Kamasutra (manga)

Kamasutra (カーマスートラ, Kāmasūtora) is originally a four tankōbon manga (inspired by the homonymous book) created by Go Nagai and Kunio Nagatani and published by Tokuma Shoten in 1990. It was later adapted into an OVA, Kamasutra: The Ultimate Sex Adventure (究極のSEXアドベンチャー カーマスートラ, Kyūkyoku no Sekkusu Adobenchā Kāmasūtora), known in the United Kingdom as Kamasutra and in the United States as Kama Sutra and considered a hentai anime in the West.

Kamasutra
Cover of Kamasutra #1 (1990)
カーマスートラ (Kāmasūtora)
Manga
Written by	Go Nagai Kunio Nagatani
Illustrated by	Go Nagai
Published by	Tokuma Shoten
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	March 31, 1990 – November 30, 1990
Volumes	4
Original video animation
Kyukioku no Sex Adventure Kamasutra
Directed by	Masayuki Ozeki
Produced by	Seiji Tani
Written by	Seiji Matsuoka
Music by	Ken Yajima
Studio	Animate E&G Films Toho video
Licensed by	NA: Kitty Media UK: Western Connection
Released	April 24, 1992
Runtime	43 minutes
Footnotes
The manga was directly published in tankōbon without magazine serialization. Kunio Nagatani participation is credited as composition since the manga consists of the main story by Nagai and of several texts written by Nagatani related to the Kamasutra, not to the main story.

Plot

Prof. Takeshi Aikawa is researching the location of an ancient Indian princess, Princess Surya of Gupta Empire. Prof. Aikawa's grandson, Ryu, becomes involved when the group of gangster attack Ryu and his spoiled girlfriend Yukari and ransacks his grandfather's apartment in search of information about the princess until Ryu witnesses as he discovered the manuscript which was an ancient Indian sex manual called Kamasutra. Ryu goes to India to help his grandfather. There, he finds his grandfather's assistant, Shakti, who introduces him to learn the techniques found in Kamasutra.

During a trip to Prof. Aikawa's locations, Ryu and Shakti are kidnapped by the same gangsters who are working for an ancient Indian cult, the Naga Tribe, and soon takes them into the Palace of Naga. Ryu is sexually drained and physically debilitated while in captivity, but his grandfather and adventurous Indy Yakko manage to rescue them. Afterward, Prof. Aikawa's group goes to Khajuraho Temple to find a golden cup-like artifact called the Sex Grail, which is sealed inside of Rama's sculpture, and with it, they can locate and retrieve the frozen princess Surya, who was resting at Himalayas, with using the grail to revive Surya from the suspended animated state.

Meanwhile, having failed at obtaining the grail, the person behind the attacks, the Old Master, dies and his son, Prince Rudra assumes the leadership of the tribe, and rapes Jody, the Old Master's doctor in the process. He then personally kidnaps Surya to obtain her love juice to be used with the grail. Rudra then tries to obtain the grail and succeeds by deceiving Ryu into an exchange of the princess for the grail. After obtaining the grail (and kidnapping Ryu in the process), he sends his henchman, Hige Godzilla to trick Yukari into raping Surya for them. Yukari does so and is also captured and jailed along with Ryu before they are crushed and stuck by a wall trap. Yakko, however, can track them down and rescues them. While trying to escape, they're confronted by Rudra, who uses his mystical power to attack them, but they still escape.

Prince Rudra, now in possession of the Sex Grail and forced to marry princess Surya, as they proceed with the wedding ceremony, however, they're interrupted by the attack of Captain Austin, an American soldier, and Jody's father, who came to avenge his daughter. He manages to escape by the Boat of Garuda along with Surya and the grail but is soon followed by Austin, Prof. Aikawa, Yakko, and Ryu. With help of the Sex Grail, Rudra opens a portal to enter them into the earthly paradise of Shambhala which is hidden inside the waterfall, he is soon followed by Ryu and Yakko with help of Captain Austin. As they entering to Shambhala, Ryu, and Yakko find a giant golden egg-shaped vessel, the Sacred Egg, floating like a sun, they continued to rescue Surya.

In the meantime, Prof. Aikawa goes to Khajuraho once again to find another way of entering Shambhala along with Shakti, Yukari, and Hige, by using the grail counterpart, the Cup of Death, and joining them in a foursome position which is similar to Khajuraho's erotic sculpture. As prince Rudra and princess Surya enter the Sacred Egg, Prof. Aikawa and his allies (who are shown naked in a foursome position) appear before him. Soon after, Ryu and Yakko also arrive and Ryu manages to catch Rudra just as he enters the egg with Surya, in which the grail falls outside the egg, just as the Sacred Egg elevates itself and flies towards space.

