Tactics (stylized as tactics) is a Japanese manga series written as a collaboration between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. It was serialized in Comic Blade Masamune. Kinoshita supplied the character "Kantarou", and Higashiyama supplied the character "Haruka". While the manga was previously licensed for released in English in paperback by both ADV Manga and Tokyopop, the manga was only available in English in digital format on JManga for two years before it was no longer accessible.[1]
The animation studio Studio Deen adapted the Tactics manga into a 25-episode anime series, which ran on Japanese television from October 5, 2004, to March 29, 2005. The English dub of the anime was distributed by Manga Entertainment in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Tactics resumed serialization on January 18, 2018, as tactics 新説 on pixiv comics.[2]
Set in Japan during the Taishō period (in the anime, the manga is set during the late Meiji period), Tactics is the story of Kantarou Ichinomiya, a young man with the ability to see youkai and other mythical beasts. When he was a child, this ability resulted in him being ostracized by humans. His youkai friends told him that in order to be stronger, he must find the oni-eating tengu. The young Kantarou then vows to find it and name it. By naming one, a human becomes master and the name contract is only broken if the master chooses. As Kantarou grows up, he finds a career as a folklorist and a part-time exorcist, alongside his youkai friend Youko. An assignment leads Kantarou to a mountain where a shrine marks the place where the tengu had been sealed away. Calling upon the tengu by the name Haruka, Kantarou breaks the seal and becomes Haruka's master. As time goes on, Kantarou, Youko, and Haruka develop a close friendship. However, this relationship is threatened by Haruka's returning memories and his yearning to know more about his past.
Kantarou is a young folklorist and part-time exorcist with an ability to see youkai. Kantarou is highly intelligent and is quite sneaky and manipulative. He is able to trick others into doing what he wants and anticipate their reactions. This trait has resulted in him being called a tactician by Haruka, hence the title of the series. Despite this, Kantarou has a good heart and feels deeply for youkai. Although it is customary for an exorcist to kill youkai, Kantarou chooses to reason with them and sees his line of work as a way to help them. His attitude has been criticized by both Haruka and Sugino, as they feel it may endanger him.
Haruka is an oni-eating tengu, the strongest of all youkai. Kantarou, having named him, became his master and friend. Haruka has the ability to control lightning. Occasionally, such as when he is attacking oni, Haruka can transfigure into his true youkai form. His nails grow sharper and longer, his fangs grow longer, and his eyes constrict. Usually, he appears as a tall, dark-haired man with black wings that he can either hide or reveal. Haruka is troubled by his lack of memories, inability to eat youkai, and loss of power, which starts to affect his sense of self. Haruka's name under his previous master, an onmyōdō practitioner, was Rin. As Rin, he did not have a good relationship with his master, and it is hinted that she took advantage of his subservient status for sexual purposes.
Youko is a female kitsune youkai whom Kantarou named. At the beginning of Tactics, Youko had already been living with Kantarou. She is loud and impulsive, and often loses her temper towards Kantaoru. Youko has the ability to make her fox ears appear and disappear at will, and can turn into her fox form if she wishes. Youko is shown to be deeply concerned about the household expenses and pesters Kantarou about finishing his book manuscripts. Before joining Kantarou, Youko was initially a lonely youkai who deceived travellers into thinking she was a member of their family. Youko pretends to be Kantarou's wife, but Kantarou soon reveals her to be a youkai, and invites her to join his household.
Suzu is a rich teenage girl who constantly helps Katarou on his cases. She first met him in episode 1 and after that usually hangs out in his house. Suzu is often addressed as "Suzu-chan" and she maintains a very close relationship with Youko. She has a crush on Haruka, but often treats Kantarou harshly. Her character was created for the anime, but she has appeared in several of the manga's omake since.
Sugino is a white tengu and the "god" of Sugino Village. As such, he is often called Sugino-sama. Unlike a black tengu, who is born a tengu, a white tengu is originally a powerful, overly-proud human priest or monk who changed into a tengu. Before Kantarou, Sugino had attempted to break Haruka's seal, but failed. Sugino has a great amount of dislike for the human race, having been a human himself. Sugino is married to Muu-chan, a small, green youkai. Upon being asked how they would reproduce, Sugino states that their relationship is platonic. Prior to meeting Muu-chan, Sugino was a cruel character who earned the nickname of 'violent tengu'. His cruelty caused him to be lonely and hate his immortality.
