Last
update: December 12th 2008
Page visited times (+8000 more or less. I
don't know why but the counter reset.)
Italian version The original version of
this website is in Italian, follow the link if you wish to have a look...
~ Oniisama E... ~ Caro Fratello... ~ (English
version)
Click here for background music: Gymnopédie, Satie (midi)
This
page is dedicated to a manga work (and an anime series based on it) by the
great Riyoko Ikeda, author of the unforgettable "Versailles no Bara"
(The Rose of Versailles).
Less
popular than the work that preceded it, Oniisama E... manga was first
published in Japan in 1975 by Shueisha, then republished by Choukoro-sha in a
single volume, and it's quite difficult to find today. In 1991 NHK produced an
anime series, made of 39 episodes.
The
anime version reminds of the series dedicated to Versailles no Bara and Ace
o Nerae, mainly because they all share the same director, and a real
"master" of Japanese animation, Osamu Dezaki: extremely
slender characters, details constantly appearing and giving hints about the
further development of the story, still images in pastel colours underlying the
most important moments...
But what's "Oniisama E..."
about?
The
title comes from the letters that the main character, Nanako Misonoo, writes to
Takehiko Henmi, a young universitary student who taught sociology at the "Juku"
(a common
school institution in Japan, where students prepare to give exams to enter
higher school levels) she attended
after junior high school: Nanako asks him to be her "older brother",
a reassuring figure to whom she can tell her thoughts, pain, troubles in a very
important period in the life of a young girl: the passage from junior to senior
high school.
Nanako
and her best friend Tomoko enter the Seiran Gakuen, a prestigious all-female
private institute that comprises from elementary school to university. The
school life at Seiran is dominated by three charismatic girls, respected,
admired, worshipped by the other students: "Kaoru no Kimi" (Prince
Kaoru), aka Kaoru Orihara; "Hana no Saint Just" (Saint Just of Flowers),
aka Rei Asaka; "Miya-sama" (The Princess - or Lady Miya in the
Italian version -), aka Fukiko Ichinomiya.
Besides
meeting these "wonderful people", Nanako also meets Mariko Shinobu, a
charming classmate, whose main goal is becoming Nanako's best friend. All these
people, and the mysterious stories related to them, will have a deep, lasting
effect on young Nanako.
The
plot of Oniisama E... is extremely intriguing, like a jigsaw puzzle
composing very slowly before our eyes, stressed by the feelings and sensations
of the main characters, by highly dramatic moments (and even melodramatic, as
someone said); a sort of "gothic novel", a story of love and death,
dominated by roses, cherry petals, by an old clock tower, a mysterious golden
bracelet, and a sad-looking little doll, appearing like a leit motiv throughout
the series...
Oniisama
E... is oriented to a more mature
audience, as serious issues are recurring in this work: use of drugs, teen-age
suicide, serious diseases, the influence of a high-class elite on the life of
young individuals, and, last but not least, the very strong attraction for a
person of the same gender...
But Oniisama
E... is also a work that anyone loving shoujo manga should definitely read
or watch, a masterpiece in describing the female world and psyche in a troubled
moment of the growth of a young girl...
I
strongly recommend it to people who, like me, have always loved Riyoko Ikeda's
style, and read mangas also with their hearts...
- What's New and
Previous updates; *Updated*
- The Characters;
- The Anime *Updated* (Episode Summaries- Summaries from ep. 9
to 39);
- The Manga: Manga Scans; Manga Synopses *Complete*;
- Passages from the
script;
- Image
Gallery ; (7 Pages)
- Anime Comics
& Artbook ; *Updated*
- Characters'
Screenshot Gallery;
- Oniisama e
Fanarts; *Updated*
- Links ; *Updated*
- Aknowledgements
and Credits ;
- Link to this site
Multimedia:
- Videos, Music
& Sounds ; *Updated*
- Desktop Themes
and Icons
If you are interested in
buying the DVD Italian version in two boxes, try to contact:
- Yamato Shop, Via Lecco,2 - 20124 - Milano (Italy)
- Fax number: 02-29527344 (add Italy's code before "02");
Tel. number: 02-29409679
You can also visit the Official Website of Yamato Video (in
Italian), where you can order the Italian DVD version online.
You can also try and ask Yamato Shop about
the Italian version of the manga (look in the "Manga scans"
section of this site to have more info about it).
If you wish to use for your webpages images,
text or other material taken from this website, PLEASE give credit to the
author, meaning me (arashi) or to the people who scanned and sent me
the images you find in several sections of this site (their names are
mentioned).
In any case, please say where the material you use comes from, linking to this
site.
It's a form of respect for the work of other people. Thanks.
If you wish to make comments on this page,
or exchange opinions on this great work, just e-mail me... You can also leave a
message in the Guestbook placed in the Italian main page.
Website created by "arashi kishuu"
on October 6th 1998 with Netscape Navigator Gold (tm) version 3.01.
***
The water
background on this page comes from IconBAZAAR
Copyrights & Disclaimer: [for the anime] 1991,
NHK Enterprises Inc./Ikeda Riyoko Productions/ Tezuka Productions. Copyright
1996, Yamato S.r.l. for the Italian version. [for the manga] 1975, Ikeda Riyoko
Production. First published by Shueisha and republished by Choukoro-sha, Inc.,
Tokyo, Japan. Copyright 1995, Edizioni Star Comics Srl for the Italian version.
All images and material on this website are copyright of
their respective owners; copyright Yamato Video Srl and Edizioni Star Comics
for the Italian versions. No infringment of copyright laws is intended.
This website was made by a fan for other fans, and has
no commercial purposes of any kind.