As Rudra and Ryu engage in the fight, they're interrupted by the group of celestial angels who reside in the egg, they give Ryu and Rudra a final task to perform in group sex based on the Kamasutra, as only one can be together with Surya. Ryu decides that he wants to do it with her, and so Rudra takes out from the egg by a Nāga-like creature, killing him. As angels disappear, leave only Surya and Ryu and they both have sex in eternal pleasure. Having fulfilled its purpose, the Sacred Egg is now split in two, one takes Ryu and the other Surya, and then falls to Earth.

By this time, Prof. Aikawa, Yakko, Shakti, Yukari, and Hige manage to get all of them back from Shambhala to Earth using the Boat of Garuda with the help of the Sex Grail. As they return, Prof. Aikawa's group saw the two Sacred Eggs, one falling into a river, and Ryu released while Surya was still inside the other, floating in the sky. Surya fulfilling his promise to him as the Sacred Egg gets smaller and attaches itself to the grail. Afterward, the next day, the Sex Grail and the Sacred Egg now is then returned to their original place, and sealed into the sculpture, while Ryu and his group leave India and returned to Japan safely.

Characters

• Ryu Aikawa (阿井川 竜, aikawa ryū, played by Yasunori Matsumoto): The hero of the story, a handsome but sexually inexperienced young man. During the course of the story he is taught in the Kamasutra so that he can conquer the final task. In the anime, he is the reincarnation of Gopal, a knight that protected princess Surya.
• Princess Surya (スーリャ姫, sūrya hime, played by Sakiko Tamagawa): An immortal ancient Indian princess who holds the secret of eternal life. In the anime, she knows Ryu from his past life.
• Prince of Naga (ナーガのプリンス, nāga no purinsu, played by Jurota Kusogi), also known as Rudra (ルドラ, rudora) or Rudrasin (ルドラシン, rudorashin): The main antagonist after the death of the Old Master, he seeks to make Surya his in order to achieve eternal life. He was a navy Lieutenant until he assumes the role of leader of the Naga Tribe. In the anime, it is implied that he is the reincarnation of Ryu's killer.
• Shakti (シャクティ, shakutei, played by Naoko Matsui): Prof. Aikawa assistant and lover. She is the first to introduce Ryu into the art of the Kamasutra. Her real name known as Irene Adoldo
• Prof. Takeshi Aikawa (阿井川猛博士, aikawa takeshi hakase, played by Kenichi Ogata): Ryu's grandfather and the archaeologist behind the discovery of princess Surya. In the manga he constantly engages in sexual acts with Shakti.
• Yukari Tsuji (辻ユカリ, tsuji yukari, alternatively written 辻ゆかり in the OVA, played by Chieko Honda) a spoiled yet sassy girl who is Ryu's girlfriend.
• Indy Yakko (インディやっこ, indei yakko, played by) Masami Kikuchi: An adventurer who is a parody of Indiana Jones and comic relief. He successfully helps Ryu during the course of the story. His real name known as Hiya Yakko.
• Hige Godzilla (ヒゲゴジラ, higegojira, played by Naoki Tatsuta): The character from the Yadamon manga and Harenchi Gakuen. In this story, he is helping the Naga tribe and acts as the main henchman/servant of the prince.
• Old Master (老師, rōshi, played by Ikuya Sawaki): An ill, disfigured old man with snake-like voice, and the former leader of the Naga Tribe who seeking the secret of the "Sex Grail" and ancient Princess Surya. He is the father of the prince and is called also Beshuma.

Media

Manga

The manga was published in four volumes by Tokuma Shoten.

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	March 31, 1990 (1990-03-31)	978-4-19-444201-3
2	June 30, 1990 (1990-06-30)	978-4-19-444271-6
3	September 30, 1990 (1990-09-30)	978-4-19-444351-5
4	November 30, 1990 (1990-11-30)	978-4-19-444400-0

Anime

The OVA adaptation, titled Kyukioku no Sex Adventure Kamasutra (究極のSEXアドベンチャー カーマスートラ, Kyūkyoku no Sekkusu Adobenchā Kāmasūtora, translated as Kamasutra: The Ultimate Sex Adventure), was released on April 24, 1992.

The anime was released in a subtitled version VHS in the United Kingdom in 1994, by Western Connection.

In the United States, it was originally released by Kitty Media on May 5, 1998, in two versions, an edited "general release" and an unedited version. Kitty Media also released the OVA in DVD on January 28, 2003, this time including English dubbed audio.

External links

• Kamasutra at the World of Go Nagai website (in Japanese)
• Kama Sutra (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kyukioku no Sex Adventure Kamasutra at allcinema (in Japanese)
• Kama Sutra at IMDb