龍, Asaga
Hiryū
?)
- Asaga is a tough guy who says that he came to Psyren in search
of a friend Tatsuo. He agrees to help out Amamiya for Yoshina.
After their safe return to earth, he comforts Yoshina about Amamiya
being taken by an unknown friend and reveals himself to be Asaga
Hiryū, Ageha's former classmate from elementary school who used to
be a cry-baby. He displays more proficiency with PSI than Ageha,
learning to use his abilities and controlling it faster, though
that may be because Ageha's Melchsee's Door is a more advanced
technique. Asaga's PSI ability resembles the tail of a Dragon in
its Burst state fitting his nickname. Recently he has advanced his
PSI ability as he is now able to create the wings of a Dragon that
can whip up huge gales. Matsuri warns him to keep an eye on Ageha
and Oboro's abilities and claims he is the only one who could take
them out if necessary. Recently he has decided to stay in Psyren in
order to help a resistance against WISE.
- Oboro Mochizuki (望月 朧, Mochizuki
Oboro
?)
- An idol in the present, Oboro received a call card and tried to
tell the nation about it on a local talk show but was silenced by
Nemesis Q. He developes PSI powers that allows him to heal comrades
of injuries. He joins Matsuri's training session, completing it
without problem. He also demonstrated an ability to kill a Tavoo by
'dissolving' it when he touched it. He is currently the fastest
when using rise. He seems to have taken a liking to Ageha, stating
that if Ageha got hurt, he would "hug him any time". He's latest
appearance sugest he was reborn as a Tavoo.
- Kabuto Kirisaki (霧崎 カブト, Kirisaki
Kabuto
?)
- A local playboy who seems to spend his time hitting on
attractive women. Kabuto's former way of life was running away from
problems and annoying stuff as a way to achieve peace. After being
told by his uncle that the only one who will achieve peace will be
himself and that the problems he is trying to escape from are
pushed to someone else, he decides to change. Kabuto goes to Psyren
to try to make his fortune and of the new arrivals during the
group's second tip to Psyren. Kabuto's PSI is a type of
precognition known as Menance, the ability to predict danger
allowing him to avoid attacks by the enemy.
Antagonists
The Antagonists are a group known as W.I.S.E and are lead by
Miroku Amagi.
- Miroku Amagi (天戯弥勒, Amagi
Miroku
?)
- A mysterious man so far only shown in the present who disguised
himself as Inui's brother who, in reality, had died many years ago.
Miroku hypnotized Inui in to thinking that he was his younger
brother, Saburō Inui. He has Inui steal money for him so his plans
to create a new world with his organization W.I.S.E. can come
together. Miroku's psychic ability is called Sephirot. Only one form of his ability was
seen so far: an attack called "Gevurah", which allows miroku to
create a lightning-like tree at any location he desires which
pierces everything (the power limit of this attack was not yet
revealed, but it appears to be extremely powerful, as it allowed
Miroku to finish all of the Elmore Wood children in one blow).
Amagi's Sephiroth most likely relates to the Kebbalah, and so does
the tree-like form of his attack. He is the man who killed the
Elmore children in the original videotape that the drifters found
in Psyren , as well as when the tape changed due to an alteration
in the time line Amagi is seen leading the group instead of
attacking the Elmore Children because they already saw his PSI
ability. In recent chapters it has been implied that he may not
have been behind the arrival of the meteor Uroboros that destroy
and transformed the earth, however he is responsible for hunting
survivors and turning them into Taboo. He's the younger twin
brother of the girl behind Nemesis Q. He is also the one
responsible for stabbing Grana's right eye in a friendly battle in
the first encounter.
- Grana (グラナ,
Gurana
?) (Star Commander No. 1)
- The leader of the Star Commanders, his recent appearance
suggests he is very lazy and forgetful. He has an eye-patch over
his right eye. His PSI ability is an amazing telekinesis, as he
used it to create a massive building from thousands of pieces in a
matter of minutes, while in conversation. Grana has also
demonstrated an ability called 'Sun Ring', where he can use
telekinesis to literally bend light photons and create a massive
beam capable of disintegrating most matter instantly. He ordered
for Shiner and Dholaki to retrieve Ageha and bring him back to the
WISE headquarters. When Miroku confronted Grana in the past to
recruit him into W.I.S.E. it was revealed that Grana was the
original 'prototype' created by the organization that later created
Miroku and Nemesis Q's creator.
