is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese 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 Minari Endoh. There have been eleven 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...

 published in Japan as of December 25, 2007. The series was 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...

 in North America 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...

, however, when Tokyopop closed, 10 out of the current 12 volumes were published in English. The license has not been picked up by any other company. An 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....

 adaptation under the original title Hatenkō Yūgi aired in Japan between January 5 and March 7, 2008 on the Kyoto Broadcasting System

Kyoto Broadcasting System

is a commercial broadcasting station headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It is doing business in Kyoto Prefecture as and in Shiga Prefecture as Its radio station serves Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures and is a member of National Radio Network . Its television station serves Kyoto Prefecture and is a...

 and contains ten episodes.

Plot

A young girl named Rahzel is abruptly sent off to see the world by her eccentric, doting father. She is alone on her travels until she meets Alzeid, an attractive, mysterious loner on a mission to avenge his father's murder. After aiding Alzeid in retrieving his stolen gun from a thief, Rahzel decides to follow Alzeid promising that she would make his "lousy and boring" life "more interesting and fun!" Alzeid grudgingly acknowledges that Rahzel will be traveling with him from now on. Soon after, a womanizing acquaintance of Alzeid's named Baroqueheat joins in their adventure.

Characters

Rahzel, born as , is a fourteen-year-old girl who was ejected from her house by her foster father to go out and see the world where she meets Alzeid, who is one of the three or four people she has ever known who can use magic other than herself. Rahzel cares a lot about fashion whereas Alzeid does not care at all. She is loud, outgoing, and very straightforward with a horrible sense of direction, but she is clever, sensible, and wise. She likes her father, tea, sweets, and chiffon, among other things; she dislikes boring things and smokers.

It is later revealed that Rahzel's mother had the ability to see the future but, mad with her powers, tried to kill her nine year old daughter during her birthday. In the process, Rahzel murdered her own mother and was abandoned by her real father. He drew a circle around her and left her in the middle of the woods, telling her to wait until he returned (he eventually does, but Rahzel is already gone). Rahzel had always believed that her foster father had found her in the forest at that time, but a flashback reveals that it was actually Kiara. While talking with Rahzel, Kiara established that she would belong to him (when Kiara rescued a drugged Rahzel from a burning house, he handed her to Alzeid and told him that he was only 'borrowing' Rahzel). Presumably, during this time, Rahzel met Alzeid's older brother and promised to name him. Afterwards, Kiara delivers Rahzel to her foster father and tells him to watch over her until his return.

Apparently, Rahzel's magical abilities are very high because she can incant one spell but summon an entirely different spell at the same time, as she did while fighting in Acanea. Rahzel bears a startling resemblance to the woman who had killed Alzeid's father, having black hair and blue eyes. Rahzel holds a philosophy that by naming herself, she belongs to herself; in her memories, her foster father had suggested the philosophy and Rahzel had subsequently named herself. In reality, Kiara had been the one to both suggest the idea and name her, establishing her as his property.

Rahzel and Kiara only occasionally meet each other whenever Rahzel is separated from Baroqueheat and Alzeid. She always identifies him as an enemy, and he always confirms this, but Rahzel presents a strong reluctance to fight him.

After receiving wounds from Kiara that would have killed a normal human, her wounds close up at an insanely fast rate. This is when she and the ones around her realize that Rahzel is not a normal human. Rahzel then tests this theory by asking Baroqueheat and her father to see how far they could brutally hurt her until she nearly reached death. Even after getting beaten with so much force that she could have died many times over, she barely survived, and then her wounds healed, once again, at the same quick speed.

In the present story, Rahzel has been sent back to the past by the elder (but smaller) Alzeid, to where both Alzeids were still just children, and Second was still alive (and in the lab). However, Rahzel only suspects that she was sent to the past for a moment, and then brushes it off.