Muu-chan is a small, green youkai who is married to Sugino and only says 'Muu'. Muu-chan has the ability to vacuum up demons and spells using its mouth.
Raikou Minamoto (源頼光, Minamoto Raikou)
A handsome young wealthy nobleman, main opponent of series. He is the leader of the government's Demon Extermination Squad. He wants to make Kantarou cancel his name contract with Haruka so Haruka will get his memories back and become the "real" demon eating tengu he wishes to defeat. He hates that Kantarou was able to unseal the demon-eating tengu but he himself could not. He wields Minamoto's Legendary sword. His allies are Watanabe and Ibaragi.
Media
Manga
The manga was first released in North America by ADV Manga in 2004. Afterwards, the US license was transferred to Tokyopop, who released 8 volumes before they shut down their American branch. Volumes 1–12 were available on JManga until its closure in May 2013.[3]
Tactics originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 5, 2004, to March 29, 2005.[20] The series consists of 25 episodes. The series was directed by Hiroshi Watanabe and was produced by Studio Deen. Tactics was licensed for English release and distributed by Manga Entertainment.[21]
In the United States, it was featured on the Ani-Monday program from January 7, 2008, to April 21, 2008, on the Sci Fi Channel. The opening theme for Tactics was Secret World and the ending theme was "Mienai Chikara" (ミエナイチカラ, Invisible Strength). Both were sung by Miki Akiyama.
Animation director: Minefumi Harada, Miyako Tsuji, Youichi Ishikawa, Yukiko Ban
Director of Photography: Akio Abe
Music
A CD for season 1 of the Tactics anime was released on June 27, 2006
Opening Theme
"Secret World"
Lyrics by: Yuriko Mori
Composition by: Kazuya Nishioka
Arrangement by: Kazuya Nishioka
Performed by: Miki Akiyama
Ending Theme
"Invisible Strength" (ミエナイチカラ, Mienai Chikara)
Lyrics by: Yuriko Mori
Composition by: Kazuya Nishioka
Arrangement by: Kazuya Nishioka
Performed by: Miki Akiyama
Light Novels
Three official light novels exist, all written by Nanami Nari, with the approval of Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. They have remained unlocalized, and do not possess English titles. They are published by Mag Garden Novels, a subsidiary of Mag Garden.
Kinoshita and Higashiyama form a dōjinshi circle called Mad Cookie Monster. They individually go by the pseudonyms Wasabi Katsuo and Wasabi Maguro, respectively. This circle has released many dōjinshi for their own series, including Tactics, some of them containing explicit yaoi pornography. One of the rarest and best known of these titles is Love Sick, a 72-page dōjinshi containing an illustrated short novel and an explicit yaoi comic, featuring the pairing Haruka x Kantarou. Other dōjinshi based on Tactics are El Principe, which features mild Haruka x Kantarou, and Lil' Crazy, which features Raikou x Haruka.
References
^"Tactics 1". JManga. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Beasi, Malinda (January 4, 2010). . Pop Culture Shock. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Brienza, Casey (October 30, 2008). "Tactics GN 3". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Dacey, Katherine (April 9, 2007). . Pop Culture Shock. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Lin, Maria (January 2005). "Tactics Vol. 1". Animefringe. Vol. 6, no. 1. p. 17. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Martin, Theron (July 24, 2006). "Tactics DVD 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
O'Neil, Kate (May 7, 2010). . Mania. Demand Media. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2012. September 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
Ross, Carlo (June 12, 2006). "Tactics". T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Santos, Carlo (October 25, 2004). "Tactics Volume 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Santos, Carlo (March 20, 2007). "The Manga Menagerie – RTO". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Santos, Carlo (March 18, 2008). "Still Alive – RTO". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Smith, Lesley (February 2008). "Tactics The Complete Box Set". Newtype USA. Vol. 7, no. 2. p. 97. ISSN 1541-4817.
