Blade of the Immortal 14
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal Leave a comment »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2005 – 26+ volumes
Okay! So, what we have here is what I imagined would be the conclusion of the series. Anotsu is sick and dying, his rivals have come for his head, Rin stands in this confrontation, and then the melee is joined by Manji and Magatsu, one fighting for Rin, the other one presumably fighting for Anotsu.
This is a good fight. Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t read this volume fast enough to find out how things fell out here. This is what the entire series has been leading up to so far. But, that being said, I didn’t like it quite as much as the bloody Manji fight a few volumes ago. Manji’s role in this fight is minimal, and he allows Rin to pass judgment on the men who are going to kill Anotsu, as to whether they are bad men that Manji needs to kill. Magatsu and Manji both find skilled men to fight… but even Magatsu’s fight wasn’t quite as good as the one he had before this. And Anotsu is dying. There’s also a deus ex machina kind of ending where everyone has to stop. I just… didn’t like it as much.
I… I can’t figure out the aftermath. Without spoiling too much… what about Anotsu’s fate? The characters were stating one thing at the beginning of the fight, and we saw something completely different in the aftermath.
After this fight, the story goes on, and we find out that the Mugai-Ryu are rather forcefully pressing Manji into service, and this may interfere with his bodyguarding of Rin. He passes this off as nothing at the very end of the volume, but their reunion after the brawl with Anotsu was more emotional than I was expecting. I’m fond of both of them at this point, though Rin still irks me occasionally. Especially with the way she acted at the beginning of this volume when questioned by Manji in front of the crowd of potential bad guys.
Yurara 3
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: Yurara Leave a comment »Chika Shiomi – Viz – 2007 – 5 volumes
Okay, Yurara. You heard my complaints, and then you saw me cast you aside in favor of Rasetsu. And here I come back, and you’ve changed. Your characters got better. Unfortunately, Yako got most of the character development, and he gets even more in Rasetsu, so I have a hard time being unbiased. But Mei and Yurara get some too, and there are some major character-related plot points in this volume rather than basic ghostbusting. In fact, ghostbusting takes a backseat to hanging out with ghosts, like Yurara’s grandpa, who shows up to offer exposition and periodically turn into a young man whose looks rival Mei and Yako’s. Also, I think it was last volume, but I think the characters were wearing Aerosmith shirts around. That’s an automatic win for me.
Yurara’s grandpa shows up to explain a little more about Yurara’s guardian spirit, and also offer support until the day that Yurara can use her own power and no longer needs her guardian spirit. That’s fine, because this grandfather character is pretty nosy, apathetic, and hilarious. Not needing her guardian spirit transitions nicely into what Yurara realizes: that spirit-Yurara likes Yako, and flesh-Yurara likes Mei, and that both boys have a crush on her. Then we come to a conundrum you don’t often see in shoujo manga: do they like her for herself, or because they admire her appearance and powers as guardian spirit? She gets openly very upset about this, but not as much as Yako does. Yako calls hoards of ghosts with his depression.
It took a couple volumes, but I’m beginning to see how this was the basis for Rasetsu.
