Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari (デュアル！ぱられルンルン物語, Dual! Parare Runrun Monogatari / Dual Parallel! Trouble Adventures) is a Japanese anime series animated by AIC and created by Masaki Kajishima, best known for the Tenchi Muyo! franchise. It was originally broadcast on Wowow from April to July 1999 and was licensed in the US by Pioneer LDC, later known as Geneon. In addition to the original TV run, an OVA special was added to conclude the series as a de facto "14th episode".
The title refers to the fact that the story takes place in two parallel universes, a concept loosely based on multiverse theory.
Synopsis[]
Kazuki Yotsuga is your regular average nerd in high-school, except he isn't smart. He has this website which relates to his visions that only he can see. His visions are about robots who keep fighting each other battle after battle. One day he is sent to a "parallel world" where these visions exist and he joins a company to fight back against the devious RaRa, who want to take over the world.
(Source: ANN)
Related Products[]
Manga[]
Yuji Ushida serialized in Fujimi Shobo 『Monthly Dragon Junior』
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari』
Novel[]
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari: Setting Material Complete Works』 Ginga Publishing released in November 1999
CD's[]
- 『DUAL!/Real』 HARU & SAYAKA from UNIVERS LD Released on April 23, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari』Released May 28, 1999
- 『Dual! featuring MITSUKI』 Released on November 26, 1999
Video/LD/DVD[]
The DVD includes a video bonus that combines the main video and new video.
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 001』 - June 25, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari vision 002』 - July 23, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 003』 - August 25, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 004』 - September 24, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 005』 - October 22, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 006』 - November 26, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari Vision 007』 - December 22, 1999
- 『Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari: DVD-BOX』 - March 25, 2005
TV Anime[]
This work was produced by AIC, and 13 episodes were broadcast on WOWOW every Thursday at 19:00 from April 8, 1999 to July 1, 1999. In addition, episode 14 (OVA) has been released in the final volume of the video. Later, it was broadcast as all 14 episodes on AT-X of CS broadcasting. The English notation is "Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure".
- Staff
- Planning - Toru Miura
- Original work - Masaki Kajishima
- Director - Katsuhito Akiyama
- Assistant Director - Takashi Kobayashi
- Series composition - Yosuke Kuroda
- Character design/general drawing director - Atsushi Okuda
- Mechanical Design - Kenji Teraoka
- Mecha chief animation director - Yasushi Muraki
- Art Director- Masaru Sato, Hiroshi Kato
- Color design - Nanae Shinachi
- Cinematographer - Hitoshi Sato
- Editing - Junichi Uematsu
- Sound Director - Hiromi Kikuta
- Music - Seikou Nagaoka
- Produced by Kazuaki Morijiri
- Producers - Akio Matsuda, Kinya Watanabe, Hiroaki Inoue , Mitsutoshi Kubota
- Animation Production - AIC
- Production - Pioneer LDC
Dual! was inspired by the popularity of Neon Genesis Evangelion when it aired in Japan in the 1990s with the main characters inspired by the dynamics of Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Misato.
| Series | ||
| Act. 01 | "Life Sympathy" Transcription: "Raifu Shinpashī" (Japanese: ライフシンパシィ) |
April 8, 1999 |
|---|---|---|
| Kazuki can see what no one else can: a parallel world where giant robots battle and destroy the city. Mitsuki introduces Kazuki to her father Ken Sanada. He is a college professor that tinkers in high tech quantum physics in his basement during his spare time. Ken believes he's found the bridge between these parallel worlds and tests Kazuki to learn why he's the only one who can see it. The quantum portal machine is accidentally activated by Mitsuki and Kazuki is sent to the alternate world. Kazuki does not realize he's in the alternate world at first until robots almost step on him. When the Hartzenen robot falls in front of him during a battle, the injured female pilot stumbles out and collapses into Kazuki's arms. Kazuki is forced to activate the robot and enter the fight himself. | ||
| Act. 02 | "My Home" Transcription: "Mai Hōmu" (Japanese: マイ·ホーム) |
April 15, 1999 |
| Kazuki goes to an empty store to buy medicine for the injured pilot, but the UN forces pick up the pilot and Hartzenen before he returns. Finding the pilot (whose name is Yayoi) missing, Kazuki searches through empty streets. Soon people begin to return to the city and Kazuki goes to his house, but none of his things are there and his parents don't know him. Soldiers, led by Mitsuki, take Kazuki into custody and bring him to Headquarters. Ken Sanada of this world greets him, then explains that he (Kazuki) does not exist in this world and Mitsuki is from his own world, but she arrived a month earlier. Ken Sanada is the UN leader of the Global Defense Force and the world is at war with the Rara army led by a fellow scientist named Hiroshi Rara. Mitsuki is a pilot of one of the core robots and figures if she fights to help end the war faster, Ken Sanada will have time to make the portal back to their original world. | ||
| Act. 03 | "Illegal Guy" Transcription: "Irīgaru Gai" (Japanese: イリーガル·ガイ) |
April 22, 1999 |
| Kazuki is persuaded by UN Inspector Akane and Ken to be Hartzenen's pilot. Only females can pilot the robots, so they are amazed that a male can activate one. Kazuki meets the alien D. Kazuki practices using the robot and he pilots Hartzenon in battle with Mitsuki and D. He is terrified at first, but when D and Mitsuki are in trouble he forgets his fear and springs back to life to save them. | ||
| Act. 04 | "No Disguise" Transcription: "Nō Dīsugaizu" (Japanese: ノーディスガイズ) |
April 29, 1999 |
| Ken Sanada, who is not Mitsuki's father in this parallel world, tells her that since Kazuki does not exist in this world, he has nowhere else to stay. Akane wants to keep Kazuki a secret from the enemy, so Ken designs a uniform that makes him look like a female. Kazuki goes along with it at first but when Ken introduces him to the others on the base they laugh their heads off. Embarrassed, Kazuki runs away and Akane traps him in one of the corridors, pleading with him to be reasonable and wear the suit. Escaping, Kazuki meets Yayoi, who returns the jacket he wrapped her up in when she was injured. Kazuki agrees to wear the female suit (but only for one time!) and Ken promises to have a male uniform made for him by the next battle. | ||
| Act. 05 | "Campus Life" Transcription: "Kyanpusu Raifu" (Japanese: キャンパス·ライフ) |
May 6, 1999 |
| Kazuki attends school posing as Mitsuki Sanada's younger brother. A huge group of male students give him love letters for her and try to buy the lunch she made for him. Annoyed because he accepted all the love letters, Mitsuki makes him write a response to each one. The next day, Mitsuki is upset to learn D is moving in with them. Ken Sanada had put her in Kazuki's room, saying that it will improve morale between the pilots and D responds to Kazuki, so Mitsuki builds a wall to separate D and Kazuki. The gang takes care of some household chores and Mitsuki gets upset when D follows Kazuki's instructions instead of hers. Mitsuki is angry when D accidentally throws her diary away, but tells D it does not matter. D goes off in the rain to search for it and Mitsuki and Kazuki look for her. When Kazuki comes home he finds another door to his room. Mitsuki comes in and they both learn that Yayoi, who lives next door, will be part of their daily routine too. | ||
| Act. 06 | "Intrigue" Transcription: "Intorīgu" (Japanese: イントリーグ) |
May 13, 1999 |
| Mitsuki is upset with Yayoi because she is taking over at home, at school and on the base. She sets up a plan to have Reika marry off Yayoi. Reika finds a wealthy businessman who is interested in marrying Yayoi, but the young woman protests getting married. Reika convinces her to at least meet with him – their families have been long-time friends. The meeting site is near a Rara army battle zone and Ken and Akane want Reika to cancel the meeting but she refuses. Mitsuki assures Reika that the Rara army will not cross the four mile (6 km) limit to disturb them. On the day of the battle, Kazuki fights the enemy close to the four mile (6 km) limit and even though Mitsuki tries her best to keep the enemy away, Kazuki lets the enemy get close enough to cross the limit and cause an evacuation (breaking up the marriage interview, to Yayoi's delight). The rampage causes Miss Ra to fall off a building and Kazuki catches the enemy, saving her life. | ||
| Act. 07 | "Hard Case" Transcription: "Hādo Kēsu" (Japanese: ハードケース) |
May 20, 1999 |
| The EDF and UN officers are impressed at how well Kazuki, Mitsuki and D work as a team. In battle, the Rara army uses the powerful Original robot against the UN Forces. The Rara robot concentrates on attacking Hartzenen, under orders from Rara to capture the pilot. Kazuki is in danger of being killed so Ken sends the surrender signal to Rara. The Rara robot lands, but inside Rara territory, taking Kazuki with it. Behind enemy lines, the robot continues to attack Hartzenen and a terrified Kazuki loses control, inflicting heavy damage on the superior Rara robot. Ken calls General Rara and begs him to release the pilot, but Rara refuses. Mitsuki wants to go save Kazuki but Ken orders her not to. An explosion rocks the landscape, and Kazuki's friends fear the worst. | ||
| Act. 08 | "Mitsuki" (Japanese: MITSUKI) |
May 27, 1999 |
| When searching for Kazuki, all that is found by Mitsuki and the others of the UN forces is his damaged core robot. Kazuki, who although severely injured was able to limp away from the wreckage, his pilot suit destroyed, wakes up deep behind enemy lines, thought to be an innocent bystander. Miss Ra herself takes responsibility for his recovery. He witnesses Miss Ra change from the harsh trash talker she usually appears to be into a nice young girl who happens to look just like Mitsuki. Revealed to be Mitsuki Rara, the young girl seems interested in Kazuki. Even though he finds this Mitsuki interesting, Kazuki decides that he must get back to EDF territory and hopefully escape without having to deal with Mitsuki's mother Ayuko, who is even more evil than her husband. Ayuko slowly puts the pieces together and finds out Kazuki's true allegiance, along with footage of him exiting Hartzenen. Mitsuki learns that Kazuki is a EDF Core Robot pilot, but helps him to escape. | ||
| Act. 09 | "Escape" Transcription: "Esukēpu" (Japanese: エスケープ) |
June 3, 1999 |
| After escaping back to Earth Defense Force territory, Kazuki tries to get things back to normal but keeps thinking of Mitsuki Rara. Ayuko discovers that Rara's secret weapon, a powerful robot named HIMC, is rejecting Miss Ra because of her feelings for Kazuki, and has her brainwashed to attack without feeling. The Rara Army directly attacks the Earth Defense Force's headquarters with copies of the Original robot and HIMC, easily penetrating their defenses and sending them to the brink of defeat. Kazuki pleads with Miss Ra to remember him, but to no avail. HIMC obliterates Hartzenen, and in a catatonic state Kazuki summons the robot Zinv from its resting place deep inside the EDF headquarters. Kazuki and Zinv destroy the invaders and rescue Miss Ra from HIMC, which escapes on its own. | ||
| Act. 10 | "Repatriate" Transcription: "Ripatoriēto" (Japanese: リパトリエート) |
June 10, 1999 |
| Mitsuki Rara moves into the house with Kazuki, Yayoi, D and Mitsuki Sanada. The Rara forces are losing one battle after another especially when they are going up against Zinv, Kazuki's new robot. Rara demands the return of his daughter, and UN officers seize her to fulfill his wishes, derailing a date that Kazuki set up with her. The Earth Defense Force defies them and allows her to stay. Meanwhile, Ayuko wages an all out attack with a new weapon. With a blinding flash, Zinv and Mitsuki Sanada's robots vanish. | ||
| Act. 11 | "Real" Transcription: "Riaru" (Japanese: リアル) |
June 17, 1999 |
| Kazuki awakens back in his own world. He's worried about his friends but tries to get used to being back home. The Rara and Ken of this universe have joined forces to study the parallel world. The barriers between the worlds have begun to break down, and robots begin to appear in the city, causing massive destruction. Kazuki and Mitsuki choose to go back to end the war and seal the rift. When Kazkuki arrives, he learns that Mitsuki had once again arrived in the parallel world before him and was captured by Rara. | ||
| Act. 12 | "Ardent Desire" Transcription: "Ādento Dezaia" (Japanese: アーデント·デザイア) |
June 24, 1999 |
| The war is not going well for Kazuki and his friends. The Earth Defense Force has been disavowed by the United Nations and left on the run in an artifact vessel. In her jealousy at seeing Kazuki rescuing Mitsuki Rara (the new pilot of Hartzenen) instead of her, Mitsuki Sanada is tricked into piloting the complete version of HIMC. Ken discovers the parallel worlds are rapidly destabilizing, and destruction of both worlds is imminent. | ||
| Act. 13 | "The World" Transcription: "Za Wārudo" (Japanese: ザ·ワールド) |
July 1, 1999 |
| Though Mitsuki Sanada tries to stop it, Complete HIMC easily defeats Zinv, leaving Kazuki trapped inside. D sacrifices herself for her love of Kazuki, crashing the empty artifact ship into Rara headquarters and destroying her bioroid body. Her soul returns to her real body, and she unlocks the limiter on Zinv, allowing Zinv's Light Hawk Wings to manifest. Zinv removes Mitsuki Sanada from HIMC and creates a black hole that crushes HIMC and the Rara base. Kazuki must destroy Zinv to save the two worlds and seal the rift. But when the dust clears, the world has changed. A third parallel world has formed where everyone gets to stay together, Kazuki and Mitsuki Sanada's wish come true. | ||
| OVA | ||
| Act. 14 | "Final Frontier" Transcription: "Fainaru Furontia" (Japanese: ファイナル·フロンティア) |
December 22, 1999 |
| Everyone has survived the combination, but with some new back stories to guide them. Ayuko has plans to revive the Rara army and intends on tricking/forcing Kazuki and Mitsuki (Rara) to hook up with a view to marriage. Meanwhile, artifacts have been discovered on the new earth. In the end, plans are made to explore space by sending Kazuki into space as Earth's representative – along with the two Mitsuki's, Yayoi and D as his personal back-up crew – as a resurrected Zinv awakens to return to Kazuki. | ||
Media[]
Dual! was released in Japan via VHS, Laserdisc and DVD from June 25 to December 22, 1999. A Blu-Ray version was released in Japan on October 11, 2018.
Character[]
22 years ago, a huge alien artifact is found on a construction site by a worker named Yotsuga. The foreman orders that the artifact be broken apart to avoid delays. As Yotsuga walks towards the dumpsters to dispose of a small piece of the artifact, the world splits into two. In one world, Yotsuga tosses away the piece and the artifact is destroyed. In the other world, Yotsuga keeps the artifact, leading to the discovery of extraterrestrial technology that changes history.
In the present, Kazuki Yotsuga is a high school student who is shunned by other students as an otaku and a shy, quiet and awkward everyman; his web site describes battles between giant robots that only he can see, but it is mostly as a result of him being occasionally seen by the other students reacting to their "presence". One day, the most popular girl in school, Mitsuki Sanada, approaches him to tell him that she likes his stories. This is only a ruse; she lures him to her father, Dr. Ken Sanada, who wishes to study Kazuki for his research on parallel worlds.
After being thrown into the other possible world by Dr. Sanada's device (thanks to a careless action by Mitsuki), Kazuki finds himself still in Dr. Sanada's basement, but everything is covered with cobwebs. Kazuki goes home, is distracted by a real battle between two giant robots, one white and the other black. The white robot is knocked down and an injured female figure emerges from inside. When Kazuki goes to her aid, he is trapped inside the robot and somehow manages to activate it and defeat the enemy robot. Afterwards, Kazuki reaches his home, but his parents no longer recognize him. He is found by Mitsuki, who has followed him. Along with a military escort, she takes him to the Earth Defense Force HQ, a paramilitary operation led by this world's Dr. Sanada. After Kazuki learns of this world's situation and the attempted conquest of this world by this world's Dr. Rara (Dr. Sanada's arch-rival) who is using technology developed from the artifact, he volunteers to become a giant robot pilot.
Over the course of the series, Kazuki manages to attract several very different women without even trying, and he becomes a hero. He is later taken prisoner by Dr. Rara, the father of this world's Mitsuki. Mitsuki Rara eventually defects and comes to live with Kazuki and her counterpart. Later on, a new type of robot made from the artifact is deployed that can cause objects and people to be shifted between the alternate worlds. During the battle against it, Kazuki and Mitsuki Sanada are sent back to their original world, and they discover their world's Dr. Sanada covered up their disappearance by claiming that they had eloped. As it turns out, the frequent travel between worlds is taking a toll on the universe itself as the barriers separating them begin to break down; this will eventually lead to both worlds vanishing. A decision must be made; since Kazuki and the alien technology are exclusive to each world, one must be eliminated to halt the destruction. The robots are destroyed, and the worlds combine into one, an expression of Kazuki's wish for all his (girl)friends to continue to stay together with him (even though the action is again caused by Mitsuki's carelessness).
Masaki Kajishima, confirmed that DUAL! is in fact set in the distant past of the Tenchi Muyo! universe.
Abilities[]
Kazuki possesses incredible fighting power and illogical charisma. As such, he attracts a bevy of beautiful women. After being accidentally sent to the parallel world by Ken and Mitsuki Sanada, Kazuki discovers that he is the only male that can control the mechas. Because of his unbelievable piloting skill, he is commissioned to the Earth Defense Force, or simply the EDF, and becomes the new pilot of the white Core Robot.
| 『CP suit』 a pilot suit is worn when boarding the core robot. Wear it over your inner suit. It can protect the Pilot from heat and cold. Dr. Ken Sanada creates a suit for Kazuki Yotsuga to hide his identity by changing his form of his to become a woman, from voice and figure. After the RaRa army knows his true identity, Dr. Ken Sanada totally changes it to his specific Suit as a male from pink to Red color for his suit. |
『Life Sympathy System』
|
When Zinv is destroyed, Kazuki's desire for the group to stay together results in the creation of a third possible world, where elements from the parallel universes are combined.
『Core Unit/Robots』 - A unit that is the nucleus and power unit of the core robot. As long as this is safe, the core robot can continue to operate by incorporating it into another aircraft even if the aircraft is severely damaged. When the aircraft is wrecked, it automatically escapes and is recovered.
| 《MECH 1》 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 《MECH 2》 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
    |
Connections to Tenchi Muyo! Universe[]
It has been confirmed by the creator of Tenchi Muyo! and Dual! that the two series are related, and in fact occur in the same universe. A mecha, confirmed in the Tenchi Muyo! GXP novels to be Zinv, is found during an episode of Tenchi Muyo! GXP which runs parallel with the Tenchi OVA Series. The hero of the GXP series, Seina Yamada has been confirmed to be a direct reincarnation of Kazuki Yotsuga and, in a complicated way, several others are basically partial reincarnations of the rest of the cast. In fact, Dual! is so consistently relevant to the GXP novels they can be viewed as a distant sequel.
- The Great Prehistoric Civilization mentioned in the True Tenchi Muyo! novels is revealed, in the Tenchi Muyo! GXP novels, to be the space-faring civilization begun by the characters at the end of Dual!. It seems to have died out close to a billion years prior to the main Tenchi Muyo timeline. Though not the first or last, this civilization eventually performed the greatest "seeding" program in the galaxy. They seeded proto-planets so that the human genome would replicate itself and somehow even seeded cultural and technological norms so things like handheld telephone designs would repeat throughout the galaxy and similar food dishes, like curry and spaghetti, would continue almost unchanged throughout history. Tenchi's Earth has somehow turned out functionally identical to the earlier Earth. In fact, when the original solar system of the Earth from Dual is found, the entire solar system is found to be basically the same: containing a giant gas planet like Jupiter, a ringed planet like Saturn, etc.
- Washu explains that at one time in the past, a group of people (Kazuki's group) made such an impact on the universe that their existence had massive effects on the "Astral Sea" (the dimension where a being's "astral self" originates and returns after death) that their astrals basically replicated and continue to revive and form the base of many beings in the universe.
- Certain astrals are so similar to their past astral selves that they retain vestigial memories of their past life that come to them occasionally like déjà vu. Miki Steinbeck, apparently represents the closest thing to direct reincarnation to Mitsuki Sanada, and her father, Hiroshi Manada (or creator-she was an AI that developed an astral), is physically identical to Ken Sanada (but shares some personality features of Hiroshi Rara as well), a friend and rival of Hiroshi's (named Ken Raraiba Steinbeck) also seems to be the other half of this mixed up duo.
- By the end of GXP's 14th novel, Miki, another digital AI named Kirche, and D (a direct astral copy of the original D, containing all her memories- but, for unknown reasons, acts like D before she became "Dee") gain pseudo-cabbit bodies that were cloned from Fuku. With Fuku they seem to represent the most direct reincarnations of the original four girls in Dual. When the cabbit group appears in the 5th season of Tenchi Muyo! each had the same voice actors that voiced their respective counterparts from Dual.
- The Zinv that appears in GXP is the very same as the one in Dual and he immediately recognizes Seina as his partner.
- Seina represents an almost direct reincarnation of Kazuki and no others seem to share Kazuki's base astral.
- Other than Miki, Mitsuki Sanada's astral also forms the core of Kiriko Masaki, the Renza agent Karen, Tsukiko Masaki (Kiriko's mother and also the model for the AI that Hiroshi created and became Miki), and others.
- Other than Fuku, Yayoi Schwael shares her astral pattern with Amane Kaunaq, the Renza agent Gyokuren, Mikami Kuramitsu, and others.
- Other than Kirche, Mitsuki Rara shares her astral pattern with Ryoko Balta, the Renza agent Suiren, Ringo Tasuki, and others.
- Other than the D that is her astral copy, D/Dee shares her astral pattern with Neju Na Melmas, the Renza agent Hakuren, and others.
- When four of the girls that share an astral with their Dual counterpoint join Seina, his bad luck (described as a "biased probability" in the novels) is lessened and can even create good luck.
- Others that surround Seina, like Airi Masaki and Seto Kamiki Jurai probably represent other primary characters in Dual, such as Akane Yamano, Reika Nanjoin, and Ayuko Rara, but this has not been confirmed. Seto does have a separate "mirror self" called Kuis Panta that has been confirmed to share the D astral, but while they are practically copies of each other- they do not seem to share the same astral pattern.
Cameo appearances[]
- Sasami and several other Tenchi Muyo! characters were featured in inserts found in the Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure releases in Japan.
- Kiyone Makibi, Ramia, and Misao Amano appear in a brief easter egg cameo in the series' OVA special ("Final Frontier", also known as episode 14).
External Link[]
- TV Anime "Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari" ─ AIC-work introduction page | Wayback machine (for archived February 2, 2009)
- Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari ─ Wikipedia
JP - Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari ─ Wikipedia
EN
See Also[]
- Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari (Part of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki universe)
Trivia[]
to be added.