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Absolute Boyfriend (絶対彼氏。 Zettai Kareshi.?) is a six volume manga series by Yuu Watase, first serialized in Shōjo Comic. Chuang Yi licensed it for an English language release in Singapore, with the first volume released in March 2005. Viz Media licensed the series for an English release in North America, serializing the series in its Shojo Beat manga anthology as well as releasing the volumes.
The manga series was adapted into an 11-episode live-action drama series that aired in Japan in 2008. A 13-episode Taiwanese adaptation aired in 2012, and plans are underway for a South Korean adaptation.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Media
3.1 Manga
3.2 Volume list
3.3 Drama CD
3.4 Live-action television series
3.4.1 Japanese adaptation
3.4.2 Taiwanese adaptation
3.4.3 Korean adaptation
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
Plot
Riiko Izawa has never had a boyfriend and she has been rejected by every boy she has ever had a crush on. When she returns a lost cell phone to an oddly dressed salesman, she mentions wanting a boyfriend. To thank her, he directs her to his company's website, Kronos Heaven. When she visits the site, Riiko finds it's a site to create your perfect lover. Thinking it's a game, she customizes and accidentally orders one. The next day, her new lover arrives. Following the instruction manual, she kisses him to wake him up and configures him to be in love with only her. She names him "Night." Three days later, she is shocked to learn that she only had him for a free trial for 72 hours. The salesman, Gaku Namikiri, tells her that she must now pay 100,000,000 yen for Night, however, they will waive the fee if she helps them to collect data about how women think and feel to help perfect future models.
Riiko must now keep Night's true nature a secret from everyone around her. She also soon finds herself in a love triangle between Night and her childhood friend Soshi, who declares his love for her out of fear he will lose her. As the series progresses, Night begins to develop real human emotions, enabling him to truly love Riiko but also resulting in system malfunctions. When Riiko almost loses Night due to the malfunctions, she realizes that he is the one she really loves. She apologizes to Soshi, who moves to Spain with his brother to live with their dad. Night and Riiko spend a few happy weeks together, during which they go on dates, get their picture taken together, and purchase matching rings as symbols of their undying love.
As the series ends, Night begins to grow sleepier and sleepier. The problems developed by him exceeding his abilities eventually causes his machinery to stop working, resulting in his "death". Before he died, he wrote a letter directed to Soshi telling him what was happening and asking him to take care of Riiko. He also sends his ring, which Riiko noticed he has not been wearing immediately prior to his death. In the letter, he tells Riiko that she doesn't have to cry for him any more. Riiko then smiles through her tears and forever treasures the ring, picture and her memories of Night - her first love, and eternal boyfriend.
Characters
Riiko Izawa (井沢 リイコ Izawa Riiko?)
Played by: Saki Aibu (Japanese drama) / Ku Hye-sun (Taiwanese drama)
Riiko is a young, flat-chested (according to Soushi, 32-A cup) 16-year-old girl who has bad luck with boys. When she helps a strange salesman named Gaku Namikiri, she ends up ordering a cybernetic boyfriend. Though initially shy around her new boyfriend, Riiko begins to fall in love with him, while also finding herself struggling with her new admirer, Soushi Asamoto. Riiko is rather naïve, clumsy, and simple-minded, but kindhearted, hardworking, and serious.
Riiko doesn't want to admit she is in love with Night and constantly reminds herself that he is just a figure (a doll). This, however, isn't completely true because she gets jealous or even angry when he flirts with other girls for "data."
Live-action
In the live-action drama, Riiko is an office lady at Asamoto who has troubles with guys, and so is introduced by the manager of Kronos Heaven to try out a cybernetic boyfriend for one week. Over the course of the series, she grows increasingly attached to her new boyfriend, Night Tenjo, and her boss, Asamoto Soshi. She chooses to give up her dream of becoming a patissier to be with Night, but ends up going anyway after Night's computer system was destroyed.
In the movie, Riiko has become an official patissier after three years of training, and is forced to make the choice of her life when Night is suddenly restored.
