Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet. is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits magazine and the chapters collected into 7 tankōbon volumes. It has been licensed and distributed by Viz Media in North America. It is also distributed in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment. An anime television series adaptation animated by Gonzo aired from July to September 2002 and a side-story OVA series animated by Studio Fantasia was released in 2005. The anime television series was also licensed by Viz, but is now licensed by Sentai Filmworks. A live-action movie adaptation was released in Japan on January 28, 2006 with Aki Maeda starring as Chise.
Plot
The story begins with Shuji, a high school student in a Hokkaidō coastal city, walking up to an observatory and reminiscing about his girlfriend, Chise; there he finds her exchange diaries that she purposefully left behind. The ensuing story is narrated by Shuji through flashbacks while reading Chise's diary. Chise, a fellow student in his class, declares her love for Shuji at the beginning of the series. However, Chise is very shy and Shuji is insensitive: neither know how to express their feelings very well, but they do indeed have feelings for each other. One day, while Shuji is shopping in Sapporo, unknown bombers attack the city in broad daylight. He and his friends run for cover, but notice a fast and small flying object shooting down the enemy bombers. Separated from his friends, Shuji wanders through the wreckage—only to stumble upon Chise; here she has metal wings and weapons—apparently grafted onto her body. She tells him she has become the ultimate weapon, without her knowledge or consent, and that she is seen by the Japan Self-Defense Forces as the last hope for defending Japan. In the anime, it is not apparent why Chise was chosen to be the ultimate weapon or why the country is under attack. It was not until the OVA episodes were released that an explanation for Chise being chosen was offered: her body has the highest degree of compatibility with the weapon system. This story focuses primarily on Chise's fading humanity as her condition worsens. The main conflict is within Chise herself; she questions whether or not she is human. Her soul is constantly trying to be a normal girl, while her body succumbs to the devastating effects of the weapon cell within her. Fundamentally important to the plot is the relationship between Shuji and Chise. From this, the resolution of the conflict follows. In the end, she is able to realize who she truly is. A number of minor characters who do not necessarily know of Chise's role in the war have sub-plots that concern everyday people in the context of war: a woman whose husband is constantly away from home, a school boy who joins the army to protect his girlfriend, a girl whose civilian boyfriend is killed in a bombing, and others.
Saikano began as a manga series written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits magazine and the chapters collected into 7 tankōbon volumes. It has been licensed and released in North America by Viz Media. It has also been translated into Spanish by Glénat, into Italian by Panini Comics, into German by Carlsen Verlag and into French by Éditions Delcourt.
One-shots
;Love Story, Killed The story is of a 17-year-old Japanese sniper, who hides in the remains of a block of flats and kills enemy soldiers so that he can collect their guns. At the start of the story, he kills a group of enemy soldiers who are about to rape a Japanese girl. While collecting their guns, the sniper is confronted by the girl who picked up one of the guns, but the sniper eventually befriends the girl and takes her back to his room because he wants to have sex with her. It is revealed that he only has five rounds left, with his final round being his good luck charm that he keeps in the pocket, and that he wants to die because it will relieve him from the war. However, after getting to know the girl better and having sex with her, he becomes afraid of death, and when firing on an enemy squadron that came looking for him, he misses and reveals his position. Eventually, he finds himself unable to fire his good luck charm round due to his fear of death. Suddenly the girl appears in the doorway, bringing the guns and ammo of the soldiers he has just killed, saying that he now has the ammunition to kill more soldiers and can keep fighting in the war. Right as the sniper smiles however, three enemy soldiers appear behind the girl, kill the sniper and then rape and kill the girl. The enemy soldiers themselves all die two days later. ; The Last Love Song on This Little Planet A series by Shin Takahashi which is a collection of OneShots called "The Last Love Song On This Little Planet". The first, and currently only released, story is of the day Chise asked Shuji to be her boyfriend and their journey home from the place where that happens. Takahashi does not shy away from confronting the awkwardness between the two teenagers and their problems, continuing the trend from his main series "SaiKano"
Anime
An anime television series adaptation animated by Gonzo aired on Family Gekijo from July 2 to September 24, 2002 and ran for 13 episodes. The last TV episode strayed from the manga's continuity and gave an original conclusion to the anime. A side-story OVA series animated by Studio Fantasia was released in 2005. ; Opening Theme: "Koisuru Kimochi" by Yuria Yato ; Ending Theme: "Sayonara" by Yuria Yato
