Shaman Warrior, vols. 1-5 (Park Joong-Ki)

[chomiji]

Shaman warriors have the ability to transform their bodies in various ways, making them formidable war machines. As this series opens, a legendary shaman, Yarong, meets his death under circumstances that seem highly suspicious to his servant, the massive fighter Batu. Batu swears to defend his master's child, Yaki, but he soon finds this far more difficult than he expected: shaman warriors are being hunted down and killed, with the circumstances of Yarong's death being twisted to provide an excuse. Batu at last decides he must take desperate measures to ensure that little Yaki survives and becomes able to defend herself.

Thus far, this is playing out like an almost gender-blind shounen/seinen adventure. There are more male characters than female characters (especially in the first volume), but the female characters we've encountered thus far are fighting, doing magic, and adventuring along with the men. These female characters are also generally drawn with reasonable bustlines and amazingly modest clothing. The story includes betrayal, loyalty beyond the grave, a variety of non-romantic attachments (siblings, master-servant, parent-child, team mates, etc.), and complex politics. The artwork is gorgeous, illustration rather than cartoon, along the lines of Inoue's work on Vagabond and Samura's work on Blade of the Immortal (and when we do encounter grotesques, they're all the more unnerving because they're so well-drawn).

Oh, and telophase? Batu the Destroyer traveling with little Yaki is just your kind of thing!

Shaman Warrior, vols. 1-5 (review)

(FYI - that's teenaged Yaki in the icon.)

OK ... wild theories time. The Mr. and I don't think Yarong was Yaki's father. We think Yarong was Yaki's mother.

This may sound like total crack - after all, we have a number of pictures of bare-chested Yarong in vol. 1, and that's a totally masculine-looking torso, very much in the realistic mode: not tapered and bishie-ish, but compactly muscled and slightly stocky. But think about how Yarong has a tiny baby, and Batu keeps urging him to take it easy because "you can't fight anymore. Your body can't take it" and the General who sends Yarong off on his fatal mission apologizes that he had to "inform you of this while your body is still changing," and then later this same General thinks of Yarong with this statement:"I have plucked the most beautiful flower in all Kugai ... ."

I guess only time will tell.

Park gets a little weird with names: there is a character called Genji (female, and supposedly Batu's sister) and another called Aragorn (the tattooed warlord of a clan that's being forced out by the General). Genji is a lot of fun - frankly outspoken, a skilled fighter, and a master of disguise. Aragorn's a pretty good character too, but I keep twitching every time I read that name ... .

Yaki's experiences in the Butcher Camps are all too realistic, except in one area, and I think Park is actually to be commended for not going for the sexual angle in most of what happens to her. I also like how Yatilla gives her a reason to go on and be strong. He's a very promising character, and I hope we'll see more of him.

My only regret thus far is that Yarong was killed off so soon. He was just my sort of character.

Comments

[chomiji]

One icon that was circulating in the Love_deeper comm for a while had Yukmiura running off in that dress, and the caption Is enjoying himself a little too much ... . He flirts outrageously with Kyo (check out this picture, which made a gay friend of mine comment "Hee hee!"), but he's one of the few people whose abilities Kyo really respects. The latest couple of volumes of the manga have large sections centered around him, and I've been enjoying it quite a lot! If you should start the series, there's a two-issue gaiden story for him at the end of vol. 11.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh, I feel myself getting sucked in (good reading for over the summer!). ;D At least the series is complete, if not all translated. I think I'll get the local comic shop guy to get me a few volumes, and perhaps Blade of the Immortal as well to start off. You guys have given me a lot to read and think about!

I tend to particularly enjoy the weird powers stuff; I think it has to do with being a roleplayer (or maybe I am a roleplayer because I enjoy the weird powers stuff. ;) )

We seem to like the same sorts of books... for light (that is, entertaining but not particularly deep) reading, have you read any of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books? Vampires, mmmmm. I just got the new one yesterday, and haven't started it yet.

I also read three books of a quite intriguing series (which I plan on reviewing and discussing after at some point after next Tuesday, when my life starts again), the Detective Inspector Chen. He's sort of an expert on the supernatural in the future, and is a devotee of the Merciful and Compassionate Goddess Kuan Yin. It is pretty interesting, because The Goddess bears a certain similarity to The Bosatsu in Saiyuki (especially in terms of her thoughts about tough love), and there are demons and Celestials and humans all intermingling in each others realms in a very wonderful and lush manner. Chen eventually partners up with Seneschal Zhu Irzh, who is a demon that I think comes across as somewhat Gojyo-ish, that is, reluctantly virtuous despite himself. It's just wonderfully done and developed (and I don't want to spoil it too much for you). But. I love the stories, I love the writing, and I love the characters.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

I like the Rachel Morgan books too. (Hey, we're breaking Chomiji's layout ;) ) Sookie is less urban fantasy than Rachel though. Have you read the Dante Valentine urban stuff? Not to pimp my own journal, but I wrote about the series when the last book came out: http://avierra.livejournal.com/23839.html

Rachel is more comparable to Dante, but Rachel is MUCH more likeable than Dante, and she also whines a lot less. When Rachel fucks up she admits it and moves on, and doesn't wallow in the existential angst of it all. Dante features a demon lover too, a total alpha male type (the reasons for which were explained during the series. BUT. I dunno, I am not down with the alpha male thing so much (If I had to live with one, either me or him or both of us would end up dead).

