Aiten Myou-Ou Monogatari
Character Guide and Introduction
original version by Curtis H. Hoffmann.
converted and reformatted to plain text by Joshua Lesnick
additional information in the character guide by Joshua Lesnick

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
   Version 1. Copyrighted November 30, 1997, by Curtis H. Hoffmann.
   Version 1.5 adds material (c) 1999 by Joshua Lesnick

Permission is granted to cross-post this file in whole to other computer 
networks, without modifications. This file may be reprinted in a fanzine or 
newsletter as long as I'm notified, in exchange for a copy of the issue this 
article appears in. This article can not be altered, or reprinted in a 
for-profit magazine, without my permission.


REVISION HISTORY
  11/30/97: Created this file. 
  12/1/99: additions to the character guide made by Lesnick.  They're marked
  with asterisks.

INTRODUCTION
   In the past, Ryuusuke Mita has concentrated on parodies of role-playing games 
(Dragon Half), and SF adventure (Dark Hair Captured). And while he still 
includes a lot of slapstick humor in his latest series, Aiten Myou-Ou Monogatari 
is a much darker, more sinister drama, placed in modern-day Tokyo. It started in 
the January, 1998 issue of Afternoon magazine, and has a long ways to go before 
the drama can truly unfold. The artwork and character designs are typical of 
Mita's style, although the super-deformed versions of the characters almost have 
a "girl's manga" feel to them.

I am putting all of my summaries on hold now, so this may be the last update to 
this character guide for some time. I hope that when the chapters are collected, 
you will run out and buy the first volume right away. It may well be the best 
purchase you could make that week...


CHARACTERS
   Kotono Mitsuyoshi: The female lead in this drama. Kotono is a nervous 
      15-year-old high school girl. She is cute in a whispy, willowly way, and 
      has lots of problems with perverts trying to feel her up on the train. She 
      is still naive, and doesn't know how to handle unpleasant situations.
   Chiaki Akashima: A dark-skinned, 16-year-old girl in Kotono's class. Chiaki 
      is the closest thing that Kotono has to a friend, but she's a major flirt, 
      and will likely turn into a roppongi girl soon. Chiaki has an obvious 
      lesbian bent, but so far doesn't seem to be trying to come on to anyone in 
      particular. Chiaki spends a lot of time with a blonde-haired classmate who 
      hasn't been named yet.
   *Miss Ohbara: this is the blond girl's name... I could never find her first
      name, I'm afraid ^_^;  She's a pretty quirky girl who seems to be nothing
      more than Akashima's underling in the beginning, but she turns out to be
      very wise and a much more involved character later on.
      Ohbara's mole dissappears after the first chapter ^_^;
   Hiromi Kitagawa: A pretty 17-year-old high school girl. Good at tennis, and 
      very popular in school. But, outside of dating a foreign boy that is 
      staying in her parent's home, Hiromi doesn't seem to be important to the 
      story yet.
      *Note: Kitagawa never shows up again after the first chapter ^^;
   Masatatsu Mitsuyoshi: Kotono's father. Age 38. Masatatsu is a weird guy with 
      sharp features and a brushy moustache. Whenever Kotono arrives home from 
      school, he makes fun of the loose knee socks that Kotono (and all Tokyo 
      high school girls) wears. 
   Kotomi Mitsuyoshi: Kotono's cute mother, age 35. Kotomi always sides with 
      her husband, and acts like a bit of an airhead. Can not tell when Kotono 
      is having problems.
   Tsubasa Hara: Another classmate of Kotono's. Tsubasa is tall and thin, but 
      he is a big X-Files fan and has trouble telling the difference between 
      reality and fantasy.
   Aiten: A strange little kid that wears a robe, necklace, and three-feather 
      headband. Carries a weighted staff, and moves very quickly. While he looks 
      very cute, Aiten seems to enjoy attacking and hurting helpless people. 
      Aiten is part of a home-stay program, and is to be living in Kotono's home 
      for a while. Looks younger, but is actually age 17. 
   *Tsuda: A sinister looking student who acts like a pretty crude jerk toward
      Kotono early on.  Later, it's revealed that he led (or was at least part
      of) a vicious gang.
   *Kabachi-sensei: the teacher of Kotono's class
   *Zanpan-man: the hero of one of Kotono's favorite shows.  It's a pretty silly
      parody of Anpan-man. ^^
   *Hotaru-chan: Kotono's young friend, looks about 8 years old...
   *Mrs. Gomi: another friend of Kotono, a housewife.
   *Ken: An evil-looking kid with an even more evil-looking mother.  Him and his
      friends bully Hotaru-chan.
   *Mr. Fujishiro: Another friend of Kotono's... a really weird old man.  I think
      he runs a temple.
   *Principal: of Kotono's high school... seems to be a perpetually calm guy...
   *Miki: I think she's Tsubasa's sister, but I'm not entirely sure.  She doesn't
      play a big role in the story, but Mita gave her a good design. ^_^