External links
(in Japanese)
Tactics @ FrontierWorks (in Japanese)
TV-Tokyo's Official Tactics Anime Website (in Japanese)
tactics, manga, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, tactics, manga, news, newspapers, books, scholar, js. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Tactics manga news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Tactics stylized as tactics is a Japanese manga series written as a collaboration between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama It was serialized in Comic Blade Masamune Kinoshita supplied the character Kantarou and Higashiyama supplied the character Haruka While the manga was previously licensed for released in English in paperback by both ADV Manga and Tokyopop the manga was only available in English in digital format on JManga for two years before it was no longer accessible 1 TacticsMangaWritten bySakura KinoshitaKazuko HigashiyamaPublished byEnixMag GardenEnglish publisherNA ADV MangaTokyopopJMangaMagazineMonthly GFantasy former Monthly Comic Blade former Comic Blade Masamune former Monthly Comic Avarus current Kurofune ja current DemographicShōnen shōjoOriginal run2000 presentVolumes15Anime television seriesDirected byHiroshi WatanabeStudioStudio DeenLicensed byNA Manga EntertainmentUK Manga EntertainmentOriginal networkTV TokyoEnglish networkUS Sci Fi ChannelOriginal runOctober 5 2004 March 29 2005Episodes25 List of episodes The animation studio Studio Deen adapted the Tactics manga into a 25 episode anime series which ran on Japanese television from October 5 2004 to March 29 2005 The English dub of the anime was distributed by Manga Entertainment in the United States Canada and the United Kingdom Tactics resumed serialization on January 18 2018 as tactics 新説 on pixiv comics 2 Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Media 3 1 Manga 3 2 Anime 3 3 Music 3 4 Light Novels 4 Dōjinshi 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksPlot EditSet in Japan during the Taishō period in the anime the manga is set during the late Meiji period Tactics is the story of Kantarou Ichinomiya a young man with the ability to see youkai and other mythical beasts When he was a child this ability resulted in him being ostracized by humans His youkai friends told him that in order to be stronger he must find the oni eating tengu The young Kantarou then vows to find it and name it By naming one a human becomes master and the name contract is only broken if the master chooses As Kantarou grows up he finds a career as a folklorist and a part time exorcist alongside his youkai friend Youko An assignment leads Kantarou to a mountain where a shrine marks the place where the tengu had been sealed away Calling upon the tengu by the name Haruka Kantarou breaks the seal and becomes Haruka s master As time goes on Kantarou Youko and Haruka develop a close friendship However this relationship is threatened by Haruka s returning memories and his yearning to know more about his past Characters EditKantarou Ichinomiya 一ノ宮勘太郎 Ichinomiya Kantarō Voiced by Kōki Miyata Japanese Blake Shepard English Kantarou is a young folklorist and part time exorcist with an ability to see youkai Kantarou is highly intelligent and is quite sneaky and manipulative He is able to trick others into doing what he wants and anticipate their reactions This trait has resulted in him being called a tactician by Haruka hence the title of the series Despite this Kantarou has a good heart and feels deeply for youkai Although it is customary for an exorcist to kill youkai Kantarou chooses to reason with them and sees his line of work as a way to help them His attitude has been criticized by both Haruka and Sugino as they feel it may endanger him Haruka 春華 Haruka Voiced by Takahiro Sakurai Japanese Chris Patton English Haruka is an oni eating tengu the strongest of all youkai Kantarou having named him became his master and friend Haruka has the ability to control lightning Occasionally such as when he is attacking oni Haruka can transfigure into his true youkai form His nails grow sharper and longer his fangs grow longer and his eyes constrict Usually he appears as a tall dark haired man with black wings that he can either hide or reveal Haruka is troubled by his lack of memories inability to eat youkai and loss of power which starts to affect his sense of self Haruka s name under his previous master an onmyōdō practitioner was Rin As Rin he did not have a good relationship with his master and it is hinted that she took advantage of his subservient status for sexual purposes Youko ヨーコ Yōko Voiced by Tomoko Kawakami Japanese Luci Christian English Youko is a female kitsune youkai whom Kantarou named At the beginning of Tactics Youko had already been living with Kantarou She is loud and