VIOLINIST OF HAMELN

'''' is an adventure/fanstasy story created by Watanabe Michiaki. The story's basic premise is that a group of adventurers are traveling north to The Northern Capital (a.k.a Hameln) to prevent a catastrophe. In this world, music takes on a quality akin to magic and is a strong reoccurring element in the story.
The manga and the anime are radically different. The manga tends toward a lighter, more comedic tone, whereas the anime is much darker. No official English translations exist for the manga or its adaptations.
==The Manga==
"GanGan Comics" ran the manga for approximately ten years and 37 volumes were published.
The manga combines a serious story with an irreverent tone; characters frequently shift between heroic and pathetic as the situation warrants. The manga also contains a myriad of unconventional running gags, such as Hamel's repeated attempts to force other members of the party into costume.
==The Anime

Contents

The TV adaptation was twenty-five episodes long and suffered from budget constraints. A substantial portion of the story is told by panning over still images, with full animation reserved mainly for action-heavy scenes. Though it initially follows the basic outline of the manga's plot, the two stories completely diverge by the anime's conclusion. Also of note is a 30-minute animated movie, whose storyline does not intersect with the TV series. The movie was released several months before the TV series, and benefits from a substantially higher animation budget. The movie is generally faithful to the manga's humorous tone. The anime has a darker setting than the manga.

Characters

Protagonists

Antagonists

Other Characters

Notes and references

The TV adaptation was twenty-five episodes long and suffered from budget constraints. A substantial portion of the story is told by panning over still images, with full animation reserved mainly for action-heavy scenes. Though it initially follows the basic outline of the manga's plot, the two stories completely diverge by the anime's conclusion.
Also of note is a 30-minute animated movie, whose storyline does not intersect with the TV series. The movie was released several months before the TV series, and benefits from a substantially higher animation budget. The movie is generally faithful to the manga's humorous tone.
The anime has a darker setting than the manga.

The Video Game==
The game was made for SNES by Enix and is a side-scrolling platformer.

Characters

Protagonists

' Main Party '

★ 'Hamel' - The main character. A travelling hero who uses a violin- which is often mistaken for a cello- and magical music to fight his enemies (Pandora herself plays the instrument as a cello, Hamel plays it as violin). Fighting without the violin (a memento of his mother, Pandora) is a risk for him. As a half-demon he is the son of the Great Demon King Chestra, whose blood runs in his veins and tempts him to make bloodshed and violence. The proof of his connection to the Great Demon King is the horn on his head. When Hamel fully transforms he turns into a red-skinned demon with great wings and two extra horns alongside his current form. By Sizer's estimation, his power is far greater than that of Drum or even Bass.
In the anime, he grew up alongside the female lead, Flute.
In the manga, he met Flute after saving the village she lived in (Staccato). His travelling companions are often at the whims of his perverse humor. Though Hamel appears to be loud, self-centered and unruly, he is really an introvert. He shares little of himself or his true thoughts to other people, and Oboe comments many times to Flute how Hamel isn't used to having other companions. He does start opening up as the series progresses.

★ 'Oboe'- Hamel's constant guardian and companion who is a crow. He is actually a former general of Chestra's- ex-Hawk King, specifically. He is usually the sole voice of reason and advice.
His true form is a winged old strong man. His magical power was only behind Bass when he was the ex-Hawk King general. Chestra sent Oboe in search of a woman of holy blood, because only someone of holy blood could open the magical box that kept his vast demonic powers sealed. Oboe first met Pandora while injured in his crow form. She saved him, and Chestra found Oboe in the village and took Pandora as the sacred woman he was looking for.
Oboe fought Bass to save Hamel and Pandora (but Bass took Sizer with him).

★ 'Flute'- The female lead who grew up in the small mountain village of Staccato. When she was but a child, she was sent away from her place of birth to live there. She is heir to the Sforzando throne and the Queen Horn's daughter. As a result, she is capable of healing- an ability that pops up later in the storyline-, but using it shortens her lifespan.
In the anime, she loves and is childhood friends with Hamel.
In the manga, she meets Hamel when he saves her village during his travels. In compensation for what he did, he took Flute with him when the village could not pay the price he asked for in return for his services. From the start their relationship was mostly her putting up with his antics and their arguments, but eventually she does grow feelings for him. Trombone finds out about her origins, but the rest of the group (save Oboe) don't until they have reached Sforzando.

