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manga: Sakura-Hime Vol 1-2
Nov. 23rd, 2011 11:55 pmThis is Arina Tanemura's Heian era version of magical girl shoujo. Yes, there is a Heian henshin.
Sakura has grown up on a country estate, supported by her betrothed (who she has never met) after her her family dies. She's been told to never look at the full moon, and when she does, a monster attacks her! As monsters do. At which points she learns that (A) she's descended from Princess Kaguya which (B) gives her superpowers which (C) means she must use those powers to fight demons unless she wants to get eaten and (D) means she gets a magic sword to go with the powers. Oh, and her fiance, who hates demons and anything connected to them (and has scret stalkerish impulses) turns into a giant white wolf sometimes. And don't forget the henshin.
Tanemura's style in a Heian setting is...odd, and it takes some getting used to, but the clothing is quite lovely to look at. Since this is a Tanemura series, the romance is ANGSTY DOOMED FORBIDDEN SECRETIVE and the guy is more than a bit of an ass, but is fervently studying monomanic devotion and PAAAAANIC at the idea of a rival. Naturallym there's a romantic rival who annoys me more. She also has lots of female sidekicks and guides and teeny magic girls with deep possibly dark secrets all but joined to her hip. (Sadly, I doubt we'l get angsty angel cannot touch like Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne.) It looks like there will be more romantic drama than mythology, and I'm disappointed that the romantic plotlines moved past "But will we be enemies?" so quickly (I'm not always a fan of "Enemies as lovers" but that had the potential to be pretty interesting the way things were until about 1/2 way through the second volume) but it's fun so far.
Sakura has grown up on a country estate, supported by her betrothed (who she has never met) after her her family dies. She's been told to never look at the full moon, and when she does, a monster attacks her! As monsters do. At which points she learns that (A) she's descended from Princess Kaguya which (B) gives her superpowers which (C) means she must use those powers to fight demons unless she wants to get eaten and (D) means she gets a magic sword to go with the powers. Oh, and her fiance, who hates demons and anything connected to them (and has scret stalkerish impulses) turns into a giant white wolf sometimes. And don't forget the henshin.
Tanemura's style in a Heian setting is...odd, and it takes some getting used to, but the clothing is quite lovely to look at. Since this is a Tanemura series, the romance is ANGSTY DOOMED FORBIDDEN SECRETIVE and the guy is more than a bit of an ass, but is fervently studying monomanic devotion and PAAAAANIC at the idea of a rival. Naturallym there's a romantic rival who annoys me more. She also has lots of female sidekicks and guides and teeny magic girls with deep possibly dark secrets all but joined to her hip. (Sadly, I doubt we'l get angsty angel cannot touch like Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne.) It looks like there will be more romantic drama than mythology, and I'm disappointed that the romantic plotlines moved past "But will we be enemies?" so quickly (I'm not always a fan of "Enemies as lovers" but that had the potential to be pretty interesting the way things were until about 1/2 way through the second volume) but it's fun so far.