Why a famous manga artist named his alien series after a misunderstanding
In short: Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of Level E, originally wanted to call his manga Alien Crises. He settled on the final title after a linguistic mix-up involving the letter E and the film E.T. The result is a unique, humor-driven story about an alien prince hiding in plain sight on Earth.
Level E follows the antics of Prince Baka Ki El Dogra, an extraterrestrial royal who crash-lands on our planet and moves in with a high school baseball player named Yukitaka Tsutsui. While the Earth is secretly populated by thousands of aliens, the human population remains oblivious to their presence. The prince, possessing a genius-level intellect, uses his time to torment those around him for personal amusement rather than pursuing noble goals.
The series was written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi, who was already well-known for his action-heavy works. For this project, he drew inspiration from his hometown of Yamagata and the gag manga Gaki Deka. Togashi initially planned to title the work Alien Crises, but he changed it after deciding the name was too blunt. He eventually chose the letter E because he mistakenly believed it was the first letter of the word alien, while also drawing a mental connection to the movie E.T.
Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump between 1995 and 1997, the manga spanned sixteen chapters collected into three volumes. In 2011, the story was adapted into a 13-episode television series. This production, overseen by director Toshiyuki Katō and studios Studio Pierrot and David Production, updated the setting to include modern technology like smartphones. While critics have praised the writing as clever and audacious, some noted that the episodic nature of the narrative and the prince's abrasive personality made it difficult for viewers to form a lasting emotional connection to the characters.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Level E
- Also: Wikidata — Level E · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Level E · CC0
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