| Hamatora | |
| Ja Kanji: | ハマトラ |
| Genre: | Adventure, mystery, supernatural[1] |
| Creator: | Natsu Matsumai Yūki Kodama |
| Type: | manga |
| Hamatora: The Comic | |
| Author: | Yukino Kitajima |
| Illustrator: | Yūki Kodama |
| Publisher: | Shueisha |
| Demographic: | Seinen |
| Magazine: | Weekly Young Jump |
| First: | November 21, 2013 |
| Last: | December 11, 2014 |
| Volumes: | 3 |
| Type: | tv series |
| Hamatora: The Animation | |
| Director: | Seiji Kishi Hiroshi Kimura |
| Producer: | Yoshikazu Beniya Hiroyuki Tanaka Kozue Kaneniwa Takeshi Ishigaki Mika Shimizu Hiroyuki Kiyōno Shūichi Takashino Izumi Takiuchi Naoki Matsushita |
| Music: | Makoto Yoshimori |
| Studio: | NAZ |
| Network: | TXN (TV Tokyo, TVA, TVO), AT-X |
| First: | January 8, 2014 |
| Last: | March 26, 2014 |
| Episodes: | 12 |
| Episode List: | List of Hamatora: The Animation episodes |
| Type: | tv series |
| Re:_Hamatora | |
| Director: | Seiji Kishi |
| Producer: | Yoshikazu Beniya Hiroyuki Tanaka Kozue Kaneniwa Mika Shimizu Hiroyuki Kiyōno Shūichi Takashino Hirotaka Toda Izumi Takiuchi Naoki Matsushita Yōko Baba |
| Music: | Makoto Yoshimori |
| Studio: | Lerche |
| Network: | TXN (TV Tokyo, TVA, TVO), AT-X |
| First: | July 8, 2014 |
| Last: | September 23, 2014 |
| Episodes: | 12 |
| Episode List: | List of Re:_Hamatora episodes |
| Type: | tv series |
| Mini Hama: Minimum Hamatora | |
| Director: | Masaomi Ando |
| Music: | Akira Narasaki |
| Studio: | Lerche |
| Network: | AT-X, dTV |
| First: | November 2, 2015 |
| Last: | December 21, 2015 |
| Episodes: | 8 |
| Type: | Film |
| Fw:Hamatora | |
| Director: | Seiji Kishi |
| Music: | Makoto Yoshimori |
| Studio: | Lerche |
| Released: | November 14, 2015 |
| Runtime: | 68 minutes |
is a Japanese mixed-media project created by Natsu Matsumai and Yūki Kodama. The project began with a manga series written by Yukino Kitajima and Yūki Kodama as the artist, with Yū Wazu adapting the original designs for animation. The manga, Hamatora: The Comic, started serialization in Shueisha's Young Jump magazine in November 2013. An anime television series, Hamatora: The Animation, by the studio NAZ premiered on TV Tokyo and ran for twelve episodes between January 8 and March 26, 2014. It was followed by a second series by Lerche starting in July 2014, Re:_ Hamatora. Additionally, a role-playing game titled Hamatora: Look at Smoking World developed by FuRyu was released in July 2014. Other related titles include a light novel and a stage play.
The series takes place in the year 2014 when selected humans called Minimum Holders have been discovered to possess supernatural abilities. The story focuses on Minimum Holder Nice who forms a detective agency called "Hamatora" based in Yokohama and he starts gathering a large number of allies such as his partner Murasaki and assistant Hajime as well as enemies including several criminals. The anime stars Ryōta Ōsaka, Wataru Hatano, Hiroshi Kamiya, Emiri Katō, Kiyono Yasuno, Jun Fukuyama, and Yuichi Nakamura among others.
The series has earned mixed criticism from publications for manga and anime. While the elements of mystery have been praised, the themes and animation have been less well received. It has also been often compared with X-Men for its plot and characters.
The story of Hamatora revolves around a 17-year-old teenager called Nice, who runs a private investigation agency called 'Hamatora' in Yokohama, Japan with his partners Hajime and later, Murasaki. In the world there is the existence of Select humans called whom have been discovered to possess supernatural abilities known as 'Minor Miracles' or 'The Minimum'. These people are trained in the Facultas Academy to develop their potential, and are given highly advanced classes and training to do so. As a result, those who graduate from Facultas are given extreme benefits and privileges that enable them to be highly successful in life, such as being entitled to any job or career they want with ease. The existence of minimums and minimum holders is kept extremely confidential and secretive from the general population of the world.
