Bye Bye, Earth

Bye Bye, Earth (ばいばい、アース, Bai Bai, Āsu) is a Japanese fantasy novel series written by Tow Ubukata and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. Kadokawa Shoten have published two volumes in December 2000. A new edition written by Ubukata and illustrated by Hyung-Tae Kim was published by Kadokawa Shoten in four volumes between September 2007 and February 2008 under their Kadokawa Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation illustrated by Ryū Asahi was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs from January 2020 to July 2022, with its chapters collected into four tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films aired from July to September 2024. A second season is set to premiere in 2025.

Bye Bye, Earth
First novel volume cover (Kadokawa Bunko edition)
ばいばい、アース (Bai Bai, Āsu)
Genre	Fantasy
Novel series
Written by	Tow Ubukata
Illustrated by	Yoshitaka Amano
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Published	December 25, 2000
Volumes	2
Novel series
Written by	Tow Ubukata
Illustrated by	Hyung-Tae Kim
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
English publisher	NA: Yen Press
Imprint	Kadokawa Bunko
Original run	September 22, 2007 – February 28, 2008
Volumes	4
Manga
Written by	Tow Ubukata
Illustrated by	Ryū Asahi
Published by	Shōnen Gahōsha
Imprint	Young King Comics
Magazine	Young King OURs
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	January 30, 2020 – July 29, 2022
Volumes	4
Anime television series
Directed by	Yasuto Nishikata
Written by	Hiroyuki Yoshino
Music by	Kevin Penkin
Studio	Liden Films
Licensed by	Crunchyroll
Original network	Wowow, BS NTV
Original run	July 12, 2024 – present
Episodes	10

Plot

Despite having incredible fighting skills and the strength to wield the enormous sword Runding, Belle Lablac has grown up as an outcast due to being the only human in a world of anthropomorphic animals. Desperate to find a place where she belongs, she goes on a quest to find others like her.

Characters

Belle Lablac (ラブラック=ベル, Raburakku Beru)

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (Japanese); Megan Shipman (English)

A young girl who wields Runding and the only human in the world. She departs home to pursue the Nomad trials.

Adonis Kuestion (クエスティオン=アドニス, Kuesution Adonisu)

Voiced by: Koki Uchiyama (Japanese); Daniel Van Thomas (English)

Sian Lablac (ラブラック=シアン, Raburakku Shian)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese); Mike Smith (English)

Belle's master.

Kitty the All (キティ=ザ・オール, Kiti za Ōru)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (Japanese); Brent Mukai (English)

Gaf Shandy (シャンディ=ガフ, Shandi Gafu)

Voiced by: Satoshi Hino

A solist in the Park Town kingdom and one of Sian's students. She helps Belle get situated in town while she pursues her Nomad trials.

Shelly (シェリー, Sherī)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami

Guinness (ギネス, Ginesu)

Voiced by: Junya Enoki

Benedictine (ベネディクティン, Benedikutin)

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

Doranvi (ドランブイ, Doranbui)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

King Lowhide (ローハイド王, Rōhaido-Ō)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (justice), Setsuji Satō (evil)

Media

Novels

At New York Comic Con 2024, Yen Press announced that they licensed the 2007 edition for English publication.

2000 edition

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	December 25, 2000	4-04-873245-5
2	December 25, 2000	4-04-873246-3

2007 edition

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	September 22, 2007	978-4-04-472903-5	April 15, 2025	979-8-85-541430-1
2	October 25, 2007	978-4-04-472904-2	—	—
3	November 22, 2007	978-4-04-472906-6	—	—
4	February 23, 2008	978-4-04-472907-3	—	—

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Ryū Asahi was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's seinen manga magazine Young King OURs from January 30, 2020, to July 29, 2022. Shōnen Gahōsha collected its chapters into four tankōbon volumes, published from January 2021 to September 2022.

