Jyu-Oh-Sei Volumes 2 and 3 by Natsumi Itsuki

I enjoyed the first couple volumes of Itsuki’s Demon Sacred so much, it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read the rest of Jyu-Oh-Sei, her pulpy science fiction series that Tokyopop released in omnibus format. I read the first volume some time ago, but it was easy for me to pick up the threads of the story again when revisiting the jungle planet of Kimaera.

Jyu-Oh-Sei Volume 2

Young Thor has unexpectedly survived being marooned on the inhospitable planet, and he becomes more and more important within the tribal structure of the planet’s inhabitants with every fight he wins. The third in command of the Ochre ring (conveniently named Third) is convinced that Thor should rise in the ranks to become the ruler of the planet, the Beast King. Third sets up a manipulated challenge that leaves Thor injured but he survives and is now the Ochre Ring’s Top. The story fast forwards a few years, and Thor and his girl second Tiz are all grown up and super-hot. Thor’s held on to his position of authority but everyone is shaken up when the leader of the Blanc Ring goes on a fighting rampage. It turns out that the Blanc Ring Top is an old acquaintance of Thor’s – Zagi who guided Thor when he was first dropped off on the planet.

Thor is caught between Zagi and Third. Zagi’s brutality in battle is extreme, but he tells Thor that becoming Beast King is for suckers. All the previous Beast Kings are frozen in a space station, ruling over nothing. Third urges Thor to take control by becoming Beast King in order to make the planet better. Romantic complications are introduced when Thor falls in love with Zagi’s second, a striking woman named Karim. This does not go over well with Tiz, who is still determined to bear Thor’s children even though he tends to view her as a sister. The second volumes sets up both emotional angst and the growing suspicion that the society on Kimaera might be engineered and controlled in a way that the natives don’t suspect. Many people are invested in Thor’s ability to lead, but why is he being singled out so much?

Jyu-Oh-Sei Volume 3

The first volume of Jyu-Oh-Sei felt like it was laying the foundation for Itsuki’s unique world. The planet itself was its own character, with the unique vegetation threatening human existence wherever Thor went. The second volume built more on the societal and emotional aspects of Kimaera, with Thor finally being portrayed as a grown-up instead of a lost boy. The concluding volume shifted into action movie territory, with surprising revelations about Thor’s own nature and a race against time to save the planet of the Beast King. I won’t go into the details too much to avoid spoiling the story, but after finishing this volume I had a renewed appreciation for Itsuki’s world building. Thor finds out the truth behind his adopted planet and confronts the people who had his parents murdered long ago. He then has to lead a small group of people in an attempt to save the planet from a desperate act. The structure of the final act of the story is circular, as the strange vegetation on the planet yet again plays a prominent role in the story.

I can see how this manga might not appeal to readers who don’t appreciate a healthy amount of exposition in their science fiction books. I liked seeing how Itsuki layered her story elements and carefully plotted out the details of her unique world. While I thoroughly enjoyed Jyu-Oh-Sei, it does lack the wackiness that causes me to look forward to the next volumes of Demon Sacred with so much affection. Jyu-Oh-Sei goes on a very short list of thoughtful science fiction manga that I wouldn’t hesitate to anyone looking for manga that features stories about the future of humanity. It has much more depth than the typical sci-fi manga, and I’d rank it up with Planetes as a favorite of the genre.

Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales Volume 1 by Melissa Marr and Xian Nu Studio

There have been quite a few manga style adaptions of young adult books. I find the idea of reading original side stories set in an author’s universe more interesting than reading a manga adaptation of what I’ve already read. I’ve read the first three books in Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series and mostly enjoyed them, although the third book teetered on the edge of being a little too emo for my taste. I wrote about Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange over on the Bureau Chiefs site. Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales features characters from the main books, but the focus is on a new character named Rika.

The Wicked Lovely series is an urban paranormal fantasy series. Keenan, the Summer King of the fairies has been on the hunt for his Summer Queen for centuries. He chooses his queen candidates from mortal girls. There’s a test they have to pass – if they grasp the staff of the Winter Queen and survive the ice, they’re his destined mate. If not, they’re iced over and turn into the Winter Queen, the Summer King’s most hated enemy. Rika is a mortal girl turned fairie by her experience being forced to serve as Winter Queen. She’s taken refuge in the desert, far away from Keenan. Her main distraction is watching a mortal boy – an artist and rock climber named Jayce.

