Rockin' Heaven

Rockin' Heaven (ロッキン★ヘブン, Rokkin★Hebun) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mayu Sakai. It premiered in Ribon's December 2005 issue where it ran until its conclusion in the July 2008 issue. The individual chapters were collected and published in eight tankōbon volumes by Shueisha between June 2006 and November 2008. The story focuses on high school freshman Sawa Konishi, who transfers to a new co-ed school where she is bullied by the other students and teachers, but also meets and falls in love with Ran Matsuyuki.

Shueisha produced a short series of web-based "vomics", a voice-over played with still manga panels.

Plot

First year high school girl Sawa Konishi transfers to Amabane High School, an escalator school, because she loves the school's cute uniforms and she thinks it suits her perfectly. She doesn't realize that the school used to be an all-boys school, with this being the first year it has allowed girls. On the first day, she befriends Akira Nagashima, an aspiring manga artist. She also meets Ran Matsuyuki, the son of the school chairman, who kisses her on the forehead as a joke. As her day progresses, she learns most of the boys in the school don't listen to the teachers, following the lead of Ran.

Sawa's life in the academy is initially trouble, as she is bullied by the boys. At one point, they threw her shoes in the water and she nearly drowns trying to retrieve them. Ran unexpectedly saves her, causing Sawa to see him in a new light, and she eventually gains respect from the rest of the boys.

