Basara by Tamura Yumi

Basara by Tamura Yumi

Art and story (c) Tamura Yumi

Genre: Shojo (16+ mostly for violence)
Series Length: 27 Volumes - 95 chapters and 12 appendices



           Basara is a sweeping epic of a manga, to call it shojo is really just to classify the age and gender of who it is marketed to, because, though a romance rests at its heart, it is much more than that. I really enjoy Basara’s type of art, it’s an older style that's sort of fallen out of fashion, I think, but the slender bodies and faces really catch my attention. This is the kind of art that the term 'Bishonen' was made for, pretty boys abound. The art is consistent through out, and the backgrounds are satisfying enough. I need not comment on the clothes because this is a fantasy/sci-fy manga, and the clothes are mostly baggy type robes and such. Basara is also really looooong. Even if the last two volumes are short stories and afterwards, that still makes twenty-five volumes so the story can be quite intricate at times, there are so many characters to remember its impossible not to read it all at once or else you run the risk of forgetting who is who and what. As for the rating, it is a pretty hard sixteen plus, its not just the violence but there are some heavy themes such as rape and abuse. Basara does have an English release, bonus points!

           Sarasa and her twin brother Tatara were born under prophesy, growing up in their small desert village, Tatara is hailed as 'the child of destiny' and Sarasa finds herself being the one left out while her brother is praised. All because Tatara would be the one who gave freedom back to the land, and Sarasa, being a girl, could not do such a thing. One night, Sarasa awakes to flames and chaos, the Red King, the tyrant son of the emperor who rules the desert lands, has come to kill the child of destiny and take the treasured sword of the village. Before her very eyes, Tatara is beheaded by the Red King’s men and the village is to be burned to the ground. Sarasa, seeing the despair of her people, takes her twin’s place to save them from the Red King and give them hope once more, to live. Sarasa is no more, only Tatara lives on, and the young girl shoulders her brother's fate even though she is not the true son of destiny.
           I once read a sweeping epic manhwa (a Korean comic) that was similar to this at first glance, so I was a bit worried, but Basara was everything that comic was not, the similarity was only skin deep. The story is comprehensive, with so many side characters there's sure to be someone for everyone, but the story doesn't get muddled despite the sheer volume of it. The plot has a specific point and though dramatic feelings are always swirling around to complicate it, the story moves along that plot. Then there's the cross-dressing angle, and who doesn't love a good cross-dressing story? I can never resist 'em. I do have a few gripes, the least of which is, since this story is set in post-apocalyptic Japan, all the names of places are in Japanese and I sometimes felt left out of the historical reasons for things being the way they were because I wasn't familiar with the regions from modern day. The action sequences are not really amazing, in fact they are actually confusing, so people you think are dead are not actually so and it’s hard to tell where people are getting hit and so forth. Sarasa also cries a lot, but you eventually just come to expect it, I guess that’s more of a personal problem than an actual problem with the story, though. Luckily, my biggest problem was not with the manga, but the scans I read (a couple of chapters were so bad my eyes felt like they were going to bleed) and I surely can't fault the mangaka for that! All in all, I really enjoyed it, all one hundred and seven chapters of it. The two volumes of extra chapters at the end feels a bit like overkill, but on the other hand it is nice to have those extra tidbits of the characters and how they are doing, as well as the couple gag stories, it helps tie everything together.



5/5 Highly Recommended for those of you who enjoy long stories of epic struggles.