Gakuen Heaven

Gakuen Heaven (学園ヘヴン) is a popular franchise that is based on the PC game Gakuen Heaven: Boy's Love Scramble, originally released by the company SPRAY. The franchise gradually expanded to include three PlayStation 2 games, drama CDs, manga, and anime.

Characters

 * Keita Itō (伊藤 啓太)
 * During the middle of the school year, he received a letter of admission from Bell Liberty Academy. Though he seems to be an average guy without any sort of special skills, he is a very warm and friendly person. The only skill he thought he had was luck. He seems to have forgotten who Kazuki is really.
 * During the middle of the school year, he received a letter of admission from Bell Liberty Academy. Though he seems to be an average guy without any sort of special skills, he is a very warm and friendly person. The only skill he thought he had was luck. He seems to have forgotten who Kazuki is really.


 * Kazuki Endo (遠藤 和希)
 * He is Keita's classmate and the first friend Keita makes at BL Academy. He leads a double life as a student of BL Academy and as its chairman, as the school's late chairman, Endo's grandfather's, last wishes were for Endo to succeed his position. Endo's innocuous and perpetually friendly demeanor does not betray the fact that he is also an excellent executive. Endo is also a part of the school's handicrafts club. He is actually Keita's childhood friend who promised in the future that they could go to the same school.
 * He is Keita's classmate and the first friend Keita makes at BL Academy. He leads a double life as a student of BL Academy and as its chairman, as the school's late chairman, Endo's grandfather's, last wishes were for Endo to succeed his position. Endo's innocuous and perpetually friendly demeanor does not betray the fact that he is also an excellent executive. Endo is also a part of the school's handicrafts club. He is actually Keita's childhood friend who promised in the future that they could go to the same school.


 * Kaoru Saionji (西園寺 郁)
 * He is the head of the school Treasury/accounting department. Strikingly beautiful, he shares the same amount of influence as Tetsuya Niwa, and is called the "Queen" among students. He is very strong intellectually but performs very poorly in physical education. He is close to Omi since Elementary days, going as far as making him hack into the BL academy server when Omi didn't receive the platinum paper. He also has close contact with the chairman and contacts him if something sprouts up. Even though he is called the "Queen," he hates it when someone treats him like a female.
 * He is the head of the school Treasury/accounting department. Strikingly beautiful, he shares the same amount of influence as Tetsuya Niwa, and is called the "Queen" among students. He is very strong intellectually but performs very poorly in physical education. He is close to Omi since Elementary days, going as far as making him hack into the BL academy server when Omi didn't receive the platinum paper. He also has close contact with the chairman and contacts him if something sprouts up. Even though he is called the "Queen," he hates it when someone treats him like a female.


 * Tetsuya Niwa (丹羽 哲也)
 * As the president of the student council, he excels in almost everything, from academics to sports and extracurriculars; he is also known as the "King" at the academy. He regularly neglects his duties leaving them to the very last minute. He also has a tendency to call Kaoru "Kaoru-chan," which results in the latter hurting him. He has an aversion to cats.
 * As the president of the student council, he excels in almost everything, from academics to sports and extracurriculars; he is also known as the "King" at the academy. He regularly neglects his duties leaving them to the very last minute. He also has a tendency to call Kaoru "Kaoru-chan," which results in the latter hurting him. He has an aversion to cats.


 * Omi Shichijo (七条 臣)
 * Saionji's friend since childhood, he is a person who always smiles. He is extremely talented with computers and can also be extremely dangerous when he wants to. Currently, he helps Saionji at the Treasury/Accounting Department. Nakajima refers to him as "that dog" and "the treasury's dog". He likes eating sweets such as chocolate.
 * Saionji's friend since childhood, he is a person who always smiles. He is extremely talented with computers and can also be extremely dangerous when he wants to. Currently, he helps Saionji at the Treasury/Accounting Department. Nakajima refers to him as "that dog" and "the treasury's dog". He likes eating sweets such as chocolate.


 * Hideaki Nakajima (中嶋 英明)
 * He is the vice president of the student council. He appears to be brisk and cool with most of the students, and can usually be found trying to hack the school's treasury records, much to the chagrin of Omi Shichijo.
 * He is the vice president of the student council. He appears to be brisk and cool with most of the students, and can usually be found trying to hack the school's treasury records, much to the chagrin of Omi Shichijo.


 * Yukihiko Naruse (成瀬 由紀彦)
 * He is the captain of the tennis club at school. He takes an immediate liking to Keita and calls him "Honey". A little oblivious at times, he is extremely passionate about Keita and is always trying to ask Keita out on dates.
 * He is the captain of the tennis club at school. He takes an immediate liking to Keita and calls him "Honey". A little oblivious at times, he is extremely passionate about Keita and is always trying to ask Keita out on dates.


