Basara 27
March 30, 2009
So, the main thing about this volume is WHY ARE SHURI AND SARASA NOT LIVING IN JAPAN?! I understand the whole “spreading the culture” thing, but… they fought to get it to where it is today, then promptly left the country on a trip and stayed out. What?!
The best story was probably the first, about Shuri and Sarasa. It takes place immediately after the final battles, and shows some of the demons the two of them wrestle with. Shuri is particularly depressed after the battles concludes, and both of them still have a certain degree of mistrust between them, though they also still love each other quite passionately. While working out their issues, they go to China and help to sort out the political situation there. All in a day’s work, but it was amazing to see the two of them working as a team again. They’re both such good characters, and have changed so much over the course of the story.
Most of the middle of the volume is filled with shorter stories, dealing with the lives of the owls, tying up some loose ends for most of the characters, one about Tamon winning the Genbu sword, and one dealing with the life of the captain of the guard in Kyoto.
There’s another long story at the end about Hayato, set ten or so years in the future and with the Japanese government in upheval again. I was a little less impressed with this story because it didn’t really surprise me in any way. It was kind of a nice, non-fanservice-y ten years later chapter, though. Usually every character in the series shows up for those, but this one doesn’t really have that weakness.
The last story has Shuri and Sarasa set in modern times. It was subtle, and I loved it. That was a fine way to leave things for the series.
This series does not disappoint in any way, shape, or form. Aside from the awesome plot and strong character development, it just has so many twists and turns that leave the reader completely stumped and wowed along the way. Asagi is probably the best example of this. He was just a dark horse all the way through, and I’ve never seen another character used as well as he was. The romance was amazing, and even aside from that, this was one of the only series with a romance I was interested in that had an amazing plot, to boot. Usually one suffers in favor of the other in cases like this. Plus, Tamura is still one of my favorite artists ever, and while it seems her art is not to everyone’s liking, I think the series looks quite amazing.
It was worth every penny and all the trouble I took tracking it down. What a wonderful series.
March 30, 2009 at 6:21 am
Hurray!
The story about Sarasa and Shuri is one of my favorite things in Basara. In fact, the main problem I see with it is that it’s a little too short, but it’s amazing what happens in so few pages.
Things I love about the story: Sarasa and Shuri had to deal with these demons – what happened in Volume 25 simply did not do justice to the complexity of their relationship, and I feel these are some of the most romantic scenes they have; the neat plot thread of Shuri learning how to tie a bowline knot; showing Shuri’s development that he has moved beyond flashy, effective, and destructive tactics, and instead works on the fundamental human source of problems; the translation scene is awesome.
I also love Pajama. Sarasa’s vision of hell … well, I love it. And I love Asagi’s ultimate fate.
I love “Pear” as well. Don’t ask me why.
The Hayato story had to happen, because it answers the question “who is going to rule Japan now that the monarchy is gone?”, which is a question I need answered. I also like grown-up Hayato more than his juvenile self, and I am genuinely touched by his disillusionment.
I think Sarasa and Shuri’s current job is awesome, but I don’t think it will last forever. Shuri’s dream was always to spend quite a bit of time abroad to return to Japan wiser, and even in the Hayato story, they are both probably about 30 years old. When they hit 40 years old, they will probably want to stay in one place, and that place would definitely be Japan.
I completely agree with your summation of Basara.
March 30, 2009 at 11:03 am
[...] 1 of 07-Ghost (The Star of Malaysia) Marsha Reid on vol. 8 of Angel Diary (Kuriousity) Connie on vol. 27 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga) Sheena McNeil on vol. 5 of Black Lagoon (Sequential Tart) Cynthia on CUT [...]
March 30, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I now indulge in feeling smugly vindicated. :)
March 31, 2009 at 4:30 am
you know..i couldn’t help but notice that you fell in love with ageha…..honestly…i like him better than shuri…..i really think ageha is my favorite character overall..i know ur supposed to root for the main couple but…*sighs* i never finished this volume…as far as the bonus stories went i lost all interest after the ageha backstory. maybe someday when i’m broke and have no other new manga to read, i will read this..but volume 25 really was enough for me.
March 31, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Ageha was a really, really great character, and I probably didn’t praise him enough. He was the best character for emotional stability and traveling on a straight line, and it was always really awesome to see him mopping things up after some character’s breakdown, sorting out fights, or swooping in at just the right time to save everyone. He was like some sort of superhero. I guess that’s why his last scene was one of the most heartbreaking in the entire series.
