ēlDLIVE(Japanese: エルドライブ,Hepburn: Erudoraibu) is a Japanese manga series by Akira Amano. It started serialization via Shueisha's online app Jump Live in August 2013, switching to the digital publication Shonen Jump+ after it launched in September 2014. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. The first three chapters were published in English by Viz Media in 2014. An anime television series adaptation by Pierrot aired between January 8, 2017 and March 26, 2017. It streamed on Crunchyroll.
Chūta Kokonose is a middle school boy who has been able to hear a voice that no one else could hear for as long as he could remember. One day, a strange blue alien named Chips appeared and recruited him to the space police, ēlDLIVE because he fit the requirements. During his entrance test, he discovered the voice he hears actually comes from a small white alien living in his body who he later named Dolugh. Combining his power with Dolugh, he was able to complete his exam using a power called SPH (Space Pheromone), used only by aliens. Chūta, now an officer, along with his coworker and classmate, Misuzu Sonokata, and the rest of the Solar System Area station have to work together to protect the universe from dangerous criminals.
Main characters
Chūta Kokonose (九ノ瀬 宙太,Kokonose Chūta)
Voiced by: Ayumu Murase (Japanese); Morgan Berry (English)The main male protagonist of the story. Chūta is a fourteen year old second-year student at Shirobori Middle School. He was recruited into élDLIVE by Chips and is now a Rank 1 officer in Division 2 of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Solar System District station. His partners are Misuzu Sonokata, who's also his classmate, and Chips. He is also the symbiotic host of a Monitalien he named Dolugh, who turns out to be voice that only he can hear ever since he was little. Chūta is initially a very withdrawn, introverted boy with low-self confidence and no friends due to blaming himself for a past childhood incident where four of his friends died by falling off a cliff, and being isolated from his peers because of his tendency to talk to the voice aloud, which made people think he's weird. He begins to grow out of this and slowly gains more confidence due to fighting criminals as an officer of élDLIVE with Misuzu and Dolugh, and saving people. His parents died when he was young and has lived with his aunt ever since. He is very good at all things related to home economics because he has had a lot of practice at home, since his aunt Mimi is not very good at doing chores.
Dolugh (ドルー,Dorū)
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese); Kristen McGuire (English)Dolugh is a Monitalien living in Chūta's body. He also acts as Chūta's SPH organ. Only Chūta can hear him, and his physical form didn't appear until Chūta saved Tateyan. He is attached to Chūta until the day he dies, and if something happens to one of them, the other will feel it. The red gem on his forehead is one of the lost glyphs of Planet Glyph, where he was created for the purpose of monitoring other planets. Dolugh is a very curious and inquisitive creature, who also shows surprising insightfulness. He went through an upgrade during the remote control case, and gained wings. His powers work by having Chūta visualize the attack and Dolugh executing it.
Misuzu Sonokata (其方 美鈴,Sonokata Misuzu)
Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese); Dawn M. Bennett (English)Chūta's teammate in Division 2 as well as his classmate who was sent to observe him. She's a Rank 3 officer and takes her job very seriously. At school, she's an ace student and popular with boys. Her reason for joining élDLIVE was because she refused to follow the path her father laid out for her. She lost six months' worth of memories because of her role as a patient in a project called the Taklimakan Project, where patients have SPH organs implanted into them. The operation also caused residual illnesses and she has to take pills to stave them off, though she does not know their true purpose, thinking that they're environmental adaptation pills. She acts coldly towards Chūta when he first joined élDLIVE because she thought he wouldn't take the job seriously, but begins to warm up to him as they work more together and when he proved her innocence during the remote manipulation case. However, after Dolugh's upgrade she began avoiding him due to his smell suddenly changing, but manages to overcome that with the help of Dr. Love. She's also friends with Veronica and Ninotchka because they joined élDLIVE around the same time, though she and Veronica also fight a lot due to their rivalry. Her SPH takes the form of glowing purple rings.
Solar System Bureau
Laine Brick (レイン・ブリック,Rein Burikku)
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese); Daman Mills (English)The Chief of the Solar System Bureau. He wears an eyepatch to cover his artificial eye. He has a friendly, carefree personality, but also shows hints of a more mysterious, scheming side. However, he cares about his subordinates very much. He is one of the few who knows Misuzu's past. It is hinted that he got his position quickly despite his young age because of other reasons. He is shown enjoying sweets a lot, especially dango. For unknown reasons, he dislikes Madigan.