impulsive and often loses her temper towards Kantaoru Youko has the ability to make her fox ears appear and disappear at will and can turn into her fox form if she wishes Youko is shown to be deeply concerned about the household expenses and pesters Kantarou about finishing his book manuscripts Before joining Kantarou Youko was initially a lonely youkai who deceived travellers into thinking she was a member of their family Youko pretends to be Kantarou s wife but Kantarou soon reveals her to be a youkai and invites her to join his household Suzu Edogawa 江戸川珠洲 Edogawa Suzu Voiced by Nana Mizuki Japanese Jessica Boone English Suzu is a rich teenage girl who constantly helps Katarou on his cases She first met him in episode 1 and after that usually hangs out in his house Suzu is often addressed as Suzu chan and she maintains a very close relationship with Youko She has a crush on Haruka but often treats Kantarou harshly Her character was created for the anime but she has appeared in several of the manga s omake since Sugino スギノ様 Sugino sama Voiced by Soichiro Hoshi Japanese Vic Mignogna English Sugino is a white tengu and the god of Sugino Village As such he is often called Sugino sama Unlike a black tengu who is born a tengu a white tengu is originally a powerful overly proud human priest or monk who changed into a tengu Before Kantarou Sugino had attempted to break Haruka s seal but failed Sugino has a great amount of dislike for the human race having been a human himself Sugino is married to Muu chan a small green youkai Upon being asked how they would reproduce Sugino states that their relationship is platonic Prior to meeting Muu chan Sugino was a cruel character who earned the nickname of violent tengu His cruelty caused him to be lonely and hate his immortality Muu chan むーちゃん Mu chan Voiced by Omi Minami Japanese Monica Rial English Muu chan is a small green youkai who is married to Sugino and only says Muu Muu chan has the ability to vacuum up demons and spells using its mouth Raikou Minamoto 源頼光 Minamoto Raikou A handsome young wealthy nobleman main opponent of series He is the leader of the government s Demon Extermination Squad He wants to make Kantarou cancel his name contract with Haruka so Haruka will get his memories back and become the real demon eating tengu he wishes to defeat He hates that Kantarou was able to unseal the demon eating tengu but he himself could not He wields Minamoto s Legendary sword His allies are Watanabe and Ibaragi Media EditManga Edit The manga was first released in North America by ADV Manga in 2004 Afterwards the US license was transferred to Tokyopop who released 8 volumes before they shut down their American branch Volumes 1 12 were available on JManga until its closure in May 2013 3 Volume listNo Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN01September 10 2002 4 4 901926 02 0October 4 2004 ADV Manga 5 April 10 2007 Tokyopop 6 978 1 4139 0178 8 ADV Manga ISBN 978 1 59816 960 7 Tokyopop 02September 10 2002 7 4 901926 03 9May 24 2005 ADV Manga 8 August 7 2007 Tokyopop 6 978 1 4139 0179 5 ADV Manga ISBN 978 1 59816 961 4 Tokyopop 03March 10 2003 9 4 901926 41 1December 11 2007 6 978 1 59816 962 104March 10 2004 10 4 86127 034 0March 11 2008 6 978 1 59816 963 805October 9 2004 11 4 86127 085 5June 10 2008 6 978 1 59816 964 506March 10 2005 12 4 86127 127 4September 9 2008 6 978 1 59816 965 207September 10 2005 13 4 86127 198 3December 9 2008 6 978 1 59816 966 908July 10 2006 14 4 86127 288 2December 29 2009 15 978 1 4278 0200 209March 30 2007 16 4 86127 375 7 10March 28 2008 17 4 86127 487 7 11March 10 2009 18 4 86127 604 7 12March 10 2010 19 4 86127 717 5 13March 15 20114 86127 845 7 14March 15 20124 86127 968 2 15May 15 20134 80000 163 3 Anime Edit Main article List of Tactics episodes Tactics originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 5 2004 to March 29 2005 20 The series consists of 25 episodes The series was directed by Hiroshi Watanabe and was produced by Studio Deen Tactics was licensed for English release and distributed by Manga Entertainment 21 In the United States it was featured on the Ani Monday program from January 7 2008 to April 21 2008 on the Sci Fi Channel The opening theme for Tactics was Secret World and the ending theme was Mienai Chikara ミエナイチカラ Invisible Strength Both were sung by Miki Akiyama Anime production staffDirector Hiroshi Watanabe Series composition Kenichi Kanemaki Dubbing director Kazuhiko Inoue Script Kanemaki Kenichi Screenplay Hiroyuki Kawasaki Katsuhiko Takayama Masashi Kubota Masashi Suzuki Storyboard Chiaki Ima Hiroshi Watanabe Masashi Kojima Mitsuko Oyake Shinpei Miyashita Episode director Chiaki Ima Hiroshi Watanabe Shigeru Ueda Music Kei Haneoka Character design Mariko Oka Art director Michiyo Akutsu Chief animation director