Jyu-Oh-Sei 3

Natsumi Itsuki – Tokyopop – 2009 – 3 volumes
The Tokyopop edition of this series matches the thick kazenban release in Japan.  The original series was five standard volumes.

I’m a tough judge when it comes to the endings of my manga.  I usually don’t like them, and for good reason: they are all-too-frequently tacked on, the product of a series that has been running for years that the artist has just gotten the okay to finish up and is more than likely very eager to put it to bed.  It is the nature of manga, but such circumstances understandably don’t make for a good ending.

Jyu-Oh-Sei somehow pulls off an excellent ending, one of the more satisfying conclusions for a plot I’ve had in awhile.  It’s even more incredible when you realize how long it took to finish the series (it was serialized off and on for 8-10 years).  It reads a lot like an action movie, with lots of explosions, edge-of-the-seat thrills, romance, last minute reveals, and lots of luck for the charming hero.

Though Thor was never the charming one, that was all Third.  The dynamic the series had going between Thor, Third, and Zagi was very interesting, since Zagi and Third wanted very different things and Thor wasn’t sure who to believe.  This volatile situation comes to a head early in the volume, and… actually, the plot goes through with all its promises.  I was a little surprised by this, since I wasn’t entirely sure where things were going to go once Thor started down the path for uncovering the secrets of Kimaera.  It goes… well, a lot of places I wouldn’t have expected.

Suffice to say that some of the themes that the series ties in are quite amazing an appropriate, and the topics it chooses to use for tie-ins fit in so well that I can’t begrudge it the message.  I also liked the author’s admission that she had decided on the fates of all the main characters before the series began.  I loved that, actually, since she does things most authors do not dare with their characters.

If you were thinking of picking this up, if it sounds like it would appeal to you, go for it.  It’s a tight shoujo sci-fi title, and I’m a really tough customer when it comes to this type of story.  I enjoyed it quite a bit more than To Terra and Andromeda stories, though it’s definitely got a similar feel to those.  It makes me think of Apothecarius Argentum too, but only because of the elaborate society and world it builds up for itself throughout the course of the story.  I’m still very impressed by how much detail was created and was so simple to grasp and read through.  Normally I have a lot of trouble with that, but not in Jyu-Oh-Sei.  And there’s the action and romance.  It’s hard to deny the pleasure in the characters getting stalked by man-eating plants through a supercomputer, or the ridiculous shoujo moments between Thor and any of the native Kimaerans, whose idea of romance is getting his “seed.”  He does get at least one very girly scene before the book is finished.

It had the perfect explosion panel towards the end, too.  I love how much meaning such a simple image can convey, and it was very loaded here.