Recent Posts
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
- It needs additional references or sources for verification. Tagged since December 2007.
- It contains a plot summary that is too long compared to the rest of the article. Tagged since June 2008.
- Its tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Tagged since December 2007.
- It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. Tagged since December 2007.
Ceres, Celestial Legend
First volume of the original Japanese release of the Ceres, Celestial Legend manga
妖しのセレス
(Ayashi no Ceres)
Genre
Action, Fantasy, Romance
Manga
Author
Yuu Watase
Other publishers:
Viz Media
Editions Tonkam
Glénat
Play Press
EMA (Egmont Manga and Anime)
Demographic
Shōjo
Magazine
Shōjo Comic
Original run
May 1996 – March 2000
Volumes
14
TV anime
Director
Hajime Kamegaki
Studio
Studio Pierrot
Licensor
Viz Media
Other networks:
Original run
April 20, 2000 – September 28, 2000
Episodes
24
Ceres, Celestial Legend (妖しのセレス, Ayashi no Seresu?) is a fantasy shōjo manga series written by Yuu Watase. It was originally serialized in Shōjo Comic from May 1996 through March 2000. The chapters were also published by Shogakukan in fourteen collected volumes. The series focuses on Aya Mikage, who learns on her sixteenth birthday that she is the reincarnation of a celestial maiden (天女, tennyo?) named Ceres, and her twin brother Aki the reincarnation of Ceres’ former husband. Ceres begins manifesting in Aya. To try to save her brother, Aya must find Ceres’ lost celestial robe (羽衣, hagoromo?), while trying to avoid being killed or captured by her own family, who wants to use Ceres powers for their own gain.
The manga series is licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media. In 1998, it won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo. Studio Pierrot adapted the series into a twenty-four episode anime series that premiered in Japan on WOWOW on April 20, 2000 and ran until September 28, 2000. The anime series is also licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media.
Contents
//
Plot
The story revolves around a teenage girl named Aya and her twin brother Aki, members of the wealthy and powerful Mikage family.
On their sixteenth birthday, they are called to gather in their family home to be given a special present. Instead they find themselves the victims of an ancient family ritual. Aya is proven to be the reincarnation of a celestial maiden (天女, tennyo?), and upon reaching the age of sixteen her body is able to bring forth a powerful, celecital maiden called Ceres, the tennyo. When she transforms into Ceres, Aya obtains supernatural powers and often forgets what she has done during the transformation, resulting in a double personality. According to the legend, if left to live, the reincarnation of Ceres will bring ruin upon the Mikage family. Aya quickly finds herself assigned a death penalty by her own family. However, she is saved by Suzumi Aogiri, another tennyo descendant, from Kansai and Suzumi’s brother-in-law, Yūhi. They take Aya into their home after she is forced to run from the Mikage.
Events escalate as Aya struggles to control Ceres and her brother gains the ability to manifest as “Shiso Mikagi”, the ancestor of the Mikage family who stole Ceres’ celestial robe (羽衣, hagoromo?), without which she cannot return to heaven. Aya must also wrestle with affection for Toya, a Mikage employee with no memory of his own past. He is assigned to protect Aki and observe Aya by the leader of the C-project (celestial project). As he carries out his mission, he begins to develop feeling for Aya, and she for him.
As Aya’s allies increase, which include two C-Genomers (celestial descendants) like herself and the Aogiri family, and Tōya, she manages to make an agreement with Ceres. Aya promises to retrive Ceres’s “hagoromo” in exchange for the celestial maiden’s mercy toward her brother and Toya.
Aya’s quest to find Ceres’s hagoromo wavers as she struggles with the emotional trauma of losing her family, battles the organization carrying out the C-Project, fights off the advances of Shiso Mikagi, and defies the forces that threaten to tear her away from Tōya. Tōya also struggles to find himself and regain his lost memory. In doing so, he learns that he was the organism that was created from the hagoromo or mana and his purpose was to return the mana back to Ceres.
Characters
Aya Mikage (御景 妖, Mikage Aya?)
- Voiced by: Yumi Kakazu (Japanese), Mariette Sluyter (English)
A high-school girl and heroine at the beginning of the story who discovers she is a descendant of a tennyo named “Ceres” and is Ceres’ latest medium for existence. The Mikage family takes this as a threat and continuously tries to take Aya’s life. Her father is killed attempting to protect her. Her mother is forced into a coma for the majority of the series. While Aya is initially horrified that her life has been turned upside down, she is determined to right the past doings of her family and recover Ceres’ hagoromo so that her family will no longer suffer in fear of Ceres. Later she finds herself falling in love with Tōya.