Night Tenjo (天城ナイト Tenjō Naito?)
Played by: Mokomichi Hayami (Japanese drama) / Jiro Wang (Taiwanese drama)
Nightly 01 (Night) is a cybernetic doll custom ordered by Riiko Azawa. As such, he is the "perfect boyfriend": charming, dependable, intelligent, athletic, good-looking, sensitive, and completely devoted. At first he is perfect for Riiko because it is in his programming, however as the series progresses, Night develops true emotions and a genuine love for her and has his own will. He is 6' tall as shown on the back of the first volume of the English version.
Being designed to fulfill intimate relations for a woman, Night is constantly seen taking off his clothes offering to have sex with Riiko, to which she steadfastly declines. He also often tries to kiss Riiko, which makes her uncomfortable/embarrassed, and is always interrupted by a third party, much to Riiko's relief.
Night's Ring
Functions similarly to a mood ring, with one difference: it reads the moods of people around Night. This helps him collect data about interacting with them.
What the different colors mean: Red - Happy, Pink - Pleasure, Black - Sad, Blue - Angry and Jealous, and White - Neutral/Calm.
Live-action
In the live-action series, Night is initially much more annoying than his manga incarnation as he often embarrasses Riiko by telling everyone that he is her "ideal boyfriend", which infuriates her. He finds a job as cleaner at Asamoto and embarrasses her further. Unlike the manga, his data-collecting equipment is a bracelet.
By developing his own will, Kronos Heaven worry about the problems he may cause to the company and try to delete his data. Though he manages to keep his system from deletion, his data chip has begun to overheat due to his newfound independence and eventually stops working altogether.
In the movie, his system is restored by a professor who wishes to use his independence for her selfish reasons. He eventually is forced to make the ultimate decision: to give up Riiko for her future.
Soushi Asamoto (浅元ソウシ Asamoto Soushi?)
Played by: Hiro Mizushima (Japanese drama) / Kun Da (Taiwanese drama)
Soushi is Riiko's childhood friend. He lives alone with his brother because his father is a travel photographer. He watches over Riiko and takes care of her while her parents work far away. At first he just treats her as a very good friend. However, as the story progresses, Soushi realizes that he has stronger feelings for Riiko. He discovers he loves her and confesses this to her.
Live-action
In the live-action series, Soshi is a flamboyant and playful young man who cares more about the origins of his grandfather's company than what it has become. He grows romantically attached to Riiko Azawa, and declares his love for her at some point. He also encourages Riiko to pursue her dream of becoming a patissier.
In the movie, Soshi and Riiko have become a couple, but their relationship is seriously strained by the return of Night before it was repaired.
Masaki Asamoto
Soushi's little brother. Usually only shown to add comic relief.
Live-action
In the series, Masaki is Soshi's older brother, and a serious businessman who cares more about Asamoto's current situations and sales development than its origins.
Ishizeki
A boy Riiko asks out at the bus stop. Apologizing, he informs her that he is interested in another girl. He and a couple friends confront Riiko and Night at school, after finding out they are 'dating', and calls Riiko a slut. Night doesn't like this, so he beats up Ishizeki's friends and tells him to never mess with him or Riiko again.
Live-action
In the series, Ishizeki is a staff member of Asamoto who seems to be fond of Riiko until she realizes that he has been playing her feelings with some prompting from her best friend, Mika.
Mika Itou
A frenemy, and classmate, of Riiko's. She offers support and reassurance when Riiko feels miserable after being rejected by Ishizeki. However, later on, it is shown that she is the reason why boys always reject Riiko after she asks them out.She's been spreading rumors around school that Riiko is slutty and goes out with boys for their money. Mika went out with Ishizeki just so Riiko couldn't. After dumping him, she states she is only interested in things that belong to other people. Mika later on sets Night's violent fanclub on Riiko and tries to make the model date her instead, and even break them up. In the end, her scheme backfires and she stops being friends with Riiko.