Alzeid is a twenty-four-year-old (but the author, Minari Endoh, says he is nineteen in the chapter summaries because of him being with such a young girl) albino who joins Rahzel while on his journey to get revenge on his father's enemy, a woman who has black hair and blue eyes. He is cold and quiet but he has the greatest influence on Rahzel's actions. In his youth, his army friends used to cheat him at poker which ended up with him dressed as a girl and waiting tables. When escaping from Acanea, he was forced to dye his hair black and wear glasses as a disguise. He likes cocoa, peaches, sweets (he usually puts five teaspoons of sugar in cocoa and tea), and sleep; he dislikes mornings, baths, alarms, carrots, and green peppers. He also pouts when people are ignoring him. At the beginning of their journey together he treats Rahzel coldly as nuisance but gradually gets used to her. When Serateed decides to take Rahzel home Baroqueheat understands and agrees but Alzeid seeing that Rahzel is not opposing her father, angrily decides to go with her.

On their way to Acanea, Rahzel meets a young boy who resembles Alzeid. When she later asks him if he has a younger brother, Alzeid remarks that he has an older brother. His older brother also bears the name Alzeid (under Kiara's insistence) and is known in Acanea as the 'white-haired and red-eyed devil,' who had been committing mass murders alongside Kiara. Bounty hunters hired to eliminate him instead find Alzeid and immediately attack and poison him. When Rahzel encounter Kiara on a train, Alzeid is pitted against his brother, who hasn't aged since their childhood. Apparently, both boys were clones of Mr. Second - Alzeid was the second clone when his brother was proved to be a failure. Kiara reveals that Alzeid's brother had never been a failure and had in fact been hiding his magical ability, which was far greater than Alzeid's. The battle ends in Alzeid's defeat and his being thrown off a bridge, much to Rahzel's despair (and her foster father's delight). He does live, however, and is reunited with Heat and Rahzel.

In the present story, he has gone to Prometheus to learn more about what he is, and what the truth really is. He leaves Rahzel behind, afraid he cannot protect her again from Kiara's brutal schemes.

When Alzeid meets Rahzel when he is just a child (due to time travel on Rahzel's part), he has no idea what a woman is besides the text descriptions from his books. When she is knocked out cold, he tries to drag her by her hair to bring her to his room. Because he has never learned about kindness towards women and how to treat them, he is baffled about how he should react to her.

Baroqueheat (twenty-eight-years-old) is an army friend of Alzeid and Soresta. He has a butterfly tattoo, made by his deceased lover, on his right hand that turns into a sword when he needs to fight. To stir up Alzeid, he kisses Rahzel, and constantly harasses her. It seems that these actions are only to irritate Alzeid, but as the manga progresses, his feelings seem to be more like deep love, than anything else. Later he joins the two in their travels. It is revealed later in the manga series that he is not human. He is much older than he looks. He is the youngest of four children (three boys, one girl). He likes women, cigarettes, alcohol, sea food, and showers, and dislikes men. Previously he loved Natsume, and believes that Second killed her and that's why he cannot reconcile his liking to Alzeid and hate to his creator - Mr.Second so he keeps calling Alzeid "Al-kiddo" or "Al-boy" but never "Alzeid". Often gives Alzeid soft scolding for harshly treating Rahzel. He tries to corner Alzeid and make him admit that he holds deep feelings for Rahzel. He was asked by Natsume in the past that after her death he'd kept taking care of Alzeid - but it is not said WHICH Alzeid she meant ( she called Second with the nickname"Alzeid").

Kiara is an unknown character who keeps appearing in the manga. It is unknown if he is an ally or an enemy, however, he has said that Rahzel is "his", and that he is currently "lending" her to Alzeid. Later into the series, Kiara shows to have a played a vital role in Rahzel's past. A role that Rahzel can not seem to remember. Also, Minari Endoh stated that Kiara may have been Rahzel's first love. It is revealed that he is Baroqueheat's second older brother. Branoween has stated that Rahzel, Alzeid and Baroqueheat all have essential roles in his scenarios. He likes Natsume and Branoween; he dislikes Baroqueheat and Alzeid.

He meets Rahzel several times during her journey, always providing her strange advice while enjoying tea with her. Each time, she regards him with suspicion, and they always promise to fight during their next meeting. But whenever Kiara leaves, Rahzel is filled with despair and believes that she knows him and does not want to fight him. Though, in volume ten, he hurts her badly after putting a tranquilizing powder in her tea.

