Elf wo Karu Mono-tachi

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Yagami. The manga was serialized in MediaWorks's "Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao!" magazines completing up to 21 volumes, and 1 DX volume which is a prequel to the series. In 2007, a sequel titled "Those Who Hunt Elves Returns" was serialized for a short time before "Those Who Hunt Elves 2" in 2013 which has been serialized into 10 volumes.

An anime adaptation produced by Group TAC was broadcasted on TV Tokyo's late-night block from October 1996, which continued for a second season from October 1997. The anime was released in North America on VHS and DVD by ADV Films and later re-released by Sentai Filmworks.

On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed Those Who Hunt Elves among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China.

Synopsis
In a certain incident, Junpei Ryuzoji, Airi Komiyama, and Ritsuko Inoue were summoned from modern Japan to the fantasy world by the elf mistress, Celcia Mariclere. The spell is casted again to repatriate the matter, but the ritual gets interrupted and scattering fragments of the spell across the world. Thus begins the journey of "Those Who Hunt Elves", where they must locate the scattered 5 spell fragments imprinted to the skin of young female elves, even if it means stripping them!

Those Who Hunt Elves Returns
The sequel of "Those Who Hunt Elves", but also subtitled "Jimbochi Curry Chronicles (神保町カレー戦記)". It was serialized for a short time from issues November 2007 to the 5th issue on Monthly Comic Gao as a commemorative project for the magazine's 15th anniversary (& suspension).

Finally having returned to Japan, Junpei and company returned to their normal lives...that is until a giant monster appeared and wreaking havoc in the curry town, Jimbocho. The mastermind is Magna, the chief of the Highland Elves who summons the whole town of Jimbocho to another world as part of her ambitions. The "Elf Hunters" rise again to return Jimbocho to their world as stop Magna's plans.

Those Who Hunt Elves 2
The sequel to "Those Who Hunt Elves Returns" mentioned above where the tagline is "Those My Sister Hunts". It was serialized in the free "COMIC Meteor" (G-mode) web comic magazine from January 30, 2013 to January 10, 2018.

A junior high school girl named Mai Shintani longs for an older brother until her mother informs her she has one, a street fighter named Junpei Ryuzoji. Confused but somewhat delighted that her dream came true, Mai then finds herself in trouble by her classmate and her older brother until something happened. Mai finds herself in a fantasy world named Eldina, after she was summoned by Queen Lotta of the Water Bubble Kingdom. Shocked and happy because Mai finds herself beside her older brother, Junpei along with Airi, Ritsuko and Celcia where they are known from the other fantasy world in the first series as "Those Who Hunt Elves". While this was good news for Mai, there is the same bad news "again" when a chain reaction from Lotta's bracelet scatters the summoning spell engraved on her skin across the land. As the story goes, the group must search the world for all the missing spell fragments, but with the addition of Mai as their new member.

Novel
Novelization by Masaharu Amiya who is in charge of the anime series composition. Published by Dengeki Bunko for a single volume. Written around the last two episodes of the anime's first season, and the climax greatly revised.
 * 1) "Those Who Hunt Elves" (Published July 25, 1998, - ISBN 4-07-309217-0 )

Manga
The manga was written and illustrated by Yu Yagami. It was serialized by MediaWorks in the manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! from June 1995 to March 2003, and collected in 21 bound volumes. It is licensed in English by ADV Manga, with only the first seven volumes published in English in 2004, before the series went on indefinite hiatus. ADV's website makes no mention of the series in manga form, so it is unlikely the series will be continued.

Those Who Hunt Elves

 * 1) Published July 15, 1995 - ISBN 4-07-303172-4
 * 2) Published November 15, 1995 - ISBN 4-07-303829-X
 * 3) Published March 15, 1996 - ISBN 4-07-304214-9
 * 4) Published September 15, 1996 - ISBN 4-07-305076-1
 * 5) Published January 15, 1997 - ISBN 4-07-305484-8
 * 6) Published June 15, 1997 - ISBN 4-07-306325-1
 * 7) Published October 15, 1997 - ISBN 4-07-307017-7
 * 8) Published January 15, 1998 - ISBN 4-07-307661-2
 * 9) Published May 15, 1998 - ISBN 4-07-308703-7
 * 10) Published November 15, 1998 - ISBN 4-07-310137-4
 * 11) Published February 15, 1999 - ISBN 4-07-310982-0, Includes feature films not published in "Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao!"
 * 12) Published April 15, 1999 - ISBN 4-07-311473-5
 * 13) Published September 15, 1999 - ISBN 4-8402-1273-2
 * 14) Published January 15, 2000 - ISBN 4-8402-1400-X
 * 15) Published July 15, 2000 - ISBN 4-8402-1590-1
 * 16) Published January 15, 2001 - ISBN 4-8402-1731-9
 * 17) Published July 15, 2001 - ISBN 4-8402-1872-2
 * 18) Published January 15, 2002 - ISBN 4-8402-2018-2
 * 19) Published July 15, 2002 - ISBN 4-8402-2134-0
 * 20) Published January 15, 2003 - ISBN 4-8402-2281-9
 * 21) Published April 15, 2003 - ISBN 4-8402-2345-9

