Mai, the Psychic Girl

• Ja Kanji — 舞 • Ja Romaji — Mai • Genre — Action, science fiction

• Type — manga • Author — Kazuya Kudō • Illustrator — Ryoichi Ikegami • Publisher — * Shogakukan • Media Factory (reprint) • Imprint — Shōnen Sunday Comics • Magazine — Weekly Shōnen Sunday • First — March 20, 1985 • Last — April 2, 1986 • Volumes — 6

• Portal — yes Mai, the Psychic Girl is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuya Kudō and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from March 1985 to April 1986, with its chapters collected in six tankōbon volumes; it was later republished by Media Factory. Mai, the Psychic Girl was one of the first manga series to be fully published in English; it was published by Viz Communications, in partnership with Eclipse Comics, in a bi-weekly comic book format starting in 1987 and republished in collected volumes a few years later.

The story follows Mai Kuju, a 14-year-old girl with powerful psychic abilities. She is being pursued by the Wisdom Alliance, an organization which secretly strives to control the world. The alliance already controls four other powerful psychic children, and it has hired the Kaieda Intelligence Agency to capture Mai.

Written by Kazuya Kudo and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, Mai, the Psychic Girl was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from March 20, 1985, to April 2, 1986. Shogakukan collected its chapters in six tankōbon volumes, released from August 1985 to August 1986. Media Factory republished the series in three bunkoban volumes, released from 2002 to 2003, and in two wideban volumes in 2006. Mai, the Psychic Girl was one of the first manga series to be fully published in English. Along with The Legend of Kamui and Area 88, Mai, the Psychic Girl was one of the first three manga published by Viz Communications, in partnership with Eclipse Comics. It was published in a bi-weekly comic book format starting in May 1987. As it was one of the forerunners of manga popularity in the West, Mai was chosen for localization due to its middle-ground artwork: neither "too Japanese or too American." It was presented in the "flopped" format; panels and pages read in the left-to-right reading order instead of the Japanese style of right-to-left, that was the norm with early localized manga. Along with the other two series, Mai proved popular enough that second printings were needed of the first two issues. The series was later reprinted in a 4-volume edition by Titan Books in 1989, and by Viz in 1990; the edition featured a brief nude scene that had been edited out of the comic book edition. In 1996, the series was re-released in a three-volume edition, titled Mai, the Psychic Girl: Perfect Collection.