★ 'Raiel'- In both the anime and manga, he is a childhood friend of Hamel's. Like Hamel, he can use magical music- but instead with a huge, golden piano. He is also secretly incredibly perverted and is prone to huge nosebleeds upon seeing attractive women; most notably Sizer who he admires greatly and often fantasizes about. The main difference between his anime and manga self is the fact that, in the manga, he first appears as an antagonist.

★ 'Trombone'- The prince of the country of Dal Segno that was destroyed. He is the youngest main character and is an excellent swordsman. He and Hamel are often at odds with each other, though they have very similar personalities. Trombone vows to destroy the mazoku because they devastated his country and killed his parents.

★ 'Sizer'- The head of the demons' airborne Hawk Army. She is an incredibly beautiful woman with long blond hair, with wings stained red from the thousands of people she has killed. She uses a huge scythe in combat and can summon Valkyries with magical music, via her scythe that she plays like a flute. Later in the story, it is revealed that she and Hamel are actually twins. She was kidnapped by the demons as a baby so she could be manipulated into opening Pandora's box to free the imprisoned Lord Chestra. Being an angel, she possesses holy blood, and thus the ability to open the box.
Sizer grew up lonely, wanting her mother (who she bears a striking resemblance to) to love her because she was told that her mother abandoned her. She also feels guilty and grieves over the people she kills, often being depressed after a mission.
In the manga, Guitar cuts her wings off and crucifies her. She is saved by Raiel and Flute heals her fatal injuries and even restores her angelic wings, though they are now pure-white instead of blood-red. She ends up joining Hamel's group and even starts to care for Hamel as family. She also ends up being comical and is often the cause of Raiel's frequent nosebleeds.

★ 'Ocarina'- Sizer's servant who often takes the form of a bird with a scar over her right eye. However, she is actually Oboe's daughter and her true form is that of a winged woman. She dresses rather provocatively and also joins Hamel's group alongside Sizer. She possesses explosive magical powers.
' Sforzando '

★ 'Queen Horn'- The Queen of Sforzando and Flute's true mother. In the manga she tends to be a bit too motherly, much to Flute's great embarressment. In the anime her personality is the complete opposite- she doesn't appear to show maternal affection for Flute at all. The only similarity between the two versions of Queen Horn is her loyalty to her country, and will to protect it.

★ 'Clarinet'- A biseinin man with long, golden hair who is the High Priest and Commander of the Magic Corps. He is often called Clari. Having lost his parents as a child in the great war 15 years ago, Queen Horn raised him like a son. He is an extremely powerful sorcerer and a skilled tactician.

★ 'Percus'- One of Queen Horn's assistants. He's an old man who is not very trusting of Hamel and is a very skilled magician.

★ 'Cornet'- Clari's younger sister. In the manga she has a huge crush on Hamel and tries anything and everything to get Flute out of her way as a romantic rival. She is also spoiled rotten by Clari (who calls her Corurin), which Flute believes is the reason for her warped personality. Nonetheless, she is a skilled fighter who can use both magic and wields a giant cross as a weapon. Later in the manga, she accidentally turned herself into a mazoku due to wanting to get rid of Flute but later is purified and her personality completely reset to not have her hate against Flute anymore (though she is able to turn into her demon self in combat). This sub-plot becomes a lengthy running gag. Her age is a minor source of contention: she introduces herself as being 13 years old, yet she and Clari are said to have been orphaned 15 years ago. Considering that the flashback chapters of the great war only explicitly show the death of Clari's father, it's possible to assume that Cornet is a half-sister by their mother.
In the anime, Cornet is a much calmer and more serious character, and has a more stern relationship with her older brother. She is also 15 rather than 13; the age discrepancy from the manga does not exist, as she was seen to be an infant in Clari's arms at the time of their parents' death.

★ 'Lute'- Flute's older brother. He defended Sforzando in the great war against the mazoku 15 years previously. He was Clarinet's mentor, and declared the child his successor as the future High Priest. However, in a battle against Hell King Bass in the great war, Lute became both physically and mentally enslaved by the demon warlord, who now possesses him.

Antagonists

★ 'Hell King Bass'- The head general of the demon armies. All that remains of him is his head, but he has possessed the body of Flute's brother Lute. He is extremely cold-blooded and doesn't think twice about killing failures and traitors.

★ 'Dragon King Drum'- The head of the Dragon Army who is a huge, humanoid dragon with two heads. He's incredibly strong, but not very intelligent. He also has a large number of dragons in his body that can replace his arms and attack. His true form is that of a gigantic hydra. He is killed by Guitar while he is wounded.

