I.O.N (manga)

I-O-N
Genre	Magical girl, Romance
Manga
]]I-O-N
Published by	Shueisha
Magazine	Ribon
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	May 1997 – November 1997
Volumes	1

I-O-N (イ・オ・ン) is a Japanese manga by Arina Tanemura. It was published in Ribon from May to November in 1997, and it persists for 6 chapters, completing one volume. An English translation of the manga has been released by Viz Media.

Synopsis

Ion Tsubaragi is a normal high school girl who wants to fall in love with a boy who aims to make her dreams come true. When she was young, she had learned to chant a jinx, which was to say her first name slowly, syllable by syllable, to make miracles occur.

After the occurrence of an awkward accident, Ion gains psychic powers, and all of a sudden, the boy she likes says that he wants her. But does Mikado Hōrai like her for her powers or for who she really is?

Characters

Main

Ion Tsuburagi (粒 依音, Tsuburagi Ion)

The main character of the story, she is a friendly and cheerful high school student who likes to eat. After an accident in Mikado's laboratory, she gains psychic powers, as well as the attention of Mikado, whom she has a crush on. Her telekinetic abilities come from the combined power of Mikado's substance and the original substance developed by her father, which she swallowed as a child.

Mikado Hōrai (宝来 帝, Hourai Mikado)

An extremely smart boy who loves science, particularly psychic powers. He looks like Ion's father. For much of the later half of the story, he is confused about whether he likes Ion as a psychic or as a girl, which causes problems with Ion.

Kōki Shiraishi (白石 広貴, Shiraishi Kouki)

The student council president, he has feelings for Ion and persistently pursues her, even after her feelings for Mikado become obvious. He once loved the show Psychic Man, but discovered as a young boy that Psychic Man wasn't real and grew to hate psychic powers, as well as Mikado for studying them.

Ai Minase (水瀬 藍, Minase Ai)

Mikado's ex-girlfriend, who he dated only because she was his test subject. She transfers schools to be with Mikado and is initially jealous of his affections toward Ion, but later realizes that she doesn't really like Mikado and only wanted a boy who measured up to her high standards.

Minor

Tagosaku (田吾作)

Kouki's "assistant" who owes his life to Ion.

Kiyono (清乃)

Ion's friend.

Manami (愛美)

Ion's friend. She seems extremely polite and shy. Manami is usually seen with sad eyes and her hand near her mouth.

Yūki Tsuburagi

Ion's deceased father, who was a scientist and also told Ion about the jinx. It is later revealed that he was the original developer of the substance that gives Ion her powers, and that Mikado's substance is based on his.

Ion's mother

She gave birth to her daughter at the age of 16.

Subaru Tōdaiji (東大寺 昴, Toudaiji Subaru)

A member of the Psychic Powers club.

Saidō

A member of the Psychic Powers club.

Minamibe

A member of the Psychic Powers club.

Psychic Man (サイコマン, Saiko Man)

A superhero with the same name of the TV show he starred in that aired when these students were children.

Trivia

• Ai Minase is named after one of Tanemura's assistants.
• Tōdaiji is also the name of Miyako Tōdaiji from Arina Tanemura's later work Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne. Tōdaiji in I-O-N may refer to Miyako's older brother, who looks like the Tōdaiji in this story.