Crow (クロウ, Kurou) is a manga and anime series written and illustrated by Eiji Niizuma. It is a very popular fantasy battle manga, usually ranking highly in the Jump ratings. Crow ended in Chapter 140 of Bakuman. Unlike most manga, it ended at the will of the author even though it scored 1st on the charts during the period when it ended, making a great impression over its fans. Its last chapter also scored 1st.
Characters[]
Protagonist[]
The main protagonist
The main protagonist of the series, Crow, appears to have a pet crow on his shoulder. He wields a large, curved blade that takes the shape of a crow's feather. He has a black and white striped wristband on his left arm. He has crow gloves on both hands and sharp talons. He wears headgear with goggles on it. His hair is red
His shirt is also a feather. He also has some unknown supernatural power. Crow is a normal boy who has the power to turn into Crow. Crow also appears to have some unknown ability with his eyes.
Other characters[]
The 3 main characters in Crow
- A young blonde girl who has wings (which allows her to fly), wears goggles and is always seen eating a lollipop. She is one of Crow's allies, probably being a partner or even a sidekick to him.
- A guy with bird like features who was shown in the anime opening.
Crows opponent
- A character whom Crow fought in the 24th issue of Jump. This character bears a slight resemblance to Rem from Death Note.
- An extremely attractive woman with large breasts and long white hair. She is dressed in a dark, skin-tight suit which has a mask (to hide her identity) and cat features, such as cat ears, claws and a tail.
- An unknown person inside a white armor; there are many of them.
- Crow Lady is a character mentioned in chapter 76. She is voiced by Natara Kanra.
- A person in a striped shirt, apparently captured.
Three other characters
Serialization[]
Originally when Eiji got serialized, it was for his manga Yellow Hit but when editor Yujiro came to collect the first chapter, Eiji submitted Crow in its place because he felt more interested in that series.
Textless Chapter[]
The chapter that appeared in the 24th issue of Shonen Jump, with no text and Eiji told the story through pictures. He redid this chapter immediately after seeing chapter 8 of PCP when Mashiro Moritaka changed his drawing style. According to Mashiro he did this to show Mashiro, even if it meant slipping in the ratings a little.
Crossover with +Natural[]
The series protagonist made a crossover in another series +Natural, for which Eiji draws the art.
Crow on the right, along with Detective Trap
Known Arcs[]
Sky Prison Arc[]
In the most recent chapter the manga says "The climax of the Sky Prison Arc". It appears that Crow was captured as it says "Breaking out of the Island Prison."
Final Battle Arc[]
The series' characters all gather together to fight a final opponent. This manages to hold Crow at the top of the manga rankings for twenty-one consecutive weeks.
Anime[]
The anime opening was shown in Deraman (New Year special edition 2013)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Eiji came up with the design for Crow while he was in elementary school. The character back then was less human looking and the clothes were very different, but some elements remain: goggles, hairstyle.
- Eiji holds Crow feathers often and has them around his desk.
- Crow came 2nd in the first and second Manga popularity poll with 1435 votes and 1354 votes respectively.
- Crow could be based on Cooro from the manga +Anima. They both have crow-like features and goggles on their heads, as well as very similar names. The series in which Cooro appears, +Anima, also resembles +Natural in the style of its title.
- There is a book from Bakuman merchandise that has Crow on the cover and apparently there is a hint of the main character's name in the cover which is Musashi Karasu. Musashi is the name of a legendary samurai thought to be the stongest ever and Karasu (カラス) means "crow". The book is in tankobon format but it's just a notebook.