Basara 23
Posted: March 18, 2009 Filed under: Basara 8 Comments »While the cover of this book does have a lovely portrait of Asagi, I have to say the effect is ruined with the advisor on the back cover picking his nose.
I… was actually kind of curious how the story continued on from here. I know the last… two or so volumes are supplemental stories, but after the last volume, I could not imagine the story carrying on another three volumes. Even after the stuff that’s set into motion after the battle in this volume, I can’t see that carrying on for two more volumes. Hmm.
My favorite part was certainly the beginning of the volume. As Shuri is struggling after the battle with Hiiragi, Tatara watches and thinks about all the terrible things he’s done, like burn her viliage, behead her brother, and striking out Ageha’s eye for no reason. Amidst this, Shuri lectures his army, who is dismayed that he has led them to their deaths. He tells them not to follow him like sheep, that he told them to come only if they wanted to, and that from then on, they were to think for themselves and the King of Japan was officially relinquishing the country to Tatara. It’s not really shown what Tatara thinks of this, but the implication is that Shuri is telling her to think for herself and not do what everyone else tells her to do, such as hate the Red King. It’s quite a powerful scene.
Immediately after, there’s another really nice scene with Asagi. Asagi wept after Shuri’s battle, apparently because of the outcome. He claims he would rather Shuri have died. Then he… receives a summons from the White King. He asks Sarasa to make a choice for him, and even though she seems to make the choice that would please him most, he goes off… and becomes the Blue King in Kyoto, betraying both armies.
Sigh. I can’t figure this out, though his intentions don’t seem to be the same as Ginko and Ukon’s, who seem to want him in order to hold the city under a King. He actually doesn’t seem to favor them at all, and gives Sarasa a rather passionate parting kiss. So… what he’s doing doesn’t make any sense. Again. I’d like to think his intentions aren’t evil though, since he no longer feels like a bad guy.
Asagi basically holds Kyoto hostage as king, and none of the residents are allowed to leave under threat of… torching the city, basically. Good thing Ageha is on the inside, working for the greater good. Ageha faces off against the Yarogumi, along with some allies, though this battle carries over into the next volume.
The Red King and Tatara have a temporary truce, though there is still a lot of hate for him in Tatara’s army. They all assume that the pair will ally temporarily to retake Kyoto, then fight to the death. They don’t really get any alone time, and towards the end, Sarasa just decides to run off and see what Asagi is up to. I guess that’s one way of doing it.
I can’t imagine the stuff with Asagi taking that much time, though. Maybe King Ukon and Ginko will be dealt with, then maybe a lot of time will be spent on Sarasa and Shuri and their aftermath? I think I would like that a lot, actually.
You read this series really quickly. And I envy you a bit that you succeeded in getting all the rare volumes.. ;-)
[...] on vol. 23 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga) Lissa Pattillo on vol. 19 of Black Cat (Kuriousity) Tangognat on vol. 1 of [...]
“Sigh. I can’t figure this out”
If you could, it wouldn’t be as suspenseful.
The main story only continues for another volume and a half. The second half of Volume 25 is short stories. However, I think the short stories of Volumes 25-27 are very important, since they answer the big questions left open by the main story. I don’t think Basara would be complete without them.
I remember, when I finished this volume, I had to wait two weeks to get Volumes 24-27. Two weeks. I was marathoning Basara really hard the first time I read it (it took about a week to get through volumes 2-23) so those two weeks felt really long.
Oh man, it was so easy to fly through volumes of this once I had them all. I think I read six in one sitting at one point. I just spaced out the reviews so that I wouldn’t spam the front page too badly with Basara. Even though it probably deserves it.
Oh, I don’t exactly mind not being able to figure it out. It’s just one of those mental wrench in the works things. It bothered me a little bit just because I felt like the story should have ended with a fight between Shuri and Sarasa, or with that scene with Shuri and some (or a lot of) aftermath.
Come to think of it, short stories are probably the best way to do the loose ends. There would have to be one heck of an epilogue to tie everything up, and it would have to jump around in time to be really satisfying, because otherwise it would be one of those corny shoujo “everyone appears one last time to say what they’re doing”-type chapters, and I can’t imagine Basara using that convenience.
Don’t worry, the climax is centered around Sarasa and Shuri. However, Asagi has things he needs to do first.
Some of the short stories are epilogues, and are prologues of various types (in fact, the longest story is about the characters’ great-grandparents). There are also completely silly stories, such as the one where all of the characters are in a singing contest.
I think Asagi ran off because when he asked Sarasa whom she would choose, he meant in a romantic way. But the way Sarasa answered showed that she did not even think of him romantically, but as a friend. And that he wasn’t on Shuri’s level.
It was just another example of how his wishes are denied.
Ooh, good one, I hadn’t thought of that. There’s a lot of meaning in that scene, I think my original interpretation was that she made the choice that pleased him most so that he was willing to do the horrible thing that needed to be done, ie be the king that everyone hated. But it’s always hard to tell what he’s thinking, and it is an odd decision for him to make for the greater good, so you could be right as well.