Cipher (manga)


Cipher is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Minako Narita. It was serialized in Hakusensha's LaLa magazine from the February 1985 issue to the December 1990 issue, and was collected in Japan in twelve tankōbon volumes and seven bunkoban volumes.
A sequel manga series titled Alexandrite was published in LaLa from 1991 to 1994, and compiled in Japan in seven tankōbon volumes and four bunkoban volumes.
Cipher was also adapted into a promotional English-language OVA titled Cipher the Video in 1989, with Narita's input and involvement.

Plot

The story of Cipher is set in mid-1980s America, mainly New York City. It concerns the lives of former child stars twins Siva and Cipher, who mysteriously began to trade places until the two became synonymous with each other. Anise Murphy is a classmate of Siva's, and shortly after becoming acquainted with him ends up entangled in a bet to see if she can tell the two apart after living at their apartment for two weeks.

Characters

Manga

Cipher is written and illustrated by Minako Narita. It was serialized in the monthly magazine LaLa from December 24, 1984 to October 24, 1990. The chapters were later released in 12 bound volumes by Hakusensha under the Hana to Yume Comics imprint.
CMX licensed the series in North America in 2005. It went out of print when DC Comics shut down the CMX imprint in 2010.

''Tankōbon'' editions