Webpage. Features (Home): Shoujo & General: 900 anime/manga reviewsTo my knowledge Oniisama E was the second manga series written by Riyoko Ikeda. Her first manga series was Rose of Versailles, written in the early 70's, which is made up of 10 volumes and has a 2 volume sequel, that mostly involves Oscar's (the heroine of RoV) niece. I have not read or seen either the original or the sequel as of yet, so that's about all I can tell you for now. In 1975 Oniisama E was first published by Shueisha and later republished by Chuokoron-sha, Inc., Tokyo, Japan. Oniisama has 3 volumes and was not made into an anime until 1991. The Italian version of the manga, which my translation is based on, was not published until 1995. The anime was released at the same time in Italy on VHS, and was made up of 10 volumes.
At this time I only know of a few other manga written by Riyoko Ikeda. Akiko no Etude, 2 volumes from Margaret Comics. Epitaramu, I'm not sure how many volumes. Orpehus's Window (Orfeus no Mado) was written in 1981. There are 18 volumes in the series. It sounds similar to Rose of Versailles, it's about a woman in the Russian Revolution. I have also come across some other titles. A more recent one called Wedding Dress. It's only 1 volume and is a collection of short stories about girls. I also found another title, but all I have is a title, I know nothing else about it. It's called Heroica. I think it's about 21 volumes. The Japanese Oniisama E manga also include 2 unrelated short stories in the back of volumes 2 and 3. If you know anything about any title or any other works by Riyoko Ikeda please let me know.
If you'd like to write Riyoko Ikeda a fan letter, I found this address below online.
Ikeda Riyoko Productions
3-5-1-102 Ohtsugaoka
Shonam-cho, Chiba-ken
227-0921 Japan
Oniisama E
There are many other smaller difference that might be surprising. The one I was most surprised about is that Tomoko is hardly in the manga at all. Almost all the scenes from the anime with Tomoko don't exisit in the manga. And the ones from the anime with Tomoko, Mariko, and Nanako, are usually just Mariko and Nanako in the manga. Nanako and Mariko seem to be much closer. Another surprising but much smaller difference between anime and manga is that St. Juste plays the guitar and not the piano in the manga. I'm very glad they changed that, because I think the piano fits the atmosphere of the story better. Another small difference from the anime (and you probably already noticed if you were at my main page) is that Nanako when she is shown in color has blond hair. I think that in the anime they wanted to give her a more average look, she even says at one point in the anime that she's not pretty. And while she says the same thing in the manga she has a slightly cuter more pretty look to her. Her hair is a little shorter and more curly sometimes. She also wears prettier dresses more often. We see her dressing up and being concerened about her looks a lot in the anime, but it seems to me she has a more mature taste of style in the anime. She still appears very stylish in the manga but it's a much more girlish look. Of course a lot of this might have to do with when the manga was written and when the anime was made. There is a 15 year space between the two. The manga definitely has a very 70's look and feel to it. I think the anime has a more timeless sort of look. While I don't know any girls that dress like the girls in Oniisama on a regular basis, it does seem like it could be taking place at this very moment but it also feels like it could be taking place 20 or 25 years ago.
I've probably given the impression I don't care very much for the manga, but that is not true at all. I do like the anime more, but I'd say it's only slightly. The manga isn't really all that different (well aleast it hasn't been very diffeent from the first 20 eps of the anime) from the anime. And I really do recomend getting it if you can track it down. The art work is absolutely amazing! And I think that if you like the anime and you get the manga it'll be like looking at the story from a slightly different perspective, if that makes any sense.
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