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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane I think Kaze Hikaru is the first historical manga (set in Japan, anyway) I've read since finishing Rurouni Kenshin. Being largely unfamiliar with Japanese history, I have to admit that it's always a bit startling to see some of the same names recurring in different stories, even knowing that people like Okita Soji and Saito Hajime were historical members of the Shinsengumi, the elite police force who served the shogunate. Likewise, having all of my familiarity with the Shinsengumi rooted in Kenshin, where they were an oppressive force to be overthrown, it takes a minute to adjust to them being the heroes. (But only a minute.) Kaze Hikaru is a different sort of story from Kenshin in just about every way possible, other than a (very) rough overlap of time periods and sharing some historical figures. The protagonist here is Tominaga Sei, a girl who joins the Shinsengumi to avenge her father and brother's deaths. Disguised as a boy and using the name Kamiya Seizaburo, she has been training under Okita Soji (who knows her true identity, and with whom she has fallen in love), but by this volume has been reassigned to serve under one of the Shinsengumi's vice captains. The main event in vol. 10 is the arrival of Ito Kashitaro, a famous swordsman, scholar, and poet who has been swayed to the Shinsengumi's cause. He brings a new perspective to the group and begins offering lessons in order to improve the members' education and improve their reputation. Unfortunately for Sei, he also has a voracious appetite for beauty--particularly hers (and some of the other young members'), which makes her worry about her identity being uncovered. There's plenty of comedy in here, but also some very serious politics. Never having studied the Tokugawa period, I'm not sure how much of the backdrop is historically accurate, but certainly most of the main characters at least share their names with members of the actual Shinsengumi. Because it's a period piece, VIZ has chosen to retain the Japanese name order (family name, given name) rather than westernizing names, and has also retained quite a lot of the honorific suffixes--two choices that make me a very happy reader. Visually speaking, I don't find that the book particularly grabs me, but there's nothing to complain about. The art has strong lines and has a clear "this is shoujo!" style, and it does a perfectly good job of carrying the story without standing out on its own. And that's okay, since the story pulls its own weight just fine. All in all, this is a good read, and I'd be interested to check in with some other volumes of the series to see if the serious aspects outweigh the comedic factor in other parts of the story. Volume 10 of Kaze Hikaru includes a three-page glossary of historical terms. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Comment on this review of Kaze Hikaru v10 on the Manga Life Forums. |
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