In the manga, he was the person, along with Alzeid's brother, to have discovered Rahzel in the woods (not her father, as she previously thought). Kiara brought Rahzel to her father and told him to take care of her and that he would eventually come back for her (which is why her father is so overprotective of her). When Alzeid and Baroqueheat separate from Rahzel, they stumble on her home and meet her real father and discover the truth about Rahzel's abandonment; while they persuade Rahzel not to face her father, Kiara comes to her home and kills her real father. In the anime, it is also implied that he is the one who picked Rahzel up from the forest in which she was abandoned. The reason he calls Rahzel his is because of her philosophy, that whoever names another is the other's owner- Kiara had renamed her Rahzel and subsequently 'owned' her.

The other Alzeid, Alzeid's fellow clone and 'older brother' who has not aged since their childhood and retains the shape of a young boy. Like Alzeid and their father Mr. Second, he is an albino, though his hair is longer than Alzeid's. He first appears to Rahzel on their way to Acanea, hugging her on the deck and complaining how 'he' (later revealed to be Kiara) wouldn't let him see her, but how he had run away because he would smell Rahzel and wanted to be with her. He claims that Rahzel promised to name him, one time when they had taken a bath together, and wants her to hurry up and name him (mostly because Kiara calls him Alzeid, which name he hates). Before he can explain to a confused Rahzel, though, he senses his brother's approach and leaves. In Acanea, the other Alzeid and Kiara were framing Alzeid - the other Alzeid would commit mass murders and because of him and Alzeid's similar appearances. As a result, two bounty hunters seriously injure Alzeid, whom they confuse for the 'white-haired and red-eyed devil child' who had been plaguing the island (Rahzel tries to point out Alzeid's age to them, but they refuse to listen to her). While drawing poisoned, unconscious Alzeid to some clinic Rahzel meets again the other Alzeid which tells her to leave him and that "this guy" has no right to own name "Alzeid".

When he was cloned from Mr. Second, he had been deemed a failure and was replaced by the more-favored Alzeid. Because of the pity and haughtiness which Alzeid always treated him, and also because of breaking the promise of seeing the world together, the other Alzeid cultivated a grudge for his brother (which is why he hates being called Alzeid by Kiara). The other Alzeid had met Rahzel when Kiara had first found her; sometime during this meeting, Kiara had established that Rahzel was his and the other Alzeid was hers (following Rahzel's belief that by renaming herself, she owned herself). He mentions that Rahzel had promised him, while taking a bath with him, that she would name him. He keeps calling Rahzel "Big Sister" the same name as Four Siblings(Serateed, Kiara, Branowen and Baroqueheat) used to call Natsume. He states that in laboratory he used to play with 'Big Sis" and Alzeid in hide-and-seek. He recognized Rahzel after her smell which was the same as "Big Sister's". He and Alzeid fight on a train, while Kiara was revealing to Rahzel that older Alzeid had never been a failure and had in fact been hiding his powers, which were far greater than Alzeid's. In fact after gravely injuring Alzeid, without any scratch he easily defeats Alzeid, who has to escape from the train.

Soresta is an army friend of Alzeid and Baroqueheat. He is obsessed with Alzeid in a very stalker-like fashion, such as making dolls of him, and writing poetry. In an attempt to kill Rahzel, he is killed by Alzeid. It is revealed later that he had been married to a medic named Taylor.

Vincent is a kid who is being watched by Baroqueheat and Soresta. According to the manga, he is the imposter of an illegitimate child between a king and one of his servants. The real Vincent died in a terrible sickness, leaving his servant to impersonate him and be delivered to the king. However, the anime does not mention this and simply keeps him as the illegitimate child.

Jelice is a friend of Rahzel's father and is like an older brother to Rahzel. He is an eccentric priest who was sent into seminary by his adoptive parents when they found out he had a relationship with their biological daughter. He admits that he does not believe in God, but thinks that the church serves as an important service to the people. He wears glasses even though he has 20/20 vision. He likes beer, meat, and tea; he dislikes androgynes and amphibians. His adoptive sister was left by family and after living as prostitute, murdered due to a fatal drug which was being distributed around the town, driving Jelice to murder the man who had sold the "Angel text" drug to her.

