Angel Sanctuary
So. Kaoru Yuki's manga, Angel Sanctuary, came to its end a little while ago (the english edition, that is). Which means I will never be able to go and buy a new volume of this amazing series. Never again. *sniff*
This thought occured to me when I started reading the last (volume 20. 20 volumes. The longest manga series I have read this far) volume. But while feeling a little bit sad about the fact that this really would be the ending of this series, I was also really anxious to finally know the ending. 'duh*
But so. This entry is dedicated to Angel Sanctuary, its ending and everything about this series that I call one of my favorites. So this is going to contain A LOT of SPOILERS!
You have been warned.
And Yeah. If you are interested to see some Angel Sanctuary icons, banners (and from some other series too), then go here.
Hmm...Maybe I should start talking about the ending first and skip the other part of the series for now at least. The ending really is what I want to talk about.
The end really came fast. Seriously. I at least feel like the 10 first volumes of AS were like some kind of prologue to the series. A really long one at that. To me it feels like Yuki got to the point not until the 11th volume, when the heaven arcs start. After going through the 18th volume, I thought how the heck this series was going to come to a proper ending within just two volumes?
And there it was. The ending coming to you and slapping your face.
I really have the feeling that everything was a little bit rushed. Take a look at the story about Rosiel's and Alexiel's pasts.
We had hardly got any real information and facts about them until these last two volumes and then it's sudenly all laid out there for us. Particularly Rosiel's story. The first hints about him losing his sanity little by little was told to us...Was it in the second or third volume? When Katan tolds Kirie that he's Rosiel's "son" and admitting that something has changed in Rosiel. After that we got just few hints here and there, but everything was finally relieved in last book.
And I have to say I kinda feel for Rosiel. :/ He really was just a lost child, looking for someone to love him.x) Which happens kinda often with the bad guys.
But that kinda bucks me. That Rosiel ended up that way. I mean, he's been this awesome, creepy and scary bad guy (with long white hair *drools*) for the whole series, but then in the end, he turns into this sad and pitiful lost child for who you simply can't feel sorry. And for that I'm kinda irritaited, because I loved Rosiel as a character and I really feel like Yuki didn't pay that much of attention to him as she could have.
Which easily leads me to Rosiel&Katan.
Katan's death at the end was pretty much clear through the whole series, and him dying by Rosiel's hand was quite obvious, too.
But it still was all so sad!
It really just broke my heart how Katan still tried with his last srenght to cheer up Rosiel, and be Katan. The whole scenario when Katan started to walk closer to this tiiiiny Rosiel and told: "there's no reason to be afraid anymore" and Rosiel just stares and shouts that Katan doesn't understand anything. That alone really irritaited and made really sad, How crueler can you get?! Just lay off, it's Katan!
And then...And then...
Katan walks closer and closer and Rosiel pretty much rips him apart with his powers (Akira) and Katan says:
"I don't feel the physical pain! Not compared to the pain of being unable to reach you! *gives his hand* Let's go back. Back to the time you want it to be..."
...
And boom...Katan's head flyes off.
That has to be one of the most saddest endings I have ever seen to happen to a character in a manga. And that open up picture for the chapter, where the old Rosiel and little Katan sat outside, Katan asleep and Rosiel smoothing his hair... It seriously was such a heartwarming picture, one of the best ones I have seen in AS. I just wish Yuki would have drawn more of those kinds of pictures, you know, Rosiel and little Katan being together and all happyhappy. It really just amazes me how little attention Yuki payed for that relationship and to that time when Rosiel was still okay and Katan little.
And Lucifer. That character (my favorite) was bugging me alot after the 14th volume:
So is he "just" Lucifer, without the memories of Kira and so having no idea that he used to be the best of friends with Setsuna and the others?
Or was all that Kira stuff just acting? He's Lucifer, always been and now he wouldn't care less about his past friends?
But now it finally became clear.
So It had been Kira all the time, just acting as a bad guy Lucifer and that stone we saw Rosiel having and thinking it was controlling Lucifer, had no power at all in reality (even Rosiel was tricked xD).
"But...He killed Kato! How could he if he really had the memories of Kira still with him? So does this mean Kira never did care about his human friends?"
