Angel (manga)

Angel is a hentai manga series written and illustrated by U-Jin. The original manga series met with controversy in 1990–1991 in Japan and was retired from its magazine serialization. It was adapted into an OVA of the same name and a sequel called Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed. The manga was also succeeded by a manga called Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed, and succeeded again by another manga called Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed season 2.

Original manga publication
Angel, also known as Angel: Highschool Sexual Bad Boys & Girls Story (prior to the Japanese controversy), Angel: Delight Slight Light Kiss Story (after it resumed serialization but before its complete ban) and currently Angel: Sexual boys and girls highschool story (in order to differentiate it from the sequels), started its publication in the magazine Weekly Young Sunday published by Shogakukan. Because of the controversy, its serialization was interrupted in 1991 and only three volumes were published by Shogakukan. It was later fully reprinted by Cybele Publishing (also known as Cybele Shuppan), which also included two new volumes for a total of 7 volumes, although Cybele volumes had in fact less pages than Shogakukan volumes. In the cover of the Cybele volumes, the legend "We came back!" can be read above the title, in reference to the incident that provoked its temporal ban. The manga was published in Taiwan by company Li-Yi, in France by Tonkam and in Spain by Norma Editorial in Cybele's edition.

Volumes

 * Shogakukan (Young Sunday Comics, 1989–1990)


 * Cybele Publishing (Cybele Comics, 1993) This version includes several autostereograms. Since foreign versions were based on this one, they also include the autostereograms.


 * Cybele Publishing (Cybele Bunko, 1995–1996)


 * Ohzora Publishing (also known as Chu Shuppan) (Missy Comics, 2007–2008)

Along with this volumes, there is another collection which combines Angel with Konai Shasei, another manga by U-Jin. The collection is simply called Konai Shasei X Angel (校内写生×ANGEL). Instead of a regular numbering, each volume has a different subtitle.


 * Ohzora Publishing (Missy Comics, 2006–2007)

The series is also available in ebook format by eBookJapan.

Angel
The first OVA, a single episode anime titled Angel, was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 25, 1990 by Pioneer LDC's brand Humming Bird. It was later re-released by Tairiku Shobo. A DVD of the anime was released in October 25, 2001 by Happinet Pictures (a division of Namco Bandai) through their Green Bunny label with standard number GBBH-1896.

New Angel
The second OVA consisted of five episodes. New Angel (新・エンジェル), was originally released from October 21, 1994 to November 22, 1995. It was produced by Pink Pineapple and Triple X.

In the US, the OVA has been released by SoftCel Pictures. It was originally released in VHS format in 1995, 1996 and 1998 and it was released in both uncut and edited versions for the first four episodes. It was also released in DVD format by the same company in two volumes, the first released in May 13, 2003 and the second in June 24, 2003.

Shin Angel was also released in France, in VHS by Katsumi vidéo and in DVD by Anime Erotik, and also in Spain in VHS and DVD by Manga Films (although only the first 4 episodes were released by Manga Films) and on TV by Arait Multimedia.

Video games
A video game for the NEC PC-9801 based on Angel and with the same title was released in October 1, 1993 by the Japanese company Cocktail Soft.

Live-action films
Two adult live-action films based on the manga were produced. The first one, Angel: Ichiban Saisho wa Anata ni A.Ge.Ru (エンジェル　一番最初はあなたにア・ゲ・ル), was released in February 14, 1997 and the second one, Angel: Shotai Fumei no Joo-sama!? (Hen) (エンジェル　正体不明の女王様！？【編】), was released in April 4, 1997. Both films have the participation of Japanese Adult Video actresses Yui Kawana and Mizuki Kanno and were released by the company dez.

Both films were released in the US by Kitty Media in DVD format in July 8, 2008 as a single release called Angel Collection.

Manga sequels
In 2006, a sequel of the original manga started in the magazine Weekly Manga Goraku published by Nihon Bungeisha, titled Angel: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed, also known as Angel: Renai Hoshi Jin Atami Kosuke (ANGEL～恋愛奉仕人・熱海康介～) and more commonly simply as Angel. Also created by U-Jin, this manga follows the new adventures of Kosuke Atami, now a divorced 34-year-old man who works as a host and helps people in a similar way as he did as a highschooler.

Following the previous sequel, in 2008, also in Nihon Bungeisha's Weekly Manga Goraku, the manga titled Angel season 2: the women whom delivery host Kosuke Atami healed, more commonly known as Angel season 2, was released. Also done by U-Jin, the manga follows the same premise as the previous manga series.

Criticism and controversy in Japan
The manga depicted high schoolers in several sexual situations. In the aftermath of the Saitama serial kidnapping murders of young girls, a moral panic against otaku was prevalent and several manga were singled out for their contents, among them Angel. PTAs managed to force the suspension of the manga for a while and volume 3 became the last by Shogakukan and the tankōbon became banned. The problem centered in housewives who believed that Angel was too sexually explicit for a seinen publication and that the manga had become pretty popular. The incident with Angel eventually lead to the creation of the Comic Hyogen no Jiyu o Mamoru Kai (コミック表現の自由を守る会).

While the manga was still being serialized in the magazine, U-Jin included a "message from the author" chapter as a form of protest. When it temporary resumed serialization, the sexual content was reduced and the subtitle changed to Delight Slight Light Kiss Story, until it was finally banned.

Eventually, publication resumed years later with Cybele Publishing, which re-published Angel since the beginning to eventually publish the complete manga, now labeled as Adult Comic (成人コミック).

Youth controversy in France
Upon the release of the third volume in France, Angel was banned from exhibition in stores. The argument of anti-manga people, relayed by the press at the time, was that the manga is dangerous for youth because of eroticism and violence it diffuses. Tonkam, however, for which Angel was the first erotic manga, finished the translation of the 7 volumes.

New Angel
Stig Høgset, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, found New Angel technically good, as the art and animation were good, but felt the story was "boring and stupid". Chris Beveridge noted that the episodes were not scripted by U-Jin, thus lacking some of his distinctive style, and feels that it is an example of a hentai series which merely "spices up" a "regular" anime series. Bamboo Dong, writing for Anime News Network, felt that the writing of the series made it "fun to watch", with humour and interesting backgrounds for the female characters, and noted that the sex scenes are "pretty graphic". Bamboo Dong felt the transition between non-sex scenes and sex scenes was not smooth in the second volume.