Hyde & Closer

Hyde & Closer
Cover of the first volume of Hyde & Closer showing Hyde on the left and Closer Shunpei on the right.
呪法解禁!!ハイド&クローサー (Juhou Kaikin!! Haido & Kuroosaa)
Genre	Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Manga
Written by	Haro Aso
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	^NA Viz Media
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday
Original run	July 2008 – 2009
Volumes	7

Hyde & Closer (Japanese: 呪法解禁!!ハイド&クローサー Hepburn: Juhou Kaikin!! Haido & Kurōsā, lit. Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde & Closer) is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Haro Aso. The manga is serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from July 2008. The individual chapters were then collected into seven tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan.

Viz Media has licensed the series for an English-language release in North America, and is currently serializing it online at ShonenSunday.com.^[1]

Storyline

The story begins with a tale of explaining magic. The main protagonist is a 13-year-old named Shunpei Closer; he is viewed as a weak and timid teenager. His grandfather, Alsyd Closer, was a magician, the "Sorcerer King." Alsyd would travel around the world constantly, only stopping in Japan every now and then to tell tales of his journeys to Shunpei. Before leaving to Africa on Shunpei's 7th birthday, Alsyd gave Shunpei a teddy bear named Hyde. Shunpei quickly grows attached to the teddy bear, stating he was Shunpei's best friend. Six years have passed, and Shunpei comes home one day, only to receive a package that had a stuffed animal in it. Soon, Shunpei is attacked by the toy, and is almost killed. But before getting killed, Shunpei is cornered into his room, and as the toy was about to strike, the teddy bear Shunpei's grandpa gave him comes to life, and protects Shunpei against the enemy. Shunpei is frightened of the fact that Hyde came to life at first, but Hyde quickly calms him down and explains how Shunpei is the number one target of every magician in the world. At this moment, the stuffed animal from earlier is still alive, and ruthlessly attacks Hyde with knives and forks. Hyde is at a disadvantage because his only weapon is in his back, and he can't reach his back himself, meaning he needs Shunpei to do it for him. Shunpei struggles to get away from the fight, but he remembers how he was treated at school, and calls himself "Pathetic". Summoning up his courage, Shunpei returns to the fight, and brings out the Texas Chainsaw within Hyde. With this new weapon, the stuffed animal is easily destroyed. With the duo finishing up their first battle of many to come, Shunpei learns more about his grandfather than he could have possibly dared, and to overcome the coward that he and everyone else thought he was.

Part I tells Shunpei's goal of learning more about his magic after Hyde alone isn't capable of defending him. He meets most of his allies during this part and learns about The Six who are after him and "The Watcher in the Window." Part I ends shortly after a climactic battle with The Watcher where Shumpei learns more about his family history and magic as well as what truly happened to his grandfather.

Magic

Curse dolls

An important element of Hyde and Closer, cursed dolls are a form of magic created when a magic talisman is placed inside an inanimate object, which brings it to life. The doll possesses its own personality and follows the commands and instructions of its master. A cursed doll is powered by the magic given to it by its master and can even perform magic all by itself. Dolls also grow weaker the farther they are from their master; thus dolls that are close to their masters are far stronger. When a curse doll is destroyed, its creator suffers backlash that takes various forms (one magician was killed by bad luck, another suddenly suffered appendicitis). Despite what the name implies, cursed dolls do not have to strictly be dolls, as there have been stuffed animals, jack-in-the-boxes, and shadow puppets.

Magic Devices

Magic devices are handcrafted devices that are used to focus magical power and act as a medium. They are disguised as everyday objects like cell-phones and pies. Magical devices are essential as no matter how powerful a magic user is, a device allows for its user to be better prepared and equipped for battle. Devices have been shown to be capable of many different functions from making someone fall in love to controlling the weather.

