Basara 5
Posted: February 11, 2009 Filed under: Basara 7 Comments »Somehow, I forgot there was a perilous race to be won in this volume.
In addition to the race, which included things like beheading wires, soldiers picking off runners, alligators eating people, hot air balloons, and swordfights, there was also a LOT of Shuri and Sarasa. So much, in fact, that I was wondering how the two were going to be separated at the end of the volume since they seem very attached to one another after that whole race.
Human sacrifice comes up at one point, as does a series of sleight-of-hand tricks. There was a whole ceremony involved in the ruins of Tokyo. I couldn’t have been more pleased with everything that went on in this volume. Action, romance, death-defying feats, etc.
I saw the whole Blue King situation coming. I suspected the man in the mask or the man with short hair. Both wound up being someone, and I’m kind of glad for the confrontation between the Blue King and Red King at the end. I doubt anything will come of it, but still.
Personally, I think that the serpent king *IS* the true Blue King, not Asagi. However, that is my interpretation, not something which is ever confirmed, so it’s not a spoiler to say that.
The next volume has less action and less romance. On the other hand, there is a scene featuring Asagi which is priceless.
I think I’m going to have to re-read Basara at some point, because I’d completely forgotten about this race thing.
I’m about halfway through six, and I can already tell I’m in for a dry spell concerning Sarasa and Shuri. Seven is the last one I have before I have to stop and wait for more, I bought a bunch of the later volumes, but I still need to pick up the middle volumes.
And that would be totally awesome if Asagi was actually just a nobody that seized the moment after the Blue King died.
Asagi’s background is pretty twisted. And ambiguous. Suffice to say, what he says to Shuri at the beginning of Volume 6 is not the complete truth.
Oh, and I still think that Asagi and Shuri are related to each other, but even that is debatable, so I’m not spoiling anything by saying that either :D Eventually you will be able to draw your own conclusions.
While we are talking about the weirdness of the royal family, I would like to point out that I also believe that Nagi is the prince that Asagi talks about at the beginning of Volume 6. Yet again, this is open to interpretation, so it’s not a spoiler. This is why it’s not enough to read Basara – you really do have to RE-read it to absorb all of the tantalizing hints (though now that you’re forwarned, you might see some of them on your first reading).
NAGI?! Really? That would be pretty neat, too. I honestly can’t even imagine how that would work. I guess the royal bloodlines must be convoluted indeed. I am looking forward to the way the relationships all work out, though, because I really can’t see how some of that would work out at this point.
On page 12 of Volume 6, Asagi says that the prince had “remarkable foresight”, and who has greater foresight than Nagi? There are other hints throughout the story.
And does one of the relationships that you can’t see working involve Sarasa’s mother? Because when I was reading Basara for the first time, I couldn’t see that one working either.
I totally forgot about Sarasa’s mother until volume 6. I wasn’t actually expecting any sort of plot involving her until later in the series, and I think I imagined it having something to do with Tatara getting close and the Red King holding her hostage. I was not expecting what happened.