Venus Versus Virus is a Japanese manga series created by Atsushi Suzumi which was first serialized on June 27, 2005 in MediaWorks' shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao!. The manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! on February 27, 2008 due to the magazine's discontinuation, but the manga continued serialization in ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh between March 21 and July 26, 2008. Eight bound volumes have been released by ASCII Media Works in Japan. The manga has been licensed for English language distribution by North American–based company Seven Seas Entertainment; the first volume was released in July 2007. Later, a drama CD was created based on the manga series in October 2006. The series has since been adapted into an anime produced by Studio Hibari that aired in Japan between January and March 2007 on BS-i, containing twelve episodes.
Plot
Venus Versus Virus revolves around the life of two teenage girls named Sumire Takahana and Lucia Nahashi, who met as Sumire mysteriously discovered Lucia's secrets at the Venus Vanguard, a group who hunts demons called "Virus" led by Lucia's adoptive father Soichiro. Now, while accepting jobs from people who find the Venus Vanguard brochure, they fight off the “Virus” while seeking their true roots and motives, and for that, Lucia finds that Sumire can be a lot more useful than she seems.
Venus Versus Virus began as a manga series first serialized on June 27, 2005 in the shōnen magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! published by MediaWorks. On February 27, 2008, the manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao!, but continued serialization in ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh between March 21 and July 26, 2008. Eight bound volumes have been released in Japan by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Comics label. The manga has since been licensed in America by Seven Seas Entertainment with the first volume released in July 2007. Venus Versus Virus has also been published in Taiwan and Hong Kong by Kadokawa Media, in South Korea by Samyang Publish Company, in Italy by J-Pop Edizioni, in France by Soleil Productions, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Vietnam by Kim Dong Publishing House, and in Germany by Carlsen Verlag.
Drama CD
A drama CD based on the manga series was first released in Japan on October 25, 2006 produced by Frontier Works. The CD contained five tracks and the voice cast was different from that used in the anime adaptation. A second drama CD was released on April 4, 2007 produced by Lantis.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was animated by Studio Hibari, directed by Shinichiro Kimura, and aired in Japan between January 11 and March 29, 2007 on the BS-i network, containing twelve episodes. The anime was made available in November 2007 on Anime Network's Video on demand setup. The anime was originally licensed by ADV Films for distribution in North America, but in July 2008, the anime became one of over thirty ADV titles transferred to Funimation Entertainment. ADV Films had also licensed Venus Versus Virus for release in Germany, but the DVDs were put on hold.
