Kobato 4
Posted: July 31, 2011 Filed under: Kobato. Leave a comment »CLAMP – Yen Press – 2011 – 6+ volumes
Hmm… there’s more story to my liking in this volume. Rather than following the issues surrounding the kindergarten, Sakaya, and Fujimoto, we actually get some information on Ioryogi, the bear, and other creatures inhabiting the world. It’s still not quite clear what’s going on, but we know that Kobato’s time to fulfill her wish is very short. We still don’t really know what that wish is, though, nor what’s under her hat.
Because this is a CLAMP series, love enters the picture here. What can you do? I’m not really sold on the relationship yet, nor do I expect to be. I am curious, though, since Kobato seems rather ignorant of the whole process.
I’m curious how the kindergarten plot overlaps with the rest of the series. With this new twist, it seems like the characters will stick around. Kobato can fill her jar while still helping them. So are Fujimoto and Sakaya relatively permanent fixtures now, and their problems will be resolved at the bitter end?
That only raises more questions. That’s a good thing, given the fact that this was boring me with how predictable everything was in the earlier volumes.
We do see some cameos. Usyagi make an appearance (and, in an awesome chapter illustration, we see Ioryogi in a vending machine with Usyagi, both Mokona, and both Atashi), as do some of the characters and elements from Wish. Some definite structure to the planes of existence were spelled out too. I had thought Ioryogi was a reincarnation of one of the demons from Wish, even though the personalities weren’t a match. Apparently he and the other animals are new…? I wonder why their identities are such a secret, then?
This volume’s better than the others, but I’m still fairly disappointed with this series so far. Neither the plot or the characters have caught my interest yet. But perhaps it is an appropriate follow-up to Wish, which was very similar to this series and also not one of my favorites. I intend to keep reading, because I can’t stay away from CLAMP or their crossovers, and I do hope my patience will be rewarded. CLAMP hasn’t been very good to me lately.
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
Challengers 3
Posted: July 31, 2011 Filed under: Challengers | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Hinako Takanaga – DramaQueen – 2006 – 4 volumes
I won’t lie. There’s something addictive about this series. When I finished volume two, I wrote it up right away so that I could read volume three. And then I went on to volume four. Then I surprised myself by re-reading the first volume of Tyrant Falls in Love. Re-reading is something I almost never do, and I kind of hated Tyrant. Then I went on to read the rest of Tyrant. This all happened in the same night. Then, I got stuck, and in the last three days, I’ve read Challengers two more times and Tyrant about five times.
Challengers is cute, and I like that it can discuss issues without being explicit. For instance, the first chapter in this volume discusses “problems” Tatsumi and Kurokawa have when they begin to explore the physical aspects of their relationship. Nothing is shown, but the problems are still very real. It’s mostly a gag chapter, with Isogai enthusiastically recommending a trip to a sex shop for advice and Tatsumi consulting Rick for similar advice. The gags bother me less now, since most of them are character-centric and I can appreciate humor that goes above the level of cheap gags. The second chapter is a little worse about the cheap gags, but it has Souichi in it, and that always makes for more fun than necessary. Reiko decides to throw a party to celebrate Kurokawa and Tatsumi’s mutual relationship, and Souichi walks in at the wrong time. Madcap hijinx ensue, along with a whole lot of Souichi yelling and beating up Kurokawa, Tomoe, and almost a group of old ladies.
Souichi’s a fun character here. He’s mostly a one-trick pony (a very dangerous, angry homophobic man with power over Tatsumi), but the fact he shows up and asserts himself in the most violent way possible again and again is strangely endearing, as is the fact he absolutely refuses to change his views on homosexuality and has no problem insulting as many strangers as possible that cross him on this idea. He’s basically a terrible person, but it’s hard not to stare.
It seems he must’ve been very popular, enough to steal the spotlight, since he’s been getting a lot of story time since his appearance. The second half of the volume is almost all about Souichi and his lab assistant, Morinaga (both are ambiguous scientists of some sort). Morinaga is gay, and is in fact in love with Souichi, which is the only reason anyone would ever consent to being anywhere near Souichi on a regular basis. He’s been in love with him for years, but knows better than to let on, because it would literally be a death sentence. Of course, like any good BL book, Morinaga can’t hold it in any more, and the two-part story is about how Souichi has to deal with his only friend being gay. There’s still a lot of yelling, but his reactions are not nearly as comedic as you’d think in this series, and the story made Souichi an even more likable character. I also liked that Souichi didn’t do the typical raging tsundere thing of suddenly breaking down and becoming all adorable and soft towards Morinaga. He’s still a bastard, and probably always will be.
