Children of the Sea 2

Daisuke Igarashi – Viz – 2009 – 4+ volumes

Man, I can’t believe I put off reading this for so long.  I have no idea why, I enjoyed the first volume quite a bit.  The second continues the themes of a sort of bizarre ocean-themed fairy tale set in the modern day, except the story further unhinges itself from reality and goes in some interesting directions.

Umi and Sora are still separated, and Ruka does her best to help Umi find his lost brother.  Umi is in a state of persistent mourning after being separated from Sora for the first time, and while Ruka at first helps him deal with his sorrow, the two later embark on a series of searches which have various bizarre outcomes, from lightening and manta rays leaping out of a typhoon-swept ocean, to salty rainwater, to more strange fish disappearances, to partially formed children with no record of existing washing up on shore.  Actually, most of that is caused by a typhoon that sits over the story for a good chunk of the volume, but it’s unclear what Sora and Umi have a hand in, and Umi mentions the typhoon is their brother from the southern oceans.

In fact, the maddening definition of what Umi and Sora are, and the extent of what they can do and what things simply just happen around them, is still central to the plot of the story.  It is explained in a rather unsatisfying way towards the end (somewhat, not really), but there are one or two alternative explanations that I would accept.  Nothing really makes sense, mind, but one of the themes of the story is a commentary on the limited nature of science and what humans can see, so it’s not setting out to make sense, it’s trying to do something different.

As I said, it does read as kind of a fairy tale set in the modern day, but it also explores the ideas of fairy tales through the ages and how a seed of truth might be sowed into them.  A new scientist that enters the picture towards the end of the volume, Anglade, tries to explain Umi and Sora’s situation by looking at aquatic-themed folklore from Southeast Asia, which is extremely interesting, though I wish it were pursued more or linked in a more concrete way to the story.

Anglade is, by the way, the very definition of androgynous.  He is referred to as a “he” by other characters, but he really, really looks like a girl, and there is at least one panel where he has breasts.  He also wears his shirts in a way that suggests breasts.  Yeah, I’m not sure where that’s going.

Anyway, later on, there are some hints about Ruka’s role in Umi and Sora’s story, and how she may be more like them than she thought.  She is trusted with an item that ensures her a more supernatural role in the coming series, which bodes well for future installments.

And the art continues to do a great job with the lavishily-illustrated seaside landscapes and underwater panoramas.  It’s important for a series so linked to nature, and it’s amazing to look at.  It’s probably worth mentioning that sometimes the sketchy detail makes the drawings of people suffer (there was a face on one of the first pages that made me cringe), but hey, it’s not all about the people here, and Umi, Sora, and Ruka always look pretty good.

I still feel like the story has only begun to explain the mysteries its spinning, and I have a feeling they won’t be explained all that adequately in the end, so it makes it a bit of a maddening reading experience.  But it’s still an incredible read, a kind of ethereal story with amazing illustrations to go along with it.  I’m very much looking forward to the strange paths the story will take in the future.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.