Kimi no Kakera

Story

Ikoro is a thirteen-year-old girl who is the princess of the "Upper World", a world where snow is always falling and even princesses like her are forced to wake up at 4 a.m. and go to bed at midnight, learning and working the rest of the day. The Upper World is a "country of night", surrounded on four sides by towering walls and with perpetual below-freezing temperatures. Ikoro lives with her blind young brother Mataku and her servants Shā (or "Gramma") and the monkey-like Kuro. Her parents have left them apparently seeking out the legend of a "sun".

One day, Ikoro's dinner with her brother is interrupted by a strange boy crashing through the ceiling. Ikoro finds that the boy is wearing manacles and has white hair. The boy has lost his memory and is dubbed "Shiro". Ikoro and Shiro are both , which means that she cannot feel joy and he cannot feel pain. The two of them go towards the "Lower World" deciding that they will find a sun.

Characters

;Ikoro :Princess of the snow country, a 13-year-old prodigy who has skipped 6 grades and has only books as her constant companionship. She is constantly ostracized as a result of her inability to smile and the declining position of the royal house. Her proper name is Kamuy-poro-cise-ikoro, which in the ancient language of her country (Ainu) literally means "God-large-house-treasure". ;Shiro :An amnesiac boy who cannot feel pain. Ikoro names him "Shiro" based on his white hair, but it also means "missing piece" in the ancient language of her country. His constant question, "Are you foe or friend?", is supposedly a teaching from his grandfather, the man who brought him up. ;Mataku :Ikoro's blind younger brother.

Publication

Written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi, Kimi no Kakera started in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday on August 21, 2002. It went on hiatus after its 29th chapter, released in the April 2, 2003, issue. It resumed publication in the magazine for ten chapters from December 24, 2003, to March 3, 2004. The series then continued publication directly via ja volumes. The series' first six volumes were published by Shogakukan from January 18, 2003, to August 10, 2007. The seventh volume was released, after a two-year and two-month hiatus, on October 16, 2009. The final eighth and ninth volumes were released on January 18 and July 16, 2010.

A short story, titled Spica: The Twin Stars of "Kimi no Kakera, was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on July 21, 2010. Another story, titled Spica: A Little Afterschool Star, was published in the same magazine on July 3, 2013. These chapters were published by Shogakukan in a volume, which included another story, on August 16, 2013.

Volumes

Notes

References

References

1. link. [[Agency for Cultural Affairs]]
2. Takahashi, Shin. link
3. Takahashi, Shin. link
4. link. [[Agency for Cultural Affairs]]
5. link. [[Agency for Cultural Affairs]]
6. Takahashi, Shin. link
7. link. [[Agency for Cultural Affairs]]
8. link. [[Shogakukan]]
9. Loo, Egan. (September 21, 2009). "SaiKano's Takahashi Resumes Kimi no Kakera After 2 Years".
10. link. Natasha, Inc. (July 21, 2020)
11. Loo, Egan. (January 2, 2013). "Saikano's Shin Takahashi Draws Manga Shorts in 2013".
12. link. Natasha, Inc. (July 3, 2013)
13. link. [[Shogakukan]]
14. link. [[Shogakukan]]
15. link. [[Shogakukan]]
16. link. [[Shogakukan]]
17. link. [[Shogakukan]]
18. link. [[Shogakukan]]
19. link. [[Shogakukan]]
20. link. [[Shogakukan]]
21. link. [[Shogakukan]]
22. link. [[Shogakukan]]