Genbu Kaiden
So I'm still slowly reading my way through the Fushigi Yuugi 'Genbu Kaiden' series. I'm going slowly because a) it's all in Japanese, and b) sometimes the story lulls or gets a bit chore and I stop for a while.
So, thoughts so far…. (Spoilers for books 1-5)
I definitely understand most of it without a dictionary but there are places where I'm not sure I'm getting the meaning completely correct, especially where the language gets blokey. Half the time Rimado talks and I get the idea 'he's yelling about __' or 'he thinks she shouldn't have done __' but I don't know exactly what he's saying.
The main tricky bits are where the villains are talking; I don't know if there's more to their motivations than I've understood (that Rimado's father wants to kill him because of a prophecy, that Kutou is just an enemy of their country and so doesn't want their miko to appear, etc).
My favourite character so far is Tomite. He's got a bit of a sense of humour and mischief about him; the most 'fun' character. Of course he's had a couple of bouts of angst about his past and weakness etc, but he's getting stronger with his powers and that's cool. He seemed to be a bit jealous of Rimado for being Takiko's favourite, but now he's less of a tagalong since he's got a best bro in Hikitsu and a possible girlfriend in Aira (whom I assumed was about 10 years old when I first saw her, but hopefully she's a bit older than that!).
Takiko has been a bit of a disappointment. I mean, she's fine as a character and I like her, but in the opening chapters of volume 1, she was set up as such a cool character - spunky and strong and capable of handling herself in a fight. She's still spunky but she hasn't fought once since acquiring her seishi, even though she's constantly lugging around her massive weapon. She became more of your typical damsel in distress, always being saved. She has, though, shown miko powers of her own more than Miaka did. Interesting to see her use her powers to free herself when she was trapped in ice. It's similar to the test her seishi set for Miaka hundreds of years later.
As a seishi, Namame was a bit left field. I didn't know this world had non-human creatures, nor that one could be a seishi. He can't show any emotion or speak; it's a bit like having a dog tagging along. To be honest, in some ways this works better than being forced to develop seven whole characters and have them all interacting - like in the original Fushigi Yuugi, Mitsukake and Chiriko got sidelined a bit because you just can't give seven characters (PLUS the main heroine, PLUS several villains, plus side characters) equal 'screen time'.
Rimado's a character I can't really get my head around. He's a bit like Ranma - both in his powers and in his personality. Half the time he's yelling and being all macho - when he was first introduced I thought he was a bit of a thug - or being a shrieking, busty woman who looks more like a dude and really is not very feminine (not really 'shoujo romantic lead' material, anyway!). The other half the time he's being all tender and 'I'll always stay by your side', and the two sides don't seem to really fit with each other. I've had a lot of trouble thinking of him as a possible romantic lead, but it was soon clear that the story would head that way (not least because he was the first male Takiko met in this world, and we all know that = love). Anyway, he's growing on me. I just hope he doesn't become one of those characters who have no personality beyond protecting and being with their woman.
I quite like Hatsui and Hikitsu; not much to say as yet. This group of seishi are developing a good set of 'elemental' powers. Wind, water, ice, earth… Hatsui could possibly be plants/wood, sort of. We just need fire, if that's not stepping on Tasuki's toes...
The one thing that's sometimes gotten me bored with the series is the villains and the nature of the clashes between good and evil - a bit repetitive. I know we need villains, but I don't like these villains.
Firstly, the fact that they are such a threat at all strikes me as a bit incredible. Our heroes all have super powers, and the villains (supposedly) don't. How could the villains stand a chance? (My theory: Haagas *does* have powers. No way he's a normal human. There seem to be a lot of supernatural powers in this world, more than in the other series.) Yet these villains seem to always be a real threat.
Secondly, the individual villains aren't really interesting. Shigi is annoying. I hate villains who smile benignly all the time, even when they're massacring innocent people. Like Soujiro in Kenshin. His partner (Houen??) is alright, if a bit of a stereotype. And Haagas is improbably strong. Not to mention every time I read his name, I think of 'haggis'.
Mostly, what I didn't like about the villains was the way they kept popping up, over and over again. No matter what obscure location our heroes go to, the villains always find them almost immediately. (Rimado was pretty impressive himself early in the story. He'd leave the group to re-join the villain's camp, and the moment he felt Takiko was in danger, within SECONDS he'd be back with the group, as if magically teleported there!) The villains would get defeated or evaded, and then they'd be right there again in the next scene, like the Genbu equivalent of Team Rocket.
My favourite parts of the story have been where the villains have not been anywhere around (for example, finding Hikitsu, going to Konan, etc).
I still find it hard to believe, sometimes, what goes into manga 'for kids'. Right now the characters are all undercover in a brothel. Rimado has been forcibly stripped to be dressed up, and the main character has just been delivered to a 'client' and is screaming her head off. Most of it's played for laughs, but even so...
Anyway, at least we have a section that's just *funny*; I like them the best.
What I like most about this manga is that I don't know what's going to happen in it. I don't know how the story resolves itself, what the new seishi will be like, etc. So I'm enjoying finding out and getting to know the new characters, whom I mostly like. Apart from my nitpicks about the villains (and really, they are much less odious than Nakago and Yui in the original Fushigi Yuugi), I'm still enjoying it. I've just ordered all the rest of the series online.
