Basara 12
Posted: March 1, 2009 Filed under: Basara 4 Comments »I really enjoy the covers of these books, too. I’m a big fan of wraparound images, which I believe every volume has. This one is one of my favorites, I love that image of Sarasa sitting inside a giant monster’s ribcage.
King Ukon’s family continues to expand. I’ve read ahead of this volume, but so far, it seems like King Ukon has at least three sons (the Red, Blue, and Black Kings). For some reason, I was under the impression that the Black King was King Ukon until volume 15 or 16. Here in this prison, King Ukon’s younger brother rules, and his son, Shuri’s cousin, is head of the four guards. I thought that what the the four guards called each other (Fire Fox, Water Deer, etc) were just titles, but apparently they are the actual names?
Also, the whole reveal about the place being run by children that couldn’t escape is total nonsense. I can’t even wrap my brain around that. Maybe I misunderstood what was going on.
The escape is well-orchestrated and involves a lot of Ageha, Nachi, the guy with the Genbu sword, some epic hot spring sources, and some backstabbing, which is an ever-present element in this series. Asagi does it yet again, except he turns around again in the end. He would be two-faced, except he only seems to be on his own side. Why does Tatara trust him again? I guess because he keeps pulling off these incredible feats and whatnot. Maybe he is doing it to help her, I don’t know.
The virtue that winds up running into Nachi and helping him out was pretty awesome. I figured all of those guys were just as twisted as Asagi, but maybe it’s just Umewaka that’s sort of evil. At this point, I’ve read far enough ahead that Kikune is introduced, another virtue, and she’s just plain awesome.
I also liked the different blocks the prison was broken up into. I wasn’t entirely clear why the prisoners were made to mine in block A, or what the purpose of having the prisoners hooked on smack in block B was, but I liked that the crazy got a block of his own. I also liked the complex network of hot springs, water, and the balance of the hot spring sources and the cold winter outside. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into designing the prison and working out all sorts of obstacles and stuff for the characters to run across.
But seriously. Children? Fire Fox?
[...] (Manga Maniac Cafe) Deb Aoki on vols. 1 and 2 of Astral Project (About.com) Connie on vols. 11, 12, and 13 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga) Thea on vol. 1 of Death Note (The Book Smugglers) Ana on [...]
“Why does Tatara trust him again?”
Keep in mind that Sarasa has at this point a lot more time with Asagi than with Shuri, though most of that time is off-screen and not particularly interesting to the readers.
I think on some level Sarasa knows that Shuri is the Red King at this point. She is just in denial. Well, Asagi helps with the denial part, I wonder if she would have sustained it without his input.
On one hand, it seems like she would at least suspect with two huge pieces of evidence pointing towards Shuri and the Red King being the same person (that the Red King’s name is Shuri and the Red King’s cousin looks exactly like Shuri). On the other hand, I have to say I would probably have dismissed the evidence myself since it’s so unlikely. If you’re as obsessed with the Red King as Sarasa is though, it’s probably hard to dismiss completely. You would have to wonder at least a little bit.
And I don’t know, Sarasa wanted to throw Asagi out right from the start. I’m not entirely sure if she’s kept him around because she trusts him or because he’s just so useful. Probably the latter, and I imagine Asagi is fine with just keeping his foot in the door.
Hmmm, I was not exactly fond of this whole prison story arc and I’m glad it ended. It was just too over the top. And I agree with you with your thoughts about Shuri and Asagi. Oh well, you already know how it all ended anyway… ;-)