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Amakawa Shimizu - Cross, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)
*points to icon*
My icon is even more appropriate for this manga than usual.
Cross is in the tradition of Yuki Kaori and CLAMP; that is to say, it is drenched with arcane Catholic and Kabbalistic imagery, a cracked out notion of Victoriana, black lace, poison, demons and lots and lots of crosses.
Amakusa Takara is a priest. A young, high-school priest who performs exorcisms. One day, he wanders into his father's cathedral (literally his father, as well as a priest, which will apparently be explained later), and finds a woman wrapped in a sheet on the pews. She lets the sheet drop, stands there in her underwear, and points out the strange Kabbalistic sign painted on her back by her evil, Satanic parents. Satanic as in: they worship Satan.
It's hard to describe just how very cracktastic this manga is. Every other page, there's something like an anti-cross with a serpent twined around it. On the serpent's head is "666." The Satanic rites. The voodoo doll that Takara's classmate has made using a magic nail. The half-naked women. The angelic nun. The fact that Shizuha (the half-naked woman) tells Takara that she realized that her parents were evil when they brought a man in to the hospital. Only the next day, the man had turned into.... (dun dun DUN!) a quivering lump of flesh.
Also, Takara's code name is "Cross."
This is because a small cross actually comes out of his forehead (dripping blood, of course), leaving a cross-shaped bruise.
To further illustrate, in the second half of the volume, the villain mutilates, disembowels and exsanguinates pigeons and cats to gain power and make herself more beautiful, because long ago, her cruel classmates threw sulfuric acid in her face.
I'm telling you, you can't make this stuff up.
Also, in the climactic battle with the villain, Takara manages to get himself tied up and beaten, in which the author juxtaposes this with a picture of an icon of Jesus on a cross. In case you don't get the symbolism, the next page features a bruised and bloodied Takara juxtaposed with a broken icon of Jesus on a cross.
The best part about all of this is that this is probably impeccably researched, complete with footnotes explaining the Kabbalistic symbols, the Hebrew, and scriptura that appears on Shizuha's body. Also, there's even a glossary in the back, explaining things like "amen" and "magic nail."
Oh wait, no! The best part is the author's notes! She says that she usually likes innocent yet sexy women, but in this case, she made her heroine an older schoolteacher. On this: "Hence, from the very beginning, the half-naked heroine. In chapter three, Takara's clothes are coming off too. This is my way." I love it! It's just like Watase Yuu and her reasoning behind Absolute Boyfriend -- "I had this picture of a pretty boy, naked, in a box, so I decided to create a manga series around it!"
Anyhow, Cross isn't actually good and cracktastic, the way Kaori Yuki or Laura Kinsale can be. But it is incredibly cracktastic, which is something in and of itself.
My icon is even more appropriate for this manga than usual.
Cross is in the tradition of Yuki Kaori and CLAMP; that is to say, it is drenched with arcane Catholic and Kabbalistic imagery, a cracked out notion of Victoriana, black lace, poison, demons and lots and lots of crosses.
Amakusa Takara is a priest. A young, high-school priest who performs exorcisms. One day, he wanders into his father's cathedral (literally his father, as well as a priest, which will apparently be explained later), and finds a woman wrapped in a sheet on the pews. She lets the sheet drop, stands there in her underwear, and points out the strange Kabbalistic sign painted on her back by her evil, Satanic parents. Satanic as in: they worship Satan.
It's hard to describe just how very cracktastic this manga is. Every other page, there's something like an anti-cross with a serpent twined around it. On the serpent's head is "666." The Satanic rites. The voodoo doll that Takara's classmate has made using a magic nail. The half-naked women. The angelic nun. The fact that Shizuha (the half-naked woman) tells Takara that she realized that her parents were evil when they brought a man in to the hospital. Only the next day, the man had turned into.... (dun dun DUN!) a quivering lump of flesh.
Also, Takara's code name is "Cross."
This is because a small cross actually comes out of his forehead (dripping blood, of course), leaving a cross-shaped bruise.
To further illustrate, in the second half of the volume, the villain mutilates, disembowels and exsanguinates pigeons and cats to gain power and make herself more beautiful, because long ago, her cruel classmates threw sulfuric acid in her face.
I'm telling you, you can't make this stuff up.
Also, in the climactic battle with the villain, Takara manages to get himself tied up and beaten, in which the author juxtaposes this with a picture of an icon of Jesus on a cross. In case you don't get the symbolism, the next page features a bruised and bloodied Takara juxtaposed with a broken icon of Jesus on a cross.
The best part about all of this is that this is probably impeccably researched, complete with footnotes explaining the Kabbalistic symbols, the Hebrew, and scriptura that appears on Shizuha's body. Also, there's even a glossary in the back, explaining things like "amen" and "magic nail."
Oh wait, no! The best part is the author's notes! She says that she usually likes innocent yet sexy women, but in this case, she made her heroine an older schoolteacher. On this: "Hence, from the very beginning, the half-naked heroine. In chapter three, Takara's clothes are coming off too. This is my way." I love it! It's just like Watase Yuu and her reasoning behind Absolute Boyfriend -- "I had this picture of a pretty boy, naked, in a box, so I decided to create a manga series around it!"
Anyhow, Cross isn't actually good and cracktastic, the way Kaori Yuki or Laura Kinsale can be. But it is incredibly cracktastic, which is something in and of itself.
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Or that, where a normal shoujo manga would use floating feathers or flowers to indicate moments of high emotion, Cross has floating stained glass windows.
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Imma stick with Godchild, I think. For which I probably need to make an icon at some point, because I keep haunting the manga store for volume 2.
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The Wild Adapter and Tactics news has had me dancing all day.
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I take it you recommend it?
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What bothers you about genderbending/what kind of genderbending bothers you?
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It's hard to pinpoint what it is about genderbending that gets me, only that it does. I think a big part of it is the genderbending I've encountered always has this undercurrent of biological determinism and misogyny. It makes me hesitant to keep trying the trope.
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Alas, no cracked-out Victoriana, but did I mention the reincarnation and angst and incest?
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Are you trying to appeal to my not-so-inner Saiyuki whore, here? *G*
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If Mely can't find anything, I can get you stuff once I get back to Bay Area.
I don't think there's the "men are inherently better" thing, although Yuki Kaori does do the shoujo thing in which the girls are almost always innocent and nice.
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If all else fails, I've got a haircut on Wednesday, and the manga shop is just a few storefronts down from my salon (why no, I didn't plan it that way at all;-).
If Merry is her idea of innocent and nice, I can cope. That little girl's going to grow up to terrorize the world.
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It does not have cracked-out Victoriana. It has cracked-out reintrepeted Kabbalah and apocalyptic Biblical imagery instead.
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And you got me with Kabbalastic, oh yes.
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Do you already have the Cain Saga/Godchild scans? And *cough* pointers to alter ego Angel Sanctuary fic?
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I don't have any scans, no, and I was just about to ask for fic recs, as my MO is to devour the canon, then mainline the fanworks. *G*
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Count Cain (not spoilery, I think)
Angel Sanctuary
And
There might be more at ff.net or at
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I think I've read
Sadly, I understand Yoon's left LJ.
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