We Were There (manga)

We Were There (僕等がいた) is a Japanese romance manga by Yuki Obata, centering around the high school life of freshman girl, Nanami Takahashi. It was serialized in Betsucomi, with the first tankōbon volume released on October 26, 2002. The series, which had been on hiatus since early 2008, resumed publication in June 2009.

The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. It was adapted into a 26-episode television anime series which aired from July 3 to December 25, 2006.

In 2005, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo.

Characters

 * Nanami "Nana" Takahashi (高橋 七美), the series protagonist, is a high school girl who falls in love with the popular Yano Motoharu. They struggle with issues of trusting one another as the shadow of Yano's dead girlfriend, who was with another guy at the time she died, looms over them. In the manga, eventually Yano's inability to let go and her inability to focus on the future rather than the past lead to their breaking up. She eventually begins dating Take, but is unable to forget Yano completely. When Take proposes, she rejects him, then begins searching for Yano after meeting one of his coworkers and learning where he is. In the anime adaptation, she is voiced by Nozomi Sasaki.


 * Motoharu Yano (矢野 元晴) is a popular high school boy whose girlfriend, Nana, was killed in a car crash while out with another guy. He has a hard time trusting Nanami, and displays jealousy and possessiveness, to the point of physically abusing her. As the series progresses, he wrestles with his feelings for his dead girlfriend versus those for the living Nanami, whom he even calls "Nana-chan" at times. Yano moves to Tokyo with his mom, but after half a year he stops contacting Nanami, effectively breaking up with her. Eventually it is revealed that his mother killed herself, after which he disappeared. He reappears four years later, living with Yamamoto but still remembering Nanami. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Hiroshi Yazaki.


 * Masafumi "Take" Takeuchi (竹内 匡史) is Yano's close friend and becomes a friend and confidant for Nanami after she begins dating Yano. As the series progresses, he finds himself falling in love with her, leaving him unsure how to proceed. When Yano breaks up with Nanami, they begin dating. He eventually proposes, but she turns him down. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Takuji Kawakubo.


 * Yuri Yamamoto (山本 有里) is the younger sister of Nana, Yano's late girlfriend. She had a crush on Yano even while he was dating her sister. A week after Nana's death, Yano had sex with her. She originally believed he was simply using her, but later suspects he was pitying her. After Yano begins dating Nanami, she becomes an obstacle for their relationship as Yano continues displaying some closeness with her. In the anime adaptation, she is voiced by Erina Nakayama.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Yuki Obata, We Were There has been serialized in Betsucomi since its debut in 2002. The series went on hiatus after the January 2008 issue, and resumed serialization in the July 2009 issue. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan, with the first volume released on October 26, 2002. , 13 volumes have been released.

The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media, which released the first volume on November 3, 2008 under its "Shojo Beat" imprint. , four volumes have been released in English. It is licensed for regional language releases in France by Soleil Productions, in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime and in Argentina and Spain by Editorial Ivrea.

Anime
We Were There was adapted into an anime series by ArtLand which premiered in Japan on July 23, 2006. It aired for twenty-six episodes until its conclusion on December 25, 2006. The episodes were released to nine Region 2 DVD volumes by Pony Canyon, with each volume containing three episodes, except the final volume which contained two. The first volume was released on October 4, 2006 and the last on June 6, 2007.

Other media
Two CD soundtracks, produced by Marvelous Entertainment, were released by Geneon Entertainment on February 7, 2007 using music from the anime adaptation. Eternity (永遠) contained twelve tracks, while Locus (軌跡) contained twenty-two.

A fan book, We Were There Official Fan Book (僕等がいた 公式ファンブック) containing character profiles, a summary of the story, and commentary on the series from Obata was published by Shogakukan on November 25, 2005. A 36 page post card book was released December 21, 2007.