Please Save My Earth
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| Please Save My Earth | |||
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 Cover of the first volume |
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| ぼくの地球を守って (Boku no Chikyū o Mamotte) |
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| Genre | science fiction, urban fantasy | ||
| Manga | |||
| Author | Saki Hiwatari | ||
| Publisher |  Hakusensha |
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| English publisher |   VIZ Media |
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| Demographic | shōjo | ||
| Magazine | Hana to Yume | ||
| Original run | 1987 – 1994 | ||
| Volumes | 21 | ||
| OVA | |||
| Director | Kazuo Yamazaki | ||
| Studio | Production I.G | ||
| Licensor | VIZ Media | ||
| Episodes | 6 | ||
| Released | 17 December 1993 | ||
| Runtime | 30 minutes each | ||
| OVA: Music Image Video ~ The Passing of the Golden Age | |||
| Studio | Production I.G | ||
| Episodes | 1 | ||
| Animated film: Please Save My Earth Movie: From Alice to Rin-kun | |||
| Director | Kazuo Yamazaki | ||
| Studio | Production I.G | ||
| Runtime | 120 minutes | ||
Please Save My Earth (ぼくの地球を守って Boku no Chikyū o Mamotte?), sometimes abbreviated Bokutama, is a shōjo science fiction manga by Saki Hiwatari. It was published by Hakusensha from 1987 to 1994 in Hana to Yume and collected in 21 tankōbon volumes. The series was adapted as a six-part anime OVA in 1993. It is about seven teenagers who share common dreams about their past lives as alien scientists who observed the Earth from the Moon.
Both the anime and manga are licensed for distribution in North America by Viz Media. The translation of the last volume of the manga was published in March 2007.
A sequel, Boku o Tsutsumu Tsuki no Hikari (The Moonlight That Embraces Me), is currently being serialized in the bimonthly Hana to Yume as well as the special edition magazine, Hana to Yume Plus.
Contents |
[edit] Story
The story centers around high school student Alice Sakaguchi, her eight-year old neighbor Rin Kobayashi, and five other teenage students who have recurring collective dreams about a group of alien scientists stationed on the moon observing and collecting data about the Earth. Initially, when Alice learns that fellow classmates Jinpachi and Issei have been having common recurring dreams since middle school, she thinks nothing of it until she starts having those same dreams herself. As they and four others seek each other's company, they began to realize that their "dreams" are not simply dreams, but rather suppressed memories of their past incarnations (as those same moon scientists) that ended tragically.
[edit] Main characters
[edit] The seven reincarnations
The reincarnations are six teenagers and a seven-year-old boy living in the Tokyo area in 1991.
- Alice Sakaguchi (坂口亜梨子 Sakaguchi Arisu?) Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Japanese), Lalainia Lindbjerg (English)
- Reincarnation of: Mokuren
- A shy, quiet young woman who recently moved to Tokyo from a town in Hokkaidō, which she misses for its peace and lack of pollution. When we first meet Alice she is being teased and mocked by the boy next door, Rin Kobayashi. She retains Mokuren's ability to talk to plants, and make plants grow by singing to them. Despite Rin's encouragement, Alice is having a hard time remembering her life as a scientist. This is because something horrible happened to her in the past and Mokuren does not want that memory to awaken. This denial is also evident when she refuses to acknowledge Rin as anything but a "helpless" little boy to whom she owes her life (after accidentally sending him into a coma), and she eventually decides to stop communicating with the other reincarnates.
- Rin Kobayashi (小林輪 Kobayashi Rin?) Voiced by: Yumi Touma (Japanese), Christopher Turner (English)
- Reincarnation of: Shion
- Rin is nine years younger than Alice and lives next door to her. Rin torments Alice from the moment they meet. One time when she was babysitting him, he tormented her by dropping a plant from the balcony of his tenth-floor apartment. Since Alice could communicate with plants she felt its torment as it died. She slapped Rin in retaliation, but as he was on the railing of the apartment's balcony he lost his grip and fell. He survived the fall but lapsed into a coma. It is during this coma that Rin has an almost total recall of his memories from his previous life as Shion. Although there are still small pieces missing from his memories, he remembers far more about his previous life than any of the others.
- Rin begins a plan to communicate with the moonbase using Tokyo Tower. In 1991, Tokyo Tower was being renovated, and Rin used his psychic powers to threaten the contractors into using his blueprints for the renovations. The design would turn Tokyo Tower into a large radio transmitter, capable of broadcasting to the moon. In order to activate the systems in the moonbase he needs everyone's passwords. Through blackmail and deception, Rin slowly begins to collect these passwords.
