Natsuki Crisis

Natsuki Crisis
Genre	Slice of life comedy martial arts
Voices of	Mutsuko Ueda Asuka
Country of origin	Gylias
Original language(s)	Miranian English French various
No. of episodes	20
Production company(s)	Zetau Studio Gylian National Film Institute
Release
Original network	GTV4
Original release	30 April 1984 – 29 December 1995

Natsuki Crisis is a Gylian animated series which aired on GTV4 in 1984–1995. Produced by Zetau Studio and the Gylian National Film Institute, it is a comedic slice of life series about two friends practicing martial arts.

Plot

The story revolves around Natsuki Kisumi and Rina Takaoka, two Miranian Gylian polytechnic students who are passionate about sports. Natsuki is a karateka, and Rina is a rezliste. The series follows their daily lives as school students and martial arts practitioners.

Characters

The protagonists, Natsuki Kisumi and Rina Takaoka

Natsuki Kisumi

Voiced by: Mutsuko Ueda

Natsuki is a polytechnic student and a karateka. Beautiful, cheerful, and charming, she is one of the most popular students in her class, and the best karateka of the polytechnic sports club. She befriends Rina after she transfers to the polytechnic, and the two become inseparable friends.

Rina Takaoka

Voiced by: Asuka

Rina transfers to the polytechnic in the first episode, and becomes inseparable friends with Natsuki. Rina is a rezliste, gifted despite her diminutive size, and she considers Remi Ďana her idol. She has a mischievous sense of humour, but a well-meaning personality, which Natsuki understands best.

Production

Natsuki Crisis originated from an unsuccessful Zetau Studio project, which was taken over by a team and retooled into a martial arts-focused series. The title was a sarcastic reference to the wretched decade, as one of the writers explained: "Every time you followed the news, it was crisis this, crisis that…economic crisis, political crisis, war crisis…One of us must've said at some point 'What's next, a Natsuki crisis?', and when we needed a title, that's what we went with."

The series was produced by Zetau Studio and the Gylian National Film Institute between 1984 and 1995. It uses an anime style, and some of the "special effects" used during martial arts scenes humorously reference Dragon Ball, which the team were fans of.

As an in-joke, the character designers drew Natsuki and Rina wearing outfits that resembled Asuka's during production, and this was kept in. In further acknowledgement of the similarity, the studio hired Asuka herself to voice Rina.

Reception

Natsuki Crisis was a critical and commercial success upon airing. The dynamic between Natsuki and Rina and stylised martial arts sequences earned particular praise from reviewers. The series' popularity is credited with increasing the popularity of martial arts in Gylias.

The series was uploaded to Proton TV at the end of its run, and was subsequently released on Laserdisc and DVD.

A video game based on the series was released for the Ion CD in 1995.