Violinist of Hameln

Violinist of Hameln (ハーメルンのバイオリン弾き) is a Japanese manga series created by Michiaki Watanabe. The manga revolves around a group of adventurers named Hamel, Flute, Raiel, Trom and Sizer. They set off on a perilous journey north to the demon continent, seeking to avert a catastrophic event. Hamel, armed only with his magical violin, uses his music to persuade his monstrous adversaries to atone for their misdeeds and meet their demise by killing themselves.

Manga
GanGan Comics ran the manga for approximately 10 years, publishing 37 volumes.

The manga combines a serious story with an irreverent tone, with the characters frequently alternating between heroic and pathetic depending on what the current situation calls for. The manga also contains a variety of unconventional running gags, such as Hamel repeatedly attempting to force other members of the group into costume. Each chapter is referred to as a set.

Setting
The setting is reminiscent of a medieval steampunk Europe, taking into consideration the world's architecture, clothing trends, technology, and local environments. The world in which the story is set is a steampunk universe that consists of a mixture of significant futuristic technological advances and medieval architecture.

The main characters live in a world called "Europe", named after real-world Europe. Although the world shares a name with the real-life continent, the geography of the two Europes is not the same and they bear little resemblance to each other on a map.

History
The world in which the story takes place is divided into two dominant races: humans and Mazoku. The Mazoku, a race of demonic creatures, ruled the world until 500 years ago when they were locked away by a heroic angel. This led to a period of prosperity and peace for humanity, resulting in the founding of cities and nations, as well as the development of science and magic.

However, this period came to an abrupt end when a woman named Pandora accidentally released the Mazoku from their imprisonment. The demons were freed, plunging the world back into darkness and chaos. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, the Demon King Chestra, who was also freed from Pandora's Box, was resealed inside.

Pandora's two children, who were fathered by Chestra, were separated as infants. One child was kidnapped by the Mazoku, and the other remained with Pandora. In order to protect the world, the box containing the Demon King, now known as Pandora's Box, and its key were sent far away.

The demons fled north, establishing their capital city of Hameln on the northernmost continent, and a never-ending war broke out between humans and Mazoku for survival. Pandora's children, one raised among humans and hated by all, and the other living with the Mazoku without ever feeling any affection, are destined to reunite and put an end to the war, one way or another.

Plot
The plot of the manga revolves around the hero Hamel, who travels north towards the continent of demons to avert a great catastrophe. With the help of his magical, oversized violin, he plays music that forces his enemies to repent of their sins and kill themselves - or at least that's how it should go. Instead, Hamel is a selfish, cowardly, heartless and immoral fiend who seeks to exploit those around him and extort money from those he saves. After saving the remote village of Staccato from nearby demons, he decides to kidnap an orphan girl named Flute as payment for his services. Hamel, Flute, and Oboe, a talking crow and Hamel's advisor set out on their long, arduous, and mockery-filled journey north. Along the way, they meet Raiel, the hero of love and Hamel's childhood friend, who plays beautiful and powerful melodies with a 500 kg golden piano that can summon spirits and manipulate people. Their first encounter ends with a not-so-deadly battle for revenge. They then meet Trombone, the young prince of a nation called Dal Segno, which is a warrior nation best known for its knights and swordsmanship. After his land is burned and his parents are murdered before his eyes, the young prince vows revenge and joins the group on their quest north. Adventure, comedy, and humiliation ensue as Hamel leads the motley band north while the street performers war with one another. Along the way, they face terrible enemies and eventually meet the Hell Hawk King Sizer, one of the Lords of Hell who are the guardians of the demon legions. In a rather one-sided battle, Hamel's violin breaks, and it is revealed that Hamel is actually the son of the demon king Chestra and that the reason he is traveling north is to defeat his father and save his mother Pandora.

