Legend of Basara

Mangaka: Tamura Yumi

Other works: ?

Status: Finished. 27 volumes. (The story is 25 volumes long + 2 volumes of related stories) + 2 Artbooks "Flame" & "Earth"

Genre: Shoujo, Adventure, Epic/Historical/Fantasy

Synopsis: In a futuristic Japan which looks more like the past (lots of deserts, lots of uncivilized lands, no electricity, no industrialization), the royal family is dictating and destroying the country. In a village, twins are born, one girl (Sarasa) and one boy (Tarata), and a prophecy is announced: one of the twin is the chosen child who will lead the people to freedom. As for the royal family, it is composed of the Blue King, the Red King, the Black King and the White Queen, all children of the Emperor, with the Red King being the youngest and most ambitious, trying to overtake his father. 15 years after the birth of Tarata and Sarasa, their village get annihilated by the Red King and Tarata is be-headed because he is the chosen child. Having no choice, Sarasa steps in as her brother and leads the revolution. All along the adventure, Sarasa will meet allies that will lend her their help for the revolution, all for different purposes, as well as enemies. She will also meet and fall in love with Shuri, who is unknown to her, the Red King…

Manga art: Hmmm… the art takes some getting used to… It is a mix of “classic” shoujo style with pointy nose and huge eyes, but at the same time, the art looks very rough… but it fits the story. In addition, the background also lends to the “uncivilized” feeling. So although not the prettiest art I’ve seen, there’s nothing that is not tolerable and it fits.

Reviewer’s verdict: The story and characters of this manga are all very good. Although it happens in the “future,” it always seemed like the past for me… I like how the mangaka built her story and dealt with all the issues and challenges she created and I really believe that she didn’t take the easy way out. Even when Sarasa and Shuri realized their true identities… it wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t discarded and forgotten. In fact, I was quite surprised what happened. Actually, I was surprised with the whole storyline… of course, there were some clichés, but it didn’t affect the storyline in a negative way. I really liked Shuri/Sarasa pairing and their love story was quite touching. There’s also an array of interesting secondary characters and cool stories linked to them. Also, I have to give a thumb up to the mangaka as all the little details she planted here and there were nicely connected and the side stories in the 2 last volumes tied everything up nicely. However, the story was quite long (25 volumes) and you know, you are bound to love some parts and find others less interesting… It wasn’t even that she didn’t have momentum or pace, it’s like Lords of the Ring: some parts you love (battle scenes, Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli parts) and some parts are less interesting (Frodo and Sam).

Grading: This series deserves 4/5.

Licensed? Yes, in French by Kana (complete) and in English, by Viz Shoujo (vol. 20 in Oct.)

Scanslation? There’s been some translations and some chapters scanslated, but nothing complete.

Anime? Yes. Unfortunately, the anime is only 13 eps. long and obviously, not complete. That is because the ratings weren’t high enough and the show got cancelled (which is pretty rare). If you’d like, you could watch the anime and decide what you think of it… I thought the anime was very good and it followed the manga very closely… It’s a shame it got cancelled.