Figure 17 - Tsubasa & Hikaru (フィギュア17つばさ＆ヒカル) is a Japanese anime television series animated by OLM, Inc. and directed by Naohito Takahashi.[2] The series features character designs by Yuriko Chiba and music by Toshihiko Takamizawa (of The Alfee), and ran a monthly one-hour time slot per episode rather than the standard weekly half hour time slot.
Figure 17 follows Tsubasa Shiina, a young girl who discovers a crashed alien spacecraft piloted by an injured alien known as D.D. who had been transporting the seeds of monsters known as Maguars. After these events, Tsubasa along with her newly formed clone Hikaru Shiina and D.D. join forces to fight the remaining Maguars now present on planet Earth. Episodes of Figure 17 also frequently observe the school lives of the titular characters Tsubasa and Hikaru, exploring their developing bond as well as themes involving coming of age and emotional connection.[2]
Plot
Tsubasa Shiina is a timid grade schooler who is forced to move to Hokkaido from Tokyo with her father, as he pursues his dream of being a baker in the aftermath of her mother's death. At her new school, she is very shy and unsociable with her classmates ignoring her at best, and abusing her inability to defend herself at worst.
One night shortly after the Tsubasa and her father begin to settle in their new home, an alien spaceship comes crashing down to earth in the forest behind their house.
Stumbling across the ship with her dog, Tsubasa discovers the alien pilot, unconscious and wounded, as well as a monster attempting to kill him.
The alien awakes and attempts to fight off the monster, while Tsubasa, in her fright, tries to hide from the monster inside of the ship.
The monster quickly overtakes the alien, seemingly killing him and in the process releasing him from some sort of transformation, before attempting to reach Tsubasa within the ship.
In its effort, the monster accidentally cracks a mysterious container open, causing the mostly-liquid contents to leak onto the floor next to Tsubasa.
After the liquid makes contact with Tsubasa, it converges onto her as a strange substance, which then transforms her into what appears to be the teenage female equivalent of the form that the alien had transformed into while fighting the monster.
With the aid of this mysterious power, Tsubasa is able to defeat the monster, although somewhat accidentally.
Once the battle is over, Tsubasa reverts to her normal form, though the strange substance turns into an visually identical copy of herself upon separation. The alien awakens, and together, all three return to Tsubasa's house to stay the night in her room. The next day, the alien introduces himself as D.D. and explains that he was transporting the seeds of a monster called a "Maguar", however one of the seeds had hatched and attacked him, forcing his ship to crash land on Earth. The copy of Tsubasa, who claims the name of Hikaru, is revealed as a type of combat suit known as a Figure which has for some reason assumed its current form and retained all of Tsubasa's memories. The Maguar which Tsubasa had defeated was only one of the six Maguars D.D. had been transporting, as the rest are now scattered unknowingly throughout Hokkaidō. As Earth's atmosphere has enhanced both Hikaru and the Maguars, and one of the original Maguars is later revealed to have laid eggs, it becomes clear that D.D. must have the girls help to carry out the secret eradication of the Maguar infestation.
To resolve the issue of Hikaru's sudden presence, D.D., disguising himself as a visiting photographer friend, modifies the memories of Tsubasa's father to make him believe he had twin daughters all along and Hikaru was simply living elsewhere with an aunt, and so Tsubasa and Hikaru begin living together in Tsubasa's house, go to school together at Tsubasa's school, and fight together as Figure 17 against the Maguar, growing the emotional bond between the two in the process.
A shy and timid 10-year-old girl originally from Tokyo. Her mother died during childbirth, leading Tsubasa to sometimes blame herself for her death. Throughout the series, Tsubasa's self-esteem slowly improves after coming into contact with the artificial being that names herself Hikaru.
A Ribers (リベルス), or a techno-organic being that fuses with its user to become a Figure (フィギュア), an advanced battle armor. When she first comes into contact with Tsubasa, they combine into Figure 17, whose abilities surpass those of other Figures. Instead of reverting into her dormant state, the Ribers becomes a clone of Tsubasa and calls herself Hikaru. In contrast to Tsubasa, Hikaru is more lively and outgoing.
A galactic police officer originally on his way to his home planet with six Maguar (マギュア) eggs when one of them suddenly hatches during warp, forcing him to crash on Earth. He is given the name D.D. by Hikaru, as it is the closest way to pronounce his native name. While staying in Hokkaido, D.D. uses the pseudonym Daisuke Domoto and poses as a landscape photographer.
A galactic police officer sent to Earth in response to D.D.'s distress signal. Once Orudina discovers the circumstance, she becomes frustrated that D.D. broke protocol by crashing on Earth and involving Tsubasa with the Maguar threat.
A boy in Tsubasa and Hikaru's class. Sho is unable to participate in sports activities due to health reasons, but he is exceptionally talented in music and stage play writing.
Figure 17 first aired on TV Tokyo's satellite anime channel AT-X on May 27, 2001.[3] The average runtime of episodes was 46 minutes, and were released on a monthly basis.TV Tokyo re-aired the series on a weekly basis from January 11 to June 26, 2002; episodes 1 and 13 aired in their entirety while episodes 2-12 were each split into two episodes, bringing the total episode count to 24.[3]
In the United States, the series was broadcast on the ImaginAsian network in 2004.[4] It was also streamed online through Tubi in 2017.[5]
The music was composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa of the band The Alfee, whom recorded the opening theme "Boy" and the ending theme "Fairy Dance", which were both featured on their 2001 album Glint Beat.In an interview, Takamizawa said that he was told that Figure 17 was a mix of John Carpenter's The Thing and the J-Drama series Kita no Kuni Kara (From a Northern Country).[6]
The series is not only notable for its unusual airing schedule, but also for being one of the last anime ever produced entirely using cel animation.Airing until May 2002, no other new cel made anime would be broadcast on television until a year later with 2003's Astro Boy, which was the last new major TV anime production made using cels and penultimate overall behind Sazae-san[7]
Media
Anime
Bandai Visual distributed the series on VHS and DVD in Japan in single-episode volumes (totaling 13 volumes) under the Emotion label.It was compiled in a DVD box set on April 22, 2011.[8] The series was licensed in North America by Media Blasters (under the AnimeWorks label) and released in six DVD volumes from 2003 to 2004, as well as a box set in 2005.[9] This version was also licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[10] Figure 17 was streamed on Tubi in 2017.[11]
Manga
A manga adaptation of the series was illustrated by Guy Nakahira and published in the magazine Dengeki Daioh.Spanning only two volumes, the adaptation is considerably shorter than the TV series, condensing most of the series' storyline, removing some of the supporting characters and shortening the fight scenes to only a few pages.[12][13] The manga was licensed in North America and translated in English by ADV Manga.[14]
Novel
A novelization of the series was penned by screenplay writer Shoji Yonemura with illustrations by character designer Yuriko Chiba and published by Dengeki Bunko.[15]
Soundtrack
The series' soundtrack, released by Lantis on January 26, 2002, consists of the background music composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa.[16] The opening and ending themes are not available on this disc.[17][18] In addition, an image album subtitled Itsuka Kono Basho de...(「…いつかこの場所で…」) was released on November 29, 2001, featuring songs performed by Akiko Yajima and Fumiko Orikasa, as well as recorder renditions by the Kuricorder Quartet.[16]
Shinichi and Kyoko's daughter. As a teenager, Sakura is rebellious towards her parents and has a heated argument with her mother over going to a concert in Sapporo.
