Wish (manga)

Wish (ウィッシュ) is a Japanese shōjo manga series created by Clamp. It is published in English by Tokyopop. The American translation is imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment.

Plot
While walking home from work one day, a doctor named Shuichiro notices an angel, Kohaku, stuck on a tree while being attacked by a crow. He rescues Kohaku and, in return, Kohaku offers to grant him a wish. However, Shuichiro is satisfied with his life - he has a decent home, good looks, and a well-paying job as a doctor - so he does not request anything. As Kohaku is honour-bound to grant the wish, he chooses to stay with him in his home, and helps with chores.

Throughout his stay, the angel Hisui, and two demons, Koryuu and Kokuyo, also begin living in the house, along with the Koryuu's servants Ruri and Hari. Kokuyo is the son of Satan and is in love with Hisui, who is one of the four Angel Masters controlling the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water; with wind being his element. Kokuyo admits that he made love to Hisui and that's how they ended up together. This relationship, however, is forbidden in both Heaven and Hell, so the two sought refuge on Earth. Kohaku originally came to Earth to find Hisui, who had been a mentor and father figure to him.

Despite his new housemates, Shuichiro remains as stoic as ever. Although he doesn't persist in making a wish, without realising it, he grows attached to Kohaku.

Eventually Kohaku is forced back to heaven against his will by God because he has the important task of hatching the eggs from the Tree of Life by singing to them. However, Kohaku deeply misses Shuichiro and realizes he had developed feelings for him. Likewise, Shuichiro misses him and continues to hold on to one of his earrings to try to prevent him from staying in heaven. Unable to bear the separation, Kohaku returns without God's permission, and the couple is happily reunited. Their reunion is short-lived as the three remaining Angel Masters come to Earth to punish both Kohaku, and Hisui for being in love with a demon. Hisui is stripped of his Angel Master status and is banished from heaven, to his and Kokuyo's delight. Kohaku, in turn, is stripped of his powers and forced to remain in a small form for the next one-hundred years. He is devastated that he could not grant Shuichiro's wish, but as Shuichiro's wish was for Kohaku to stay with him forever, it was one he could not have fulfilled himself.

Shortly afterward, Shuichiro suddenly dies while on a walk with Kohaku. Kohaku is put into a hundred years sleep, so that Shuichiro will have been reincarnated by the time Kohaku awakens. Kokuyo and Hisui are sentenced to look after his sleeping form. One hundred years later, the reincarnation of Shuichiro, now 16, passes by his old house which awakens Kohaku. He has no memory of him, so they have to start all over.

Also note this popular controversial topic: In the English translation of Wish, Kohaku is referred to as "she" or "her". The artists of CLAMP have stated that, although Kohaku has an androgynous appearance, the angel is technically neither male or female.

=Characters=

Shuichiro- The doctor who saves the angel Kohaku from a crow in the beginning of the story. He seems to be a bit in denial of the fact Kohaku is indeed an angel (believing her at first to be a small child or even a talking doll), and is a bit slow to warm up to the truth, but she soon makes enough of an impact on his life for him to truly miss her when she's forced to return to Heaven. He's a very no-nonsense sort of man who seems stoic and unfriendly, and insists he has no wishes for Kohaku to grant for him. However, this doctor hides quite a few secrets of his own...

Kohaku- An angel from Heaven and the main protaganist of the tale. She's been sent to Earth to find her missing teacher; Hisui, the Angel Master of the Wind. However, since she's only an angel in training, she loses the majority of her powers on Earth when the sun sets, which turns her into a chibi form of herself. It is in this vulnerable state that she falls under attack by a crow, and meets Shuichiro, with whom she's almost immediately taken. Though he insists he wants for nothing in his quiet life, she's bound by duty to pay off her debt to him.

Koryu- A demon of Hell, he can be considered Kohaku's demon equvilant; he too is only in training, and while on Earth he's forced to turn into a chibi version of himself during the daytime. He loves to cause trouble for the little angel, and toward the end of the series it's implied that he merely teases her because he has a crush on her. He is the one who sent the crow to attack Kohaku in the beginning of the story.

Hari and Ruri-

Twin cat girls only distinguishable from each other by their jewelry. They are servants of Koryu, and both of them adore him to the point of bickering with each other on occasion. They change to black cats when their master is in his smaller form.

Manga
All four volumes feature Kohaku as the cover character. Chapters are called contacts.

Drama CD
Voice cast for the drama CD:
 * Kohaku: Hiroko Konishi
 * Shūichirō Kudō : Kazuya Ichijō
 * Kōryū: Yuka Imai
 * Hisui: Kikuko Inoue
 * Kokuyō: Jūrōta Kosugi
 * Ruri: Ikue Ōtani
 * Hari: Chinami Nishimura