Kanpai!
Encyclopedia
Kanpai!, or , is a Japanese
manga
by Maki Murakami
, which has been licensed and is currently being published in English
by TOKYOPOP
. Although Kanpai! is the title officially acknowledged by TOKYOPOP and used on the covers and the TOKYOPOP title page (as opposed to the original title page by Murakami, which is also used), only kimi no unaji ni kanpai! is used in the book itself in all other instances. Two volumes are currently available in English.
Ponta: He is a talking rabbit
. He was charged by Shintarou's father to raise him and help him earn his temporary guardian's licence by killing three hundred exorcists.
Arisaka Nao: She is a typical, spoiled, beautiful girl. Incredibly narcissistic
, she is pined for by almost every male (teachers included) in the school, and delights in crushing their hopes. She later becomes Shintarou's "meal for life" after he bites her neck and sucks her blood to revive himself after being killed by Sakurai Miko.
Nakamura Akiko: She is Nao's best friend, and apparently has powerful brainwaves
that can pick up the supernatural. She seems to suffer from anemia
, and faints at times of high excitement. She eventually gains a strong friendship with Miko's ceremonial spirit
, and can call him to her aid.
Kenken: He is the werewolf
Shintarou saved. He is caught by an exorcist eating a girl he had just killed, and would have died without Shintarou's help. The exorcist later comes after Shintarou and Nao as a zombie
. The werewolf appears and holds him still, commanding Shintarou to run them both through with his timber—which he does without any hesitation, to the disgust of Nao and the exorcist. The shock of the werewolf's death transferred his soul to the exorcist's body. Shintarou dubs him "Kenken-kun" and he begins attending middle school with Nao and Shintarou (although the exorcist's body looks to be in its twenties).
Yabe: He is a ghost
. He first appears hostile, as he goes to extremes to keep Shintarou from Nao. He lingered on because of his unrequited love for her. She eventually grants the desire keeping him from moving on—acknowledging him as an equal being by calling his name. However, instead of going to heaven, he somehow returns to his human body and begins attending school again. He seems to have trouble holding onto his body, though; he is often killed again and barely manages to return to his flesh in time.
Papa: He is a full vampire
and an apparent womanizer. He is determined to have Sakurai Miko as his wife after he defeats her and drinks her blood. He seems rough with his son, though seems to care enough about him to come to his aid.
Kuroma Noriko: Short, hyperactive, and paranoid she is a deranged girl who is known as the president of the Occult SF Sorcery Investigation Club. She draws a magic Square to drag the supposed ‘demon’ out of Shintarou and actually releases his true vampire form.
Mysterious Exorcist: He is a Yuki from gravitation
look alike, but has a mere difference of a ponytail. His name is speculated to be Zin (or Jin as Zi- is translated into J from japanese) but it is unmentioned in the manga. He appears to be after Yamada’s father but accidentally runs into Shintarou himself. It is unknown the reason why he allows Shintarou to live, and ends up fighting against Papa Yamada.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Maki Murakami
Maki Murakami
is a Japanese manga artist most famous for the boys love manga Gravitation, which, in addition to the Gravitation novel, is published by in the U.S. by Tokyopop. Gravitation was the first BL to have broken into mainstream leading way for the overwhelming popularity of yaoi/shounen-ai today...
, which has been licensed and is currently being published in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by TOKYOPOP
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
. Although Kanpai! is the title officially acknowledged by TOKYOPOP and used on the covers and the TOKYOPOP title page (as opposed to the original title page by Murakami, which is also used), only kimi no unaji ni kanpai! is used in the book itself in all other instances. Two volumes are currently available in English.
Characters
- He is a monsterMonsterA monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
guardian in-training, as monsters are nearly extinctExtinctionIn biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
and overhunted by mankind. He carries a squared timber as a weapon, and was raised by Ponta-san. Shintarou shows up at the Taino Municipal Middle School one day as a new student, claiming to be BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian (which fails to explain his native Japanese name and firm grasp of the language) but the first thing the other students notice about him is that he perfectly matches the description of a murderer in that morning's newspaper—which is completely correct; Shintarou had killed an exorcistExorcistIn some religions an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or other demons. A priest, a nun, a monk, a healer, a shaman or other specially prepared or instructed person can be an exorcist...
the night before in defence of a werewolfWerewolfA werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
. He sees Nao's napeNapeThe nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is referred to by the word nucha, which also gives the adjective corresponding to "nape" in English, "nuchal"....
and soon falls in love…but with her nape, not Nao herself. In volume two, it is revealed that Shintarou seems to be half vampire- and half human. He seems to live in a mountainous area of Tokyo with his father (who is apparently staying temporarily).
Ponta: He is a talking rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
. He was charged by Shintarou's father to raise him and help him earn his temporary guardian's licence by killing three hundred exorcists.
Arisaka Nao: She is a typical, spoiled, beautiful girl. Incredibly narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
, she is pined for by almost every male (teachers included) in the school, and delights in crushing their hopes. She later becomes Shintarou's "meal for life" after he bites her neck and sucks her blood to revive himself after being killed by Sakurai Miko.
Nakamura Akiko: She is Nao's best friend, and apparently has powerful brainwaves
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
that can pick up the supernatural. She seems to suffer from anemia
Anemia
Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
, and faints at times of high excitement. She eventually gains a strong friendship with Miko's ceremonial spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
, and can call him to her aid.
Kenken: He is the werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
Shintarou saved. He is caught by an exorcist eating a girl he had just killed, and would have died without Shintarou's help. The exorcist later comes after Shintarou and Nao as a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
. The werewolf appears and holds him still, commanding Shintarou to run them both through with his timber—which he does without any hesitation, to the disgust of Nao and the exorcist. The shock of the werewolf's death transferred his soul to the exorcist's body. Shintarou dubs him "Kenken-kun" and he begins attending middle school with Nao and Shintarou (although the exorcist's body looks to be in its twenties).
Yabe: He is a ghost
Yurei
are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...
. He first appears hostile, as he goes to extremes to keep Shintarou from Nao. He lingered on because of his unrequited love for her. She eventually grants the desire keeping him from moving on—acknowledging him as an equal being by calling his name. However, instead of going to heaven, he somehow returns to his human body and begins attending school again. He seems to have trouble holding onto his body, though; he is often killed again and barely manages to return to his flesh in time.
Papa: He is a full vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
and an apparent womanizer. He is determined to have Sakurai Miko as his wife after he defeats her and drinks her blood. He seems rough with his son, though seems to care enough about him to come to his aid.
Kuroma Noriko: Short, hyperactive, and paranoid she is a deranged girl who is known as the president of the Occult SF Sorcery Investigation Club. She draws a magic Square to drag the supposed ‘demon’ out of Shintarou and actually releases his true vampire form.
Mysterious Exorcist: He is a Yuki from gravitation
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
look alike, but has a mere difference of a ponytail. His name is speculated to be Zin (or Jin as Zi- is translated into J from japanese) but it is unmentioned in the manga. He appears to be after Yamada’s father but accidentally runs into Shintarou himself. It is unknown the reason why he allows Shintarou to live, and ends up fighting against Papa Yamada.
External links
- Kanpai! at TokyopopTokyopopTokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
- Kanpai! volume 1 review at IGN
- Kanpai! volume 1 review at Mania.com
- Kanpai! volume 1 review at Manga Life