Resentment

Resentment is the world's oldest device created after a series of coincidences. It was laid by a chicken who had a hard life and tended by a little girl with an abusive father in Africa. She made herself feel better by saying that she would put all her sadness, anger, and bad feelings into the egg and when it hatched it would be her good luck charm. What even she didn't know was that she could use magic and it made her words real. For countless years, the egg has been absorbing all the negative and evil emotions of humanity, becoming colossal in size and power. Alsyd Closer has stated that if it hatches now, the world will end. Resentment is the main reason for what is happening in the series. The Watcher in the Window wants it to destroy humanity, but Alsyd's barrier is preventing him from getting it. So Watchman is attacking Shunpei to lure his grandfather out.

Characters

Main characters

Closer Shunpei

Closer Shunpei (黒兎 春瓶 Shunpei Kuroosaa) is a 13-year-old timid teenager. Shunpei has spiky black hair and blue eyes. He wears a as-yet-explained necklace that holds what seems to be a half light blue, and half dark blue Magatama. Shunpei is harshly looked down upon by his classmates every day, as he seems to have no special abilities and messes up at everything. In chapter 2, Shunpei uses magic for the first time. And in chapter 3, Shunpei is told by Hyde that Shunpei needs to able to learn more magic because of the fact that protecting Shunpei, and fighting an enemy is very hard since both of them are fighting stronger enemies as the story goes on.^[2] Shunpei, at first, strongly believes that he can't do anything, but when Hyde came along and corrected him, Shunpei began to think otherwise. Hyde states in chapter 4 that Shunpei has the potential to become a very strong magician. Otherwise, Hyde would've stopped hanging around Shunpei a long time ago.^[3] In later chapters, Shunpei has shown bravery when in battles with other magic-users. For instance, in chapter eleven, Shunpei, and Uryuu had to use umbrellas to block the light from some overhead lights to give Hyde the advantage against a battle with a Shadow user, (He stabs other people's shadows using his own shadow) but the last light was too far to be able to hang the umbrella over it. But seeing as Hyde had the chance of losing, and dying, Shunpei gathered up his courage, and jumped to the headlight, and successfully blocked the light, leaving Hyde to finish off his opponent.^[4] Another example of how Shunpei has changed since Hyde entered his life was in chapter twenty one, where Shunpei was determined to control an item he had received. Shunpei and Hyde were attacked by what looked to be a giant, and although Hyde attempted to help, Shunpei asked to fight alone and eventually Shunpei won the battle.^[5][6]

Magic:

Barrier: the most basic spell, it follows the rule of not allowing anything within a certain area without the caster's permission. Once this spell is mastered, more complex spells aren’t too far behind. Shunpei can perform it without an incantation, something that is very hard to pull off.

Meifu-606:^[7] Shunpei gains a magical item, and in chapter 20, trains to control it. The Meifu-606 looks, and acts like a Cell Phone, and has a decorative heart on it. The Meifu-606 stores or 'catches' any attack from an opponent, and releases it when desired by Shunpei. Although using it took several days of practice, Shunpei finally controls it in chapter twenty-one.^[8]

Sky: Shunpei gets this magic device to help him defeat the President of Hypertoy. It appears as a scarf, but when activated it turns into a pair of wings that helps Shun to fly.

Phantom Shunpei gets this device from Pacqwa to defeat the president of Hypertoy. It creates illusions to inflict upon the enemy but can only be used once.

