The Law of Ueki is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated by Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 2001 to October 2004. Sixteen tankōbon volumes were compiled and published by Shogakukan. A manga sequel, The Law of Ueki Plus was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 2005 to July 2007. An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Deen was first broadcast on TV Tokyo in April 2005, and ended with 51 episodes in March 2006. The manga was licensed for distribution in North America by Viz Media, while the anime adaptation was licensed by Geneon and later by Discotek Media in 2018.
Plot
The story starts out with the Battle of the Supernatural Powers, a tournament to decide who will be the next god of The Celestial World and Kami in the Japanese version). Each candidate is required to choose a junior high school student to act as their fighter. The student is given a unique power and told to eliminate as many enemies as possible. The winning God Candidate will become The New God of Heaven and the winning student will receive the Blank Zai, a talent that can be anything they choose. While this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness, Kosuke Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift.
''The Law of Ueki Plus''
Two years after the tournament in The Law of Ueki, Kosuke Ueki is now a 3rd year student in Hinokuni Junior High School. For some reason, everyone in the real world has lost their memory of their most important person, including his friends who participated in the tournament two years ago. Ueki is the only one unaffected, and is fighting in order to restore everyone's memories. He follows a little sheep named U-lu to another world called Hangekai where he meets new companions and gains new abilities.
Media
Manga
The Law of Ueki is written and illustrated by Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 8, 2001 to October 27, 2004. Sixteen tankōbon volumes were compiled and published by Shogakukan, with the first volume published on December 18, 2001 and the last on January 14, 2005. In North America, the manga was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media in 2005. A manga sequel, The Law of Ueki Plus, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 20, 2005 to July 4, 2007, and compiled in five tankōbon volumes released from August 8, 2005 to September 18, 2007.
Anime
A 51-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Deen premiered on TV Tokyo on April 4, 2005, and finished on March 27, 2006. The series is directed by Hiroshi Watanabe, with series composition by Toshifumi Kawase and music by Akifumi Tada. Avex collected the series on seventeen DVDs. Episodes 1–27 were released on nine volumes from August 10, 2005 to April 12, 2006. Episodes 28–51 were released on eight volumes from May 10 to December 13, 2006. The first opening theme for episodes 1–32 is "Falco" by Hitomi Shimatani, and the second opening theme for episodes 33–51 is "No Regret" by Kumi Koda. The first ending theme for episodes 1–15 is "Kokoro no Wakusei ~Little planets~" by Aiko Kayo. The second ending theme for episodes 16–32 is "Earthship 〜Uchūsen Chikyūgō〜" by SweetS. The third ending theme for episodes 33–42 is "Kono Machi de wa Dare Mo ga Mina Jibun Igai no Nani Ka ni Narita garu by The Ivory Brothers. The fourth ending theme for episodes 43–50 is Bokutachi ni Aru Mono" by Romi Park. The ending theme for episode 51 is "True Blue by Hitomi Shimatani. The anime was originally licensed by Geneon Entertainment. Geneon released the first 36 episodes of the series on nine DVDs. The first volume was released on May 16, 2006, and the last volume on September 18, 2007. ImaginAsian TV broadcast the anime series to the American audience on its Anime EnerG block, starting on January 30, 2007. On July 3, 2008, Geneon and Funimation announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon would still retain the license, Funimation would assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. The Law of Ueki'' was one of several titles involved in the deal. Funimation released the entire series on a DVD box set on June 9, 2009. The rights to the series expired in 2011. In May 2018, Discotek Media announced the acquisition of the series. It was released on Blu-ray Disc on July 31, 2018.
Video games
The Law of Ueki was also adapted into a PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance game released only in Japan. The PlayStation 2 game is called Ueki no Hōsoku: Taosu ze Roberuto Jūdan!! while the Game Boy Advance game is called Ueki no Hōsoku: Jingi Sakuretsu! Nōryokusha Battle. They are based on the story of the anime.
Reception
Manga
Luke Carroll of Anime News Network ranked the first volume as B-. Carroll lauded the concept of Ueki's power to turn trash into trees and the humor of the series, but called it "another run of the mill shounen title". He labeled Fukuchi's art style as "simple" and compared it to One Piece, as "there is vagueness in a lot of detail", but clarified that it is suited to the comedic tone of the story. Michael Aronson of Manga Life ranked the first volume as C+. He criticized the series for its similar premise to other action manga series and for its "overly hyperactive" characters. Aronson concluded; "fans of hyper action series like One Piece and Dragon Ball will feel at home here. Anyone else will merely glaze over and out." Patti Martinson of Sequential Tart gave a 4/10 for the fourth volume. Martinson compared the content of the volume to the anime adaptation, and wrote; "at times the manga made less sense than the DVD did. However, the characterizations seem to be slightly better, but not enough to make me see what happens in the next volume."
