Cipher (manga)

Cipher is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Minako Narita.^[1] It was serialized in Hakusensha's LaLa magazine from the February 1985 issue^[2] to the December 1990 issue,^[3] and was collected in Japan in twelve tankōbon volumes and seven bunkoban volumes.^[4]

Cipher
The first volume of Cipher released by Hakusensha.
Manga
Written by	Minako Narita
Published by	Hakusensha
English publisher	CMX
Imprint	Hana to Yume Comics
Magazine	LaLa
Original run	December 24, 1984 – October 24, 1990
Volumes	12
Original video animation
Directed by	Tsuneo Tominaga
Produced by	Isamu Senda Tetsu Dezaki
Written by	Machiko Kondō Yūko Sakurai
Studio	Magic Bus
Released	March 3, 1989
Runtime	40 minutes

A sequel manga series titled Alexandrite was published in LaLa from 1991 to 1994, and compiled in Japan in seven tankōbon volumes and four bunkoban volumes.^[5]

Cipher was also adapted into a promotional English-language OVA titled Cipher the Video in 1989, with Narita's input and involvement.^[6]

Plot

The story of Cipher is set in mid-1980s America, mainly New York City. It concerns the lives of former child stars twins Shiva (Jake Lang) and Cipher (Roy Lang), who mysteriously began to trade places until the two became synonymous with each other. Anise Murphy is a classmate of Shiva's, and shortly after becoming acquainted with him ends up entangled in a bet to see if she can tell the two apart after living at their apartment for two weeks.

Characters

• Anise Murphy
• Jake Lang (Shiva)
• Roy Lang (Cipher)
• Rob
• Jessica
• Ruth
• Alex Levine
• Haru (Hal) Takeshita
• Jean Lang

OVA cast

The voice acting for the OVA was done entirely in English, without a Japanese version. Most of the cast consisted of bilingual Japanese actors and a few native English speakers in Japan.

Cast

Character	Actor
Jake "Shiva" Lang	Jay Kabira
Roy "Cipher" Lang	Jay Kabira
Elly	Elly Narita
Eric Laurence	Mark Helgesen
Fred Williams	Eugene Nomura
Isabelle Jones	Jennifer Watt
Radio announcer	Mark Helgesen
Radio DJ	Yuko Yunokawa
Female commercial narrator	Yuko Yunokawa
Male commercial narrator	Mark Helgesen
Gingerman	Lisa Patrick
TV narrator	Hidekazu Nakamura
TV announcer	Derek Siler
Interviewer 1	Yuko Yunokawa
Teammates	Derek Siler Hidekazu Nakamura
Girl	Jennifer Watt
Man 1	Derek Siler
Old woman	Yuko Yunokawa
Man 2	Eugene Nomura
Young girl	Lisa Patrick
Interviewer 2	Yoko Narahashi
Yoko of Mescaline Drive	Yoko Utsumi

Media

Manga

Cipher is written and illustrated by Minako Narita. It was serialized in the monthly magazine LaLa from December 24, 1984, to October 24, 1990. The chapters were later released in 12 bound volumes by Hakusensha under the Hana to Yume Comics imprint.

CMX licensed the series in North America in 2005.^[7] It went out of print when DC Comics shut down the CMX imprint in 2010.^[8]

Tankōbon editions

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	July 25, 1985	978-4-592-11821-3	October 1, 2005	978-1-401-20802-8
2	December 25, 1985	978-4-592-11822-0	February 1, 2006	978-1-401-20803-5
3	July 25, 1986	978-4-592-11823-7	April 1, 2006	978-1-401-20804-2
4	November 25, 1986	978-4-592-11824-4	July 6, 2006	978-1-401-20805-9
5	April 25, 1987	978-4-592-11825-1	October 4, 2006	978-1-401-20806-6
6	November 25, 1987	978-4-592-11826-8	January 3, 2007	978-1-401-20807-3
7	April 25, 1988	978-4-592-11827-5	April 7, 2007	978-1-401-20808-0
8	November 25, 1988	978-4-592-11828-2	July 4, 2007	978-1-401-20809-7
9	May 25, 1989	978-4-592-11829-9	October 10, 2007	978-1-401-20810-3
10	November 25, 1989	978-4-592-11830-5	January 16, 2008	978-1-401-20811-0
11	June 25, 1990	978-4-592-12141-1	April 22, 2008	978-1-401-20812-7
12	December 25, 1990	978-4-592-12142-8	July 1, 2008	978-1-401-20813-4