Hyde

Hyde (ハイド Haido) is a teddy bear that was given to Shunpei on his 7th birthday. Hyde had not shown any reaction until an enemy attempts to assassinate Shunpei. Hyde addresses Shunpei as either "Shun", or "Shun boy", just like Alsyd, probably because of Alsyd's magic in Hyde himself. Hyde is calm when outside of battle, and puts on a blank face that shows no emotion, like a normal teddy bear. He seems to be nice to Shunpei and his mother. Hyde states that he thinks that Shun has potential, only he needs to toughen up a bit. Hyde is the one who has been proving Shunpei wrong when Shunpei thought of himself as weak and cowardly. In his back, he holds a chainsaw named the Texas Chainsaw. Oddly, the chainsaw stands about twice as tall as Hyde himself, but can easily fit inside Hyde. When he fights, he normally gets an evil grin on his face, showing he might enjoy the idea of getting rid of the doll and thereby getting rid of the user; when he uses his Texas Chainsaw, his face becomes shadowed over, making his grin appear more cruel. Hyde always has a chocolate cigar in his mouth, except when he is being carried around by Shunpei. Besides the Texas Chainsaw, Hyde shows superhuman strength in chapter six when he throws a full sized locker through a window. In chapter seven, Shindou reveals that Hyde's magical power is different from those of a normal magical doll, and reveals that Hyde has a limited amount of magical power in his body, that he is keeping a secret from Shunpei. In chapter twenty-seven, Hyde himself states that he does not have much time left, and the magical power within him is limited. A bit of Hyde's past is also revealed in this chapter, showing that Hyde was originally a parting gift from the father of Marco when he lived seventy years ago, before the events of Magic Ban Removal. Unfortunately, soon after receiving Hyde, Marco was killed in his apartment in the middle of an air raid of his town, and, with his last few moments, dropped Hyde from the window in hopes that he would survive (let it be noted that at the time Hyde was nothing more than a bear, but Marco treated Hyde like a younger brother). It was six years before the start of the story that Alsyd found Hyde in the display of a merchant and, for whatever reason, knew about what the bear went through, bought Hyde and charged him with protecting Shunpei. Additionally, despite the fact that he was inanimate then, Hyde is still able to remember Marco.^[9]

Magic:

Texas Chainsaw: a very large, demonic-looking chainsaw that Hyde can wield effectively to cut his enemies to pieces. There seems to be some mystery to the Texas Chainsaw, as enemy dolls tend to freeze out of fear, begin panicking, and then lose all their confidence when they see it. However, this doesn't happen when faced with strong opponents.

Texas Chainsaw Hurricane: After being restored by Closer, the power of his chainsaw changed, besides having a different look, it now has the abilities to create extremely strong forces of wind on whatever surface it cuts. This change in power is a direct result of no longer being powered by Alsyd's magic, but Closer himself.

Closer Alsyd

Closer Alsyd (アルシド・クローサー Alsyd Kuroosaa) is Shunpei’s grandfather, he gave Shunpei Hyde on his 7th birthday. He would travel around the world and whenever he dropped by he would tell Shunpei about his travels and sometime show him magic “tricks”. He lives life “like a man” and tries to teach Shunpei that a man decides his own path in life and that as long as he wants to, a man can achieve anything. He is really one of the greatest magician kings to ever live in the world and his little “tricks” are real magic spells that he can handle effortlessly. It seems most of the world's magic users are after his blood so they become the strongest above the rest, but since he has disappeared off the face of the earth all the attacks are now focused on Shunpei. He normally calls Shunpei “Shun my boy”.

Shindou and Tomiko

Shindou is a soccer star in Shunpei's school, and although almost every girl in the school admires him, his only love is a strange one at that: a black-haired doll named Tomiko, and talks to it as if it was a living object. (Tomiko is later shown to be a magical doll like Hyde.) Behind his graceful look, he is actually a magic-user. His style of fighting is different from the first two magic-users. Instead of hiding and standing from the sidelines, sending his/or magic power for the magical doll to do his/her "dirty work", Shindou and Tomiko instead fight together, therefore increasing the strength of Tomiko. (Hyde explains that the farther away the magic-user is from his magical doll, the less magic power he/she could send to their doll.) Growing up, Shindou's only friend was Tomiko as his rich father early on bought the neighborhood he lived in and forced his friends to move because he did not want Shindou to be friends with those he considers "scum". Despite the battle between Shindou and Shunpei, the two later become allies.^[10]

Tomiko is a small doll, and is apparently in some sort of relationship with Shindou. His reason to attack Shunpei is to use the Alsyd's blood within Shunpei to turn Tomiko into a real woman (because Shindou states that no one would accept a relationship with a doll). She states that she loves Shindou, and vice versa, which apparently "creeps" Shunpei out. She is apparently based on a woman of the same name who never married, and has been handed down to each new generation in Shindou's mother's family.

