Gravitation (manga)

Plot

The story surrounds an aspiring singer, Shuichi Shindou, and his band, Bad Luck (formed with his best friend Hiroshi Nakano, who is on guitar). Shuichi wants to become Japan's next big star, and follow in the footsteps of the famous idol Ryuichi Sakuma, lead singer of the now-disbanded legendary group Nittle Grasper. One evening, Shuichi is looking over lyrics for a song he is writing when his paper is blown away by the wind and picked up by a tall, blond-haired (light brown in the manga) stranger. The man dismisses Shuichi's hard work as garbage, which hurts Shuichi deeply. Despite his anger, he is intrigued by the stranger. This will be their first encounter as Shuichi becomes fascinated by the stranger, who soon turns out to be the famous romance novelist Eiri Yuki (real name: Uesugi). Both the manga and the anime follow this plot.

''Gravitation EX.''

The story picks up directly after volume 12; Shuichi and Eiri find and agree to momentarily take care of Yuki Kitazawa's son, Riku. Shuichi kisses and conducts a short affair with Ryuichi Sakuma, who announces that he has always been in love with Shuichi. Eiri is in a car accident that causes him to temporarily lose his eyesight, and Reiji announces that she's making a movie about everything that has happened to them. Shuichi believes that this movie is the reason Ryuichi "pretended" to go after him, although Ryuichi's true motives remain unknown.

Development

The precursor to the Gravitation manga was a ja series titled Help!, which followed a similar storyline but cast the characters in slightly different roles.

Murakami went to New York to research for a storyline later in Gravitation where the characters visit the city.

Murakami has created ja based on Gravitation which she describes as "pretty hard-core, adult stuff. Remix is softcore and Megamix is much more hardcore". She created the ja to explore tensions between the characters.

In addition to the remixes, Murakami created four highly sexually explicit "Megamix" ja, dubbed Mega-gra, Megamix: Panda, Megamix: Kumagorou, and Megamix: Capybara. These also deviate from the storyline as the Remixes do, with Panda including ja content. A new Megamix is currently in the works, entitled Megamix Zebra. Megamix Zebra will feature Shuichi, Ryuichi, and Eiri in a threesome, with Shuichi as the seme.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Gravitation chapters{{!}}List of ''Gravitation'' chapters

Written and illustrated by Maki Murakami, the manga was serialized in Gentosha's Kimi to Boku magazine between 1996 and 2002. Initially, a total of eleven ja volumes were released by Sony Magazines between March 7, 1996, and December 25, 2000. Gentosha started to republish the series on April 24, 2002, concluding with the twelfth on August 24, 2002. A "Special Edition" was released by Gentosha between April 25 and September 22, 2006.

Tokyopop licensed the series for an English-language release in North America and published the twelve volumes from August 5, 2003 to July 12, 2005. Tokyopop also released the series in six compilation volumes in 2009–10. Madman Entertainment distributes the series in New Zealand and Australia. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the series in October 2023 and released omnibus volumes of the series.

A sequel to the series, Gravitation EX., started to be serialized in Japanese and English in the online magazine Web Comic Genzo. The first volume was published simultaneously by Gentosha and Tokyopop on February 24, 2007. Madman Entertainment also distributed the series in New Zealand and Australia. In the March 2009 issue, Murakami put the series on hiatus; Murakami resumed the series on June 28, 2011, in Gentosha's online magazine Web Spica. The second volume was published on November 24, 2011.

On May 28, 2014, Murakami published a one-shot based on Gravitation, titled Shindo Family Circumstances, which was followed by a series of the same name on July 28 in Web Spica.