On their way north, the group eventually reaches the kingdom of Sforzando, one of the most powerful nations in their world, which is known for its magical knight corps, healing magic and the strongest woman in the world, Queen Horn. In Sforzando, they meet the Head Priest of the kingdom, who is also the greatest magic user in the entire kingdom, and he immediately takes a disliking to Hamel. It's revealed that Flute, the victim of Hamel's humiliating antics, was once the sole princess of Sforzando, but was abandoned as a baby to increase her chances of survival after Sforzando was besieged in a terrible war many years ago. Reunited with her estranged mother, Flute tries to deal with pent-up emotions while Hamel is sent to find a man who can repair his magical violin. Unfortunately, during Hamel and Raiel's absence, Sforzando is once again besieged by the armies of Hell. Led by the Dragon King Drum and the King of Beasts Guitar, both extremely strong and one of the 4 Lords of Hell, it's a true threat to Sforzando's safety. A fierce battle ensues in which powerful clashes and tens of thousands of casualties are on each side. In the end, Hamel and Raiel return to finish off their enemies after meeting Vi Olin and having the violin repaired. In a final attempt, with everyone's efforts of attacking at the same time, they manage to defeat the Dragon King Drum, who had by then transformed into a 48-headed Hydra.

The battle ends with the victory of Sforzando and the revelation that the Queen had only a few years to live since her barrier magic makes the user pay by giving up his lifespan. With preparations complete, Hamel, Raiel, Trombone, and Oboe once again set out for the northern continent. Flute is torn between wanting to stay with her recovered mother and wanting to join her companions on their journey, but she eventually decides to follow Hamel and she slowly becomes aware of her feelings for him. At this point, the group splits up. Raiel sets off for Staccato to deliver to Hamel the money he has received in case he leaves Flute behind in Sforzando; Trombone returns to Dal Segno to pay his last respects to the dead; and Flute, Hamel and Oboe set off north, where they are joined by Cornet, Clarinet's younger sister.

A sequel to the series, titled Violinist of Hameln: Shchelkunchik, was serialized from January 2008 to October 2011. In it, the story is about the journey of a boy named Schel, who wants to become a wizard. On his way, he meets Hamel's son, Great.

Anime
The TV adaptation was twenty-five episodes long and suffered from budget constraints. Much of the story is told through pans over still images, with full animation reserved mainly for action-heavy scenes. The anime has a darker setting than the manga, and although it initially follows the basic outline of the manga's plot, the two stories diverge completely by the anime's end.

There is a 30-minute animated film whose plot does not overlap with the TV series. The film was released a few months before the TV series and benefits from a much higher animation budget.

Video game
The game was developed by Enix (who also published GanGan Comics magazine) for the Super Famicom and is a side-scrolling platformer. It largely follows the manga, but was changed to have Flute hit at the beginning of the story. As the game progresses, more jumps are made in the story. The game requires players to throw Flute and put her in various costumes to reach the end of the level. Numerous demons from the manga appear in the game as bosses.

During the game, Hamel will pick up numerous costumes that Flute will wear to achieve the goal.

