Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin

Plot

Set in the 1950s, the story centers around six junior delinquents and their mentor at the Shōnan Special Reform School near Tokyo. The manga follows the boys' lives during their time in the school and the years after they leave.

Characters

Rokurouta Sakuragi (桜木 六郎太, Sakuragi Rokurouta)

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama Sakuragi Rokurouta, aged eighteen, and referred as 'Anchan' (bro) by his cell-mates, is the oldest of the seven protagonists in Rainbow. A strong and benevolent young man, Sakuragi has great boxing technique which he demonstrated by knocking out all six newcomers when Mario started a fight. He constantly looks out for the well-being of his cell-mates, just like they treasure him. This often means sacrificing himself for them, making him the routine victim of Ishihara's schemes. He is the only boy at the school who does not fear Ishihara. When he was younger, his father and five brothers went off to war. Only his father survived and returned home a broken man and a drunk. Sakuragi's father later committed suicide after arguing with Sakuragi one night, leaving him racked with guilt. As a result of this, Sakuragi resolves to never lose anyone else important to him. His friend and former cell mate, Hagino, was violated by Dr. Sasaki. Before committing suicide because of the rape, Hagino wrote a suicidal note which blames the two of them, giving Sakuragi evidence of Ishihara and Dr. Sasaki's crimes. Due to this, Ishihara and Dr. Sasaki both want him dead. Later on he is stabbed by Ishihara on the day of Mario's match, shortly after he made his way to the arena while unknowingly gripping the knife that he was stabbed with. Unaware of his surroundings as he made his way to the arena he was shot by American soldiers who thought he had the intention of harming people.

Mario Minakami (水上 真理雄, Minakami Mario)

Voiced by: Shun Oguri Minakami Mario, aged seventeen, is the unofficial leader of the six new boys. He was sentenced after inflicting life-threatening injuries to one of his teachers when he discovered the man had just raped a female student. He tried to pick a fight with Sakuragi the first day they met but was knocked out easily. Mario came to admire Sakuragi and began to train to box under him and was shown to be quite skilled. He has demonstrated to be a very straight man, and will often take the blame or suffer injuries for the sake of others. After leaving the Reformatory he works as a Bartender, and is in love with Setsuko. He has black hair giving him an appearance similar to that of Sakuragi.

Noboru Maeda (前田 昇, Maeda Noboru)

Voiced by: Romi Park Maeda Noboru, age sixteen, nicknamed Turtle (スッポン, Suppon, lit. Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle) is the smallest of seven boys. He was sent to the disciplinary school for theft, con, dine-and-dash, and several other crimes which could not be fully investigated during his detention. He lost his entire family in an atom bomb explosion. Despite having no real fighting skills or strength, he has very powerful jaws which he is quite proud of. After leaving the Reformatory, he becomes a very skilled and dedicated Black Market business man, earning large amounts of money, by selling Cigars within the USA Army vicinity. He has rather abundant reddish brown hair.

Ryuuji Nomoto (野本 龍次, Nomoto Ryuuji)

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara Nomoto Ryuuji, aged seventeen, nicknamed Scam (バレモト, Baremoto, lit. Uncovered) is the most intelligent of the seven boys. He was sent to the disciplinary school for con, fraud, and theft, particularly in shopping centers. When he was young he and his mother were very poor. After learning that his mother sold her body to acquire food, he grew to distrust everyone. It was only after meeting Sakuragi and the others that he learned to value friendship again. While he has no fighting skills of his own, he is incredibly smart, capable of thinking of very complicated plans, which have helped the boys multiple times. He is apparently studying after leaving the Reformatory. He grows his hair later on.

Mansaku Matsuura (松浦 万作, Matsuura Mansaku)

Voiced by: Tomohiro Waki Matsuura Mansaku, aged seventeen, nicknamed Cabbage (キャベツ, Kyabetsu) is one of the largest of the boys. He was sent to the disciplinary school for drunken violent and assault related to underage drinking. Despite his crimes and intimidating physical size, he is normally very kind-hearted and quiet. He enjoys eating and tends to be the most cheerful of the boys. He is best friends with Soldier, and although he claims he isn't very smart, he is capable of feats that have helped them at times. He works for a construction company, although he claims he does this to enjoy the food.

Tadayoshi Tooyama (遠山 忠義, Tōyama Tadayoshi)

Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda Tooyama Tadayoshi, aged seventeen, nicknamed Soldier (ヘイタイ, Heitai) is one of the largest of the boys. He was sent to the disciplinary school for acts of violence and false imprisonments. He ruthlessly beat and injured his mother's boyfriend, who was abusing her. He was one of the boys who showed the most animosity towards Sakuragi when they first met, but later came to have the most respect for him. Under Sakuragi's advice, he began exercising with the goal of eventually joining the army. He is best friends with Cabbage and the two work out together. He tends to remain most of the time on a very disciplined manner when in conflict, however when the situation requires for it, he will take drastic measures such as putting himself at risk. After leaving the reformatory he joins the Army.