- It's revealed that he was the one responsible for killing
Matsuri and Kagetora in the future along with Shiner.
- Junas (ジュナス,
Junasu
?) (Star Commander No. 2)
- The second member of W.I.S.E. introduced, he has the appearance
of a young teenager and wears a distinctive black helmet with a fin
on the crest. He appears to be a swordsman, with the ability to
materialize swords. He along with Dholaki appear along with Miroku
in his declaration of war in the second version of the future and
it's assumed he was there in the unchanged future. It's later
revealed that he has a job has a janitor in a disbanded orphanage
in order to look for Caprico to convince her to join WISE. It's
later revealed that he was part of project "Grigori" and was known
as #05. His PSI ability is called "Bishamon-Mura" and takes the
form of hundreds of fragile swords that float in the air. When they
break the pieces drop down and cut the enemy to pieces. He also has
shown ability "Bishamon-Tsubute" by using a knife medium, he
stabs/slashes towards an enemy and more solid knives to penetrate
or to slice at enemies.
- Shiner (シャイナ,
Shaina
?) (Star Commander No. 3)
- The third member of W.I.S.E. introduced, he arrives after
Dholaki is defeated by Ageha, apologising for being late. His
outward appearance is very calm and gentle. He is the head of
W.I.S.E.'s PSI Research Division, and is very curious. He takes a
special interest in Ageha and his ability. Shiner's PSI ability
allows him to teleport himself or other people dubbed the
"Hexagonal Transfer System", making it easy for him to kill his
opponents. In chapter 66 he was defeated after being outdone by
Shao's power, his arm being broken by Amamiya and was almost killed
by Frederica but barely escaped. After returning to his tower he
killed a Taboo not wanting anyone to see him in such a "disgraceful
manner" and he started to wonder if the reason he escaped to the
tower was because of fear.
- Caprico (カプリコ,
Kapuriko
?) (Star Commander No. 4)
- The fourth member of W.I.S.E. introduced, she has the
appearance of a cute young girl. She has a distinctive star-shaped
scar on her forehead. She appears to be the head of W.I.S.E.'s
Biological Research Division. It is suggested that she is
responsible for the creating of the insect-like Taboo in Psyren and
we see her drawing a design for another Taboo. Back in the present
world, she is shown to be a girl from a disbanded orphanage who
gained her abilities after falling from a cliff. She is called the
"creator" by Miroku. She has the ability to bring to life anything
that she draws possibly requiring a chant. Her powers follow the
basis of using PSI requiring imagery to create a physical form,
only she can 'cheat' and simply just draw anything she imagines and
focus on bringing that to life.
- Dholaki (ドルキ,
Doruki
?) (Star Commander No. 5)
- The first member of W.I.S.E introduced, he has long silvery
hair and a wears a long coat with a large collar. His upper face is
covered with a bird-like visor similar to that of Nemesis Q.
Dholaki is very prideful, so he implanted a second core into him
which gives him more power after being defeated by Ageha's
"Melchsee's Door", but he now only has a .5% chance of surviving
over one year. He is seen in Tatsuo's flashback as the man who
oversaw the implanting of the core in Tatsuo's chest. Matsuri
briefly met him in the tower during her time in Psyren and was
attacked before narrowly escaping. During Ageha's third trip to
Psyren, Dholaki is alerted to the drifters' presence and offers to
confront them on his own. Dholaki chased after Kabuto and Ageha,
and does battle with Ageha and his upgraded "Melchsee's Door", but
is defeated. Dholaki possesses a PSI ability that creates massive
explosions using burst called "Explosia", which also allows him to
deviate PSI waves. He is the head of W.I.S.E.'s Border Security
Division. He appears along with Junas and Miroku in his declaration
of war in the second version of the future and it's assumed he was
there in the unchanged future. He came back to take revenge on
Yoshina with a robotic replacement for his missing arm and
shoulder. He quickly shows that his upgraded Explosia is more than
a match for Ageha's Melchsee's Door, but is killed by Kyle after he
destroys both his cores.
