Zetsuai 1989 - Publications

Publications

While the series has been published in several languages, it has not been published in English.

It was started 1989 as a legitimate spin-off of the author's Captain Tsubasa doujinshi Dokusen Yoku. The pairing between Tsubasa's Kōjirō Hyūga and Ken Wakashimu, the pairing featured in Dokusen Yoku, is immensely popular and has been compared to the classic slash fiction pairing of Kirk/Spock. The usual dynamic in Kōjirō-Ken doujinshi is that their relationship is "based on trust". Kōjirō is the man of the family due to his father's death. Ken, on the other hand, is heir to a martial arts school, and is constantly under pressure to quit soccer, and suffers an injury from trying to be the best in both fields. The boys support each other, and eventually their deep friendship becomes love. The series Zetsuai was abandoned after 5 volumes. The author, or manga artist, Minami Ozaki picked the story back up after a few years with Bronze. So far, Bronze has outpaced Zetsuai and has 14 volumes. The story arc it is currently in is called Restart.

Two OVA's were made, one taking place in Zetsuai 1989, and the second during Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989 (also called Bronze Zetsuai or simply Bronze). Koyasu Takehito plays the part of Izumi Takuto, and Sho Hayami plays Koji Nanjo. Radio dramas and CDs (with some lyrics composed by Minami Ozaki) were produced. The actors themselves often provided vocal parts for music. Five original music videos were made and compiled into a video called Cathexis.

As of 2003, fan translations of the first eleven volumes of Zetsuai / Bronze were available.

Zetsuai 1989 was licensed in French (by Tonkam), German (Carlsen Verlag), Korean, Spanish (Glénat España) and Italian (Panini Comics) languages.

Zetsuai 1989 was the first shōnen-ai manga to be officially translated into German.