Characters

• Sawa Konishi (小西纱和, Konishi Sawa) is warm-hearted, friendly but hot-headed 15-year-old girl who transfers to Amabane High School because she thought the school's uniform was cute, unaware that the school was previously exclusive to boys. Sawa later meets Ran Matsuyuki, whom she thought was kind, but she reconsiders this after seeing him cause trouble during class. However, as she gets to know him, they become close, eventually falling in love with each other and becoming a couple. Halfway through, she and Ran decide to break up because Ran says he does not want to act spoiled because she is so gentle. After their breakup, she briefly dates Sugishita, but she still loves Ran. At the end of the series, they get back together and promise to work through their problems together. Years later, she and Ran marry and have a son named Aoi. In the vomic (a mix of voice and comic), she is voiced by Noriko Shitaya.^[1]
• Ran Matsuyuki (松雪藍, Matsuyuki Ran) is the son of the chairman of the school and a leader among his friends in class. He has emotional problems steaming from his family. His mother initially helped him cope with the high expectations from his demanding father, but after her death, the pressure increased and pushed Ran to attempt to commit suicide, but it only caused him minor injuries. As a result, his friends regularly watch over him. Initially rude to Sawa, he grows to care for her romantically. On his birthday, he kisses her, and they later become a couple. However, his attitude and indifference causes them to break up for some time. At the end of the series, he asks her to give him a second chance and they get back together. Years later, he marries her, and they have a son named Aoi. He also becomes a teacher at their high school because it is the place where he met Sawa. In the vomic, he is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai.^[1]
• Akira Nagashima (永島晶, Nagashima Akira) is Sawa's first friend at Amabane who is always sharing gossip and stories from the pasts of other students based from her research. Quiet and cool, she desires to be a manga artist. She transferred to the school because she felt there would be a lot of "good material" there for her stories. When she was in middle school, she was constantly isolated and teased by her classmates, causing her to close her feelings to others. After Sawa and Ran start dating, Akira begins to feel distant towards Sawa, believing that she would be just like her classmates in middle school. However, Sawa is able to calm her fears and mend their friendship. Akira falls in love with Tsubaki after seeing his kindness, but he does not return her feelings until the end when Tsubaki kisses her on their graduation day, claiming that he was sorry for letting her wait for too long and that he likes her too. In the end, Akira and Tsubaki will marry, thus their reception will bring all their friends together. In the vomic, she is voiced by Mamiko Noto.^[1]
• Junichi Tsubaki (椿純一, Tsubaki Junichi) is one of Sawa's classmates and Ran's best friend since childhood. He was in the basketball club with Ran and Kido until the third quarter of their second year of middle school. Tsubaki is considerate of everyone's feelings and tries to help people solve their problems. He is especially protective and caring of Ran. He also has feelings for Ran and is called out on it by Akira, who seemed to have figured it out. Akira then confesses to Tsubaki, who understands her feelings, but he does not want to get involved with anyone. He comes to develops a strong friendship with Akira. At the end of the series, he realizes he loves Akira after seeing how she reacted to Ran's insensitivity towards him, making it clear how much she cares. Years later, they become engaged. In the vomic, he is voiced by Kazuya Kobayashi.^[1]
• Satoshi Kido (城户智史, Kido Satoshi) is a classmate of Sawa and a friend of Ran. He is carefree and childish. In middle school, he was to be part of the basketball club with Tsubaki and Ran. In the beginning, he joins in the bullying of Sawa. However, when she is assaulted by a teacher he, along with Ogawa, defend her. As the series progresses, he develops feelings for Sawa, initially unaware that she is dating Ran. When he learns of the relationship, he and his little sister Ayaka try, unsuccessfully, to break them up. He has a strong dislike for Sugishita, saying that everyone started acting weird after he came. However, he is willing to put his feelings behind him and helps to keep Sugishita from getting expelled. In the vomic, he is voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara.^[1]
• Tomoki Ogawa (小川朋樹, Ogawa Tomoki) is another friend and classmate of Sawa and Ran's. A former member in the soccer club along with Taguchi, he is easygoing and helps his friends with any small tasks they may have. His family owns a beauty parlor, so his hair is always well done. He has wanted to be a beautician since a young age due to the attention he received from the female visitors. After Sugishita comes, he realizes his dream is to work in the entertainment industry styling hair, and he plans to study abroad after graduation. This causes some turmoil between him and Kido, but they work it out and agree to remain friends. In the vomic, he is voiced by Taketoshi Kawano.^[1]
• Souta Taguchi (田口草太, Taguchi Souta), another friend of Ran's. He was in the soccer club with Ogawa until the third quarter of their second year. He understands Akira as a result of having had similar experiences in middle school. Because Kido and his friends helped him become less anti-social, he gives Sawa advice on how to help Akira accept her friendship. He later falls in love with Akira because of their similar personalities. Though she rejects him and cannot accept his feelings, they remain friends. In the comic, he is voiced by Hideki Nakanishi.^[1]
• Yuri Shirakawa (白河結李, Shirakawa Yuri) is Ran's beautiful ex-girlfriend. Popular with boys, she is the one who initially asked Ran out, but she later broke up with him because he seemed indifferent about their relationship. She joins the student council at her school, Eika Academy—a sister school of Amabane— as it allows her to see Ran, whom she still loves. Eventually she asks him to date her again, but he rejects her because he already loves Sawa. Yuri is initially saddened by this, but she later becomes friends with Sawa.
• Haruki Sugishita is a famous model/actor who joined the class G group in their second year. When he first came he was initially disliked, and those feelings were only reinforced after he is blamed to be the main cause of Sawa and Ran's breakup. But after the whole class comes together in attempt to stop him from getting expelled, he breaks up with Sawa to allow her to get back together with Ran.

Media

Written and illustrated by Mayu Sakai, Rockin Heaven premiered in the December 2005 issue of Ribon where it ran until its conclusion in the July 2008 issue. The individual chapters were collected and published in eight tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. The first was released on June 15, 2006; the final volume was published on November 14, 2008.^[2][3]

Shueisha produced a short series of web-based "vomics", a voice-over played with still panels from the manga.^[4] Rockin' Heaven is licensed for regional language releases in Germany by Tokopop Germany and in Italy, France and Spain by Planet Manga.^[5][6][7][8]

Volume List

References

1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rockin' Heaven Volume 6 Extra
2. ↑ ロッキン·ヘブン 1 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
3. ↑ ロッキン·ヘブン 8 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
4. ↑ "集英社ヴォイスコミックステーション-VOMIC- ｢ロッキンヘブン｣" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
5. ↑ "Rockin' Heaven" (in German). Tokopop Germany. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
6. ↑ "Hai cercato "Heaven"" (in Italian). Panini Comics. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
7. ↑ "Rocking's Heaven french edition" (in French). Panini Comics. Retrieved 2009-01-21. 
8. ↑ "Rocking's Heaven spanish licensing" (in Spanish). mangaspain. Retrieved 2009-01-21. 

External links

• Rockin' Heaven (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia