#azumi (manga)

[pinkbowsandprettyprose]

Hime Azumi / Tokyo Black Cat Girl 🐾

[berrychanx]

Zakuro's doing Hime signature attack pose

[resetmyfeelings]

[everythingsinred]

Family and the Institution of Alice Academy

Was thinking about this ever since someone (I forgot specifically who, sorry) posed a question like this in the GA discord, asking about (I think) Natsume's extended family or something like that. It was a really interesting concept that I've been thinking a lot about since it was brought up, so here are the thoughts I've accumulated. I'll try to be concise but I have a LOT of thoughts and my brain is messy.

My general opinion at the end of all this thinking I did is that I don't think Academy students typically have very close familial ties after graduating.

I think the most apparent reason for that would be that students are expected to graduate when they are twenty years old. Our main four are exceptions to the rule, coming to the Academy pretty late in life. Most children are taken early, as toddlers or even babies. Natsume, Ruka, and Hotaru's families did all they could to avoid Academy scouting. Mikan was entirely accidental--if she had never met Hotaru, she might have never even found out she was an Alice to begin with. That being said, most kids were separated from their families at a very young age, only to be allowed to reunite with them once they're already adults. For many students, they've been away from their parents for close to two decades.

On top of that, the Academy doesn't allow visitations or phone calls and severely restricts letter communications. Only one child from each class is allowed to return home for one week each year, and that one week does not do much to make up for all the time spent at school.

My point is that by the time students are allowed to see their families again, that familial bond has already been severed, for all intents and purposes. That feeling of closeness and protection no longer exists. Students will feel more closeness and connection to their classmates and even to their teachers than to their parents or siblings, and as a result, I can imagine many graduates not even bothering to visit their families.

While I was pondering this, I made the connection between Academy students and the real life example of a similar situation with Janissaries from the Ottoman Empire. Basically, Janissaries were children stolen from the subjugated people under Ottoman rule. They were taken for the purpose of a "child levy", also known as a "blood tax." Some children were even willingly given by their families due to the possibility of socially advancing, and because the children were promised first class status (sound familiar?). Essentially the children were taken, forced to comply with Ottoman standards and traditions (including forced conversions and circumcisions), and then trained for military service. These soldiers would actually end up being incredibly loyal and efficient, despite likely never seeing their families again.

(Edit: forced circumcisions are particularly heinous when you consider that the children were typically at least 10 years old at the time they were taken.... so.... uh.... not pleasant.... But also interesting that the Janissaries were typically much older than the Alice children at the time of being taken.)

That level of separation doesn't endear ties; it severs them. These Janissaries--very often forcefully taken from their families--ended up growing up with very little connection to their parents or siblings. The feeling of belonging to their previous communities was gone. Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder. This was done as a means of creating a strong military force but also to disillusion subjugated communities and tear away their hope. Their children could always be taken; their communities could always be crushed, even without the use of physical force. It's a very effective tool to oppress a group of people.

(There's actually a lot of similarities between Academy children and Janissaries beside the separation of children from their families. They were also paid for their service and were high ranking; the Academy students are given an allowance and many of them, despite being stolen from their families, have a sense of superiority over non-Alices. They feel like they are treasures, and are of higher value and rank. Additionally, Academy students, especially in the DA class, are highly trained and efficient child soldiers, much like the Janissaries. Janissaries are actually a super interesting historical topic and are worth looking into!)

We can even see the effect of this distance when Yuka escapes the Academy and runs away to her family. Yuka was essentially sold to the Academy, with her parents trading her in exchange for money and status. She was very young, far too young to really understand that her parents had abandoned her. As a result, she romanticized her bond with them, and the longer she was separated from them, the more that bond became fantastical. She made many attempts to escape the school to reunite with her parents and she fantasized about seeing them again. When she finally is able to, it's nothing like she imagined. They're cold, and unfamiliar. They don't recognize her. She doesn't know her brothers. They're related, but there's no real connection.

"I shouldn't have come here."

Yuka's is an extreme example, but I'm sure she's not an exception. For most Academy students, the almost 20 years of separation from their parents would be too much to ignore. They would not recognize each other, or be close. I'm sure many parents did not sell their children like Yuka's family did, but the bond between child and family had not been nurtured the way it should have been, resulting in coldness and distance.

