I-O-N

Infobox animanga/Header
name = I-O-N


caption =
ja_name = イ・オ・ン
ja_name_trans =
genre = Magical girl, RomanceInfobox animanga/Manga
title =
publisher = flagicon|Japan Shueisha
publisher_other = flagicon|Spain Planeta DeAgostini
flagicon|Germany Egmont Manga & Anime
demographic = Shōjo
magazine = Ribon
first = May 1997
last = November 1997
volumes = 1

nihongo|"I-O-N"|イ・オ・ン| is a Japanese manga by Arina Tanemura. It was published in Ribon from May to November in 1997, and it persists for 6 chapters, completing one volume. An English translation of the manga has been released by Viz Media.

Synopsis

Ion Tsubaragi appears to be a normal high school girl who wants to fall in love with a boy who aims to make her dreams come true. However, she isn't your average junior high school student. When she was young, she had learned to chant a jinx, which was to say her first name slowly, syllable by syllable, to make miracles occur.

Ion has a crush on a boy named Mikado, who's interested in psychic powers, and has his own lab at school. When she finds out he is making up a club for psychic investigators, she plans to join the club and ends up being the club president. Then after the occurrence of an awkward accident, Ion gains psychic powers,and Mikado notices her powers and tells her that he wants to observe her power.

Ion starts developing romantic feelings for Mikado the more she gets to know him. She's caught between her strange powers, her feelings for Mikado, and the crush that the class rep has on her. But does Mikado have feelings for Ion, or is he only interested in her powers? And what will happen to her powers?

Characters

Main

; nihongo|Ion Tsuburagi|粒 依音|Tsuburagi Ion:The main character of the story, she is a friendly and cheerful high school student who likes to eat. When she was younger, she swallowed an object her father made. After an accident in Mikado's laboratory when she touches a similar object, she gains psychic powers, as well as the attention of Mikado, whom she has a crush on. Her telekinetic abilities come from the combined power of Mikado's substance and the original substance developed by her father, which she swallowed as a child. She really dislikes Koki. She possesses the powers of telekinesis and levitation. She has relied on her jinx since she was young, and no matter how nervous she gets, she always relys on it. The jinx is the key to her powers. She is a very kind person, as she wanted to befriend Ai after noticing nobody liked her, and even gives up on a psychic powers test when Ai is in danger. At the end, she appears to lose her powers when she saves everyone from an earthquake, but on the very last page, she levitates a Psychic Man doll. ; nihongo|Mikado Hōrai|宝来 帝|Hourai Mikado:An extremely smart boy who loves science, particularly psychic powers. He looks like Ion's father. For much of the later half of the story, he is confused about whether he likes Ion as a psychic or as a girl, which causes problems with Ion. His obssesion with psychic powers stems from the childhood show Psychic Man. It left a huge impression on him, and he wants his own powers in order to save the world. At the end, he realises that he loves Ion for herself.; nihongo|Kōki Shiraishi|白石 広貴|Shiraishi Kouki :The student council president, he has feelings for Ion and persistently pursues her, even after her feelings for Mikado become obvious. He once loved the show Psychic Man, but discovered as a young boy that Psychic Man wasn't real and grew to hate psychic powers, as well as Mikado for studying them. His crush on Ion started when he was nervous about becoming student council president. She tied his long hair behind his head, and comforted him. At the end, he is still crushing on Ion. ; nihongo|Ai Minase|水瀬 藍|Minase Ai : Mikado's ex-girlfriend, who he dated only because she was his test subject. She transfers schools to be with Mikado and is initially jealous of his affections toward Ion, but later realizes that she doesn't really like Mikado and only wanted a boy who measured up to her high standards. She possesses the ability to bend spoons and sense card types and an intuition. If she does not concentrate, her powers are uncontrollable. She is very popular with boys. She warms up to Ion when Ion saves her life.

Minor

; nihongo|Tagosaku|田吾作 : Kouki's "assistant" who owes his life to Ion. He seems to have romantic feelings for Kouki. When Mikado throws his camera out of the window, he jumps after it and nearly falls to his death, but Ion jumps after him, and uses her levitation powers to save them both. He has big, slightly creepy eyes and cat-like ears. ; nihongo|Kiyono|清乃: Ion's friend. She is rather tactless, as she bluntly suggests that Mikado only likes Ion for her powers.; nihongo|Manami|愛美 : Ion's friend. She seems extremely polite and shy. Manami is usually seen with sad eyes and her hand near her mouth.; Yūki Tsuburagi : Ion's deceased father, who was a scientist and also told Ion about the jinx. It is later revealed that he was the original developer of the substance that gives Ion her powers, and that Mikado's substance is based on his.; Ion's mother : She gave birth to her daughter at the age of 16. To make up for her daughter not having a father, she tries to do everything she can. She is the one who reveals that Ion ate her father's substance, and explains that having 2 substances makes up for the weak power from only having one. ; nihongo|Subaru Tōdaiji|東大寺 昴|Toudaiji Subaru : A member of the Psychic Powers club.; Saidō : A member of the Psychic Powers club.; Minamibe : A member of the Psychic Powers club.; nihongo|Psychic Man|サイコマン|Saiko Man : A superhero with the same name of the TV show he starred in that aired when these students were children. He was a childhood hero of Mikado and Koki.

Trivia

* Ai Minase is named after one of Tanemura's assistants.
* Tōdaiji is also the name of Miyako Tōdaiji from Arina Tanemura's later work Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne. Tōdaiji in I-O-N may refer to Miyako's older brother, who looks like the Tōdaiji in this story.