To-Y Manga

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The To-Y anime was based on the original manga by Atsushi Kamijo. To-Y was serialized in Shonen Sunday Comics (Shogakukan Inc.). The tankouban consists of ten volumes and was published in the late 80's (and is now out-of-print). A 5-volume collected wideban edition was published by Shonen Sunday Comics Wide in 1991 and has since been reprinted. There is also a 6-volume edition published by Shogakukan Bunko (pictured right).

The anime does not cover any specific part of the manga storyline, but should instead be considered a summarized, or "snapshot," form of the story. Strictly speaking, the final concert in the anime took place in the second volume of the manga. The anime did not attempt to condense 10 volumes of plot into an hour; rather, it focused on capturing the essence of the manga, especially in terms of atmosphere and perspective (via cinematography). There are, of course, many events in the manga not shown in the anime, and more time is given to characterization in the manga. Despite the minor changes, the translation from manga to anime was smooth--fans of the manga are likely to enjoy the anime, and fans of the anime are likely to enjoy the manga.

About the author: Atsushi Kamijo

Born: 1963 - Tokyo, Japan
Debut: Mob Hunter (published in a special issue of Shonen Sunday magazine in 1983)
Best known works: Zingy, To-Y, Sex
Anime adaptation: To-Y

"During the mid-1980s, Kamijo became an overnight sensation with his fresh and stylish drawings. His innovative style was both hip and cool, and many new artists were later influenced by his fascinating and stimulating drawing style. His most famous work is "To-Y", a rock & roll story featuring the mid-80s Japanese music scene as its backdrop. The hero of the story, To-Y Fujii, is a vocalist for an independent punk band. During the course of the story he gets a chance to debut as a solo singer, and he proceeds to wreak havoc on the traditional music world with his punk attitude. As the story progresses, we feel a certain satisfaction as he smoothly works his way through the Japanese music industry. The material may seem a bit unorthodox for a series published in a shounen manga magazine, but Kamijo surpassed the intended reading audience and went on to widely impact the subcultural scene of the late 1980's. After the completion of this series, he shifted his activities to seinen manga, as he further expanded his expressive style. Besides creating manga, he has also been quite active in illustration work for advertisements and music CD covers."

(from Manga Design. Julius Wiedemann (ED) and Masanao Amano. Taschen: 2004)