It’s just about the end of the month, which means it’s time for another manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga! This month’s giveaway is for not one, but two volumes of Natsumi Ando’s manga series Arisa—both the first and the most recent volumes published in English. (I’ll explain my odd thought process for this below.) As always, the contest is open worldwide!
Okay, so why the first and eleventh volumes? Because Arisa has a set of twin sisters. Volume 1, because it’s the first volume. (In general, I like to give away first volumes.) And what do you get when you have two 1s? 11. And there you have it. (I told you I’m a bit odd.) Anyway.
People are fascinated by twins. It’s probably not too surprising that twins, both fraternal and identical, make frequent appearances in manga, often with an important role to play in the story. Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Yumi Tamura’s Basara, and Rei Hiroe’s Black Lagoon are just a few examples off the top of my head. It wouldn’t take me long to come up with even more. (And I will next week.) In Arisa we have Tsubasa Uehara and Sonoda Arisa, identical twin sisters who have been separated by their parents’ divorce. Tsubasa takes Arisa’s place at school to try to discover why her sister would attempt to commit suicide, uncovering some very disturbing goings-on in Arisa’s class in the process.
So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Arisa, Volumes 1 and 11?
1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a set of twins that you have encountered in manga and in which manga they appear. (If by chance you’ve never come across twins, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).
It’s as easy as that. For this giveaway, each person can earn up to two entries. As usual, there is one week to submit comments. If you have trouble leaving comments, or if you would prefer, you can e-mail me your entries at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will post them in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on October 2, 2013.
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address (which if you submit through the comment form won’t be publicly displayed), a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.
Contest winner announced—Manga Giveaway: Arisa Giveaway Winner
This is all just a ploy to make us buy the in-between volumes/get them from a library/spoil ourselves terribly isn’t it? XD (also, is it just me or did their hair/eye color change between the different covers?)
In any case, I’m gonna go for a recent example and say Komba’s twin younger sisters from Silver Spoon who are impossible to tell apart and rather cheerful about living on a working dairy farm, even if this means that they have way more chores than most kids their age do.
Additional entry:
https://twitter.com/WanderinDreamr/status/382862088407769088
Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon are the first that come to mind for me as well with out spoiling it you see how much abuse and mistreatment warps children and it also reestablishes my belief in the total depravity of man
I love the twin tropes in anime and manga! Stories about switching places and mistaken identity are pretty pulpy (as pulpy as Shakespeare, really), but I really eat up that stuff. Of course Johan and Anna/Nina from Monster are great, and the incredibly creepy scene when it’s revealed that Johan’s been impersonating her was really powerful. …On the exact opposite end, I like the interactions of Hana and Ageha from Papillon— Ageha envies her twin sister who’s perfect and loved by everyone, but Hana envies her sister who’s genuine and has some true relationships.
@jennifuu
https://twitter.com/AnimeContests/status/382865636918964225
Hmm, twins, eh? I’m currently enjoying the creepy twins in Legend of Korra (their laugh in episode 3 just killed me!), and a shout out to Venture Bros is necessary, but for manga?
Speaking of creepy twins, Mion and Shion in Higurashi flip between totally normal and downright scary.
For non-identical twins, Rin and Yukio from Blue Exorcist
and for something more obscure, the best manga I’ve read involving twins was the Hanshin/Half-God short from A Drunken Dream (and Other Stories). For being only 20 pages, it’s one of the best manga I’ve read period.
Even before I saw you’d mentioned it I thought of Basara. Sarasa taking on her brother’s identity to lead the rebellion is just one of the many double identities (some secret, some not) in this epic (and sadly half out of print) shojo manga.
As for shonen, there are the Gemini Saints Saga and Kanon from Saint Seiya.
Two sets of twins pop into my head for me. The first ones are Subaru and Hokuto Sumeragi from Tokyo Babylon by CLAMP. The second set appear in Miss Rain by Naoko Takeuchi. I picked up a copy of Miss Rain when I visited Tokyo in the late 1990s, unfortunately based on the art I thought this set of twins were actually a couple till I worked on translating the story.
