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OKAY GUYS SO CAN WE TALK ABOUT BASARA?!
Seriously I don't even know what Yumi Tamura was on when she was writing this but whatever it is I WANT SOME. I spend every volume with my face caught halfway between :OOOOOOOO and *________*!!!. I am only halfway through and this is already ranking as some of the most AMAZINGLY EPIC CRACK I have ever read. I mean, okay, this is how Yumi Tamura's brain works:
THE TELEVISION: Oh hey, it's marathon week! Everyone cheer for the runners!
YUMI TAMURA: Oooh, marathon week is exciting! Hey, I should put a side arc about a MARATHON in this volume! A marathon . . . OF DOOM! There can be CROCODILES and a GIANT HOT-AIR BALLOON and COMRADES FORCED TO KILL EACH OTHER IN CRUEL GLADIATORIAL ENTERTAINMENT and -
YUMI TAMURA'S EDITOR: But wait wait wait, won't this distract from the main plot with the star-crossed love and the rebellion and the pirates and gaining allies -
YUMI TAMURA: No no it's cool, I'll just end this arc with the heroine being kidnapped by evil dudes, DRUGGED AND SACRIFICED TO A SEA MONSTER, saving herself by the power of SHEER DETERMINATION, and using that to lead the REBELLION!
YUMI TAMURA'S EDITOR: . . . . . . well I'm glad we've got that sorted then?
YUMI TAMURA: Also the hero is going to be completely bald for this whole arc just so everyone can make fun of him. LOL!
I am not making this up, guys, her author's notes indicate that this is exactly how her plotting goes. And this is just ONE VOLUME. This is just a SIDE ARC. I am sorry if this is a lot of allcaps but I can't convey the DRAMA of this manga any other way!
(And the thing is that reasonably often she manages to say something pretty interesting about war and nationalism and cycles of oppression, too! It is just that all the plot twists she uses to get there are on Dorothy Dunnett levels of AMAZING IDTASTIC CRACK. I eat it all up with a spoon and cannot wait for more.)
SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT!
SARASA
So let's talk for a moment about how HILARIOUSLY HARDCORE Sarasa is?!? I mean it's easy to overlook sometimes what with the huge shojo eyes and waiflike body and long flowing hair and occasional determined speeches about FRIENDSHIP, but, look, here is a short list of Facts About Sarasa:
1. Sarasa doesn't run from sharks. Sarasa RIDES sharks. BLINDFOLDED.
2. Drugging Sarasa has no effect. She will just stab herself to stay awake . . . AND THEN STAB YOU.
3. It's not enough for Sarasa just to save a guy from being assassinated once; she'll stick around and save him from being assassinated like FOUR MORE TIMES, because hey, she's on vacation and WHY NOT.
4. You can try to shoot Sarasa, but she will just FLY AWAY on a KITE that is also a GIANT PROPAGANDA POSTER READING 'TATARA WAS HERE'
I mean, I love shojo heroines, but this is not normal shojo heroine behavior! This is CHUCK NORRIS behavior. Sarasa deserves to be a memetic badass and Iwil
(But seriously, during the MARATHON OF DOOM arc, Sarasa won my heart forever when Shuri was all "I'll protect you!" and she thought about it seriously, decided that this was nice but since if she was alone she would have to rely on herself she should probably keep on pulling her weight, and solemnly assured him that she would protect him too. Sarasa <33333!)
AGEHA:
There are a lot of things to say about Ageha at this point, especially what went down in the prison arc, and my feelings about all of that are a bit complicated, but - man, I just have to say, I didn't know HOW RIGHT I was when I said that in a past life Ageha was probably Francis Crawford of Lymond! They are certainly not the only two characters I have ever come across who allow themselves to be raped to protect their comrades, but they are definitely the only male characters who do so and remain coded within the story as romantic heroes; gay sex tends to eliminate you from the running for that.
