Kimagure Orange Road (きまぐれオレンジ★ロード) was a popular shounen romantic comedy manga series from the late 1980s. Written by Matsumoto Izumi (まつもと泉), it was later adopted into anime, and in the mid 1990s novelized. The series deals with a love triangle between the main character, an indecisive ESPer named Kasuga Kyosuke (春日恭介), Ayukawa Madoka (鮎川まどか), a mercurial girl with a tough past, and Hiyama Hikaru (檜山ひかる), Madoka's ditzy best friend. Kyosuke falls in love with Madoka, and Madoka wants to return those feelings, but cannot because of Hikaru's involvement with Kyosuke.
The story behind Kimagure Orange Road (or KOR for short) may seem rather long for a simple storyline, but this series is nothing but good. While there are some elements repeated (such as the Ushiko-san and Umao-san running joke), the story stays wicked funny throughout. Plus, the Top Gun spoof is hilarious.
The series consist of 18 volumes of manga (when first printed), 48 TV anime episodes, 8 OVAs, and 2 animated movies. Translations of the manga and novels exist in several languages, including Chinese and French.
Character Synopsis*
KASUGA Kyosuke: Kyosuke is the man in the twisted love triange. He and his family (excluding his father) are all ESPers. His two sisters are often scolded for using their powers in public. Kyosuke has moved homes many times because of this. He met Madoka when he was counting the steps. Their argument is another matter altogether! Kyosuke met Hikaru when they accedentially ran into each other, exchanging a surprising kiss. Stemming from these two events, Kasuga quickly found himself in a crazy love triange. Later, Kyosuke met his two (perverted) friends Hatta and Komatsu, and the bashful but short-tempered Yuusaku. which added very whimsical elements to the plot. All in all, poor Kyosuke has to put up with a lot.
Kyosuke is fairly shy when it comes to girls, but the prediciment of a love triange absolutely aggravates the poor kid.
- All name are presented in the traditional last name capitalized first format, as is done in Japan.
