Yume Miru Wakusei

Yume Miru Wakusei (The Dreaming Planet)

AUTHOR: SATO, Shio

MY EVALUATION: B (Very Good)

Fantasic science fiction.  Attractive characters and persuasive composition.

DATA: 1982-84, Shogakukan

STORY:

Iris (/iris/) was the illegitimate prince of Aslan Kngdom in the big Continent and was raised in a desert by his mother.  After her death, the King saw the son inherited his beloved’s beautiful silver eyes and silver hair, and desired to make Iris the crown prince. 

The monastery of the kingdom or “the Valley” opposed however, saying that Iris should be educated in the Valley instead to become the Archbishop because of his rare psychic quality.  The Valley, the center of the people’s religion, the counterbalance against the king’s political power, and the  sanctuary of  science and “Foreseers” which were both almost extinct in other places, needed the Archbishop with a reason.

The scientists of the Valley calculated that the Continent would be broken into two in a few years.  The only Foreseer left in the Valley saw a dream of coming catastrophe, too.  The Valley needed to pursuade people to evacuate from the capital, the center of the Continent, as soon as possible.

It seemed a too tough task, because ordinary people could hardly understand scientific reasons and  besides there were no cosier places than the capital at all.  So, the Valley monks tried to make the most of the religion.  Enthroning Iris to the long-expected Archbishop was the first keystone to attract people’s attention to the Valley’s warnings.

To tell the truth, Iris’s foreseeing and telepath power was far from satisfying to be declared as the Archbishop or the God’s child, and the monks knew the fact, too.  But they believed that Iris’s birth as the king’s son and his glorious looking would be suitable to play the oracle’s role.

Iris accepted this intrigue, for he wanted to follow his mother’s will not to agony the queen and his brother prince further, as well as he understood the emergence.  Iris ordered the monks to assassine all well-known psychics to keep his own lack of  psychic power secret, and rapidly began to be the mastermind of the exodus plan…

Sakura no Mori no Sakura no Yami

 TITLE:  Sakura no Mori no Sakura no Yami (“Darkness of Forrest of Cherry Blossom”)

AUTHOR:  KIHARA, Toshiye (Toshie)

MY EVALUATION:  B(Very Good)

Short but profound.  Taste of delicate beauty of Noh plays.

STORY:

It was late 15th Century.  Shuka was a leader of a small bandit group in Kyoto, capital of Japan in Muromachi era.  Though he had been living a self-indulgent life since he was  pushed out of the regular army after the war, he had kept a secret pride in his link to a normal peaceful life.  The link was his fiancee Siragiku, a woman of virtue, who must have been waiting for him honestly with his sick old mother in his shack in the  village in cherry forrests.   Shuka had never written her a letter nor visited her at the three-day-walk distance for six years now, but he had never doubted that some day he could return home with some money and lead a happy life with Shiragiku.

One spring evening, Shuka met a mysterically beautiful young man under a cherry tree, who called himself  Hana-kagero (blossom shimmer), a spirit of  cherry blossom.  When Shuka happened to talk about Shiragiku, Hana-kagero dropped off somewhere, and then suddenly came back, saying that he had been to Shuka’s home  to see Shiragiku and that she was truly waiting for Shuka with his mother who died just now .

Several days later, when Shuka was betrayed by other robbers, chased and wounded, he was helped by Hana-Kagero.  He was somehow taken to the home village and met Shiragiku running out to greet him with hug and tears.  Then she said in excitement that she was waiting and waiting for years to  show him something…

D(Fair)-Graded Comics

There are many comics that attract you at the first reading, but the ones that have you feel like returning are fewer. The titles below are some examples of “the rest of them”. They are enjoyable, or at least not bad, to read once, but I have not felt like picking them up again for years.

Go! Hiromi, Go! by ASO Mikoto

A contemporary comedy about an odd girl student at Tokyo University, the most prestigeous academy in Japan, who struggles her way to find her real goal in the life. I really thought that it had a good tempo and wit when my friend lent it to me, but didn’t get into the mood to buy it myself to keep on my side.

Candy Candy by IGARASHI Yumiko and MIZUKI Kyoko

A classic. I felt its art and expression too girly even when it was really popular in my childhood, but there were a few scenes that were not so bad.

