Takaya Natsuki - Phantom Dream, vol. 03-05 (Eng. trans.)
Mon, Nov. 22nd, 2010 01:28 pmOh manga, how I have missed reading you!
I read vols. 1 and 2 of this over a year ago, so I was worried I would not be able to follow the plot at all. However, looking at how confused I was even back then, I suspect having read 1 and 2 more recently wouldn't have helped that much anyway!
Surprisingly, the quick summaries provided at the beginning of each volume proved sufficient in terms of plot memory, and I suspect Takaya's pacing improved as well, as the jumble of characters and terminology and whatnot that I remember from the first two volumes was nowhere present in these three volumes. Instead, the secondary characters I vaguely remember from the first two volumes get much more depth, and Eiji ended up being my favorite of the bunch.
I also found it useful to think of the series as "Takaya Natsuki does X," although the resolution of the series very much foreshadows the work and themes of Fruits Basket.
(Hopefully this spoiler cut text is not spoilery, considering the comparison to X. Also, small spoilers for X.)
( Spoilers are reincarnated, have heroic sacrifices, and pine a lot, but do not have disturbing entirely-too-Freudian scenes with swords )
Overall, this series ends much, much better than it begins, and it's especially interesting to chart how Takaya starts by taking cues from the epic fantasy shoujo of the mid-1990s, then suddenly deciding halfway through that while the epic-fantasy-ness is great for creating angst and conflict, she could really just take the elements of abusive parents and pariah children and not have to worry that much about the worldbuilding.
I read vols. 1 and 2 of this over a year ago, so I was worried I would not be able to follow the plot at all. However, looking at how confused I was even back then, I suspect having read 1 and 2 more recently wouldn't have helped that much anyway!
Surprisingly, the quick summaries provided at the beginning of each volume proved sufficient in terms of plot memory, and I suspect Takaya's pacing improved as well, as the jumble of characters and terminology and whatnot that I remember from the first two volumes was nowhere present in these three volumes. Instead, the secondary characters I vaguely remember from the first two volumes get much more depth, and Eiji ended up being my favorite of the bunch.
I also found it useful to think of the series as "Takaya Natsuki does X," although the resolution of the series very much foreshadows the work and themes of Fruits Basket.
(Hopefully this spoiler cut text is not spoilery, considering the comparison to X. Also, small spoilers for X.)
( Spoilers are reincarnated, have heroic sacrifices, and pine a lot, but do not have disturbing entirely-too-Freudian scenes with swords )
Overall, this series ends much, much better than it begins, and it's especially interesting to chart how Takaya starts by taking cues from the epic fantasy shoujo of the mid-1990s, then suddenly deciding halfway through that while the epic-fantasy-ness is great for creating angst and conflict, she could really just take the elements of abusive parents and pariah children and not have to worry that much about the worldbuilding.