3×3 Eyes

3×3 Eyes, pronounced Sazan Eyes (Japanese: サザンアイズ, Hepburn: Sazan Aizu) in Japanese, is a manga written and illustrated by Yuzo Takada. The manga was serialized in Young Magazine from 1987 to 2002, spanning to a total of 40 volumes. In 1993, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen. The English-language translation was being published by Dark Horse Comics, but was discontinued before the release of volume 9 in 2005.

The manga has received two Original Video Animation series based on 3×3 Eyes and were first released in 1991 and 1995. The first consisted of four episodes averaging to half-hour of run time. The second consisted of three averaging out to 45-minutes of run time. They cover the storyline up to volume 5 of the manga. Originally published by Streamline in the US in 1995, the two OVAs were eventually re-dubbed and released in 2001 by Geneon USA in a collected set. The series has also received several companion books, Drama CDs, and video games only released in Japan.

Plot

3x3

3x3 is a typeface based on a 3x3 bitmap matrix. It was created by type designer Anders de Flon, who long refused to release the typeface, due to the large type foundries' demand for only complete typefaces, which means upper and lower case characters, exclamation marks, etc.

The typeface has appeared on several record sleeves; a slightly modified version appears on the cover of LFO's Sheath, designed by The Designers Republic.

A similar typeface named 3x3 but not adhering to a 3x3 bitmap matrix was designed by Swiss graphic designer Marc Beekhuis in 2001.

References

Eye

Eyes are the organs of vision. They detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. In higher organisms, the eye is a complex optical system which collects light from the surrounding environment, regulates its intensity through a diaphragm, focuses it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to form an image, converts this image into a set of electrical signals, and transmits these signals to the brain through complex neural pathways that connect the eye via the optic nerve to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain. Eyes with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system. Image-resolving eyes are present in molluscs, chordates and arthropods.

The simplest "eyes", such as those in microorganisms, do nothing but detect whether the surroundings are light or dark, which is sufficient for the entrainment of circadian rhythms. From more complex eyes, retinal photosensitive ganglion cells send signals along the retinohypothalamic tract to the suprachiasmatic nuclei to effect circadian adjustment and to the pretectal area to control the pupillary light reflex.