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Wing-Man (Japanese: ウイングマン, Hepburn: Uinguman) is a Japanese science fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1985, with the chapters collected into 13 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha.
| Wing-Man | |
 Cover of the first volume | |
| ウイングマン (Uinguman) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fantasy Superhero[1] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Masakazu Katsura |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Imprint | Jump Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | January 4, 1983 – August 27, 1985 |
| Volumes | 13 |
| Anime television series | |
| Dream Soldier Wing-Man | |
| Directed by | Tomoharu Katsumata |
| Music by | Keiichi Oku |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Original network | ANN (TV Asahi) |
| Original run | February 7, 1984 – February 26, 1985 |
| Episodes | 47 |
| Video game | |
| Developer | TamTam |
| Publisher | Enix |
| Genre | |
| Platform | NEC PC-8801, Fujitsu FM-7, Sharp X1, MSX |
| Released | 1984 |
| Television drama | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by |
|
| Music by | Toshinori Kawamura |
| Studio | Toei |
| Original network | TV Tokyo |
| Original run | October 23, 2024 – present |
| Episodes | 3 |
Synopsis
editWing-Man is the story of Kenta Hirono, a fan of superheroes and sentai television shows to the point where he dreams of becoming such a hero himself. To that end, he creates a superhero of his own called "Wingman," and, much to the chagrin of his teachers, acts out his fantasies of being Wingman at school. When Kenta meets Aoi Yume, the beautiful blue-haired princess of an alternate universe called Podreams, he gets his chance to make his fantasy come true, as Aoi carries a book called a Dream Note which can make any dream come true, and Kenta draws a picture of Wingman in the book, allowing him to become Wingman for real. Kenta, Aoi and Kenta's classmate and love interest, Miku Ogawa, team up to save Podreams from the evil dictator Rimel, who wants to use the Dream Note to take over Podreams, while Kenta deals with his conflicting feelings for both of his female compatriots.
Characters
edit- Kenta Hirono (広野健太, Hirono Kenta)
- Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa
- Aoi Yume (夢あおい, Yume Aoi)
- Voiced by: Yōko Kawanami
- Miku Ogawa (小川美紅, Ogawa Miku)
- Voiced by: Naoko Watanabe
- Momoko Morimoto (森本桃子, Morimoto Momoko)
- Voiced by: Yuriko Yamamoto
- Kumiko Fuzawa (布沢久美子, Fuzawa Kumiko)
- Voiced by: Seiko Nakano
- Kurumi Mimori (美森くるみ, Mimori Kurumi)
- Voiced by: Mitsuko Horie
- Riro Ousei (桜瀬りろ, Ousei Riro)
- Voiced by: Mika Ishizawa
- Kenta's Father
- Voiced by: Kōji Yada
- Kenta's Mother
- Voiced by: Mariko Mukai
- Masakazu Tonari (戸鳴正和, Tonari Masakazu)
- Voiced by: Akie Yasuda
- Keiko Matsuoka (松岡ケイ子, Matsuoka Keiko)
- Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto
- Principal
- Voiced by: Takeshi Aono
- Vice Principal
- Voiced by: Jōji Yanami
- Fukumoto (福本)
- Voiced by: Michitaka Kobayashi
- Doctor Lark (ドクターラーク)
- Voiced by: Sanji Hase
- Rimel (リメル)
- Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
- Kitakura (キータクラー)
- Voiced by: Kei Tomiyama
- Kitamura-sensei (北村先生)
- Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
- Shaft (シャフト)
- Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (Kōzō Shioya in episode 7)
- Doctor Unbalance (ドクターアンバランス)
- Voiced by: Hiroshi Ōtake
- The Shiva (ザ・シーバ)
- Voiced by: Mari Yokō
- Nass (ナァス)
- Voiced by: Bin Shimada
- Ghost Rimel (ゴーストリメル)
- Voiced by: Eiji Kanie
Production
editKazuhiko Torishima, the editor who discovered Masakazu Katsura, said he was disappointed when the artist told him he wanted to draw a transforming superhero manga.[2] He explained that science fiction works in television with its special effects, but it does not come across visually in manga. So Torishima proposed making it a school story involving girls and asked him to make the main character more realistic and familiar to readers.[2]
Media
editAnime
editThe manga was adapted into an anime television series titled Dream Soldier Wing-Man (夢戦士ウイングマン, Yume Senshi Uinguman) in 1984, produced by Toei Animation and airing on TV Asahi. Featuring character designs by Yoshinori Kanemori and intended by Toei Animation to be a strong shōnen title following the female-targeted Ai Shite Knight, Wing-Man marked the first anime adaptation of one of Katsura's works and the debut role of Ryo Horikawa as Kenta. (Katsura himself would later appear as Wing-Man in a live-action adaptation of Video Girl Ai.) The anime's ending differs from that of the manga, but the manga's ending was dramatized with the anime's voice actors on a drama LP.
Video games
editThe manga was adapted into a 1984 visual novel adventure game also titled Dream Soldier Wing-Man. It was developed by TamTam and published by Enix for the NEC PC-8801 and other personal computers.[3] It featured a point-and-click interface, where a cursor is used to interact with on-screen objects,[4] similar to Planet Mephius (1983)[4] and the Famicom version of The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1985).[5]
Live-action
editOn September 2, 2024 a live-action television adaptation of Wing-Man was announced. Co-produced by TV Tokyo, Toei Video, and DMM TV, it began airing on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on October 22, 2024 and was available on the DMM TV streaming service starting October 16.[6] Maito Fujioka and Konatsu Kato will star as Kenta Hirono and Aoi Yume respectively with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai veteran Koichi Sakamoto as the director, "Chang[e]" by Blue Encount will be the show's opening theme song.[7]
References
edit- ^ Thompson, Jason (December 31, 2010). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Video Girl Ai". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- ^ a b Yoshida, Yuhei (2019-11-28). "編集王に訊く42 白泉社 代表取締役会長 鳥嶋和彦さん". Comitia (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ Wingman at The Visual Novel Database
- ^ a b "Wingman". Oh! FM-7. 2007-06-21. Retrieved 21 September 2011. (Translation)
- ^ Gameman (2005-09-06). 「ポートピア連続殺人事件」の舞台を巡る. ITmedia +D Games (in Japanese). ITmedia. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-08-16. (Translation)
- ^ "Masakazu Katsura's Superhero Manga Wingman Gets Live-Action TV Series". [Anime News Network]. September 2, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
- ^ "Live-Action Wingman Series Unveils Cast, Director, Opening Song Artists". [Anime News Network]. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
External links
edit- Wing-Man at Toei Animation
- Wing-Man (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia