Jintori Game info
The following is a brief writeup on Jintori Game; it covers the basics of the premise and notes on the characters. It's half for my own reference and half because Laena, Saigi, and I are the only ones who know much about this series at the moment 8|;;
...so basically it's probably only interesting to Mineko Ohkami fans.
Jintori
The title of the series is written Jintori Gassen (Battle) in kanji, but Ohkami writes it in English as Jintori Game. The two terms mean pretty much the same thing, and are also the names of a Japanese children's game. The game is also referred to as just jintori, which is what I'm going to be calling it for the rest of this, to distinguish from the series.
The basis of jintori comes from the military. In war, when the two opposing sides battle to occupy each other's territory, that's jintori. (The Japanese Wikipedia page cites several wars, including the American Civil War, as having instances of jintori.) In the children's game, therefore, the players split into two teams, decide on a territory ("jin") for each team, and then try to seize the other team's territory. There can be additional rules, such as tagging members of the other team to get them "out", and there are all kinds of different variations, but that's the basic idea.
(Also, plenty of people have made computer games based on the idea. This and this are two examples I found through quick googling.)
Jintori Game
So, the manga takes the idea of jintori and applies it on a bigger scale. There are two boarding schools, Aoinomiya Gakuen and Kaburaya Gakuen, located on each end of a huge piece of land, and they have a long-standing tradition of playing jintori with each other. (And when I say huge piece of land, I mean it has mountains and forests and rivers, and if you get lost you're in trouble.)
Thus, the organizations of the schools are structured around the game, and the students take it very seriously. What would be the student council president at a regular school is more like a war general here. New students are trained in navigating the vast lands to reach the rival school, and what to do if they get lost or stuck.
The major difference between regular jintori and the schools' game is the jin, which are objects rather than pieces of territory. (It is explained that the jin were changed to objects because the school grounds are actually too big to make using territories very practical.) Each school has three jin: the "large" one (the school flag), the "heavy" one (the school statue), and the "true" one (the school weapon, based on the crest). So the objective is to seize the other school's jin; whichever side gets all three first wins, and the winner gains complete control of the loser's school, grounds and all.
...or that's the idea, but nobody's actually won yet. The game carries over to the next school year rather than restarting each year. At the beginning of the series, Kaburaya has custody of Aoinomiya's "true" jin, and Aoinomiya has none of Kaburaya's.
[Note: At my current point in the translation (halfway through Chapter 3), it has not been explained yet what exactly the Princess's role is. So I don't know either.]
Aoinomiya Gakuen (葵宮学園)
This school is the main focus. It consists of Aoinomiya Middle School and Aoinomiya High School. Its school weapon is a sword.
Named Characters
Takami Akira (高皇 玲)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Very laidback, and tends to get yelled at for not acting seriously enough.]
Tooyama Kaiki (遠山 海樹)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Very uptight and easily grumpy. Tends to do the yelling.]
Oda Shinobu (織田 死惟)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Part of the Oda family, who are renowned for their awesome stealth skills. Very quiet and serious. Can disappear and reappear incredibly fast.]
Shinonome Meiha (東雲 芽衣玻)
-2nd year MS
-Princess
[Transfer student who knows very little about this whole business. Gets lost incredibly easily.]
Nitta Misuzu (新田 美鈴)
-1st year MS
-Princess's Attendant
(Very hyper. Wears cat ears and a tail.)
Yoshino Shoui (吉野 奨尉)
-1st year HS
-Leader (Administration Division Committee, Chairman)
[Slightly evil.]
Date Fujiomi (伊達 藤臣)
-1st year HS
-Administration Division Committee, Assistant Chairman
[Uptight.]
Yamao Utsusemi (山尾 空蝉)
-1st year HS
-Administration Division Committee, Secretary
[Team Mom.]
Fuwa Atori (不破 花鶏)
-1st year HS
-Relief Group
Kuroda Masayuki (黒田 将之)
-1st year MS
Kusonoki Yuuya (楠木 有弥)
-1st year MS
Fuwa Youka (不破羊華)
-1st year MS
Kaburaya Gakuen (鏑矢学園)
This is the opponent school. It consists of Kaburaya Middle School and Meiteki (鳴鏑) High School. Its school weapon is a bow. At Kaburaya, only high school students can participate in the game; because of this, the Aoinomiya characters will often refer to their opponents as "Meiteki" pretty interchangeably with "Kaburaya".
Named Characters
Houjou Seiga (北条 青河)
-2nd year HS
-Leader (Executive Committee, President)
[Very charismatic and loved by the students.]
Shimazu Masato (島津 雅人)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee, Leader's Assistant
Miyasu Kanae (実夜守 叶)
-2nd year HS
-Princess
Matsudaira Shigure (松平 時雨)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee
[Buttmonkey.]
Kamo Inaba (賀茂 稲葉)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee
[Buttmonkey.]
