STORY

HIDETOMO TSUBURA'S MAGNIFICENT WORLD
by Andy Nakatani
(reprinted from Animerica Extra Vol. 3, No. 7)

The El-Hazard, the Magnificent World manga by Hidetomo Tsubura was released in English in August '00, with a special wraparound cover!

On present-day Earth, mild mannered Makoto Mizuhara is unfairly the target of the insane wrath of student-council ex-president Katsuhiko Jinnai, when the Earth suddenly opens up beneath his feet, and Makoto plunges into the ruins of an ancient temple. The magic in the temple transports Makoto, his teacher the drunken Fujisawa, Jinnai, and Jinnai's miser sister Nanami to the world of El-Hazard where a magical kindgom is at war with a race of giant insects.

Since the El-Hazard manga is based on an animated series of the same name co-created by Hiroki Hayashi, and Hayashi is also one of the original creators and director for the first Tenchi Muyo! (No Need for Tenchi!) OAV series, there's an horizontal correlation between Tenchi and El-Hazard. Different manga artists–Hitoshi Okuda as manga artist for Tenchi and Hidetomo Tsubura for El-Hazard, the Magnificent World–created manga based on Hayashi's original concepts. El-Hazard, like most projects based on stories originally conceived by Hayashi, abounds with zany antics, goofy characters and fantastic adventures.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of reading Hidetomo Tsubura's manga, he proved his talent in other commercial manga projects that include Romancia (based on an RPG video game) and Eldegain–both published by Tokuma Shoten in Japan. Tsubura is also a well known manga artist in the world of dôjinshi (parody fanzines).

The El-Hazard animated series were released in the following order: El-Hazard, the Magnificent World OAV series, The Wanderers: El-Hazard TV Series, El-Hazard 2 OAV series, and El-Hazard, the Alternative World TV series. With each different series, the stories and plot are increasingly goofy and nonsensical–not necessarily a bad thing in terms of entertainment value.

Most of the El-Hazard incarnations shared a continuity–from the first OAV series, to the El-Hazard 2 OAV series, and on to the Alternative World TV series–but The Wanderers is a wackier TV series retelling of the first El-Hazard, the Magnificent World OAV series. In The Wanderers, some characters are deleted, others are portrayed differently, and there is more attention paid to the backstory. However, all things post The Wanderers, regardless of the continuity, follow in the gonzo-comedy tradition that started in The Wanderers.

With so many El-Hazard anime series, how does Hidetomo Tsubura's manga (originally serialized in Gekkan Shônen Captain Comics from December 1995 to February 1997, and also in the June 1997 special issue of Animage) fit into the context of all of them? The events of the manga are loosely based on the first El-Hazard, the Magnificent World OAV series, but some characterizations are more reminiscent of the characters in The Wanderers. In particular, hero Makoto and his love interest Rune's characters seem to have the greatest Wanderers influences. The manga adds its own unique plot twists that are not part of any animated series, and the wackiness level lies somewhere between the original OAV series and The Wanderers. In terms of continuity, Hidetomo Tsubura's El-Hazard, the Magnificent World is in a magnificent world all its own.

For those who are not familiar with the animated versions of El-Hazard, there is no prerequisite for reading the comic! It's a story filled with alternate universes; beautiful priestesses with elemental powers; a bad guy who would have made Machiavelli proud; a straight-laced MacGuyver-style hero; giant insects, big explosions, and a school teacher with superhuman strength who specializes in big-bug butt kicking! Check out the El-Hazard, the Magnificent World comics!

Source: www.viz.com