 * Koji Shinomiya (篠宮 紘司)
 * He is the captain of the archery club. He is a very responsible, big-brother figure. He also holds the position of Dormitory Head. He has a little brother who has cardiac problems. He is very close with Takuto Iwai.
 * He is the captain of the archery club. He is a very responsible, big-brother figure. He also holds the position of Dormitory Head. He has a little brother who has cardiac problems. He is very close with Takuto Iwai.


 * Takuto Iwai (岩井 卓人)
 * He is the president of the art club and a genius artist. On the moody, introspective side, he is very soft-spoken and very humble about his skills as an artist. He is very close with Koji Shinomiya.
 * He is the president of the art club and a genius artist. On the moody, introspective side, he is very soft-spoken and very humble about his skills as an artist. He is very close with Koji Shinomiya.


 * Shunsuke Taki (滝 俊介)
 * , Drama voice by: Majima Junji
 * He is a superb cyclist who ranked the third in the National Tournament. Cuter and shorter than others of his age, he is characterised by his Kansai ben dialect. Taki also does freelance delivery work for most of the student body.


 * Satoshi Umino (海野 聡)
 * , Drama voice by: Amada Mahito
 * Although he is the oldest character, he is also the youngest in terms of outer appearance. He is extremely good at research but can barely take care of himself as he is quite absent-minded. He is both a teacher and researcher for the Bell Liberty. He is also very strong. He also carries an overweight cat all the time.


 * Kakeru Ozawa (小澤 翔) and Wataru Ozawa (小澤 渉)
 * and, respectively
 * Twins who tease Keita. The twins are never seen apart and they sneak around a lot. They are always getting in to trouble and they are the "kings of doubles tennis". Also nicknamed the "terrible twosome". Later in the anime, the twins seem to become fonder of Keita, but don't admit this till the last episode when the say that they might become his friends.


 * Jin Matsuoka (松岡 迅)
 * The school nurse of Bell Liberty, he is Kazuki's mentor and former tutor, and the two are very close. It is revealed in later episodes that he attended Bell Liberty himself with his friend, Hiroya Yoshizumi, to whom he was very close. He has a dark secret and will go to any means to fulfill his own agenda.
 * The school nurse of Bell Liberty, he is Kazuki's mentor and former tutor, and the two are very close. It is revealed in later episodes that he attended Bell Liberty himself with his friend, Hiroya Yoshizumi, to whom he was very close. He has a dark secret and will go to any means to fulfill his own agenda.


 * Hiroya Yoshizumi (吉住 比呂哉)
 * Childhood friend of Matsuoka, they attended Bell Liberty together. Not a major character, he went into medicine like Matsuoka after graduation, but contracted the "X7 virus" and is currently hospitalized.
 * Childhood friend of Matsuoka, they attended Bell Liberty together. Not a major character, he went into medicine like Matsuoka after graduation, but contracted the "X7 virus" and is currently hospitalized.

Boy's Love Scramble
In the original game, the player Keita Itō suddenly received an acceptance letter from the renowned Bell Liberty Academy (also known as BL Gakuen). Attracted by the prestige of the school, he decided to attend. However, on the day of his transfer, the bridge joining the school and the academy, which was located on a remote man-made island, suddenly raised and his bus fell. Luckily, no one was injured but the accident aroused the attention of both the student council's president Niwa Tetsuya as well as the head of the accounting department Saiyonji Kaoru. After explaining briefly the cause of the accident, they guided Keita to his classroom where he met his classmate Endou Kazuki, who kindly befriended Keita and showed him around the campus. On the school grounds, Keita met the rest of the important students in the game: Naruse Yukihiko, captain of the tennis club; Shinomiya Kouji, captain of the archery club; Iwai Takuto, captain of the art club; and Taki Shunsuke, a genius cyclist; the vice president of the student council, Nakajima Hideaki; the genius programmer, Shichijou Omi; as well as the child-looking teacher Umino Satoshi. The objective of the game is to solve the mysteries surrounding Keita's sudden transfer to BL Academy.

Okawari
This is more like a fan disc than a sequel as the game is very short. It takes place three months after the first game. This time, Keita picked up a cursed ring that would take away his major ability - luck. The characters are the same as in the PC Game and the objective this time is to find the way to release Keita from the curse of the ring.

Summary
Keita Itō receives a letter of admission from Bell Liberty Academy, a prestigious all-boy's school that only accepts the cream of the crop. Though he doubts his ability to succeed at such a school because he is a transfer student coming in the middle of the year, and he has no special ability that he can speak of, he accepts the admission. Keita is picked up by Niwa, the president of the student council, and from then on, he is warmly welcomed by everyone to BL Academy.

Keita's first actual friend is Endo Kazuki, who immediately takes Keita under his wing and takes care of him to the extent that Keita laughingly dubs him "grandmother." The two of them become a steadfast pair, but in the days that Kazuki is not around, Keita has no trouble finding other company among the other students.