Laugh: None (So far)

Mozanhagu: Tomiko's main ability is her ability to stretch and use her hair as a weapon. Apparently, with Shindou's and Tomiko's "Love", the hair can pierce through anything, even piercing Shunpei's magical barrier. It is even later shown to be absolutely impenetrable; not even Hyde's Texas Chainsaw can cut through it. Hyde and Shunpei defeated them by lighting her hair on fire, thus rendering her ability useless.

Crimson Bride: In chapter 16, it is shown that Tomiko can transform into a real, beautiful woman.^[11] In this form, she can stop attacks with a few strands of her hair, as well as being able to use them to wield her hairpins as lethal weapons. But, this comes with a great downfall. As long as Tomiko is in this form, Shindou seems to give her either a great deal of magic to her, or give her his "Life Force", thus turning him into an old, weak, and vulnerable man.

Uryuu Tatsumi

Uryuu Tatsumi (雨竜巽 Tatsumi Uryuu) A girl in Shunpei's class, she is a huge fan of a TV drama with an incredible manly male lead.^[12] She at first dislikes Shunpei because he's so cowardly, until they are attacked by a curse user after school when it's their turn to clean the classroom. Tatsumi fell in love with Hyde after the incident, much to Shunpei's shock. But as time passes by, her feelings start to shift towards Shunpei, as seen in chapter 29 when she tries to open up a bit before Shunpei runs off when he sees trouble.^[13] It is implied that Tatsumi married Shunpei at the series' ending.

Pacqwa Suno-allichi

First introduced in chapter nineteen.^[14] She has two shades of hair - black and white. She wears a hat with a pumpkin face smile on the side, a one-piece dress, a long trench coat, and black boots.^[15] Pacqwa owns a small store in the Unknown Bazaar, and although she displays many items, most of the items she sells get refunded. She started her magic-device store because of her father, who was a world famous magical item seller. As a side note, she apologizes frequently.

Ana Maria Monsalvaltge and Shakka-Shakka Mekki

Ana

Odd, and easy to stand out, Ana quickly catches the attention of many in her introduction in the series. She comes looking for the power of Closer, but to Shunpei's surprise, she at first believed she would need to eat Shunpei's toenails to gain his power. Shunpei cleared up the misunderstanding, telling her the truth while believing she would not be the kind of person to kill someone else.^[16] As a child, Ana was shown to be bullied by other boys constantly because of her height, but quickly became friends with them when she stood up to them with the help of a hippie looking-sort of person named Bosh.^[17] He however was killed by yet another unnamed man.^[18] Angered by the man's actions, she swears to get stronger to kill him, leading to Ana wanting the power of Closer. Despite being enemies for some time, Ana becomes an ally of Shunpei and company.

Shakka-Shakka Mekki

His name is most likely a play on his maracas that he constantly carries around. Ana activates Shakka-Shakka's power by using her boombox to play different sorts of music. Each CD can activate an ability, which are each named "Represente Azteca: GRADO...". Because of the Spanish numbers at the end of each, it is possible Ana and Shakka-Shakka may have more abilities than the ones listed below.