As far as I remember, I never came across twins in mangas… but, although they are technically “not twins”, I can’t stop thinking of Kagome and Kykyo from InuYasha (the anime)! Unfortunately I have not read as many mangos I want to, because of price and availability, and I hope to win this giveaway to increase the amount of them in my library xD
Thanks for the giveaway and the chance to win S2
Forgot to mention the additional entry ;)
http://twitter.com/anaeileendeath/status/382951463573794816
I love Laila and Leyli from A Bride’s Story simply because I adore anything that has to do with A Bride’s Story. They really lighten up the story, and I’ll be sad to say goodbye to them when their arc ends.
(Tsubasa spoiler for about volume 20) On the darker side of the twin spectrum, Fai is my other favorite twin. He’s the reason I stuck with Tsubasa until the tone shift, and his past with his brother is one of the most tragic back stories I’ve read in manga.
I know if I’m reading anything by CLAMP and twins pop up we’re in for a world of angst! Fai and Yuui’s history was just heartbreaking. I always had to cheer myself up by reading Ouran High School Host Club with Hikaru and Kaoru to wash away the angst and give me some laughs! I still can’t tell them apart unless they colour their hair blue & pink in the anime!
Oh, I remembered now the creepy twins from Another!!! ^^
Oh, pfui, somebody already mentioned my beloved Hikaru and Kaoru!
Well then, how about Teg and Hagas from FY:Genbu Kaiden (although I must confess I find their arc to be so Tewwibwy Twagic as to be almost risible)
1. The twins that I can only think of is Hikaru and Kaoru of Ouran Highschool host club! Who’d forget them! I loooove both their personality and they are one of the best characters that give humor and comedy to the anime :))
2. Already tweeted about the contest! Twitter: Gazerock_yumii
My brain is drawing a complete blank. I KNOW I’ve read more series about twins, but the only ones I can think of at the moment are Kaoru and Hikaru from Ouran (who I love to bits).
For creepy twins, check out Higurashi: When They Cry. Mion and Shion are twins that are like complete opposites personality-wise, but they can still slip into each other’s roles, often leaving the other characters wondering who they are talking to.
For all those who think Higurashi or Black Lagoon has some evil twins, you should probably read Tezuka works. Swallowing the Earth for example has a set of seven identical twins plotting to use their beauty to control the world. MW is another book where the lead psychotic villain has a Kabuki actor brother, which plays a shocking role in the twist ending of the book. Tezuka even has a book dedicated to twins (Twin Knights) with both the leads being twins as well as the two other prince’s in the story.
Honestly, the first twins that pop into mind are the first twins I ever encountered in anime or manga, Tomomi and Mikage from Miracle Girls… or, uh, as Mixx re-named them “Toni” and “Mika”. Pretty forgettable series overall, though.
I’ve encountered a lot of twins while reading manga:
Arisa & Tsubasa – Arisa
Hikaru & Kaoru – OHSHC
Tatara & Sarasa – Basara (awesome manga)
Mei & Misaki – Another (loved this manga! XD)
Naru & Gene – Ghost Hunt (wish they published more volumes :( )
^^^thats all I can think of at the moment, I’ve read a lot of manga, so I can’t remember a lot :/
I’m not sure if I’ve encountered more, but right now the only set of twins I can think of are Hikaru and Kaoru, from OHSHC~ Oh wait- there are also the twins from XXXHolic as well~
I feel the need to correct my name from my first comment XD~
I think my first manga with twins in it was Tokyo Babylon back in the day, which I loved. (Then again, I love almost all old-school CLAMP works, heh.) Subaru and Hokuto were very interesting characters. It was a huge contrast when I read about Toni and Mika in Miracle girls, which was a lot more light-hearted by comparison. I also really enjoyed Monster’s Johan and Anna Liebert…their story was very suspenseful, and kept me on edge right til the very end.
Retweeting the contest on Twitter!