While I do like the characters more and more with every volume, I disliked the fact that there still seems to be absolutely no chemistry between Kurokawa and Tatsumi. Mostly this is Tatsumi’s fault, since he’s such an airhead that he seems mostly to go along with anything Kurokawa says, and there’s not a whole lot of love reciprocation on his part. Even so, I like this series a lot for the fact that it seems to honestly explore the characters more than typical BL series bother to. It does commit several BL logical sins (Kurokawa and Tatsumi were both straight before meeting, for instance), but has the characters walking themselves through what it’s actually like to fall in love and work at a relationship, rather than just taking everything for granted. Still, I do hate that Tatsumi doesn’t… well, he doesn’t have much of a personality at all, really. I did fall in love with Kurokawa, though.
Ooku 5
Posted: July 31, 2011 Filed under: Ooku Leave a comment »Fumi Yoshinaga – Viz – 2011 – 7+ volumes
This volume chronicles the sad, lonely life of Tsunayoshi. I don’t have that much to say about it. Tsunayoshi is fiercely loyal to those around her, and wishes to please them. Those around her are rather selfish, and interested in their own status and the status of the shogun family line. Thus, Tsunayoshi’s life is filled with bad advice made into law for the sake of her loved ones as well as a near-constant stream of men, provided from several sources, that are necessary for her to bear her heir.
As I said in the last review, I do feel I’m missing out on quite a bit by not knowing the actual history that’s being related here. It’s a sad thing to see such a powerful figure reduced to a faceless sex partner, being passed around by several terrible men all hoping to be the father of the next shogun. Obviously this didn’t happen to the real shogun, since he wouldn’t have borne the child himself. Perhaps there were fertility issues, but such things are far easier to hide for men. Even so, what variations in history does the gender swap offer? I’m curious to know.
There are some points of law that are historical fact. The Edicts on Compassion for Living Things is, in the story, a kind of karmic payback for a misdeed the shogun’s father committed in his youth. It’s a tyrannical law, however, that leaves dogs roaming the streets and people thrown into poverty when slapping at mosquitoes.
It’s also notable that Tsunayoshi was the shogun behind the Forty-seven Ronin incident. I didn’t know that, so I didn’t see this particular bit of history coming. The master of the Ronin is a man, one of the few men left as head of a samurai household, and the person he assaults is an old woman. The gender swap in this story offers the variation that the shogun and others thought the incident might not have happened if the master had been a woman, or any of the ronin, as women are naturally less aggressive. It is also much more of a sin to order the Forty-seven Ronin to commit seppuku, since there are so few men to begin with.
The storytelling is slow and ponderous, which is important in a story like this. I don’t have that much to say because not a whole lot happens. Yoshinaga spends a lot of time developing Tsunayoshi, and showing the woman behind what must have been a very unpopular shogun ruler. She’s not a villain, or even a bad person. She means well, but just… can’t. It’s interesting. And I love that much of the emotion is implied, rather than spelled out to the reader. Tsunayoshi doesn’t often talk about her thoughts or feelings, so the only way to infer them is to watch her interactions with others. It takes a great deal of skill to do this sort of thing in comics, and it’s why Yoshinaga is such an amazing creator.
Ooku continues to impress. I did already read volume 6, and it’s a shame I’ll have to wait a year for the next volume now. I would dearly love a more regular schedule for my Yoshinaga series, but we’re basically caught up in English now.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Dengeki Daisy 3
Posted: July 31, 2011 Filed under: Dengeki Daisy Leave a comment »Kyousuke Motomi – Viz – 2010 – 10+ volumes
So soon! Shame on you, Dengeki Daisy!
I’m spacing these reviews out a little bit, but as I said, I read four volumes straight through after picking up volume two. I couldn’t put it down. It’s just the right mix of sweet and funny for my taste. Kurosaki is just the right mix of antagonistic big brother and white knight, and Teru’s combined admiration of Daisy and her growing crush on Kurosaki coupled with her own antagonistic skills.
I love that this series seems to favor plots about poor Teru getting kidnapped and whatnot. Kurosaki wouldn’t have much to protect her from if it didn’t. In this book, there’s a story about a man after her brother’s program kidnapping Teru discreetly, right out from under Kurosaki’s nose, in order to search her cellphone for the program. He’s a relatively civilized kidnapper, but still. I loved Kurosaki’s frantic search for this man, and Teru’s interactions with him as well.