Mariko Oka Animation director Minefumi Harada Miyako Tsuji Youichi Ishikawa Yukiko Ban Director of Photography Akio AbeMusic Edit A CD for season 1 of the Tactics anime was released on June 27 2006 Opening Theme Secret World Lyrics by Yuriko Mori Composition by Kazuya Nishioka Arrangement by Kazuya Nishioka Performed by Miki Akiyama Ending Theme Invisible Strength ミエナイチカラ Mienai Chikara Lyrics by Yuriko Mori Composition by Kazuya Nishioka Arrangement by Kazuya Nishioka Performed by Miki AkiyamaLight Novels Edit Three official light novels exist all written by Nanami Nari with the approval of Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama They have remained unlocalized and do not possess English titles They are published by Mag Garden Novels a subsidiary of Mag Garden 小説 tactics 天狗祭嫁取伝説異聞 本文 七海鳴 小説 tactics 第2巻 巷説妖狐残夢奇譚 本文 七海鳴 小説 tactics 第3巻 鬼種異界流離咒歌 本文 七海鳴 22 Dōjinshi EditKinoshita and Higashiyama form a dōjinshi circle called Mad Cookie Monster They individually go by the pseudonyms Wasabi Katsuo and Wasabi Maguro respectively This circle has released many dōjinshi for their own series including Tactics some of them containing explicit yaoi pornography One of the rarest and best known of these titles is Love Sick a 72 page dōjinshi containing an illustrated short novel and an explicit yaoi comic featuring the pairing Haruka x Kantarou Other dōjinshi based on Tactics are El Principe which features mild Haruka x Kantarou and Lil Crazy which features Raikou x Haruka References Edit Tactics 1 JManga Archived from the original on January 27 2013 Retrieved August 25 2012 Tactics 新説 pixivコミック Manga Reading Site JManga to End Service in May Anime News Network March 14 2013 Retrieved November 4 2013 Tactics 1 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Kinoshita Sakura Higashiyama Kazuko 2004 Tactics Volume 1 v 1 0702727017483 Sakura Kinoshita Kazuko Higashiyama Books ISBN 1413901786 a b c d e f g Manga Comics Book Catalog Tokyopop Archived from the original on October 24 2009 Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 2 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Kinoshita Sakura Higashiyama Kazuko May 2005 Tactics Volume 2 9781413901795 Sakura Kinoshita Kazuko Higashiyama Books ISBN 1413901794 Tactics 3 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 4 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 5 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 6 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 7 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 8 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Higashiyama Kazuko Kinoshita Sakura December 29 2009 Tactics Volume 8 9781427802002 Higashiyama Kazuko Sakura Kinoshita Books ISBN 978 1427802002 Tactics 9 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 10 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 11 in Japanese Mag Garden Retrieved September 24 2009 Tactics 12 in Japanese Mag Garden ASIN 4861277175 Tactics Original Run TV Tokyo Retrieved December 31 2008 Tactics English Release Manga Entertainment Archived from the original on December 31 2008 Retrieved December 31 2008 小説tactics3 鬼種異界流離呪歌 Further reading EditBeasi Malinda January 4 2010 Manga Minis 1 4 10 Tactics Vol 8 Pop Culture Shock Archived from the original on March 8 2012 Retrieved June 24 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Brienza Casey October 30 2008 Tactics GN 3 Anime News Network Retrieved June 24 2012 Dacey Katherine April 9 2007 Two by Tokyopop Genju no Seiza and Tactics Pop Culture Shock Archived from the original on March 8 2012 Retrieved June 24 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Lin Maria January 2005 Tactics Vol 1 Animefringe Vol 6 no 1 p 17 Retrieved June 24 2012 Martin Theron July 24 2006 Tactics DVD 1 Anime News Network Retrieved June 24 2012 O Neil Kate May 7 2010 Tactics Vol 08 Mania Demand Media Archived from the original on September 18 2010 Retrieved June 24 2012 Archived September 18 2010 at the Wayback Machine Ross Carlo June 12 2006 Tactics T H E M Anime Reviews Retrieved June 24 2012 Santos Carlo October 25 2004 Tactics Volume 1 Anime News Network Retrieved June 24 2012 Santos Carlo March 20 2007 The Manga Menagerie RTO Anime News Network Retrieved June 24 2012 Santos Carlo March 18 2008 Still Alive RTO Anime News Network Retrieved June 24 2012 Smith Lesley February 2008 Tactics The Complete Box Set Newtype USA Vol 7 no 2 p 97 ISSN 1541 4817 External links EditOfficial Tactics Manga Website in Japanese Tactics FrontierWorks in Japanese TV Tokyo s Official Tactics Anime Website in Japanese Tactics manga at Anime News Network s encyclopedia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tactics manga amp oldid 1135099532, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