Those Who Hunt Elves DX

 * 1) Published June 15, 1996 - ISBN 4-07-304705-1 ─ Includes a one-shot short story before the main story of "Those Who Hunt Elves"

Those Who Hunt Elves Returns

 * 1) Published March 15, 2008 - ISBN 978-4-8402-4217-2

Those Who Hunt Elves 2

 * 1) Published May 20, 2013 - ISBN 978-4-593-85729-6
 * 2) Published November 12, 2013 - ISBN 978-4-593-85729-6
 * 3) Published June 20, 2014 - ISBN 978-4-593-85781-4
 * 4) Published December 12, 2014 - ISBN 978-4-593-85797-5
 * 5) Published June 12, 2015 - ISBN 978-4-593-85808-8
 * 6) Published December 10, 2015 - ISBN 978-4-593-85822-4
 * 7) Published May 11, 2016 - ISBN 978-4-593-85834-7
 * 8) Published October 8, 2016 - ISBN 978-4-593-85845-3
 * 9) Published May 12, 2017 - ISBN 978-4-593-85860-6
 * 10) Released on January 12, 2018 - ISBN 978-4-593-85876-7

Complete Anime Fan Book
It deals with the contents of the first season, and a newly written comic is also posted.
 * "Those Who Hunt Elves Complete Anime Fan Book -Spicy Deluxe Edition-" (Published June 15, 1997, - ISBN 4-07-304728-0 )

TV Anime
Two anime series were created. Both were animated by Group TAC and produced by Amuse, Inc., while the second was also produced by Project E2. Both series were licensed by ADV Films, who released as 4 DVDs. In 2009 Sentai Filmworks released the series in a complete collection set.

Differences from the Original

 * Sercia addresses Airi without honorifics in the original story, but calls her "Airi-san" in the anime.
 * The shoulders of Junpei's jacket and the Hinomaru attached to the Type 74 tank were not attached from the beginning in the anime.
 * The deciding line when stripping the elf directly is "Elf Stripped!" is censored down to "Forgive me for stripping!" in the anime.
 * The Elf Inquiry Committee makes an appearance in the anime
 * Upon the finale of the first season where the fragments are once again scattered, the second season reveals the total number of fragments counting up to 1025.

Staff

 * Original: Yu Yagami
 * Director: Kazuyoshi Katayama (1st season) → Hiroshi Fukutomi (2nd season)
 * Series composition: Masaharu Amiya
 * Character design: Keiji Gotoh
 * Setting design: Nobuaki Nagano (1st season)
 * Art Director: Akira Furuya (1st season) → Toshiaki Marumori (2nd season)
 * Color design: Eriko Matsuura (1st season) → Hiromi Imaizumi (2nd season)
 * Cinematographer: Motoaki Ikegami (1st season) → Mitsunobu Yoshida (2nd season)
 * Editor: Masashi Furukawa
 * Music: Hideki Tsutsumi (1st season) → Hideki Tsutsumi, Go Yokoyama (2nd season)
 * Sound Director: Susumu Akitagawa
 * Producers: Kenichiro Zaizen, Toshiki Onishi
 * Animation Production: Group TAC
 * Production: Amuse, Project E2 ( 2nd season)

Theme Song
Those Who Hunt Elves

Those Who Hunt Elves II
 * Opening theme "Angel Blue", Lyrics & Artist: Naoko Hamasaki / Composition & Arrangement: Chihiro Kiryu
 * Ending theme "Genius comes last", Artist: Naoko Hamasaki / Lyrics: Natsumi Tadano / Composition & Arrangement: Hideki Tsutsumi


 * Opening theme "Round 11", Lyrics & Artist: Naoko Hamasaki / Composition & Arrangement: Chihiro Kiryu /
 * Ending theme "To the other side of the miracle", Lyrics & Artist: Naoko Hamasaki / Composition & Arrangement: Hideki Tsutsumi

Video / LD / DVD
Released by Amuse Pictures where the exposure degree of the nudity footage from the TV broadcasted has been altered to be slightly higher.


 * The video / LD version contains 2 episodes per volume, totalling 12 volumes for both seasons and each containing bonus footage.
 * The DVD version contains 4 episodes per volume, totalling 6 volumes for both seasons. As a voice privilege, they include the English dubbed dialogue from the 1st season, but removing the character's lines from the 2nd season. Only in the second and third volumes of the DVDs, there are special bonus versions containing bonus footage from the video/LDs in addition to the newly shot footage as the first bonus. In addition, a carton box with its cover drawn by Keiji Gotoh was presented as a bonus for purchasing all three volumes.

