is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Matsumoto. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from 1984 to 1987, with the chapters collected in 18 volumes by Shueisha. The story follows teenage esper Kyōsuke Kasuga and the love triangle he gets involved in with Madoka Ayukawa, a young heroine with a reputation for being an unpopular loner and delinquent, and her best friend Hikaru Hiyama.
Following a 1985 film pilot (Shonen Jump Special), Toho and Studio Pierrot created an anime television series that was broadcast on Nippon Television from 1987 to 1988. Two more films were released in 1988 and 1996, as well as an original video animation series that began in 1989. In the mid-1990s the series was novelized as well. The manga has been released in English digitally by Digital Manga Guild. The anime television series, second film, and original video animation series were all released in North America by AnimEigo, while the third film was licensed by ADV Films. The anime series is currently licensed by Discotek Media.
The Kimagure Orange Road manga has over 20 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It is credited alongside Dragon Ball for introducing an entire generation of Europeans to anime and manga. It was also an archetypal romantic comedy, a genre which it had a major influence on, and the character Madoka is considered to be a root of the archetype. The anime's Christmas episode also featured an early use of the time loop plot device.
Plot Kyōsuke Kasuga and his family had to move several times after being seen using their esper powers. Upon settling for the seventh time, Kyōsuke briefly meets a pretty girl who gives him her straw hat, and he falls in love with her on sight. On the first day of school he learns this girl is his junior high classmate Madoka Ayukawa, who, contrary to his initial impression, is feared as a tough and no-nonsense delinquent. Their underclassman (and Madoka's best friend), Hikaru Hiyama, sees Kyōsuke use his powers to sink an impressive basketball shot and falls in love with him. Kyōsuke ends up dating Hikaru while constantly struggling with his feelings for Madoka due to his indecisiveness. Likewise, Madoka has feelings for Kyōsuke which she masks with her capricious nature for fear of hurting her friend Hikaru.
Characters
Kyōsuke is the male protagonist in the love triangle. He and his siblings have supernatural powers and are described as espers in the series. They are forbidden from using their powers in public, lest they be discovered and exploited. Kyōsuke's esper powers include teleportation, telekinesis, and "time-slipping" (a kind of time travel) while falling from heights such as stairs. He can alter mechanical devices such as elevators and traffic lights. He can direct his powers to his ears to amplify his hearing, and he has also demonstrated hypnotism power, as evidenced when he hypnotized himself to be more decisive. Kyōsuke is also rarely shown to use his powers to temporarily amplify his speed and strength. On very rare occasions—generally, when Madoka is directly threatened—his power has taken the form of raw energy that can shatter concrete walls or short out every light in a disco. Kyōsuke is a pretty gentle person and a bit of a goody-goody—when he sees Madoka smoking, he scolds her in a very nerdy way (and then uses his powers to destroy her cigarette). It is his indecisiveness that leads to the love triangle with Hikaru and Madoka. He is unable to decide between his feelings for Hikaru and Madoka. Due to the loose manner that he and his sisters relate to each other, it is a running gag that many characters consider him a playboy and two-timing since it is believed he is dating Hikaru.
The lead female character of the series. Despite appearing standoffish at first glance, she harbors a kind, altruistic personality underneath her tough exterior. Madoka has been friends with Hikaru and Yūsaku since childhood, and more recently has become friends with Kyōsuke. Though she has the reputation of a delinquent at school, where classmates refer to her as "Madoka the Pick", she is dedicated to academics, enjoys studying, and is also a very competent saxophone player. When she is not in class, she works part-time at the ABCB cafe. In truth, her capricious behavior as a young delinquent is just a masking of her sadness and loneliness, due to the fact that she is a misunderstood loner. She starts to be seen in another light thanks to Kyōsuke, and also reveals her real kind and selfless personality to most of the other characters. Madoka always tends to put others above her, and really dislikes being a burden to them. However, when Madoka and Kyōsuke both confess their true feelings for each other, she tells Kyōsuke that he has to break it off with Hikaru, who must understand the truth of the situation. Madoka's parents are kind-hearted but workaholic professional musicians, often touring outside Japan, so she lives in a large house with her older sister. After her sister gets married and goes to live abroad with her husband, Madoka lives there alone. The story involves the eventual shedding of her tough exterior after she becomes Kyōsuke's friend, as evidenced by the changes in her life after she meets him. She gives up smoking because of him, and the other characters note that she becomes friendlier and does better academically following Kyōsuke's arrival. As revealed in the last episode of the anime (which occurred near the end of the manga run), Madoka also holds a special place in her heart for a mysterious man whom she met under a tree in the past. Madoka drastically changed her appearance starting 6 years before, after her encounter with present-day time-traveling Kyōsuke, who in fact was stating his preferences based on the present-day Madoka. In the end, Madoka still did not know that Kyosuke was the mysterious man, but she senses a connection to him. Creator Izumi Matsumoto reports that his inspiration for Madoka was actress Phoebe Cates and Japanese pop singer Akina Nakamori.