Other
characters
Tenju's
Root
- Elmore Tenjuin (天樹院エルモア, Tenjuin
Erumoa
?)
- An old woman, clairvoyant Psychicer in current Japan who is
trying to unlock the secrets of Psyren and save Japan from its
intended future. She is offering 500 million yen to whoever can
figure out Psyren. With her ability to see into the future called
Millennium Kaleidoscope, she has seen what Japan will eventually
become through the window in her meditation room. Her husband Koper
was a Psyren drifter who could read minds. Together, the two of
them became wealthy and famous for their fortune-telling ability.
After retiring, the couple began taking in gifted orphan children
and helping them train their PSI abilities. One year ago, however,
Koper turned into ash when he attempts to tell her about Psyren.
Before he died, Elmore was able to see into Koper's mind and saw
Psyren's calling card, Nemesis Q, the future of the world. Her
husband dead, Tenjuin Elmore is still PSI-training orphans in her
home, known as Elmore Wood. It is revealed that she was destined to
die in a plane crash but. Ageha's however delayed her trip to the
airport and saved her life. In the future she is leading the group
known as "Tenju's Root".
- Frederica (フレデリカ,
Furederika
?)
- A girl with pyrokinesis. She has fire-based powers and the
temper to match, often flying in to rages. She dislikes outsiders
and is loud-mouthed and inconsiderate. She is often referring to
herself as a spy codenamed "Sexy Rose". She unknowingly lost
control of her powers and burnt down her house when she fell ill.
She dislikes Ageha, but she cooperates to teach him 'Burst Stream'.
Although her personality has not changed much in the future,
Frederica displays tsundere-like behavior. As a child, she dubbed
her ability "Pyro Queen." It was simply just stream-like
manipulation of her fire. In the second future, she had developed a
program called "Salamandra" for her 'Pyro Queen'. She deeply cares
about Marie but is to shy to say it. Frederica often tries to make
someone whom she acknowledges her servent.
- Marie (マリー,
Marī
?)
- A girl who uses Telekinesis. She is the complete opposite of
Frederica, her best friend, being shy and very kind. In the future,
Marie is revealed to have a crush on Ageha. She has shown a very
high development of her Telekinetic abilities, being able to rip
apart an environment and avoid harming important people or
friends.
- Kyle (カイル,
Kairu
?)
- A mischievous, but powerful boy. He and Ageha have established
a brotherly relationship. His ability is Burst based and is called
'Material High' which lets him create nearly invisible solid
material by super compressing the air. In the future, Kyle
developed his Rise abilities granting him superhuman speed and
strength. He has developed many uses for his Material High and rise
powers such as:
- "Fall Down." He has shown this ability as a child and in the
future when he survives, both though are different variants. His
childhood version is simply a giant sphere crashing down on his
opponent, and in the future, he creates 5 pillars around his
opponent and seals them within them after they fall from the
sky.
- Blocks, A simple cube or prism that Kyle can use as jumping
blocks or as shields.
- "Victory Stamp" is a rise attack, where Kyle launches himself
at an opponent like a cannonball and stomps on an opponent sending
them flying away.
- Shao (シャオ,
Shao
?)
- A calm, rational Chinese boy. He specializes in tracking people
down. It has been stated that his past is similar to Frederica's.
His power, dubbed "Shinra-Banshou or All Creation" enables him to
sense and redirect the PSI-energy around him, also allowing him to
sense PSI users around him, as well as seeing the "true nature" of
people. In the future, Shao's develops the ability to nullify other
people's psi-powers through their mind. It is revealed Shao has a
crush on Marie.
- Van (ヴァン,
Van
?)