Ostrich - Allows Flute to walk on spikes

Frog - When ridden, Flute jumps very high

Robot - When jumped on, destroys blocks

Duck - Can swim over water and dives when jumped on

Penguin - Can swim across the water and dashes when jumped on

Monster - Used to trick a monster into letting you cross a bridge

Monkey - Climbs up the wall when ridden

Orangutan - Used to move the story forward

Sunfish - Floats when ridden

Frisbee - Acts like a boomerang when thrown

Curling Puck - Slides when thrown

Elephant - Shoots water when jumped on

Octopus - Allows Hamel to move underwater in any direction when ridden

UFO - Floats and follows Hamel

Eagle - Flies in the direction Hamel is facing when ridden

Protagonists
 Main party 

 Sforzando 
 * Hamel - The 18-year-old main character. A traveling hero who uses a violin - as big as a double bass - and magical music to fight his enemies. He can be very rude, perverted and cruel, but he loves his friends and family. When his demon blood awakens, he becomes a powerful Mazoku. He is the son of Pandora and the Demon King Chestra.
 * Oboe- Hamel's constant protector and companion, a crow. In time, it turns out that he is a former general of Chestra - more specifically, the former Falcon King. During his time as the Falcon King, Oboe was considered even more powerful than Bass and possessed a power that rivaled that of the Demon King Chestra.
 * Flute- The 16-year-old female protagonist who grew up in the small mountain village of Staccato. She is the heiress to the throne of Sforzando and the daughter of King and Queen Horn. She is able to use heal magic - an ability that appears later in the plot - and create barriers. The drawback is, when she uses her magic her life span shortens.
 * Raiel- A childhood friend of Hamel. He is the only human friend Hamel had as a child and the first-person Hamel trusted other than his mother. By coming into contact with Pandora's magical music as a child, he was enabled to summon spirits by playing his golden piano; a memento of his deceased parents.
 * Trombone- Usually referred to as Trom. The prince of the ruined land of Dal Segno. He is the youngest main character and an excellent swordsman whose main attack is the scissor slash. He and Hamel are often at odds with each other, although they have similar personalities.
 * Sizer- The leader of the airborne falcon army of demons, who is later revealed to be Hamel's younger twin sister. Unlike her brother, she looks like an angel with blood-red feathers rather than a human with demonic features. She uses a giant scythe in battle and can summon Valkyries with magical music using her scythe, which she plays like a flute. She was kidnapped by the Mazoku as an infant and raised to be hostile towards humans. In the course of her encounters with her brother, she betrays the Mazoku and joins Hamel's group to redeem herself.
 * Ocarina- Sizer's servant, who often takes the form of a crow and has a scar over her right eye. In later chapters it is revealed that she is the daughter of Oboe, and her true form is that of a winged woman. She was Sizer's only companion when she was growing up. She took care of her after every battle and comforted her when she was lonely and sad.


 * Queen Horn- The Queen of Sforzando and the mother of Flute. She is wise and compassionate - even if she loves her daughter to an unusuall strong degree - but her health is poor because she uses her healing magic too often. She is also the mother of Lute, the "Demon of Sforzando" who fell into the power of Bass, the King of Hell, many years ago and whose loss she mourns.
 * Clarinet- A man in his 20s with long golden hair who is the High Priest and Commander of the Magic Corps. He is currently the most powerful magic user in the world, surpassed only by the power of the Sforzando family line.
 * Percuss- One of the ministers of Queen Horn. A middle-aged man with a monocle and a very skilled magician who is very suspicious of Hamel.
 * King of Sforzando- The nameless, deceased king of Sforzando, who appears only in a flashback. He is used almost exclusively as a comedic diversion, since everyone - including his wife and son - often forgets who he is.
 * Cornet- The younger sister of Clari. In the manga, she has a huge crush on Hamel and tries everything to get rid of Flute as a romantic rival. She is also very spoiled by Clari. Later in the series, she unintentionally transforms into a Mazoku- like creature. In the anime, she is a very straightforward character who is loyal to Queen Horn and has a close relationship with Trom.
 * Lute- The elder brother of Flute. He was once called the "Demon of Sforzando" and was greatly feared by all Mazoku, while admired and loved by all people. Shortly after Flute's birth, the kingdom was attacked. Lute sacrificed his life to save his family, but fell under the control of Bass.

Antagonists
The demon army that wants to revive Demon King Chestra by opening Pandora's box. They are immortal as long as they are not killed or consume all their energy. They try to free Chestra, who radiates so much power that they can live off it indefinitely.


 * Hell King Bass- The supreme general of the demon armies and leader of the army of the undead. His body has been reduced to his head, but he has taken possession of the body of Flute's brother Lute. He has immense magical powers and is feared by all who serve under him.
 * Dragon King Drum- The head of the Dragon Army, an ogre-like monster with two heads. He was eventually killed during the invasion on Sforzando. Famous for his physical strength and his stupidity.
 * Warrior King Guitar- The 4th General of Hameln is a centaur-like, canine being: his upper half is an anthropomorphic dog and his lower half is a greyhound with hooves. He uses a variety of mystical swords and is a cunning schemer, but very cowardly.
 * Orgel- (Clown of Hell) His appearance is that of a masked jester with a very exaggerated costume. He is one of Bass' special servants in the undead army. He torments his targets with psychological warfare, can bring the spirits of the dead to life and is a master of powerful illusions.
 * Vocal- A wild, arrogant demon who rebelled against the authority of Chestra. Because of his actions, he was imprisoned for five hundred years, but is later released so that he can provoke Hamel to awaken Chestra. His full power was sealed by Bass, but he is still immensely powerful, strong and fast; even Bass fears him.
 * Pick - Pick, seen only in flashbacks, was once the 3rd warlord of Hameln, upholding the laws and commander of the devil's army. He was slain by Lute years ago before he himself fell.
 * Demon King Chestra- The pun on his name comes from the Japanese word for "king," namely "ou." Hence, "Ou Chestra" ( Orchestra ). He is the father of Hamel and Sizer, and as his title indicates, he is the king of demons.

