Silver Days (Manga)

Silver Days (銀デイズ) is an online OEL manga series created by Alex Guy, which the entire Silver series originated from. It is the main topic of this Fandom project. It was heavily inspired by the Japanese manga series, Dragon Ball, by Akira Toriyama, however, the series was mainly taken from Guy's older project, titled Project Silver. The tone of the series, while initially employing comedic elements and a slightly episodic style, shifts to a darker atmosphere by introducing more sci-fi and supernatural elements.

Silver Days follows the exploits of the titular protagonist, Silver, as he trains in martial arts and magic, and learns to use his powers for good while exploring the world outside the city. However, along the way, Silver makes several friends, rivals, and enemies, battling a wide range of villains, making it his goal to become the world's strongest.

Published online, the series originally ran from 2008 to 2019, and despite receiving mixed-to-positive reviews, it was moderately successful. Its success lead to the creation of a 2012 anime adaptation, Silver Days, and a spin-off manga, Silver Gaiden, co-created by Harry Harrup.

A sequel/spin-off, titled Silver NX, takes place several years after the original.

Plot
The series begins with the martial artist Silver, a cyborg who possess extraordinary powers, living the isolated East City. Seeking vengeance for his treatment by society and harsh life, Silver plots to take over the country with his friends: Go Marufuji, Mei Kuroishi, Ryohaku Shimamoto, Kazuma. When Silver fails to assassinate the mayor/presidential candidate, he is nearly executed; however, when the mayor's daughter, Angelique Goyer, is kidnapped by the "Beast", Silver is sent by Angelique's father to rescue her and destroy the Beast. His journey leads him to encounter the Execution Force, the Beast's special force; Cursor, a malicious body swapping being; Zen, who challenges Silver; and Regic, the Beast's most powerful warrior who proves to be an even bigger threat.

Two months later, civilians begin to disappear and reports of mythical creatures prompt Angelique Goyer to investigate. Silver and his friends reemerge and are confronted by the Death Trappers. Team Silver discover their utilization of magic to steal people's souls in order to revive an ancient trio of legendary beasts. The Death Trappers eventually release a virus to throw Silver off once their mission is completed, and retreat. This draws them to Kingdom Island, where they defeat the Death Trappers and their legendary beasts for good, at the cost of the island.

The Death Trappers incident, however, makes Silver and his friends seem as the culprits, forcing them to flee. Three years later, Silver is in hiding and decides to continue his plan to take over the country. But when an evil corporation begins to pursue villainous acts, Silver takes action and meets new allies, while his old friends return. However, their ruckus attracts the attention of Division X, who recruit and train the team to protect against a mutant outbreak. The mutants and the team are drawn into conflict with Helix, and eventually Division X itself.

Six months later, an intergalactic warrior, Nexus, travels to Earth looking for the world's strongest warrior. Nexus offers to make Zen his partner, but the latter declines. After receiving a power boost, Silver himself battles Nexus one-on-one, and the fight ultimately ends at a draw. After agreeing to help Nexus find the Azure Shard, Silver and Nexus arrive on Nexus' home planet to search. The team has encounters with the Frost Force and Metallix, before Frost himself finally arrives.

Silver returns and the fight with Frost ends when Silver unlocks his true potential with the Azure Shard. Two years later, Silver and co. attend a festival and participate in a fighting tournament but are interrupted by Alpha and Omega, two androids from an alternate universe. Silver, Nexus, Alpha, Omega, and Zen team up to stop X, who has terrorized their universe, leading to several battles with X, Frost's forces, and the Genesis Rangers. When X absorbs the six Azure Shards, Team Silver are given the power of the elderly Chosen Four.

X's power draws out a group of cosmic clones created by the Dark Celestial and led by Gold, who cause chaos across different dimensions. In a final battle, Nexus sacrifices himself to stop Gold. Silver is taken by Xythurvia to the center of the Master Dimension, and puts an end to the Dark Celestial's chaos. Seeing Silver and the others fight, Xythurvia and The One decide to hold their own tournament, pitting Team Silver up against fighters from an alternate universe.

Silver and his son Light have a shared dream involving the GENEX, which causes a new threat to arrive in the form of the Evolutionary, a mysterious group responsible for Silver's existence. Angel and her bodyguard Gyu arrive on Earth and capture Silver's allies, forcing him to surrender. After narrowly escaping his execution, Silver decides to find the GENEX and the team face off against several past villains before Angelique's mother, Yurina Harada, is revealed to be the Evolutionary's leader, Xeno. After Xeno's defeat, her subordinate, the demon Demora, possesses Silver, going on a rampage until Silver self-destructs, killing both him and Demora.

Five years later, the Grand Master senses the growing power of the Evil Empire and subsequently appoints his apprentice, Silver's old companion Alice, to be the new Grand Master. Nexus and Silver's friends are too late to stop the Evil Empire from unleashing Veltrax. Silver is revived to defeat Veltrax but the monster is weakened and killed by two fighters from the future. After more battles, Silver and Nexus finally destroy Nova by absorbing Sama's energy, using the divine power to form a God Bomb.

With peace finally brought back to the galaxy, everything goes back to normal with the heroes finally retiring from fighting.

Story Arcs

 * 1) Beast Arc
 * 2) Regic Arc
 * 3) Death Trappers Arc
 * 4) Kingdom Island Arc
 * 5) Project Ultra Arc
 * 6) Vs. Super Soldier Arc
 * 7) Battle Trial Arc
 * 8) Mutant Outbreak Arc
 * 9) Final Exam Arc
 * 10) Nexus Arc
 * 11) Azure Shard Arc
 * 12) Frost Arc
 * 13) Elite Quest Arc
 * 14) Ztar Island Arc
 * 15) Minus Zone Arc
 * 16) Hideout Raid Arc
 * 17) X Games Arc
 * 18) Clone Arc
 * 19) Master Dimension Arc
 * 20) Legendary Tournament Arc
 * 21) Angel Arc
 * 22) Attack on Doomspire Arc
 * 23) GENEX Arc
 * 24) Grand Master Arc
 * 25) Veltrax Arc
 * 26) Nova Arc

Main Characters

 * Silver (シルバー)


 * Zen / Xander


 * Nexus (ネクサス)
 * A humanoid alien from Xena Prime and the last of his people. He travels to Earth in search of the world's strongest warrior, and confronts Zen. However, Nexus ends up fighting the newly empowered Silver and their battle ends in a draw, with the two becoming eternal rivals.


 * Alpha (アルファ)
 * He first appears as a mysterious young man who confronts Silver and Nexus during West City's tag team tournament, along with his partner Omega. It is then revealed by Alpha that he and Omega are in fact androids from an alternate universe.


 * Omega (オメガ)


 * Seto / Caden


 * Light

Major/Secondary Characters

 * Go Marufuji / Gustavo Masterson


 * Shirou / Sophia


 * Angelique Goyer (アンジェリーク・ゴイヤー)


 * Alice (アリス)


 * Xythurvia (ジスルビア)


 * Platinum (プラチナ)
 * The Master Dimension's version of Silver and one of his main allies during the Clone Arc. Unfortunately, Platinum was ultimately killed by Gold.


 * Gyro (ジャイロ)

Supporting Characters

 * Mei Kuroishi / May Blackai
 * Mei is a known orphan and former bandit who was a member of Silver's team, as one of his oldest friends. She was part of the main cast, however, as the series progressed, Mei's involvement and relevance in the story decreased. Her name is a pun on "kuroi me", meaning "black eyes".


 * Ryohaku Shimamoto / Rover
 * A reserved fighter and one of Silver's oldest friends, Ryohaku was part of the main cast, however, as the series progressed, Ryohaku's involvement and relevance in the story decreased. His name is a pun on "hyōhaku-sha", meaning "drifer, vagabond, wanderer, or rover".


 * Kazuma / Kusoh


 * Kentaro, King of Samurai / Samurai Kentaro

Main Antagonists

 * The Beast


 * Regic (レジック)


 * Toyota Takashiro / Troy Truman


 * Nick Graves (ニック・グレイブス)


 * Zero (ゼロ)


 * Frost (フロスト)


 * X (エックス)


 * Gold (ゴールド)


 * Yurina Harada


 * Veltrax (ベルトラックス)


 * Nova (ノヴァ)

Production
In November 2007, Alex Guy created a series titled "Project Ultra," in which space fugitive Jenny befriends a police officer and battles villains from her past and meets new friends along the way. The story was heavily edited in December of that year and was renamed "Project Silver," though with similarities. This time, a teenager known as Silver with extraordinary abilities is trying to find his father and cope with the corruption of his city, battling many villains. The project was canceled, until Guy came up with a new idea for a series, this time a different version of Project Silver, with many changes and new characters, but still containing slightly similar concepts. Somewhere in the middle of production, several of the characters' names were changed to Japanese names. Interestingly enough, the original English names were used in the anime adaptations. The online manga debuted in 2008 and continued for several years until finally reaching the end of its run in 2019.

Silver Days was inspired by Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series when it came to plot elements for the sagas/story arcs and main antagonist, though after the Frost Arc, the series takes its own course. The final title of "Silver Days" was based on the series Nijiiro Days. The first five arcs were conceptualized and shoehorned in the series shortly after plot outline of the Project Ultra Arc and the Vs. Super Soldier Arc was completed.

The tone and story of the series early on contained comedic elements, and the format was slightly episodic. However, a change occurs after the fourth volume that turns it into a serious, action-packed fighting series. In the Veltrax Arc, the story added comedy to signify that it was the end. The series was at its peak of popularity in the X arc, which was praised for its fights, story, and characters.