- A quiet and apathetic boy who possesses the ability to heal
people. In the future, his personality has changed into a talkative
and emotional teenager. His healing abilities have progressed to
the point he is able to regenerate peoples' limbs when they are
within his Cure Zone. He seems to be French, or at least to like
speaking French. It's later revealed that the reason behind his
change of personality has because he was the only one capable of
curing left after Ian died.
- Lan Shinonome (東雲 嵐, Shinonome
Ran
?)
- A Psychicer chosen by Kyotada Inui for his unique ability to
transport items with his PSI ability called Trick Room. He creates
two boxes that are linked by an alternate dimension. Lan then
places one box over specific coordinates of an item (for instance,
a safe) and then "downloads" the contents into the other box,
making a completely untraceable robbery. It is later revealed that
Lan agreed to help Inui because he needed money to pay for his
comatose sister's hospital stay. He is later revealed to be alive
in the future and is a part of "Tenju's Root". He helps transport
Marie, Kyle, Van, Kabuto, and Ageha to get to the hideout using his
Trick Room.
- Haruhiko Yumeji (夢路 晴彦, Yumeji
Haruhiko
?)
- A Psychicer with the ability to manipulate electricity, called
Shocker. Haruhiko was chosen by Kyotada specifically for his
current operations of stealing money from the underworld.
- In the future, he joined "Tenju's Root" and is responsible for
suppling most of the base energy with his Shocker. His known
attacks for "Shocker" are:
- Shotgun-Bolt, which he fires a strand of lightning at an
opponent to stun them and cancel their PSI
- White Shock, which shines the area and has a temporary blinding
effect (which is why he wears goggles)
- Charge(unofficial), in combination with Lan's Trick Room, he
charges the download box creating a microwave like effect frying
any being downloaded into the box.
- Chika Shinonome (東雲 千架, Shinonome
Chika
?)
- The comatose sister of Lan Shinonome; she is the reason her
older brother agreed to aid Inui in his illicit activities, in
order to obtain money for her medical treatment. In the future, it
is revealed that she has recovered from her coma, and is among the
members of "Tenju's Root". It is assumed that she, like her
brother, is a Psychicer, though her abilities have yet to be
demonstrated. She also can drive a motorcycle like Matsuri.
Others
- Nemesis Q (ネメシスQ, Nemeshisu
Q
?)
- Nemesis is a PSI-program with basic intelligence and
individuality sent back from the future to select among the people
those worthy of using PSI to teach them about the future, discover
the truth, and stop Psyren from occurring. The creator of "Q"
mentioned that her body could not withstand the time-travel
transfer so she sent a program to do it for her. Its creator also
embedded another order in Q: to kill those who divulge info about
Psyren to protect the creator form being caught. It is revealed
that Nemesis Q's creator is actually Miroku Amagi's older twin
sister a psychicher girl that was taken by the government at the
age of six along with her brother. When Q transports someone into
the future, events in the gap between times seemingly occur as if
the person involved simply disappeared. Q gives special treatments
to Ageha because she thinks Ageha's powers are significant.
- Matsuri Yagumo (八雲 祭, Yagumo
Matsuri
?)
- A famous concert pianist and veteran Psyren drifter, she was
the one who taught Amamiya all about Psyren. Because her card's
value is already at zero, she cannot help the main characters and
instead acts in a mentor role. She is a talented pianist, though
she drinks a lot and drives a motorcycle. When Ageha and Asaga
first met her, she was drunk and responding to a call for
assistance from Amamiya. She reacts playfully in regards to Ian and
Kagetora's crush on her. She is concerned about Ageha and Oboro's
abilities, and tells Hiryu that he's the only one who could take
them down if necessary. Matsuri is shown to be an extremely
competent user of Burst. Using her vast telekinetic abilities, she
trains Ageha in controlling his highly destructive Burst abilities.
She was able to deflect his full 'Melchsee's Door' an unconfirmed
number of times, while showing no visible strain. In the future she
is suspected dead along with Kagetora. Her true level of power was
revealed by Grana, supposedly the strongest member of the WISE; he
stated that she was 'more like an Almighty Type' and commented on
the fact that, had she been in a better condition, she might've
'stood a chance' against him.
- Kagetora Hyōdō (雹堂 影虎, Hyōdō
Kagetora
?)
- Another old friend of Matsuri who is an expert user of
Rise-type PSI, claiming to be the best Rise user in all of eastern
Japan. Kagetora says that he is always available to die or kill for
Matsuri ever since she saved him from a near-deadly hit and run
accident with an elderly woman on her way home from the store. (In
actuality it was a gunshot wound from a gang fight.) He has
proposed to Matsuri 22 times and was turned down every time. His
physical appearance is that of a typical gangster with sunglasses,
slicked-back hair, and a print button-down shirt. His favorite food
is Mont Blanc cake, he loves cats, and he would never harm a woman
or child. Kagetora is a Psychicer and does not know any of the
details of Psyren. However, he comes to help Matsuri train the new
Psyren Drifters in Rise techniques. Recently he is trying to stop a
group of PSI user that had been using their power to commit crimes
however he was nearly killed by Inui but was saved by Ageha. In the
future he is suspected dead along with Matsuri.
- Tatsuo Mana (真名 辰夫, Mana
Tatsuo
?)
- A friend of Asaga's who was always sickly with a hereditary
disease. As he stayed sick he grew angry with the outside world, he
went to Psyren and offered Asaga a card but he refused. In Psyren,
a figure wearing a mask appears, holding a rifle that uses his PSI
energy. He strongly resembles Tatsuo and after killing all but the
five survivors, takes his aim at them and destroys part of the
building. Amamiya says he's a Burst User and he also uses Rise to
fight her physically. After using Trance, Amamiya realizes that
Tatsuo was transformed into a Taboo by having an orb implanted into
him. Tatsuo regains his mind after being hit by Ageha's, however
his core remains because it is integrated to his body. Because he
does not have his card, he stays in Psyren, revealing that he will
die when his core runs out of energy, but will look for a way
around this. He describes his time as a Taboo as being trapped in
someone else's body, and regrets all the killing he did. He appears
later on chapter 69 when he saved Asaga from some Taboo. He is
later shown with a new Asaga as they are planning to take down a
tower.
- Ian (イアン,
Ian
?)
- A superior cure user and old friend of Matsuri with a rather
unfriendly personality. He doesn't want others to know about his
power because he wants to live his life in peace. Ian has proposed
to Matsuri 12 times and shot down every time, but apparently has
not given up. He is a born PSI user and thus cannot be told
anything related to Psyren, but is willing to wait until Matsuri
can tell him, and promised not stick his nose in it. He dislikes
Amamiya claiming that, since she showed up, Matsuri doesn't have
any time for him. In the future, he dies after over-using his
powers.
- Fubuki Yoshina (夜科 フブキ, Yoshina
Fubuki
?)
- The older sister and guardian of Ageha Yoshina age 24. She
always gives long lectures, but prefers to hit him for the little
things like being late and goes as far as tying him up from the
ceiling repeatedly. She has a crush on the idol Oboro Mochizuki,
who ironically acts a lot like
Ageha.
Manga
Psyren is written and illustrated by Toshiaki Iwashiro.
The series is published in Japan by Shueisha, and has been serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Weekly
Shōnen Jump since the 2008-01 issue (December 3, 2007).
Publication is ongoing, with serial chapters collected in eight tankōbon volumes as of
November 2009.[1]
Reception
Volumes from Psyren have commonly appeared in Japan's
best-selling lists of manga volumes.[2][3] Anime News
Network writer Carlos Santos found the series to be a "solid
solid shounen series" due how fights are made since the characters
use the "brain to win the battles" instead of "getting a new
power-up or hacking into his 'inner-strength' to beat the enemies".
The lack of long training story arcs and how emphasized is the "the
good vs. evil" were also praised by Santos who noted that those
were the "good points" of the shonen genre. Still, he
criticized the series' artwork for being very similar to the one of
Bleach.[4]
References
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links
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