April 1, 2009 at 5:03 am
I think that’s in order, yes :)
April 1, 2009 at 5:12 am
I liked Tamura’s comment on “Pear,” where she said it wasn’t really supposed to be a funny story. The only thing I could think of when I read that was “Well, Asagi didn’t think it was very funny.”
And I agree about the main storyline not wrapping up their relationship in a satisfactory way. I think that was the only thing that disappointed me about the end of the story, but the after-story does an excellent job of resolving all those issues. And I forgot to mention the subtleties of that story too, I loved how Shuri’s disability was illustrated with the knot-tying, and I liked all the little ways that Shuri and Sarasa trusted each other while still being somewhat weary of one another.
I did remember that the two said they were going to travel (or traveling was mentioned at some point), but I was so disappointed when I read that they were living in Europe in the Hayato story. I guess it didn’t occur to me to question how the democracy would be set up once the war was over, I think I just filled in a magic happily-ever-after elected government. It does make sense that there would be problems. Maybe the story just didn’t strike me the right way because I never grew to like Hayato that much. He was the most suited to that type of odd man out story, though.
April 1, 2009 at 6:11 am
Ummm … the story about Asagi was “Peach” (which I have to love because it’s about Asagi). “Pear” is the story about Hachiya.
“I guess it didn’t occur to me to question how the democracy would be set up once the war was over, I think I just filled in a magic happily-ever-after elected government.”
I have studied quite a bit of history, as well as comparative government/politics, so I am very aware of just how complex setting up a democracy is. So a magic happily-ever-after democracy would have been very hard for me to swallow. It would have taken a full sequel to thoroughly examine the birth of a democracy, so I’m content with the nod that Tamura made to the issue in the Hayato story.
As for Ageha … well, I don’t love him as hard as some people. Yes, Ageha did awesome things. Ageha also had flaws, but he didn’t try to improve them, which meant his character didn’t have quite the explosive growth of, say, Asagi. I think that’s why I favor Sarasa, Shuri, and especially my darling Asagi more than Ageha.
April 3, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Ah! I’m getting my fruits mixed up. Thanks for that.
I think the story needed a character like Ageha though, because he did provide a sort of steady presence while everyone else grew up around him. He acted as more of a support for Sarasa while she went through everything she did more than he supported anyone else, but I also liked the role he took at the end of the story, where he did the killing that Sarasa wouldn’t have to think or know about. The fact that he was a steady character who was well-connected and wasn’t going through a lot of trials of his own in order to offer aid to the resistance was unique in the context of the story, and I also thought it was interesting that he could go through ordeals that would bring about change in any other character, like the one in the prison, and just remain himself before, during, and after. And it was neat to get to see the things that set him on his course in life in those bonus stories, after everything had been said and done.
April 4, 2009 at 4:27 am
True, if Ageha was flowering like all the other characters, the story would have been unbalanced. This does not change the fact that beautiful flowers, particularly an azure flower called Asagi, rivet my attention better than the strong supporting branches. See, I’ve read so much Basara that I’m using floral metaphors (to be fair, my favorite shojo tends to have enough flowers to choke the most macho of men).
Still, it’s amazing how well Sarasa, Shuri, Ageha, and Asagi all hold the story up together. Simply gorgeous chemistry.
June 17, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I just finished this series not 15 minutes ago and am completely blown away. It took me 15 minutes just to snap out of my euphoria, then two seconds to find a site mentioning this amazing manga. This series effortlessly married horrific, unimaginable tragedy with the most touching lessons and sweetest humor. Not to get too rabid, but it kinda took me to a spiritual place. For fave characters, I’d have to get on the Asagi/Ageha bandwagons. They couldn’t have been more different, and yet both felt so tangible, so human. I *heart* them!!!
I can understand your frustration with Shuri and Sarasa living in Europe ten years later, but there are several reason this makes sense. Shuri mentions during the Chinese arch that merchants are better suited to change a country than the military. Hence their mission as merchants of the world, revolutionizing the world as they’ve done their home country. Also, if they immediately stayed in Japan, the people could’ve become much too dependent on them to lead the country. They didn’t want to step in as another monarchy or lead as public officials. They aren’t suited to that life, so they stepped back to let others lead and keep the flow of change constant instead of stagnating in their hands. I agree that later in life they’ll probably settle down there, honestly, after the passion of their legend simmers a bit.