Magic:

Represente Azteca: Grado Uno, Salita de Musica: Uses the power of music and dancing to control other things such as bugs, and even other magical dolls such as Hyde.^[19]

Represente Azteca: Grado Dos: Allows Shakka-Shakka to control the movements of an opponent and make him/her/it move like the doll.^[20]

Repenze Aztec: Grado Tres : Allows Shakka-Shakka to dance to bring down the lightning. The attack is most likely very dangerous, however it has a long activation time.^[21]

Kazan "Holy Father" and Desmond

Kazan

A very large man with spiky dreadlocked hair. Called Holy Father by the children, even though he is not a real priest. Growing up, he lived on the streets and stole and fought in order to survive, losing all sense of fear, until one day when he killed a woman's son and was sentenced to death. As his sentence grew closer, Kazan started to become scared of dying and, realizing his victim must have felt the same way, regretted his actions. On the day of his execution, the boy's mother dropped the charges against him and later told him that since he felt remorse, it was better for him to live on instead of die. He fights alongside Desmond, often charging recklessly against the enemy.

Desmond

A traditional Tinplate doll that looks like a small suit or armour with skinny legs, and four eyes. He dislikes noisy crowds and sometimes scolds Kazan for acting reckless.

Magic

Fullmetal Reloaded: Fires projectile springs form Desmond's fingers that bring anything they come into contact with to life and fight for them. This magic is effective because the springs are fired out like a bullet, making them dangerous in their own right. It can even force guns in hand to change direction.

Enemy Curse users

Enemy curse users are those magic users who wish to gain the powers of the Closer bloodline. Most dolls have their own distinctive laugh.

Antonio and Chamokey

The 1st pair to attack Shunpei, Antonio disguised himself as a delivery man and handed Shunpei the package containing the doll. Chamokey explained why it was trying kill Shunpei and that his life would be in constant danger for the rest of his life. In battle the doll favored anything that could stab or cut. Hyde destroyed Chamokey, which resulted in Antonio driving off a bridge (by an array of unlucky circumstances).

Laugh: Ukekeke (like the sound a monkey makes)

Hollow Blackness: The doll’s shadow becomes multiple hands to attack with multiple weapons at the same time.

Chilledski and Harawataski

The second to attack, Chilledski is a Russian curse user who wears a walrus skin like a fur coat (even if he complains about Japan's hot weather). Chilledski was struck with appendix problems after his doll was destroyed, he was rushed to a hospital. After that, Hyde and Closer went looking for him (Hyde uses this as a means to stop being ambushed) and convinced him to help (Hyde does something to his face which causes anyone who sees him to laugh uncontrollably which was effective as Chilledski couldn't laugh because of his surgery) to show how many other magic users were out to get Closer (1000 in total). Chilledski after more "convincing" revealed information on 'The Six,' the strongest magic users out of the rest moving in to attack.

Harawataski is a skull jack-in-the-box doll. He says he loves to eat humans' lustful desires. His weapons are a pair of tongs and a small crowbar. His core is a coin with a star on it.

Laugh: Vahyahaha

Death House: it allows Harawataski to appear (with party confetti) from any closed opening (a door, a desk drawer, windows, etc.). It also stops anyone from entering or leaving, effectively trapping anyone in the room he has taken over. Breaking the doll's concentration can temporarily stop the spell.

Bugs and Seyabdi

The fourth team to attack Shunpei. A duo who attack Shunpei after school, Bugs takes control on the school's lights in order to give his doll the advantage. Bugs would feel pain whenever someone steps on his shadow after he failed to take Shunpei's life. Seyabdi is a shadow puppet with a strange head that uses a knife in combat to strike the finishing blow.

Bloody Wayang: An ability that allows Setyabudi to hurt people by attacking their shadows.

Enrique, Kefman and Michellan

A young boy whose mother is ill and was led by the Watchman into believing that with Closer's power he could heal his mother. Enrique is the only magician thus far to control two Curse Dolls at once. After both his dolls are destroyed, he nearly falls off a building when Shunpei saves him; in regret and gratitude, he informs Shunpei about the Watchman. Kefman is a marionette that looks like a rather sinister clown with four arms, while Michelan is a human sized puppet with a top hat, who first masquerades as the magician.

