I've always had a fondness for "boy of destiny" stories, wherein an
unlikely young fellow turns out to be destined to save the world, or defeat
the Evil Overlord, or both. Problem is, it's almost always a boy. Harry
Potter: boy. Rand Al'Thor: boy. Taran: boy. Will Stanton: boy. Luke
Skywalker: boy. Neo: boy. Thank Joss for Buffy, at any rate. But my point
is that there hasn't been a lot in the way of "girl of destiny" stories in
pop culture; female saviors are far less common than male ones. So, I was
pleasantly surprised to discover not one but two well-written comics
featuring good, solid Girls of Destiny (who have attendant prophecies and
everything).
One of them is Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the
Wind, which is, to put it mildly, a masterpiece of sequential art.
More on that later. The second, which while not a masterpiece, is still
quite good, is Basara, by Yumi Tamura.
Basara takes place in a
post-apocalyptic future. Some disaster has completely wrecked modern
civilization, and sent Japan back to something like feudal-era technology,
as well as trashing large portions of the ecology. It is all ruled by the
tyrannical Emperor Ukon and his four tyrannical sons. When Sarasa and her
twin brother Tatara were born, a seer prophesied that one of them would
"lead the people and be a light in the sky of our nation's future." Of
course, with feudalism comes sexism, and everybody in the clan assumes that
Tatara is the future savior, and he is raised accordingly. A slight hiccup
in the course of fate occurs when the Red King's army raids their village
and kills the Boy of Destiny deader than a very dead doornail. Sarasa,
consumed by grief and a desire for revenge, decides to disguise herself as
her brother, and lead the rebels in his place. She's slowly developing into
an inspiring leader, learning from her mistakes, gathering allies, and
discovering her own strengths. She also struggles with the burden of having
to constantly hide her true self.
So far, so good. What else? Well, next Tamura throws in a very sympathetic
antagonist. The Red King is ruthless, but he is actually a fairly
enlightened ruler, by the standards of post-apocalyptic Japan. He has
abolished slavery in his domain, and he wants to reclaim the land from
desert--make it arable through irrigation and advanced farming techniques.
And, he has an Interesting Past. Far from being a typical Evil Overlord
figure, he's the second main character of the series. (He has a prophecy,
too.) Furthermore, he's Sarasa's love interest! They meet when they're both
traveling incognito, and fall in love. As of yet, neither of them has
realized that their beloved and their sworn enemy are the same person.
Basara has an ongoing theme of
disguise, hiding one's true self, and the masks people wear as they go
through their lives. Nobody is the person they first appear to be. Often,
they're not even the second. All the main characters have multiple
identities, or conflicting aspects to their personalities. Sarasa is
Tatara. Her friend Shuri is her enemy, the Red King. Sarasa's enigmatic
ally Ageha is also Kicho the courtesan/sword-dancer. The Red King's best
friend Shido is both a deadly killer who slaughters thousands on the
battlefield, and a skilled engineer who is the chief architect of the Red
King's land-improvement schemes. Eventually, we meet the Blue King (another
of the Emperor's sons) and his two chief advisors, none of whom is the
person he claims to be.
I've spent all these paragraphs talking about the story, but what about the
art? The art is kind of blocky and weird-looking; enough so that the first
time I considered giving the series a try (on the basis of a sample chapter
in some promotional material), I decided not to. But, I read a positive
review somewhere, so I gave it a go. I noticed a few things: first, I got
used to Tamura's style after a couple books, and second, the art gets
better as the series progresses (and presumably, the artist gets more
experienced in drawing her characters. One thing is clear from the
beginning--she has a knack for drawing striking images.
This page Copyright P. Korda, 2004. kor2@pobox.com. Comments via YACCS.
Basara takes place in a
post-apocalyptic future. Some disaster has completely wrecked modern
civilization, and sent Japan back to something like feudal-era technology,
as well as trashing large portions of the ecology. It is all ruled by the
tyrannical Emperor Ukon and his four tyrannical sons. When Sarasa and her
twin brother Tatara were born, a seer prophesied that one of them would
"lead the people and be a light in the sky of our nation's future." Of
course, with feudalism comes sexism, and everybody in the clan assumes that
Tatara is the future savior, and he is raised accordingly. A slight hiccup
in the course of fate occurs when the Red King's army raids their village
and kills the Boy of Destiny deader than a very dead doornail. Sarasa,
consumed by grief and a desire for revenge, decides to disguise herself as
her brother, and lead the rebels in his place. She's slowly developing into
an inspiring leader, learning from her mistakes, gathering allies, and
discovering her own strengths. She also struggles with the burden of having
to constantly hide her true self.
Basara has an ongoing theme of
disguise, hiding one's true self, and the masks people wear as they go
through their lives. Nobody is the person they first appear to be. Often,
they're not even the second. All the main characters have multiple
identities, or conflicting aspects to their personalities. Sarasa is
Tatara. Her friend Shuri is her enemy, the Red King. Sarasa's enigmatic
ally Ageha is also Kicho the courtesan/sword-dancer. The Red King's best
friend Shido is both a deadly killer who slaughters thousands on the
battlefield, and a skilled engineer who is the chief architect of the Red
King's land-improvement schemes. Eventually, we meet the Blue King (another
of the Emperor's sons) and his two chief advisors, none of whom is the
person he claims to be.