manga: Kaze Hikaru Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

When 15-year-old Sei’s father and brother are killed by Imperialists, she shaves the top of her head (I forget the official term, sorry) and disguises herself as a boy and joins the Mibu-Roshi, Shogunate loyalists who will later be known as the Shinsengumi, for two reasons. The first is that her murdered brother had been meeting with them, and planned to join them. The second is that, when her father’s clinic was attacked, Okita Soji, a member of the Mibu-Roshi, is the only one who tries to help.

There, she finds herself assigned to Okita himself and has her idealistic views of the Mibu-Roshi dashed. Not only are the Mibu-Roshi poor, but they’re also hated by many of the people of Kyoto. In addition, many of them seem to be far from desirable as heroes to Sei. Of the leaders, Serizawa seems to be a slobbish, drunken lech, Hijikata an ill-tempered brute, and Okita, while serious and admirable in private, often imitates and plays along with Serizawa in public, seeming to be little better. In addition, many of the other men seem to be little better. As the volumes proceeds, however, she comes to realize they’re deeper than they initially appear, though still not the ideals in her head.

I like Sei. She appeals to me in a similar way that Rin in Blade of the Immortal, Sarasa in Basara and, to a lesser degree(in terms of character similarity, not appeal), Yuya in Samurai Deeper Kyo do. I’m not so big on the Mibu-Roshi members yet. I like Hijikata and Saito (who resembles Sei’s brother and was his friend) but I’m not sure how much of that is them, and how much of it is the fact that I tend to like them in most Shinsengumi stories. I suspect I’ll like Okita a good bit, but I have an instinctive “oh, not again…” to his character type. (I’m all for his normal personality, but the “tee hee” flippancy at times grates.) I do, however, like the (so far) fairly realistic portrayal of the times, including the treatment of Sei as a “pretty boy” in this environment, and that the mangaka isn’t writing the Shinsengumi as perfect or supercool.

A few comments regarding the gender bending aspect that I particularly like, in terms of using it as a narrative device. The handling of the it actually reminds me somewhat of Basara aka “the best shoujo ever”*:

1. No one looks at Sei and responds to some vital inner blossom of femininity that she can’t quite hide. They look at her and think “pretty boy!” When everyone wants to see her when they hear the new “boy” is pretty, it isn’t to see if it’s actually a girl, but to see if a boy can be that pretty. People are even called idiots for thinking she could possibly be a boy.
2. Directly related, Sei’s design and behavior are not clearly “girl pretending to be a boy,” right down to her hair.  This isn't a "short but still cute" boyish hairstyle, but a hairstyle that would humiliate any well bred girl.  There’s no obvious narrative clues to make people make exceptions for her. She’s drawn and written in a way for it to be believable that people don’t instantly go “ok, girl!”
3. We aren’t clued in to the fact that Sei is a girl (ok, we were because of the back cover, but that’s not the point!) until Okita *cough* “unmasks” her, and Okita only does so because he attacks her for atempted desertion while completely convinced she’s a boy, and by treating her as such.  After he learns, he continues to treat her as a boy as much as possible.

*I should mention that the handling if the gender bending/crossdressing aspect is the only obvious similarity to Basara that jumps out at me. Well, that and the fact that both are gender bending in the vein of “teenaged girl pretends to be a boy to get revenge for the death of her family.” Which, in both the individual series and the grand scheme of historical and genre fiction, really isn’t that much. 

Comments

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if characters convincingly act as boys, it's believable. When you get protagonists who go "oh no, he suspects! I've got to act like a boy!" in other gender bending series, they seem to always go over the deep end and try to convince others they've got an interest in porn or something. Well, this happened in Girl Got Game anyway. I don't recall if Mizuki in Hana-Kimi did this, or was just generally daffy and careless.

I have kind of been on the fence about this one. I think I have volume 1, but I've not been particularly inspired to read it. I'll be interested to see what you think of it if/as you continue.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, part of why Basara works so well is that she sometimes forgets she is a girl. This looks like it'll have the same thing going. Sei, so far, doesn't do the "I have to act like a boy!" bit. She just kinda gets irked and goes "OK YOU ARE A PERV AND I'M GOING NOW!" and the way it comes across is almost a 12 year old boy going "OMG EW SEX EW!" I only read the first few volumes of GGG ages ago(I quit when, IIRC, a guy she was trying to befriend went to absurd lengths to force her to admit to being a guy, and it seemed to scream "future love triangle") but Mizuki was mostly daffy and careless and, while she was adorable and I love her, the idea of anyone believing she was a boy was kinda absurd. It all rested on no one being able to believe a girl would crossdress and go to the other side of the world just to meet her idol.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I made the mistake of buying all of GGG before reading it, so I felt like I had to keep going even when it started to get really lame. I think I liked her main love interest, but hated the slapsticky comedy, which grew to rely on random props, like the lead suddenly showing up decked out in a fringed leisure suit. (On a date with a girl, trying to discourage her affections.)