- Rin falls in love with Alice once he regains his memories, and blackmails her into becoming engaged to him. Alice's awakening was caused by Rin shortly after he came out of the coma. He is positive that Alice is Mokuren, despite her vehement denial, and he desperately wants Alice to regain her memories so she can tell him her password (which, ironically, is Shion's own name). Alice's first "moon dream" was caused by a telepathic signal that Rin sent into her mind. The process that Rin used was called "Synergetic Cascade" on the moon scientists' homeworld. When he cast the signal, however, he only supplied visual information. He expected Alice to fill in the sounds (which she did) because Mokuren would remember the conversation that took place.
- Interestingly enough, Rin bears no physical resemblance to Shion. He actually looks like Shukaido, with whom he was obsessed with when he died. He uses this to his advantage by convincing by the others that he is Shukaido and not Shion. This lends a great deal of dramatic irony to the series.
- Jinpachi Ogura (小椋迅八 Ogura Jinpachi?) Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Tony Sampson (English)
- Reincarnation of: Gyokuran
- His character description in the English manga compares him to Clark Kent. It should be noted though that, like Gyokuran, he is emotionally immature. He rebuffs Issei's advances without a second thought. Jinpachi also unintentionally torments Issei by telling him how he has fallen deeply in love with Alice. Jinpachi and Issei are the first reincarnated moon characters that Alice and Rin encounter.
- Jinpachi is the only character who closely resembles his former incarnation. Aside from the way they part their hair, Gyokuran and Jinpachi are virtually identical. He also retains the power to use "ki" (energy) blasts, and this is first shown when he uses this ki to defeat a group of thugs.
- Issei Nishikiyori (錦織一成 Nishikiyori Issei?) Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese), Mark Hildreth (English)
- Reincarnation of: Enju
- He was reborn in a male body because he believed that he could be closer to Gyokuran's next incarnation if they were both males (without the drama of a heterosexual relationship). Issei retains Enju's powers of telepathy. This telepathy caused Jinpachi to start having the moon dreams as well--and it also means that Issei and Jinpachi have the same dreams every night. The close friendship between Enju and Shushuran lasts two lifetimes. When Sakura and Issei meet in the real world, they become best friends once again. Sakura is desperate for Issei to get over his unrequited love for Jinpachi and move on. At the end of the manga, the two of them become engaged.
- Naturally, Issei doesn't physically resemble his former incarnation.
- Sakura Kokushou (国生桜 Kokushō Sakura?) Voiced by: Naoko Matsui (Japanese), Myriam Sirois (English)
- Reincationation of: Shusuran
- Sakura started having moon dreams around the same time as the others. Sakura attends the same school as Daisuke. They discover each other during a near-fatal traffic accident while on a field trip. Sakura screamed for Sarjalim to save her as the bus was in an uncontrolled skid. Sarjalim was the goddess that the moon scientists worshipped. Daisuke heard this and realized that they had been having the same dreams.
- Sakura physically resembles Enju. Shusuran had short red hair, and Sakura confessed that she always wished that she had Enju's thick, lustrous hair.
- Haruhiko Kazama (笠間春彦 Kazama Haruhiko?) Voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Jason Gray-Stanford (English)
- Reincarnation of: Shukaido
- Unlike Sakura and Daisuke, Haruhiko does not see the advertisement in Boo! magazine. Rin runs into him in a uniform store and realizes who he is. Haruhiko is racked with guilt over the terrible thing he did to Shion in his previous life. As such he does everything that Rin tells him, including claiming that he is the reincarnation of Shion. This turns out to be an inspired move. The others grow to hate him as they recover more of their memories and due to Rin's machinations.
- Haruhiko has a very weak heart, due to his exessive use of his ESP when he was younger. Haruhiko resembles Shion physically, because Shukaido was obsessed with him when he died. At the end of the manga, he becomes a writer.
- Daisuke Dobashi (土橋大介 Dobashi Daisuke?) Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Ted Cole (English)
- Reincarnation of: Hiiragi
- Chronologically speaking, he started having the moon dreams first, as he started having them when he was seven (Rin recovered his memories at an even younger age, but at a later time, since Rin is much younger than Daisuke).
- Daisuke spends very little time on panel in the manga, so not much is known about him. However he does not trust Haruhiko, whom he believes to be Shion. He is also the only one who realizes the danger that collecting all of the passwords would pose, making it much more difficult for Rin to collect them all.
[edit] The seven past lives
The scientists are aliens sent to obverve the Earth from a station on the Moon, some time in the 1970s.
- Mokuren Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (Japanese), Ellen Kennedy (English)
- Reincarnated as: Alice
- Mokuren was the team's biologist. She was a gorgeous woman with long blonde hair. All of the male scientists had crushes on her at some point during their stay on the moon. She was obsessed with the Earth and longed to live among the humans she observed. Mokuren was a special breed of psychic known as a "Kiches-Sarjalian", who are especially gifted psychics blessed by Sarjalim, the moon scientists' goddess. The word "Kiches" is also used to refer to the mark on her forehead, which consists of four red dots. A Kiches has the powers which Alice and Mokuren were known to use: the ability to talk to plants, and the ability to make them grow. This is displayed when Shion makes Mokuren cry and the plants end up covering the base overnight, ironically destroying Shion's computers in the process.