Occasionally Keita has flashbacks to his childhood, where he is playing with a slightly older boy whom he calls "Kazu-nii." He can't remember much except that he and "Kazu-nii" were close at one point, but these memories seem irrelevant to his current life, so Keita dismisses them.

Meanwhile, Kazuki is involved in a power struggle with the Vice Chairman of the board. The Vice Chairman is distinctly annoyed that the former chairman chose to leave his position to Kazuki, and views Kazuki as a young and incompetent despot incapable of running BL Academy, much less Suzubishi Corporation, the business group that owns BL Academy and many scientific research and development companies. Indeed, Kazuki rejects many of the Vice Chairman's proposals and seemingly "abuses" his power by admitting a student of no particular skill—in this case, Itō Keita—to BL Academy. Keita unwittingly becomes involved in a potentially deadly power struggle between the Chairman and Vice Chairman. Kazuki stakes his position on the outcome of the school's annual "MVP Battle--" that is, if he and Keita do not manage to win the competition, he will resign his position as Chairman.

List of episodes
Episode 1: An Out Of Season Transfer Student Episode 2: The Heaven We Reached Episode 3: Circulating Letter, Wavering Feelings Episode 4 Steam! A Stormy Welcoming Party Episode 5: Heaven's door Episode 6: Date Weather Episode 7: The Whereabouts of Anxiety Episode 8: The Night Before the MVP Battle Episode 9: The Steel Flower Episode 10: The Key to Memories Episode 11: The Truth is Revealed Episode 12: A Flower that won't Bend to the Wind Episode 13: Promise

Staff

 * Game Character Design: You Higuri
 * Director: Hiiro Yukina
 * Script: Takahashi Natsuko, Hiiro Yukina etc.
 * Anime Character Design: Nakayama Yumi
 * Opening Theme: "School Boys" by YAMOTO
 * Ending Theme: "Panorama" by Fujioka Masaaki
 * Music Production: Dusk Production
 * Music Composer: Nishioka Kazuya
 * Produced by: BL Academy Supporting Committee

Drama CDs
So far, 5 drama CDs have been released. Aside from the first drama CD, the core cast remains the same for all other products in the franchise and is based on the casting in the PlayStation 2 games.

Full-length drama:
 * 1) Gakuen Heaven 1: Mirai wa Kimi no Mono
 * 2) Gakuen Heaven 2: Muteki no Sannensei
 * 3) Gakuen Heaven 2: Tsuyoki na Ninensei
 * 4) Gakuen Heaven 2: Welcome to Heaven
 * 5) Gakuen Heaven 3: Happy Paradise

Mini drama
 * 1) Gakuen Heaven: Bitter Chocolate
 * 2) Gakuen Heaven: Sweet Candy

Manga
The manga series is drawn and adapted by You Higuri. Each volume is an alternate-universe story following Keita's relationship with one of the possible romantic interests. The series is licensed in English by Tokyopop's yaoi imprint, BLU.

Volume 1, pairing: Niwa
 * Japanese: 学園ヘヴン (Gakuen Heaven) (March 2004), ISBN 4-8352-1565-6
 * English: Gakuen Heaven (October 2006), ISBN 1-5981-6708-1

Volume 2, pairing: Nakajima
 * Japanese: 学園ヘヴン 中嶋編 (Gakuen Heaven Nakajima Chapter) (July 2006), ISBN 4862630103
 * English: Gakuen Heaven-Nakajima (June 2009), ISBN 1427810885

Volume 3, pairing: Endo
 * Japanese: 学園ヘヴン 遠藤編 ~Calling You~ (Gakuen Heaven Endo Chapter ~Calling You~) (July 2007), ISBN 486263219X
 * English: Gakuen Heaven-Endo-Calling You (August 2010) (forthcoming), ISBN 1427818959

Volume 4, pairing: Shichijo
 * Japanese: 学園ヘヴン 七条編〜SWEET SWEET DARLING!〜 (Gakuen Heaven Shichijo Chapter 〜SWEET SWEET DARLING!〜) (July 2009), ISBN 4862636284
 * English: 2nd august

Volume 5: Gakuen Heaven Revolution (sequel)

Web radio
Since March 2006, there has been a web radio show on Marine Entertainment's site to promote the anime. It is anchored by the cover voice for Keita Itō, Fukuyama Jun, and every 12 days, there are guests from the regular cast.

Reception
Anime News Network describes the manga as derivative, but enjoyable, with a romantic sex scene. IGN found the manga surprisingly well-paced and enjoyable, despite its roots in a dating sim. Holly Ellingwood, writing for Active Anime, found the art for the manga to be very good. Nadia Oxford, writing for Mania Entertainment, felt that the manga did not rise above other BL manga, its only distinction being its video game origins.