Basara 3
Posted: February 1, 2009 Filed under: Basara 4 Comments »Continuing on, this series introduces pirates, which is the one thing guaranteed to get me to like something. Not just any pirates though, but pirates led with what appears to be a strong female character that I like a lot. Chacha and Tatara also engage in one of the coolest swordfights I’ve ever seen, one that involves stabbing a shark and riding it out of the water. This series really does have everything.
Since riding sharks while swordfighting blindfolded isn’t a full day’s work for Tatara, she also swims five kilometers through open ocean through ships that are actively firing on the pirates to commandeer a cannon on an enemy flagship. There are very few series that could pull that off without being really, really cheesy, but Basara is one of them. I’m really looking forward to the next 23 or so volumes that I’m sure are full of incidents that make these look like child’s play.
I’m a big fan of the messenger birds in this series, both Shuri’s parrot and Ageha’s owl. It helps that I just like the way Tamura draws owls, but the messenger birds also help keep all the characters I like connected where it might otherwise be difficult to bring them into the story (Ageha in particular). It’s just awesome.
Sarasa and Shuri are seriously going to be the death of me in this series. I know I’m meant to feel bad for them, but they’re just so cute together. It will be a true tragedy when they unmask each other.
Yeah, there are a lot of crazy action sequences throughout the story, and I love them. While they never stop happening, the story does shift away from the action and more towards introspection and passion as the characters mature. And it’s the latter which stays with me more than the crazy battles (though when I re-read the early volumes, I forget how much craziness was happening, so I get surprised all over again).
I think Volume 5 is the pinnacle of the crazy action, and is probably my favorite early volume. And it has a lot more Sarasa/Shuri scenes than most volumes, which is definitely a plus.
Since riding sharks while swordfighting blindfolded isn’t a full day’s work for Tatara, she also swims five kilometers through open ocean through ships that are actively firing on the pirates to commandeer a cannon on an enemy flagship.
Hee hee. I’d forgotten how over-the-top things can be sometimes. Later in the series, there are dolphin suicide torpedoes. :)
Michelle: dolphin suicide torpedoes. yes.
Sara K.: I did imagine the action escalating continuously, though passion is also high on my list of things I like to see in manga. And now I’m curious about volume 5. Only one way to find out, I suppose.
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