Welcome to week one of the Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden Summer Binge! For those who don’t know anything about this book, or do know a little something but would never think to read it, I’m with you. I haven’t read a lot of manga in my life, and none of it was shōjo manga (exception: Junji Ito writes horror for all genders). In fact I only recently learned that shōjo means manga for teenage girls. Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden is a prequel series to Fushigi Yûgi, which I have also not read.
“What,” you may be rightfully asking yourself, “what right do you have to review this manga, given your wholesale ignorance of everything around it?”
None.
Welcome aboard.
Written and illustrated by Yuu WataseCover byIn her first encounter, she meets the mysterious outlaw Limdo, a Celestial Warrior with a tattoo of the Chinese character for “woman” on his chest. Limdo can not only summon the wind as one of his special powers, but h e can also tranform into a woman!Takiko meets up with the bowman, Chamka, who is hunting Limdo. It seems Chamka is one of the seven Celestial Warriors as well…
Some basic facts: Yuu Watase wrote Fushigi Yûgi, all 106 chapters, in the 1990s. This prequel series was written in the 2000s, and is much shorter at 40 chapters. I’ll be reading and reviewing one book a week. With three to four chapters per book, this summer binge series will come to twelve installments, plus an extra one for good luck.
Since it’s a prequel series, Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden is written for people who know how the story is roughly going to end. Yuu Watase makes it even more clear early on, when the destiny of our hero and future Genbu priestess Takiko is announced right up front, and several more times throughout the first three chapters.
Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden reminds me of The Neverending Story, but with the added twist that the reader is a near-absentee father, Einosuke, and the hero of the story is his daughter. If that weren’t enough, their relationship is hanging on a strained and unfinished sentence where Einosuke is about to say why he wished Takiko had been born a boy. There is another twist: I believe that the father was in such a rush to write this book, The Universe of the Four Gods, to somehow save his dying wife, Yoshie, but he was just a moment too late. (My first prediction, I’ll keep track and report back on my success rate at the end of the binge.). Even though this is the first book I’ve ever read by Yuu Watase, I’m already declaring her a master of set ups.
Bechdel pondering: Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden passed the Bechdel Test early with Takiko being bullied by some minor characters we never see again. Later it passed the test with the main characters, but only because one of them can change sexes at will. Does that still count? What if it two women talk about a man, but that man is actually one of the women?
Japan has a fascination with people who can casually switch sexes at will, or via a cold glass of water, that is missing from American comics. I want to find out more about this. I will read up and report back in a future installment of this summer binge.
The fights read like a video game. Ljmdo uses his special move Hurricane Slash in the first battle. Yuu Watase is an experienced comic creator, and appears to operating at the top of her game, so I’m assuming this facet of her writing is deliberate and isn’t going to change. I’ve decided to learn to like it, and I’ll keep track of each person’s power.
Criminal note: I got this book from my local inter-library loan system, and a previous reader had colored in one pair of eyes. I like it, and I will continue the tradition. From this day forward, until I get caught, every black and white comic I get will be returned with one pair of eyes colored in.
I enjoyed this first volume, but manga reads so fast it’s hard for me to get a strong feel for it. I’m looking forward to volume two.
