Basara 21

I had forgotten to mention this before, but I loved reading the essays in the backs of the volumes of this series.  The books don’t have much in the way of footnotes, but we were treated to the pleasant and informative essays that helped explain any cultural mysteries that popped up.  If I’m not mistaken, these were all written by Gerard Jones, who did the adaptation through volume 17.  They are editor’s notes though, so the writer could also be Ian Robertson or P. Duffield.  The editor for the series through those volumes, Patricia Duffield, wrote them.  They are sorely missed once they stop appearing.  Not that Basara is indecipherable without them, but they did add to my reading experience, at least.

I’m not sure if we got to see his face at the end of last volume, but I’m still impressed it took so long to unveil King Ukon.  He’s actually sort of a lame villian, ruling more out of habit than with any vested interest in being a tyrant.

In this volume, Tatara and the Red King, now King of Japan, prepare to go to war with each other.  I still have no idea what it is Shuri has in mind, but he manages to fire up everyone in Kyoto and get them all behind his war effort.  He even gets most people to grudgingly hand over most or all of their wealth.

Also, I like that he is so happily taking a bath just before his war.  As much as it confused me, the scenes where he was addressing the crowd in Kyoto were pretty amazing just because he really knows all the right things to say to get people to follow him.  His kingly qualities show.  But again… why the war after all this change he’s gone through?  Will he really let a grudge against Tatara stand?  But he says that she’s the only one he would ever consider marrying!  Hmm.  I flew through these volumes because I wanted to see the Sarasa/Shuri reunion SO BAD.  They haven’t really been together since volume 15, but the reunion should be spectacular after all this time and character development.

Shima is still around, despite being soundly rejected by Shuri several times.  I like that Shima is here, because it raises the possibility that perhaps the rift between Shuri and Sarasa is too big, which… you know, would be understandable given all the murdering and such.  But her presence is puzzling since she isn’t really a threat to their relationship.  Perhaps she just serves to show that Shuri still loves Sarasa… though what he wants to do with that love remains to be seen.  Is love enough?  Hmm.

The war starts off with some nice tricks traded between Shuri and Sarasa.  Nothing heavy as of yet.  Tatara kicks things off by basically telling Ginko off as a threat.  I think she’s still a threat even without Tatara trusting her, but we’ll see.

And my mistake.  Taro’s story wraps up in this volume with a message that both Shuri and Sarasa desperately need to get before they go too far into the attack.  Apparently there is a bigger conspiracy afoot, though one wonders how it’s so big that it could unseat both a king and a resistance movement that’s captured the entirety of the country.

I was also quite pleased by Shuri’s elephants.  What a fine thing to use in battle.

Basara 20

This will be short.

Let’s see.  In Kyoto, there is some sort of martial law in effect, and people are being slayed by the local police, the Yarogumi.  The Yarogumi are only upholding the strict laws set up by the nobility, which are things like curfews and bans on different things.  Apparently the higher-ups and other tyrants are slowly being eliminated by some sort of large, one-eyed ape.  Of course, this one-eyed ape is working in the best interest of Tatara, so… it’s pretty clear what’s going on.

A lot of the focus of the volume is on Taro and his efforts to try and figure out what sort of conspiracy may have set up for Tatara and the Red King.  He does this by traveling in the heart of the mountains to try and figure out what is being built in secret there.  He is successful, but of course the conspirators are after him, and it become a race to get the information to Tatara.

Taro is a good character, though I don’t give him much thought.  There are probably over 40 characters in this series, so some of them are going to be lost in the shuffle no matter how good they are.  I sort of set him aside since he’s the self-declared observer, but he’s got his own role to play, and it’s sort of unfortunate where it leads him.  I think I would have preferred him as a simple watcher, but he turns out to be just as much an ally to Tatara as anyone else in the end.

