Attack No. 1

Attack No. 1 (アタックNo.1) is a Japanese manga series by Chikako Urano. It also became the first televised female sports anime series in the shōjo category.

The anime is an adaptation of Chikako Urano's 1968 volleyball manga serialized in Weekly Maragaret Magazine under the same name. Chikako was considered one of the founders of shōjo anime. And the series was introduced not only to push the older female manga fan base (as opposed to the significantly younger audience for magical girl series such as Sally, the Witch) into the anime mainstream, but also capitalizes on the boom of the gold medal Japanese women's volleyball team in the 1964 Olympics. The show did stand out in an era dominated by shōnen adventures and sci-fi anime, and was well received in the anime-friendly television markets of France (as "Les Attaquantes"), Germany (where it was retitled as "Mila Superstar" where Kozue was renamed to Mila) and Italy, (where it was retitled in first emission as "Quella Magnifica Dozzina" and in second emission as "Mimì e la nazionale di pallavolo" where Kozue was renamed to Mimì). The name Mila came from the immensely popular Italian version of 1984's Attacker You!, in which the main character, You Hazuki, was renamed Mila.

A direct sequel was also released in manga format called Shin Attack No.1 (New Attack No.1) in 1976, but it was short lived. The sequel was later redrawn between 2004 and 2005 in a new style by Kanon Ozawa.

Original Story
The story is about Kozue Ayuhara, a girl who transferred to Fujimi College and tried out for the school volleyball team. She develops a friendship with her teammate Midori Hayakawa, and her talents impress coach Hongō more and more each day. Though she showcases extraordinary volleyball skills, she makes enemies with Yoshimura, the star of the current team. Kozue discovers that being at the top would bring stress, incompatibilities and other dilemmas into her life. Her high expectations of becoming the best volleyball player in the school, Japan and eventually the world, set the tone for the drama to follow.

Staff

 * Additional Director: Fumio Kurokawa, Eiji Okabe, Yoshio Takeuchi,Toshitsugu Mukōtsubo,Kenji Kamiyama
 * Screenwriters: Tatsuo Tamura, Masaki Tsuji, Tetsu Dezaki, Haruya Yamazaki, Tsunehisa Ito
 * Design: Jun Ikeda
 * Animation Director:Tomekichi Takeuchi,Osamu Kobayashi,Ei'ichi Nakamura,Shigetsugu Yoshida,Tetsuhiro Wakabayashi,Hiroshi Iino
 * Animator:Keiichiro Kimura, Yoshiyuki Hane, Takeshi Shirato, Shingo Araki,Saburō Sakamoto,Shigetaka Kiyoyama,Kōichi Murata, Yoshiyuki Momose etc,

Main Characters

 * Kozue Ayuhara (鮎原こずえ)

Ayuhara moved away from Tokyo to a rural middle/junior high school to rehabilitate an illness (which makes her to quit sports). After a run-in with other students in the rural school, she returns to sports (Volleyball), and quickly becomes the leader of the team.


 * Midori Hayakawa (早川みどり):

Hayakawa born from a wealthy family. She joins the volleyball team. She begins very selfish in the team, but befriends with Ayuhara, and open herself up.

Other Characters

 * Coach Hongō Shunsuke (本郷俊介):Shūsei Nakamura
 * Coach Inokuma Daigo (猪野熊大吾):Masao Nakasone,Masahiko Murase
 * Tsutomu Ichinose　(一ノ瀬努）,Jirō Yushima (湯島二郎):Katsuji Mori
 * Shellenina (シェレーニナ):Hiroko Suzuki, Eiko Masuyama
 * Captain Satomi Yoshimura (吉村さとみ),Kyoko Makimura (真木村京子):Eiko Masuyama
 * "Naka"Nakazawa (中沢｢ナカ」):Kazuko Sawada
 * Michiru Sanjō　(三条美智留), Keiko"Kakko"Kashiwagi (柏木敬子):Reiko Mutō
 * Masako Kakinouchi:Masako Ebisu
 * Miyuki Ōnuma　(大沼みゆき):Yōko Kuri
 * Matsue"Ishimatsu"Ishida:Mie Azuma
 * Kaori Yagisawa:Keiko Yamamoto
 * Higaki:Masako Nozawa
 * Haruko Shimizu:Hiroko Mori
 * All Japan team captain Matsuyama:Kazue Takahashi
 * Father of Kozue:Osamu Kobayashi
 * Mother of Kozue:Toshiko Asai, Haruko Kitahama
 * Announcer:Daisaku Shinohara
 * Narrator:Katsuji Mori
 * Others:Mitsuko Asō, Nana Yamaguchi, Sachiko Chijimatsu, Makoto Kōsaka, Kazuo Harada, Michiko Nomura, Makio Inoue, Noriko Ohara, Tōru Furuya, Minori Matsushima, Kei Tomiyama, Mari Shimizu, Jōji Yanami,Masako Sugaya,Chieko Kitagawa, Kōji Yada,Kuriko Komamura, Kaneta Kimotsuki, Kunihiko Kitagawata, Shingo Kanemoto,Yōko Hatayama

DVD
The anime was digitally remastered on DVD in 2003 from Amuse Video Inc. Low-priced edition released in 2007 from Columbia Music Entertainment.

