• General Storyline: MANGA and TV SHOW 
• Fast Info on Charas, Places & Misc. 
• Products
  

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MaNgA

Ooookay... this is the first thing that  anyone curious about the series needs to read. The manga is completely different from the TV show, although the movie is very similar to it. The main character is Hamel, a traveling musician that pays a *frickin' HUGE* violin. His music can charm or kill depending on his intentions and the historical events surrounding the piece's composition (which is explained by Hamel's companion, Oboe the crow). The whole series is riddled with musical puns, many obvious and some not so obvious to people who are uninitiated into musical theory. Hamel is based on the Pied Piper of Hamlin (y'know, the guy who used his flute/pipe to lure all the rats out of the city?) and uses his violin-playing in a similar manner (sometimes) called "Marionette Version." Other key players are Flute, the unfortunate girl who gets sucked in to traveling around with Hamel; Raiel, the "warrior of Love" who runs around with a giant gold piano on his back and also has the ability to play magic music. There is a serious storyline underlying all the stupid props and comedy, but this is supremely more evident in the TV series. I believe that the series ran for 10 years, ending not too long ago (2000-ish) at 37 issues. A warning.....this series becomes *really* intense and tear-jerking toward the middle; I only have up to issue 19, so I'm not sure what happens next. This is seriously, the best manga I've ever read. And that's reading translations off the internet while looking at the comic. Imagine if I could read Japanese!!  ^ _^
TRY TO GET THE MANGA IF IT IS AT ALL POSSIBLE!!!!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!

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TV ShOw

Everything that the manga is, the TV series isn't. The storyline is essentially the same, although shortened, but all the humor disappears from episode four on. This isn't to say that the show isn't good...it just is good in it's own way. However don't expect Escaflowne-quality animation. The still frames and "action paintings" are all over the place, making up half of the show's screentime. The character designs are as great as the manga, but the voice acting is truly the best part. At least that was done to perfection....Bass' voice is a creepy mix of the deep Mazuko voice and Lute's teenage voice, and Sizer's voice is absolutely spot-on.  There is no English dub - and I seriously doubt there ever will be - and the DVD subtitles are kinda funky. Almost all of the musical pun names are lost in the subtitle translation...it took me some imagination to figure out what each is. A list of the mistaken subtitle names is below. The show is more intense and emotional, lots of angst throughout and I hated the ending. Still, it grips your attention, especially after the fifth episode. Some of the character relations have been changed as well, such as Hamel and Flute being childhood friends and Raiel not knowing Hamel's secret. Another is Hamel's whole personality, which has been radically changed from a sexist jerk anti-hero  to a brooding tragic hero. I like both, personally; the tragic hero surfaces in the manga at times as well, and IMHO when he does, it's even more heart-wrenching than in the Anime.

• Verlon-sama: Queen Horn
• Kurali = Clarinet (Clari)
• Kita = Guitar
• Baith-sama = King Bass
• Opel = Oboe
• Veruter = Flute
• Kur = Cornet
  
• Harmel = Hamel
• Doranbon, Doran = Trombone (Trom)
• Lieut = Lute
• Liyelu = Raiel (taken from the name of  a medieval piano-type instrument. I originally thought maybe his name was taken from the Lyre, another medieval instrument)
• Seiza = Sizer (from syntheSizer.HaHa)
• Doramul = Drum
• Castra = Chestra, Kestra (from orChestra .HaHa)
• Alute = Alto
• Sferrychander = Sforzando (this is an order to 'punch' the note in orchestra)
• Sla = Slur (in music it is two notes connected together.)
• Sanzer = Senza (when playing in an orchestra w/a mute on this is the order to take off the mute)
• Dalushenew = Dal Segno (the 'segno' is "the sign", a icon that looks like a fancy S. It marks a place where you go back to at the end of a piece.)
• Marucarter = Marcato (a style of playing music with short, choppy strokes; march-like)
• Mount Phiny = Mount Fine (Fine is italian for "the end", or the end of a piece of music)
  
• Ansiem = Anthem? (I'm guessing here...nobody has really said it is anthem....I've seen it as ansem too. But if it follows the musical theme, it's Anthem)
  
• Kuruneta = Cornet (some type of horn)
• Barks = Percuss (as in Percussion)
  

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Check out these sites, which are supremely more informative than anything I can give you:
www.mazuko.com
www.symphonyvoh.org
www.geocities.com/vohkotatsu.html
http://filia.net
Arr! Here There Be Manga = the only comprehensive scanlation of VoH I've found. They have up to midway through book 6 (only 27 more books to go!!)

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>>>>>>> hOmE, pOr FaVoR........