Ceres (セレス, Seresu?)
- Voiced by: Junko Iwao (Japanese), Onalea Gilbertson (English)
A celestial maiden or tennyo from the legend, who married the founder of the Mikage family, Shiso Mikagi. While she is extremely powerful and volatile, she seeks to recover her hagoromo, or celestial robe, to regain her powers. She has repeatedly attempted to manifest herself through certain female descendants of her line when they reach the age of sixteen, only to be thwarted each time as they are killed by the Mikage family. Ceres hides a tragic past misinterpreted by descendants who seek to kill Aya to stop Ceres for another generation.
Tōya (十夜, Tōya?)
- Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Victor Atelevich (English)
A mysterious young man who has absolutely no memory of his past or the nature of his being; his only clues are two names: “Tōya” (“ten nights”, his name), and “Mikage”. He was found and hired by Kagami and works for Mikage International, and later rebels against them. He and Aya are drawn to one another, not only in love. Tōya is the embodiment/offspring of the hagoromo which Ceres is searching for. As he regains his lost memories, he sacrifices the immortality bestowed upon him by the object to save Aya and his unborn child. At the end of the series he tells Yūhi that he may not live for long and that Yūhi should take care of Aya once he dies.
Aki Mikage (御景 明, Mikage Aki?)
- Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese), Tommy Campbell (English)
Aya’s twin brother, a gentle and caring person who is subject to becoming a medium for the spirit of Mikagi, the founder of the Mikage family who aggressively pursues Aya and Ceres and almost raped Aya. In the end he sacrifices his life to destroy the violent Mikagi’s reincarnation.
Suzumi Aogiri (梧 納涼, Aogiri Suzumi?)
- Voiced by: Mayumi Asano (Japanese), Maizun Jayoussi (English)
A widow and a C-Genomer (tennyo descendant) from the Kansai region, Suzumi is a head of a branch of the one of the Aogiri family’s schools of Japanese dance. She welcomes Aya into her household when she discovers Aya has become Ceres’ latest medium. Suzumi cannot become a tennyo like Aya, though she does possess slight psychic powers like clairvoyance and telekinesis. She is capable of making protective charms for Yūhi as he strives to aid Aya.
Yūhi Aogiri (梧 雄飛, Aogiri Yūhi?)
- Voiced by: Kentarou Itou (Japanese), Matthew Erickson (English)
Suzumi’s brother-in-law, the adopted younger brother of Suzumi’s deceased husband. He wore a headband enhanced with tennyo magic made by Suzumi. Yūhi has unrequited feelings for Aya, who comes to see him as a brother. But then he accepts the fact that Aya only has eyes for Tōya. Later, he begins to return the affections of Chidori Kurama. A notable martial arts expert, he is also an extraordinary cook.
Kyū Oda, “Mrs. Q” (小田 玖, Oda Kyū?)
- Voiced by: Kujira (Japanese), Doug McKeag (English)
The Aogiri’s household help, a gnome-like woman known for her reckless driving and ridiculously ugly appearance, despite her consistent claims that she is a beautiful woman. She’s convinced that she and Tōya are made for each other.
Chidori Kuruma (来間 千鳥, Kuruma Chidori?)
- Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese), Carol-Anne Day (English)
Another C-Genomer from Tochigi Prefecture; a cheerful, high-school girl who looks child-like that she is until she transforms into a tennyo. Chidori cares deeply for her younger brother, Shouta, who was hospitalized upon her introduction into the story. She can transform into a tennyo at will. She develops deepening feelings from her crush on Yūhi, as she dies for his sake.
Chidori’s tennyo name is Pallas.
Yuki Urakawa (浦川 由貴, Urakawa Yuki?)
- Voiced by: Akiko Kimura
A high-school girl and a C-Genomer who goes the same school as Yūhi and Aya. Yuki is quiet and has a weak constitution. She can’t transform into a tennyo, but she can manifest the power of pyrokinesis. She’s having a relationship with her teacher, who is actually an agent sent by the Mikage International to capture/eliminate Aya (Ceres). In the end, Urakawa burned the agent and hugged him, which causes her to get severely burned and die.
Miori Sahara (佐原 美緒里, Sahara Miori?)
- Voiced by: Akiko Yajima (Japanese), Meredith Taylor-Parry (English)
Aya’s distant cousin and a C-Genomer from Shizuoka Prefecture. She is an ordinary, high-school girl living a normal, happy life with her mother. Her mother was summoned by the Mikages and was killed at the main house when Aya first transformed into Ceres. When Aya comes to a new school, the two meet and become friends. Although Aya doesn’t know about her personally, Miori is only pretending and has an agenda of her own. She transformed into a tennyo to take on on Aya (as Ceres) to avenge her mother’s death. She later committed suicide as her final act of “revenge” against Aya.