★ 'Warrior King Guitar'- The 4th general of Hameln is a centaurian dog creature: his upper half is an anthropomorphic dog, and his lower half is a hooved greyhound (which awkwardly has its own head at the front of the upper half's torso). He's renowned for his sword skill and uses innumerable swords during combat (he has a very large collection). His other ability is the ability to absorb his enemies' power (and sometimes physical traits) by drinking their blood.

★ 'Orgel'- (Hell's Clown) Orgel is quite ruthless and possesses a twisted sense of humor. His appearance is that of a masked jester with a very exaggerated costume. He is one of Bass' special servants in the Undead Army. His specialty is his incredible cunning and mastery of powerful illusions. He also carries a harp that looks like an ornate scythe, and he can play magical music to animate corpses and summon the deceased souls of those who carry grudges. Because he relies on indirect attacks and manipulation, Orgel prefers to refrain from direct combat. However, Orgel's body is unkillable, because he himself is actually a mask. A manga-only character.

★ 'Vocal'- A wild, arrogant demon who rebelled against Chestra's authority. He was imprisoned for five-hundred years due to his actions, but is later released so he can provoke Hamel to awaken Chestra. Vocal is psychotic, unpredicable, murderous, extremely powerful, sado-masochistic, sexual, and nearly uncontrollable. His physical strength, durability and constitution are enormous. He also has the power to drain the life force of others to replenish his own. He is kept under control solely by the huge magical metal ball chained to a manacle around his left wrist. The ball is marked with the kanji meaning "seal"; when Bass activates it, its weight suddenly becomes so great that Vocal is forced to the ground, unable to move. He refers to himself as a "super star", though he is known among other mazoku as the legendary "sinner". A manga-only character.

★ 'Pick' - A minor character, Pick was once the 3rd warlord of Hameln and commander of the Fiend Army. He carried the title of "Lord Judge of Hameln". Wearing a baroque-style frock coat, sporting two huge horns on his head (almost as tall as he is), and carrying a black book of death, he is quite reminiscent of an old world view of Satan. He wears epaulets on his shoulders that are speaking faces: one is Prosecution, and the other Defense. He "holds trial" with them on human souls and captures them within his book. He was killed by Lute in the great war 15 years ago. A manga-only character.

★ 'Demon King Chestra'- Hamel and Sizer's father who is the king of the demons. His soul (and demonic power) had been sealed long ago within Pandora's Box, and for a time was condemned to walk the earth as a human. The box could only be opened by someone of holy bloodline. He found Pandora after shadowing Oboe. He posed as a kind-hearted traveller to her, and succeeded in winning her heart. Eventually he manipulated her into opening the box, and he was able to regain his true demonic self. His freedom was short-lived, however - while Oboe held him at bay, Pandora regained the box and resealed Chestra inside, this time physically. The demons currently seek to regain the box and free their Lord.

Other Characters

★ 'Pandora'- The woman who opened a box that released misery into the world. As a result, the box was named "Pandora's Box". She was a kind and caring woman who loved her children, Hamel and Sizer. In fact, it was for them she opened the box, as they were being held hostage and she had no other choice. She was looked down upon by other people, often called a 'witch' because she refused to abandon her half-demon son. How she and her son were treated caused her to become very suspicious, even paranoid of other people's intentions. Despite this, she still preaches to her son that he should love humanity and never hate humans.
Even though she says that to her son, she does the opposite of what she is saying, such as trying to burn down a house when they beat her up, stealing Raiel's stuff, beating up Raiel thinking that he is just saying he is Hamel's friend, but just using him. Her paranoid-psychotic personality became imprinted onto her son.
Her efforts to defend the village she and Hamel lived in were ultimately betrayed by the villagers themselves. They gave her to Bass in an attempt to bargain for their lives. Bass imprisoned her inside a magical crystal.

★ 'Vi Olin' (Introduced in Movement 26) - The inventor who made Hamel's giant violin, and the creator of Pandora's box. About a thousand years ago, he was ordered by a goddess to construct a box that could seal alway all demons. He was originally a beautiful angel, but the task cost him so much of his life force that he degenerated into an ugly, old, immortal human with a raging homosexual libido. Stealer of Hamel's first and second kiss. Disturbingly enough, he is also Pandora's father, making him Hamel and Sizer's grandfather. Manga-only character.

Notes and references