THE STORY (First Chapter)

      Chapter 1
      Kotono to Aiten no Hajimari
      Kotono Meets Aiten 

The first page says "There Really Is a Place That People Call "Hell".

Kotono is on the train, hoping that no perverts will bother her this time. She 
remembers what one teacher said, about repeating something 3 times so that it 
will come true. She chants "Perverts stay away", to no effect. One old sweaty 
guy comes up and tries to feel her butt. Kotono tries to scare him away, and he 
tells her to go ahead and yell for help (while everyone nearby ignores the 
situation.) Suddenly, the pervert's fingernail peels back, and he starts 
screaming. Kotono asks if he is ok.

On the way into class, Chiaki grabs Kotono's breasts and yells out "Sexual 
Harrassment!" Kotono decks her. Chiaki claims to have just been trying to cheer 
up her friend. In the classroom, Kotono explains what happened on the train (the 
pervert was taken to the train station's office). Chiaki guesses that the 
pervert had been the victim of "Revenge from Heaven", then chases her blonde 
friend around, flipping up the girl's dress, repeating "Revenge from Heaven." 
The teacher comes in and orders everyone to sit down. During the lecture, Kotono 
looks out the window and sees a strange little kid on the grounds. She realizes 
that she'd seen the kid on the train after the pervert's nail had peeled back, 
and suddenly the kid disappears. Kotono tries to get Chiaki's attention, but 
grabs the teacher's arm by mistake.

Later, Kotono and Chiaki are playing tennis, when Hiromi Kitagawa walks by with 
a tall foreign boy. Chiaki says that the boy is part of a homestay program, 
living at Hiromi's house. Chiaki and her blonde friend act out a fantasy of what 
happens when Hiromi and the boy are alone in a room, and Kotono thinks that the 
couple are only going to kiss each other (Chiaki thinks that they have sex.) 
Suddenly, on another court, another girl falls with a gash on her leg. In the 
background, the strange kid is hiding in the shadows. Kotono goes home, and her 
father harrasses her about having loose, silly-looking leg socks. Her parents 
tell her that starting tomorrow, they are going to have a foreign boy live in 
the house on a home-stay program. They claim that the boy is really handsome. 
Kotono goes into her room, and daydreams about having a boyfriend like Hiromi's. 
She sees her father listening at the door, smacks him in the head, and goes out 
to a convenience store to cool down.

She buys different jelly candies and drools over them on the street. A teenager 
on a motorscooter drives by, and crashes. He gets badly scraped up, and Kotono 
notices the same strange kid nearby. The kid runs away. The next day, Kotono 
draws a picture of the kid, and Chiaki makes fun of the bad sketch. They guess 
that the kid is 12 or 13 years old. Tsubasa Hara arrives and sees the sketch. He 
tells them that the strange kid had been seen recently, after several other 
girls had been hurt. He develops a stupid theory of what is happening, states 
that he is a big X-Files fan, and takes the sketch to put into his own file. 
Chiaki tells Kotono that Tsubasa is being silly, and that she should ignore him. 


That night, on the way home, Kotono keeps imaging that someone is behind her. A 
rude kid with a basketball runs into her, and tells her to watch where she is 
going. She turns, and there in front of her is a woman lying limp on the ground. 
The woman's clothing is ripped up, and the strange kid is standing on one of her 
legs. The kid grins at Kotono. She turns and runs home. In a panic, she leaps 
into her parent's apartment and tries to explain what she's seen. But, her 
parents interrupt her to state that their foreign home-stay guest has arrived. 
They introduce her to Aiten -- there, eating at the table, is the strange kid 
that had been attacking people. Kotomi thinks that Aiten is really cute. Kotono 
faints, and her parents think that it's "love at first sight."

You can contact me at: curtish@gte.net
http://home1.gte.net/curtish/index.html