Miori’s tennyo name, like Aya, is Ceres.
Shuro Tsukasa (司 珠呂, Tsukasa Shuro?)
- Voiced by: Shizuka Sasaki (Japanese), Elizabeth Stepkowski (English)
An Okinawan C-Genomer raised as a man by her family in fear that Shuro would one day take away the family’s heirloom hagoromo and ascend to heaven. She is GeSANG’s famous pop star alongside her cousin Kei Tsukasa. She dies near the end of the series attempting to free the C-Genomes. Shuro has the ability to magnify her voice to epic amplitudes when she transforms into a tennyo, to a degree that people near her had their hearts rupture.
Shuro’s tennyo name is Juno.
Kagami Mikage (御景 各臣, Mikage Kagami?)
- Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Dave Kelly (English)
Aya’s distant cousin and director of C-Project (Celestial Project) conducted by Mikage International. He is one of the few members of the family who actually wants to meet Ceres and does not fear her. In fact, he almost seems in love with her. Kagami wants her captured for study, so that he can harness the power of the tennyo and wishes to learn their true nature in hopes of bettering humanity, though his methods are less than moral. When Kagami was young he suffered a tragic childhood and was beaten by his mother for not being the best at things. Because of this it has an effect on his personality. His objective on C-Project is to create the “perfect” human race.
Alec (アレク, Areku?) / Alexander O. Howell (アレクサンダー・O・ハウエル, Arekusandā O. Haueru?)
- Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese), Jonathan Love (English)
Studied in the USA, Alec is a Scottish scientist hired by Kagami for the research of tennyo legends. He speaks Japanese with a thick accent, a certified genius with a very high IQ and is a complete otaku. He works for Mikage International and provided advanced technology for the development of C-Project. As the project progresses, Alec soon finds out that things are not really going to what he expected and tries to back out from it. The only thing keeping him from doing his job ends up being his own moral convictions.
Gladys Smithson (グラディス・スミソン, Guradisu Sumison?)
- Voiced by: Yuko Nagashima (Japanese), Maureen Jones (English)
An American colleague of Alec who works for the C-Project at Mikage International. She’s responsible for the C-Genomer’s power growth and development.
Wei Fei Li (偉 飛麗, Wěi Fēi-lì?)
- Voiced by: Kouichi Toochika (Japanese), Ethan Cole (English)
A young, skilled martial artist from China hired by Mikage International. Wielding a vicious chain whip and various tiny throwing blades, he is often sent out to bring in captured C-Genomers or other covert tasks. When Tōya tried to leave the headquarters together with Aki, Wei was sent stop them. His left eye was taken by Tōya during their fight. He is Aki’s (and Shiso’s) caretaker and bodyguard, and as Tōya’s replacement. He seems to be calm most of the time and does not complain, but harbors a grudge against Tōya for the injury he caused.
Shiso Mikagi (始祖・ミカギ, Shiso Mikagi?)
- Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Jonathan Love (English)
A man from the Jōmon period of Japan and the founder of the Mikage family. In the legend, he hid her hagoromo in the ocean forcing her to become mortal. Toward the end, it is revealed that he had begun as a gentle, kind young man. Ceres falls in love with him, to the point of granting him power after their family is attacked and he is ashamed at his own inability to protect them. As Shiso grows strong, he went mad and his love becoming an obsession that drives him to hide the hagoromo, and Ceres comes to fear for her children’s safety. When she leaves, he chases her and is killed by Ceres (after he kills their first child), who covers him with lacerations identical to the ones that appear on Aki Mikage when Mikagi manifests himself in his descendant. He will stop at nothing to ensure Ceres is his again.
Assam
An young assassin from Indonesia hired by Kagami Mikage to kill Tōya after Tōya cut his ties with Kagami to join Aya. He is also a replacement for Tōya. His goal for the C-Project is to stop using children as objects of war.
Production
Ceres, Celestial Legend is the third manga series written by Yuu Watase. She based it on the legend of the tennyo and her stolen hagoromo.
As with most of her serials, Watase planned the basic story line of Ceres through to the end before beginning work. She notes that it is easier to work this way, but that even with planning sometimes the characters will “move on their own” and refuse to follow her original plans. When she reaches the end of the work, though, she found she could understand why they did so.
To enable her to accurately depict the many locations used within the series, Watase traveled to Miyagi, Okinawa, and Tochigi to visit the locations where legends say tennyo landed. She was able to negotiate entry into some normally closed to the public.