- It is claimed that the "old homeworld" was completely restored from its nuclear holocaust by the relatively small numbers of Kiches concentrating their prayers on it.
- It was rumored that the Kiches lose the dots on their foreheads — and the powers that come with it — once they lose their virginity. Shion decided to test this theory by raping Mokuren. Gyokuran stumbled upon the two of them after the sin was committed and became enraged, positive that Shion took advantage of her. In an effort to pacify Gyokuran and make the situation more tolerable, Mokuren begged Shion to tell Gyokuran that the two of them were engaged. Mokuren wanted to remember the romance that later developed between the two of them instead of the sexual coercion, so she did everything she could to keep her reincarnate from completely recalling her past.
- She was the second-to-last of the moon team to die. This was in spite of the fact that she had supposedly been inoculated against the virus that killed the rest of the team — Shukaido had wanted Shion to suffer alone and had deceived Shion into believing that he had vaccinated Mokuren.
- Shion Voiced by: Sho Hayami (Japanese), Paul Dobson (English)
- Reincarnated as: Rin
- Shion was a war orphan from the conflict over control of the old homeworld. Shion possessed strong psychic powers and controlled them with ease. He also had a first-rate mind and became a renowned engineer.
- Shion had serious emotional problems. As an orphan, he did not have a family until he was taken in by a foster father around age six. He was slowly but surely starting to trust and love his foster father, when a terrible accident occurred and his foster father died. He never truly trusted any of his friends, not even his childhood friend Gyokuran, whom Shion ended up hating because of Gyokuran's moral upstandingness and that fact that he was everything that Shion could never be.
- Shion was the only male member of the team who did not fawn over Mokuren. In fact, he completely despised her. After a while, he decided to harm her in the worst way possible — by luring her with kindness before raping her, and robbing her of her Kiches powers, as it was thought that Kiches lost their powers when they lost their virginity. After Shion forced himself upon her, to his surprise and rage, Mokuren did not lose her dots. The two of them hastily decided to become engaged after Gyokuran began to suspect that Shion defiled Mokuren, and this rash decision eventually blossomed into a mutual romance.
- Shion was the last of the moon team to die. He had been inoculated against the virus that was killing them, so lived alone for nine years after Mokuren died. He was unable to commit suicide because Mokuren warned him that people who commit suicide will not be reincarnated.
- This is why Rin is nine years younger than everyone else. After Mokuren's death, Shion went insane. The cold, ruthless side that Rin sometimes displays is Shion's, and his plan is to make Shukaido suffer.
- Shukaido Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese), Jason Gray-Stanford (English)
- Shukaido was the team's physician. Shukaido tended to stay in the background for the most part. He was in love with Mokuren, as all the male team members were at some point.
- Shukaido managed to synthesize a vaccine for the virus that was killing the moon team, however, by that time he had already acquired the virus and only he, Mokuren, and Shion were left. Shukaido was only able to synthesize a single dose, and injected it into Shion. He injected Mokuren with a placebo and claimed that it inoculated her. Shukaido did this to punish Shion because he knew that Shion had raped her.
- Gyokuran Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Gyokuran was the team's archaeologist. Gyokuran was Shion's childhood friend; the two also went to school together with Shukaido. Gyokuran possessed psychic powers, but had difficulty controlling them and as a result had to wear special earrings to harness his power.
- Gyokuran later became a great enemy of Shion, opposing Shion when he suggested evacuating to Earth and calling for the strictest possible punishment when Shion raped Mokuren.
- Jinpachi says that Gyokuran always admired Shion. Rin found this shocking, and refused to believe it. Gyokuran died first.
- Enju Voiced by: Yoshino Takamori (Japanese), Sherry Thoreson (English)
- Enju was an anthropologist with telepathic powers. She pined for Gyokuran, but he never returned any of her affection. Later on, the two paired up after Shion and Mokuren got engaged. However it is suggested that their relationship lacked any true feeling. Enju was the fourth to die.
- Shusuran Voiced by: Naoko Matsui (Japanese), Myriam Sirois (English)
- Shusuran was a physicist. She was Enju's best friend and the two spent many hours gossiping about the goings-on of the moonbase. Shusuran admired not only Enju's looks, but also her ability to fall completely in love. Shusuran admits that she never felt love for anyone (although it is suggested that she did in fact love Enju), and apparently never paired up with anybody on the moonbase. She was the second to die.