Berusaiyu no Bara (Rose of Versaille) by IKEDA Riyoko

A classic masterpiece. But I’ve already read it twice, or perhaps three times, in my life. It is enough. Embarrassingly dramatic.

Juoh-sei by ITSUKI Natumi

SF. The characters were not felt close, and so the excitement while reading vanished in closing the book.

Oz by ITSUKI Natsumi

Same as Juoh-sei.

Wata no Kuni Boshi by OSHIMA Yumiko

Another classic. It was taken as a must-read shoujo in ’80s.  It is good, but I didn’t well get the reason of such a high esteem even at that time.

Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori (Red River) by SHINOHARA Chie

Historical fantasy. It seems all male characters fall in love with the heroine. That’s too much, isn’t it?

Utsuho Soshi by SUWA Midori

A historical fantasy about a mysterious biwa, the Japanese classic guitar. The unique story with a style is worthy reading once. But it didn’t come close enough.

Kaze to Ki no Uta

A classic that is sometimes dubbed a precursor of BL comics. While I pay a certain respect to this epoch-maker, some side characters are too perverted to read about more than once.

Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi by YAMAGISHI Ryoko

A famous classic. Historical fantasy. I was following the serial on time of its first publishing in the monthly magazine, and was tired in the middle.

Haikara-san ga Toru by YAMATO Waki

A classic of shojo manga. Historical love comedy. The gag there seemed quite old-fashioned even when I read this in 1970’s.

Banana Fish by YOSHIDA Akimi

Another famous classic. It looks like a sharp criminal story at first, but in reality it seems to me a melodrama after all.

 

The following are the relatively well-known comics that I started to read with quite an interest in the past but lost the energy to continue in the middle. Reasons are various. I might be able to reevaluate them if only I picked them up again…

Kisu (Kiss) by MATSUMOTO Tomo
Sukippu Bito (Skip Beat) by NAKAMURA Yoshiki
Saifa (Cypher) by NARITA Minako
Tsuki no Ko by SHIMIZU Reiko
Furutsu Basuketto (Fruit Basket) by TAKAYA Natsuki
Hajime-chan ga Ichiban by WATANABE Taeko
Asaki Yume Mishi by YAMATO Waki

Extra: List of “Out of the List” Titles

There are several titles that were so famous that I tried a bite but did not fit my taste.  Here is some of my nibble:

Hana yori Dango by KAMIO Yoko
 The fantastic four boys, F4, didn’t look good-looking.  The story seemed to go on in a too stereotyped way.

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Hana-kimi) by NAKAJO Hisaya
 The heroine seemed to be helped by handsome men too conveniently, and those men look alike.

Nana by YAZAWA Ai
 It seemed like the author was pushing too hard to make readers cry.

Dobutsu no Oisha-san by SASAKI Michiko
 I didn’t like the art.  Though it was supposed to be a comedy, I couldn’t laugh a bit.

N.B.: The above judges were made through only the first volume of each comic, and you know,  some like it hot, some like it cold.

Going to Hell

Title: Going to Hell

Author: TSUZUKI Shun

My Evaluation: C (Good)

Though I usually avoid “BL (Boy’s Love)” comics, I ran across this title in the very category, simply because it was digitally offered free for a limited period of time by the publisher. And guess what? I was rather moved by the story, in spite of the clumsy art far from flamboyance and the fact that almost all characters were gay. It is because Going to Hell deals with the serious love between two actors who are both very talented in different style. Their love is unseparatable with the sincere respect to each other’s talent, and the respect is after all gender-free.

Some homosexual expression is included but it is modest and minimal.

Story:

Kaura met Kuzuu when he was acting a small role for a TV drama. Attracted by Kuzuu’s natural performance and his air of a star to the manner born, Kaura asked him to practice acting together. When Kaura thought they became good friends, Kuzuu came on to him. Kaura, who had no homosexual tendency — at least so he had thought — until then, could not resist somehow.

Briefly after the incident, Kuzuu’s past life was revealed in tabroids, and he disappeared, seemingly abandoning his acting career.

A year later or so, Kaura learnt that Kuzuu had got a leading role in an independent film in Holywood and that the movie was making a surprising success. Kaura flew to the States on impulse, realizing his special feeling to Kuzuu, but his passion priority was on seeing Kuzuu acting in the movie, than seeing Kuzuu himself privately.

The more enchanted by Kuzuu’s brilliant talent, the more seriously Kaura absorbed himself to acting in order to catch up with Kuzuu. But in reality, Kuzuu was also enchanted strongly by Kaura’s subdued performance and by Kaura’s character…

Data: 1995-99, published by Okura Shuppan.

Shi to Kanojo to Boku

Title:  Shi to Kanojo to Boku (Death, Her and Me)

Author:  KAWAGUCHI Madoka

My Evaluation: C (Good)

A bit similar to Akaku Saku Koye and the movie Sixth Sense, the expression of the sorrow of leading characters is very good.

Story:
Matsumi was a young boy with very keen ears. He heard what people said to themselves, as well as the murmurs of  animals, plants and even vegetables in markets.  But the most annoying voice hard to shut out was that of the dead. It seemed Matsumi attracted the dead spirits like a spot light in the darkness where they wander, while Matsumi could only see them vaguely. The evil dead fooled and scared little Matsumi, while the weak dead pressed him to help them.
One day, after he failed to pop his own eardrums for a couple of times, he heard someone’s voice in the far distance: one special voice in heart, sad but warm, of someone who could see the dead. From that day, Matsumi stopped shutting his ears and began searching for the voice. Almost ten years later, when he turned to a highshool student, he finally met the owner of the voice, Yukari, the girl who sees the dead…

Data: First appeared on Shojo Friend magazine published by Kodansha, 199x.  Now available in Kodansha Manga Bunko comic book series.

I modified the “favorite title” list.

Click here for the new list.

Ritan

 Title: Ritan (Return)

Author:  MIURA, Noriko

My Evaluation:  B (Very Good)

This is basically a comedy about a dead boy whose body was hit by a truck but whose soul took over a body of a girl in a temporary coma.  As you may know, this kind of situation is not unusual in manga, but as you may also know, starting from the same situation, there are many variations for the development of the story.  Return’s Miura has a very good sense about it: she makes you aware of “the loveliness of the life” after lots of laughter.
The work includes some moderate sexual expressions.

Story:
One day Kai, a highschool boy, rode tandem on the motor cylcle with Tatsuki, his best friend, and met a severe acciedent.  When he got aware in hospital, he was in the body of a stranger, Marika, a girl at the same age.  After rushing into his own funeral at home and seeing his body in the coffin that was desparingly damaged, Kai reluctantly transferred to his old shool as a new girl student where he met Tatsuki again who survived the accident.
At first, Tatsuki felt as if the god had listened to his plea to revive Kai, but soon he noticed it would be almost impossible to keep the same friendship as before with a girl of such an attractive appearance.  To make the story more complicated, there would be one day when Marika’s soul should return and Kai’s disappear eternally.  Kai and Tatsuki were bewildered about how to do their relationship…

Data:  Scanlation seems available here.

Akaku Saku Koye

 

Akaku-saku-koe

Title: Akaku Saku Koye/koe (Voice That Blooms In Red)

Author:  MIDORIKAWA, Yuki  (Yuki Midorikawa)

My Evaluation: B (Very Good)

I like this work better than the more famous ”Natsume Yujin-cho” of the same author.  The combination of the simple and warm art and the simple theme brings a breath of fresh air into my heart.  Closing my eyes,  it seems as if I could see petals of a red flower ( lycoris, according to my image) on that air. 

I only wish the art was a little easier for readers to understand the story, for the movements of the characters and the background look rather clumsy, though it does not damage the concept.

Story:

This is a series of small episodes about a high school boy Karashima and his classmate girl Kokubu. 

Karashima has a peculiar voice that no one ever can resist his order spoken in the resonant tone.  Thus, while Karashima seldom utters a word in front of his classmates, he cooperates with the police to capture fugitives using his voice.  The cooperation to policemen gives Karashima a sort of relationship with other people which he cannot get at school, but at the same time, he also notices the contacts with criminals may give ill effect to his own fragile personality.  The episodes repeatedly reveal Karashima’s fear and lonliness, but as his relationship with Kokubu slowly deepens, there turns out dim hopes to the future.

 Data: First appeared in LaLa (Hakusen-sha) in 1999.  Now available in Hakusensha-Bunko.

Modified a Former Post

I inserted a P.S. to “Onnanoko wa Yoyu” post.