Rating (Out of 5): ~3
Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo)
Volumes: 14
Spoilers?: Some, somewhat minor
Aya Mikage is a
seemingly normal high school student until her 16th birthday, when her
family imprisons her twin brother and attempts to kill her. She learns
she carries the blood of the tennyo (heavenly maiden), and when upset,
she will transform into the goddess Ceres. If she is allowed to live,
she will bring ruin upon her family.
Review:
I ended up getting
the whole set of this series for a really good deal online. So, you know what
that means? That I will be reviewing all of the volumes as I read them. I’m not
sure how quickly that will go by, but either way, it’s happening.
This first volume
was alright (aside from the fact that the first page in my copy was missing:
ugh!). Not amazing, not horrible, but I’m sure it will only get better from
here. I have read several other series by Watase, and am also very slowly
reading
Arata right now, although
that one might be on a somewhat hold because of this series (even though it has
already been going at a very slow pace for me).
Also, my copies of
the first four volumes are the first edition, big, read the English way, manga,
which sucks. I hadn’t realized it, not that that would have changed my mind in
buying them. Still, they don’t match the rest of the books, and they are not
nearly as nice. I am so glad that VIZ changed the format. Also, and I hope it’s
only in this format, but there is a huge amount of italics used. There is
generally at least one italicized word in every sentence in this book; it’s ridiculous
and rather annoying. I hope it slows down in later books.
Upon starting the
volume, we are introduced to Aki and Aya Mikage, twin brother and sister, whose
sixteenth birthday is coming up (and we know how big a deal that number is,
right?). They’re planning to hang out with their mutual friends, as the twins
get along really well, but their parents tell them that they have to visit
their grandpa, and also the rest of their family (mostly aunts and uncles).
Before that, Aya almost gets killed by falling off a bridge and almost getting
hit by a car, but somehow floats and gets saved by this weird guy with long
hair and sunglasses who disappears right after (it’s obvious right away that
he’s the main love interest; much too obvious).
When Aya and Aki go
to the ‘birthday celebration’ which actually looks like a funeral, they’re
shown a mummified hand, which causes Aki to get stabbed or something, and Aya
to get some glowy power overload and her clothes to rip (something that happens
every time she gets a power overload, which happens several times—it’s very cliché
and a bit eye-rolling worthy). Aki passes out and Aya is told that she is going
to be killed. Aya fights and runs off, the guy with sunglasses and long hair,
who works for her family and is also trying to kill her, finds her.
Another girl,
Suzumi Aogiri, though, also has some of the same powers and can feel Aya’s
presence, and her and her brother-in-law, Yuhi Aogiri, come and save her. From
there, we find out that Aya is descended from some ancient powerful girl named
Ceres, who set out to kill the Mikage family, so they plan to kill all others like
her, testing each daughter in the family when they turn sixteen. It also turns
out that she has more power than most other descendants.
Aya is hiding out
from the Mikage’s, her family, who are out to kill her. Aki is still hurt,
which means he also has powers but of a different kind, and is being isolated
in some room in some big business-y building. The guy with sunglasses and long
hair, Toya, has been told to kill Aya, although he hasn’t done anything to harm
her so far (that’s not true, actually—but nothing bad enough to kill her).
Several other
things happen in this volume, none of which are good, including a cliffhanger,
but I’m not going to spoil anything more.
Aya is alright. I
like her and Aki’s relationship. I also like Aki, and am looking forward to
seeing what happens with him. I like Yuhi enough at the moment. I’m intrigued
by Toya, but I’m very annoyed with the fact that Aya, after seeing him once and
then about three other times in this volume consisting of very little talk and
then mostly of her family wanting to kill her, is saying that she’s in love
with him, and she’s going to fight whatever is happening with her so she can be
with him. I mean, I’ve read insta-love in other books, but not this fast or
abrupt or obvious before. It’s done ridiculously badly in this book.
They keep trying to
push this book off as horror, and I just don’t agree with that. I mean, it says
it on the back of the book, and the author mentions it in the side panels. I do
agree that there is much more gore and death in this volume alone than is
usually in Watase’s books, but there’s also a lot of humor. And I would agree that it has the element of horror,
but I can’t call it horror when, right after a big gory scene happens, as in a
page after it, there’s yelling and hitting for comedies sake. That just doesn’t
work for me.
This book did not
start off with a very big bang for me. It was rather mediocre, even. But I do
hope that it gets better, am sure that it will, and am looking forward to
reading more of it.
. 
