Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō

Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō (ケンコー全裸系水泳部 ウミショー) is a manga series written and illistrated by Mitsuru Hattori, which has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from issue 33 since 2005. It has been adapted into a TV anime series, directed by Kōichirō Sōtome and written by Mamiko Ikeda, which premiered in Japan on numerous television stations from July 2007, and a video game.

Plot
Within the Kanagawa prefecture lies the seaside city of Umineko. There, Okiura Kaname, 2nd year high school student, attends Umineko Shōgyō High School (海猫商業高等学校), or Umisho for short. He is also the manager of the Umisho's swim team though he himself doesn't know how to swim. In fact, he is afraid of the water stemming from an incident which occurred some years ago. While he was at the beach, he had nearly drowned when a 'mermaid' pulled him under the water. He joined the school's swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdos, who don't teach him swimming.

One day, a floating house arrives at the shores of Umisho bearing two persons. One of these is a cheerful, sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Ninagawa Amuro, a transfer student to Umisho, and the other is her father. Her incredible swimming speed makes her an instant hit with the swimming club, but Okiura is surprised, as she reminds him of the mermaid he saw only once in his early childhood. After her floating house is destroyed during a storm she moves to Kaname's house.

The fictional island, where the series is set, is modeled on the real island of Enoshima in Fujisawa, Kanagawa.

Characters

 * Amuro Ninagawa (蜷川 あむろ)
 * Second year student, and a new transfer student from Okinawa at Umishō. Despite her being a dedicated and skilled swimmer, she finds difficulties in performing at competitions due to her not being used to the rules and environment of professional swimming (for instance, in her first attempt at swimming in a pool, she bumped her head on the pool's edge on the opposite end from where she started, and cried for some time from the headache, since she was used to swimming in the open ocean). Among her other uncommon habits, she prefers swimming nude, and has no shame of doing so beside those she got used to, especially Kaname. The X's she wears on her head where given to her by her grandmother and is so dedicated to the story her grandmother told her about if she was to lose them, she actually suffers the symptoms that were later explained by her father that his mother "made them all up".


 * Kaname Okiura (沖浦 要)
 * Second year student, and the swimming team's manager. He had a traumatic experience involving a creature he describes as a mermaid during his childhood, and after which he has been afraid of swimming ever since. However this scenario started to change after Amuro's arrival at Umishō. Always in trouble due to Amuro's unpredictable behavior, he usually denies his growing feelings for her. In the last episode it is revealed that she is the "mermaid" that he saw when he was a kid, but she wasn't trying to drown him. Instead she was trying to save him from drowning as he slipped off the rock he was standing on. The anime series ends with her surprising him with a kiss, while the manga series ends with him married to her with a son and wandering on the sea just like when he just met her.


 * Momoko Orizuka (織塚 桃子)
 * Third year student, and vice-captain of the swimming team. The most rational and serious character, she serves as the straight man of most characters and can't stand the antics of Ikariya. Just after meeting Amuro, she realizes her hidden potential and recruits her to the swimming team, after challenging her to a match and being impressed with her speed in the water. She ends up being a grade school teacher.


 * Maki Ikuta (生田 蒔輝)
 * A first year student, nicknamed Makio (マキオ). Too small for her age, she is usually mistaken as a junior high student. Despite being a member of the swimming team, she is still learning how to properly swim by taking lessons from Kaname. She later teams up with Nanako because both of them have small breasts.


 * Masa Ikariya (碇矢 雅)
 * Team Captain, nicknamed Ikamasa. Third year, muscle-bound, and obsessed with shaving his and other people's body hair, and with wearing revealing Speedo bikini swim suits. He is, in fact, the most annoying character of the swim team, driving most of the characters crazy from his antics. It is stated by Sanae that the only reason he is the captain is because she and Momoko needed three students to start the swim club, and just dragged him in. However, due to her tendency to make up stories this might not be true. By the end of the manga series, he becomes a bar owner and promises Orizuka that his bar will always remain opened whenever she wants to complain about her students.


 * Mirei Shizuoka (静岡 みれい)
 * A second year. Admired by the boys, she is very self-conscious when people stare at her. Her secret promiscuity is a recurring gag in the series: she wears skimpy lingerie under her clothes, and although she doesn't like people looking at her, she likes to look at members of the opposite sex or anything that resembles them (ie a giant statue or a large horn). It's revealed when Kaname goes to her house that apparently she got this sexual behavior from her parents, who engage in sexual roleplay. She is a very skilled swimmer as she almost won the Kantou Tournament in 200 meters the year before the series starts. Her grandfather is the creator of the Shizu Group.


 * Maaya Nanako (魚々戸 真綾)
 * First year student. A famous swimmer and model who transfers to Umishō in order to get close to Kaname, for whom she has had a crush since childhood. She considers Amuro as a rival and competes with her for Kaname's attention. She has a noticeable small fang and wears a swimsuit different from the rest of the team. Like Maki she has small breasts.