And on the one hand the manga's insistence that despite all the cross-dressing and the flamboyance and the slashy flirting with dudes and actually sleeping with dudes Ageha is at heart really TOTALLY STRAIGHT is a bit "no really, we joke but there's no real gays here!" and certainly not unproblematic. On the other hand I do think it's kind of cool and unusual that saying explicitly that he's straight and interested in the ladies - and possibly specifically in Sarasa? Though I have to admit I like it better when he's hilariously confused by his promoted-to-parent status - does not cause him to become any more traditionally masculine, and again the noble and heroic acts that he performs to save Sarasa - the sexy striptease, sleeping with the other prisoners - are explicitly feminine ones. So: like I said, my feelings are complicated! (But my range of manga is still not all that great, so I could be misreading some of this and thinking it is more subversive than it is. I would be interested in thoughts if people have them.)
And while we're at it, THE PRISON PLOTLINE:
I see why people say this drags on, but I really respect that Yumi Tamura has decided to talk about cycles of oppression and how being the oppressor can be just as psychologically damaging as being the victim! It's all a bit Stanford Prison Experiment. I just also find it hilarious that the plot device she used to talk about this was A GIANT WATERFALL FROZE ALL THE ADULTS AND TRAPPED THE BABIES INTO BECOMING EVIL UNDERGROUND OVERLORDS. Oh Yumi Tamura! YOUR BRAIN!
SHURI:
I don't have a lot to say about Shuri except that even though I was totally invested in the romance, I don't think I really fell in love with Shuri himself until this most recent volume when he gets all furious at Nakijin for not telling him that he was going through a crisis. Because HOW WAS SHURI SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! SHURI'S AN EMOTIONAL IDIOT! Of course this has been the key to Shuri all along, but now that he is recognizing that himself and figuring out about ~friendships!~ I find him infinitely more endearing. I mean it is going to be that much harder now when everything leads to INEVITABLE DOOM, but oh well.
ASAGI:
I didn't want the Asagi plotline when it first showed up - I don't want friends turning on each other! - until Asagi became the second person to find out about the DOOOOOOOM of the Shuri/Sarasa relationship and had exactly the appropriate reaction, which is to LAUGH FOREVER. At this point I decided he could stay. After that some of his actions crossed the line, but Yumi Tamura saved him for me by refusing to take him seriously at all ever. That's right, Asagi, you sulk hilariously about your fishing talents remaining unappreciated! SULK FOREVER.
CHACHA AND ZAKI:
All I have to say is, um, how amazing was this conversation:
SARASA: So hey Zaki, are you Chacha's boyfriend?
ZAKI: HELL NO. I mean, I am madly in love with her and all and I would never dream of sleeping with anyone else myself, but Chacha is TOO AWESOME to have any one boyfriend! That is not fair to either Chacha OR the world.
KEEP ON BEING AWESOME, GUYS.
SARASA'S MOM:
So on the one hand I was cracking up about the general falling in terrible angsty star-crossed love with Sarasa's mom, and on the other hand I was eyeing that plot a little warily, because however sympathetic the general dude became, I would not be impressed with Sarasa's mom falling for the dude who killed her son and husband!
But instead we got just the right balance of Stockholm Syndrome and vicious hatred and uncertainty about what to do next (this is, by the way, the second case of "my complicated respect-hate feelings mean that I will not escape my imprisonment and leave you . . . until I see you DEAD WITH MY OWN EYES!" in the manga, which I am OKAY WITH) and then she was the SECOND FOR HIS SUICIDE and man, Yumi Tamura, I am sorry I ever doubted you! You have ALL the terrible angsty star-crossed love you want! Which leads us to:
I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THEIR NAMES BUT AWESOME JOURNALIST LADY AND PACIFIST PAINTER DUDE:
I love this plotline more than words can possibly express. IT IS SO OVER THE TOP AND AMAZING. I could say something serious about how cool it is that instead of the pacifist realizing that pacifism doesn't work and becoming brutal and vengeance-driven as in the usual sort of plotline, he gets to be badass and remain a pacifist, but instead all I can really do is flail my hands around and go HE HAS NO ARMS SO HE PAINTS WITH A BRUSH IN HIS MOUTH! asjd;lfdjseriously I am expecting Isaac and Miria to show up any minute and explain how he has a paintbrush . . . IN HIS HEART.
. . . . wow this is a long entry. Um, I guess I have a lot of feelings? SHINBASHI IS ADORABLE, THE END.