Other characters

 * Pandora - The woman who opened a box that released misery into the world. Therefore, the box was also called "Pandora's box". She was a kind and caring woman who loved her children, but sometimes fell victim to a paranoid distrust of others because of the condemnation she experienced. In a flashback, it was revealed that she opened the box for the sake of her children, as they were being held hostage and she had no other choice.
 * Vi Olin (Introduced in Movement 26) - The inventor of Hamel's giant magic violin and the creator of Pandora's Box, in which the Demon King Chestra and his minions were imprisoned. He also created the sword that can cut through anything, which ironically was used to cut the lock of Pandora's Box. In Chapter 128, it is revealed that he is the grandfather of Sizer and Hamel, Pandora's father. It is also revealed that he is an angel, which explains Sizer's wings.

Violinist of Hameln: Shchelkunchik
The sequel. The plot takes place 20 years after the war against the Mazoku. It deals with the children of the protagonists of the Violinist of Hameln. The subtitle "Shchelkunchik" is the original Russian name for the ballet "The Nutcracker". The series ran for eight volumes and ended abruptly when Watanabe indicated health problems.

Characters

 * Shchel - A boy saved by Clari 10 years after the war. He enters Sforzando's school of magic, hoping to become a magician like Clari. He seems to be hiding dark secrets about his body. It seems that he cannot perform magic without Piroro's permission. The secret about his body might be related to the dark fairies.
 * Piroro - A fairy in company with Shchel. She seems to abhor great things. It seems that just before her meeting with Shchel, she was forcibly abducted from her home and accompanied him.
 * Great - (Alternate spelling: Grate.) The son of Hamel and Flute, who seems to resemble his father in both appearance and personality. Like his father, he can play the violin with magical music, though not yet as well as Hamel. He has also attended the magic school of Sforzando. He has inherited the blood of the demon king Chestra, which causes other demons to bow to him out of respect. This leads Great to have a childhood similar to Hamel's. Although he seems to take a cold attitude towards his family and strangers, he does so out of fear of hurting them. Shortly after meeting Shchel, he opens up.
 * Lute - The son of Hamel and Flute, the elder brother of Great. He resembles Flute's brother, Lute. He is also the captain of the Kuu Crusaders, the group of the strongest cadets in the Magicorps. When Lute tries to help Shchel with his magic, he is one of the first to notice the strange and dark aura around Shchel.
 * Gospel - A classmate of Shchel and Great, a shaman from the spirit land, Dotar. He uses skulls.
 * Count Ridge - A classmate of Shchel and Great, from a family of merchants rumored to be vampire aristocrats.
 * Bonshou Rei - A classmate of Shchel and Great, he looks like a jiangshi. He has a divine beast: a tiger named Kayagumu. After being beaten up by Great, he leaves the school and returns to his country.
 * Tinor Sax Bone - A classmate of Shchel and Great, a swordsman from Dal Segno. He can summon demon dogs with his black sword. He blames the Mazoku blood for his father's disability and the strange disease his mother carries (based on his family name, he could be the son of Trom Bone and Corrnet).
 * Biyorne and Blanche - Classmates of Shchel and Great, a pair of warrior sisters known as the String Sisters. Blanche seems to have a crush on Shchel. Biyorne is responsible for keeping her sister safe. Biyorne wields a giant ax, while Blanche wields a giant hammer.
 * Ocarina - The daughter of Raiel and Sizer. She can play the flute to summon little Valkyries. She is also the cousin of Great and Lute. It seems that her growth is accelerated by the angelic blood inherited from her mother.
 * Harmony - A girl with butterfly wings and a double-edged scythe. She is currently a member of the Poison Moths of the Fairy Kingdom. Her insignia is carved on the tip of her scythe. She may be the mistress of Shchel. She wears both Shchel's ring and his mother's ring.
 * Si and Chest - Hamel and Flute's son.
 * David
 * Snow Drop Kiy and Elect

Zoku Violinist of Hameln: Ai no Bolero
Two years after the abrupt end of the sequel manga, Watanabe created a sort of version of the original series in an alternate universe. The series is titled Zoku Violinist of Hameln: Ai no Bolero, where "Zoku" means "continuation". It began in 2013 and is still running. It is first published on Watanabe's personal website.