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The only familiarity I have with Cipher is the OVA, which I know follows the manga's love of America so much that there isn't any Japanese in it whatsoever; the entire OVA is voiced in English, even though it never left Japan. That is dedication right there.

This series was so much better than I thought it would be. I loved the themes it dealt with. I just loved the story in general. The '80s stuff is definitely fun. I am sad to know there is a sequel I can't read.

There actually isn't a link anywhere in this article to the ANN Encyclopedia entry for Cipher. Shouldn't there be?

Yeah, the 80s-ness of Cipher can be weird. Not half as weird as the 80s-ness of the OVA, if you thought the manga went out of its way, the OVA spends every second on 80s pop culture to the point where even if you read the manga, you still have no clue what's supposed to be going on. It's an OVA that's like 80s America porn or something, it's bizarre, and to Americans, particularly hilarious as it bursts into Footloose out of nowhere. I personally think it's one of the best "so bad it's good" OVAs out there, I'm almost shocked it wasn't snatched up by the terrible OVA snatchers of the 90s and ported without any dub over whatsover to make a quick buck.

That's strange, I feel like I don't remember Cipher being that slow, or maybe it just didn't bother me. I must've forgotten about the drug dealer going "he's quitting? good for him!" though it does ring a bell. It's like the exact opposite of Banana Fish's 1980s America with gang violence, shootings, child rape, and abductions. Maybe Cipher was so 80s though that I simply dismissed it as a ridiculous element, I think that helps. I didn't notice the NYC skylines all over the place (I do remember going "what the hell is up with this woman and her 80s obsession?" on the quarter columns though), but I did notice all the small moments. I rather wish the second half had been longer overall, I think it was a better read, there were more characters, more things going on, but I don't mind the first half, I see its point too, I just wish it had a few more volumes for the second half. I oh so wish Alexandrite had come over. I don't think any CMX series did really well from what I heard though.

Oh but one thing I do remember annoying me was the freakin' vertical typesetting they used in the first two volumes. I think that opening Cain and Abel thing, I totally skipped it because the entire thing was written top to bottom. Who the hell does that for anything other than one word bubbles or interjections?

Hmm...Not a big fan of the '80s, but this sounds interesting. Guess I should give it a shot! Smile

As someone who grew up during the 1980's,this is pretty interesting. As a lot of people on this website know,I'm fascinated by the portrayals of America and Americans in anime and manga. I read this manga a few times. It wasn't that bad. This thing was realistic and it didn't trash America like other manga did.
It's one of the more positive portrayals of this country in manga and to me,that's commendable. I read in "The Anime Encyclopedia" that Minako Narita had created a sort of fantasy America in it's entry on "Cipher." This looked more like a down-to-earth version than some of the wilder portrayals I've seen in other manga. I hope someone brings over "Alexandrite" one of these days. I seen only a little of the OVA version of this. Why this hasn't been brought here is a mystery to me.

All in all,I didn't have too much trouble with "Cipher." I didn't have a lot of trouble with it and while it was a little plodding,it was at least understandable to me. Personally,I'd love to see an America in manga in which a Japanese girl and an American boy team up to fight a demon invasion of this country. And the demons look like stuff from other countries since America has people from other countries living here,including Japan.
I hope Ms. Narita does another manga set in America. I'd love to see it. Heck,I based a character on her for one of my stories,although the fictional version of her had an America where anything could happen and quite usually did. Ms. Narita went the realism route and scored big time with me and quite a few others as well.

I've been waiting for the opportunity to drive down to the comic shop I purchase manga from to get this one along with Moon Child. I have a decent sized section of my manga bookshelf dedicated to CMX's old shoujo manga titles. Cool

Cipher is the best slice of life manga ever written. It is so good. It's actually very realistic and true to America in the 80s. I lived it so I know. One of my favorite manga.

And PG? Cipher deals with some heavy stuff including first time sexual experience, drugs, alcohol and racism. I'd say PG-13 at least!

And using the word "boring" to describe Cipher is... just so wrong. Yeah, it's not something you want to read if you're looking for action and blood. There's so much of that already. We need more everyday "brushing your teeth or changing your tampon" scenes in manga. Cipher does it so well. Smile

I will forever love CMX for translating it. RIP CMX. More people need to read this manga.

I've only managed to get my hands on the first three volumes (which is the farthest into the series i have read), but i'm glad someone else thinks it was on the boring side, as i thought there was something wrong with me when i would get really sleepy towards the last pages of each book.
And yes... the 80's stuff was what drew me in, along with the retro shoujo art style, but its not something that i plan on finishing (especially now that it is a littttttle hard to find being out of print). If i'm going to continue tracking down old CMX volumes, its going to be for Swan.

In my opinion, Narita Minako had already jumped the shark when she started this series. I think her preceding work, Alien Street, was much more popular and it's also set in America, Los Angeles. When this series was serialized, LaLa (the magazine Cipher was serialized in) and Shoujo manga in general was taking a major turn to the direction where lead characters of the manga or POV are pretty boys and, not a girl or vicarious male character for the reader....

I'm a big fan of older shojo, so when I knew I was going to be spending a couple of weeks in Manhattan last summer (after a several decades lapse in visiting the city) I decided to read and reread and watch all the novels and manga and movies and anime and games I have that are set in NYC*. I also hunted down all the volumes of Cipher and was very happy I took the trouble. It's the kind of story I like, and the backgrounds are just unbelievable by today's standards. You can't just zip through reading the words in manga like this, you have to slowly ingest the art, too.

* And wow are there a lot of them! And wow isn't NYC a weird place between Red Garden (anime) and Parasite Eve (PS game)! When my daughter told me she wanted to spend a day at the Museum of Natural History, I showed her the intro to Parasite Eve. The real thing was almost as bad now, with hordes of screaming people wandering around taking photos of everything with their phones and tablets. I wished I had some of Eve's powers.

In response to momonae,I'd also heard of "Alien Street." I read about it in "The Anime Encyclopedia." As of this date,no one's brought it over here. I don't know a whole lot about it. I hope someone finds out more about it. I'd like to learn more about this manga.

Graceful Nanami wrote:

And PG? Cipher deals with some heavy stuff including first time sexual experience, drugs, alcohol and racism. I'd say PG-13 at least!

True, but they don't *show* anything bad! (Except a few track marks on someone's arm.) There's no sex, nudity, onscreen violence, or even swearing. Definitely PG (at least a 1980s PG Wink

).

Last edited by Snomaster1 on Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

I've read a little bit about "Cipher." It seems to have a pleasant view of America while "Banana Fish" doesn't really seem to. I'd rather go with "Cipher" than "Banana Fish" anyway. I'd also love to see some more bizarre America like "Chrono Crusade,"you know,demon fighting in contemporary America. I also hope there's a harem comedy or a magical girl manga set in America someday,too. I'd be interested in seeing it.

Cipher is so nostalgic to me. I wish it hadn't have been near impossible where I lived to actually get a hold of CMX books. The store I bought from years ago couldn't even get its orders fulfilled, even if they placed it well before a new volume came out for some reason. No one else even tried or had any CMX books on their shelves. I ended up just giving up. I've seen used copies online but, I'm still sort of hesitant. It's a pity since the older titles are what I want to wave around at people saying "This is what manga is". But I'm seriously biased for what was being put out in the 70s and 80s for girls' comics.

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