Kaine (manga)

Kaine
The cover of the German translation, as published by Carlsen (2005)
カイネ die黒とlive白の脳内麻薬物質
Genre	Thriller[1]
Manga
Written by	Kaori Yuki
Published by	Hakusensha
Magazine	Bessatsu Hana to Yume, Hana to Yume
Demographic	Shōjo
Published	18 October 1996
Volumes	1

Kaine: Endorphins – Between Life and Death^[a] is a shōjo manga written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki. It consists of four short stories: the titular story revolves around a boy who assumes the role of his deceased, rockstar twin, while "Magical Mystery Tour" focuses on a girl who wins a trip to Los Angeles and finds herself entangled in a plot to steal an inheritance. "Orange Time Bomb" deals with the interpersonal struggles of the members of the band Orange Bombs, and its sequel, "Tokyo Top," focuses on the band's singer pursuing an acting career and the love triangle that ensues among the actors.

The concept and characters for "Kaine" came together within a day, although page limitations later affected a few scenes and some character development. Yuki later expressed embarrassment at including "Orange Time Bomb," "Tokyo Top," and "Magical Mystery Tour" with "Kaine" because of their relative age: the three stories had variously appeared in the Japanese manga magazine Hana to Yume and its sister magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume from 1988 to 1990, while "Kaine" had been a two-part serial in Hana to Yume in 1996. Nevertheless, publishing company Hakusensha later compiled the four stories into a bound volume and published it in October 1996; a re-release followed in September 2009. The collection has been translated into other languages, including French, Italian, and German. Critics generally enjoyed "Kaine" for its rock-music-inspired storyline, while the other three stories were seen as interesting for their status as works from the beginning of her career.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).