WEISS KREUZ
HISTORY

Part 1 - The Origin

The general story of Weiss Kreuz was written by Takehito Koyasu and is a product of his strange imagination. Koyasu has stated the four main characters are reflections of himself and his personalities. He can easily be seen as the father of Weiss.

In 1997, Weiss Kreuz became a reality. Takehito Koyasu founded Project Weiss, a production company, and in 1997, Weiss Kreuz premiered as a series of radio dramas. They featured the voice of Takehito Koyasu as the main character, Aya, and his voice actor friends—Tomokazu Seki, Shin-ichiro Miki, and Yuuki Hiro—as the voices of the other main characters, Ken, Youji, and Omi, respectively.

After the radio drama premiered, these four voice actors joined together to create the musical group known as Weiss. Their unique mixture of pop and rock gained increasing recognition and soon their fan base began to grow.

Koyasu then had the story put into novel, then manga (comic book) format. The first novel created was Kanemaki Ken'ichi's Forever White which included artwork by Tsuchiya Kyoko. Later, Tsuchiya Kyoko's Weiss: An Assassin and White Shaman discussed Aya's introduction into Weiss in manga form. Later, Kawara Yuuji's Weiss novel Ranjatai ~ Zankou was created.

These novels and manga cover the basic plot of the original Weiss Kreuz stories created by Takehito Koyasu. In 1998, these stories were modified and changed into a format more expectable of general Japanese animated cartoons (anime).

The Weiss Kreuz anime series, Kapitel, premiered on Japanese television on April 8, 1998, and ran for a 24-episode season until it ended on September 30, 1998. Due to content, the series was given a timeslot at eleven o’ clock at night. However, it still managed to generate a great deal of interest and gained popularity.

Weiss Kreuz became so popular that two OVAs (bonus episodes) were made entitled Verbrechen and Strafe.

The musical group of the four voice actors also continued to increase in popularity and their music sales did so well, that they held two sold out live concerts--Gluhen, and Das Ewige Dasein.

Since the end of the anime series, the popularity of Weiss Kreuz has done nothing but increase. Since the international releases of Weiss Kreuz, the fan base has grown to such a gigantic size that Weiss Kreuz fans can be found on virtually every corner of the globe.


Part 2 - Enter Gluhen

Gluhen, meaning "glowing" in German, is the second Weiss Kreuz anime series and spans thirteen episodes. Gluhen takes place after the Dramatic Precious drama CDs which take place after the original anime (Kapitel).

Gluhen was originally supposed to air in the fall of 2001, but due to complications was cancelled. The original manga artist and character designer, Tsuchiya Kyoko, filed a lawsuit again Takehito Koyasu and Project Weiss saying that she didn't want her designs used in the new anime. Well, she won much to the disappointment of not only Koyasu, but Weiss fans everywhere.

Gluhen was allowed to proceed only if the main character designs (ie: the ones Kyoko created) were changed. And so, the character designs were changed.

With new character designs and some determination, Gluhen was re-created and the thirteen episode series began airing in Japan on November 28, 2002.

Many fans hated the idea that their favorite characters looked different, however, many learned to love the new designs and accept them.

Gluhen was animated digitally, unlike Kapitel which was cel animated. The animation quality in Gluhen is a dramatic improvement from the first series.

The actual place in the timeline where Gluhen takes place is unknown, however, it does come after the Dramatic Precious dramas CDs. In these dramas, many things takes place which make it difficult to jump from watching Kapitel to watching Gluhen.

The Gluhen anime series followed the first Gluhen radio drama Fight Fire with Fire.

Weiss doesn't end with the Gluhen anime. Gluhen was followed by a second Gluhen radio drama Theatre of Pain and the new manga Side B by Shouko Oomine, which continues the story.

And so, Weiss Kreuz continues...