The events of Hamatora The Comic takes place in the year 2013, with Nice having left Falcutas Academy early in his senior year. Due to Nice both being a genius and a prodigy, Murasaki, the second highest ranked graduate from Falcutas, is tasked with the mission of bringing Nice back to Facultas by any means necessary. As Murasaki first meets Nice, his impressions of him leave Murasaki feeling insulted and angered that someone as easy going as Nice could be superior to him. As Murasaki observes Nice on his jobs though, Murasaki finds himself assisting Nice and comes to see the potential Nice actually possesses as well as acknowledging his genius. He also dwells on Nice's views on Facultas' workings and his opinion of how people with Minimums are not slaves and are free to live their lives responsibly.
Sayuri Akatasuki requests for Nice and Murasaki to rescue her sister Shizuku, a Minimum Holder who can generate fire, from a criminal family. Nice and Murasaki finish their job but Murasaki is tasked to leave Nice and to take Shizuku back to Facultas as part of the Academy's dark dealing with the mafia family. As Murasaki takes Shizuku to Facultas, Nice, Hajime and Sayuri are attacked by Facultas and the Hamatora office is destroyed. As Murasaki hands over Shizuku, he struggles on the decision he made and ends up trying to rescue Shizuku from Facultas. Nice, who managed to save himself, Hajime and Sayuri before defeating the Facultas agents, ends up saving Murasaki, but during the confrontation with Facultas and the mafia family, Shizuku apparently dies. In the week that follows, it is then revealed that Shizuku survived and faked her death so that she and Sayuri can live a new life without fearing her Minimum or Facultas and the Mafia family. Murasaki has since left Facultas and has joined Nice as a Hamatora P.I., which is now located in Cafe Nowhere along with Birthday and Ratio's 'Odd Jobs' Business and Honey and Three's Bodyguard business.
During the anime, Murasaki has joined Nice as a Hamatora P.I., where they prefer to sit around all day with their friends and wait for clients. During their Jobs, Nice finds similarities in the working of several crimes he investigates and the existence of non-innate Minimum Holders; people who possess a Minimum but were not born with it. Nice and Murasaki are warned by their friend, Art, a non-Minimum Holder who still managed to graduate from Facultas, about a Minimum Holder serial killer who extracts the brains to create more Minimum Holders.
The culprit is Moral, a former professor from the Facultas Academy who wishes to give everybody Minimums in order to achieve equality. For this, he has to kill several Minimum Holders and use their brains to create a substance he calls 'essence' that enables him to create 24 non-innate Minimum Holders for every Minimum Holder brain he possesses. While his overall purpose in this is to create equality, what Moral truly wants is to save Nice, as he believes that Nice is tortured by solitude as he is the number one student of Facultas, also calling him the accumulated wisdom of humanity, and therefore has no equal.
Moral kills Art and starts assuming his identity to dismiss Hamatora from the case. He starts a riot in order to expose the existence of Minimum Holders, and Momoka also leaks information exposing the existence of Facultas Academy and Minimum Holder identities, causing a disturbance in society as normal people treat Minimum Holders in a hostile manner, while Minimum Holders fight back to ensure their right to exist. After discovering Moral took Art's face, Nice confronts him in person to get revenge for his best friend's death. The two face off in a ship that Moral is using to perform terrorist attacks on non-Minimum Holders. As Nice defeats Moral, the murderer is killed by a resurrected Art. As revealed in Re: Hamatora, Art survived Moral's attack thanks to Regeneration Minimum, and has since been collecting new abilities. He becomes the leader of a gang called Freemum, composed of Minimum Holders who are against the Minimum Agency. Using Freemum and Momoka, Art succeeds in leaving Nice as his only potential enemy. He tries killing Nice to trigger Hajime's Nihilist Minimum, which erases all Minimums in Yokohama. Shortly afterwards, Nice is revived by the powers of Art's late brother, Skill (his heart had been transplanted by Moral years ago during an incident). As a result, the people in Yokohama recover their lost Minimums thanks to Skill's own power. Nice defeats Art, and six months later they reconcile.
