POE NO ICHIZOKU
[RADIO-SERIAL]
Poe-inspired manga that later became a radio series.
WIKIPEDIA: “Pog no Ichizoku was adapted as radio drama broadcast by NHK-FM between
January 1 and January 6, 1980. It was directed by Tokio Ootani from a script by Sunao Takata,
with sound effects by Masakazu Haraquti and Akira Iwai. It starred Kouji Ishitobi as the Baron
and Haruka Kurara as the Baron’s wife.
“Manga. Poe no Ichizoku was written and illustrated by Moto Hagio and serialized by
Shogakukan in Flower Comics from March 1972 to June 1976. The individual chapters were
collected in nine tankobon volumes under the Flower Comics imprint, with the first volume
published on March 28, 1974 and the final volume on January 25, 1978. Shogakukan later re-
released the entire series in three bunkoban volumes on July 17, 1998, and then again in two
wide-ban volumes on November 26, 2007 and December 21, 2007, respectively.
“Poe no Ichizoku (lit. ‘The Poe Family’) is a Japanese shojo historical manga by Moto Hagio that
depicts a family of vampires from the 18thh to the 20tth centuries. The two main characters,
Edgar Portsnell and Allan Twilight, as well as the family are named after Edgar Allan Poe… Poe
no Ichizoku received the 1976 Shogakukan Manga Award for shonen manga… In 1974, the first
print run of the first volume (30,000 copies) sold out in one day, which permitted Hagio to
continue with more stories set in the Poe universe. It was inspired by Shotaro Ishimori’s story
‘Mist, Roses and Stars.’
“Edgar was born as an illegitimate child to Earl Evans. After the birth of Edgar’s siter, Marybell,
four years later, his step mother ordered the nurse to kill Edgar and Marybell. The nurse did not
kill them but abandoned Marybell and Edgar in the woods, expecting them to die of starvation,
where they were discovered by Hannah Poe. She took them to her mansion near the village of
Scotty. Hannah looked after the siblings. When Edgar was eleven, he got to know the secret that
Hannah and people in the mansion were Vampanellas. He was forced to promise he would turn
into a Vampanella, a member of Poe family, when he became an adult. Marybell was adopted by
Baron Art due to Edgar’s request. When he was 14 years of age, Hannah was killed by a villager
and the villagers got to know the secret of the mansion. Edgar was turned into a vampire by King
Poe, effectively forcing him to join the Poe family, before the family escaped from the villagers.
“Three years later, Earl Evans’ eldest son, Oswald, met Marybell and Edgar. Marybell attempted
to kill Edgar because he is a vampire. However, she changed her mind when Edgar kept being
nice and loving her very much. Edgar took her into the family of Poe. Edgar is adopted by a baron
and his wife, Sheila Portsnell, who is also a vampire. The Portsnells who owns the port. However,
Edgar and Marybell could not stay under the care of the baron for long because they remained 14
and 13, respectively.”