Title: Fujimi Nichōme Kōkyō Gakudan   富士見二丁目交響楽団 “Fujimi Orchestra”

Author: Kō Akizuki

Illustrator: Keiko Nishi (first half of series), Sei Goto (current/manga)

Content Warning: 18+, Boys Love, Yaoi

Publication Status: ongoing

So all of the series that I’m doing are ones that I have personal interest in, but this might be the one that has been on my wish list for the longest. Over a decade ago there were a few people who were doing summaries of the novels, but those have been lost to time.

Fujimi Orchestra is a long-running popular series (25 years, 27 volumes and still going!) that revolves around the relationship of an amateur orchestra’s conductor, Kei Tounoin, and the concertmaster, Yuuki Morimura. In addition to a lot of Drama CD adaptations, the first novel in the series has been adapted ad nauseum in a variety of media. First it was adapted into an OVA from the 90s (which is rather bad in terms of quality, but it was my introduction to the series and for a bit held the dubious title of longest animated gay sex scene):

Then a manga for the 15th anniversary of the series (which also adapts most of the second book as well) done by the second novel illustrator Sei Goto, and the most recent, a live action movie in 2012:

There’s also a metric ton of doujinshi and fan compilations, some of which have been published by June.

Unless there is significant interest in me translating the first two novels, I will be starting with the 3rd. The manga is widely available to read on scanlating sites, so if you want to get a start on how the story begins, read here. There really isn’t anything in the second book that isn’t covered by the manga. Even without reading the first books, the stories were published in June magazine in chapters, so there is a bit of recapping to help new readers get into the series. 

TW: the first book/manga/anime/movie contains an extended rape scene. IMO the way it’s handled is better than your average “character falls in love with his rapist” trope, but nevertheless it does happen. AFAIK the rest of the series doesn’t have any other rape (though I know there is an attempt made by a different character few books in), and I will *always* tag appropriately if a novel contains anything like that.

Anime (old, quality available is rough, and it’s kind of slow, but gets the story across): LINK

Live Action: Amazon (might not be available in all locations)