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	January 16, 2021	978-4-7859-6842-7
2	January 16, 2021	978-4-7859-6843-4
3	September 30, 2021	978-4-7859-7002-4
4	September 30, 2022	978-4-7859-7241-7

Anime

An anime television series adaptation co-produced by Wowow, Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll was announced in November 2022. It is produced by Liden Films and directed by Yasuto Nishikata, with assistant direction by Sōta Yokote, scripts written by Hiroyuki Yoshino, character designs handled by Yūki Hino, and music composed by Kevin Penkin. The series aired from July 12 to September 13, 2024, on Wowow. The opening theme song is "Faceless" performed by Asca, while the ending theme song is "I Luv U 2" performed by LMYK.

Following the first season finale, a second season was announced. It is set to premiere in 2025.

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboarded by	Original air date
1	1	"Departure at the Red Hour" Transliteration: "Shuttatsu. Akai Jikoku Nite" (Japanese: 出立。赤い時刻にて)	Haruka Saiga	Hiroyuki Yoshino	Danichi Togata	July 12, 2024 (2024-07-12)
A giant squid-like monster enters and contaminates a lake, so the villagers request aid. Belle Lablac arrives, but the villagers fear her for her human looks. She slays the monster with her incredible strength and her sword Runding as it says it only wanted to return to the sea and spread its eggs. Belle drops an egg into the river and brings a tentacle back to her teacher Sian for consumption. He advises her to take the test to become a Nomad so she can find where she belongs, as he has never seen creatures like her before. She dreams of her past, where she was apparently born from a stone and shunned her whole life for not looking like the other animal people. She stole Runding from a tower after hearing it accept her as its partner, but was arrested until Sian took her as an apprentice. The next morning, Belle decides to take the test, so Sian challenges her to a duel. He puts a curse on her that makes her unable to see or remember his face, so that it will not hurt when she kills him. She angrily charges and they clash swords.
2	2	"Wherefore in the Earthshine" Transliteration: "Yuen. Āsushain no Shita" (Japanese: 由縁。聖星照（アースシャイン）の下)	Tarō Morita	Hiroyuki Yoshino	Sōta Yokote	July 19, 2024 (2024-07-19)
Belle reaches the field of rocks where she was supposedly born and befriends a seemingly mute rabbit boy. She goes to her hometown, Park City, and enters a tavern, remembering killing Sian. Some troublemakers attack the rabbit so Belle defends him, but finds that her sword becomes dull every time she tries to use it against a living being as part of Sian's curse. She beats them up regardless and is arrested. Losing patience, she breaks down the cell door and is bailed out by Sian's other student Gaff. The city is briefly attacked by zombies from the Army of Insatiable Emptiness as the tavernkeep, Haggis, meets a friend named Adonis. Gaff gives Belle an ID tag, says part of the test to become a Nomad involves serving the king, and arranges an audience with him. The king, a conjoined twin, asks why she wants to be a Nomad and she says she wants to find others like her. The king says to prove herself worthy, she must fight Kir Royale, a knight she once disarmed while stealing Runding.
3	3	"Farewell to Those Who Play the Land" Transliteration: "Ketsubetsu. Daichi o Kanaderu Monotachi" (Japanese: 決別。大地を奏でる者たち)	Akira Odama	Hiroyuki Yoshino	Akira Odama	July 26, 2024 (2024-07-26)
Sian, who barely survived his duel with Belle, meets a woman about repairing his sword and they discuss how Belle is destined for great things. Belle defeats Kir Royale in their duel by breaking his flaming sword. The king accepts her and says her next test is to learn to turn her curse into a blessing. While she sleeps, the rabbit takes on a more humanoid form and finds the troublemakers from before plotting revenge on Belle; he makes them hallucinate being on fire. The next day, Gaff warns Belle that the Underdogs have kidnapped several people. Despite not being permitted to join the rescue party, Belle pursues the Underdogs and beats them up, happy to rescue her foster parents and their new daughter, Bellein, who do not shun her like the others. One of the slavers steals Belle's necklace before escaping, but the rabbit gets it back. The rabbit, whom Belle doesn't recognize, asks her on a date and introduces himself as Kitty the All. They go to a tavern for Nomads where a bird woman cursed to only speak in song sings a song that touches Belle's heart. Kitty gives Belle her necklace before leaving.