Radio drama
A radio drama was broadcasted on TBS Radio in 1996, with different cast from the anime. All three volumes have been released as drama CDs.


 * Original: Yu Yagami
 * Composition: Masaharu Amiya
 * Screenplay: Masaharu Amiya, Kenichi Yamada, Masashi Kubota
 * Director: Tsukasa Sato
 * Music: Yoshiyuki Ito

Cast

 * Junpei Ryuzoji: Koji Tsujitani
 * Airi Komiyama: Aya Hisakawa
 * Ritsuko Inoue: Wakana Yamazaki
 * Sercia (Pochi): Yumi Touma
 * Narration: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Game
Both games were released by Altron.


 * Those Who Hunt Elves (Sega Saturn, April 25, 1997)
 * Those Who Hunt Elves -Complete Edition- (PlayStation, August 7, 1997)
 * A movie adventure game using animation scenes from the first season.
 * Those Who Hunt Elves -Hanafuda Edition- (PlayStation, August 28, 1997)
 * Those Who Hunt Elves -Hanafuda Edition- (Sega Saturn, September 4, 1997)
 * A Hanafuda-strip game, where the PS version was rated has 24 points of 7, 5, 6, and 6 in Famitsu Cross Review. The reviewer said that the Hanafuda mechanism is surprisingly full-fledged, to its purpose in advancing the story. While the stripping matches with the series plot, the volume of the winning and losing the dialogue doesn't match in balance being too noisy compared to the story roughs. He mentioned that it was bothersome to cut the dialogue lines when a high score was reached."
 * Those Who Hunt Elves II (Sega Saturn, July 16, 1998)
 * Those Who Hunt Elves II (PlayStation, August 13, 1998)
 * A movie adventure game using animation scenes from the second season.

Annotation:

 * 1) ^ I was blamed by the elf I took off and sometimes struggled with my conscience.
 * 2) ^ Except for the existence of magic and monsters, the reason is that they are forced to live at the medieval level, and because of the different world, "our common sense" does not work.
 * 3) ^ In the work, after the one that took off Orenoko, it will be taken off without tearing the opponent's clothes, but after "Returns", it will be taken off again by tearing the clothes probably because of the blank.
 * 4) ^ When it came time to play against Olga, he won brilliantly by this means and overwhelmed the Highland Elves in "Returns".
 * 5) ^ I wear a blazer-type uniform and a tie, but in a different world I take off my blazer. At the beginning of the series, he wore a cloak on his uniform.
 * 6) ^ Not only acquaintances Gerbera and Rebecca, but also his subordinates Annette and priests have described him as "good at digging graves (or rusting from his body)" and "walking self-destruct device".
 * 7) ^ At this time, Junpei had confirmed the state of his parents' house at that time, but gave up because he was in the past (even from Junpei's own perspective, he was subtle in the past).
 * 8) ^ "Oko-kun" himself appears in the bonus manga of the book up to the middle of the original.
 * 9) ^ Responds only to elves, and Dawn needed a magical elf, so the captured elf was trapped in a book. Dawn's rule did not reach the inside of the book.
 * 10) ^ Eventually, I asked Ritsuko and Sercia for their consent with an anguish expression that they should do as planned.
 * 11) ^ Due to the cooperation of Ritsuko, Sercia and Mike, the sanctions Junpei has imposed on him are extremely fierce.
 * 12) ^ In addition to the meaning of the apology used to lure the hunters, Junpei and his colleagues wanted to help from the fact that similar species that once lived in Japan were extinct due to hunting damage.
 * 13) ^ The deforestation of the villagers is quite serious, and when he learned of this fact, Junpei decided that it was unavoidable that the gorilla had been assaulted.
 * 14) ^ In a different world, in addition to bathhouses, "rice shops" sometimes run public baths, and customers take "baths with rice". Before the generalization of soap in Japan, I used to wash my body with a "bran bag" filled with rice bran, so it's not a very irrelevant story, but Junpei said, "Don't ruin your food." ..
 * 15) ^ However, I have said it only once in the original.

Source:

 * 1) ^ "Those Who Hunt Elves" new series will be serialized in Meteor
 * 2) ^ From the cut in Volume 4.
 * 3) ^ From the cut in Volume 13.
 * 4) ^ Those Who Hunt Elves -Complete Edition- Summary (PS) / Famitsu.com
 * 5) ^ a b c Famitsu No.455 September 5, 1997 issue, page 31
 * 6) ^ Jap-Wikipedia

External Link
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