Prétear

Prétear (新白雪姫伝説プリーティア), also called Prétear - The New Legend of Snow White, is a manga series written by Junichi Sato and illustrated by Kaori Naruse. Spanning four volumes, the manga series was originally published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten from May 2000 through July 2001. It was published in English in North America by ADV Manga.

The series was adapted into a thirteen episode anime series by Hal Film Maker, Kadokawa Shoten, and Rondo Robe. It aired in Japan on WOWOW from April 4, 2001 until June 27, 2001. Geneon released the series episodes across four volumes in Japan in both VHS video and DVD forms. ADV Films licensed and released the anime series, with English subtitle and audio dub track, Region 1 DVD in North America and Region 2 DVD in Europe.

Plot
A high school girl named Himeno Awayuki is attempted to adjust to her new life after her widowed father remarries wealthy divorcee Natsue. While taking a short cut to school, Himeno accidentally steps on a flower. As she tries to think of how to help it, a little boy named Shin, tells her to take his hand. When she does, the flower is healed but Himeno collapses. When she awakens, she finds herself surrounded by the seven Leafe Knights, Hayate, Sasame, Goh, Kei, Mannen, Hajime, and Shin. They tell her that the red snow that has been falling on the town recently is being caused by the Princess of Disaster who is awakening, and that she is using demon larva to absorb Leafe, the essence of all life. They ask Himeno to become the Prétear and help them protect the world. Himeno is initially reluctant, believing they are part of a cult or trying to play a trick on her. When a larva attacks the city and begins stealing leafe, including from her friend Yayoi, Himeno agrees to help. Hayate tells her to take his hand and she merges with him to become the Prétear of the Wind. After adjusting to her new powers, Himeno is able to defeat the larva.

As the series progresses, Himeno finds herself slowly falling in love with Hayate, who is initially cold and refuses to acknowledge her as the Prétear. Eventually she learns the Princess of Disaster was once a girl named Takako, who was the last Prétear. She had not enjoyed fighting, but did it anyway, also falling in love with Hayate. When he could not return her feelings, her anguish caused her powers to turn to evil, changing her into the Princess of Disaster.

Mawata, one of Himeno's stepsisters, has been overwhelmed with grief since the death of her father and holds herself distant from her family. She and Himeno temporarily connect over their shared feelings, but Mawata is hurt when she sees Himeno with Hayate. Mawata is in love with Sasame, but it is revealed that he was in love with Takako. He throws away his status as a Leafe Knight and joins Takako to become her Knight of Darkness. Takako uses Mawata's love for Sasame to hurt her even more, enabling Takako to use her to fuel the Great Tree of Fenrir.

The town is overrun by the Great Tree. To protect the rest of her family, Himeno reveals her Prétear powers to them, then begs them to escape while she rescues Mawata. Instead, the family refuses to leave Mawata behind and put themselves in great physical danger to rescue her. Hayate and Sasame engage in a battle to the death, and Himeno climbs the Great Tree of Fenrir. Himeno's family starts attacking the bubble holding Mawata, calling to her desperately. Himeno continues up the tree to confront the Princess of Disaster. Mawata is freed and Himeno's kindness reaches out to the Princess, enabling her to return to herself, but not before Hayate is killed by Sasame. Out of control, the tree attacks Takako. Sasame shields her and is struck instead. As he dies in her arms, she cries for him and realizes she loved him too.

To stop the tree, Himeno calls upon all of her powers, becoming the legendary White Prétear and pouring out a massive amount of Leafe. The town is restored, the Leafe Knights healed, and Sasame and Hayate are brought back to life. Hayate awakens to find the others crying over Himeno's lifeless body, lying in the grass as if she were sleeping. In agony, he holds her, then kisses her, which restores her life and enables her to awaken. At the end of the series, Himeno and Hayate are a couple, Himeno and her family are closer, Mawata is happier, and Takako is seen quietly sitting with Sasame.

Differences in the anime adaptation
The anime adaptation retains the overall story of the series, but changes many of the details. The beginning of the story and how Himeno meets the Leafe nights is changed to have Himeno jump from a bush and land on Hayate. The personalities and appearances of the Leafe Knights are changed, with the older knights given more mature appearances. Sasame is changed from a joyful flirt to a quieter more serious man. Some of the circumstances in the Awayuki household are also changed. In the anime, Natsue's husband died rather than their being divorced. The servants of the house are kind to Himeno instead of picking on her. Mawata is less interactive with her family, while Mayune only plays pranks on Himeno, rather than attempting to ostracize her at school or cause trouble with Natsue. Natsue is also changed to be distant, but relatively friendly to Himeno, with her jealousy of the girl removed completely. The anime also has the family unaware of Himeno's association with the Leafe Knights until near the end of the series.