Live-action
In the drama, Mika and Riiko maintain their friendship despite everything she had done to her and Asamoto, and Mika helps protect Night's secret.
Miyabi
Warns Riiko to watch out for Mika. One day, as she is passing Riiko in the hall, she accidentally drops her transaction book. Riiko picks it up, telling Miyabi she dropped it, then freaks out when she see's it has 10 million yen written in it. Miyabi tells her she deals in stock trading, and then helps Riiko find a job at a vietnamese restaurant. Miyabi at one stage 'borrows' Night when he is in his miniature form.
Gaku Namikiri (ガク·ナミキリ Gaku Namikiri?)
Played by: Kuranosuke Sasaki (Japanese drama)
Gaku is a salesman for Kronos Heaven, a company specializing in making highly realistic robots, or "figures." Though usually businesslike and down-to-earth, Gaku is sometimes mistaken for a cosplayer because of his odd manner of dress. When Riiko cannot return Night nor pay the bill for him, Gaku allows her to keep him so Night can collect data on how to become a better lover for use in future models. Whenever there is a problem with Night, Gaku is the one to fix him. He tends to use Spanish words in conversations, at least in the English version of the manga.
Gaku keeps close tabs on the progress in the relationship between Riiko and Night, and often appears randomly out of nowhere, ie. Riiko's closet, mostly for comic relief.
Toshiki Murakami
Riiko's first crush. He runs into Riiko and Night before they get on the Ferris Wheel, and hands Riiko an ice pack because she twisted her ankle. His brother, Yuki, feels sick, and as repayment for helping Riiko, Night takes Yuki to the restroom. Toshiki kisses Riiko when they are alone in the Ferris Wheel together, after admitting she was his crush in elementary school. After The kiss in the Ferris Wheel, he appears at the hotel Riiko and Night decided to stay at, invites her to his room, knocks her out, and then says he had fun with her that night. Next he appears at her school and claims they are now lovers (which isn't true, he never slept with her at the hotel).
He turns out to not be the real Toshiki, but an imposter. His real name is Toshiki Shirasaki and he is the Nightly 02 series. He is sent to seduce Riiko because Night failed to sleep with her. He carries a high resemblance to Night in facial features, body structure, and even wears the same jewelry, although he is much stronger and has better reflexes than him.
After a confrontation with Night in Riiko's apartment, in which Night rips off his arm, Toshiki is shut down by Yuki and taken away for testing and reprogramming. Later, he becomes the boyfriend of a wealthy girl and establishes a friendship with Riiko and Night.
Yuki Shirisaki
The pretended brother of Toshiki. Knocks Night out when he whispers a code into his ear at the hotel.
In reality he is the boss of Gaku, and sends out his Nightly 02 model to seduce, and have sex with, Riiko. He wants to see if it is a better model than the Nightly 01 series, and states that whichever model successfully sleeps with Riiko is going to be a finished product, and the one that fails will be disposed of.
Media
Manga
Written by Yuu Watase, Absolute Boyfriend premiered in Japan in the March 2003 issue of Shōjo Comic. It appeared monthly until the thirty-fifth and final chapter was published in the February 2005 issue. The chapters were published in six collected volumes by Shogakukan with the first volume released on October 25, 2003 and the final volume released on February 25, 2005.
Absolute Boyfriend is licensed for both English and Chinese releases in Singapore by Chuang Yi, which has released all six volumes of the series. Madman Entertainment subsequently imported and republished the Chuang Yi English translated volumes in Australia from May 17, 2006 through October 11, 2006. In North America, the series was licensed for an English translated release by Viz Media. It was one of the first six manga series Viz included in the June 2005 premiere issue of the company's new manga anthology Shojo Beat. It continued to be serialized in Shojo Beat until it reached its conclusion in the March 2008 issue. Viz simultaneously released the six collected volumes of the series, with the first volume released February 7, 2006 and the final volume released on May 6, 2008.
The series is also licensed for regional language releases in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime, in France by Kana, and in Brazil by Conrad.
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Boyfriend |