But Sookie is a vamp-ho, and I guess she's getting more involved with Eric over the course of the series, so we'll see how that plays out.

As far as Detective Inspector Chen, I am madly in love. Zhu Irzh isn't exactly like Gojyo, it's more the way he thinks about things, and his reluctant and inconvenient conscience (especially for a demon who is a relatively high-ranking police officer in the Vice squad: that is, he is charged with the promotion and spreading of Vice :D), and his sense of humor and viewpoint. He isn't broken like Gojyo is on his bad days (although Zhu Irzh does have mommy issues, haha). There are three books out, and one that was supposed to be out, but which is now backordered, dammit >:(

http://tinyurl.com/6yxwre

[chomiji]

It's not hardly a discussion if you don't break my layout!

That sounds like a really fascinating series.

Are either of you familiar with Barry Hughart's series about Master Li and Number Ten Ox? The first one, Bridge of Birds, is one of the most perfect fantasies - in its way - I've ever read. The sequels aren't quite as good. (If BoB is an A or A+ book, The Story of the Stone is a B- and Eight Skilled Gentlemen is a B+.)

[chomiji]

I think you'll really love them, although there is virtually no romance to ship, despite Number 10 Ox's frequent boyish crushes.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

So Sookie does end up getting closer to Eric in later books? I've been reading them sort of out of order as I get my hands on them, so I'm not troubling myself much with spoiler avoidance; how things happen is an interesting as what happens, here, and it's not as if that potential hasn't been telegraphed from fairly early on! That might disappoint the friend I've been passing my copies on to, though, she's got the hots for Bill. Me, I find both the vampy guys interesting in their own ways, but I was honestly rooting for her to see more of that hunky construction-company werewolf...he was *nice*, a lot more human and seemingly more potential for long-term compatibility than any of the vamps, and the UST between them was pretty darn smokin'...

Well, it sounds like you stopped reading a few volumes back, do you really want to know what goes on with the various love interests? (I don't want to spoil the unwilling. Although I personally LOVE being spoiled. ;) )

But yeah, she and Eric develop a "rapport." ;)But that they were strongly attracted to each other was apparent from the very first time they met (however reluctant it may have been), so I am not spilling any major beans there, I don't think.

[chomiji]

Hmmm ... I've started the first one, and I am not really fond of Sookie thus far. She's such a girl, even if she is brave and doesn't hesitate to attack scumbags with a length of chain ... . I'll read it all, though (I just got to where she encountered the other vamps at Bill's place and he ran them off). And then I might do a comparison between that and Robin McKinley's Sunshine ... which is also a vampire story with a first-person female narrator who works in food service! (Sunshine's a baker rather than a waitress, though.)

[chomiji]

I just got the latest SDK - vol. 28! Only 10 more to go ... that's still an awful lot of angst, mayhem, and magical plotting.

Well, maybe I'll try the Harris books - I'd been ignoring them because most of the people who were enjoying them were more girlie than I am. But if both of you are enjoying them, I should give them a go.

[chomiji]

Thanks for the rec!

[avierra.livejournal.com]

No, that looks very cool. I have read (not played) In Nomine and Nephilim (by which you can see that I am easily swayed by reading about Angels in leather >_>), is it similar to those?

[chomiji]

I'm never going to catch up with you guys with the comments ...!!! Why am I never on when you are, smilla? I have a sinkful of dirty dishes waiting for me and then I'll have to go to bed (unless Karl is sucked into Kingdom Hearts II deeper than he was last night).

You know ... if you guys worked at it, maybe I could come up with some kind of a game in the fall or winter ... would you be at all interested? I mean a real FTF one, not an online one.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

I would love to do a one-shot -- although I can't commit to regular games right now, unfortunately >:( -- but I would very much like to hook up and do something like that :)

[avierra.livejournal.com]

Or even if turned out we couldn't do game, maybe we could hook up and have the "Ladies of a Certain Age Watch Anime or Odd Movies and have Deep Discussions of Literary Merit" get together. ;)

[chomiji]

Hee, it's Amadan na Briona! I played in a couple of games of his on the old CompuServe RPGAMES! (He was running a horror game based on The Stand, for example - I had this poor mentally deranged girl who escaped from her asylum in all the confusion and was making her way across country.)

Avierra was saying she might be up for a one-shot sometime ... I could probably do In Nomine. It might well not be until the fall though.

[chomiji]

No, dammitall, we never get to see anything canon beyond Yuki's flirting - which does indeed make me think, sometimes, of Gojyo with a college education and more confidence. (So I guess he's closer to Kenren, but most of the time his diction is so wittily refined that when he does come out with something vulgar - which he did in vol. 27 - everyone is totally appalled ... .)

[chomiji]

Yes, pretty much that! It's also somewhat reminiscent of the scene in AB where Kanda's old girlfriends show up and he's giving them frank sexual advice that would make Dan Savage proud. It was like, "Yes, Yukimura, we all know you're a perv, but jeez louise, we didn't expect you to be so blunt about it!"