 * Sanae Kise (黄瀬 早苗)
 * A third year student. A co-founder of Umisho's swimming club and Orizuka's childhood friend. Usually tends to bring trouble to those around her. She also makes up stories and lies just to tease others, and to also gain other guys attention.


 * Chigusa Yasu (安 千草)
 * A first year.


 * Kaori Himekawa (姫川 佳織)
 * A second year, and one of the members of the swimming team.


 * Yamana Yoshizawa (吉澤 やまな)
 * A second year.


 * Takeda Seito
 * A first or second year, and another pervert of the swimming club.


 * Tsunumi Isao


 * Tobe Jun
 * A first or second year, and another, albeit less perverted" member of the swimming club. He wears large glasses and is quite intelligent. His choice of swimsuit, like Ikuta, is a speedo.


 * Iori
 * A manga only character. He is the personal trainer of Maaya and also happens to be a top model featured in weekly column in swimming magazine. He actually happened to only be Maaya's coach so that he could get close to Okiura, her childhood friend because he really wanted to be his coach. He actually has zero interest in girls and those is in truth he is a homosexual as he says this out loud in front of everyone.


 * Taku Ikariya
 * A manga only character. He is the younger brother of Masa and competes in the same tournament as his brother (even in the same events as him). He has also been said to look like his brother only cooler looking (he even is better at swimming and studying then his brother). He also happened to be on the same swimming team as Momoko and Masa in elementary and middle school. He seems to have a crush on Momoko and they seem to get along as well. He goes to Shogyo all-boys senior high school. He seems to have a rivalry with his brother for Momoko's attention.

Manga

 * First volume: released January 17, 2006, ISBN 4063636186
 * Second volume: released April 17, 2006, ISBN 4063636623
 * Third volume: released August 17, 2006, ISBN 4063637107
 * Fourth volume: released December 15, 2006, ISBN 4063637646
 * Fifth volume: released April 17, 2007, ISBN 9784063638202
 * Sixth volume: released July 17, 2007, ISBN 9784063638554
 * Seventh volume: released October 17, 2007, ISBN 9784063639025
 * Eighth volume: released March 15, 2008, ISBN 9784063639667
 * Ninth volume: released June 17, 2008, ISBN 9784063621143

Anime
The series has been adapted into an anime television series, which premiered in Japan from July 3, 2007 on Chiba TV, Tokyo MX, and numerous other UHF television stations. Animated by Artland, it is being directed by Kōichirō Sōtome and written by Mamiko Ikeda.

Staff

 * Original Creator: Mitsuru Hattori
 * Planning: Hiroaki Morita, Yoshirō Kataoka
 * Series Composition: Mamiko Ikeda
 * Character Design and Chief Animation Director: Rie Nishino
 * Art Director: Chikako Shibata
 * Color Designs: Tomoko Yamazaki
 * Photography Director: Satoshi Fujita
 * Editing: Hiromasa Mastumura
 * Sound Director: Kazuya Tanaka
 * Music: Yasumasa Satō
 * Music Producers: Michiko Koyanagi
 * Music Production: 5pb.
 * Sound Effects: Noriko Izumo (Suwara Production)
 * Sound Studio: Delfi Sound, Seion Studio
 * Sound Production: DAX Production
 * Promotion: Tomoko Hasegawa, Teruhiko Satō, Katsunori Takahashi, Yuri Koya
 * Associate Producers: Noriko Doi, Tetsuko Otani
 * Producers: Bunpei Ogawa, Hiroyuki Ōmori
 * Executive Producer: Hidenobu Watanabe
 * Director: Kōichirō Sōtome
 * Animation Production: Artland
 * Production: Umishō Production Committee (Geneon Entertainment, Marvelous Entertainment, 5pb., Pony Canyon Enterprise)

Theme songs

 * Opening theme: "Dolphin☆Jet"
 * Lyrics and composition: Chiyomaru Shikura, arrangement: Kōji Ueno, performance: Ayane


 * Ending theme: "Splash Blue ~ Sun and Lemonade" (Splash BLUE〜太陽とレモネード)
 * Lyrics and composition: Urara Takai, arrangement: Kōji Ueno, performance: Ayumi Murata

Internet radio
An internet radio version of the anime series, Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō: Junbi Undō (ケンコー全裸系水泳部 ウミショー 準備運動), was first streamed on the Japanese websites Ōnsen and BEWE from May 16, 2007 and June 27, 2007. A continuation, Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō: Natsu!! Honban (ケンコー全裸系水泳部 ウミショー 夏!!本番), began streaming on July 4, 2007. The first version of the series featured Hitomi Nabatame, voice actor of Momoko Orizuka, while the continuation featured Nabatame and Aki Toyosaki, voice actor of Amuro Ninagawa.

Video game
5pb inc. published an Umisho game on PlayStation 2, under the 5gk. (The Five Games and Kid) title.