Massacre Marionette: Kefman's magic, his marionette strings can cut through just about anything except Tomiko's hair when she's in Crimson Bride mode.

Massacre Puppet: Michelan's magic, he knows all offensive and defensive disciplines, including but not limited to boxing, kung fu, karate, and command sambo.

Chi-Chi and Wamien

A duo who attack Shunpei while he is training to use his magical device. Chi-Chi is a large round man who loves ramen. He wears a Chinese shirt and small dark glasses. He has a curly mustache and has tattoos on his head that resemble three waves. Wamien is a small frog with a porcelain bowl on his head. He is able to transform into a large reptilian creature when he uses his magic. Chi-Chi was badly scalded by hot ramen after his defeat.

Laugh: Nuaahaha

Heaven's Bowl: A bowl on the top of Wamien's head. When the bowl is filled with hot water he transforms into a huge muscled reptilian creature for three minutes. In this form he has Herculean strength that allows him to pick up and throw almost anything, including an entire bathroom building.

Abumiya and Lancy

A duo that is trying to destroy the church where the children are because of Feng Shui. Abumiya dresses in a very flamboyant business suit and has one half of the yin-yang symbol tattooed on each of his eyes. He is extremely sadistic since he happily rants about all the morbid things he could do with his doll's magic; underneath all his evi,l he is just a coward and doesn't know how to deal with those that stand up to him and he easily cracks under pressure. When his doll is destroyed, he gets buried under the garbage in the junkyard. Lancy is a doll that looks like a jiang-shi that floats and has two different halves on his body. The normal half will tell his opponent's good luck and lucky item, while at the same time the other half that looks like a demonic corpse will tell them their bad luck and unlucky item.

Laugh:Hehehehe

Ebony Chance: Once his eight-sided mirror focuses on an innocent's body then whatever body part is reflected is snapped when the doll rolls the die. This magic does not work on other magicians.

President Schubert and Hyper Toy

The president of a world famous toy company. He is a powerful man who hired 100 magicians to activate his magic. As shown, he doesn't care what it takes to do something as long as it is done. This is shown when he was warned about the dangers the toys could have on other people; he said he did not care as long as the magicians kill Closer. He also acts like a child when he doesn't get what he wants. Hyper Toy is not one curse doll like other mages use, but the president's entire toy store. The butler warned that using the entire store would only give a minimum control and attack anyone near them. After all the toys are destroyed by the combined efforts of Shindou, Ana, and Kazan, the magicians place all their power into one doll which was a deer costume that the President wore. This gave him superhuman strength and speed to fight. After Hyde used his new magic powers to beat the president twice, he went insane with power and proceeded to eat the mages who powered his doll to increase his strength. When Closer used his new magical tool on him to make illusions, it was revealed that he made toys not for wealth but to see the happy faces of children. After he was stunned by his past, the doll's core, the bell on the deer's neck, was destroyed by Hyde's chainsaw.

The Watcher in the Window

The Watchern is a mysterious magic user who ignited the race to harm Shumpei. He can appear anywhere in a window that floats and appears as mysteriously as it disappears. He also has a keen grasp on the human psyche, as he manipulated a boy into trying to kill Closer, and most of the wizards in general by lying and telling them that eating his heart would make them invincible. Due to his tactics, Hyde initially believes the Watcher has a personal grudge against the Closer family, only for this to be refuted when The Watcher appears before them after the people he tricked into fighting Closer failed. He reveals that he has no grudge against the family and has actually grown to like Shunpei, but wishes to destroy humanity by getting his hands on Resentment, a gigantic egg that is the oldest magical device, created after a series of coincidences and has been absorbing the negative emotions of humanity for thousands of years. Alsyd Closer had somehow prevented him from getting it, and so Watchman has been attacking Shunpei to lure him out. He was once a Doctor who lost his family when a shamanistic tribe he'd been treating sacrificed them to appease their gods, driving him mad with grief. In a strange twist of fate, it is revealed that The Watchman himself is 'Detox', the very Magical Device needed to destroy Resentment.