Rika is careful to observe the usual fairy rules about contact with mortals and keeps herself carefully invisible. But the wild desert fey threaten Jayce and she intervenes in order to keep him from being injured. Jayce is mystified at the sudden appearance of a beautiful girl, and they have an awkward first date which consists of them wandering around a nearby town while Rika tries to fight off invisible assailants. Her one local ally is a faerie named Sionnach who seems to be pushing Rika towards the mortal for reasons of his own.

Melissa Marr excels at writing about romance in the initial attraction stage. Jayce and Rika meet, she bandages him up, and as they start talking to each other they share their interests in art and the desert landscape. The character designs fit with the slightly punked out sensibility of the Wicked Lovely books. Rika has pale eyelashes and a choppy bob, providing a contrast to Jayce’s dark skin and dreadlocks. The mischievous desert fey that harass the budding couple are drawn with lines of sand scattered across their skin. I found the story a little more interesting than the art, and there were a couple places in the book where I wished for better transitions between panels or across pages.

I think that fans of the Wicked Lovely series will enjoy this book. I’m not entirely sure how accessible it would be to someone who isn’t already familiar with Melissa Marr’s world. I found reading this manga to be a bit of a relief after Ink Exchange. The love triangle in the main series with Seth, Aislinn, and Keenan has just gotten a little bleak and depressing so I enjoyed being able to visit the Wicked Lovely world with some fresh characters who aren’t bogged down with the continuity in the main series. There are two additional volumes in the Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales manga series, the concluding volume comes out in February.

The Dreaming Complete Collection by Queenie Chan

I’d read the first volume of The Dreaming before and enjoyed it, but I hadn’t read the last two volumes of the series. I thought looking at the new omnibus edition would be a good pick during October. This was one of Tokyopop’s more successful titles out of their big OEL push several years ago, and the collected edition features several color pages, bonus stories, and an author interview.

Identical twins Amber and Jeanie arrive at a boarding school called Greenwitch Private College placed far in the Australian bushlands. Their Aunt Jessie is headmistress at the school, but after getting the twins settled she takes off on an extended trip, leaving them alone to get adjusted. They soon find that the school isn’t what it seems. The vice principal Mrs Skeener has a pathological aversion to twins. There’s a mysterious locked room down one corridor that’s been ineffectively disguised by wallpaper. Paintings in the school seem to tell the story of something horrible happening to girls in the Victorian era. Jeanie is the more outgoing twin, and she sets herself the task of unraveling the mystery behind the strangeness at the school. Amber is more sensitive to her surroundings and has horrible dreams, taking refuge in sleeping pills and the hope that she won’t remember the details of her dreams when she’s awake.

As befitting a manga called The Dreaming, Jeanie gradually gets a full picture of the school by piecing details of different stories together. She shares frightening dreams with her sister, where they are lost in the bush wearing victorian dress, trapped under trees that rain blood. Other students share details that allow her to gradually get a full picture of the school’s history. Girls have gone missing before in the past, and when the ringleader of an ill-fated seance in the present day goes missing it looks like the disappearances are starting to happen again. The only criticism I have of the book is that it sometimes seems a little referential. There’s the crazy older spinster character in the person of Mrs Skeener. Characters frequently refer to “odd rumors” and if you’ve ever seen a scene of girls trying a seance in a horror movie, you know that when Jeanie and Amber’s classmates stage one it isn’t going to turn out well. Still, if you’ve enjoyed gothic novels and episodes of the Twilight Zone in the past, there’s a certain amount of pleasant nostalgia invoked in the reader by The Dreaming.

Queenie Chan creates a suitably gothic atmosphere for her book. The wide shots of the school surrounded by dense bushland look incredibly claustrophobic. There’s plenty of detail included in the school’s interior and the Victorian costumes of the phantoms that come to haunt the current students. Setting the story in Australia provides an interesting source of local ghost legends to draw from as well. I especially appreciated the feeling of the epilogue, which evoked the spirit of Daphne du Marier’s opening line in Rebecca “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” as Jessie revisits her own history with the school.

I liked all the bonus content included with this omnibus. There’s an extra story included at the end that shows how Greenwitch Private College will endure even after the twins’ history with the place has ended. Omake episodes called “The Haunted Linen Cupboard” are included at the end of each volume, giving Chan the opportunity to make fun of some of the horror conventions that she uses in The Dreaming. Overall, this series provided old-fashioned horror fun with plenty of spooky dreams, evil old women, Australian spirits, and the occasional axe.

For more about Queenie Chan, visit her website.

Review copy provided by the publisher.