Kimi no Kakera
Kimi no Kakera (きみのカケラ, lit. "Fragments of You") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi, creator of Saikano. The manga was serialized from 2002 to 2004 in Weekly Shōnen Sunday, but due to the author's ill health, he stopped the magazine serialization and continued releasing the story directly in book volumes (tankōbon).[1] The ninth and last volume was released on 16 July 2010.[2]
| Kimi no Kakera | |
 Shiro (left) and Ikoro (right) | |
| きみのカケラ | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure, fantasy[1] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Shin Takahashi |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Imprint | Shōnen Sunday Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Sunday |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | September 2002 – July 2010 |
| Volumes | 9 |
Story
Ikoro is a thirteen-year-old girl who is the princess of the "Upper World", a world where snow is always falling and even princesses like her are forced to wake up at 4 a.m. and go to bed at midnight, learning and working the rest of the day. The Upper World is a "country of night", surrounded on four sides by towering walls and with perpetual below-freezing temperatures. Ikoro lives with her blind young brother Mataku and her servants Shā (or "Gramma") and the monkey-like Kuro. Her parents have left them apparently seeking out the legend of a "sun".
One day, Ikoro's dinner with her brother is interrupted by a strange boy crashing through the ceiling. Ikoro finds that the boy is wearing manacles and has white hair. The boy has lost his memory and is dubbed Shiro. Ikoro and Shiro are both "Hitogatas", she can't feel joy and he can't feel pain. The two of them go towards the "Lower World" deciding that they will find a sun.
Characters
- Ikoro (イコロ)
- Princess of the snow country, a 13-year-old prodigy who has skipped 6 grades and has only books as her constant companionship. She is constantly ostracized as a result of her inability to smile and the declining position of the royal house. Her proper name is Kamuy-poro-cise-ikor (カムイ・ポロ・チセ・イコロ), which in the ancient language of her country (= Ainu) literally means "God-large-house-treasure".
- Shiro (シロ)
- The amnesiac boy who cannot feel pain. Ikoro names him "Shiro" based on his white hair, but it also means "missing piece" in the ancient language of her country. His constant question "Are you foe or friend?" is supposedly a teaching from his grandfather, the man who brought him up.
- Mataku (マタク)
- Ikoro's blind younger brother.
List of volumes
| No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 18, 2003 | 978-4-09-126611-8 |
| 2 | November 18, 2003 | 978-4-09-126612-5 |
| 3 | August 10, 2004 | 978-4-09-126613-2 |
| 4 | March 18, 2005 | 978-4-09-126614-9 |
| 5 | January 18, 2006 | 978-4-09-126615-6 |
| 6 | August 10, 2007 | 978-4-09-120050-1 |
| 7 | October 16, 2009 | 978-4-09-122047-9 |
| 8 | January 18, 2010 | 978-4-09-122227-5 |
| 9 | July 16, 2010 | 978-4-09-122473-6 |
A collection of thematically related short stories called スピカ The twin STARS of ”きみのカケラ” (Spica - The Twin Stars of "Kimi no Kakera") was released on August 16, 2013 (ISBN 978-4-09-124402-4).
References
- "SaiKano's Takahashi Resumes Kimi no Kakera After 2 Years". Anime News Network. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- "きみのカケラ". Shogakukan Website. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
External links
- Official site (in Japanese)
- Kimi no Kakera (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia