Kimi no Kakera (きみのカケラ, "Fragments of You") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from September 2002 to March 2004, but Takahashi stopped its serialization and continued releasing the story directly via tankōbon volumes. A total of nine tankōbon volumes were published from January 2003 to July 2010. A two-chapter story, titled "Spica", was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 2010 and 2013.

Kimi no Kakera
Cover of the first volume, featuring Shiro
きみのカケラ
GenreAdventure, fantasy[1]
Manga
Written byShin Takahashi
Published byShogakukan
ImprintShōnen Sunday Comics
Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original runSeptember 4, 2002July 16, 2010
Volumes9

Story edit

Ikoro is a thirteen-year-old girl who is the princess of the "Upper World", a world where snow is always falling and even princesses like her are forced to wake up at 4 a.m. and go to bed at midnight, learning and working the rest of the day. The Upper World is a "country of night", surrounded on four sides by towering walls and with perpetual below-freezing temperatures. Ikoro lives with her blind young brother Mataku and her servants Shā (or "Gramma") and the monkey-like Kuro. Her parents have left them apparently seeking out the legend of a "sun".

One day, Ikoro's dinner with her brother is interrupted by a strange boy crashing through the ceiling. Ikoro finds that the boy is wearing manacles and has white hair. The boy has lost his memory and is dubbed "Shiro". Ikoro and Shiro are both "hitogatas" (ヒトガタ), which means that she cannot feel joy and he cannot feel pain. The two of them go towards the "Lower World" deciding that they will find a sun.

Characters edit

 
Shiro (left) and Ikoro (right)
Ikoro (イコロ)
Princess of the snow country, a 13-year-old prodigy who has skipped 6 grades and has only books as her constant companionship. She is constantly ostracized as a result of her inability to smile and the declining position of the royal house. Her proper name is Kamuy-poro-cise-ikoro (カムイ・ポロ・チセ・イコロ), which in the ancient language of her country (Ainu) literally means "God-large-house-treasure".
Shiro (シロ)
An amnesiac boy who cannot feel pain. Ikoro names him "Shiro" based on his white hair, but it also means "missing piece" in the ancient language of her country. His constant question "Are you foe or friend?" is supposedly a teaching from his grandfather, the man who brought him up.
Mataku (マタク)
Ikoro's blind younger brother.

Publication edit

Written and illustrated by Shin Takahashi, Kimi no Kakera began in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday on September 4, 2002.[2] It went on hiatus after its chapter released on April 2, 2003.[3] It resumed publication in the magazine for ten chapters from January 8 to March 17, 2004.[4][5] The series then continued publication directly via tankōbon volumes.[1] The series' first six volumes were published by Shogakukan from January 18, 2003, to August 10, 2007.[6][7] The seventh volume was released, after a full 26-month hiatus, on October 16, 2009.[1][8] The eighth and ninth final volumes were released on January 18 and July 16, 2010.[9][10]

A short story, titled "Spica: The Twin Stars of "Kimi no Kakera" (スピカ The twin STARS of ”きみのカケラ”, Supika The twin STARS of Kimi no Kakera), was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on July 21, 2010.[11] Another story, titled "Spica: A Little Afterschool Star" (スピカ-放課後のちいさな星-, Supika Hōkago no Chīsana Hoshi), was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on July 3, 2013.[12][13] These chapters were published by Shogakukan in a volume, which included another story, on August 16, 2013.[14]

Volumes edit

No. Japanese release date Japanese ISBN
1 January 18, 2003[6]978-4-09-126611-8
2 November 18, 2003[15]978-4-09-126612-5
3 August 6, 2004[16]978-4-09-126613-2
4 March 18, 2005[17]978-4-09-126614-9
5 January 18, 2006[18]978-4-09-126615-6
6 August 10, 2007[7]978-4-09-120050-1
7 October 16, 2009[8]978-4-09-122047-9
8 January 18, 2010[9]978-4-09-122227-5
9 July 16, 2010[10]978-4-09-122473-6

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Loo, Egan (September 21, 2009). "SaiKano's Takahashi Resumes Kimi no Kakera After 2 Years". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  2. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 2002年 表示号数38. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  3. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 2003年 表示号数16. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  4. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 2004年 表示号数4. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  5. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 2004年 表示号数14. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  6. ^ a b きみのカケラ 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014.
  7. ^ a b きみのカケラ 6 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  8. ^ a b きみのカケラ 7 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  9. ^ a b きみのカケラ 8 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  10. ^ a b きみのカケラ 9 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  11. ^ 高橋しん「きみのカケラ」の双子作品「スピカ」サンデーに. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 21, 2020. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  12. ^ Loo, Egan (January 2, 2013). "Saikano's Shin Takahashi Draws Manga Shorts in 2013". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  13. ^ 高橋しんがサンデーに青春読切「スピカ」、単行本も8月に. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 3, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  14. ^ スピカ The twin STARS of ”きみのカケラ” (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015.
  15. ^ きみのカケラ 2 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014.
  16. ^ きみのカケラ 3 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015.
  17. ^ きみのカケラ 4 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  18. ^ きみのカケラ 5 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.

External links edit