Characters

 * Himeno Awayuki (淡雪 姫乃) is the sixteen year old heroine of Prétear  After her mother's death and her father's remarriage, Himeno is thrust into a high-class society life where she has trouble adjusting as she is picked on both by her new family and her peers at school. As Himeno's alienation grows, she meets Hayate and the other Leafe Knights, who tell her that she's the Prétear who is needed to save the world. She is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida in the original Japanese anime adaptation, and by Luci Christian in the English dub.


 * Hayate (颯) is the Knight of Wind. Hayate is initially hostile towards Himeno, refusing to acknowledge her as the new Prétear due to a past experience. Hayate gradually begins to accept her as the Prétear, eventually finding himself falling in love with her. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Kousuke Toriumi in the original Japanese dub, and by Illich Guardiola in the English one.


 * Sasame (細) is the Knight of Sound and has a job as a radio personality, addressing people's problems on the air. He is a reported flirt, with the other knights referring to him as a playboy, but he also is a good listener and offers himself as a sounding board to Himeno. He later becomes Fenrir's Knight of Darkness after confessing that he was in love with Takako 16 years ago, pitting him against the Leafe Knights and the Prétear. In the anime adaptation, his personality is changed to a quieter, more serious nature, and he is given an older appearance. He is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in the original Japanese dub, and by Chris Patton in the English dub.


 * Kei (蛍) is the Knight of Light and works at an Internet company. Kei is the most practical and direct of the Knights, which sometimes leads to confrontation. In the anime, Kei is changed to be a narcissist, as illustrated by the numerous self-depicting toys and pictures in his work. In the Japanese dub, he is voiced by Makoto Naruse and by Victor Carsrud in the English dub.


 * Go (豪) is the Knight of Fire and works as a waiter in his part time job. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Shotaro Morikubo in the Japanese dub, and by Spike Spencer in the English dub.


 * Mannen (万年) is the Knight of Ice and is the unstated leader of the younger members of the Leafe Knights. With his two followers, Hajime and Shin, the last Mannen died while fighting the Princess of Disaster sixteen years ago and was reborn as a child. Akiko Yajima voices Mannen in the Japanese dub track of the anime adaptation, and by Greg Ayres in the English dub.


 * Hajime (初) is the Knight of Water and is the second youngest member of the Leafe Knights. In the Japanese dub of the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Misato Fukuen and Hilary Haag provides his voice in the English dub.


 * Shin (新) is the youngest member of the Leafe Knights and the Knight of Plants. He can use his abilities to heal plants, and is very sensitive to anyone hurting them, crying when the knights discuss killing a tree that has been infected by a demon larva. Like the other two younger Knights, Shin died sixteen years ago while fighting the Princess of Disaster and was reborn. In the manga, when he prete's with Himeno he dies as the Pretear must draw energy from the knight to fight, but is revived. In the anime, the use of a knight's leafe is removed, and Shin is the only knight never shown preting with her. He is also given the additional abilities to seal demon larvae and to create a barrier around a battle to keep the environment from being harmed by battles with the larvae. In the anime adaptation, Tamaki Nakanishi voices Shin in the Japanese dub, and Sasha Paysinger provides his voice in the English dub.


 * Mayune Awayuki (淡雪 繭根), who is the same age as Himeno, is the eldest daughter of Natsue and holds a pretentious attitude toward Himeno for coming from an impoverished family. Mayune often plays practical jokes to demean Himeno and tattles on her to her mother. Mayune and Himeno reconcile after Himeno saves Mawata from the Great Tree of Fenrir. Mayune's voice in the anime adaptation is provided by Satsuki Yukino in the Japanese dub and by Shelley Calene-Black in the English dub.


 * Mawata Awayuki (淡雪 真綿) is 14 years old. Intelligent and composed, Mawata is the seemingly perfect child of the family. However, her outwardly calm demeanor is used as a facade to hide her loneliness and mask her own sense of loss after her parents divorce. Ultimately, Mawata's grief is used by Fenrir to fuel the Great Tree of Fenrir. She is voiced by Akemi Kanda in the original Japanese anime adaptation, and by Mandy Clark in the English dub.


 * Kaoru Awayuki (淡雪 薫) is a former author of romance novels and Himeno's father. Before marrying Natsue, Kaoru spent much of his time drinking sake while Himeno balanced the budget and cooked their meals. He stopped writing due to Himeno's mother's death. In the anime adaptation, he is shown turning to sculpture after his marriage to Natsue. He is voiced by Yuji Ueda in the original Japanese dub, and by Jason Douglas in the English dub.