Anime

OVA

A two-part OVA adaptation was created by Plum, Animate Film, SPE Visual Works, Sony Magazines, and Movic. The first episode was released on July 23, 1999, and the second was released on September 22, 1999. It used the opening theme "Blind Game Again" and the ending theme "Smashing Blue" with the lyrics, composition, and arrangement done by Mad Soldiers and sung By Kinya Kotani. There are three insert songs, Part 1 had one called "Spicy Marmalade", with the lyrics, composition, and arrangement done by Mad Soldiers and sung by Kinya Kotani. Part 2 had two, the first one "In the Moonlight" with the lyrics, composition, and arrangement done by Mad Soldiers and sung By Kinya Kotani and the second "Shining Collection" with the lyrics, composition, and arrangement and sung by Iceman. The series was released in North America on DVD by Nozomi Entertainment in 2005 under the name Gravitation: Lyrics of Love.

TV series

An anime television series adaptation was produced by Studio Deen, SME Visual Works, and Sony Magazines and directed by Bob Shirohata. The opening and closing themes to the TV series are "Super Drive'" and "Glaring Dream", performed respectively by Yosuke Sakanoue and Kinya Kotani. The series was released in North America on DVD by Nozomi Entertainment in 2004.

Later on, Shuichi meets the others at their CD single recording and gives it his best, explaining that he has given up on Yuki to concentrate on his musical career and the band. Everybody is shocked. After the recording, Shuichi was walking home drunk with Hiro, and they arrive outside Yuki's flat and also meet Ayaka. They have a word and Shuichi runs into the flat and discovers that everything has gone! Yuki left him. Yuki's brother told him that he had one last chance and took him to their father's temple and told them that Ayaka was there to meet them. When the screen door opened however, it was not Ayaka, but Shuichi dressed as Ayaka! Yuki confronts him outside and finally discloses something about his past... When he was sixteen... he killed a man. Meanwhile while Bad luck are at the studio, they are informed by their producer that they have an interview and they should present a good image. Shuichi Jokingly says that he will pass since he is meant to get home early to Yuki, at least until K holds a gun to his head (Yet again). Then they run to the Minivan on their way. Although in the lobby Taki becomes enraged at the fact that Shuichi's beating has had no effect on him and storms off to find Yuki. While at the interview one of the members of ASK storms in to warn Shuchi about Taki and his vendetta. Shuichi hurries home upon hearing this and bursts through a wall much to Yuki's surprise, yelling at Taki about hurting "His Yuki". When Taki flees from the scene, he comes across Touma who warns him about what he has just done, and pushes him in front of a car. Fortunately (or unfortunately) he survives and still vows to find out Yuki's secret. Bad Luck also get a very big surprise upon the announcement that Nittle Grasper has reformed. K gets them a place on a music show and they find that Nittle Grasper are also there. Bad luck give it their best but feel outshined by the performance of Nittle Grasper... Could this possibly be the end for them?

Drama CDs

Eight audio dramas were produced for Gravitation, featuring most of the voice actors of the TV and OVA series. Five retell events from the manga series, while the remaining three cover new story material. The drama CDs also contain musical tracks performed by Japanese voice actors.

Other books

There are two novels based on Gravitation. The first one, released on November 30, 2000, follows the storyline for the OVAs. A second novel of Gravitation called Gravitation the Novel - voice the temptation was written by Jun Lennon and released on September 30, 2002; it follows Shuichi as he goes on a chase throughout Japan to find the kidnapped Yuki. Both were published in North America by Tokyopop. The first was published on March 7, 2006, and the second was published on July 11, 2006, under the name Gravitation: voice of temptation. Both the novels were remade into a ja edition and published on February 24, 2007.

Two "Complete Walkthrough Fan Book" were released by Sony Magazines: the first was published on March 2, 1998, and the second one was published on August 7, 2000. Additionally, a fan book on the anime series was released on March 15, 2001.

Reception

Almost half a million copies of the Gravitation manga have been sold from its North American release from 2003 to 2007, and in 2005 it was the top manga on BookScan with BL themes. Rachel Woods notes that even a milder ja manga "relies on sexual innuendo, comic double entendres, and coded visual references in order to maintain an erotic undercurrent that is not sexually explicit in nature", and discusses a page from Gravitation which shows the characters kissing, but using "fragmented panels" which show Yuki's "wandering hand" to provide a "tantalizing and suggestive imagery" that encourages the reader's imagination.

References

References

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