Hikaru is initially presented as being unpleasant, a brawler, and a tougher talker than Madoka, pretending to be a delinquent by riding motorcycles with older students and picking fights. But once she becomes friends with Kyōsuke after witnessing him make an impossible basketball shot with his esper powers, it is revealed that she is actually kind, sweet, and energetic, as well as very loyal to those she cares for. An accidental kiss between them leads Hikaru to declare them a couple. Hikaru is also somewhat child-like, especially since she is an only daughter and somewhat sheltered; when she gets extremely excited, she sometimes tends to revert to a form of baby talk, which is seen as cute by Japanese standards. She refers to Kyōsuke by the English word "Darling" (even before she knew his name). Hikaru is two years younger than Madoka and Kyōsuke, and has the same birthday as Kyōsuke; she is also in the same classroom as Yūsaku Hino and the twins. She has feelings for Kyōsuke, who cares for her but more as a little sister than a prospective girlfriend, and has been Madoka's best and almost only friend for several years, since she and Yūsaku were the only ones who were never afraid of her. Hikaru befriended Madoka when a bully took away little Hikaru's favorite medallion, and a pre-teen Madoka witnessed this and stalked the bully until he returned it to Hikaru, sealing the girls' friendship.
One of Kyōsuke's younger twin sisters, Manami is very reserved. She is kind, quiet, and gentle, and depicted as the homemaker of the house—cooking meals, vacuuming, and doing laundry—but it is revealed in both the manga and anime that she has a wild side that occasionally needs release. Manami's esper powers include teleportation and telekinesis. Part of her reserved nature includes avoiding excessive use of the power unless it is absolutely necessary. She is especially fond of Madoka and would like to see Kyōsuke and her get together. However, this never made it into the anime. As such, the anime version shows no such preference, though she and Kurumi at times urge Kyōsuke to choose between Madoka and Hikaru. But even in the manga, she is unaware of the situation between Kyōsuke and Madoka.
Manami's younger fraternal twin, Kurumi is very energetic and argumentative. She is also able to bring these qualities out in Manami as well. She is known to use idioms of her own creation, which can sometimes be misconstrued by others. Kurumi is most comfortable with using her powers, often doing so without thinking about the consequences. Kurumi used her powers to run the 100-meter dash in 3 seconds at her old school, which resulted in the Kasugas moving to the town where the series takes place. Kurumi's other esper powers include teleportation and telekinesis. She also possesses the ability to hypnotize, and Kyōsuke is her usual victim, although Kurumi appeared to learn this from a book. In the manga, Kurumi wants Kyōsuke to end up with Hikaru. But, again, this storyline never made it into the anime, and the anime Kurumi shows no such preference despite sometimes urging her brother to choose between Hikaru and Madoka.
Kyōsuke's father, he works as a photographer and has no esper powers. He and his wife Akemi got together after she secretly helped him fulfill a test of character from her parents, and after her death, he has raised the three Kasuga children mostly on his own. The Kasuga grandparents Kyōsuke and the twins' maternal grandparents, and the ones from whom they inherited "The Power". They live in the mountains, running a ski resort. Both of them are psychics as well as very skilled with their abilities, which include teleportation and telekinesis. Their first names are never mentioned. They're very kind-hearted and affectionate fellows, and the grandfather is somewhat mischievous and lecherous as well. Grandpa Kasuga is voiced by Phil Ross in English.
Proprietor of the ABCB cafe located on Orange Road and Madoka's boss. He is one of the few characters who realizes how Madoka and Kyōsuke feel about each other, and does everything in his power to smooth relations between the two. In the manga he shuts down ABCB after it is discovered that Madoka was working there (Japanese middle school students can not hold jobs). In the novels it is revealed that he bounced back by opening one of the first cybercafes in Tokyo. He is voiced by Frank Page in English. & Kyōsuke's two bumbling sex-obsessed friends. They are also potential boyfriends for the twins, who are most likely using them as placeholders until someone better comes along. Kazuya Hatta is not to be confused with Kazuya Kasuga. Seiji's name has also been given as Masashi (most notably in the credits for "An Unexpected Situation"). In the novels, Kazuya becomes an aspiring manga author and gets trapped inside one of his stories, with Kyosuke bailing him out eventually. By the second film, they have achieved some success publishing girlie magazines.
Kyōsuke's mischievous younger cousin, Kazuya looks like a younger version of him. On several occasions, people have mistaken Kazuya being Kyōsuke's son, and at others their physical similarities have been openly mentioned. Kazuya has "The Power" as well. In both the manga and the anime he uses telepathy almost exclusively, with telekinesis being used on very rare occasions. Kyōsuke and Kazuya can swap bodies by banging their heads together, and many stories with Kazuya involve him doing so either to avoid something unpleasant, or to "help" Kyōsuke pick which female to focus on. In the manga Kazuya has two female friends, and his situation with them somewhat mirrors the situation between Kyōsuke, Madoka, and Hikaru.