Movies
From 1970 to 1971, a total of 4 anime movies were spawned based on the series by Toho Co., Ltd and director Eiji Okabe.

{|class="wikitable" ! width=25% | Japanese Name ! width=30% | English Name ! width=15% | Release Date ! width=10% | Run time
 * アタック No.１|| Attack No.1 the movie || March 21, 1970 || 63 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の回転レシーブ || Attack No.1 Revolution || August 1, 1970 || 60 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の世界選手権 || Attack No.1 World Championship || December 19, 1970 || 63 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の不死鳥 || Attack No.1 Immortal Bird || March 17, 1971|| 50 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の世界選手権 || Attack No.1 World Championship || December 19, 1970 || 63 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の不死鳥 || Attack No.1 Immortal Bird || March 17, 1971|| 50 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の不死鳥 || Attack No.1 Immortal Bird || March 17, 1971|| 50 mins
 * アタック No.１涙の不死鳥 || Attack No.1 Immortal Bird || March 17, 1971|| 50 mins

Manga
The original manga is re-printed by Shueisha in 2003.

The redraw by Ozawa for Shin Attack No.1 spans the following 3 volumes:

Live Action Drama
In 2005 a live action drama based on Attack No. 1 aired on TV Asahi. Ueto Aya, the famous Japanese actress and singer stars as Kozue Ayuhara.

Story
The story is very similar to the original, but is a has a few differences. At the beginning of the manga series, Midori Hayakawa didn't like Kozue that much because Kozue was really good at volleyball, (but they soon became best friends), but in the 2005 drama, Midori has bigger issues with Kozue. First of all, Midori was better at volleyball than Kozue at the start of this drama, and was very jealous when Kozue got called to come and play for Japan's national team (although at this point they didn't play any matches, but trained to become stronger). Secondly, Midori has a huge crush on Tsutomu-kun (his second name is very hard to catch, as everyone in the drama calles him "Tsutomu-kun!" or "Tsutomu-san!"). Midori had known Tsutomu-kun since she was very young, and when she found out that he liked Kozue, she was extremely jealous of Kozue. But when Tsutomu-kun died while saving a young boy, Midori's jealousy sort of evaporated. Thirdly, when Kozue helped some girls who were in her volleyball team, Fujimi, from a drunken man, she became popular, and got the No.1 tracksuit for Fujimi, Midori was very jealous, so she didn't tell Kozue that Kozue had been taken out of Japan's volleyball team because, replacing her,Midori had been called to play for Japan. Despite all this jealousy from Midori, Kozue and her are best friends, and in the end get to play together for Japan, as Kozue is called back. Another difference is, Kozue injures her leg very badly and has to have surgery, but recovers fully. Also, in this drama, it doesn't tell us if Japan won worldwide, since it ends where Japan are playing Brazil

Spinoffs
In 1977 Fumio Kurokawa and Eiji Okabe helmed Attack on Tomorrow (based on a new story by Flower Angel creator Shiro Jinbo) for the Nippon Animation studio, but it didn't come close to matching the success of the original series.

In 1984 Kazuyuki Okaseko (Voltron) directed Attacker You! for the Knack animation studio; while not an official spinoff of Attack No. 1, Attacker You! invited the inevitable comparisons with the earlier series, although the latter was heavier on comedic elements. In addition, the screenwriters for the Italian version created a relationship between that series and Attack No. 1 that was not present in the original Japanese: they rewrote You Hazuki (Mila) as a cousin of Kozue, who was renamed "Mimi Ayuhara" in the Italian dub of Attack No. 1. This Voltron-style reworking of the story of Attacker You! by the Italian dubbing staff carried over into the French and Spanish versions of the anime. To compound the confusion, the heroine of the Attack No. 1 spinoff Attack on Tomorrow is named Mimi in both the Japanese and Italian versions.

Reaction
This series was practically responsible for the explosion of the shōjo subgenre from 1960s and on. It was originally screened in evening prime time with a ~20% viewership, and the record with its opening theme had about 700 thousand sales. There were countless series that followed the same concept, but shifted the focus to different sports. Ace wo Nerae! for tennis, Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl for judo are just some examples of series that appeared immediately after the fading of this series.

The show has received numerous awards. On September 23, 2005 it was voted "TV Asashi Top Anime" placing 61 out of 100. On October 13, 2006 it was voted "Japanese Favorite TV Anime" placing 9 out of 100 among celebrities.

This show also had a profound impact not only for being a sport spirited (supokon) anime in Japan, but had a strong influence long after the series ended. Italian professional volleyball player, Francesca Piccinini, is one such example of someone inspired by the series. (In Italy, the anime was shown on TV in the 1980s under the title Mimi e la nazionale della pallavolo. It was also known as Mila Superstar in Germany and other countries, Les Attaquantes in French, La Panda de Julia in Spanish and TAKKITAKKI in Uzbestikan.)

Kazuko Suzuki describes Attack No. 1 as an "innovation on the campus story", where a heroine would go to college and meet her future husband. She describes Kozue as "psychologically independent", as Kozue has realised that she must strive to create her own happiness and continues to strive on after her boyfriend's death.