Orange (manga)

Plot

In Matsumoto, Naho Takamiya, a second year high school student, receives letters sent from herself 10 years into the future. Her future self asks her to prevent her "biggest regrets", which has something to do with the new transfer student from Tokyo, a boy named Kakeru Naruse. At first skeptical, Naho begins to believe the letters as they accurately predict events. When the letter asks her not to invite Kakeru to go out for the first day, Naho and her friends (Hiroto Suwa, Takako Chino, Saku Hagita and Azusa Murasaka) decide to invite him anyway. Kakeru ends up not attending school for the next two weeks.

To prevent another mistake, Naho resolves to do what the letters order her to do, such as volunteering on a softball round, encouraging Kakeru to join the soccer team, objecting to him pursuing a relationship with an upperclassman, and insisting that the two watch the fireworks alone. Naho learns from the letters that in the future Kakeru is dead, having committed suicide around Valentine's Day in the same school year in which he enrolled.

During the Bon Festival, Kakeru explains to Naho the reason for his absence: his mother committed suicide because of a mental breakdown caused by him leaving her for friends, and not taking her to the hospital on the day of enrollment as he promised. This causes Naho to also feel guilty, as she feels they share responsibility for Kakeru's mother's death. Later on, Suwa tells Naho that he has also received letters from his future self, asking him to be a good friend to Kakeru and save him from his death. Suwa hides the fact that he and Naho are married and have a child in the future, as he realizes Naho and Kakeru are in love. Although he has feelings for Naho, his future self realizes by saving Kakeru, he is giving up a future with Naho. Because he knows of their feelings, he listens to the letters and supports them as much as possible. Later, Azusa, and Hagita, and Chino admit they have received similar letters. They all agree that though they may not be able to change the fate of their future selves, they may create a parallel universe where Kakeru is still alive.

To cheer up Kakeru, the five friends organize a celebration for his 17th birthday, in which Kakeru confesses his feelings to a surprised Naho. The five also join the relay race team to back Kakeru. With his friends' encouragement, Kakeru wins the race. As his reward for winning the race, Kakeru kisses Naho. However, on New Year's Eve, Naho and Kakeru argue over the latter's grandmother's health. The two become distant over the following weeks, up until the day that Kakeru is supposed to commit suicide, as Naho manages to confess her feelings as well as telling Kakeru to share his plan for suicide.

On the night of Kakeru's supposed death, the friends' plan to meet up is interrupted as Kakeru does not arrive on time. The five search throughout Matsumoto and manage to stop him from getting hit by a truck. Kakeru apologizes, telling them that he had been thinking of suicide, but at the last second decided not to after realizing that doing so would mean that he would never see his friends again.

Characters

Naho Takamiya (高宮菜穂, Takamiya Naho)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese); Jill Harris (English)A high school girl who receives a letter from herself ten years in the future, informing herself that she will meet a guy named Kakeru who she must keep an eye on. At first she ignores the letter, but when she realizes that everything written in it actually happens, she decides to listen to the letters in order to save Kakeru. She and Kakeru have romantic feelings toward one another. Although at first unaware of each others feelings, due to her future selves regrets about not informing him of her true feelings, she informs him of her feelings, and they are able to start dating.

Kakeru Naruse (成瀬翔, Naruse Kakeru)

Voiced by: Seiichirō Yamashita (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)A transfer student from Tokyo. On the first day of classes, he was supposed to take his mother to the hospital, but instead he was invited to go out with Naho and her friends, and ditches her. As he's out with his friends, she texts him asking where he is, and he replies saying she can go by herself, that she's not a kid, and to leave him alone because he's with friends. Due to a mental breakdown, his mother committed suicide. Blaming himself for his mothers suicide, Kakeru falls in to deep depression for a while, and eventually commits suicide while making everyone think it was an accident. In the current future, he and Naho start dating, and his friends try to prevent his suicide.

