Cantarella 10
August 1, 2009
You Higuri – Go!Comi – 2009 – 10+ volumes
I keep thinking that the last volume of this has come out, and then one more comes out. This really is the last volume before the hiatus. I got this about a month back and was a little bummed when I read the editor’s note in the back of the volume that simply said that this would resume when Crown finished serialization. Alas, Crown finished serialization a year or more ago and I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of this in Princess Gold. It’s possible I wasn’t paying attention, because apparently this was announced a couple months ago, but I was delighted when I got the newest Princess Gold and Cantarella was in the next issue ad. So yeah, it’ll be out again in a couple weeks. Also featured on that ad are all the best series in Princess Gold, including two of my favorite series ever.
Anyway. I actually, really, really liked this volume of Cantarella. I’ve been sort of lukewarm all the way through the series, but this volume finally got to the parts of Cesare Borgia’s life that I know are interesting, namely that he waged conquest-type wars and was a terror in battle. The politics building up the situation aren’t terribly interesting, but they do a good job of creating suspense so that when Cesare starts riding around with the King of France and people start fleeing and going underground, you know something serious is underway.
I think the climax is coming, because now the series has put Cesare and Chiaro opposite each other, so I suspect they will clash in an epic final battle and… something will happen. I’m not entirely sure what. I can’t tell if they’re friends or enemies at this point, which is pretty awesome. Machiavelli hinted that Cesare might not have to die, so maybe…? But then little Cesare’s spirit showed up and stabbed itself with a sword?
Also, I have to say, I enjoyed the weird/awesome Leonardo Da Vinci cameo. I hope he comes back. Though it was strange that Cesare’s situation was compared to that of Christ.
The romance, while not as passionate as it has been in other volumes, was there somewhat, but it served as a reminder about what I liked best about the series. Of course, I’m still not a big fan of Lucrezia, or the Lucrezia/Chiaro pairing, but I’m fond of pretty much everything else, implied and otherwise, that’s going on.
So yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked this volume, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the series now.
Also, I liked the strange bonus comic in the back of the volume where Higuri talked about her appearance at Anime Expo. It was unexpected and hilarious.
August 3, 2009 at 6:10 am
[...] (Completely Futile) Scott Green on vols. 5 and 6 of Black Jack (Ain’t It Cool News) Connie on vol. 10 of Cantarella (Slightly Biased Manga) Lori Henderson on vol. 5 of Chibi-Vampire (Comics Village) Laura on The [...]
September 30, 2009 at 4:22 am
i almost impulse bought all 10 volumes at the go comi site cuz they were selling them in a bundle for 49.99….but then i had to check ur reviews first to see if it was worth it, and i didn’t buy them. im just gonna buy vol.1 and decide for myself if its my thing. i just wanted u to know that.
October 2, 2009 at 5:24 am
Oh good, I’m glad you found my reviews useful! I noticed the Cantarella bundle just a couple days ago, and I remember thinking to myself that it was a pretty sweet deal. But Cantarella is kind of a mess, and I always forget about that after I put a volume down. The first volume is a lot of exposition with a huge cast of characters and is hard to follow… it gets better about those things later, but it has other problems later. There’s a lot of things to like about it, but it’s also really hard to read. Yeah, the first volume is a pretty good indication of the balance of good and bad through the rest of the series.
October 2, 2009 at 11:08 pm
yeah so i just bought the first vol. of Seimaden, cuz i’d never read a series by her before, so i thought i’d get a feel for her style (and it’s 30% through the instock trades website). and i hate it when series have really messy layouts, and are hard to follow! (i’m lookin at u tsubasa reservoir chornicles) though the art is so pretties!
October 4, 2009 at 3:25 am
Yeah… You Higuri can be bad about that sometimes, though I think she improves through the years, judging by what I read by her.
I haven’t read Seimaden since I haven’t really liked what I’ve read by Higuri enough to try it, but I am kind of curious to see how her art compares to her newer series. It’s the loopy plots I have problems with sometimes, but she is a very skilled artist when everything is moving smoothly.
October 5, 2009 at 5:18 pm
i thought the first vol. of Seimaden was really good. the bad guy was hot, and u can almost count on him not being some good guy underneath it all. i feel the plot is easy to follow and the arts not to cluttered. though it’s not as pretty. but i did like it a lot.
October 7, 2009 at 2:50 am
Hmm. Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad. It’s about demons too, and I have a soft spot for shoujo stories about demons and their demon kings. I ought to give it a try.