I started off liking Mizuki, but she was so, so dumb there in the last volumes. "Okies, I'll protect my secret by changing clothes near a window!" Mostly, this was the mangaka's fault, of course.

Your description of Sei's reaction to perviness is interesting. One very appealing thing I'd heard about Kaze Hikaru was how the guys are not idealized. Our local library's got most of it, too, so I'll probably check it out at some time, but there's so much stuff I already own that I really ought to be reading first.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I dropped Hana Kimi around Vol 17 or so, because I could tell that all it would be from there's on out was Mizuki standing by and being supportive while the final arc was all about Sano's angst and comeback. Sounds like it was for the best.

"Irked" is probably best read as "freaks out," to be honest, but her reactions fit both a 15 year old girl learning what guys are really like for the first time, and an adolescent boy who's starting to figure sex out, but not that it's fun, which is kind of a hard line to balance, but I think it was.

Yeah, the guys really aren't idealized at all, not even Soji.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I dropped Hana Kimi around Vol 17 or so, because I could tell that all it would be from there's on out was Mizuki standing by and being supportive while the final arc was all about Sano's angst and comeback. Sounds like it was for the best.

Most of it was, but in the last few volumes it was an abrupt change to wrapping up the overall plot with various discoveries. I was completely disappointed in Nakatsu's reaction to Mizuki's deception. None of her friends gave her any shit at all, either!

I'm surprised you could quit so near the end, though. :) I have a major compulsion to finish things, unless they are really, really bad.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, I've learned that when shoujo turns into the girl being supportive through the guys angst, or the focus shifting to guys still being friends in spite of the girl, I'm probably better off quitting (with a few exceptions.) I'm a completist myself, but my need to retain happy feelings about the series and characters can outweigh that.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. My feelings for Hana-Kimi were so grumbly by the end that I ended up selling it off after I finished it. And part of that was because of the guys staying friends in spite of the girl, and Nakatsu's total "oh, okay" reaction about it all. It was all just for plot convenience and not at all true to what emotions should've been in such a circumstance.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's not that they stay friends despite liking the girl, it's that it's a popular shoujo trope to make (liking) her an obstacle for the guys to overcome to maintain their friendship. It's why I dropped Ouran too.

I read these things for stories about girls, not for girls who are tool in telling me how great guys/friendships about guys are. (Not that I have any objection to either, but...)

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I'm still reading Ouran and, though I see what you're saying, it hasn't bothered me much in that case because I really only see that she should end up with Tamaki (whom I adore), so anyone else's feelings are kind of in "he'll get over it" territory. :)

Plus, it's such an obvious comedy and isn't taking itself as seriously as other series would when employing said plot lines.

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that settles it, I shall try this too! I've been wondering about it for a while, but could never get my hands on a copy to flick through it and see for myself. Thanks!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Copies of it in the store are kinda elusive here, too.

Pretty good so far.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty impressed our library seems to have all of it, possibly excepting the latest volume. They carry most Shonen Jump titles, as well. They don't have Claymore, alas, but I believe they do have some D. Gray-man and certainly all of FMA.

ETA: Not to suggest those last 3 titles are part of the Shonen Jump imprint. They're just ones I know Megan digs. :)

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

I think I'll shell out for the first three volumes, then; that's usually enough for me to be able to tell whether I'm going to like something or not.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I fucking adore Kaze Hikaru. I pimp it out whenever possible, I will buy every new volume as soon as I see it, no matter where I am or whether or not I've budgeted for books that week. Along with Skip-Beat, it's my proof that good shoujo still has something to offer me in my late twenties, even though I'm more and more drawn to josei.

I am up to volume 8 out of the 9 volumes currently out, and at no point have I been disappointed in the series. I love Sei (and Soji) more with every volume, and enjoy the development of their relationships with each other and everyone else in the Mibu-Roshi. I am still terrified that this will all end tragically and my heart will be shattered, though.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Based on what I've read, if you haven't read it yet, you might like Basara.

I think with Soji, I'm just having an instinctive "oh not again" reaction, when he doesn't really have the traits I'm reacting to incredibly strongly. My main thought on the rest is "Stop trying to molest the poor girl/boy!" (despite the fact that how that's handled is part of the appeal...)

I think it has to either end ambiguously, or tragically...