Hiroto Suwa (須和弘人, Suwa Hiroto)

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese); Jason Liebrecht (English)Naho's friend who is in love with her. Despite knowing of Naho's and Kakeru's feelings for each other, ten years after Kakeru's death, he and Naho are married with a child. After watching Naho's sad face, He realizes Naho still has feelings for Kakeru, and acknowledges Naho and Kakeru would probably have been together had Kakeru not committed suicide. He writes a letter to his past self and asks himself to help prevent Kakeru's suicide, and to be encouraging of Naho and Kakeru's happiness together, even if it means he doesn't have a future with her if Kakeru is alive.

Takako Chino (茅野貴子, Chino Takako)

Voiced by: Rika Kinugawa (Japanese); Jeannie Tirado (English)Naho's friend who received a letter from her future self. She and Azusa are best friends. They speculate that Naho and Suwa are hiding the fact that they have letters from their future selves, and only reveal they've gotten letters from their future selves when Naho and Suwa do. She and Azusa support both Kakeru and Suwa when it comes to Naho.

Saku Hagita (萩田朔, Hagita Saku)

Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Japanese); Dave Trosko (English)Naho's friend who likes reading manga. He received a letter from himself and helps Kakeru. He likes Azusa but denies it.

Azusa Murasaka (村坂あずさ, Murasaka Azusa)

Voiced by: Natsumi Takamori (Japanese); Sarah Wiedenheft (English)Naho's friend who received a letter from her future self and helps the group keep Kakeru from dying. She teases Hagita about them being a couple and harasses him, to which he denies he likes her.

Rio Ueda (上田莉緒, Ueda Rio)

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)A girl who usually watches Kakeru's soccer games and is interested in Kakeru. She confessed her feelings to Kakeru and they started dating. To which Naho, who is in love with Kakeru, becomes emotionally devastated. After her split with Kakeru, she bullies Naho but is constantly confronted by Takako, Hagita, Azusa and Suwa.

Manga

The original manga series is written and illustrated by Ichigo Takano, and originally began serialization on March 13, 2012 in Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret, however switched to Futabasha's Monthly Action in 2013. The first tankōbon was released by Shueisha on July 25, 2012, who published two volumes of the series. The first two volumes were later republished by Futabasha on December 25, 2013. The manga ended serialization on August 25, 2015, and the last volume was published on November 12, 2015. The series is licensed in English in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment, who published the series in two omnibus volumes. Crunchyroll Manga simulpublished the series on their website.

A spin off manga began serialization in Monthly Action on March 25, 2016.

Live action

A live-action film adaptation was released on December 12, 2015 in Japan with Tao Tsuchiya and Kento Yamazaki as the main characters; directed by Kojiro Hashimoto and written by Arisa Kaneko.

Anime

The anime adaptation of Orange is produced by Telecom Animation Film, directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, and written by Yūko Kakihara. The series premiered on July 4, 2016 on Tokyo MX and AT-X. The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll outside of Asia, and is licensed in North America by Funimation. The opening theme song is "Hikari no Hahen" (光の破片, lit. Fragment of Light) by Yu Takahashi, and the ending theme song is Mirai (未来, lit. Future) by Kobukuro, which also served as the main theme song for the live-action film and the anime series.

Film

An anime theatrical film, titled Orange: Future (オレンジ -未来-, Orenji -Mirai-), was announced at the end of the television anime's final episode. The film will retell the series' main story from Suwa's viewpoint, and will also feature an original story written by Takano which is set after the anime and manga series. It is scheduled for a 2-week premiere in Japanese theaters that premiered on November 18, 2016.

Reception

Volume 1 reached the 30th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart and, as of July 29, 2012, has sold 31,451 copies; volume 2 reached the 31st place and, as of December 2, 2012, has sold 68,977 copies; volume 3 reached the 20th place and, as of September 7, 2014, has sold 111,934 copies.

On manga-news.com, it has a staff grade of 17.5 out of 20; volume 1 was chosen by the staff as one of the top manga of the week as a "new [release] crush" and volume 2 was also chosen as one of the top manga of the week. On planetebd.com, it has a staff grade of "good, nice".

It was number 23 on the 15th Book of the Year list by Da Vinci magazine.

The English release was reviewed favorably by Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network, who gave both omnibus collections an overall "A-" score. She praised the "poignant and moving" story, but warned the issue of suicide may make it a difficult read for some people.