Alshev and Pterobone

One of the Watcher's allies that willingly wants Resentment to be unleashed. He has a massive ego and fancies himself as a genius and an inventor (e.g. making a toothpaste sandwich for people to eat and clean their teeth at the same time). Pterobone is a living fossil that seems to combine aspects of a triceratops, a pterosaur, and a stegosaur. Aside from its magic, it can fly and split itself into its bones to create multiple attack chances. Pterobone is destroyed by Hyde, and because of the curse backlash, all of the joints in Alshev's body are dislocated and he is sent to the emergency room.

Jurassic Panic: Any living thing or curse doll Pterobone so much as scratches begins to ossify. After a minute has passed, the targets are left as statues with images of other fossils embedded in them. The effect is undone once Pterobone is destroyed.

Asmodai

Initially presented as the unnamed magician who killed Bosh (Ana's mentor).^[18] He was later revealed as one of the Watcher's allies searching to destroy the device that can cancel out Resentment.^[22] His past is discussed in a story told to the readers by the Watcher: there were five people trapped in a collapsed tunnel on an American highway, one of them including a pregnant woman. As rescuers worked, one by one the people were killed by a series of lethal misfortunes, until not one survived. However, the fallen rock that killed the pregnant woman left the child unharmed, and it was able to be saved. The deaths were all in fact caused by the unborn Asmodai, who could hear the survivors outside the womb counting off how many survivors were left with each accident and was furious he was never included in the count. He used his magic from within the womb to curse them all to death, and later grew to be the depraved killer he is now. His only motive for aiding the Watcher is that he really wants to see Resentment destroy the world.

Ronove

A woman who serves as one of the Watcher's allies out to destroy the device that can cancel out Resentment.^[22] Her past is discussed in a story told to the readers by the Watcher: as a child, she was the sole survivor of a fire that broke out and killed all the members of a notorious cult in the southern United States. She was never taught anything about the world around her, and as such lacked the skills to express herself or communicate with others. Adopted by a kindly couple, she was still unable to express herself until she seemed to take an interest in flowers. At the suggestion of her adoptive mother, she spent day after day taking flowers to her room to raise them, but otherwise never left her room. When her adoptive mother went to check on her one day, she found out the girl's secret: she had only been taking the plants to her room to starve them off and watch them die. Appearing to take ecstasy in watching things die, she later moved on to animals, and then humans. Now as an adult, she has a lustful obsession with death and wants Resentment to activate so she can watch death on a global scale.

"Punch"

A stuffed panda in the mold of Hyde, but with primitive intelligence. He is briefly introduced during the battle between Closer and The Watcher in the Window as a man framed for spying during the early 1880s, having his family killed in front of his eyes. As he was a sorcerer, he gave life to a stuffed panda by giving his beating heart to the toy as its core as to avenge his family. Even though he (known as Jack the Ripper) successfully avenged his family, he still murders sorcerers and people for the Watcher in the

Window. During his first appearance, he has multiple tentacles that serves as hands. Each of them holds a small scissor, with six in total. He cuts wildly and shrieks, "CUT!CUT!I WANT TO CUT THINGS!" everywhere he goes. As he does so, he wrecks the whole school. He attacks Hyde with his "Murder Ride Show" curse. In the following events some scissors begin to merge into a chainsaw-scissor, and one is destroyed by two of Hyde's curse attack, released from both Closer and Hyde. After several time lapses, he and Hyde's power remain equal, but he is destroyed by Hyde's overpowering final attack. Just as he looks dead, his flying severed top third cuts Hyde into uneven thirds, then flops down dead on the smoking pavement of the building, with a last word of "CUT!".

Minor Characters

Shunpei's Mother

She appears a few times and doesn’t seem to be at all scared of Hyde moving by himself. She seems to know about Shunpei’s grandfather being a magician, and is currently un-named.