Chips (チップス,Chippusu)
Voiced by: Daiki Kobayashi (Japanese); Lara Woodhull (English)A small blue alien who's the leader of Division 2 as well as the one who leads Chūta to élDLIVE. He holds the rank of Assistant Inspector, and act as support during cases. The antenna on his head allows him to shoot different types of SPH, one of which allows people to transfer from place to place. He's very rule-abiding and acts as the voice of reason, but can be childish as well. He says "-chu" at the end of all his sentences. He gets drunk on green tea.
Voiced by: Riho IidaA criminal investigation assistant inspector and the leader of Division 5 of the CID. She's hot-headed, blunt person who's very competitive, especially against Misuzu. Her, Ninotchka, and Misuzu are friends as they all joined ēlDLIVE around the same time. She has a horn on her forehead that is usually hidden until she activates her SPH, which mainly boosts her leg power.
Voiced by: LynnA criminal investigation officer who usually goes by the nickname Ninotchka(ニノチカ,Ninochika). She's in the 5th division and Veronica's partner. She joined ēlDLIVE around the same time as Veronica and Misuzu, which is how they became friends. A kind, gentle girl, she's also often the one who tries to stop Veronica and Misuzu from fighting and to admonish Veronica whenever she gets too hot-headed. She grew out her long hair to hide her body whenever she activates her SPH, as it causes her body to become very exposed. Her SPH takes the form of green funnels. In Season 4, she enrolled into Shirobori Middle School along with Veronica to bodyguard Dr. Love.
Dr. Love (Dr.ラヴ,Dr. Ravu)
Voiced by: Yoshitsugu MatsuokaA genius scientist whose full name is Taklamakan Strange Love(タクラマカン・ストレインジ・ラヴ,Takuramakan Sutoreinji Ravu), he has contributed greatly to ēlDLIVE, thus causing many criminals to hate him and forcing him to hide out on Earth before staying under the jurisdiction of the Solar System bureau. He's 500 years old, though he looks more like a teenage boy currently because of the rejuvenation operation he performed on himself. He was the head of the Taklamakan Project, a project where SPH organs were transplanted into subjects to change their personalities. Misuzu was one of the survivors the project, and he's the one who makes the medicine that she takes. He was the subject of an attempted kidnapping in Season 3 by Darie Lime, who believed that he was the key to opening a "door" in Misuzu's mind that will lead him to a great treasure. After the events of Season 3, he has decided to transfer to Shirobori to study Chuuta and Dolugh up close. He's not very good at talking to women, and can get too caught up in his research sometimes.
Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese), Whitney Rodgers (English) (Saotome), Kenichiro Matsuda (Bocha)A teacher at Chūta's school. A highly attractive lady with pink hair, lips and eyes, she is commonly seen in Chūta's school wearing a pink top with a huge collar and an extremely short yellow pencil skirt. Apart from being rather slack on the rules, the boys at school are intrigued by her enormous breasts.
Dragline (ドラグライン,Doragurain)
Voiced by: Masaaki Ihara (Japanese); Chris Guerrero (English)
Manga
ēlDLIVE is a manga series written and drawn by Akira Amano. It began serialization on Shueisha's online app Jump Live on August 2013 for two seasons before moving to Shueisha's new digital publication service Jump+ on September 2014. The series is different in others in that it divides its chapters into "seasons", similar to how TV shows divide their episodes into seasons. Each season has a different number of chapters. As of August 5, 2016, the seasons have been collected into seven tankōbon volumes. Viz Media published the English translation of the first three chapters in their Weekly Shounen Jump publication in September 2014. When the anime adaptation was announced, Viz Media began formally releasing the chapters weekly on their website in December 2016.
On May 30, 2014, a visual book titled Rebo to Dlive was released, featuring new and old illustrations from Amano's works, including ones from ēlDLIVE.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced for January 2017 and aired between January 8, 2017 and March 26, 2017. The series is produced by Pierrot, and directed by Takeshi Furuta and Tomoya Tanaka, with scripts written by Toshimitsu Takeuchi, character designs by Han Seungah and Keiichirou Matsui, and music composed by Yasuharu Takanashi. The opening theme is "Our sympathy" by female singer Alfakyun, and the ending theme is "Kimi no Koe ga..." by the group The Super Ball. Funimation will stream an English dub.
