Japanese manga series by Hisashi Eguchi
 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hisashi Eguchi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from October 1981 to November 1983, and the chapters were published in four volumes. The series was adapted into a 35-episode anime television series by Toei Animation that aired on Fuji Television from May 1983 to January 1984. The story focuses on Kōsaku Sakamoto, a high school student who goes to live with yakuza boss Ibari Ōzora and his four children—Tsugumi, Tsubame, Hibari and Suzume—after the death of his mother. Kōsaku is shocked to learn that Hibari, who looks and behaves as a girl, was assigned male at birth.
Eguchi wanted to create a romantic comedy manga where the main female character is a cross-dressing boy so as to poke fun at the genre. He took more time to draw the chapters compared to his earlier manga, and as the serialization continued, he found it increasingly difficult to keep up a weekly pace for the chapters. He eventually abandoned the series after the editor-in-chief of "Weekly Shōnen Jump" refused his request to release the chapters every other week. From July 2009 to February 2010, Shogakukan published a three-volume "Stop!! Hibari-kun! Complete Edition" omnibus collection, which features various revisions to the originally published chapters in addition to newly drawn cover art.
"Stop!! Hibari-kun!" has been described as achieving a dizzying reality with Hibari by contrasting a girlish exterior with a male interior. The series has been praised for its overall light and pop literary style, and the delicate touch in how Hibari is drawn has been described as so attractive that it makes the reader forget that it is a gag manga. However, the jokes surrounding the yakuza characters have been criticized as extreme and no longer humorous in modern times. The series has also been described as having had a hand in paving the way for the J-pop phenomenon.
Plot.
"Stop!! Hibari-kun!" follows Kōsaku Sakamoto, a high school student whose mother tells him on her deathbed to live with her friend and yakuza boss Ibari Ōzora and his family in Tokyo after she dies. Although Kōsaku is initially unsure about his situation, he is relieved when he meets Ibari's four children: Tsugumi, Tsubame, Hibari and Suzume. Kōsaku is attracted to Hibari from the start, but he is shocked to learn that Hibari, who looks and behaves as a girl, was assigned male at birth—something only known within the Ōzora Group and Hibari's family. A group of four girls led by Kaori Hanazono begin to suspect that Hibari may be transgender, but Tsubame takes Hibari's place during a health checkup, effectively quelling any suspicions. Hibari begins to show an immediate interest in Kōsaku, so in an effort to distance himself from Hibari, Kōsaku joins the Wakaba Academy boxing club. Also in the club is Makoto Shiina, who is attracted to Hibari, and Rie Kawai, the club manager who Kōsaku likes. Hibari soon joins the club as its second manager shortly before they go on a training camp in Kujūkuri at the end of the year.
At the start of the new school year, Hibari is scouted to join the girls' volleyball team after the captain, Jun Ōtori, witnesses Hibari's athletic prowess. Although Hibari refuses, Jun continues to pursue Hibari until Jun is overwhelmed by Hibari's superhuman ability to spike the ball. After Kaori and her friends try to embarrass Hibari during swim class, they once again suspect that Hibari may be a guy, but Hibari prevents them from getting any proof during the school sponsored summer camp. After Hibari refuses several advances from a popular guy at school named Takuto Honda, Hibari starts openly flirting with Kōsaku at school. Shiina becomes enraged at Kōsaku for earning Hibari's affection, but Shiina and Kōsaku grow closer as friends after they fight it out and Kōsaku reassures him that there is nothing going on between him and Hibari.
When Kōsaku is out jogging one day, he helps out a girl named Sayuri Kōenji who was being harassed by three guys from the Kokuryū High School boxing club, although Hibari deals with them before Kōsaku can do anything. Despite this, Sayuri is instantly enamored by Kōsaku and hires a detective to find out more about him, leading her to discover Hibari's secret. Hibari has another run-in with the Kokuryū boxing club members after they harass Tsubame at a festival. The Kokuryū boxing club challenges the Wakaba boxing club to some inter-school matches, but this turns out to be a ruse to get a chance to gang up on Hibari. However, the Ōzora Group intercedes, allowing Hibari to knock out the Kokuryū boxing club's leader. Sayuri transfers into Kōsaku's class, and she blackmails him into going on a date with her in exchange for not revealing Hibari's secret. During the school festival, Kōsaku's class acts out a "Sleeping Beauty" play with Kōsaku as the prince and Hibari as the princess, culminating in Hibari giving Kōsaku a French kiss on stage. Ibari agrees to look after Gekijirō Taiga, the son of one of his close friends, who Kōsaku is surprised to learn is a trans man.
Media.
Manga.
"Stop!! Hibari-kun!" is written and illustrated by Hisashi Eguchi. Following the conclusion of his manga in 1981, Eguchi wanted to go against the notion at the time that there was currently a golden age of romantic comedy manga in manga magazines. In response, Eguchi thought of creating a romantic comedy manga where the main female character is a cross-dressing boy, and in doing so, poke fun at the genre by developing it as the antithesis of a romantic comedy. Eguchi drew up the storyboard for the first chapter in about 30 minutes in a cafe, and came up with the title "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" as a reference to Hisashi Sekiya's manga . In wanting to highlight the comedy of having a character like Hibari, Eguchi realized that the cuter he could draw Hibari, the more effective the jokes would be, so he tried to draw Hibari as cute as he could.