4	4	"Spell of Proof Still Distant" Transliteration: "Kokuin. Akashi, Imada Tōku" (Japanese: 刻印。証、未だ遠く)	Toshiyuki Anzai	Hiroshi Ōnogi	Sōta Yokote	August 2, 2024 (2024-08-02)
Belle is rewarded for defeating the slavers. Gaff tells her about two other knights, the shapeshifting mermaid Tiziano, and Adonis. Gaff breaks up a fight between Adonis and some knights who hate him for his habit of looting weapons from corpses. Belle takes a liking to some kitten-like creatures, but the next day, she finds some knights killed them and beat up Adonis for defending them. Enraged, Belle beats them up. Adonis says he heard Sian call Belle the Girl of Reason, but they do not know what that means. He has his familiar, Bamboo, teleport them to his room to show her his weapon collection, explaining that he is unable to find one attuned to him. The king calls everyone to say Tiziano is a traitor and started a rebellion. As Belle, Adonis, and Gaff march out in an army, Belle finds it ridiculous that they have to follow a script for things like movement, formations, and attacking. Meanwhile, Sian meets Kitty and identifies him as the prince of a neighboring country sent to observe Belle. Sian says Belle's destiny is to question the reason of this land. The army is outnumbered and Belle realizes they are on a suicide mission.
5	5	"Performance of Swords and Scales, Good and Evil" Transliteration: "Engi. Ken to Tenbin, Masayoshi to Aku" (Japanese: 演技。剣と天秤、正義と悪)	Keiji Kawakubo & Tarō Morita	Mitsuyasu Sakai	Masao Suzuki	August 9, 2024 (2024-08-09)
The army is attacked by giant spiders, making everyone panic and scatter. Belle is forced to defend a soldier named Benedictine when she panics after her boyfriend Gordon is killed and rises as a zombie. Kitty arrives and helps Belle defeat the zombie Gordon, and she learns Runding can cut zombies. They regroup with others and Adonis and find Tiziano raising the dead as zombies. She spots them and has the zombies attack, but the Underdogs from earlier lead them to a hiding place. The slavers explain Tiziano recruited them, but they turned against her because she has gone mad. Adonis confesses that she went mad after he reported a man she loved had been killed in action. One member of the Outsiders guarding the Katocombs is revealed to be Adonis' father. As they make battle plans, the zombies find them, so everyone charges into battle.
6	6	"Concerto in a Land Where Death Blooms" Transliteration: "Kyōsō. Shi no Sakihokoru Chi de" (Japanese: 協奏。死の咲き誇る地で)	Shunji Yoshida & Ken'ichi Kuhara	Mitsuyasu Sakai	Shinobu Yoshioka	August 16, 2024 (2024-08-16)
Kitty makes walls of fire to stave off the zombies, but they counter with water magic. Benedictine loses an eye and makes Belle go berserk, but Benedictine turns into a man and calmly uses ice magic. Belle learns that Adonis uses so many swords because any sword he wields quickly degrades due to a curse. To lure Tiziano out, the group makes their stand in a graveyard. Kitty firebombs the zombies, then Tiziano appears and kills or maims many of the group. Tiziano's sword is fused to her arm and her body is mutating. Adonis stabs her several times, but she ignores her injuries and pulls him into a portal. Belle and Kitty jump into the portal and they find themselves in a void where Adonis and Tiziano continue to fight. Realizing she is also a zombie, Belle slices off Tiziano's sword arm, snapping her out of her madness. Adonis embraces Tiziano as she dies.
7	7	"Examiner of Curses, Blessings, and their Shapes" Transliteration: "Shisha. Noroi to Shukufuku no Katachi" (Japanese: 試者。呪いと祝福のかたち)	Asahi Yoshimura	Hiroshi Ōnogi	Hayato Sakoda	August 23, 2024 (2024-08-23)
