Silver Diamond 1

I’ve heard that this was a really fun series, so I decided to try it out during the most recent Tokyopop sale at the Right Stuf.

It’s good!  I initially rejected it because… well, I’ve been burned on a lot of series with shounen ai overtones.  Usually awkward relationship developments take the place of shaky plots, and they generally don’t make for a good read.  But Silver Diamond was different.  Silver Diamond was a fantasy series with only the barest hints of shounen ai, and I can live with that.

I quite liked the take on dimensional travel.  Chigusa, a man from another time and place, winds up in Rakan’s yard one day, and Rakan decides to take care of him.  Chigusa doesn’t know a lot of the words or customs of this world, and full advantage is taken when he doesn’t understand things like alarm clocks, bathing, plantlife, water, et cetera.  The story succeeds because it doesn’t make jokes about this.  Chigusa isn’t reacting with comical shock to every little thing.  He freely admits to not knowing how to do anything, and simply listens to Rakan’s instructions and follows them faithfully.  Chigusa also reveals that Rakan has the power to make plants instantly grow, a treasured skill where Chigusa comes from since they seem to lack plants and also fight with guns make out of trees.  For his part, Rakan takes the appearance of the man quite well, not questioning his origin too much, and the two reach a somewhat quiet coexistence.

A third character with a talking snake appears in order to to spice things up.  The talking snake is the one that makes the expected jokes, except the jokes still aren’t quite what you would imagine (the snake attacks the stove, for instance, because it is shooting fire, and the story itself makes jokes at the expense of the snake when it starts making expected comments about television).  But with the new character, we find out that Rakan is likely from the same world as the other two men.  We also find out that Chigusa is something of an outlaw in that world, and that Rakan has some tie to the prince of that world since the two of them look exactly alike.

Not much has been revealed about the fantasy world yet, but some interesting stuff about Chigusa comes out at the end of the volume, which is when the shounen ai overtones started.  As I said, I didn’t mind so much, because by that time the plot had developed a fairly interesting start, and it happened immediately after the really cool Chigusa stuff.  I’m not sure how well it fits just yet (it appears to be tacked on at the moment), but perhaps it will sell me on it in later volumes.

It’s pretty good.  Nothing special just yet, but it’s a good start.