That was what I thought right away when that Kira/Lucifer mess was finally cleared up. But to that, Kira/Lucifer answers: "Back then...Kato looked like he was searching for a place to die." (Kato's death made cry so hard..."So. Your battle's finally over" line broke my heart ;_;)
*relieved*
I was sooo glad that it was Kira in the end. If it had been otherwise, I seriously would have ripped the last volume to shreds and throw the entire series to flames.
But Adam Kadamon...And his true form...I really felt kinda sick when I saw it. Compared to the beatiful angel form, the true form was really disgusting.
But I'm rather glad that it turned out to be like that. Because when we finally got to see Adam again, in that...more beautiful form...and when he turned out to be...quite different from earlier...I couldn't help but think: "No...Is this character too just a two faced bad guy...-_-"
But...God turning out to be some kind of a computer...Well...I guess it's a whole lot better than an old man with beard...
But honestly...Like a computer as a god isn't enough...You still have to make it say after a lecture by our right hearted hero: "Unable...to compute...delete!"
That's such so...so...-_-' Amusing in a bad way and so lame...
I mean. if it's suppose to be god, then how can he get so confused after your tupical lecture about live, love and beileving? Those kind of lectures you get all the time and our precious god doesn't get it and is unable to "compute"? Shouldn't he be the one giving that same lecture to humans?
Umm...This is getting kinda long, huh? x) But those are the main things I thought and seriously I could continue this talk all day (night) on, but I guess I will leave it to this.
But I do want to say that I'm quite happy with this ending. It all ended happily and with smiles. Setsuna and Sara getting finally to be together and I at least have pretty much forgotten all about their sharing the same bloodline.
But I do wonder. Yuki mentioned that she did another ending for AS, "an unhappy ending". And I kinda...Wish that se would have used that ending insted of this happyhappy ending. Well, first. I love sad endings, but I must admit taht though I'm happy with this ending too, but it's kinda just so...Not memorable. I will remeber this series for ages, but definitely not because of its ending. Such a typical shoujo ending, if i say it shortly.
But yeah.
I hope there will be some discussion about the ending and about Angel Sanctuary as a whole series.
All the thoughts about this still wonderful series are welcome! ^^ Be it about the ending, favorite character, moment, volume...^^
btw.
My favorite volume was #14. Most shocking and memorable because of the death of Zaphikel, Raziel turning out to be his son (a major shocker! o_o) and Kira dying (well. Almost)...*sniff* I don't remember when I would have cried that much...;_;
This thought occured to me when I started reading the last (volume 20. 20 volumes. The longest manga series I have read this far) volume. But while feeling a little bit sad about the fact that this really would be the ending of this series, I was also really anxious to finally know the ending. 'duh*
But so. This entry is dedicated to Angel Sanctuary, its ending and everything about this series that I call one of my favorites. So this is going to contain A LOT of SPOILERS!
You have been warned.
And Yeah. If you are interested to see some Angel Sanctuary icons, banners (and from some other series too), then go here.
Hmm...Maybe I should start talking about the ending first and skip the other part of the series for now at least. The ending really is what I want to talk about.
The end really came fast. Seriously. I at least feel like the 10 first volumes of AS were like some kind of prologue to the series. A really long one at that. To me it feels like Yuki got to the point not until the 11th volume, when the heaven arcs start. After going through the 18th volume, I thought how the heck this series was going to come to a proper ending within just two volumes?
And there it was. The ending coming to you and slapping your face.
I really have the feeling that everything was a little bit rushed. Take a look at the story about Rosiel's and Alexiel's pasts.
We had hardly got any real information and facts about them until these last two volumes and then it's sudenly all laid out there for us. Particularly Rosiel's story. The first hints about him losing his sanity little by little was told to us...Was it in the second or third volume? When Katan tolds Kirie that he's Rosiel's "son" and admitting that something has changed in Rosiel. After that we got just few hints here and there, but everything was finally relieved in last book.
And I have to say I kinda feel for Rosiel. :/ He really was just a lost child, looking for someone to love him.x) Which happens kinda often with the bad guys.
But that kinda bucks me. That Rosiel ended up that way. I mean, he's been this awesome, creepy and scary bad guy (with long white hair *drools*) for the whole series, but then in the end, he turns into this sad and pitiful lost child for who you simply can't feel sorry. And for that I'm kinda irritaited, because I loved Rosiel as a character and I really feel like Yuki didn't pay that much of attention to him as she could have.
Which easily leads me to Rosiel&Katan.
Katan's death at the end was pretty much clear through the whole series, and him dying by Rosiel's hand was quite obvious, too.