After the battle, they fight duels to honor the dead, but Belle goes home when she learns Gaff killed Adonis' father. Belle meets a sheltered girl named Sherry who seems to not know how to do anything. They take shelter from the rain in Benedictine, now Bennett's house, but Belle has to help bathe her. Belle learns Sherry is the princess. Sherry thanks her with a beautiful song, and Belle comments that singing takes a toll on her, just as Gaff comes to take Sherry home. Adonis reforges Kir Royale's sword and combines it with Tiziano's sword; both are pleased when the result is a sword meant to smite evil. Adonis flusters Belle when he asks to sleep with her. She says only if she falls in love with him. He explains his weapon deteriorating curse came from his father touching a dying Nomad's blood before he was born. Belle asks him to join her when she becomes a Nomad. Sherry comes and asks what Belle meant about singing taking a toll on her, so Belle takes her and her friends to the tavern. After the bird woman performs, Sherry cries and says singing is her only talent and she wants to be useful. Belle says she also wants to be useful and they hug.
8	8	"A Ball Shaking Before the Fiend Flower" Transliteration: "Butō. Ma no Hana ni Yurameite" (Japanese: 舞踏。魔の華に揺らめいて)	Tarō Morita	Hiroshi Ōnogi	Danichi Togata & Misato Takada	August 30, 2024 (2024-08-30)
Sherry invites Belle and her friends to a ball where she performs a song with new confidence. Belle dances with Kitty, who calls her "empty" as in free from obligations. Gaff confesses to Adonis that he killed his father and offers his father's sword if he will give up his collection, but Adonis challenges him to a duel instead. Kir Royale, who has become possessed and his arm is fused to his sword like Tiziano was, attacks them and then attacks the ball seeking revenge on Belle. Sherry is briefly possessed by their god who commands Belle to fight him alone. Belle learns Runding can cut him and kills him after getting wounded. As she recovers, the king declares her worthy of the final test to become a Nomad, but she becomes depressed when Adonis will not visit her. He finally comes and kisses her, but claims he is not yet worthy of traveling with her.
9	9	"Silence of Keys Unplayed" Transliteration: "Chinmoku. Kanadenu Kagi" (Japanese: 沈黙。奏でぬ鍵)	Yoshitsugu Kimura, Koji Aritomi, Daiki Handa & Keiji Kawakubo	Mitsuyasu Sakai	Masao Suzuki	September 6, 2024 (2024-09-06)
The king says the final test to become a Nomad is simply to play a piano from the heart. Belle has never heard of pianos, but when she presses a key, it makes a resonating note. When she tries again, she is weighed down by doubt and loneliness and the piano makes no sound, so she fails the test, but she says she will never give up and will try again soon. Adonis is attacked by thugs and kills them. It is his turn to take the test, but when Belle leaves, he attacks the guards while demanding the king explain why his friends keep getting corrupted by their swords. The king claims this is all their god's design and Adonis is horrified to see zombie versions of Tiziano, Kir Royale, and the thugs he killed among the guards. Adonis is offered the piano test, but he is unable to make it sound at all and collapses in despair. Adonis visits Belle and after confessing that his mother died giving birth to him, asks to sleep with her. When she declines, he knocks her down and tries to rape her until she knocks him away. He runs away in shame, but is surrounded by miasma and disappears.
10	10	"Spiral: Howling Sword, Rusty Nail" Transliteration: "Rasen. Unaru Ken, Sabita Tsume" (Japanese: 螺旋。唸る剣、錆びた爪)	Daiki Handa	Hiroyuki Yoshino	Yuki Ikeda	September 13, 2024 (2024-09-13)
Adonis wakes up in a void and is greeted by a woman named Dram who forged Runding. She gives him a sword called Rusty Nail that can change shape and repair itself and does not deteriorate at his touch, then has Sian train him. Belle is still traumatized after almost being raped. When she joins a battle, she is sluggish and gets wounded, so Bennett and Gwyn treat her in their room. Sian and Dram tell Adonis that Sian is actually Prince Fatale, son of the king, but abandoned his duties. Dram was the royal blacksmith and sees visions of the future, but they ran away when her swords, forged from a sacred tree, kept corrupting their users. They explain Adonis and Belle, the Girl of Reason, have a special destiny together. When Adonis' training is complete, Dram carves the word "Nowhere" on his face, sends him back with the Army of Insatiable Emptiness, and he seems to be powered by the darkness. Belle wakes up.

External links

• Official anime website (in Japanese)
• Bye Bye, Earth (novel) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia