IkebukuroWest Gate Park, usually referred to by its initials IWGP, is a series of urbanmystery novels by Ira Ishida. It was adapted into a very successful TV series directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko, and then a manga, released by Digital Manga Publishing in English. An animetelevision series adaptation by Doga Kobo is set to premiere in October 2020. The series revolves around 20-year-old Makoto, who frequently gets involved in highly dangerous situations, usually against his own judgment. Along for the ride are his best buddies Shun, Masa, and Takashi, the enigmatic leader of a local gang in Ikebukuro. The manga loosely follows the TV series, having the same story arcs, but focusing less on the inter-gang tensions. Along with the TV series and 4 volume initial series, a 1 volume sequel was also made, but was not made by the original creator.
The setting of the first volume of the manga is on New Year's Eve, and all of the male characters already know each other. In the TV series, Makoto & Masa first meet Shun while he is shoplifting books, and while it is set during the fall, it is just a regular day.
In the TV version there is a new chief of police who makes it his goal to throw Makoto in jail. Later he actually uses Makoto as a way to catch culprits "unofficially".
There are characters that are left out of the manga series, such as a part-time help girl that Makoto's mother hires to watch the shop. She later becomes Makoto's love interest, but never girlfriend.
In the TV version Makoto meets Hikaru and Rika while Shun is drawing in front of the fountain. In the manga version, Makoto meets Hikaru while she is running from some would be attackers, then meets up with everyone else at IWGP, where he then meets Rika for the first time.
In the manga Rika is more concerned with Hikaru than in the TV version, hinting around to Makoto about Hikaru's dark past, and the importance of promises to them both.
In the manga, Shun dresses up as a woman in order to get the drugs from Chiaki's drug pusher and have it videotaped as evidence. In the TV version, it is Hikaru, as well as Makoto's mother, who are willing to help out in a pinch.
TV episodes
Manga
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Anime
On September 2, 2019, it was announced that the novel series would receive an anime television series adaptation by Doga Kobo. The series is directed by Tomoaki Koshida, with Fumihiko Shimo handling series composition, and Junichirō Taniguchi designing the characters. The series was originally set to premiere in July 2020, but the premiere date has been delayed to October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funimation acquired the series, and will stream the series on its website in North America and the British Isles, and on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand.
