Children of the Sea, vol 1, by Daisuke Igarashi

[telophase]

In Children of the Sea, Ruka is a girl who gets suspended from her handball team for unnecessary roughness. Her father works at the aquarium and she ends up hanging out there for the summer. Back when she was a little girl, she saw a fish in the aquarium turn into light and disappear. Now, fish from aquariums all over the world are vanishing and no one can explain why. Ruka also meets up with two strange boys living at the aquarium, Umi and Sora, who were raised by dugongs and have a deep connection with the sea and its life.

The feel of this manga is in the Mushishi neighborhood - mysterious things occurring, and an almost spiritual connection to nature. Admittedly, RAISED BY DUGONGS was the primary reason I bought the book, but from flipping through it, I thought it would supply the sort of yearning, numinous feel I love, and so it did - more subtly than Mushishi, but still there. The artwork is loose and expressive, more like the sort of style you see in josei instead of shoujo or shounen. RAISED BY DUGONGS isn't overplayed or ridiculous in context - strange, unknowable things happen in and around the sea in this story and the characters pretty much take it as it comes. It is unlike Mushishi in that it is the first part of one story arc instead of an anthology of loosely-connected stories.

One of the things I thought as I was reading was that seajules might like it, and I'd love to hear what she had to say about it if she read it. :)

Anyway, recommended if you like the slow-moving feel of Mushishi and are a proper fan of things like RAISED BY DUGONGS.

Comments

[lnhammer]

I read this volume in scans and was immediately taken with it, and am waiting for continued releases to see where it goes. Mushishi is not a bad comparison, but I thought of it more in terms of YKK. Similar seinen vibe, there.

---L.

[telophase]

I thought of YKK also, but the emotional whatsit that YKK supplies for me isn't fully developed in this one, so settled on Mushishi for the comparison. :D

[lnhammer]

A point, that.

Other series with similar vibes are Coelacanth and Undercurrent. And about, what, half the series that's ever run in Ikki? or so it seems sometimes.

---L.

unrelated comment

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I saw this blog (http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/) linked from the Guardian, thought of you. Strange.

Re: unrelated comment

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks! :D

[seajules]

Ooh! I shall have to check the manga store for it. They didn't have the one you just reviewed, with the awesomely detailed clothes and the young bride who didn't want to go back to her family, and Bride of the Water God just ain't coming out fast enough for me. And while I suppose I could catch up on my Minekura and Silver Diamond, that's all deserts and cities and boys and I want chicks and water! AND DUGONGS, YES.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The third and final volume of Bride of the Water God is out - I bought it. :D

[seajules]

Aww, man, is it the final one? I was hoping there'd be more, after that cliffhanger.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Apparently I'm wrong. For some reason I thought that was the end, but then someone on my f-list reviewed volumes 4 and 5 in Korean. :)

[the-z.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review! This is one I picked up and thumbed through curiously. I was undecided on it, but I think I'll give it a try afterall! Mushishi pushed all my buttons.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

I admit to being skeptical when I first picked this up to read, but the story sold me. I'm probably going to go back for volume 2.

Perhaps more commentary when I'm not running quite so late...