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RYUSUKE MITA
The semi-complete and now dead English info archive
This is a very bare-bones archive of information on the comics published by Ryusuke Mita, the creator of Dragon Half. It includes publication information on all his titles, as well as some summaries and translations.
If you wish to see Mita's artwork, head to his personal homepage, Mitatchi-Ogishimatchi.
9/12/06. Hello everybody. It seems that around April of this year, Ryusuke Mita and his equally talented-yet-misunderstood wife Chiaki Ogiahima closed their website, and as far as I know, neither are working on any comics anymore. Since I closed this site back in '04, Mita has done three one-volume serials... a cute one, a softcore porn one, and a hardcore porn one. Ogishima's Heat Guy J 1-volume manga adaptation was translated to English by Tokyopop, but she hasn't done any new comics since then.
Truth be told, I wasn't crazy about how Mita's work progressed after Darkhair Captured, and while I did collect all of the Rubikura series, I found it a bit underwhelming. He isn't an artistic influence like he used to be, but I'll always remember the good times, and it's still rather sad to see things just kinda end this way. It seems that Mita could never match the success of his very first comic, which is something that happens to comic artists sometimes. Nevertheless, you can tell he enjoyed doing what he did.
I wish Mita and Ogishima luck in the future, whatever they decide to do!
4/17/04. I decided I should do the honorable thing and close this site. I won't take it offline, but it'll sit without updates from now on. I'm just not much use for the 2 or 3 Mita fans in the English-speaking nations... I'm too busy with my own comic projects, and frankly, my ability to comprehend Japanese has totally gone to pot. Which is also why the Captured translation stopped. I know... it sucks. I'm, like, among the twelve people online who started translating this comic and quit, but I did make it further than everyone else, and I guess that counts for something, I guess.
Since the last update, Senkouka Rubikura has concluded with its fourth volume, and Mita has returned to Dragon Magazine to start his 5th serial "Shugenko Tenguri". It's a pity my local comic store no longer orders the Japanese Dragon Magazine... I'd really like to see this.
News on Tenguri and all of Mita's projects in the future can be seen at Mita and Ogishima's home page. It's in Japanese, but with the help of babelfish and other online dictionaries, you can get pretty much all the information I'd be capable of providing.
It really is a pity that through all these years, the cult popularity of the Dragon Half OVA remains the only glimmer of interest the English countries have in Mita (and even then, how many fans of this video even bothered to find out who created the series?)... and that's probably the way it will be forever. It's a shame. This just isn't an artist people should miss out on.
Alas...
7/17/02. The links to Mita and Ogishima's pages have been updated and are now correct. Also, I finally added to the translation of Captured volume one, completing everything up to the end of the second chapter.
Biography
(translated from his profile at Mitatchi-Ogishimatchi.
Ryusuke Mita has been drawing comics since 1988 and has done other art jobs for perhaps longer. In addition to his best-known series Dragon Half he has done three other series, as well as art for the Quiz Avenue series of games, and the Monster Collection card game by Group SNE, and he may have been on the finishing staff of Ghibli's Laputa animation (unless that was a different Ryusuke Mita ^_^;) He also writes stories in doujinshis published in the Comiket, along with his partner Chiaki Ogishima (also a very telanted artist =) and a few friends who make up the Okazu Club.
Dragon Half Publisher: Fujimi Fantasia (Kadokawa Shoten), and Dragon Jr. (Kadokawa Shoten) for the Trilogy re-release. Ran from: March 1988-June 1994 in Dragon Magazine, and Dragon Half Z was published May 1995 in Comic Dragon
Dragon Half is a gag manga with lots of RPG references. It's best known in the US for its 2-part OVA series based on sections of the first two volumes of the comics. It stars Mink, a young scantily-clad half-dragon-half human girl whose love for a popular singer and dragon slayer leads her on a quest to find the "Pido potion" which will turn her fully human. Eventually things escalate RPG-style and she ends up on a quest to defeat Azatodeth, the most powerful demon in the land.
After the story ended, a little side-story sequel called "Dragon Half Z" was published, a heartwarming little story centered around Mink's daughter Pink.
The comic was collected in two collections. The first was a regular collection, and the second was a special "Trilogy" edition which collected all the comics in three double-sized volumes, and added galleries of all the illustrations featured in Dragon Magazine along with annotations on the comics by Mita.
Summaries and Translations:
The complete set of summaries and translations of the Dragon Half manga can be found at my colleague's page: Zahara's Dragon Half Manga Page
FAQS:
It's not needed as much as it used to be (people seem to understand there were meant to be only two episodes now), but my FAQ is still available. Feel free to distribute freely. The Dragon Half FAQ, version 1.1111111111
Kurokami (Darkhair) Captured Publisher: Dragon Comics (Kadokawa Shoten) Ran from: December 1992-July 1997 in Comic Dragon
Darkhair Captured is an incredibly underrated and imaginative fantasy story about a young Earthling named Captured and his adventures in a distant universe where he isn't really wanted. When he was really young, he was tormented by the other kids, and when he came across a special ring, he acquired the power of the Spect'master which gave him great power and the ability to change his arm into a weapon. Together with his dad Manji and a willowy gal named Camel whom they met across the way, they hunt for treasure and work toward helping Manji get back to his homeland.
Captured ran for five years, and not much has been heard from it sense, its collections being out of print and very hard to find. If I ever get the money and resources, I hope to change this by publishing an English version of the comic in America. For now, I am offering fan translations for those lucky enough to have bought this series when it was available.
Part 1 translation (Work in Progress. Will be modified occasionally, so bookmark and check back!)
Aiten Myouou Monogatari (The Tale of Aiten, Master of Afterworld) Publisher: Afternoon KC (Kodansha) Ran from: January 1998-June 1999 in Afternoon
Aiten stars a young girl named Kotono Mitsuyoshi who forms a strange friendship with a very small boy named Aiten, whose job is to inflict "judgement" on those who sin. This work was a very big jump for Mita-sensei; it's set in a more realistic, modern-day atmosphere, and while there's still the trademerk Mita humor everywhere, the story often gets gritty, with disturbing depictions of hell itself. It was an interesting experiment of Mita's, but it ended prematurely.
ISBN Numbers:
Volume 1: ISBN4-06-314190-X
Volume 2: ISBN4-06-314209-4
Shugen Byakuryu Rubikura Publisher: Gangan Comics (Enix) Ran from: 2000-2001 in Shounen Gangan
The name doesn't really translate into anything, but the kanji means "Red Mystery White Dragon" and "Rubikura" is a play on the names of the main male and female of the story, Ruby and Pakura.
This is a fantasy story about a male demon fighter and a female one bound by destiny. Together, they and their sidekicks go off against Ruby's former sensei. Shugen Byakuryu is the prelude to Senkouka Rubikura, with a story concentrating mostly on Ruby's character.
ISBN Numbers:
Volume 1: ISBN4-7575-0272-9
Volume 2: ISBN4-7575-0423-3
Senkouka Rubikura Publisher: G-Fantasy Comics (Enix) Ran from: 2001 to the present in G-Fantasy
Mita's current series, where Ruby and Pakura's adventures continue. There's one volume out so far. Volume 2 will be out in August.
ISBN Numbers:
Volume 1: ISBN4-7575-0593-0
Links Mitatchi-Ogishimatchi: The official homepage of Ryusuke Mita and Chiaki Ogishima. Contains completely up-to-date information (in Japanese, of course =) on their works, and quite a few nice pictures. Okazu Club: Another official Mita/Ogishima page, which is very similar to the first one, except this one concentrates on their doujinshi works. Wendy: My online comic about girls. Mita's been a big influence on me... especially in the figure art and inking. Three Steps Over the Edge: Curtis's page. Contains lots of useful resources, some anime related, some not. Zahara Medina's Page: contains an art gallery and a section for summaries and translations of various manga.
