Tuxedo Gin is a manga by Tokihiko Matsuura, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1997 to 2000 and compiled into 15 volumes. The manga is licensed in English by Viz Media.
The story centers around a teenage boxer named Ginji Kusanagi. At the very start of the series he is killed by a gang of thugs before meeting a girl, named Minako, he planned to go on a date with. Fortunately, (or possibly unfortunately) he manages to get the option of being reincarnated. The only problem is he ends up reincarnated as a penguin, rather than a person.
The only problem being that he must live the life of a penguin until he dies, without committing suicide. Determined to still spend time with Minako, Ginji decides to continue his life as a penguin.
The live action film is currently in Development Hell, since Disney has yet to release it.
Tuxedo Gin provides examples of:
- Animal Motifs / Animal Metaphor
- Back from the Dead: Ginji in the first chapter, to the point that it's not a spoiler.
- Calling Your Attacks: Ginji loves doing this.
- High Voltage Uppercut Of Love!!
- Cannot Talk to Women: Ginji has a good amount of trouble speaking to Minako when they first meet, Musashi lampshades it in the first chapter.
- Cartoon Penguin: Ginji is usually portrayed as a stock generic penguin, althro occasionally artwork shows him as an Adelie penguin.
- Cats Are Mean: To the point that all that cats have made attempts on Ginji's life.
- Cool Old Guy: Minako's father is a genuine Nice Guy... as long as he doesn't get drunk.
- Covert Pervert: As a penguin, Ginji still has the mind of a seventeen year old.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After much heartbreak, Ginji is brought back to life as a human and is reunited with Minako. The other reincarnated woman he meets is also revealed to have come back to life as a human and rekindled her relationship with her own boyfriend.
- Face of a Thug: Ginji and his friend.
- Fanservice: Minako's baths with Ginji while he's a penguin.
- Informed Attractiveness: Just about everyone who sees Minako talks about how beautiful she is. While she's plenty cute, it's really not notable as far as anime girl standards go.
- Lampshade Hanging: Gini lampshades the fact that he can't visibly sweat while underwater.
- Lightning Bruiser: Ginji, even as a penguin.
- Love at First Sight: Ginji to Minako. And vice-versa, with Minako falling in love with Ginji from the start.
- Loving a Shadow: The idea that Minako would wait over half a year for a guy that's already dead is a bit farfetched. Possibly justified: see Single-Target Sexuality below.
- It's partially justified by her not knowing he's dead, though it's still a bit silly. It is implied that her routine of waiting at their appointed meeting spot every Sunday was a sort of coping method to stave off the idea that Ginji died.
- Mooks: The gang that sets up Ginji to be killed.
- Nosebleed: Ginji gets this even as a penguin when he takes baths with Minako.
- Pain to the Ass: One of Gin's favorite tactics as a penguin against humans is an uppercut with his wing tips towards the bad guy's butt.
- Peculiar Penguin: Ginji was reincarnated as an Adelie penguin, but he was a skilled fighter before his death, and has learned to incorporate his fighting skills into being a penguin. Occasionally penguin instincts kick in but otherwise he usually acts as a human in penguin form. The fact that he has exceptional fighting skills for a penguin leads to a lot of comedy, especially his favorite move of punching his wingtip up a bad guy's butt.
- Pink Means Feminine: The female penguin, Linda, is pink and wears a bow to show her gender.
- Reincarnation
- Reincarnated as a Non-Humanoid: From a teenage aspiring boxer, to an adorable Antarctic flightless bird.
- Sadist Teacher:
- Mike becomes this to Ginji when he teaches him how to write as a penguin.
- Another one shows up in a side story, going so far as to slap a student for being late and accusing him of dragging the rest of the school down. The student teacher stands up for the student and gets the principal's approval for her actions.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Early on, it's mentioned that Ginji is the only guy who Minako ever showed an interest in dating.
- Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Attempted by Linda, who puts tacks inside Minako's shoes out of jealousy over Ginji.
- Talking Animal: Ginji can speak despite being a penguin. Subverted in that humans can't actually understand what he's saying, with it referred to as "penguinese" by others.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Most of the manga is a lighthearted romantic comedy, but two antagonists are notably dark. The first is a killer who disguises himself as a member of law enforcement and ends up alone with Minako in a cabin, planning to murder her to hide his trail. He gets as far as strangling her unconscious before Ginji makes it to her rescue. The other is the gang member who arranges for Ginji's death. Not only does he show no concern over killing multiple people (besides Ginji, he attempted to murder Musashi and Minako), puts Minako in an I Have You Now, My Pretty situation after getting out of prison, and tries to kill Minako and Gin with a truck after they escape from him. He's so creepy that the gang who hired him to get payback on Ginji and Musashi are terrified of him and think his methods are too extreme.
- Younger Than He Looks: Ginji.
