| Fire! | |
 First tankōbon volume cover | |
| ファイヤー! (Faiyā!) | |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Hideko Mizuno |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Imprint | Sun Comics (Asahi Sonorama) |
| Magazine | Seventeen |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 1969 – 1971 |
| Volumes | 4 |
Fire! (ファイヤー!, Faiyā!) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideko Mizuno. It was serialized in Shueisha's magazine Seventeen from 1969–1971.[1] It is about the rise and fall of an American rock star named Aaron. It won the 1970 Shogakukan Manga Award.[2]
Aaron Browning is an American teenager who gets sent to juvenile prison after being caught with a delinquent named Fire Wolf. He finds solace in music and later manages to sort-of bond with Fire Wolf himself, and he ultimately leaves to Detroit determined to make it in the musical industry. He leads a band named Fire! and seeks to lead people to freedom with their music.
The hedonistic Aaron is neither a 'boy next door' character, nor a 'shining prince', and Sandra Buckley states that it was his 'non-conventional, rebellious behavior' that was part of the attraction for the fans of Fire!. It was innovative for shōjo manga by having the first sexually explicit scenes in post-World War II manga, and by having a male protagonist.[1] The model for Aaron was Scott Walker of The Walker Brothers.[3]
The story has been read as a "conservative morality tale", but Buckley states that this ignores the two-year run of readers following Aaron's exploits avidly. There are accounts of teenage girls queueing for the next issue to come out.[1]