Eguchi had often rushed when drawing his earlier manga , but starting with "Stop!! Hibari-kun!", he raised the standards he held for his art and began taking more time to draw the chapters. In addition, Eguchi was very particular about the appearance of his manuscripts, so he never used white-out to correct any drawing errors because he disliked how it looked. As the serialization continued, Eguchi found it increasingly difficult to keep up a weekly pace for the chapters, leading him to take frequent hiatuses and later say that "drawing weekly isn't something humans can do." Furthermore, the editor-in-chief of "Weekly Shōnen Jump" at the time, Shigeo Nishimura, refused his request to release the chapters every other week. When it came time to draw what would end up being the last serialized chapter, Eguchi completed the chapter's storyboard, but ultimately submitted only about two-thirds of the chapter, leaving out the last five pages. After he submitted the chapter's manuscript, Eguchi fled to a hotel and secluded himself for a day, only coming out after Nishimura called him to say that he could not deal with him anymore on a weekly basis. As a result, Eguchi abandoned the serialization and the editorial department decided to discontinue the series.
"Stop!! Hibari-kun!" was serialized in the manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from the October 19, 1981, issue to the November 28, 1983, issue. The individual chapters were collected and published in four "tankōbon" volumes by Shueisha from November 1982 to January 1984. Inspired by Katsuhiro Otomo, Eguchi fought against the established design format for the volumes that at the time was "set in stone" for series serialized in "Weekly Shōnen Jump". Futabasha later published it in three volumes in July 1991, and again in two volumes in February 1995. Shueisha republished it in four volumes from May to June 2001. Home-sha published it in two volumes in January 2004. In an interview in 2007, Eguchi expressed a desire to continue some of his older series, but stated that a continuation of "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" would be difficult.
Starting in 2009, Eguchi began working with Shogakukan on releasing a "Stop!! Hibari-kun! Complete Edition" omnibus collection, which features various revisions to the originally published chapters in addition to newly drawn cover art. Not wanting to end the "Complete Edition" with an abrupt conclusion like he had done before, Eguchi found the storyboard for the final chapter and used it as a basis to newly draw the last five pages he had omitted 27 years earlier. Shogakukan published the "Complete Edition" in three volumes from July 2009 to February 2010; Shogakukan later republished the series in another three volumes from May to July 2012. In 2010, Eguchi did not rule out the possibility of someday drawing a continuation of the series, but he said it probably would not be a story under the title "Stop!! Hibari-kun!".
The series was formerly digitally available in English by NTT Solmare since 2010. In August 2024, Peow2 announced that it had licensed the series and the first volume is set to be released in Q4 2025.
Anime.
A 35-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Toei Animation and directed by Takashi Hisaoka. It aired from May 20, 1983, to January 27, 1984, on Fuji Television. The screenplay was written by: Shigeru Yanagawa, Tokio Tsuchiya, Hiroshi Toda, Tomomi Tsutsui, Takeshi Shudo and Yumi Asano. The character design used in the anime was provided by Yoshinori Kanemori, and the music was composed by Kōji Nishimura. The series was later released by Universal J to two DVD compilation volumes from February to March 2003. A DVD box set was released by TC Entertainment in September 2014. The opening theme is sung by Yuki Yukino and the ending theme is sung by Ai Hoshino.
Reception and legacy.
Psychologist Tamaki Saitō described "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" as achieving a "dizzying reality" with Hibari "by contrasting a girlish exterior with a male interior", and went on to say that the series could be seen as a "continuation of the sartorial perversion lineage" of cross-dressing characters. Manga critic Haruyuki Nakano has called "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" a unique and outstanding gag manga for its juxtaposition of Hibari being a boy and the heir to a yakuza organization. Nakano largely attributes this successful combination to Eguchi's ability to draw girls that are not only cute, but also have good taste and sex appeal. The delicate touch in how Hibari is drawn has been described as so attractive that it makes the reader forget that it is a gag manga.
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That was back when I was in elementary school and just when I was starting to fuss over fashion. I used to drag my mom around for hours to just buy one T-shirt, but instead of getting fashion tips from the TV or from magazines, I got it from "Hibari-kun".
 —Yuki
In writing for the magazine "Cyzo", manga critic Jyamao wrote that because of its overall light and pop literary style, none of the indecency or immorality cross-dressing may engender comes through, which he surmises is why the anime was able to air during prime time. Jyamao notes the more extreme nature of the jokes surrounding the yakuza characters in comparison to the jokes involving cross-dressing, and that some jokes such as those involving drugs would not be humorous today. Manga commentator Nobunaga Minami lauded Eguchi for being a pioneer in drawing characters with a high fashion sense in "Stop!! Hibari-kun!", which he says effectively changed fashion in manga from being seen as a "symbol" to now being treated as an "accessory". Eguchi's attention to detail is also praised, such as drawing Kōsaku wearing Chuck Taylor All-Stars in one chapter.
The series has been described as "effervescent," and as helping pave the way for the J-pop phenomenon. When "Tegami Bachi" author Hiroyuki Asada read "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" in junior high school, he admired its novel sensibility, and Eguchi's art also influenced him. According to Eguchi, some people who read "Stop!! Hibari-kun!" were influenced to start cross-dressing.
Notes.
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References.
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