Seriously I don't even know what Yumi Tamura was on when she was writing this but whatever it is I WANT SOME. I spend every volume with my face caught halfway between :OOOOOOOO and *________*!!!. I am only halfway through and this is already ranking as some of the most AMAZINGLY EPIC CRACK I have ever read. I mean, okay, this is how Yumi Tamura's brain works:
THE TELEVISION: Oh hey, it's marathon week! Everyone cheer for the runners!
YUMI TAMURA: Oooh, marathon week is exciting! Hey, I should put a side arc about a MARATHON in this volume! A marathon . . . OF DOOM! There can be CROCODILES and a GIANT HOT-AIR BALLOON and COMRADES FORCED TO KILL EACH OTHER IN CRUEL GLADIATORIAL ENTERTAINMENT and -
YUMI TAMURA'S EDITOR: But wait wait wait, won't this distract from the main plot with the star-crossed love and the rebellion and the pirates and gaining allies -
YUMI TAMURA: No no it's cool, I'll just end this arc with the heroine being kidnapped by evil dudes, DRUGGED AND SACRIFICED TO A SEA MONSTER, saving herself by the power of SHEER DETERMINATION, and using that to lead the REBELLION!
YUMI TAMURA'S EDITOR: . . . . . . well I'm glad we've got that sorted then?
YUMI TAMURA: Also the hero is going to be completely bald for this whole arc just so everyone can make fun of him. LOL!
I am not making this up, guys, her author's notes indicate that this is exactly how her plotting goes. And this is just ONE VOLUME. This is just a SIDE ARC. I am sorry if this is a lot of allcaps but I can't convey the DRAMA of this manga any other way!
(And the thing is that reasonably often she manages to say something pretty interesting about war and nationalism and cycles of oppression, too! It is just that all the plot twists she uses to get there are on Dorothy Dunnett levels of AMAZING IDTASTIC CRACK. I eat it all up with a spoon and cannot wait for more.)
SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT!
SARASA
So let's talk for a moment about how HILARIOUSLY HARDCORE Sarasa is?!? I mean it's easy to overlook sometimes what with the huge shojo eyes and waiflike body and long flowing hair and occasional determined speeches about FRIENDSHIP, but, look, here is a short list of Facts About Sarasa:
1. Sarasa doesn't run from sharks. Sarasa RIDES sharks. BLINDFOLDED.
2. Drugging Sarasa has no effect. She will just stab herself to stay awake . . . AND THEN STAB YOU.
3. It's not enough for Sarasa just to save a guy from being assassinated once; she'll stick around and save him from being assassinated like FOUR MORE TIMES, because hey, she's on vacation and WHY NOT.
4. You can try to shoot Sarasa, but she will just FLY AWAY on a KITE that is also a GIANT PROPAGANDA POSTER READING 'TATARA WAS HERE'
I mean, I love shojo heroines, but this is not normal shojo heroine behavior! This is CHUCK NORRIS behavior. Sarasa deserves to be a memetic badass and Iwil
(But seriously, during the MARATHON OF DOOM arc, Sarasa won my heart forever when Shuri was all "I'll protect you!" and she thought about it seriously, decided that this was nice but since if she was alone she would have to rely on herself she should probably keep on pulling her weight, and solemnly assured him that she would protect him too. Sarasa <33333!)
AGEHA:
There are a lot of things to say about Ageha at this point, especially what went down in the prison arc, and my feelings about all of that are a bit complicated, but - man, I just have to say, I didn't know HOW RIGHT I was when I said that in a past life Ageha was probably Francis Crawford of Lymond! They are certainly not the only two characters I have ever come across who allow themselves to be raped to protect their comrades, but they are definitely the only male characters who do so and remain coded within the story as romantic heroes; gay sex tends to eliminate you from the running for that.
