Enchanter (manga)

Enchanter (機工魔術士-enchanter-) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Kawachi. The manga was serialized in October 2002 in Square Enix's magazine Monthly Gangan Wing. The manga is licensed in North America by Digital Manga Publishing. The manga was adapted into 2 drama CDs.

Plot
The story revolves around "Enchanters" or Kikō majutsushi ("machinist-magicians"), people who can build enchanted items with the power gained from their contracted demon. The enchanted items can then carry special effects like "hardened", "water resistance", or effects like "evil repelling".

The protagonist, Haruhiko Kanou, is a regular high school student with the gift of fixing and building mechanical and electrical appliances. His motivation comes from his secret love towards his next door neighbor and childhood friend, Yuka Fujikawa, who is a few years older and now teaches at Haruhiko's high school.

An enchanter, Fulcanelli, and his beloved contract demon Eukanaria roams the secretive world of magic and sorcery with Fulcanelli being the top. Fulcanelli, however, died a little before the start of the story, and Eukanaria wanted to revive him with the stone that contains his soul. But Fulcanelli had no wish to be revived, but didn't want to hurt Eukanaria and kept silent.

Eukanaria found the perfect body for Fulcanelli, which is the protagonist Haruhiko. To Haruhiko's surprise, Eukanaria looks exactly like Yuka, and he himself looks exactly like Fulcanelli. Eukanaria tried to seduce him into giving her his soul so she can place Fulcanelli's soul into Haruhiko's body using four different procedures. Haruhiko either has to sign a contract, die, have sex (there is a moment when the soul becomes unstable) or when he loses the will to live.

Characters
A 17 year old student, Haruhiko is compatible with Fulcanelli's soul and because of this he is constantly pressured into giving up his body to Eukanaria. He's actually very good with mechanical things and may become a great enchanter. His main love interest is Yuka Fujikawa, his homeroom teacher and childhood friend. He became good with machines because he wanted to help her since she isn't good with them. He constantly has fantasies about her. A running gag is that he is constantly called impotent or spineless for his lack of progress with her and when his collection of adult magazines is found by others. He's been training to fight under Yamamoto.
 * Haruhiko Kanou (叶晴彦)

A teacher at Haruhiko's school and his childhood friend, she is 6 years older than him and is a gentle person, placing the students welfare above her own. She is constantly the target of demon attacks, since she is the perfect type of target for them. She looks like Eukanaria and her MD player held a demon warding stone placed by Fulcanelli, hinting at some kind of connection between them. She has a demon as a pet called Neraga to watch over her, ironically it was the first demon to attack her searching for Fulcanelli's power.
 * Yuka Fujikawa (藤川優香)

Demon who looks like Yuka (even down to her measurements) who loved Fulcanelli. She wishes to use Haruhiko's body for his soul and is willing to even sleep with him if it means getting his body. She constantly tries to seduce Haruhiko by acting like Yuka, but has shown some concern for Haruhiko. Unlike most demons she is use to the human world. She's given so much of her power up she is more human than demon. She seems to have been vicious in the past (as stated by many other characters) but Fulcanelli changed her. She hates how she was in the past and states that if Fulcanelli can't be resurrected she would lose all reason for living.
 * Eukanaria (ユウカナリア)

Powerful enchanter turned demon, he was admired by demons and enchanters for his power. His soul is inside a demonstone and hasn't manifest itself since he gave Haruhiko his extra power. Lover of Eukanaria and brother of Paracelsus.
 * Fulcanelli (フルカネルリ)

An enchanter whose true body is a skeleton (He can transform into the form a young man) he is a physician and a pervert. He constantly gives Haruhiko advise and help. He seems to like Eukanaria and usually tries to touch her resulting in a hit. He also tries to help Haruhiko with Yuka and even suggests that he hurry up and sleep with her as a way to prevent her from being targeted by demons. He's actually a strong fighter and not even Fulcanelli was able to beat him. He has an assistant named Ai. He was modelled after real world alchemist and physician Paracelsus.
 * Paracelsus (パラケルスス)

A demon child who works under Paracelsus, she is good at making clothing and is combat capable. She never talks but tends to appear out of nowhere.
 * Ai (アイ)

A blue-haired demon who knows about Eukanaria. She knows about her past and has even suggested that Haruhiko kill her to get out of giving up his body. She has an enchanter named Adolf, whom she's in love with. She doesn't know much about the Human world because she is hasn't interacted with them much and wouldn't understand thing like why Haruhiko wouldn't sleep with Eukanaria even though they share a bed, since she and Adolf do. She originally wanted to return to her own world even if it meant stealing Fulcanelli's power from Haruhiko, but has decided to stay with Adolf. She has a dislike of Eukanaria, due to the fact she was once in love with Fulcanelli.
 * Ranvoa (Lavoix) (ラヴォワ)

