Pages

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Manga Review: Black Bird, Volume 16, by Kanoko Sakurakouji



Rating (Out of 5): ~4
Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo Beat)
Publish Date: 2013
Volumes: 18
Spoilers?: Yes.

Goodreads Synopsis:

He loves her blood, but does her love her?!There is a world of myth and magic that intersects ours, and only a special few can see it. Misao Harada is one such person, and she wants nothing to do with magical realms. She just wants to have a normal high school life and maybe get a boyfriend. But she is the bride of demon prophecy, and her blood grants incredible powers, her flesh immortality. Now the demon realm is fighting over the right to her hand...or her life!

Misao has made the choice to forgo college and a normal human life in order to be Kyo’s wife and mother to the demon child she carries. But her pregnancy is unusual, even for the demon world. The last pages of the Senka Roku will reveal the truth of the matter, but now that Kyo has it in his hands, does he really want to know…?

Review:

So, I like this series. It’s good, it’s drama-filled and steamy. It’s also a bit messy with the characters, and dragging on a little bit. But I’m not really minding the dragging on, although I am very looking forward to seeing how it ends.
So, first off, this volume was good. I liked it. What happened was needed. But it also gave me very big flashbacks to Breaking Dawn, something that I didn’t really enjoy, even if I did actually like, for the most part, that book.
Quite a bit of the volume is taken up with Kyo finding out that, when Misao gives birth, she’s going to die. And the resulting chaos of that. Kyo immediately wants to get rid of the baby, because he can’t stand the thought of not having Misao. His daitengu are forced to stop him, though, because that would be the downfall of his position of power, of maybe his life, and dangerous to Misao, even though none of them want Misao to die, as they love her too. Throughout all of this, Misao doesn’t say anything, as she’s kind of in a frozen state, not knowing what to do with herself, how to react, or what she wants.
But finally she stands up, and states that she’s going to have the baby. Which, finally, thank god. No one reacts well to this, as the daitengu had just decided to leave their positions or not follow Kyo and let him get rid of the baby. There’s a big confrontation after this, as Kyo is not okay with her decision, and says that he’ll hate the baby, and die himself, because he can’t live without Misao. I wanted her to get pissed off at him, to stand up and yell more, but the result was still good.
Kyo, though, gets determined then to find a cure, to find some clue, to find some way for Misao to have the baby and live. There’s tension here, because Kyo is moody and not sleeping and having nightmares, pushing Misao away and getting snippy at things she says. Misao, meanwhile, is lonely. She’s pregnant, her body is changing, everyone around her is busy finding out how to save her, and she’s feeling useless and alone.
Near the end of the volume, they seem to be onto something, although they’re not sure what, on how to save her. It’s Misao’s birthday and they’re celebrating, and Kyo calms down a bit. Things aren’t looking too good, but it seems like they’re going to figure something out. I have no doubt that the series will have a happy ending, but I’m excited to find out how that happens. I’m looking forward to seeing their relationship development, see where they’re going, see what happens with them. 
There are only a couple of volumes left (right?), and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens, where the story goes from here.

No comments:

Post a Comment