Jou Yokosuka (横須賀 丈, Yokosuka Jou)

Voiced by: Tatsuya Hasome Yokosuka Jou, aged sixteen, nicknamed Joe (ジョー, Jō) is the quietest of the boys. He was sent to the disciplinary school after inflicting life-threatening injuries upon a man who attempted to rape him. He is an orphan and has a younger sister named Meg and are half-European, half-Japanese. His unusual pale skin and blue eyes gives him a somewhat innocent, vulnerable look. However, he is shown to be very strong when he tied up Dr. Sasaki. He can also be very menacing when he has any upper hand of some sort. He wants to sing so as to reach his sister. He grows his blonde hair longer later on.

Ishihara (石原)

Voiced by: Kōji Ishii One of the Shonan Special Disciplinary School's senior guards. Ishihara is a brutal and sadistic man who enjoys beating and punishing students for the slightest reason. Of all the students, he has the greatest grudge against Sakuragi, who shows no fear of Ishihara nor falls for his schemes. This has made Ishihara secretly afraid of Sakuragi, especially when Sakuragi stares at him, which drives him to want to kill Sakuragi. He neither cares for or respect any student or guard at the school except for Dr. Sasaki, whom pays him so he can violate the boys. After leaving the Reformatory, he is seen on the coast, on a very poor and emaciated state. After being confronted by Mario, he is left at its mercy, given his now miserable life.

Gisuke Sasaki (佐々木 義助)

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi The doctor at Shonan Special Disciplinary School. He will often publicly say, "We must treat the children well". Secretly however, Sasaki is a pedophile and regularly sexually molests boys at the school. Sasaki will usually pay Ishihara to send prisoners to him so he can violate them; something that Ishihara himself finds pleasure with, due to his sadistical nature. In the past, Sasaki violated one of Sakuragi's former cell-mates, Ei'ichi Hagino, resulting in the boy committing suicide. Sasaki, like Ishihara, wants to kill Sakuragi before he leaves the school because Sakuragi has knowledge of Sasaki's crimes and can prove them. After leaving the Reformatory he aims to be a Mayor, however his plans break apart when the six boys force him to confess all his crimes, which after being recorded are announced at a public broadcast. The tricks involved in getting him to repent were well thought out. Firstly Joe went to his house, after one of Sasaki's council meetings. Sasaki already had a boy waiting for him in his bed when he arrived. Thinking he was going to have another "fun night", he ran into the room naked screaming "I know you're excited, SO AM I!". He opens the covers only to realize that no one is there. He exclaims his fury only to have Joe, who before this was well hidden behind the door, tell him calmly to follow him quietly. Sasaki turns around in frustration, ready to hit Joe, when Joe pulls a gun out the moment he faced him and pointed it directly to his head. They led Sasaki to the beach and buried his head in a "head-hunter" sort of fashion (his body completely submerged in the rubble with his head sticking out). Turtle goes on to explain that the tides there are strong and that if he does not confess to his crimes, he will drown under the upcoming water tides. Sasaki does in fact confess and he wakes up, after a momentary stop, in his bed... completely unharmed. He takes it as a dream and continues to town, his speech at hand, ready to win the election. This is when it is found out the boys knocked him out after recording his confession. Sasaki is ridiculed and disgraced, left with nothing. The boys found this fitting as he could suffer the lives they suffered without their hands getting dirty.

Manga

Rainbow began as a manga series written by George Abe and illustrated by Masasumi Kakizaki, which began serialization in Shogakukan Publishing's Weekly Young Sunday manga magazine but was moved to Big Comic Spirits when the magazine stopped publication. The chapters of the manga have been collated into 22 bound volumes by Shogakukan between April 2003 and February 2010. In 2005 it won in the general category of the Shogakukan Manga Award along with A Spirit of the Sun.

Anime

An anime television series was produced by the animation studio Madhouse and directed by Hiroshi Koujina. The anime began airing in Japan on April 6, 2010. On May 28, 2010 it was announced that FUNimation had picked up the series for simulcast distribution starting on June 1, 2010. The rights have since expired.

Episode list

Episodes are called "Crimes". The anime's opening theme is "We're Not Alone" by Coldrain and the ending theme is "A Far-Off Distance" by Galneryus, both signed to VAP.

Reception

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin won the 51st Shogakukan Manga Awards in the General category, sharing the award with A Spirit of The Sun.