Purple Eyes in the Dark (Yami no Purple Eyes) is a manga created by Chie Shinohara, which was serialized in Shoujo Comic from 1984 to 1986 and compiled into 12 volumes.
Rinko Ozaki is a regular highschool student, except that she has a faint mark on her lower left arm and it has been getting darker lately. However, strange things begin to happen. Rinko becomes entranced by the smell of blood and she loses consciousness, only to find herself naked and in places she doesn't know, barely remembering anything.
Then her teacher Sonehara tells her about the research she has taken over from her deceased father: humans who have the ability to transform into beasts. And the research says that people who have marks like Rinko's are the ones who possess this ability. Intent on proving her late father's research, Sonehara's attempts to encage Rinko and experiment on her beast form, but Rinko begins to run away.
The second half of the manga occurs years later, when Rinko's daughter, Mai, becomes the next target. Is it still Sonehara who is after her? And what has become of Rinko?
Purple Eyes in the Dark contains examples of:
- Attempted Rape: Rinko was going to be gang-raped by some punks, but she changed into her beast form and ripped them apart.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Shinya and Rinko. Everyone teases them, of course, and it is obvious that they like each other. It does eventually flourish.
- Big Bad: Kaoruko Sonehara, who chases after Rinko and tries to catch her, to use her as physical proof of her father's research.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Shinya and Rinko, who eventually admit their feelings and even get married in a countryside church.
- Child by Rape: Odagiri drugged Rinko and slept with her. This resulted in Rinko getting pregnant.
- Disappeared Dad: Sonehara's father died six years ago. He's actually still alive, but mentally insane.
- Driven to Suicide: Professor Sonehara, whose work on transforming humans was ridiculed and mocked. He suffered mentally from it and decided to burn himself. His daughter doused him in water and saved him, but he went insane.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Rinko and Shinya do not get their happy ending, unless one considers their circumstances happy. But Mai and Akio fight against the clan, who wants to kill them, and Sonehara, who wants to expose their ability to the world, several times and have to deal with Akio's limited lifespan. But finally, they manage to kill Sonehara and managed to get tickets and fake passports and are leaving Japan, preparing to live a happy and peaceful life overseas.
- If You Kill Her, You Will Be Just Like Her: Shinya says this to Rinko, when she wants to shoot Sonehara for causing Maiko's death.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Occurs with Odagiri (Rinko and Akio get it, too), which seems to happen with transforming people when they get to the end of their lifespan.
- Interrupted Declaration of Love: Shinya's first confession is interrupted by Professor Sonehara appearing and shooting him in the shoulder.
- It's Not You, It's Me: This is Rinko's excuse for not fully letting herself get into a relationship with Shinya. She's too scared of rejection about her abilty to transform into a leopard.
- Involuntary Shapeshifter: The case for Rinko in the beginning, transforming into a leopard panther. She begins to gain control over it after some time.
- Kissing Cousins: Mai and Akio, when they become romantically involved. Akio's mother was Mitsugu Odagiri's sister, making them first cousins.
- Love Triangle: A Type 4, with Shinya and Rinko having mutual feelings for each other and Odagiri being the third wheel, who wants Rinko. Though it's implied he doesn't love Rinko, he merely wants her as his mate.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Odagiri says that this is the case for people like him and Rinko, even if they are the same age as their partner, because of their severely shortened lifespan.
- Missing Mom: Rinko's mother died two years ago. Rinko herself disappears at the end of the first half and is presumed dead.
- Never Found the Body: During the epic struggle between Rinko and Sonehara, both went over a cliff and into the water. Both surive.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Mai looks an awful lot like Rinko, but Shinya tells Mai that there are noticeable differences.
- Technicolor Eyes: Purples eyes, a sign of the people who can transform into beasts.
- Time Skip: After the big struggle between Rinko and Sonehara, the story skips ahead 15 years and focuses on Rinko's daughter, Mai.
- Together in Death: This is the eventual fate of Shinya and Rinko, after having been separated for 15 years.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In the final volume, Sonehara manages to force Akio to transform from his panther form into his human form on broadcasted TV. Yet nothing really comes of it.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Odagiri says that transforming humans tend to have shorter lifespans and implies that he's aware that his own is running out.
