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meganbmooreLately(as in 1 volume a couple months ago and 2 more this week) I've been reading Chika Shiomi's manga, Night of the Beasts(vols 1-2...didn't know 2 was out until I saw 3 on a release list and am currently waiting for 3 to come in) and Canon(1 volume, just came out) The best way to describe the books is shojo horror.
First of all, these series are a little odd, even for me. They both have OTPs from hell(you think Kikyo/Inu Yasha/Kagome has issues? That's nothing compared to Aria/Sakura, and Canon/Sakaki are on a par) which, oddly, is a lot of the appeal, and seriously kickass heroines who are polar opposites of each other and manage to avoid Mary Sue-ish "I'm so badass" vibes. And very unconventional heroes.
*goes off to eat something then actually do some reading today, instead of yet another post talking about reading*
ETA: Just found this nice article, with pictures, aboutthe books: http://www.tokyojupiter.com/anime/?p=409
First of all, these series are a little odd, even for me. They both have OTPs from hell(you think Kikyo/Inu Yasha/Kagome has issues? That's nothing compared to Aria/Sakura, and Canon/Sakaki are on a par) which, oddly, is a lot of the appeal, and seriously kickass heroines who are polar opposites of each other and manage to avoid Mary Sue-ish "I'm so badass" vibes. And very unconventional heroes.
Night of the Beasts is about Aria, a girl who likes to cut class, get into trouble, and beat up people picking on those weaker than they are(she reminds me of a more extreme Aya from Ceres) She meets Sakura, a young man who claims to be a distant relative possessed by an evil demon that can only be suppressed by her touch. The demon was vanquished by a mutual ancestor who was possessed by a good demon(they're referred to as the white demon and the black demon) and both demons have lain dormant in the bloodline since then, but when the black demon awoke inside Sakura, it sent out a dream to every descendant of the original warrior of Sakura brutally murdering them, driving some insane. In contrast, some of the strongest willed ones, like Aria, dismissed and forgot it as a dream, while others formed an organization to make sure it never came true. As a result, they've all been ruthlessly hunting him ever since. They take Aria hostage to lure Sakura out and kill him, and even though he knows its going to result in either his death or his having to kill someone and losing his mind and soul(and, he believes, ceasing to exist) to the demon, he goes to save her. The demon forces him to kill, and Aria is saved from the massacre because the white demon inhabits her(hence her touch being able to keep the black demon from controlling Sakura) and was awakened when the blackdemon became dominant.
What do the relatives have to say about this? "If you'd listened to us from the start and helped us kill him, this wouldn't have happened." Her response? "Screw you, if you'd tried to help him instead of hunting him down like a dog, this wouldn't have happened." She really couldn't care less about them, but she does care about trying to save Sakura. Her life is ruined, a demon(good or otherwise) is living inside her, she's been betrayed by everyone and the ones responsible expect her to help them, and her boyfriend's soul was devoured by a demon out to kill 4000 people and just happens to be the mortal enemy of the demon living inside her. Really sucks to be her. See what I mean about this being the OTP from hell?
Canon is about a girl named Canon who was the sole survivor of a vampire attack that resulted in the deaths of 39 classmates. Of course, she became a vampire herself in the process. Since she's a manga vampire, she keeps her soul and manages to keep from turning evil by not drinking human blood, and she sets off to save others before they fully become vampires, and to find and kill Rod, the master vampire who attacked her school(I'm sure "Rod" is much cooler and more sinister sounding in Japanese...) Along the way she meets up with Fui, a talking, snarking vampire crow, and Sakaki, a young man who's the son of a human and a vampire. Since the spawns of those unions tend to be scary powerful if they become vampires, Rod slaughtered his family, but Sakaki's vampire side was strong enough that it wouldn't let him die and became dominant. Unlike Canon, Sakaki has no regard for human(or vampire) life. I'm not quite sure WHY he decided to effectively keep Canon, as she's far weaker than he is and her beliefs tend to get in his way when he just wants to kill his opponents and get on with it-I assume it's his human side responding to her- but the contrast between the two is pretty interesting. They aren't QUITE the OTP from hell that Aria/Sakaki are(what with his demonic side developing protective instincts instead of stomping on his soul and setting out to kill her and 4000 other people) but they're more than screwed up enough to to suit my unconventional OTP needs.
Of the two, I prefer Night of the Beasts(art is better and and for me, history and mythology>>>vampires) but I like both.
She also has a third book, Yurara, that'll be coming out in Viz's Shojo Beat line in a few months, but I don't know anything about that one.
What do the relatives have to say about this? "If you'd listened to us from the start and helped us kill him, this wouldn't have happened." Her response? "Screw you, if you'd tried to help him instead of hunting him down like a dog, this wouldn't have happened." She really couldn't care less about them, but she does care about trying to save Sakura. Her life is ruined, a demon(good or otherwise) is living inside her, she's been betrayed by everyone and the ones responsible expect her to help them, and her boyfriend's soul was devoured by a demon out to kill 4000 people and just happens to be the mortal enemy of the demon living inside her. Really sucks to be her. See what I mean about this being the OTP from hell?
Canon is about a girl named Canon who was the sole survivor of a vampire attack that resulted in the deaths of 39 classmates. Of course, she became a vampire herself in the process. Since she's a manga vampire, she keeps her soul and manages to keep from turning evil by not drinking human blood, and she sets off to save others before they fully become vampires, and to find and kill Rod, the master vampire who attacked her school(I'm sure "Rod" is much cooler and more sinister sounding in Japanese...) Along the way she meets up with Fui, a talking, snarking vampire crow, and Sakaki, a young man who's the son of a human and a vampire. Since the spawns of those unions tend to be scary powerful if they become vampires, Rod slaughtered his family, but Sakaki's vampire side was strong enough that it wouldn't let him die and became dominant. Unlike Canon, Sakaki has no regard for human(or vampire) life. I'm not quite sure WHY he decided to effectively keep Canon, as she's far weaker than he is and her beliefs tend to get in his way when he just wants to kill his opponents and get on with it-I assume it's his human side responding to her- but the contrast between the two is pretty interesting. They aren't QUITE the OTP from hell that Aria/Sakaki are(what with his demonic side developing protective instincts instead of stomping on his soul and setting out to kill her and 4000 other people) but they're more than screwed up enough to to suit my unconventional OTP needs.
Of the two, I prefer Night of the Beasts(art is better and and for me, history and mythology>>>vampires) but I like both.
She also has a third book, Yurara, that'll be coming out in Viz's Shojo Beat line in a few months, but I don't know anything about that one.
*goes off to eat something then actually do some reading today, instead of yet another post talking about reading*
ETA: Just found this nice article, with pictures, aboutthe books: http://www.tokyojupiter.com/anime/?p=409
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Date: 2007-04-28 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-28 03:51 am (UTC)It's from Go!Comi, same publisher as Her Majesty's Dog, and they tend to putthings out at a good pace. Also? NotB is only 6 volumes, and Canon 4(or maybe the reverse, too lazy to check) so no neverending investment and dragging a cool concept into the ground.