 * Natsue Awayuki (淡雪 夏江) is a wealthy and powerful executive who married her teenage crush Kaoru Awayuki after her divorce. She only exposes her soft-side to Kaoru while dealing with everyone else with a strict decorum. Her daughters are named after characters in her favorite book by Kaoru, Twin Princesses. Natsue is consumed by jealousy of her husband's ex wife and of Himeno, treating the girl more harshly than her own daughters. Her hatred results in her being possessed by the Princess of Disaster. In the anime, Natsue is never possessed by the Princess of disaster, never shows any jealousy about Kaoru's late wife, and while strict with Himeno, also cares about her wellbeing. She is voiced by Kikuko Inoue in the Japanese dub track, and by Lauren Goodnight in the English dub.


 * Mr. Tanaka (田中) is the Awayuki's butler/chauffeur. He and Natsue used to go to school together, with Mr. Tanaka harboring a crush on Natsue while she pursued other interests. He once offered Natsue a ride, which lead to his employment as the Awayuki's chauffeur. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Takehito Koyasu and in the English dub, he is voiced by Paul Sidello.


 * Yayoi Takato (高斗 弥生) is Himeno's friend from middle school and her schoolmate, having transferred to Himeno's school with her. In the anime adaptation, their earlier friendship is never mentioned, and its implied they became friends at school after Yayoi ignores bullies telling her to stay away from Himeno. Her personality is also changed into that of a hopeless romantic who spins outrageous scenarios about the pursuit of love. In the original Japanese audio track, she is voiced by Yukari Tamura. In the English dub, she is voiced by Monica Rial.


 * Fenrir, the Princess of Disaster (災妃フェンリル), whose real name is Takako (貴子), was the last Prétear before Himeno. She fell in love with Hayate, but he was unable to reciprocate her feelings, causing her to turn her powers towards evil. As Fenrir, Takako's ultimate goal is to destroy the world by taking away the Leafe that preserves all life. When Sasame confesses that he had loved her all along, she doesn't return his feelings but has him become her Knight of Darkness and orders him to kill Hayate and attack the other Leafe Knights. At the end of the series, Himeno's kindness and Sasame's death out of love for her enables her to regain her humanity and return to normal. She is last seen with the revived Sasame. In the anime adaptation, Takako assumes the form of a maid at the Awayuki estate named Mikage who is friendly with Himeno and regularly provides her with advice. In the anime adaptation, Yui Horie provides her voice in the Japanese dub and Kaytha Coker voices her in the English dub.

Production
Anime director Junichi Satou created Prétear out of his desire to work on a series for women that featured good-looking young boys. Wanting to base the story on a fairy tale, he asked himself what Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be like if the dwarfs were replaced with cute boys. As the story took shape, Leafe became the symbol of the apple in the story. It can pass on its life force to others, like a regular apple when eaten, or take away life as the poison apple did in the original story. Feeling that the concept of a woman being rescued by "Prince Charming" was old-fashioned and not fitting with modern girls, he decided to make Prétear's "Snow White", Himeno, a more assertive woman.

Though an anime director himself, Satou did not the direct the anime adaptation of Prétear. Kiyoko Sayama directed the series, while Satou provided consultation and checked the scripts and storyboards before they were animated. The anime characters were designed by Akemi Kobayashi, who made various changes to the characters for the new story. For example, Hayate's anime version has longer hair tied in a ponytail, while in the manga story, Hayate had cut off his longer hair before the start of the story. The design of Kei is the most drastically changed in the adaptation, with the anime version bearing little resemblance to his manga original.

Manga
Written by Junichi Satou and illustrated by Kaori Naruse, the four volume Prétear manga series was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten. The first volume was released on June 1, 2000, and the final was released on July 21, 2001. All four volumes have been published in English in North America by ADV Manga.

Anime
Hal Film Maker, Kadokawa Shoten, and Rondo Robe collaborated to adapt the manga chapters into an anime series that premiered in Japan on WOWOW on April 4, 2001. It ran for 13 episodes until its conclusion on June 27, 2001. Geneon released the series episodes across four volumes in Japan in both VHS video and DVD forms. ADV Films licensed and released the anime series, with English subtitle and audio dub track, Region 1 DVD.

The series uses two pieces of theme music. The song "White Destiny", performed by Yoko Ishida, is used for the series opening theme. "Lucky Star", sung by Sayuri Yoshida, is used for its ending theme.