Futari Ecchi

Futari Ecchi (ふたりエッチ, Futari Etchi?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Katsu Aki. It has been serialized in Young Animal since 1997, with the chapters later combined into tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha, of which to date there are fifty-three. The series follows a newlywed couple in their mid-twenties, both virgins when they married, and chronicles their sexual explorations. The manga combines erotic elements with factual and informative statistics. Its title Futari Ecchi ("two person ecchi") is a play on a slang term for masturbation, hitori etchi ("single person etchi"). The series has sold over 23 million copies and is most famous for being a how-to guide combined into a story.

A spin-off focusing on the sexuality of women, titled Futari Ecchi for Ladies, has been released, there are also two sex manuals and an art book. The series was adapted into a three episode live-action television drama that aired on WOWOW in 2000. A four-volume original video animation series was produced from 2002 and 2004. In 2011 a twelve-episode live-action web series was streamed on Ustream. Also in 2011, a live-action theatrical film series began, currently four films have been released.

In 2007, the manga series was licensed in North America by Tokyopop as Manga Sutra, only four volumes were released. Also in 2007, Media Blasters licensed and released the OVAs on DVD as Step Up Love Story.

Main characters

 * Makoto Onoda (小野田 真, Onoda Makoto?)
 * The series' protagonist, a 25-year-old foreign cosmetics maker and elite salaryman. He was introduced to Yura through an omiai. He is very critical of his own sexual abilities, but that does not hinder him from having sexual fantasies with any pretty girl in his vicinity (ultimately, though, he stays faithful to Yura). Nevertheless, after his marriage he attracts the attention of a lot of female admirers. In addition to his inexperience, Makoto suffers from premature ejaculation.
 * He is voiced by Mitsuo Iwata (radio drama) and Yūji Ueda (OVA), and portrayed by Sō Yamanaka (TV series), Shinnosuke Fukushima (web series), Riki Miura (1st film) and Hikaru Okada (2nd film).


 * Yura Onoda (小野田 優良, Onoda Yūra?)
 * Makoto's wife. Also 25 years old, Makoto is the first man she has ever kissed or had sex with. She is loving, but extremely naïve on sexual matters and too shy to try something new by herself (even through the series she is fully determined to overcome her limitations and be a better lover to Makoto), as well as insecure about her looks; she is unaware how beautiful and charming she is. She is also the target of attention by many men (although their behavior is – compared to the women who adore her husband – mostly passive longing). She additionally has the knack of befriending most of the women whom she should consider her rivals for Makoto's affections (Makoto's colleague Makie Sugiyama is a notable exception). Yura is also a big fan of undead-themed horror movies. When she was in high school, she was a member of the Tennis club.
 * She is voiced by Yumi Ichihara (radio drama) and Tomoko Kawakami (OVA), and portrayed by Chika Inada TV series), Nana Nanaumi (web series) and Yūri Morishita (films).

Style and theme
There are many scenes in the series that look like they are actually happening but are then revealed to be the sexual fantasies of Makoto or another character. This means there are many scenes of Makoto having sex with other characters, while in truth he only has sex with Yura.

One of the fetishes explored in the series is cosplay.

Though most of the early chapters focus on Makoto and Yura's relationship, it later deviates to other characters' love/sex lives, cover more events to teach the readers with.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Katsu Aki, Futari Ecchi has been serialized biweekly in Young Animal since January 1997. The chapters are later combined into tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha, of which to date there are fifty-three. In December 2002, a side story called Futari Ecchi for Ladies (ふたりエッチ for Ladies?) began serialization in Silky, running for twelve chapters until its conclusion in October 2004. It focused on the women in the series, the individual chapters were collected and published into two tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha. There are also two sex manuals and an art book, entitled Yura Yura.

Tokyopop licensed Futari Ecchi for an English-language release in North America under the name Manga Sutra - Futari H in 2007, with two volumes of the original Japanese release combined into a single volume. However, before the release of the first volume, which was published in January 2008, several major retailers had announced they would not carry the title due to its content. A representative of Tokyopop also said that the volumes were expensive to produce. They planned to release the first 10 Japanese tankōbon in five volumes, but only four were released, the fourth published in January 2009. Tokyopop ceased all manga publications in 2011. The manga has also received domestic releases in Germany (as Manga Love Story), France, Poland, Spain, Brazil, Italy and Taiwan, by Carlsen Comics, Pika Édition, Waneko, Mangaline Comics, Editora JBC, Dynit and Ching Win Publishing Co., Ltd respectively.

Radio drama
From January 5 to March 30, 1997 a radio drama was broadcast on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. The roughly 30 minute program aired on Tuesdays at 1:00am and was later released on two CDs, by Bandai Music, as Futari Ecchi: The CD Show (ふたりエッチ THE CD SHOW?).

Original video animation
Beginning in 2002, a four-volume Original video animation series was produced by Chaos Project. It is split into two stages; the first two episodes, released on July 16 and September 7, 2002, make up one, and the last two, released on November 27, 2003 and January 22, 2004, make up the second.

On July 2, 2007, Media Blasters announced that they had licensed the OVA series at Anime Expo. They first released it as Step Up Love Story on two DVDs, each containing two episodes, on November 27, 2007 and January 29, 2008. On December 30, 2008 it was released in a box set, which was re-released on July 10, 2012 as part of their Anime Works Classic line.

Live-action
A three-part live-action mini-series adaptation of Futari Ecchi aired on the Pay-per-view channel WOWOW in 2000. They were titled (STEP1「オトコの気持ち♂勇者になりたい」?), (STEP2「オンナの気持ち♀感じてみたい」?) and (STEP3「二人の気持ち いざハネムーン!」?) , and all directed by Gen Yamakawa.

The June 2011 issue of Young Animal Arashi announced Futari Ecchi would be receiving both a live-action film adaptation and a live-action web series.

The web series was streamed on Ustream and stars Nana Nanaumi and Shinnosuke Fukushima as Yura and Makoto with Takaso Kase as Akira Onoda and Sasa Handa as Sanae Onoda. It premiered in July 2011 and had fifteen 12-minute episodes created. The entire series was released in DVD and Blu-ray box sets on September 16, 2011, with three additional episodes and a bonus DVD with a making-of feature.

The film stars Yūri Morishita and Riki Miura as Yura and Makoto, was directed by Kazuhiro Yokoyama and written by Juri Sanemura. The first film was released on June 18, 2011 and received a DVD release on September 2. At an event for the DVD release, a sequel called Futari H: Second Kiss (ふたりエッチ セカンド♥キッス?) was announced to began filming in October. Hikaru Okada replaces Miura as Makoto in the sequel, which hit theaters on December 17, 2011.

Just like previously, a third film was announced at the second's DVD release party. The third and fourth films, titled Futari Ecchi: Triple Love (ふたりエッチ トリプル♥ラブ?) and Futari Ecchi: Love Forever (ふたりエッチ ラブ♥フォーエバー?) were both released on May 12, 2012. They were released on DVD on June 15 and August 3 respectively.