Tokugawa Yuuki (徳川 祐希)
-1st year HS
-Research & Development Group
[Mad scientist.]
...so basically it's probably only interesting to Mineko Ohkami fans.
Jintori
The title of the series is written Jintori Gassen (Battle) in kanji, but Ohkami writes it in English as Jintori Game. The two terms mean pretty much the same thing, and are also the names of a Japanese children's game. The game is also referred to as just jintori, which is what I'm going to be calling it for the rest of this, to distinguish from the series.
The basis of jintori comes from the military. In war, when the two opposing sides battle to occupy each other's territory, that's jintori. (The Japanese Wikipedia page cites several wars, including the American Civil War, as having instances of jintori.) In the children's game, therefore, the players split into two teams, decide on a territory ("jin") for each team, and then try to seize the other team's territory. There can be additional rules, such as tagging members of the other team to get them "out", and there are all kinds of different variations, but that's the basic idea.
(Also, plenty of people have made computer games based on the idea. This and this are two examples I found through quick googling.)
Jintori Game
So, the manga takes the idea of jintori and applies it on a bigger scale. There are two boarding schools, Aoinomiya Gakuen and Kaburaya Gakuen, located on each end of a huge piece of land, and they have a long-standing tradition of playing jintori with each other. (And when I say huge piece of land, I mean it has mountains and forests and rivers, and if you get lost you're in trouble.)
Thus, the organizations of the schools are structured around the game, and the students take it very seriously. What would be the student council president at a regular school is more like a war general here. New students are trained in navigating the vast lands to reach the rival school, and what to do if they get lost or stuck.
The major difference between regular jintori and the schools' game is the jin, which are objects rather than pieces of territory. (It is explained that the jin were changed to objects because the school grounds are actually too big to make using territories very practical.) Each school has three jin: the "large" one (the school flag), the "heavy" one (the school statue), and the "true" one (the school weapon, based on the crest). So the objective is to seize the other school's jin; whichever side gets all three first wins, and the winner gains complete control of the loser's school, grounds and all.
...or that's the idea, but nobody's actually won yet. The game carries over to the next school year rather than restarting each year. At the beginning of the series, Kaburaya has custody of Aoinomiya's "true" jin, and Aoinomiya has none of Kaburaya's.
[Note: At my current point in the translation (halfway through Chapter 3), it has not been explained yet what exactly the Princess's role is. So I don't know either.]
Aoinomiya Gakuen (葵宮学園)
This school is the main focus. It consists of Aoinomiya Middle School and Aoinomiya High School. Its school weapon is a sword.
Named Characters
Takami Akira (高皇 玲)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Very laidback, and tends to get yelled at for not acting seriously enough.]
Tooyama Kaiki (遠山 海樹)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Very uptight and easily grumpy. Tends to do the yelling.]
Oda Shinobu (織田 死惟)
-2nd year MS
-Administration Division Committee, Member Class A
[Part of the Oda family, who are renowned for their awesome stealth skills. Very quiet and serious. Can disappear and reappear incredibly fast.]
Shinonome Meiha (東雲 芽衣玻)
-2nd year MS
-Princess
[Transfer student who knows very little about this whole business. Gets lost incredibly easily.]
Nitta Misuzu (新田 美鈴)
-1st year MS
-Princess's Attendant
(Very hyper. Wears cat ears and a tail.)
Yoshino Shoui (吉野 奨尉)
-1st year HS
-Leader (Administration Division Committee, Chairman)
[Slightly evil.]
Date Fujiomi (伊達 藤臣)
-1st year HS
-Administration Division Committee, Assistant Chairman
[Uptight.]
Yamao Utsusemi (山尾 空蝉)
-1st year HS
-Administration Division Committee, Secretary
[Team Mom.]
Fuwa Atori (不破 花鶏)
-1st year HS
-Relief Group
Kuroda Masayuki (黒田 将之)
-1st year MS
Kusonoki Yuuya (楠木 有弥)
-1st year MS
Fuwa Youka (不破羊華)
-1st year MS
Kaburaya Gakuen (鏑矢学園)
This is the opponent school. It consists of Kaburaya Middle School and Meiteki (鳴鏑) High School. Its school weapon is a bow. At Kaburaya, only high school students can participate in the game; because of this, the Aoinomiya characters will often refer to their opponents as "Meiteki" pretty interchangeably with "Kaburaya".
Named Characters
Houjou Seiga (北条 青河)
-2nd year HS
-Leader (Executive Committee, President)
[Very charismatic and loved by the students.]
Shimazu Masato (島津 雅人)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee, Leader's Assistant
Miyasu Kanae (実夜守 叶)
-2nd year HS
-Princess
Matsudaira Shigure (松平 時雨)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee
[Buttmonkey.]
Kamo Inaba (賀茂 稲葉)
-2nd year HS
-Executive Committee
[Buttmonkey.]
Tokugawa Yuuki (徳川 祐希)
-1st year HS
-Research & Development Group
[Mad scientist.]