King of Bandit Jing

Jing: King of Bandits (Japanese: 王ドロボウJING, Hepburn: Ō Dorobō Jing, lit. "King of Bandit Jing"), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuichi Kumakura. The series was originally serialized in Kodansha's Comic Bom Bom magazine from 1995 to 1998; the publisher later collected the individual chapters into seven tankōbon volumes. The series continued in Kodansha's Magazine Z in 1999, under the title KING OF BANDIT JING, known as Jing: King of Bandits: Twilight Tales outside of Japan and ran until finishing in 2005. The story revolves around a teenage boy named Jing who despite his young age is known as the "King of Bandits". Along with his partner Kir, a talking albatross, he travels the world in search of new adventures and legendary treasure. Throughout the series the duo manage to pull off impossible heists and outwit countless enemies that stand in their way.

Jing: King of Bandits features a motif in the form of references to alcohol. Volumes of the manga are "bottles", episodes and chapters are "shots", Jing and Kir's special attack is a "Kir Royal", and almost every character and location is named after an alcoholic beverage or cocktail.

In 2002, five of the original seven manga volumes were adapted into an anime television series that totaled 13 episodes. Produced by Aniplex and animated by Studio Deen, the TV series aired on NHK from May 15, 2002 to August 14, 2002. The two studios went on to produce a three part original video animation that adapted the fourth volume of the original manga in 2004 under the title Jing: King of Bandits in Seventh Heaven (王ドロボウ JING in Seventh Heaven). Tokyopop licensed both the original manga and Twilight Tales for English-language releases in North America, while ADV Films handled the licensing of the anime series and the Seventh Heaven original video animation.

Cast

 * Jing (ジン, Jin)
 * Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese); Joey Hood (English)


 * Kir (キール, Kiiru)
 * Voiced by: Ryusei Nakao (Japanese); Ron Berry (English)


 * Postino (ポスティーノ, Posutiino)
 * Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese); Gary Haddock (English)