Saikano

: The most extroverted guy in Shuji’s circle of friends and Yukari's boyfriend. Take is the first one to get a girlfriend in Shuji's group (a fact Nori is very envious about). His girlfriend is named Yukari and they have been going out for two months by the start of the series. They constantly fight with each other (a fact only Chise seems to notice). He decides to buy a rose quartz at the Sapporo mall to try to get on her good side again. He dies during the bombing, holding Yukari’s pendant in his hand. His classmates put flowers and a framed picture on his old desk as a tribute to him after his death. In the manga version, he survives the attack.

Nori anime voices|Hiroki Shimowada | : The most immature guy in Shuji’s circle of friends. Nori is a shy and naive highschooler, who believed that the war would never reach their hometown and they should stop worrying about it. He desperately wants to have a girlfriend, and is slightly jealous of Take for having one. He later gets a crush on a second-year girl named Miho but it is unknown if his feelings are reciprocated.

Yukari anime voices|Sachiko Kojima | : Take’s girlfriend and part of Chise's group of friends. They fought constantly while he was alive, but she still had strong feelings for him. After her boyfriend’s death, she leaves the school. Soon after that, she gets a new boyfriend and decides never to love anyone seriously ever again. Later on in the series, she joins the neighborhood patrol to find the enemy soldier that crashed in the mountains. She finds the soldier accidentally while looking for the pendant she momentarily lost and kills him crying out Take’s name. She loses her life in the return fire, and clutches the pendant just like Take did.

Nakamura anime voices|Kishô Taniyama| : Young soldier on Chise’s former company. He admires Chise very much, telling her that her combat skills saved his life. He is later mortally wounded by enemy fire when Chise fails to appear on a mission, instead opting to go on a date with Shuji. Tetsu takes pity on him and kills him to end his suffering. He also appears in the OVA, alongside Tetsu.

Kawahara anime voices|Atsushi Ii| : Head scientist in charge of Chise. He is a nervous man that perpetually wipes his forehead repeatedly with a dark-blue handkerchief he always carries. His wife and daughter were killed during the Sapporo bombing. He gives Shuji some pills saying that Chise needs them so her weapon side won’t take over and later gives her some much-needed maintenance. Feeling his job is finally done, he shoots himself in the head. He also makes an appearance in the OVA.

Others

Sergeant Itou anime voices|Manabu Muraji | : Chise’s chaperon. He is in charge of keeping Chise up to date with headquarter decisions and keeping her schedule in order. He later goes insane after witnessing the full extent of her powers. He also appears in the OVA.

Shingo anime voices|Hiroyuki Yoshino| : Atsushi’s army mate. He’s a playful, teasing person and gets along well with Atsushi. He dies when his military base is attacked.

Rie anime voices|Hiromi Konno| : Girl who is part of Chise's circle of friends. She was spying behind a locker (along with Akemi, Seiko, and Yukari) when Chise confessed her feelings to Shuji.

Seiko anime voices|Kiyomi Asai | : Girl who is part of Chise's circle of friends. She was spying behind a locker (along with Akemi, Rie, and Yukari) when Chise confessed her feelings to Shuji.

Hana : The only female recruit that is seen in the series. She joins the military to avenge her boyfriend’s death. Hana loses her life while fighting since everyone mistook the gunshots as someone beating a drum.

Satomianime voices|Yumi Kakazu| : Akemi’s younger sister. She’s a very optimistic and cheerful girl who sometimes acts as a messenger between Akemi and Shuji. She's also part of the track team.

Shuji's mother: She is a kind and gentle woman, who always worries over her family.

Anime

Episode guide

The television series ran for 13 episodes and faithfully adapted all of the chapters in the manga. However, the last TV episode strayed from the manga's continuity and gave an original conclusion to the anime.

Saikano first aired on the Family Gekijou channel from July 2 2002 to September 24 2002. Two 30 minute OVA episodes were also released.

Theme songs

; Opening Theme: "Koisuru Kimochi" by Yuria Yato; Ending Theme: "Sayonara" by Yuria Yato

Manga

Originally serialized in "Shogakukan" magazine, the complete manga series runs for 7 volumes. The "Saikano" manga has been licensed by "VIZ Media" and translated into English. It has also been translated into Spanish by "Grupo Editorial Vid", into Italian by "Panini Comics", into German by "Carlsen Verlag" and into French by "Éditions Delcourt".

