Children of the Sea 1

I have to say, I’m all about Viz’s recent online manga efforts.  I’ve been reading Rin-ne every week (mostly because, well, I like Rumiko Takahashi and I like shinigami, but it’s got sort of a slow start), and recently, Viz launched an online version of Ikki magazine with a weekly release schedule for chapters of Children of the Sea.  I believe there will be more content when the site formally launches at the end of summer, but for now, Children of the Sea is quite a treat.  There are three chapters up currently, but this review is for the full volume.

It’s not so much driven by story as it is by the art and setting (a coastal town with a marine research facility/aquarium).  It’s comparable to Aria in that way, except Aria… well, it doesn’t have nearly the depth that this does, which is a strange thing to say about series which primarily focus on sight-seeing.  Aria’s structure is mostly episodic stories where the characters take in the scenery, whereas in Children of the Sea, the rather serious-minded and wordless exploration leads to revealing more about the mysterious plot.  The gist is that a misfit girl named Ruka starts hanging out with two boys named Umi and Sora who were supposedly raised in the sea and are seeking out other people who witnessed a mystery/phenomena some years ago.  Apparently anyone who witnessed the event was deeply impacted by it.  But you don’t find all this out at once.

The book is mostly amazing scenery shots as Ruka travels to different locations around town on her bike and bits where someone, usually Umi, is swimming among fish, plantlife, rocks, and everything else underwater.  The art has an extremely… rough and organic look to it, unlike the extremely stylized art in Aria, so it lends itself better to depicting the sea life and nature (whereas a lot of Aria’s strengths are in architecture, so I suppose that balances out).  The composition and scale of the illustrations are also not to be believed, and there are wonderful full-page illustrations of things like a small Ruka staring into a massive tank with a tiny Umi swimming among schools of fish, or Ruka floating underwater and remaining still while a sea of gigantic whale sharks passes her by.  Later in the book, there are scenes where massive, exotic fish beach themselves.  The depiction is somehow both grotesque and beautiful.  There’s not a lot of noise or dialogue, so most of what happens is just observation, both by the reader and Ruka.  I said the same thing of Aria too, but this book is somehow a lot quieter and paced more slowly than Aria.  They’re really not comparable at all once you read them both, but it’s easy to see parallels between them, which is why I keep bringing it up.

The scenes are occasionally surreal as well.  In my favorite scene, as Ruka pedals her bike through a heavy downpour, she suddenly realizes that the sensation is not unlike swimming.  As the thought surfaces, she glances up and sees what appears to be Umi swimming in midair above her for a second.  No explanation is offered.  The entire series is introduced in the first few pages as a true event (presented by someone who is perhaps an older Ruka) and at the same time a tall tale, or maybe a big fish story.  It does a good job of being somehow both fantastic and grounded, so the introduction sets the mood quite well.

And while you’re absorbing what is usually a rather breathtaking illustration or moment such as the one at the aquarium I described above, usually a small piece of the plot will be offered up.  As Ruka looks up at the tank, her dad walks up behind her and tells her in a straightforward manner that Umi was raised by manatees.  In another scene, as Ruka casually offers up an observation about the fish that they’d been watching and swimming with for some time, Umi makes a face and reveals what it is that he and Sora have been doing all these years.  No plot details immediately connect, and usually only one or two facts ever come to light in each chapter.  The buildup is slow, but I really would love nothing more than watching the characters meander and take their time doing things.

Currently, the plot is establishing an intriguing mystery, and although there aren’t really a lot of hooks that would keep a reader coming back, it’s the way the story is told and the absolutely amazing art that make this series unique.  The fact that there’s an overarching plot and continuity is just a bonus.  It’s also the perfect series to offer online for free, because between the artwork and the beautiful book presentation, it’s pretty apparent that it is very special and worth owning.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.