often shortened to Manabi Straight!, is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by the animation studioUfotable and MediaWorks. The project revolves around a group of high school girls in the year 2035 when the birth rate has dropped dramatically. It launched in August 2004 in MediaWorks' Dengeki AniMaga magazine, and went on to produce a manga adaptation serialized in MediaWorks' Dengeki Daioh, and a second manga serialized in Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear. A 12-episode anime series aired on TV Tokyo between January and March 2007, and is complemented by an original video animation episode released exclusively on DVD in October 2007. Discotek Media licensed the series and OVA for release in North America in 2019. A PlayStation 2visual novel based on the series was released in Japan in March 2007, developed by Marvelous Interactive.
Plot
Manabi Straight! is set in 2035 when the birth rate has dropped dramatically. As a result, some schools are being closed down because of a lack of students available to teach. Morale in schools has dropped dramatically, and the all-girl Seioh Private High School is no exception. The story begins when the main character, Manami Amamiya, transfers to Seioh High School. Manami is an active girl with a positive personality, often shouting her personal mottoMassugu Go! as a motivator for herself to go forward in life. On Manami's first day of school, the lone student council member and secretary Mika Inamori tries to rally students to join the council, but is initially met with an apathetic audience. However, Manami expresses interest in becoming the student council president. To show the school how much she wants to lead the student body, Manami begins to sing Seioh's school song after hearing it for the first time the day before. At the conclusion of the song, Manami is inducted as the student council president and received well by the entire school. The story that follows Manami working with Mika, and three other classmates—Mutsuki Uehara, Mei Etoh, and Momoha Odori—in student council matters, despite Manami and Mika initially being the only official members. After some remodeling of the student council room, Manami and her friends set forth to plan for the upcoming student festival.
Manabi Straight! originally began as a reader-participation game whose development is directly influenced by the readers. The project launched in volume 12 of MediaWorks' Dengeki AniMaga magazine sold on August 30, 2004 with original character design and illustrations by Atsushi Ogasawara. The project continued until Dengeki AniMaga volume 19 when the magazine ceased publication on August 29, 2005. The Manabi Straight! manga, with story by Ufotable and illustrated by Tartan Check, was serialized in MediaWorks' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh between the December 2005 and February 2008 issues. Four tankōbon volumes were released between May 27, 2006 and February 27, 2008. A second manga, titled Manabi Straight! Sakra, with story by Ufotable and illustrated by Eshika/Shōgo, was serialized in Enterbrain's online magazine Famitsu Comic Clear from January 30, 2015 to February 26, 2016. Two tankōbon volumes were released on August 12, 2015 and March 14, 2016.
Anime
A 12-episode anime television series produced by Ufotable aired in Japan between January 8 and March 26, 2007 on the TV Tokyo television network. An original video animation episode was released on October 10, 2007. The production staff of Manabi Straight! removed the traditional "director" position and instead a team of studio producers and episode directors called Team Manabibeya shared the burden together. Team Manabibeya includes the story director Ryunosuke Kingetsu, the animation director and character designer Atsushi Ogasawara, the layout director Takurowo Takahashi, and the technical director Takayuki Hirao. The opening theme is "A Happy Life" and the ending theme is "Lucky & Happy"; both are sung by Megumi Hayashibara. The single containing both songs was released on February 7, 2007. "A Happy Life" is a cover of Ritsuko Okazaki's 1996 single, while "Lucky & Happy" is a cover of a song written by Okazaki for the anime Wedding Peach. Discotek Media licensed the series and OVA for an April 30, 2019 Blu-ray release in North America. Five character mini albums were released between September 6, 2006 and January 1, 2007 featuring the characters of Manami Amamiya, Mika Inamori, Mutsuki Uehara, Mei Etoh, and Momoha Odori, sung by their respective voice actresses from the anime. Two original soundtracks were released for the anime on February 21 and May 16, 2007. The soundtracks featured background music tracks, remixes of the songs featured on the character mini albums, and original songs. A single titled "Seioh Gakuen Kōka Band", sung by Yui Horie and Minori Chihara, was released on March 21, 2007; the single contained the two insert songs found in episode 11 of the anime.
Visual novel
A visual novel developed by Marvelous Interactive for the PlayStation 2 titled Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! Kira Kira Happy Festa! was first released on March 29, 2007 in limited and regular editions. The limited edition came bundled with a thirty-minute length drama CD and two background music CDs. The gameplay consists of the player interacting with the game by making choices at key times in the story. While the game consists of several different scenarios, the main one takes place during the summer festival. In the scenario, Manami needs the cooperation and comprehension of the town people in order to ensure the success of the event. Manami and her friends go through various missions in the game while they work and help the people in town get ready for the festival. As an original system built into the game, Manami has the power to give her friends "Hustle Points" that she uses to cheer her friends up during their various missions. An album titled Miracle Straight! was released on April 4, 2007 containing the opening and ending themes to the video game sung by Yui Horie, Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Aya Hirano and Saki Fujita.
