Nan Gongyu - Tao Tie Ceremony, vol. 01-02 (orig. Chi.)

Jul 22, 2008 08:16

Kui Long and his older brother Tao Tie are two of ten dragon sons, though I'm not sure if the dragon bit is metaphorical or a reference to them being youkai or if they can actually turn into dragons, as we only see them in youkai and human form. The world is the same as one in a later Nan Gongyu series (Blue Sky Prayer or Cang Tian Qi), and it includes youkai/god figures/supernatural beings, reincarnation, resurrection, and curses. Much like other Nan Gongyu works I like, this series is mostly a set of interconnected short stories, in which the two dragon brothers interact with humans, often to the detriment of the humans.

And slowly, we get more backstory on the brothers and why they are wandering around the human world instead of living in the palace with their family. The themes are fairly familiar now that I've read all of the manhuajia's backlist: loneliness, the need for human connection, human cruelty and human kindness, and the blessing and tragedy of being a removed, supernatural being. I wasn't particularly invested in the beginning, although the first story was nicely written and very pretty to look at. Then suddenly, I was invested in a sweet couple, in a resurrected young man who had committed suicide, in all the characters who love despite the hurt it causes them.

It helps that Nan Gongyu continues to hit my buttons with stories on resurrection and reincarnation that don't take the easy way out. On the other hand, Tao Tie's backstory could have used more fleshing out; I felt the tragedy was appropriately angsty, but that there should have been more reverberations in the present-day. And though I loved the story featuring a boy born without legs, it would also be nice if being differently abled in shoujo manga did not always equate having the bestest angst of them all. That thought should probably be an entire entry in and of itself...

Anyway, though this isn't as good as Lonesome Eden or White Garden, it's still got gorgeous art and sweet yet melancholy relationships, and I really, really, really wish this manhuajia were scanlated or licensed or even just on people's radars. I like her a lot, and I'm really looking forward to whatever she's working on now.

eta: edited romanization

sequential art, manhua: tao tie ceremony, manhua, a: nan gongyu

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