Friday, April 25, 2008

Kannazuki No Miko, vol. 1

By Kaishaku
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Sluglines: It's hard to tell whether or not I like this in the midst of all the storytelling mess.

This story suffers from, something. Compression? Many readers have said the strength of the manga is it's decompression, that it allows for stories to unfold at it's own pace. Here, whole whacks of the story seem to skimmed over. The female lead Himeko was raised at a orphanage apparently, but that is revealed in a side note. How it is presented makes you think that is important, but it is not followed up on. People love each other but with the revelations of live are handled oddly. Plus, the whole supernatural/sci-fi element remains unexplained. Not that I expect that somehow they provide some sort of pseudo -science but I am unsure of why any of the supernatural characters or elements are acting the way they are. Other than destruction for its own sake.

Some people would call this yuri and it is explicit at times, thus it has the plastic wrap of evil. Having not seen the anime, I am not sure how yuri the manga is in comparison to the anime, but I suspect since this is just a two volume set, there is a not lot of chance for relationships in the manga. As it is, Himeko, the female lead seems far too passive to maintain a relationship and Chikane's motivations are fuzzy. The way Chikane solves the 'problem' of the attacks on Himeko at the end of the first volume feels so guy and callous, removing Himeko's choices and doing it without explaining the why to her.



Kannazuki No Miko, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

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