There’s another story at the beginning of the volume about Teru moving out of Kurosaki’s house. Again, it’s mostly a funny and very sweet story, full of character moments from the two. Lots of bellybutton flashing and bald chants, along with a few tears for the parting. What can I say, I’m an absolute sucker for this sort of thing. It’s really well-done here, too. Impossible not to like.
The third story is one about Teru being out with her friends. Sort of. Actually, that’s not what it’s about at all, but she does go to the beach with her friends. This story hinges on the song “Time After Time,” which, aside from being delightfully out of left field, is just about the perfect song choice. I love it when well-known, slightly nostalgic songs are used as plot devices (for instance, “Moon River” in Honey and Clover).
It’s just great. Wonderful stuff. It went from off my radar to one of my favorite current series literally overnight. This is an important volume too, though I am a little disappointed it… got to the part in this volume as quickly as it did. Still, the next volumes are no worse because of it.
MMF: Fruits Basket – A Place Just as Real, but Not as Brightly Lit
Posted: July 29, 2011 Filed under: Manga Moveable Feast 2 Comments »This month’s Moveable Manga Feast, hosted by David Welsh over at Manga Curmudgeon, is focused on Fruits Basket. There’s lots of other wonderful content about the series over there, all of it worth checking out.
First, let me start off by saying I did not have the pleasure of re-reading the series for the MMF this month. Unfortunately, my volumes are stored in another state at the moment, so I couldn’t lay hands on them. Thus, my thoughts are mostly still of my initial read-through of the series, though I have read the first 10 or so volumes twice through once upon a time. My opinions might also be a little stale since I finished the series a couple years ago at this point (and also light or hazy on detail), but hopefully I can convey some of my thoughts here.
I did review the series as it was coming out right here, so you may feel like following along with my fresh impressions as I read the volumes over the course of several years.
One thing I do remember: it was hard for me to put the volumes down. Once I started in on them, I tore through every single one. It’s an absolutely charming series. I compared it to Oh My Goddess early on, as the first volumes of Fruits Basket are loosely connected short stories that are all about the warm, fuzzy feeling you get from good deeds, earnest relationship-building, and the motherly aura that Tohru Honda radiates in general. As each member of the Sohma family is introduced initially, all the stories are a little funny, a little sweet, and well-written enough to break out of the usual shoujo mold. This is true all the way through, actually, though it does start to get much darker after the first five volumes.
The characters are all easy to like. Homeless Tohru Honda, so eager to please and feeling unworthy of the roof over he head, has no idea just how much the three Sohma men grow to rely on her in such a short time, and how easily both Yuki and Kyo begin to fall for her. Yuki’s princely aura, and Kyo’s mild troublemaking all fit the usual character types, but Takaya manages to still make them far more likable than they ought to be. And this continues to be true all the way through the series, from Tohru’s eccentric friends that stick with her to the end, to every single member of the Sohma household, even the tertiary characters on the student council that are introduced much later manage to support their own stories and make them interesting.
The themes of belonging are also easy to relate to. We may not all be poor orphans with a heart of gold, but the metaphor of the children’s game of fruits basket, where all the other children pretend to be fruit while Tohru is a rice ball, destined to forever be set apart from them, is something almost everybody can relate to, and Takaya does a good job of summing it up in that scene and throughout the stories in all 23 volumes. As for the drama… well, we all have the dark places too, and a lot of the character hang-ups are easy to sympathize with.
And yet.
Challengers 2
Posted: July 27, 2011 Filed under: Challengers | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Hinako Takanaga – DramaQueen – 2006 – 4 volumes
This volume was more interesting, but still not nearly as good as Little Butterfly. Things get more serious as Tatsumi begins to seriously evaluate his feelings and decide if the promise that Kurokawa made to him (basically, that his feelings wouldn’t make Tatsumi feel awkward) is really worth keeping. I also like that Kurokawa’s just a nice, earnest guy. He’s not predatory or creepy, nor is he forcing himself on Tatsumi. He’s letting Tatsumi be himself, and Tatsumi’s figuring out that his feelings are similar to Kurokawa’s. Granted, this still isn’t a very realistic scenario, but it’s less forceful that what you’d find in most BL books, and I like the gentleness. This pace also helps me forgive the age difference. Even though Tatsumi is a college student, he’s a very immature college student, so it still bothers me.
One of the subplots in this volume is that Rick’s old American boyfriend, Phil, shows up unexpectedly. Rick wants nothing to do with him, so he lies about Tatsumi being his boyfriend and takes Tatsumi on a date in order to fool Phil. Phil, Kurokawa, and Kurokawa’s co-worker all follow them, and things don’t go well at all when Rick decides to put the moves on Tatsumi. I don’t care for Rick, and I’m hoping that Phil will run interference so that he doesn’t keep randomly showing up to wreck things. Other than that, though, I have no opinion on those two.
Kurokawa’s co-worker, on the other hand, is awesome. He’s a great gossip, and loves hearing all of Kurokawa’s problems. He also offers decent advice, and is pretty much there for Kurokawa in every way he can be. I’m sorry I can’t remember his name, but I love that Kurokawa has a best friend like him to take his troubles to. Such characters are rare, especially when they’re just a regular straight guy like this.
Another story involved Kurokawa’s mother showing up out of the blue to re-claim her room in Kurokawa’s apartment. She decides that she likes Tatsumi, but doesn’t realize her son has a crush on him. She accidentally overhears a “serious conversation” the two were having in a coffee shop, and… doesn’t take the news of her son’s previously-unrevealed homosexuality very well. The scene is unfortunately more comedic than it is serious, but still. Scenes like this are so rare in BL, that I thought it was interesting that the story bothered with it at all. That’s just one more thing to like about it.
But while there’s good things like that, there’s also a story in the back that deals specifically with Souichi, Tatsumi’s brother, and a character named Morinaga. This story sets out to explain why Souichi hates homosexuals so much, and does so by conflating homosexuality and rape. To be fair, it’s Souichi that does this. Souichi is an angry guy anyway, and it’s not that much of a stretch to say that, yes, if someone attempted to rape him, he would probably hate all homosexuals. I just… wish there were less of this sort of thing in these books. It does balance this ugliness out with Morinaga, who is a sympathetic homosexual character that saves Souichi from actually being assaulted. But still. It made me a little angry.
Immediately after this story, however, there was a short epilogue/author’s notes-type short story about all the ideas that got rejected. It’s wonderful and very funny, and shows off quite a bit of the creative process behind a manga like this. I loved all the different story directions that were considered, and it is interesting to see just how different the story could’ve been with a different writer/editor working on it.
Overall, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, though it still has a little too much humor for my taste. There’s a few more kinks in the storytelling I didn’t like, but I am slowly warming up to it. At the moment, I still don’t feel like there’s a lot of chemistry between Kurokawa and Tatsumi, which is a problem in a romance series like this, but the pace is slow here, and I’m hoping things will get more romantic next time. It’s pretty good so far though, and again, I would recommend picking up the volumes directly from DramaQueen. They have 2-4 in stock, and buying from them instead of a middleman helps them out a lot. They’ve been struggling lately, and I think every little bit helps.
Oh My Goddess 38
Posted: July 26, 2011 Filed under: Oh My Goddess! 1 Comment »Kosuke Fujishima – Dark Horse – 2011 – 42+ volumes
This is the end of Chrono’s story. While I still don’t like that she’s dressed as a maid (it made for an especially embarassing, forehead-slapping moment at the end of the story), her story wound up fairly cute. After all the parts of the spell are tracked down, the last piece is in the very last place Chrono wishes to retrieve it from. Of course Belldandy cheers her on, blah blah blah. This part was very adorable, even though I’m glossing over it here. We find out just why Peorth chose Chrono for this mission, and while it wasn’t for the nobelest reasons, Chrono did do a good job with her delivery. There was also a nice conversation between Lind and Peorth in heaven, and I loved seeing both of them again, even if it was only briefly.
The new story is about Hild, and I can pretty much guarantee that any story with her in it is going to be awesome. This time around, Hild is overthrown as the overseer of Hell by her direct subordinate. It looks like this story is going to be a long one, because a lot of work goes into showing just what the power struggles in Hell look like, and the beginnings of how this affects reality. We don’t get to see Hild meet up with Belldandy and Keiichi until the very end of the book, but even then, she does something completely awesome to make up for it.
Also, she has a pet dinosaur/alligator/bull named Momo-chan. Everything about Hild makes up for the last few lackluster volumes, and makes me want the next volume immediately. It’s nice to see that the series hasn’t lost its touch after all this time.
Ooku 4
Posted: July 26, 2011 Filed under: Ooku Leave a comment »Fumi Yoshinaga – Viz – 2010 – 7+ volumes
To be three volumes behind on this series is a tragedy. I’m not sure why I suddenly stopped reading new volumes of this, but taking in three at a time is a good idea. It’s a lot easier to follow the characters and the relationships between the shogun this way.
One thing that this brings to light, though, is just how much I was missing by being completely unfamiliar with Japanese history. Yoshinaga is re-telling the story of every shogun in order, I assume all the way through the Meiji Restoration. The gender flip is interesting, but I bet it is even more fascinating if you have grown up listening to the history of the male Shogun. Similarly, she adds twists, such as lovers and whatnot, that I’m sure add some light to historical rumors, and I wonder how much different her version is from the rumors, or even the documented history. I still enjoy it, even without that knowledge, but every volume makes it clear that it was not written for me.
But Yoshinaga is an excellent storyteller, and the characters, their struggles, and just how hard one shogun tries while another enjoys leisure time comes across wonderfully, even without the history lesson. The loves, the losses, the struggle with disease, trouble with social standing and laws both inside and outside the palace… all of it is interesting stuff, and watching the very human characters fight against these things will never get old, I think.
Arikoto is still a major player in this volume, and we see him stand through the rules of both Iemitsu and Ietsuna. In fact, he periodically re-appears through the next several volumes, since his disciple stays and becomes a major player in the life of the third shogun, Tsunayoshi.
Having all three shogun in one book is an interesting contrast in governing styles. Iemitsu is extremely involved and believes in doing good, and tries her best to overcome the disappearing male problem, trying to balance power until the male population is re-established. The problem only gets worse, and during her reign, women slowly assume all the power in Edo. Her passing is grieved by all those around her. Conversely, Ietsuna has an extremely hands-off approach, and simply lets her counselors and cabinet do what they think is best.
Interestingly, save for her relationship to Arikoto, Ietsuna’s life is glossed over. She assumes power at the age of fourteen, and passes away at the age of forty-two. Compared to the amount of story time for the troubled Tsunayoshi, it’s interesting that we aren’t given many details or much insight into the life of Ietsuna.
Tsunayoshi is portrayed rather selfishly early on, and we are shown much about her sex life. It is important for the Shogun to bear many children, and while Tsunayoshi has one daughter when she becomes shogun, her father and consort try everything in their power to keep her interested in men so that she can bear more children. There is a lot of entertaining, a family destroyed for little reason, and power plays by both the consort and her father concerning handsome men and how she might favor them.
It’s difficult to describe why this section of story is interesting. While Tsunayoshi can do cruel things, like take her favorite advisor’s husband as a lover, then her son, she’s not really uncaring or a villain. What’s interesting is that she’s not nearly as bad as a handful of her most influential people, and is mostly a product of her environment. And honestly, what can you expect from her, when everyone around her thinks that her most important duty should be to bear children? That’s simply her job, to oogle men all day and have sex with them at night. It’s a terrible life, and later, it’s no wonder she’s not very popular… she’s not really allowed to do anything else. She’s young in this volume, but it becomes a problem later in the story.
But I’ll talk about this more later. It really was an absolute pleasure reading three volumes of this at once, and helps to keep all the historical details in order. It’s very much worth reading, and I’m thinking of starting from the beginning in order to make sure I have the timeline in order.
20th Century Boys 16
Posted: July 26, 2011 Filed under: 20th Century Boys 3 Comments »Naoki Urasawa – Viz – 2011 – 24 volumes
I think one of my favorite things about this series is the little kid logic. The main plot is all about little kid logic, adults that grew up while clinging to ridiculous and childish plans, and, as revealed in this volume, spiteful childhood vendettas. And yet, it takes the little kid logic very seriously in a non-ironic way, and the fate of the world literally rests on this little kid logic. I love it. I love every volume, but this volume in particular helped shed a lot of light on this facet of 20th Century Boys.
The first half of this volume is all about Fukube, and we see many of the main events from Kenji & company’s childhood from his perspective. As expected, he’s a demented little kid, and also a little sad and lonely. Most disturbing are the ways he manipulates people as a child. Sadakiyo especially, but Yamane, too. I love these flashbacks. Not only are they a nice break from the very serious present storyline (they’re usually very lighthearted, and even this disturbing Fukube flashback was less serious than… you know, resurrection), I also like that not much has changed over the last 40 or so years.
We see how Fukube met Manjome for the first time. He has a business card that identifies him as Chuck Manjome, which has forever linked him with another person in my mind. I’m not sure why his business card gave his name as Chuck. Elsewhere, he is Manjome Inshu.
The second half of the book is about Otcho and a couple of kids. About the last thing I want, at this point, are new characters, but I’m quite fond of these little Hulkamaniacs. Wrestling is discussed several times (the children think that Otcho is a professional wrestler, for some reason), and everybody seems to remember different details about these celebrities. I’m not sure of the significance, unless the unreliability of human memory is about to come up as a plot point.
Three years have passed in the main storyline since the game-changing events last volume. Otcho has been separated from Yoshitsune, Kanna, and the others, and he’s trying to follow a lead in order to meet up with them. For some reason, the children are with him. While he doesn’t meet up with the others by the end of the volume, Kamisama makes another appearance, and that’s never a bad thing. He gets upset when the younger child confuses corned beef with a steak.
After I was so upset with the end notes spoiling the next volume teaser in volume 15, that scene didn’t even remotely come to pass in this volume. What. Hopefully we’ll see that character in volume 17. Or better yet, maybe that was just messing with us, and we won’t see him until the end, and he won’t play any role at all. That would be awesome.
But yes. This volume is one of my favorites, simply because of the Fukube flashback. It’s hard to top the rather epic storyline from last volume, and while all of it is good, this is more my flavor. But 20th Century Boys has yet to disappoint in any way, and I’m hoping it maintains this wonderful quality all the way through the end.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Kamisama Kiss 4
Posted: July 26, 2011 Filed under: Kamisama Kiss Leave a comment »Julietta Suzuki – Viz – 2011 – 8+ volumes
Every volume I read makes me fall in love with this series just a little more. Everything about it, including the folklore-based story, the fact that it has really great characters, and just the general happy mood of the whole thing, all of it is truly endearing. I can’t put it down.
The first chapter is another school story. It’s time for finals, and the way that all the other girls focus on Tomoe and Kurama makes Nanami begin to question her relationship to Tomoe. He’s fiercely loyal, but is it out of duty, or does he have a genuine fondness for her? Tomoe, while he does seem to bend over backwards for her and have zero interest in romance, doesn’t seem that fond of Nanami, and is definitely not affectionate, so it leaves Nanami wondering and hoping. She does find comfort in the small things, though, and this chapter’s plot is mostly about making a friend of hers happy with kind words from Kurama.
Watching Kurama and Tomoe menace each other will never get old, I think.
The second story starts with a warning from Kurama to Tomoe about how Nanami might be falling in love with Tomoe. Tomoe dismisses this, telling him that his master is above such human emotions. But the chapter is about just that, and Nanami uses her influence over Tomoe (and by “influence,” I mean the fact he’ll grumpily follow her anywhere) to score a date. This chapter… does not end well. I don’t want to spoil it, but these two go through one of the most epic Standard Dramatic Events I’ve ever seen in shoujo manga.
And the aftermath of that chapter causes problems later. The rest of the chapters in the volume tell an ongoing story. It starts with the fact that Tomoe is still a big softy that will do anything that Nanami asks, even when it puts him in danger. Though he knows better, he goes into the ocean anyway at Nanami’s request, and winds up imprisoned by Ryu-Oh, a one-eyed vengeful sea demon. For as vengeful as he is, I liked that he was still a little goofy and not too intimidating. But he’s powerful enough to take Tomoe, and Mizuki has to help Nanami go back to the past to retrieve an item, then go save Tomoe.
The whole thing’s a little funny, a little epic, and just a little bit sweet. Again, it’s the wonderful characters that really make this series for me, but… pretty much everything about it is wonderful. The way that Nanami has to reconcile Tomoe’s terrible past with his present self (she has to get an item from him in the past in order to give it to Ryu-Oh), the lengths she goes to in order to save Tomoe despite not being a supernatural being, how being human handicaps her, and the funny conclusion to this very serious story are all things that just endeared me more.
One interesting thing… Nanami has to take drastic measures in order to save Tomoe. It makes me wonder if the Kamisama link between them is still active, and if the thing she does here will have an affect on the story later. It’s all good stuff, though, and I’m really, really looking forward to the next volume.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
