Ceres, Celestial Legend
Encyclopedia
is a fantasy
shōjo
manga
series written by Yuu Watase
. It was originally serialized in Shōjo Comic
from May 1996 through March 2000. The chapters were also published by Shogakukan
in fourteen collected volumes
. The series focuses on Aya Mikage, who learns on her sixteenth birthday that she is the reincarnation of a named Ceres, and her twin brother Aki the reincarnation of Ceres' former husband, Mikage. Ceres begins manifesting in Aya. To try to save her brother, Aya must find Ceres' lost , while trying to avoid being killed or captured by her own family, who wants to use Ceres's incredible powers and abilities for their own gain.
The manga series is licensed for English language
release in North America by Viz Media
. In 1998, it won the Shogakukan Manga Award
for shōjo. Studio Pierrot
adapted the series into a twenty-four episode anime
series that premiered in Japan on WOWOW
on April 20, 2000 and ran until September 28, 2000. The anime series is also licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media.
of a powerful celestial maiden called Ceres. When she transforms into Ceres, Aya obtains supernatural powers and abilities such as flight, teleportation, telepathy, incredibly strong and powerful telekinesis, premonition, projecting powerful and destructive deep pink glowing energy blasts from her hands, creating incredibly strong and powerful impenetrable shields and barriers of pure deep pink glowing energy, and superhuman speed. According to the legend, Ceres will kill the Mikage family for revenge upon stealing her celestial robe, thus preventing her returning home to Heaven, so Aya's family attempts to kill her. However, she is saved by Suzumi Aogiri, another angel descendant with supernatural powers, (since not all Mikages have angel blood) and Suzumi's brother-in-law, Yūhi. Aya tries to control Ceres's power over her and Aki is taken over by the vengeful hateful spirit and soul of "Mikagi", the ancestor
of the Mikage family who first stole Ceres' celestial robe, forcing her to stay on Earth. Aya also wrestles with her growing love for Toya, a servant of the Mikage who is trying to kill her, but lost his memory of his past. He also starts to love Aya in return. Aya promises Ceres to help her find her celestial robe in exchange for not killing her family (especially Aki) who hunts her down, since Aya still loves them. Toya tries to regain his memory. He learns that he was the organism
that Ceres's celestial robe (otherwise known as "the mana") created to help it reunite with Ceres.
Assam
. She based it on the legend of the tennyo and her stolen hagoromo. This legend is the basis for one of the most performed Japanase Noh
plays, Hagoromo
. It is the Japanese version swan maiden, with versions from other cultures also being mentioned as the series progresses.
As with most of her serials, Watase planned the basic story line of Ceres through to the end before beginning work. She notes that it is easier to work this way, but that even with planning sometimes the characters will "move on their own" and refuse to follow her original plans. When she reaches the end of the work, though, she found she could understand why they did so. Watase noted that one of the hardest parts of writing a serial manga was having to plan for the cliffhanger
at the end of each chapter. She wanted each to be something that made the reader want to know what happened next, so they would want to keep reading.
To enable her to accurately depict the many locations used within the series, Watase traveled to Miyagi
, Okinawa, and Tochigi
to visit the locations where legends say tennyo landed. She was able to negotiate entry into some normally closed to the public. The characters in Ceres are not based on real people, however Watase notes that each one reflects some part of herself, as does the story as a whole. For example, Watase incorporated her thoughts on genetic engineering
and other new technologies through the character of Kagami. While she feels such technologies can be useful to society, she feels that they should not be abused. Kagami is Watase's reflection of her view of how people should not be, in his cruel disregard for the lives of the celestial beings he creates. Watase purposefully left Ceres' true nature ambiguous in the manga ending, never clearly stating if Ceres is an alien or truly a being descended from heaven. She notes, however, that part of the reason for this was that it wasn't something she'd thought about. In reflection, she felt Ceres was a symbol. In Japan, men are considered the dominant sex, and Watase notes that as a woman there are things about the system that anger her, such as men saying she is "just a woman." Ceres became a story about the relationship between men and women. She also wanted to show that while the tennyo and the humans in the story may have come from different origins, and evolved differently, they also were still the same living creature in the end, with similar feelings and thoughts.
, Ceres, The Celestial Legend premiered in Shogakukan
's Shōjo Comic May 1996 issue and ran through the March 2000 issue. The chapters were collected and published in fourteen collected volumes
, with the first volume released on December 11, 1996. Starting October 15, 2005, Shogakukan began re-releasing the series in six special edition volumes, with the final one released December 15, 2005.