And on the one hand the manga's insistence that despite all the cross-dressing and the flamboyance and the slashy flirting with dudes and actually sleeping with dudes Ageha is at heart really TOTALLY STRAIGHT is a bit "no really, we joke but there's no real gays here!" and certainly not unproblematic. On the other hand I do think it's kind of cool and unusual that saying explicitly that he's straight and interested in the ladies - and possibly specifically in Sarasa? Though I have to admit I like it better when he's hilariously confused by his promoted-to-parent status - does not cause him to become any more traditionally masculine, and again the noble and heroic acts that he performs to save Sarasa - the sexy striptease, sleeping with the other prisoners - are explicitly feminine ones. So: like I said, my feelings are complicated! (But my range of manga is still not all that great, so I could be misreading some of this and thinking it is more subversive than it is. I would be interested in thoughts if people have them.)
And while we're at it, THE PRISON PLOTLINE:
I see why people say this drags on, but I really respect that Yumi Tamura has decided to talk about cycles of oppression and how being the oppressor can be just as psychologically damaging as being the victim! It's all a bit Stanford Prison Experiment. I just also find it hilarious that the plot device she used to talk about this was A GIANT WATERFALL FROZE ALL THE ADULTS AND TRAPPED THE BABIES INTO BECOMING EVIL UNDERGROUND OVERLORDS. Oh Yumi Tamura! YOUR BRAIN!
SHURI:
I don't have a lot to say about Shuri except that even though I was totally invested in the romance, I don't think I really fell in love with Shuri himself until this most recent volume when he gets all furious at Nakijin for not telling him that he was going through a crisis. Because HOW WAS SHURI SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! SHURI'S AN EMOTIONAL IDIOT! Of course this has been the key to Shuri all along, but now that he is recognizing that himself and figuring out about ~friendships!~ I find him infinitely more endearing. I mean it is going to be that much harder now when everything leads to INEVITABLE DOOM, but oh well.
ASAGI:
I didn't want the Asagi plotline when it first showed up - I don't want friends turning on each other! - until Asagi became the second person to find out about the DOOOOOOOM of the Shuri/Sarasa relationship and had exactly the appropriate reaction, which is to LAUGH FOREVER. At this point I decided he could stay. After that some of his actions crossed the line, but Yumi Tamura saved him for me by refusing to take him seriously at all ever. That's right, Asagi, you sulk hilariously about your fishing talents remaining unappreciated! SULK FOREVER.
CHACHA AND ZAKI:
All I have to say is, um, how amazing was this conversation:
SARASA: So hey Zaki, are you Chacha's boyfriend?
ZAKI: HELL NO. I mean, I am madly in love with her and all and I would never dream of sleeping with anyone else myself, but Chacha is TOO AWESOME to have any one boyfriend! That is not fair to either Chacha OR the world.
KEEP ON BEING AWESOME, GUYS.
SARASA'S MOM:
So on the one hand I was cracking up about the general falling in terrible angsty star-crossed love with Sarasa's mom, and on the other hand I was eyeing that plot a little warily, because however sympathetic the general dude became, I would not be impressed with Sarasa's mom falling for the dude who killed her son and husband!
But instead we got just the right balance of Stockholm Syndrome and vicious hatred and uncertainty about what to do next (this is, by the way, the second case of "my complicated respect-hate feelings mean that I will not escape my imprisonment and leave you . . . until I see you DEAD WITH MY OWN EYES!" in the manga, which I am OKAY WITH) and then she was the SECOND FOR HIS SUICIDE and man, Yumi Tamura, I am sorry I ever doubted you! You have ALL the terrible angsty star-crossed love you want! Which leads us to:
I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THEIR NAMES BUT AWESOME JOURNALIST LADY AND PACIFIST PAINTER DUDE:
I love this plotline more than words can possibly express. IT IS SO OVER THE TOP AND AMAZING. I could say something serious about how cool it is that instead of the pacifist realizing that pacifism doesn't work and becoming brutal and vengeance-driven as in the usual sort of plotline, he gets to be badass and remain a pacifist, but instead all I can really do is flail my hands around and go HE HAS NO ARMS SO HE PAINTS WITH A BRUSH IN HIS MOUTH! asjd;lfdjseriously I am expecting Isaac and Miria to show up any minute and explain how he has a paintbrush . . . IN HIS HEART.
. . . . wow this is a long entry. Um, I guess I have a lot of feelings? SHINBASHI IS ADORABLE, THE END.