Kanna

Kanna is one of the children that Kazan takes care of. She affectionately calls him Holy Father like the rest of the children. She meet Shupei and Tatsumi when they saved her from being abducted and used as a bargaining chip against Kazan and the other children. She is later made a victim of Ebony Chance.

Marco

Marco was a young boy who was Hyde's original owner. He died in a fire saving Hyde.

Release

There have been a total of six volumes published so far in Japan, comprising the entire first part of the series and the beginning of part 2. On December 10, 2008, Part II of the series began. Part II however does not continue in Shōnen Sunday, but is able to be read online at Shōnen Sunday's website and will be published in collected volumes later.^[23] Part II also starts numbering the chapters again. Each chapter in Part I is called an Act.

In July Viz Media announced that Hyde and Closer would be published in North America in its new Shōnen Sunday magazine starting in 2010. Collected volumes would later begin publication in July 2010.^[24] In Europe, the series is licensed in France by Akata.^[25]

Reception

Corrina Lawson of Wired felt that the story was likely to be scary to young children, as toys attack the protagonists, but her sons (11 and 14) enjoyed the character of Hyde, who she described as "the teddy bear version of Nick Fury". Lawson also praised the "genuinely suspenseful" action sequences.^[26] Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth reading felt that it was interesting having a boy learn to be a man from a teddy bear, but felt sad that a younger audience who could more appreciate these themes was excluded by the older teen rating of the title.^[27] Danica Davidson, writing for Otaku USA, felt the first volume was "tightly written and clever", and found the protagonist very sympathetic.^[28] The reviewer for Manga-News describes the beginning as being typical of shonen, depicting a timid protagonist who gains confidence and the ability to protect himself, but felt there were many elements which made Hyde & Closer unique, including an effective graphical style which is dynamic, expressive, and original, and felt that the series would become more in-depth as the story progressed.^[29]

References

1. "Hyde & Closer". Viz Media. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
2. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 3". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 1. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121295-5.
3. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 4". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 1. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121295-5.
4. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 11". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 2. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
5. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 21". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 3. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
6. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 22". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 3. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
7. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 19". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 3. Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
8. Chapter 21
9. Volume Three, chapter 27: Family.
10. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 16". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 2. Shogakukan. p. 1. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
11. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 16". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 2. Shogakukan. pp. 9, 10. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
12. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 11". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 2. Shogakukan. p. 11. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
13. ASOU, Haro (2008). "Chapter 18". Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer, Volume 2. Shogakukan. p. 11. ISBN 978-4-09-121423-2.
14. Chapter nineteen: Unknown Bazaar 2
15. Chapter 19: Unknown Bazarr 2
16. Volume Three, chapter 26: Carnival 4. Page 1
17. Volume Three, chapter 26: Carnival 4. Page 3
18. Volume Three, chapter 26: Carnival 4. Page 10
19. Volume Three, chapter 24: Carnival 4. Page 7
20. Volume Three, chapter 24: Carnival 4. Page 11
21. Volume Three, chapter 25: Carnival 4. Page 6
22. Volume 6, chapter 49: Duo.
23. Shonen Sunday Official Website
24. "VIZ MEDIA PREVIEWS THREE EXCITING MANGA SERIES TO BE PUBLISHED UNDER THE NEW SHONEN SUNDAY IMPRINT AT THE 2009 COMIC-CON SHOW". Viz Media. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
25. "Hyde & Closer" (in French). Akata. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
26. Lawson, Corrina (July 21, 2010). "Comics Spotlight On: Hyde & Closer, Volume 1". Wired.
27. http://comicsworthreading.com/2010/08/02/hyde-closer-book-1/
28. http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/Manga/News1/Hyde_Closer_vol_1_4085.aspx
29. http://www.manga-news.com/index.php/manga/Hyde-Closer/vol-1#review

External links

• Official ShonenSunday.com Hyde & Closer website