In 2001, Viz Media
licensed the manga for an English language
release in North America. The series was originally released in a flipped trade paperback format, however Viz stopped publication after four volumes. In 2003, Viz re-released the first four volumes in unflipped standard manga size volumes, along with the remaining ten volumes. In the table below, the dates and ISBN numbers given for the first four volumes are for their second edition re-releases.
, the Ceres, Celestial Legend anime adaptation premiered in Japan on WOWOW
on April 20, 2000. It ran for twenty-four episodes until its conclusion on September 28, 2000. It was released to VHS
videotape
and DVD
by Bandai Visual
in twelve volumes, with each volume containing two episodes.
Ceres, Celestial Legend is licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media
, which also owns the North American license for the source manga. Viz released the series to VHS
and DVD
in eight three-episode volumes, with the first volume released on July 24, 2001. The VHS editions were dubbed
in English, while the DVD volumes offered a choice between the dubbed English audio track and the original Japanese audio, with optional English subtitles. The DVD versions also offers extra features, including art galleries, character profiles, and interviews with Yu Watase. In 2003, Viz re-released the series in two volume collector's edition sets that contained twelve episodes on two disc, and all of the on-disc extras from the earlier releases. The English dubbed version of the series were broadcast in Southeast Asia
by AXN-Asia.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
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...
series written by Yuu Watase
Yuu Watase
is a female Japanese shōjo manga artist. She received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Ceres, Celestial Legend in 1997. Since writing her debut short story "Pajama de Ojama" , Watase has created more than 80 compiled volumes of short stories and continuing series...
. It was originally serialized in Shōjo Comic
Shojo Comic
is a shōjo manga magazine published twice monthly in Japan by Shogakukan since 1968. It was originally published weekly and it continued to be published weekly until the 1980s. Many influential shōjo manga ran in Shōjo Comic during the 70s. Moto Hagio's works and Keiko Takemiya's works in...
from May 1996 through March 2000. The chapters were also published by Shogakukan
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
in fourteen collected volumes
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
. The series focuses on Aya Mikage, who learns on her sixteenth birthday that she is the reincarnation of a named Ceres, and her twin brother Aki the reincarnation of Ceres' former husband, Mikage. Ceres begins manifesting in Aya. To try to save her brother, Aya must find Ceres' lost , while trying to avoid being killed or captured by her own family, who wants to use Ceres's incredible powers and abilities for their own gain.
The manga series is licensed for English language
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...
release in North America by Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
. In 1998, it won the Shogakukan Manga Award
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...
for shōjo. Studio Pierrot
Studio Pierrot
is a Japanese animation/animation studio, founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters is located in Mitaka, Tokyo.The company has a simple logo of the face of a clown...
adapted the series into a twenty-four episode anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series that premiered in Japan on WOWOW
WOWOW
WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...
on April 20, 2000 and ran until September 28, 2000. The anime series is also licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media.
Plot
Aya Mikage and her twin brother Aki go to their grandfather's home for their sixteenth birthday unaware that it's actually a test to see if they have enough angel or celestial maiden blood in them. Aya is the reincarnationReincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of a powerful celestial maiden called Ceres. When she transforms into Ceres, Aya obtains supernatural powers and abilities such as flight, teleportation, telepathy, incredibly strong and powerful telekinesis, premonition, projecting powerful and destructive deep pink glowing energy blasts from her hands, creating incredibly strong and powerful impenetrable shields and barriers of pure deep pink glowing energy, and superhuman speed. According to the legend, Ceres will kill the Mikage family for revenge upon stealing her celestial robe, thus preventing her returning home to Heaven, so Aya's family attempts to kill her. However, she is saved by Suzumi Aogiri, another angel descendant with supernatural powers, (since not all Mikages have angel blood) and Suzumi's brother-in-law, Yūhi. Aya tries to control Ceres's power over her and Aki is taken over by the vengeful hateful spirit and soul of "Mikagi", the ancestor
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
of the Mikage family who first stole Ceres' celestial robe, forcing her to stay on Earth. Aya also wrestles with her growing love for Toya, a servant of the Mikage who is trying to kill her, but lost his memory of his past. He also starts to love Aya in return. Aya promises Ceres to help her find her celestial robe in exchange for not killing her family (especially Aki) who hunts her down, since Aya still loves them. Toya tries to regain his memory. He learns that he was the organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
that Ceres's celestial robe (otherwise known as "the mana") created to help it reunite with Ceres.
