dear (manga)

Dear
ディア
Genre	Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Manga
Written by	Cocoa Fujiwara
Published by	Square Enix
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Gangan Wing
Original run	June 2002 – complete
Volumes	12
Drama CD
Studio T&T, i@Studio, and Dream Fourth dear - April 24, 2004 dear: A story of the next day - September 4, 2006
Anime and Manga Portal

dear (dear(ディア), dia^?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Cocoa Fujiwara. It was first serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Monthly Gangan Wing in June 2002, published by Square Enix. Currently, twelve volumes have been released in Japan. dear is set in the same world as Fujiwara's other work, Watashi no Ookami-san.

Summary

This story is about a girl named Chiruha who is a Lycanthrope, a mythical creature thought to have died out. She lives in the mountains alone in an abandoned hut with only a small television. Chiruha decides to leave her home and live with the humans. When there she discovers her childhood friend, Kisara. Kisara, though, has no memories of when he was friends with Chiruha. What he does remember is that he was supposedly cursed with immortality by a Lycanthrope. He believes Chiruha gave him immortality as curse and hates her for it, although this is not the case. Kisara was the adopted son of a rich nobleman and was being bullied when he was saved by Chiruha. They became friends, but after Chiruha was attacked by some villagers they both run away to live on their own. Two men who were sent to get Kisara and kill Chiruha accidentally hurt Kisara fatally. During that moment Chiruha unintentionally gave Kisara her immortality. When being used as a human sacrifice to drive away demons, Kisara remembers this and does not know what to feel since he can no longer hate her but can't go back to the past. He decides to just keep going forward and asks the captain if he could stop being the military's pawn.

After that it switches to characters from Watashi no Ookami-san. This is back to the past when Chiruha was using her powers. Both Subaru, the ex-demon lord, along with Komomo and General Purino (along with Kurenai and Carol) react to Chiruha's powers and go to find the source. Purino and Subaru all come on a mission to go to where Chiruha is. When they meet Chiruha doesn't know how to help them but wants to become friends.

Characters

Chiruha - Chiruha can be considered the main protagonist, since the story focuses on her in the beginning, but the story switches perspectives, so there are many main characters. Chiruha is (that we know so far) the last remaining lycanthrope. She looks exactly like a human, but every now and then her lycanthrope ears pop out. This hasn't happened often ever since she got to know everyone. Another difference is that she is supposed to possess great power, however, she has not displayed it yet, nor does she know how. When she was young she lived in a cabin in the mountains, having no connection to the world but a small t.v. At this time, she knew Kisara, and they were friends. One day while running away from home, they ran into a group of men who were trying to take Kisara. They ended up wounding him fatally, and Chiruha unintentionally gave him her immortality. Years later, Kisara seemingly out of her life, Chiruha summons her courage and joins the human world, walking to a nearby village. Here she meets Kisara, and starts living with him and becoming friends with police squad, and other demons who join them.

Kisara - Having forgotten the strange girl who lived in the mountains, Kisara grows up with the police force, knowing that he is immortal and remembering only that a lycanthrope cursed him with it. Over the years, he developed a hatred for the girl who changed his body. When Chiruha appears out of the blue, Kisara seems determined to gain her trust and then kill her, as revenge for the "curse". After attempting to kill her while she slept, his memories return and he realizes that she saved his life, and that she didn't even know what she had done. After this, Kisara slowly starts falling in love with her, while it seems that Chiruha only considers "Ki-chan" as a friend.