Media
Manga
Written by Yuu Watase, Ceres, The Celestial Legend premiered in Shogakukan’s Shōjo Comic May 1996 issue and ran through the March 2000 issue. The chapters were collected and published in fourteen collected volumes, with the first volume released on December 11, 1996. Starting October 15, 2005, Shogakukan began re-releasing the series in six special edition volumes, with the final one released December 15, 2005.
In 2001, Viz Media licensed the manga for an English language release in North America. In the table below, the dates and ISBN numbers given for the first four volumes are for their second edition re-releases.
#
Original
English
Release date
ISBN
Release date
ISBN
1
December 11, 1996
ISBN 4-09-136354-7
October 29, 2003
ISBN 978-1569319802
2
March 19, 1997
ISBN 4-09-136355-5
February 4, 2004
ISBN 978-1569319819
3
June 26, 1997
ISBN 4-09-136356-3
May 5, 2004
ISBN 978-1569319826
4
September 26, 1997
ISBN 4-09-136357-1
August 4, 2004
ISBN 978-1591166092
5
December 15, 1997
ISBN 4-09-136358-X
October 29, 2004
ISBN 978-1569319796
6
March 26, 1998
ISBN 4-09-136359-8
February 4, 2004
ISBN 978-1591161097
7
June 26, 1998
ISBN 4-09-136360-1
April 28, 2004
ISBN 978-1591162599
8
September 26, 1998
ISBN 4-09-137641-X
August 17, 2004
ISBN 978-1591162605
9
December 15, 1998
ISBN 4-09-137642-8
November 16, 2004
ISBN 978-1591162612
10
March 26, 1999
ISBN 4-09-137643-6
February 16, 2005
ISBN 978-1591162629
11
June 26, 1999
ISBN 4-09-137644-4
May 10, 2005
ISBN 978-1591162636
12
September 25, 1999
ISBN 4-09-137645-2
August 17, 2005
ISBN 978-1591162643
13
December 14, 1999
ISBN 4-09-137646-0
November 8, 2005
ISBN 978-1591162650
14
March 25, 2000
ISBN 4-09-137647-9
February 7, 2006
ISBN 978-1421502632
Anime
Main article: List of Ceres, Celestial Legend episodes
Directed by Hajime Kamegaki and produced by Studio Pierrot, the Ceres, Celestial Legend anime adaptation premiered in Japan on WOWOW on April 20, 2000. It ran for twenty-four episodes until its conclusion on September 28, 2000. It was released to VHS video tape and DVD by Bandai Visual in twelve volumes, with each volume containing two episodes.
Ceres, Celestial Legend is licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media, which also owns the North American license for the source manga. Viz released the series to VHS and DVD in eight three-episode volumes, with the first volume released on July 24, 2001.
References
- ^ 小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 (Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ a b Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview, Introduction . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Kinoshita, June (1998-04-14). Gateway to Japan. Kodansha International, pp. 121. ISBN 477002018X.
- ^ Tyler, Royall (1993-06-01). Japanese No Dramas. Penguin Classics, p. 96. ISBN 0140445390.
- ^ a b Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview: Story Planning . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview: Ceres Settings . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview: Creating Characters . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview: New Technologies . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Watase, Yuu (Interviewed). (2003-09-16). Ceres, Celestial Legend: Volume 1 – Yuu Watase Interview: What is ‘Ceres’? . San Francisco, California: Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ 小学館：コミック ((Japanese)). Shogakukan. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Ceres: Celestial Legend. Viz Media. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Viz Media (2004-03-18). “Viz Announces Release of Second Edition Manga Titles”. Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ Viz announces date for Ceres, Celestial Legend. Anime News Network (2001-04-15). Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
- ^ Ceres Extras, D&D Out, Love Hina 2002. ICv2 News (2001-05-22). Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
- ^ Ceres, Celestial Legend (TV). Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
External links
- Official PIERROT anime web site (Japanese)
- Official Viz Ceres: Celestial Legend manga web site
- Official Viz Ceres: Celestial Legend anime web site
- Ceres, Celestial Legend (manga) at Anime News Network’s Encyclopedia
- Ceres, Celestial Legend (anime) at Anime News Network’s Encyclopedia
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres%2C_Celestial_Legend”
Categories: Manga series | Anime series | Action anime and manga | Anime of 2000 | Fantasy anime and manga | Incest in fiction | Manga of the 1990s | Romance anime and manga | Shōjo | Viz Media anime | Viz Media manga | Winner of Shogakukan Manga Award (Shōjo)Hidden categories: Articles lacking reliable references from December 2007 | Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from June 2008 | Wikipedia articles needing style editing from December 2007 | Cleanup from December 2007 | All pages needing cleanup