Despite his seemingly carefree nature, Nice is a genius thinker and able to quickly assess information. He always wears a set of headphones around his neck which he uses to activate his Holder ability, known as in the anime and in the manga, allows him to move at the speed of sound. In Re: Hamatora, using the Minimum causes a strain in his body. He is the top-ranked graduate of the Facultas Academy and went there alongside Art and Skill. His existence is regarded as classified information. He tried to abandon that place alongside Hajime in order to see the world, but was shot in the process; his life was saved by Moral, who transplanted Skill's heart into Nice's body, saving his life, and left shortly afterwards to discover Hajime has amnesia. He detests the academy due to how it judges people based on whether or not they have power and believes power should not be necessary to determine one's worth. In the finale it is revealed Nice has Skill's heart as well as his Minimum, allowing him to grant others Minimums.
Hatano has commented that while the series its share of comedy, there is also drama in some parts of the story that could result in the viewer becoming emotional. He compared the series with a festival due to the viewer's feelings. He added "The story will be followed with that feeling, what end will be met the complex case intertwined."[3]
Her Holder ability, while initially unexplained, makes her a strong combatant and is said to be able to rival Nice. Her Holder also heals her wound and is able to unleash a berserk state. By Re: Hamatora it is revealed the Minimum is known as the triggered by despair which was first activated by seeing Nice nearly dying. It has the power of nullifying every other Minimum around her which cause her friends to go through sideeffects of their powers until they will lose it.
In Re: Hamatora it is revealed that Art possesses the, which triggers each time he receives a fatal injury in the heart, and allows him to recover from any wounds and even regrow lost limbs. He then dedicates himself to stealing any Minimum that he encounters, which he calls "collecting sins", in order to kill Nice. He eventually manages to accomplish his goal of erasing all Minimum Holders in Yokohama by triggering Hajime's anti-Minimum ability when seeing a seemingly dead Nice. However, his plans are ruined by the Minimum of his late brother, Skill, and he attempts to commit suicide when confronted by Nice. In the series' finale he and Nice reconcile their friendship.
The anime series Hamatora: The Animation was announced in the 2013 50th issue of Shueisha's Young Jump magazine.[5] The Nintendo 3DS game titled Hamatora: Look at Smoking World was announced in December 2013. Director Shuuhou Imai Imai was inspired by the DC Comics and Marvel Universe in the making of the game and hinted at the possibility of featuring a character from Tokyo Majin Gakuen.[6]
The anime ended on March 25, 2014 with a "To Be Continued" sign. The next day, the official Hamatora Twitter account posted that the Hamatora project was still ongoing.[7] The second series, titled Re:_Hamatora is air in July; most of the staff and cast returned, with NAZ taking an assistant animation role and main production taking place at Lerche.[8]
The music of the Hamatora anime is composed by Makoto Yoshimori. The Hamatora official soundtrack was released on March 26, 2014.[9] Additionally, a series of "Character File" CDs are set to be released with the first two, respectively focused on Nice and Murasaki, on March 26, 2014.[10] [11] Each song explores a cast member's characterization as well as his or her relationship with other characters.[3] The single "Hikari" was compared with the series by the singer himself based on the lyrics that talk about a "small miracle."[3]
A manga series, Hamatora: The Comic, written by Yukino Kitajima and illustrated by Yūki Kodama began serialization in Shueisha's Young Jump magazine in November 2013.[12] Its first tankōbon volume was released on February 19, 2014.[13] The series is a prequel to the anime and focuses on Nice solving cases with Hajime while Murasaki works on bringing Nice back to the Facultas Academy.
See also: List of Hamatora: The Animation episodes and List of Re: Hamatora episodes. An anime adaptation titled Hamatora: The Animation was announced in the 2013 50th issue of Shueisha's Young Jump magazine.[5] The anime is produced by NAZ Animation Studio of Japan and began airing on TV Tokyo on January 8, 2014 with later airings on TVA, TVO and AT-X.[14] [15] [16] While the anime ended on March 26, 2014, it has been hinted it would return in July 2014.[17] The second season was titled Re: Hamatora[18] Unlike the first season, it was produced at Studio Lerche.
The anime is chiefly directed by Seiji Kishi. In addition, Hiroshi Kimura is also directing the anime, along with series composers and script writers Jun Kumagai and Touko Machida. The soundtrack music is composed by Makoto Yoshimori. Character designs are done by Yū Wazu, based on the original character designs by Blood Lads Yūki Kodama along with art direction by Fantasista Utamaro. The project was composed by Yukinori Kitajima.[19] The story is set after the events of the manga, focusing on the already formed group of detectives known as Hamatora.
The series was simulcast-streamed by Crunchyroll with English subtitles in North America, Australia and other select parts of the world.[20] Avex Group began releasing the series in Japan on Blu-ray and DVD volumes starting on April 25, 2014.[21] The opening theme is "Flat" by Livetune feat. Yūki Ozaki.[22] The ending theme is "Hikari" by Wataru Hatano.[23]
There is also a radio program titled where voice actors often interact.[24] [25] In March 2015, a film and a new television series were announced.[26]
Sentai Filmworks has licensed the first season for digital and home media release.[27] The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 22, 2015 with both English and Japanese audio and English subtitles.[28] Sentai Filmwworks has also licensed the second season for digital and home media release.[29] The second season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 26, 2015.[30]
A Nintendo 3DS game developed by FuRyu titled Hamatora: Look at Smoking World was announced in December 2013.[31] It was released in Japan on July 17, 2014. Directed by Shuuhou Imai, the game resemble the Tokyo Majin Gakuen role-playing game series.[6] The combat is a turn based and require to input different commands to execute the Minimums.[32] It takes place in the same fictional setting as both the Hamatora manga and anime but featuring a new story. It was made so that newcomers to the franchise will have access to it.[6]
Set in a port town of Kobe, the protagonist is a transfer student named Souken who awakens his own Minimum and starts participating in fights against other students. Certain shopping districts were modeled after real-life areas, which the player will be able to see in stereoscopic 3D.[6] The main cast from the Hamatora anime and manga series is also set to appear in the game.[33] Preorders of the game include a Honey IC Sticker Card, that was designed using Honey's tablet from the anime as a motif.[32]
In August 2014, the production company Eigeki ran a Hamatora play for 12 performances from August 16 to August 24 at the Haiyūza Theater Roppongi in Tokyo.[34] Titled Hamatora The Stage: Crossing Time, the play focused on the Hamatora team aiding Art in solving a murder case.[35]
A novelization titled Hamatora the Novel by Kenichi Fujiwara was to be published by Shueisha in July 2014.[36]
Reactions to the first episode of Hamatora have been between mixed between positive and average. UK Anime Network called it "slick and stylish" and commented it could be one of the season's surprises.[37] The pilot was noted for the way it connected multiple stories and its distinctive use of animations. Brad Rice from Japanator mentioned he was attracted by the show and was curious about how the characters would be portrayed.[38] Chris Beveridge from Fandom Post noted that while it had several good moments, the characters had yet to bring an impact to him.[39] Multiple writers from Anime News Network showed several opinions about the series' first episode which went from positive to one simply saying she did not care about it.[40]
Nicoletta Browne from THEM Anime Reviews called it a "fun watch" while noting similarities with the comic book series X-Men. She believes "it isn't a series I regret watching, for its early self-contained episodes function as a good if pedestrian detective series, and it is certainly pretty to look at."[41] Similarly, Richard Eisenbeis from Kotaku praised the series for the appeal of superhero power used by business people who would appeal to the audience. He noted fans of the X-Men might enjoy the series. Despite praising the threat Moral poses to Nice due to how he is a foil, Eisenbeis criticized some of the dark parts from the series as well as its anticlimactic finale.[42] Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network was more critical of the series as despite praising its action scenes and comedy, he panned the series' plot and animation.[43] Re: Hamatora was praised by Chris Beveridge due to its themes portrayed and the similarities between the series and other Western series. He additionally praised both Hamatora and the sequel for its portrayal of the lead characters as well as the English actors.[44]
The first DVD of the series sold 1,454 units in two days after its release.[45] In 2014, The 19th Animation Kobe committee chose director Seiji Kishi to receive their Individual Award for the stretch of his career including Danganronpa: The Animation, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and Hamatora.[46]