Characters
- A cute high-school girl and the protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
at the beginning of the story who discovers she is a descendant of a tennyo named "Ceres" and is Ceres' latest mediumMediumshipMediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
for existence. The Mikage family takes this as a threat and continuously tries to take Aya's life. Her father is killed attempting to protect her. Her mother is forced into a comaComaIn medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
for the majority of the series. While Aya is initially horrified that her life has been turned upside down, she is determined to right the past doings of her family and recover Ceres' hagoromo so that her family will no longer suffer in fear of her. As the series progresses, she falls in love with Toya and they conceive an unnamed child together. In the following sequel Episode of Miku, it is revealed that their child is a girl named Miku. Three years later, they have a son named Aki, who is the reincarnation of her late brother.
- A celestial maiden or tennyo from the legend, who married the founder of the Mikage family, Mikagi Mikage. While she is immensely strong and powerful, and volatile, she seeks to recover her hagoromo, or celestial robe, to regain her true form, and full powers and abilities. She has repeatedly attempted to manifest herself through certain female descendants of her bloodline when they reach the age of sixteen, only to be thwarted each time as they are relentlessly killed by the Mikage family. Ceres hides a tragic past misinterpreted by descendants who seek to kill Aya to prevent Ceres from manifesting through another generation.
- A mysterious young man who has absolutely no memory of his past or the nature of his being; his only clues are two names: "Toya" ("ten nights", his name), and "Mikage". He was found and hired by Kagami and works for Mikage International, and later rebels against them. He and Aya are drawn to one another, not only in love. Toya is the embodiment/offspring of the hagoromo which Ceres is searching for. As he regains his lost memories, he sacrifices the immortality bestowed upon him by the celestial robe to save Aya. He is determined to protect Aya and his children (Miku and Aki). At the end of the series, he tells Yūhi that he may not live for long and that Yūhi should take care of Aya in his place once he dies.
- Aya's twin brother, a gentle and caring person who is subject to becoming a medium for the spirit of Mikagi, the founder of the Mikage family who aggressively pursues Aya and Ceres and almost raped Aya. In the end he sacrifices his life to destroy the violent and hateful soul and spirit Mikage. In the sequel Episode of Miku, he is reincarnated as Aya and Touya's second child who, too, is named Aki.
- A widow and a C-Genomer (tennyo descendant) from the Kansai region, Suzumi is a head of a branch of one of the Aogiri family's schools of Japanese dance. She welcomes Aya into her household when she discovers Aya has become Ceres' latest medium. Suzumi cannot become a tennyo like Aya, though she does possess slight psychic powers and abilities like clairvoyanceClairvoyanceThe term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
and telekinesis. She is capable of making protective charmsAmuletAn amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
for Yūhi as he strives to aid Aya.
- Suzumi's brother-in-law, the adopted younger brother of Suzumi's deceased husband. Early within the series, he wears a headband highly strengthened and enhanced with tennyo magic made by Suzumi which helps to designate him as Aya's bodyguard. Yūhi has unrequited feelingsUnrequited loveUnrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...
for Aya. Though attracted to Yūhi, Aya ultimately comes to see him as a close friend, and Yūhi is able to accept the fact that Aya only has eyes for Toya. Later, he begins to care deeply for Chidori Kurama. A notable martial artsMartial artsMartial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
expert, he is also an extraordinary cook.
- The Aogiri's household help, a gnomeGnomeA gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
-like woman known for her reckless driving and ridiculously ugly appearance, despite her consistent claims that she is a beautiful woman. She's convinced that she and Toya are made for each other.
- Another C-Genomer from Tochigi PrefectureTochigi Prefectureis a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya.Nikkō, whose ancient Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples UNESCO has recognized by naming them a World Heritage Site, is in this prefecture...
; a cheerful, high-school girl who looks and acts child-like until she transforms into a tennyo. Chidori cares deeply for her younger brother, Shouta, who was hospitalized upon her introduction into the story. She can transform into a tennyo at will. She develops deepening feelings for her crush Yūhi, and later dies for his sake. The Mikage scientists identify Chidori's tennyo type as PallasPALLASThis article is about the research group. See Pallas for other uses of this word.PALLAS stands for Parallel Applications, Libraries, Languages, Algorithms, and Systems. It is a research group in of the at , led by...
.
- A high-school girl and a C-Genomer who goes the same school as Yūhi and Aya. Yuki is quiet and has a weak constitution. She can't transform into a tennyo, but she can manifest the amazingly strong and powerful power and ability of pyrokinesisPyrokinesisPyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words and , was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter...
, the power and ability to create, control, and manipulate fire, flame and heat at will. She has a relationship with her teacher, who is actually an agent sent by the Mikage International to capture and eliminate Aya (Ceres). In the end, Urakawa burned the agent and hugged him, which causes her to get severely burned and die.
- Aya's distant cousin and a C-Genome (celestial descendant) from Shizuoka PrefectureShizuoka Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
. She was Tooya's lover in the past. She is an ordinary, high-school girl living a normal, happy life with her mother. Her mother was summoned by the Mikages and was killed at the main house when Aya first transformed into Ceres. When Aya comes to a new school, the two meet and become friends. Although Aya doesn't know about her personally, Miori is only pretending and has an agenda of her own. She transformed into a tennyo to take on Aya (as Ceres) to avenge her mother's death. She later committed suicide as her final act of "revenge" against Aya. Miori is identified by the Mikage scientists as possessing the same tennyo type as Aya.
- An OkinawanRyukyuansThe are the indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu Islands between the islands of Kyūshū and Taiwan. The generally recognized subgroups of Ryukyuans are Amamians, Okinawans, Miyakoans, Yaeyamans, and Yonagunians. Geographically, they live in either Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture...
C-Genomer raised as a man by her family in fear that Shuro would one day take away the family's heirloomHeirloomIn popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....
hagoromo and ascend to heaven. She is GeSANG's famous pop star alongside her cousin Kei Tsukasa, of whom she shares more than cousin feelings for. She dies near the end of the series attempting to free the C-Genomes. Shuro has the ability to magnify her voice to epic amplitudes when she transforms into a tennyo, to a degree that people near her had their hearts rupture. Mikage scientists identify Shuro as tennyo type JunoJuno (mythology)Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...
.
- Aya's distant cousin and director of C-Project (Celestial Project) conducted by Mikage International. He is one of the few members of the family who actually wants to meet Ceres and does not fear her. In fact, he almost seems in love with her. Kagami wants her captured for study, so that he can harness the exceedingly strong and powerful power and ability of the tennyo and wishes to learn their true nature in hopes of bettering humanity, though his methods are less than moral. When Kagami was young he suffered a tragic childhood and was beaten by his mother for not being the best at things. Because of this it has an effect on his personality. His objective on C-Project is to create the "perfect" human race.
- Studied in the USA, Alec is a Scottish scientist hired by Kagami for the research of tennyo legends. He speaks Japanese with a thick accent, a certified genius with a very high IQ and is a complete otakuOtakuis a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
. He works for Mikage International and provided advanced technology for the development of C-Project. As the project progresses, Alec soon finds out that things are not really going to what he expected and tries to back out from it. The only thing keeping him from doing his job ends up being his own moral convictions.
- An American colleague of Alec who works for the C-Project at Mikage International. She's responsible for the C-Genomer's power growth and development. She dies when she puts herself between Mikagi and a pregnant Ceres.
- A young, skilled martial artist from China hired by Mikage International. Wielding a vicious chain whip and various tiny throwing blades, he is often sent out to bring in captured C-Genomers or other covert tasks. When Toya tried to leave the headquarters together with Aki, Wei was sent stop them. His left eye was taken by Toya during their fight. He is Aki's (and Shiso's) caretaker and bodyguard, and as Toya's replacement. He seems to be calm most of the time and does not complain, but harbors a grudge against Toya for the injury he caused.
- A man from the Jōmon period of Japan and the founder of the Mikage family. In the legend, he hid her hagoromo in the ocean forcing her to become mortal. Toward the end, it is revealed that he had begun as a gentle, kind young man. Ceres falls in love with him, to the point of granting him power after their family is attacked and he is ashamed at his own inability to protect them. As Shiso grows strong, he went mad and his love becoming an obsession that drives him to hide the hagoromo, and Ceres comes to fear for her children's safety. When she leaves, he chases her and is killed by Ceres (after he kills their first child), who covers him with lacerations identical to the ones that appear on Aki Mikage when Mikagi manifests himself in his descendant. He will stop at nothing to ensure Ceres is his again.
Assam
- An young assassin from IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
hired by Kagami Mikage to kill Toya after Toya cut his ties with Kagami to join Aya. He is also a replacement for Toya. His goal for the C-Project is to stop using children as objects of war.
Production
Ceres, Celestial Legend is the third manga series written by Yuu WataseYuu Watase
is a female Japanese shōjo manga artist. She received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Ceres, Celestial Legend in 1997. Since writing her debut short story "Pajama de Ojama" , Watase has created more than 80 compiled volumes of short stories and continuing series...
. She based it on the legend of the tennyo and her stolen hagoromo. This legend is the basis for one of the most performed Japanase Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
plays, Hagoromo
Hagoromo (play)
is among the most-performed Japanese Noh plays. It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif.-Sources and history:The earliest recorded version of the legend dates to the eighth century. The play however apparently combines two legends, one concerning the origins of the Suruga Dance and...
. It is the Japanese version swan maiden, with versions from other cultures also being mentioned as the series progresses.
As with most of her serials, Watase planned the basic story line of Ceres through to the end before beginning work. She notes that it is easier to work this way, but that even with planning sometimes the characters will "move on their own" and refuse to follow her original plans. When she reaches the end of the work, though, she found she could understand why they did so. Watase noted that one of the hardest parts of writing a serial manga was having to plan for the cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
at the end of each chapter. She wanted each to be something that made the reader want to know what happened next, so they would want to keep reading.
To enable her to accurately depict the many locations used within the series, Watase traveled to Miyagi
Miyagi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...
, Okinawa, and Tochigi
Tochigi Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya.Nikkō, whose ancient Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples UNESCO has recognized by naming them a World Heritage Site, is in this prefecture...
to visit the locations where legends say tennyo landed. She was able to negotiate entry into some normally closed to the public. The characters in Ceres are not based on real people, however Watase notes that each one reflects some part of herself, as does the story as a whole. For example, Watase incorporated her thoughts on genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
and other new technologies through the character of Kagami. While she feels such technologies can be useful to society, she feels that they should not be abused. Kagami is Watase's reflection of her view of how people should not be, in his cruel disregard for the lives of the celestial beings he creates. Watase purposefully left Ceres' true nature ambiguous in the manga ending, never clearly stating if Ceres is an alien or truly a being descended from heaven. She notes, however, that part of the reason for this was that it wasn't something she'd thought about. In reflection, she felt Ceres was a symbol. In Japan, men are considered the dominant sex, and Watase notes that as a woman there are things about the system that anger her, such as men saying she is "just a woman." Ceres became a story about the relationship between men and women. She also wanted to show that while the tennyo and the humans in the story may have come from different origins, and evolved differently, they also were still the same living creature in the end, with similar feelings and thoughts.
Manga
Written by Yuu WataseYuu Watase
is a female Japanese shōjo manga artist. She received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Ceres, Celestial Legend in 1997. Since writing her debut short story "Pajama de Ojama" , Watase has created more than 80 compiled volumes of short stories and continuing series...
, Ceres, The Celestial Legend premiered in Shogakukan
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
's Shōjo Comic May 1996 issue and ran through the March 2000 issue. The chapters were collected and published in fourteen collected volumes
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
, with the first volume released on December 11, 1996. Starting October 15, 2005, Shogakukan began re-releasing the series in six special edition volumes, with the final one released December 15, 2005.
In 2001, Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
licensed the manga for an English language
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...
release in North America. The series was originally released in a flipped trade paperback format, however Viz stopped publication after four volumes. In 2003, Viz re-released the first four volumes in unflipped standard manga size volumes, along with the remaining ten volumes. In the table below, the dates and ISBN numbers given for the first four volumes are for their second edition re-releases.
Volume list
Anime
Directed by Hajime Kamegaki and produced by Studio PierrotStudio Pierrot
is a Japanese animation/animation studio, founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters is located in Mitaka, Tokyo.The company has a simple logo of the face of a clown...
, the Ceres, Celestial Legend anime adaptation premiered in Japan on WOWOW
WOWOW
WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...
on April 20, 2000. It ran for twenty-four episodes until its conclusion on September 28, 2000. It was released to VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by Bandai Visual
Bandai Visual
, is a Japanese anime, film production and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai Co., Ltd. and a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc., which is based in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Since the reorganisation of Namco Bandai Holdings in 2006, Bandai Visual now heads the group's Visual and...
in twelve volumes, with each volume containing two episodes.
Ceres, Celestial Legend is licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, which also owns the North American license for the source manga. Viz released the series to VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in eight three-episode volumes, with the first volume released on July 24, 2001. The VHS editions were dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
in English, while the DVD volumes offered a choice between the dubbed English audio track and the original Japanese audio, with optional English subtitles. The DVD versions also offers extra features, including art galleries, character profiles, and interviews with Yu Watase. In 2003, Viz re-released the series in two volume collector's edition sets that contained twelve episodes on two disc, and all of the on-disc extras from the earlier releases. The English dubbed version of the series were broadcast in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
by AXN-Asia.