Despite her small appearance, Branowen is Baroqueheat's older sister. She dislikes Alzeid stating that she 'hates his face' but she keeps Second's glasses in remembrance of him. In the manga, Baroqueheat mentioned that she is the only smart person he knows and that she is the "idol" of the family. She is skilful with tools and is some sort of mechanic.

Serateed

Rahzel's foster father. Also Baroqueheat's eldest brother. Previously being friend of Mr Second, he hates Alzeid for looking like him. Suspects Alzeid of killing Second.

Mr. Second

Mr. Second is the original from which the two Alzeids were cloned. He had a relationship with Natsume, it was she who gave him the nickname "Alzeid". There is some debate as his body had not been recovered, but he is presumed dead by most of the characters who know of his existence.

Natsume

She was the one who created Serateed, Kiara, Branoween and Baroqueheat. It is considered that she was murdered by Mr Second in the past. Each one who knew Natsume and Rahzel says that Rahzel looks like her. All four siblings call her "Big sister". Somehow she foresaw her death.

Manga

The 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...

 version, written and illustrated by Minari Endoh, originally started serialization in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Monthly G Fantasy on November 18, 1999, published by Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

, and ran in that magazine until June 28, 2002 when it was switched over to the shōjo manga magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, published by Ichijinsha

Ichijinsha

is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA which main purpose was to edit shōnen manga. In January 1998, Studio DNA became a public company and...

. Due to the publisher switch, the first three volumes that were out at the time were re-published by Ichijinsha and released on August 26, 2002. As of December 25, 2007, ten bound 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...

 have been released in Japan. The manga has been licensed 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...

 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...

 distribution in North America, and the first volume was released on January 10, 2006. As of January 6, 2009, ten volumes have been released in English.

Drama CDs

Two drama CDs based on the series were released in 2004 based on the first two volumes of the manga.

Internet radio show

An Internet radio

Internet radio

Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...

 show entitled began on December 6, 2007 hosted by Animate TV

Animate

is the retailing arm of MOVIC and is the largest retailer of anime, games, and manga in Japan. The first and headquarters store of Animate opened in 1983 and is located in Ikebukuro, a district in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, there are 38 Animate stores in Japan, and two in Taipei, Taiwan...

. The show is hosted by Sanae Kobayashi

Sanae Kobayashi

is a voice actress who was born in Shizuoka Prefecture. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.-Television Animation:*.hack//Liminality as Mai Minase*.hack//Roots as Ender*.hack//Roots as Pi...

 who plays Rahzel in the anime, and Shinichirō Miki

Shinichiro Miki

is a Japanese voice actor. He is a member of 81 Produce.Miki is most known for the roles of Kojiro , Takumi Fujiwara , Kisuke Urahara , Akira Yuki , Lockon Stratos , and Roy Mustang .According to the Anime News Network, as of Spring 2007, Miki is...

 who plays Baroqueheat in the anime.

Anime

An 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....

 adaptation under the original title Hatenkō Yūgi aired in Japan on the Kyoto Broadcasting System

Kyoto Broadcasting System

is a commercial broadcasting station headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It is doing business in Kyoto Prefecture as and in Shiga Prefecture as Its radio station serves Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures and is a member of National Radio Network . Its television station serves Kyoto Prefecture and is a...

 television network between January 5 and March 7, 2008, containing ten episodes. The opening theme is "Heartbreaking Romance" by Kanako Itō

Kanako Ito

is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung many songs that have appeared in video games and anime. One of her notable songs in games is , the "bad end" ending theme to the visual novel School Days. Itō has also sung songs for a drama CD and anime adaptations of School...

, and the ending theme is by Kaori Hikita.

Episodes

>

#	Episode title	Original air date

External links

• Ichijinsha's website on the series
• Anime official website
• Tokyopop's page for the manga