- Hiiragi Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Ted Cole (English)
- Hiiragi was the team leader. Hiiragi was not shown to do much, and most day-to-day administration of the base seem to have been made by consensus or by Gyokuran.
- Despite being the base leader he shows up rarely in flashback scenes, even in the long stretch between issues 9 and 11 which tell Shion's background and shows almost their entire stay on the base.
- Hiiragi's most important function in the plot was his executive decision to forbid the scientists from evacuating to Earth after their homeworld was destroyed. Hiiragi was the third scientist to die.
[edit] Others
- Hajime Sakaguchi Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki
- Kazuto Tamura Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi
Servant/bodyguard for the wealthy Matsudaira family and friend/father figure to Haruhiko. Years ago, Matsudaira Raozou adopted Tamura and his brother, who were orphans. Tamura was given the job of caring for Matsudaira's son Takeshi, and he dedicated his life to it. Tamura's younger brother became lonely as a result and eventually killed himself. Tamura was overcome by remorse, blaming himself for not having noticed any problems and went to Matsudaira to resign. Matsudaira struck him in response and told him to make up for his mistake instead of running away- to learn what it really meant to protect someone.
Because of this, he is completely devoted to Takeshi and becomes troubled when he learns that Takeshi is being blackmailed into taking Razou's blueprints of the Tokyo Tower. He decides to meet the mysterious 'S' in his place, and after the fateful meeting his ribs are broken by Rin's newly found ESP. After receiving a premonition of this, Haruhiko teleports to Tamura shortly before his hospitalization.
When Tamura is released, he notices that Tamura's mother is distraught, and she reveals that Haruhiko has locked himself in his room. After entering his home and coaxing himself into the room, he sees what appears to be deep space and a man he never saw before (Shukaido). Tamura begs Haruhiko to tell him what's wrong, but is refused and he disappears in Tamura's arms.
- Mikuro Yakushimaru Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki
A human with ESP. Tamura contacted his comrade, Mikuro's brother, for advice about dealing with Rin. During their meeting, Mikuro learns of Haruhiko disappearing in Tamura's arms and infers that Haruhiko isn't human, or else Tamura would have been teleported with him. Mikuro later meets with Haruhiko at an aquarium, telling him in a note to be careful about teleporting too often, as it was making his heart even weaker. After Rin learns that Haruhiko has been involved with Tamura and Mikuro, he decides to eliminate them (save Haruhiko, as Rin needed him to suffer more).
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Reception
Starting in volume 8 of the manga, a disclaimer appeared at the bottom of the first page of every compilation volume stating that the story was entirely fictional. This was due to letters to Hiwatari that she found disturbing, from people who were convinced that they had been part of the moon scientist's society (or even one of the moon scientists themselves) and had been reborn on Earth.[1] These disclaimers have since appeared in her others works, most notably on the first pages of each volume of Global Garden.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Media
[edit] Manga
The series was first published by Hakusensha in Hana to Yume from 1987 to 1997. It was collected in 21 tankōbon volumes and later reissued in 12 bunkoban volumes in 1998. It is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media, with all volumes translated.
[edit] Anime
The series was adapted by Production I.G as a six-episode OVA anime series directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, covering roughly the first half of the story. Due to trying to encompass the manga's long and complex plot in so short a space, the anime series has been criticized as being disjointed, confusing, and leaving too much out.[5]
The OVA is licensed in English by Viz Media. As of September 2007, it is out of print.[6]
- Episode titles
- "Awakening"
- "The Meeting"
- "Memories of the Moon"
- "Thoughts"
- "ESP"
- "Reincarnation, and then..."
Two additional animations were produced, which have not been released in English:
- Please Save My Earth Music Image Video: The Passing of the Golden Age, which contains six music videos with footage not seen in the OVA and scenes taken from the manga.
- A two-hour "movie" edit of the OVA series, called the Please Save My Earth Movie: From Alice to Rin-kun, which is narrated by Alice and adds a couple of new scenes but removes an hour of footage from the original.
[edit] See also
- The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter - Japanese folktale with elements similar to Please Save My Earth
[edit] References
- ^ "1/4 Column Nonsense" (author notes) in Hiwatari, Saki (2004). Please Save My Earth, Volume 8 (in English). Viz. ISBN 1591162718.
- ^ Please Save My Earth. Anime-Online. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
- ^ Please Save My Earth. Anime-Online. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
- ^ Please Save My Earth. Viz Media. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
- ^ See, for example, reviews at Anime News Network, Animefu, and EX. Accessed on 2007-08-26.
- ^ Please Save My Earth Video (Out of Print Sept 2007). Viz Media. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
[edit] External links
- Please Save My Earth - Official English language site
- Please Save My Earth (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Please Save My Earth at Anime-Online
- Please Save My Earth - plot summaries of OVA episodes
