Chameleon Jail (カメレオン ジェイル) is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuhiko Watanabe and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, who is more well known for his subsequent manga, Slam Dunk. Chameleon Jail is Inoue's first manga series to be compiled in tankōbon form. It was first published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan in 1989. The story centers on a "risk hunter" named Chameleon Jail, who thwarts and solves crimes by using a superhuman ability to change his appearance at will.

Plot

"Risk hunters" are professionals who handle jobs considered too tough for normal law enforcement, such as kidnappings, combatting terrorism, and preventing murders. One man who stands above them all however is the legendary Chameleon Jail, who has the ability to manipulate his "kara" or internal human body energy in order to physically change his appearance into that of any other person. Throughout the series, he pursues several assignments on behalf of various clients given to him by Shall, a woman who runs a detective agency in New York City. All difficult, the successful completion of these assignments hinges on Jail's ability to change his appearance when the time is right.

Characters

Main characters

Chameleon Jail Shall

Other characters

The following characters appear in story arcs more than one chapter long in Chameleon Jail. Colonel Keith Burns Jed Burns Camel Corey Gil Kat Suri Lawson

Publication

Chameleon Jail is written by Kazuhiko Watanabe and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 31 to October 16, 1989. The manga was compiled into two tankōbon volumes which also included three of Inoue's one shot manga stories, Purple Kaede, Flower Shōnen, and Like Jordan. Chameleon Jail was later rereleased as a single volume on November 19, 2004, which included another of Inoue's one shots, Baby Face.

Volume list