There’s also a lot about Asagi in this volume.  He works with Ginko, who managed to make me feel more uncomfortable than Asagi.  She sounds like she’s against King Ukon, despite being his daughter, but in her case, I think it’s safe to ask the question “Is the enemy of my enemy really my friend?”  And… well, I didn’t think it could be done, but I like Asagi more and more between this volume and the last.  I still can’t tell if he’s on Ginko’s side or Sarasa’s or his own, but he’s been playing nice with everyone lately, and everyone seems to really like him.  It’s hard for me to believe he’s putting on an act when he’s in camp at this point, especially around Sarasa… though that’s certainly not out of the question.

There’s a battle against King Ukon’s army, a small but key one for Tatara.  The best moment in the volume was probably when it was revealed that the battle would be won or lost based on whether or not Asagi took a leap of faith down a cliff.  It’s really this scene, combined with the stuff about his feelings for Sarasa last volume, that make me think he… might not actually wish the Tatara camp bad luck.

Oh, Shuri. I just can’t tell what he’s thinking.  One of his father’s most loyal advisors sought Shuri out to try and help the King against Tatara’s invasion of Kyoto.  It’s clear that his opinions have shifted drastically since he spouts off the line “the same red blood flows in kings and slaves alike,” but on the other hand… he’s King now.  King of Japan.  Because… because he went back and decided that’s what he was going to do.  I don’t know where this is going.  I can’t tell what he’s thinking.  It’s maddening.

Well, okay, not so short.

Basara 19

This and volume 20 are insanely hard to come by for some reason.  I acquired both of them after searching for about a month or so, but rituals were performed.  Lives were lost.  Amazon was checked daily for a sanely-priced copy.

The black holes that form in the middle of Viz series are a bit mysterious.  Why are there shortages of volumes 19 and 20?  Why not the first volumes?  Did the print run suddenly decrease at this point?  And if so, why are 18 and 21 still easy to come by?  It is a mystery.

Until you read this volume and realize that people are probably hoarding it for the Asagi scene alone.

I’ve never read a series like this that so successfully balances an epic war spanning an entire country with a really nice romance.  I’ve said before that I enjoy stories that take advantage of their setting, specifically in relation to novels that are about trips across America, and Basara is great for that, too.  I know nothing about the geography of Japan, so the details are lost on me, but I can certainly see how much work was put into having Sarasa travel to every region and look at what makes each area unique.  Of course, some of those details might only exist in Basara, and I couldn’t tell you which ones (except for the whole desert thing), but I can appreciate the fact they’re there, and it makes the story that much more ambitious.

Lots and lots and lots of stuff happens in this volume.  I think it might be my favorite so far, even after all that stuff that happened in 14 and 15.  Tatara and her accumulated Navy take on King Ukon’s navy, and an epic sea battle is had on board the Phoenix, one that includes dolphins that have bombs strapped to them and are somehow trained to run into the boats.  After this happens, a group of assassins drop onto the ship and engage all the major characters in battle.  In any other volume, the assassins engaging every single one of the major allies would have been the highlight, but the fact that it’s overshadowed by everything else here should tell you just how AWESOME volume 19 really is.

After this battle, there is… well, like, the ultimate scene between Asagi and Sarasa.  I can never tell if Asagi is coming or going, and its apparent he’s a little confused himself when it comes to Sarasa.  He offers to kill her as a mercy, says he’s going to kill her anyway, wants to ally with her, wants to run away with her, wants her to stay by his side.  It was just awesome.  He’s also insanely jealous about everything a person could be jealous of, I think.

Later, Tatara and a small entourage go to meet with the former Black King’s army, led by Shuri.  The army is engaged in a battle, and as they approach, without anyone saying anything out loud, Asagi says something to the effect of “Idiots are usually at the front of the battle.”  Aww.  But a reunion is not to be.

There is an indirect kiss.  I died a little inside.  It’s so corny in any other series, but the fact that three characters are in on it, along with Sarasa’s facial expressions while she’s riding off, make Basara the only series that uses this technique that I cannot make fun of.

And volume 20 was even harder to get.  What does that have in it?  A reunion?  Please?