Shion no Ō
, subtitled "The Flowers of Hard Blood", is a Japanese manga series written by Masaru Katori and illustrated by Jiro Ando. It is published by Kodansha in the seinen manga magazine "Monthly Afternoon", and is collected in eight bound volumes. It has been adapted as a twenty-two episode anime television series by Studio Deen, which aired in Japan between October 2007 and March 2008. A video game for the Nintendo DS was released on April 10, 2008 by Mainichi Communications. Plot. "Shion no Ō" centers around a young junior-high school girl named Shion Yasuoka who had  witnessed the murder of her parents as a small child. At the time of the murder, the killer takes the king piece from her father's shogi board (a Japanese strategy board game similar to chess). This leads her to believe that the murderer may be a shogi player. The shock of the tragic incident renders Shion unable to speak, forcing her to communicate by writing on a note pad. After being adopted by her neighbors, the Yasuoka family (where the husband is also a shogi player), Shion takes up the game herself, both for the love of the game  and to possibly learn of the person who had killed her parents. Media. Manga. The manga of "Shion no Ō" is written by Masaru Katori and illustrated by Jiro Ando. It was serialized between the May 2004 and June 2008 issues of the Japanese seinen manga magazine "Monthly Afternoon" published by Kodansha. Eight bound volumes were published in Japan. Anime. The anime adaptation of "Shion no Ō" produced by Studio Deen and directed by Toshifumi Kawase aired in Japan from October 13, 2007 to March 22, 2008 on the Fuji TV television network. The opening theme is "Lady Love" by  Rize and the ending theme is "My Dear Friend" by Thelma Aoyama. Video game. An adventure video game based on the series was released by Mainichi Communications for the Nintendo DS on April 10, 2008.