So, thoughts so far…. (Spoilers for books 1-5)
I definitely understand most of it without a dictionary but there are places where I'm not sure I'm getting the meaning completely correct, especially where the language gets blokey. Half the time Rimado talks and I get the idea 'he's yelling about __' or 'he thinks she shouldn't have done __' but I don't know exactly what he's saying.
The main tricky bits are where the villains are talking; I don't know if there's more to their motivations than I've understood (that Rimado's father wants to kill him because of a prophecy, that Kutou is just an enemy of their country and so doesn't want their miko to appear, etc).
My favourite character so far is Tomite. He's got a bit of a sense of humour and mischief about him; the most 'fun' character. Of course he's had a couple of bouts of angst about his past and weakness etc, but he's getting stronger with his powers and that's cool. He seemed to be a bit jealous of Rimado for being Takiko's favourite, but now he's less of a tagalong since he's got a best bro in Hikitsu and a possible girlfriend in Aira (whom I assumed was about 10 years old when I first saw her, but hopefully she's a bit older than that!).
Takiko has been a bit of a disappointment. I mean, she's fine as a character and I like her, but in the opening chapters of volume 1, she was set up as such a cool character - spunky and strong and capable of handling herself in a fight. She's still spunky but she hasn't fought once since acquiring her seishi, even though she's constantly lugging around her massive weapon. She became more of your typical damsel in distress, always being saved. She has, though, shown miko powers of her own more than Miaka did. Interesting to see her use her powers to free herself when she was trapped in ice. It's similar to the test her seishi set for Miaka hundreds of years later.
As a seishi, Namame was a bit left field. I didn't know this world had non-human creatures, nor that one could be a seishi. He can't show any emotion or speak; it's a bit like having a dog tagging along. To be honest, in some ways this works better than being forced to develop seven whole characters and have them all interacting - like in the original Fushigi Yuugi, Mitsukake and Chiriko got sidelined a bit because you just can't give seven characters (PLUS the main heroine, PLUS several villains, plus side characters) equal 'screen time'.
Rimado's a character I can't really get my head around. He's a bit like Ranma - both in his powers and in his personality. Half the time he's yelling and being all macho - when he was first introduced I thought he was a bit of a thug - or being a shrieking, busty woman who looks more like a dude and really is not very feminine (not really 'shoujo romantic lead' material, anyway!). The other half the time he's being all tender and 'I'll always stay by your side', and the two sides don't seem to really fit with each other. I've had a lot of trouble thinking of him as a possible romantic lead, but it was soon clear that the story would head that way (not least because he was the first male Takiko met in this world, and we all know that = love). Anyway, he's growing on me. I just hope he doesn't become one of those characters who have no personality beyond protecting and being with their woman.
I quite like Hatsui and Hikitsu; not much to say as yet. This group of seishi are developing a good set of 'elemental' powers. Wind, water, ice, earth… Hatsui could possibly be plants/wood, sort of. We just need fire, if that's not stepping on Tasuki's toes...
The one thing that's sometimes gotten me bored with the series is the villains and the nature of the clashes between good and evil - a bit repetitive. I know we need villains, but I don't like these villains.
Firstly, the fact that they are such a threat at all strikes me as a bit incredible. Our heroes all have super powers, and the villains (supposedly) don't. How could the villains stand a chance? (My theory: Haagas *does* have powers. No way he's a normal human. There seem to be a lot of supernatural powers in this world, more than in the other series.) Yet these villains seem to always be a real threat.
Secondly, the individual villains aren't really interesting. Shigi is annoying. I hate villains who smile benignly all the time, even when they're massacring innocent people. Like Soujiro in Kenshin. His partner (Houen??) is alright, if a bit of a stereotype. And Haagas is improbably strong. Not to mention every time I read his name, I think of 'haggis'.
Mostly, what I didn't like about the villains was the way they kept popping up, over and over again. No matter what obscure location our heroes go to, the villains always find them almost immediately. (Rimado was pretty impressive himself early in the story. He'd leave the group to re-join the villain's camp, and the moment he felt Takiko was in danger, within SECONDS he'd be back with the group, as if magically teleported there!) The villains would get defeated or evaded, and then they'd be right there again in the next scene, like the Genbu equivalent of Team Rocket.
My favourite parts of the story have been where the villains have not been anywhere around (for example, finding Hikitsu, going to Konan, etc).
I still find it hard to believe, sometimes, what goes into manga 'for kids'. Right now the characters are all undercover in a brothel. Rimado has been forcibly stripped to be dressed up, and the main character has just been delivered to a 'client' and is screaming her head off. Most of it's played for laughs, but even so...
Anyway, at least we have a section that's just *funny*; I like them the best.
What I like most about this manga is that I don't know what's going to happen in it. I don't know how the story resolves itself, what the new seishi will be like, etc. So I'm enjoying finding out and getting to know the new characters, whom I mostly like. Apart from my nitpicks about the villains (and really, they are much less odious than Nakago and Yui in the original Fushigi Yuugi), I'm still enjoying it. I've just ordered all the rest of the series online.