The anime follows the manga very closely until the end, where it takes a dramatic turn. In the manga, Chise is portrayed as the one who, after having been almost completely replaced by machine, decides to "liberate" what is left of mankind from its suffering of having to exist on a devastated Earth. In the anime, Chise tries to save the last of the Japanese population from an impending natural disaster coupled with an arriving foreign attack force, but fails. In both, Shuji becomes the last surviving member of humanity. The anime ending is rather disjointed from the rest of the story, where Chise is actively attacking and eliminating population centers around the world.

ide Story

There is also a one shot side story called "Love Story, Killed". The story is of a 17 year old Japanese sniper, who hides in the remains of a block of flats and kills enemy soldiers so that he can collect their guns. At the start of the story, he kills a group of enemy soldiers who are about to rape a Japanese girl. While collecting their guns, the sniper is confronted by the girl who picked up one of the guns, but the sniper eventually befriends the girl and takes her back to his room because he wants to have sex with her. It is revealed that he only has 5 rounds left, with his final round being his good luck charm that he keeps in the pocket, and that he wants to die because it will relieve him from the war. However, after getting to know the girl better and having sex with her, he becomes afraid of death, and when firing on an enemy squadron that came looking for him, he misses and reveals his position. Eventually, he finds himself unable to fire his good luck charm round due to his fear of death. Suddenly the girl appears in the doorway, bringing the guns and ammo of the soldiers he has just killed, saying that he now has the ammo to kill more soldiers and can keep fighting in the war. Right as the sniper smiles however, 3 enemy soldiers appear behind the girl, kill the sniper and then rape and kills the girl. The enemy soldiers themselves all die 2 days later.

Live action movie

The live action movie was approximately 2 hours long. Due to the length of the movie, many characters had to be cut and their roles significantly reduced. The general premise remained the same, the love between Shuuji and Chise in spite of her turning into a weapon, however the movie has a significantly different ending.

Differences between the live action movie and the anime

*Shuuji is still on the track team and never quit.
*Take, Yukari, Nori and Akemi's sister Satomi were completely cut from the movie.
*Fuyumi wasn't Shuuji's middle school teacher, but is the owner of a video rental store and wife to Tetsu who was Shuji's upper classman and also the track team's star. Fuyumi's relationship with Shuji in the movie doesn't go beyond that of constantly asking him for help and flirting with him playfully.
*Tetsu is initially hostile to Chise, seeing her as a monster, but changes his mind after she says that she has someone to live for, in contrast to the anime where Tetsu took care of her from the start. Tetsu's death in the movie was also a very brief affair compared to the anime.
*Atsushi does sign up with the army to protect Akemi, but his last appearance was telling Shuji of his plan to enlist. In the anime Atsushi dies grabbing for Akemi's photo while attempting to retreat as Chise destroys the city.
*Akemi does not die in Shuji's arms after confessing her love for him as a result of injuries suffered in an earthquake, rather she dies some time after she is hospitalised due to injuries suffered during an air raid. However, she still confessed her love for Shuji.
*When Chise and Shuji attempt to run away, they hide in an isolated farmhouse instead of running away to another harbour city.
*Chise is actually not shown as becoming inhuman as time progresses, just that she is turning more into a weapon. The anime however showed her losing her sense of taste, her ability to understand music, and her weapon side actively threatening to kill Shuji.
*The movie clearly stated that Japan was being invaded for creating Chise, and not as a last ditch attempt to defend Japan. The invading countries also threatened to launch nuclear weapons at Japan unless Chise was destroyed before a certain deadline as part of the truce negotiations.
*Overall, people did not seem to suffer much even though Japan was being invaded, while the anime stressed a food and medicine shortage, as well as showing Japan's forces fighting against hopeless odds.
*The world is not destroyed in the movie ending.However the last few minutes shows him wandering in the desert searching for Chise speculates he is the last human on earth or He is one of the surviving few.

Production

taff

References

External links

* [http://www.saikano.net/ Official Japanese Saikano website]
* [http://www.saikano-usa.com/ Official US Saikano website]
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* [http://www.saikano-movie.com Official Japanese Saikano movie website]
* [http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/saikano Game Info]