Hikari No Densetsu - Manga

Manga

The manga was serialized in Japan in the weekly publication Margaret Magazine by Shueisha, with the first installment issued on February 1986. The manga series finished in 1988 collected in 16 small volumes. The manga series would at times contain parodies of famous 80s musicians that were popular of its publishing. For example: In the eighth volume of the manga series the author makes a parody of popular 80s singer Cyndi Lauper by drawing Hikari with the same hairstyle, skirt, and posture that the singer had on the She's So Unusual album cover. Recently in 2000 the manga series was reissued in Japan, collected in 8 volumes in bound tankōbon form, with less volumes, but with more chapters inside them and larger pages. The new reissued version of the manga also featured different covers from the original. These new covers feature a mixture of photos in black and white of rhythmic gymnasts performing, and black and white drawings of Hikari. The manga series was also released in Italy by Star Comics and serialized through Starlight (a publishing branch of Star Comics). Prior to the release of the manga in Italy, a Films comic version based on the TV series was made in the 80s was released in the country, but the images and dialogue were poor and not all the stories were covered, however it was appreciated by fans. The Italian version of the manga was titled "La leggenda di Hikari" (which literally means The Legend of Hikari) and collected in 16 small volumes with slightly altered covers from the original. Edizioni Star Comics re-released the manga series in Italy starting with the first volume released on May 2003 for the price of 3,10 Euro. The manga series was finished being released in 16 volumes in August 2004. The manga has yet to be released in Germany, France, and Spain, where the TV series was also very popular.