Shion no O
Encyclopedia
, subtitled The Flowers of Hard Blood, is a Japanese mystery
manga
written by Masaru Katori
and illustrated by Jiro Ando
. It is published by Kodansha
in the seinen
manga magazine Afternoon
, and is collected in eight bound volumes
. It has been adapted as a twenty-two episode anime
television series by Studio Deen
, which aired in Japan between October 2007 and March 2008. A video game for the Nintendo DS
was released on April 10, 2008 by Mainichi Communications.
board (a Japanese strategy board game similar to chess). This leads her to believe that the murderer may be a shogi player. The shock of the incident renders Shion unable to speak, forcing her to communicate by writing on a pad. After being adopted by her neighbors, the Yasuoka family (where the husband is also a shogi player), Shion takes up the game herself, both for the love of the game and to possibly learn who killed her parents.
of Shion no Ō is written by Masaru Katori
and illustrated by Jiro Ando
. It was serialized between the May 2004 and June 2008 issues of the Japanese seinen
manga magazine Afternoon
published by Kodansha
. Eight bound volumes
were published in Japan.
adaptation of Shion no Ō, produced by Studio Deen
, started airing in Japan on October 13, 2007 on the Fuji TV television network
. The anime's opening theme is "Lady Love" by Rize
, and the ending theme is "My Dear Friend" by Thelma Aoyama
.
video game based on the series was released by Mainichi Communications for the Nintendo DS
on April 10, 2008.
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
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...
written by Masaru Katori
Naoko Hayashiba
, who is also known by the pen name , is a Japanese writer and manga author from Fukuoka. She had a successful career as professional shogi player, but quit during a scandal in 1995, and has focused on writing and TV work. She has written two novel series, Tondemo Police and Kiss Dakeja Iya, and...
and illustrated by Jiro Ando
Jiro Ando
is a Japanese manga artist notable as being the artist of the manga Shion no Ō.-External links:...
. It is published by Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
in the seinen
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
manga magazine Afternoon
Afternoon (magazine)
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It is a monthly anthology, and each issue typically has around thirty ongoing stories by various authors and runs about 800 pages...
, and is collected in eight 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...
. It has been adapted as a twenty-two 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....
television series by Studio Deen
Studio DEEN
is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...
, which aired in Japan between October 2007 and March 2008. A video game for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
was released on April 10, 2008 by Mainichi Communications.
Plot
Shion no Ō centers around a young junior-high school girl named Shion Yasuoka who witnesses the murder of her parents as a child. At the time of the murder, the killer takes the king piece from her father's shogiShogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
board (a Japanese strategy board game similar to chess). This leads her to believe that the murderer may be a shogi player. The shock of the incident renders Shion unable to speak, forcing her to communicate by writing on a pad. After being adopted by her neighbors, the Yasuoka family (where the husband is also a shogi player), Shion takes up the game herself, both for the love of the game and to possibly learn who killed her parents.
Characters
- Shion Yasuoka, formerly before adoption, is the main protagonist of the story. When she was five years old, Shion's parents were slaughtered in their own home, though the murderer was never found. Shion, being a young girl at the time, was traumatized by bearing witness to the aftermath and since then has been muteMutenessMuteness or mutism is an inability to speak caused by a speech disorder. The term originates from the Latin word mutus, meaning "silent".-Causes:...
. To communicate, she writes down everything on a notepad. At the murder scene, Shion found a king shogiShogi, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
piece and later comes to suspect that the culprit plays the game.
- When the story begins, Shion is thirteen and is in junior-high school. She loves sweets, though chocolate is her favorite. Due to her foster father's influence, Shion eventually starts to play shogi which she hopes will give her clues about the murder of her parents.
- Makoto is a professional shogi player and is referred to by many as , the highest and most prestigious professional shogi rank in Japan (similar to a World Chess ChampionWorld Chess ChampionshipThe World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
). A keen and perceptive man who abandoned his brother after their mother's death to become a professional player himself.
- Satoru is Makoto's younger brother and works as a businessman. Aside from that, he is also a gifted shogi player himself, who dreams to one day defeat his brother in an official match. His girlfriend was working with Shion's dead parents, and mysteriously died one day after them.
- Ayumi is a fifteen-year-old male shogi player. Due to his sickly mother, he had to leave high school to take care of her and pay for her hospital bills. When playing shogi, he pretends to be a girl in order to earn money for competing; due to the male league taking two years to qualify. In the anime, after episode sixteen, he plays as a boy. Progressively through the series, he seems to care very much about Shion, saying that he wants to protect her. Many people often tease him about being Shion's boyfriend, causing him to become embarrassed. When he plays against Satoru, Meijin's younger brother, he reveals that his father was once a shogi player.
- Saori is a female shogi player and apprentice to Makoto. She is eighteen years old, and a fan of Shion. As befitting the daughter of a high-class family, her type of shougi is usually dignified. She deeply seeks recognition from Makoto, who she looks up to.
- Shinji is Shion's foster father and is a professional shogi player. His rank is 8 danDan rankThe ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...
.
- Sachiko is Shion's foster mother. A strict but caring woman who ever supports her daughter and husband, despite not always agreeing with them.
- A secluded 9-dan shogi player. Despite his grumpy exterior earning him the nickname "demon," Kamizono seems to have a kind spirit, as he not only accepted Ayumi as his apprentice, even after discovering his secret, but also lent some money to Shinji when he decided to adopt Shion. He's implied to place a great deal of value in family, refusing a disciple who abandoned his brother to learn from him but accepting one who would do anythiing to save his mother.
Manga
The mangaManga
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...
of Shion no Ō is written by Masaru Katori
Naoko Hayashiba
, who is also known by the pen name , is a Japanese writer and manga author from Fukuoka. She had a successful career as professional shogi player, but quit during a scandal in 1995, and has focused on writing and TV work. She has written two novel series, Tondemo Police and Kiss Dakeja Iya, and...
and illustrated by Jiro Ando
Jiro Ando
is a Japanese manga artist notable as being the artist of the manga Shion no Ō.-External links:...
. It was serialized between the May 2004 and June 2008 issues of the Japanese seinen
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
manga magazine Afternoon
Afternoon (magazine)
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It is a monthly anthology, and each issue typically has around thirty ongoing stories by various authors and runs about 800 pages...
published by Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
. Eight 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...
were published in Japan.
Anime
The animeAnime
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 of Shion no Ō, produced by Studio Deen
Studio DEEN
is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...
, started airing in Japan on October 13, 2007 on the Fuji TV television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. The anime's opening theme is "Lady Love" by Rize
Rize (band)
RIZE was Formed in 1997, debuting in 2000. Current members are: Jesse/V&G, Kenken/V&B,& N.K/Dr.RIZE music style is a mix of alternative rock, hard rock, punk rock and even some reggae flavor, cultivated & created via their real international music DNA....
, and the ending theme is "My Dear Friend" by Thelma Aoyama
Thelma Aoyama
, born October 27, 1987, is a Japanese pop and R&B singer. She is part Afro-Trinidadian and Japanese.She is probably best known for her collaboration song with SoulJa, "Koko ni Iru yo", and her answer song "Soba ni Iru ne"...
.
Episodes
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Video game
An adventureAdventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
video game based on the series was released by Mainichi Communications for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
on April 10, 2008.