But it still was all so sad!
It really just broke my heart how Katan still tried with his last srenght to cheer up Rosiel, and be Katan. The whole scenario when Katan started to walk closer to this tiiiiny Rosiel and told: "there's no reason to be afraid anymore" and Rosiel just stares and shouts that Katan doesn't understand anything. That alone really irritaited and made really sad, How crueler can you get?! Just lay off, it's Katan!
And then...And then...
Katan walks closer and closer and Rosiel pretty much rips him apart with his powers (Akira) and Katan says:
"I don't feel the physical pain! Not compared to the pain of being unable to reach you! *gives his hand* Let's go back. Back to the time you want it to be..."
...
And boom...Katan's head flyes off.
That has to be one of the most saddest endings I have ever seen to happen to a character in a manga. And that open up picture for the chapter, where the old Rosiel and little Katan sat outside, Katan asleep and Rosiel smoothing his hair... It seriously was such a heartwarming picture, one of the best ones I have seen in AS. I just wish Yuki would have drawn more of those kinds of pictures, you know, Rosiel and little Katan being together and all happyhappy. It really just amazes me how little attention Yuki payed for that relationship and to that time when Rosiel was still okay and Katan little.
And Lucifer. That character (my favorite) was bugging me alot after the 14th volume:
So is he "just" Lucifer, without the memories of Kira and so having no idea that he used to be the best of friends with Setsuna and the others?
Or was all that Kira stuff just acting? He's Lucifer, always been and now he wouldn't care less about his past friends?
But now it finally became clear.
So It had been Kira all the time, just acting as a bad guy Lucifer and that stone we saw Rosiel having and thinking it was controlling Lucifer, had no power at all in reality (even Rosiel was tricked xD).
"But...He killed Kato! How could he if he really had the memories of Kira still with him? So does this mean Kira never did care about his human friends?"
That was what I thought right away when that Kira/Lucifer mess was finally cleared up. But to that, Kira/Lucifer answers: "Back then...Kato looked like he was searching for a place to die." (Kato's death made cry so hard..."So. Your battle's finally over" line broke my heart ;_;)
*relieved*
I was sooo glad that it was Kira in the end. If it had been otherwise, I seriously would have ripped the last volume to shreds and throw the entire series to flames.
But Adam Kadamon...And his true form...I really felt kinda sick when I saw it. Compared to the beatiful angel form, the true form was really disgusting.
But I'm rather glad that it turned out to be like that. Because when we finally got to see Adam again, in that...more beautiful form...and when he turned out to be...quite different from earlier...I couldn't help but think: "No...Is this character too just a two faced bad guy...-_-"
But...God turning out to be some kind of a computer...Well...I guess it's a whole lot better than an old man with beard...
But honestly...Like a computer as a god isn't enough...You still have to make it say after a lecture by our right hearted hero: "Unable...to compute...delete!"
That's such so...so...-_-' Amusing in a bad way and so lame...
I mean. if it's suppose to be god, then how can he get so confused after your tupical lecture about live, love and beileving? Those kind of lectures you get all the time and our precious god doesn't get it and is unable to "compute"? Shouldn't he be the one giving that same lecture to humans?
Umm...This is getting kinda long, huh? x) But those are the main things I thought and seriously I could continue this talk all day (night) on, but I guess I will leave it to this.
But I do want to say that I'm quite happy with this ending. It all ended happily and with smiles. Setsuna and Sara getting finally to be together and I at least have pretty much forgotten all about their sharing the same bloodline.
But I do wonder. Yuki mentioned that she did another ending for AS, "an unhappy ending". And I kinda...Wish that se would have used that ending insted of this happyhappy ending. Well, first. I love sad endings, but I must admit taht though I'm happy with this ending too, but it's kinda just so...Not memorable. I will remeber this series for ages, but definitely not because of its ending. Such a typical shoujo ending, if i say it shortly.
But yeah.
I hope there will be some discussion about the ending and about Angel Sanctuary as a whole series.
All the thoughts about this still wonderful series are welcome! ^^ Be it about the ending, favorite character, moment, volume...^^
btw.
My favorite volume was #14. Most shocking and memorable because of the death of Zaphikel, Raziel turning out to be his son (a major shocker! o_o) and Kira dying (well. Almost)...*sniff* I don't remember when I would have cried that much...;_;