Information

Updates:

6/06/06

An update on the day of the devil! Hm...world still seems to be intact.

This update is dedicated to Momo, as well as to all the Sono Te/Hands Off! fans crawling from the woodwork these days. Power to the people! Updates are, as usual, in green ink, and can be found in Katsumoto-sensei's profile (below), the Links page, and the Translations page. The Translation page now has chapter summaries for the entire series, including some horrible spoilers for the end--as per popular request.

The more copies of Tokyopop's Hands Off! that sell, the better the chance that the 2-volume prequel "Ore-tachi wo Tenshi to Yobuna" will be released in English. So spread the word and buy your friends a copy! (I've done this far too many times than I'd like to admit.)

General Manga Info:

"Sono Te Wo Dokero" is an 8-volume, completed manga series by the curious-but-amusing mangaka (artist/writer) Kasane Katsumoto. The original Japanese run lasted from, I believe, February 1998 to December 2000 in Kadokawa Shoten's monthly magazine Asuka, and a single Drama CD by Koei debuted in December of 1999. The English version of Sono Te, known as Hands Off!, began its release in North America in October 2004 and can be found at most manga-stocked book and comic stores.

Sono Te has two backstory manga: the single chapter known as "Act 0" in the back of Hikari no Ko Volume 4, and the two-volume series "Ore-tachi Wo Tenshi To Yobuna" (Don't Call Us Angels). Act 0 is an adorable little piece about the first time Kotarou and Tatsuki reunited at the end of junior high, and Ore-tachi is an action/drama about Udou and Kiba when they were teenagers. I'm still not sure if Ore-tachi is shounen ai or not (Udou just flirts with all of God's creatures great and small), but I'm pretty sure it's not considering how often Udou is shown getting hot and heavy with the local chicks.

The Japanese version of Sono Te provided a poor English title for the series, namely, "Off Your Hand!" (changed to the more grammatically accurate "Hands Off!" by Tokyopop). For those without sufficient Japanese language knowledge, "Sono Te Wo Dokero" translates more closely to "Move That Hand," which refers to how the main character is continuously being touched and subsequently shouts obscenities that roughly equate to "Please don't put your hands on me, I don't appreciate the gesture." And to answer your next question, no, this isn't pr0n. The "touching" going on is very non-sexual, and requires a fair amount of explanation. That's what the Story and Translations sections are for.

Manga Content

Speaking of sex, besides the actions of some of the nasty antagonists and one-shot characters, and besides some jokes/references to sex and sexuality, this manga is very, very much not about sex. It isn't shounen ai/yaoi, the playboy is quite clean, and characters (with the exception of Kotarou, who is perpetually being sexually assaulted by bad guys) keep their clothes on. Despite all this, and despite the fact that this manga is often a suspense/action story involving intrigue and violence and some rather deep angst, the manga develops several very touching love stories, the central one being between the three male leads. Yes. A platonic love story. Or, for those who think that sounds too sketchy, a friendship story. "What?" you ask. "A shoujo manga with three male leads that aren't sleeping together, a serious lack of fanservice, and the concept that you can be boys, and you can hug, and that doesn't mean you want to get jiggy?" I know. The first time I got into this manga, I couldn't believe it either.

One must just keep in mind that this manga is still not one for young/impressionable audiences, due to the fact that it's got its fair share of violence and gore, some very dark themes ("Witnessing that hanging at age five is not my fondest memory"), and the sexual themes/scenes mentioned above. But if you're looking for an exciting, intriguing manga with believable fantasy, excellent art, surprisingly good humor, fantastic storytelling, and a tendency to make your insides go mushy because it's so damn touching, Sono Te Wo Dokero is worth a look. Or a purchase. Or an obsession. Or a webpage.

Ordering

For the English version, most decently-stocked Waldenbooks should have "Hands Off!" in stock in the manga section. Borders, Suncoast (if you're lucky), comic stores, online ordering, and the shop on Tokyopop's site are all options as well. For those who need spoilers and want copies of the Japanese versions, give Sasuga Japanese Bookstore a try: go to their Search page and type "Sono Te Wo Dokero" in their ROMANJI search option, and you'll see all eight volumes and the CD available for purchase. Shipping can be exceedingly slow there, so just keep that in mind. I've heard that the Japanese version of Sono Te may be out of print right now in Japan, so if nobody can order your manga, save your tears and wait for the English release (or blow all your money on that CD!).

Mangaka and Other Works

Kasane Katsumoto's been around for at least 17 years in the manga business, and she's done the majority of her work for Kadokawa Shoten. She skips around from magazine to magazine, having contributed to Ciel, Asuka, Asuka Mystery DX, and Shoujo Teikoku (at least) during her career; for those of you who know manga magazines and know what Ciel is, yes, Katsumoto-sensei's done some shounen ai. Her work is usually about friendship/mild romance and supernatural strangeness, but most of her stories weren't as good (or as popular) as Sono Te in their day. Her post-Sono Te fantasy/horror series Hikari no Ko ("Child of Light") was decent, her slightly newer fantasy about a bishounen-plant hybrid known as Yasei no Bara ("Wild Rose") was terrible, and she eventually moved onto doing girl pr0n for the too-hot-for-Asuka sister mag "Honey" (link withheld for everyone's sake). She recently did the art for a manga (written by someone else) about a girl and her seeing-eye dog, I think. Katsumoto-sensei has now moved onto Akita Shoten, where she regularly contributes to one of their girl pr0n magazines (PG-16 content on that site!). It's a sad, sad day for platonic love. *sniff*

Kasane Katsumoto

Site (Picture/Translation Use, etc.)

This page is the result of about two years' work, between research, translation, page design (I went through about four other layouts before coming up with this one), and lots and lots of scanning. I made it because Sono Te is a manga I fell in love with as soon as I saw it in a random issue of Asuka magazine, and because Sono Te needs more press. This webpage is a lure to try and get more people to buy and fall in love with Sono Te, as well as a companion for those who already bought and fell in love with Sono Te. Please enjoy my efforts.

That said, please don't maliciously steal everything. Anyone may link to me without asking permission; see the Links page for banners and buttons. Anyone may take pictures from this site and post them on his/her own website, though a link is appreciate (share the love!). Also, all text on this website is copyright © Lianne Sentar, July 2002 and September 2005. Don't use it unless you're quoting under the fair use clause (a sentence or two may be quoted without asking permission, if memory serves).

This site is also part of Sleep is for the Weak. Visit there for my objective review of Sono Te, my profile, and all sorts of other anime/manga, gamer, comic, and other college-insanity-induced, time-wasting fare.

Enjoy.