An enchanter who serves under Ranvoa, he is flustered by women like Eukanaria but loves Ranvoa. He loves her to the extent that he drained Eukanaria's power and attempted to steal from Haruhiko, claiming that it didn't matter as long as she's happy. He's not very confident but he is actually a good enchanter. He and Haruhiko get along rather well and he's very passive and doesn't like harming others.
 * Adolf (アドルフ)

A classmate of Haruhiko, she has a crush on him. She is good at fixing bikes, since her family runs a bicycle shop. She takes care of a crow she hits with her bike, which later turns out to be a demon named Navy. After being chased by Navy and defended by Haruhiko, she becomes an enchanter.
 * Mana Kimura (木村まな)

A demon who can change into a crow, he became Mana's demon contractor. He wants her to build him a method to fly since he has lost the power to do so himself. He wields an axe and chain in battle. He is somewhat of a masochist as he loves it when Mana scolds and hits him and has expressed desires to be "more" with her. He was defeated in battle by Haruhiko and sealed in a device that Mana has in case he gets troublesome, she can seal him back up.
 * Navy (ネイヴィ)

At first she appears to be a clumsy, but cute engraver working for Yamamoto. However in truth two personalities exist inside the body. The cute and kind side being a demon and the ruthless side and original owner of the body an enchanter. The demon side is in love with Haruhiko, while the enchanter is trying to kill him to prevent him from repairing the unit holding the demon side inside her body.
 * Mercurio (メルクーリオ)

Production
Enchanter received some attention before the official release in North America, the author was invited to an Anime Expo in North America before the official release date, and found out that a lot of fans obtained copies of the Japanese version to read and for her to sign. She is surprised that in contrary to its popularity among males in Japan, the North American fan community consists of a larger portion of females. The favourite character is different than in Japan as well; Paracelsus (a.k.a. the skeleton man in Enchanter, modeled after the real world alchemist, Paracelsus) is the most popular character in North America, but in Japan, the most popular character is Haruhiko. She is also a little confused that the humour in the plot is seen differently by Americans.

Izumi Kawachi comments that she often has young boys being belittled as "useless" and "no good" due to her desire to be treated in such a way by an domineering, cute, older woman." She states Takeshi Obata, the artist of Death Note and Hikaru no Go, as "one of the artists that influenced" her. Kawachi states Haruhiko Kato as the model for Fulcanelli and Haruhiko. "A music video where the singer played two very different characters, with different personalities, and that gave me the idea for the dualities of Eukanaria and Yuka, and Fulcanelli and Haruhiko in Enchanter."

Manga
Enchanter is written and illustrated by Izumi Kawachi. Square Enix released the first tankōbon of the manga on January 27, 2003. , 19 tankōbon volumes have been released in Japan with the 19th volume released on March 27, 2009. The manga is licensed in North America by Digital Manga Publishing. Digital Manga Publishing released the first tankōbon volume on July 1, 2006. , 10 tankōbon volumes have been released in North America with the 10th volume released on February 25, 2009.

Drama CDs
The manga was adapted into two drama CDs. The first CD, named Kikou Majutsushi - Enchanter Part.1, was released on November 26, 2004, covering the first eleven chapters of the manga. The second CD, named Kikou Majutsushi - Enchanter Part.2, was released on January 28, 2005, coving chapters twelve to seventeen of the manga. Both CDs had Masumi Asano, Yumi Toma, Koji Tsujitani, Shuichi Ikeda, Ryotaro Okiayu, Yumi Kakazu, Takehito Koyasu and Kyoko Hikami as voice actors for the characters.

Reception
A reviewer for Pop Culture Shock commends the characterisation for Eukanaria, saying, "[she] could have been depicted as a mere sexpot, is quite possibly the most complicated character in the series. True, she’s frequently crass, but shows a surprisingly vulnerable side in volumes five through eight." Comics Village's Lori Henderson criticises the manga for having "fan service on nearly every page". However, she commends Digital Manga Publishing's presentation of the book with the book "printed in the oversize format, and it comes with a glossy dust sleeve, just like the Japanese editions do." Mania.com's Matthew Alexander commends the manga's artwork saying, "the characters proportions are well drawn and facial expressions are quite varied and descriptive. Not surprisingly the backgrounds are fairly sparse and a little stale when present, but monster design is fairly interesting and the girls are definitely cute, especially when the sexy nighties come out. Line work is clean and the shading is pretty good." ActiveAnime's Holly Ellingwood commends the manga as "one of the most energetic and comedic manga series I’ve come across."