I have started loving SDK with the passion that I reserve for my favorite books. I was unable to resist temptation, and have found translations/scanlations for the last 9 volumes. But most of what happens in volumes 23-29 is a mystery, except that fans who can read Japanese have alluded to events therein. All I can say is that it gets even deeper, more intense, and more tragic. I have this irrational fear that Tokyopop will give up publishing English volumes before the series ends ... it was huge in Japan and still is in France, but it doesn't seem as popular over here.
It was my first manga series. My husband brought home the first few volumes one evening last fall when he got marooned in traffic near his office (he works in an office at in Tysons Corner, but we live in Takoma Park, MD), went to kill time in a bookstore, couldn't find any SF&F he liked, and asked the young clerk for manga recommendations. I didn't think much of the first few 2 or 3 volumes, but once I was well into the Shogun's tournament, I was hooked.
I love the huge ensemble cast, and how the characters seem to start out as simple ciphers but gain more and more depth as the story goes on. Look at how that process has gone with Hotaru already, for example, from Mibu assassin to traitor (twice over, if not more) to something rather more complicated than either.
And of course Yukimura is my favorite. I love his fight with Kyo early in the series, the flashback where he finds Sasuke II, his background story, his scene with Taihaku - the one where he says he's always dreaming, and lost more ... .
But really, I like most of them: Yuya (she's just indomitable, isn't she? Even though she really is in over her head ... ), Akira, Bon, Muramasa, Shinrei, Akari ... . They are just great characters, and their interactions are just enchanting and sometimes heartbreaking (Muramasa's last scenes come to mine, for example, and Saisei's death also).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-06-08 10:13 pm (UTC)I have started loving SDK with the passion that I reserve for my favorite books. I was unable to resist temptation, and have found translations/scanlations for the last 9 volumes. But most of what happens in volumes 23-29 is a mystery, except that fans who can read Japanese have alluded to events therein. All I can say is that it gets even deeper, more intense, and more tragic. I have this irrational fear that Tokyopop will give up publishing English volumes before the series ends ... it was huge in Japan and still is in France, but it doesn't seem as popular over here.
It was my first manga series. My husband brought home the first few volumes one evening last fall when he got marooned in traffic near his office (he works in an office at in Tysons Corner, but we live in Takoma Park, MD), went to kill time in a bookstore, couldn't find any SF&F he liked, and asked the young clerk for manga recommendations. I didn't think much of the first few 2 or 3 volumes, but once I was well into the Shogun's tournament, I was hooked.
I love the huge ensemble cast, and how the characters seem to start out as simple ciphers but gain more and more depth as the story goes on. Look at how that process has gone with Hotaru already, for example, from Mibu assassin to traitor (twice over, if not more) to something rather more complicated than either.
And of course Yukimura is my favorite. I love his fight with Kyo early in the series, the flashback where he finds Sasuke II, his background story, his scene with Taihaku - the one where he says he's always dreaming, and lost more ... .
But really, I like most of them: Yuya (she's just indomitable, isn't she? Even though she really is in over her head ... ), Akira, Bon, Muramasa, Shinrei, Akari ... . They are just great characters, and their interactions are just enchanting and sometimes heartbreaking (Muramasa's last scenes come to mine, for example, and Saisei's death also).
>happy sigh<