Basara 17
Posted: March 6, 2009 Filed under: Basara 5 Comments »Shuri was just spooky in this volume. Sarasa dealt with her demons last time, but it looks like Shuri hasn’t yet. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking. The two sort of meet up, but don’t talk face-to-face. Shuri is a slave now, and is sort of dropped in the middle of these people that he may have put in this position himself. Shuri refuses to accept help from Tatara to free the slaves, and a man who recognizes him suggests this is because he is bitter about losing. I’m… not sure if Shuri is bitter or not. Shuri’s inner struggle is only depicted through his actions. While he can still take charge, and is definitely more sympathetic and tolerant of people, I don’t know how he feels about Sarasa.
The plot to free the above slaves is awesome, and is tied into a public humiliation for King Ukon. The slaves are working on a giant Buddha statue, and are set to be buried with the statue as it is publicly unveiled. Tatara and Kikune work on a sabotage while the Purple Lady and her escort are in town and help Tatara’s plan by delivering materials for the statue as gifts.
The trick itself is magnificent, and it’s great how Kikune and Tatara do the preliminary work and have all the slaves help out. Shuri’s way of working among the slaves is also quite amazing, and he helps everyone escape in his own way. He is subdued though, and you can see that he’s having trouble dealing with the change in perspective when he finds himself among opressed people who want the change Tatara is offering them, as opposed to the protection of a king.
Later, there are assassins. I’m not sure how serious this is as of yet, but it looks like this will be a thread for future volumes. I’m actually far interested in what Shuri will get up to from here, and how he will deal with… well, himself.
It’s volumes like this that make me see how brilliant it was for them to come to the realization about each other’s identities earlier than expected. Because it actually deals with the resultant fallout in a very thorough way, and helps Shuri to further see things with new eyes, etc.
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“Shuri’s inner struggle is only depicted through his actions.”
You struck exactly one of the things which fascinates me so much about his character. I sometimes appreciate the fact that Sarasa is so transparent (to the readers), but Shuri doesn’t verbalize as much or as well. Maybe that’s why his lines tend to be my favorites. His actions, however, are enough to reveal his heart, especially in multiple readings …
I sometimes feel like I haven’t really read a book until I’ve read it twice. Manga is not excluded. Therefore I’m attracted to manga where there’s a lot to be picked up in the second or third round. I can often tell how much I like a manga by how slowly I read it. It takes me an hour to read a volume of Basara because I spend so much time dwelling on a panel, or re-reading a bit of dialogue before I proceed. Manga which I find less riveting takes 20-35 minutes per volume.
That’s true, I do like the aftermath. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I guess I had just imagined it happening as a final confrontation, and they may have killed each other in my imagination too, so I hadn’t thought about what would happen if they both lived through the event :p
After I got into this series, it only takes me about 30 minutes to polish off a volume. Mostly I’m flying through and all but skipping some parts trying to get to the Shuri/Sarasa parts, though, so I think this is going to be one of those times I’m going to start back over from the beginning to try and digest more of what’s going on and pick up on foreshadowing I missed the first time through. There aren’t very many manga series I re-read just because I always have more new stuff to get through, but Basara certainly deserves it.
I rarely re-read novels. I only really started reading a lot of novels again after I finished college, so most of my favorites have been sitting around for less than four years. I may feel more inclined to go back to them after more time has passed.