Because of that, I doubt most students even bother seeking their families out, or even if they do, it's to visit a few times before starting a new life with a career. That familial bond, now broken, is difficult to repair. The connections people often feel with their families or hometowns is something Academy students instead feel with each other. They are all Alices, all in the same boat together. That feeling of superiority that many kids feel means they view each other as on the same level, and I'm sure that could interfere with family connection as well.

Thus, I don't think there's many multigenerational Alice families out there with close bonds. I don't think families like Natsume's have strong ties with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Even the sibling bonds at the Academy are stunted, with the Imai and Shouda siblings being the prime examples of that.

The Imai siblings have a significant age difference, yes, but additionally the Imai parents had a very different approach to Hotaru after seeing what happened with Subaru. They refused to hand her over as easily, wanting to show her important things in life and build happy memories for as long as they could. Even when Hotaru does enter the school, it's more than six months before she even comes across her brother, since the high school and elementary school are not integrated with each other and they do not belong to the same ability class. Similarly, the Shouda siblings are in different ability classes but they have a much smaller age gap. Despite this, Sumire refers to her brother very respectfully, indicating that there isn't a particular closeness.

The Imais fight against this divide, and put in genuine effort into rebuilding their relationship, but it's a difficult process, and one they struggle to admit to for a long time and for various reasons. Familial closeness is not encouraged, not even within the Academy.

(Though Natsume's bond with Aoi is exploited and the school does rely on him caring for her to take advantage of him, but ultimately he is kept from seeing her. Thus, that bond is also severed despite being exploited.)

Additionally, it would make sense to me if many Alice graduates decided to, upon having children, avoid scouting, like Natsume's parents did, and thus ended up moving around a lot to escape Academy notice. Moving around like that and laying low means that you're not going to be hosting huge family reunions or inviting relatives over often, even if all the other points were moot.

Finally, I think all this creates further obstacles for Yuka's wish to "have a family." At some point she says that, for normal people, the desire to settle down with someone and start a family is a pretty modest goal, but for Alices it's almost impossible. Escaping from the school, or even graduating, is a struggle. And you can have a kid, but it's likely that child will be taken from you, just as you were taken, and by the time the child graduates, they will have no connection with you. Wanting to be a potential grandparent, for example, might seem like a definite impossibility, since being a real parent is impossible.

It's even more proof that the Academy exists as an institution to subjugate and undermine Alices, as children and then as parents. Ultimately, an Alice never has control, not as a child and not even as an adult. The pain doesn't end once you've graduated; in fact, it never does.

[irraydiate]

[chelseajackarmy]

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 3 Ramble#9 - Way of the Sword ver.2

Greetings and welcome to another episode of MM..MANGA, the podcast about getting more people into more manga.

As usual I assume everyone listening in are smart folks who could tell from the title, but i’m gonna go ahead and say it. This month’s ramble is all about swords... Actually it kinda does make sense to actually say it because last time I did this in Way of the sword ver.1 (which I urge you to go listen to if you haven’t), I only focused on samurai manga, but this time i’ve put my bias for the sheer awesomeness of samurai, bushido and all that aside and broadened my scope to swords in general. 

This ramble is gonna have the typical format, top 5 sword manga read this month then top 5 older sword manga reads, both in ascending order, but I’ll only be going into detail about this month’s reads as i would have gone into detail about older reads in ver.1. After the main ramble is over I'll have a little post ramble ramble, where i rank my top 5 swordsmen and because i was watching some martial arts/sword/samurai movies along with my reads I'll give a top 5 of those as well.

Before I get into it I want to start with a quote from Miyamoto Musashi, I read his book 5 rings as well this month and it was a pretty solid read imo, especially if you can see the broad things specifically and specific things broadly…

“A thousand days of training to develop, ten thousand days of training to polish. You must examine all this well.” - Miyamoto Musashi

TOP 5 SWORD READS THIS MONTH

#5) Reiri (Story by Hitoshi Iwaaki and art by Daisuke Muroi, ran from 2015-2018, complete w 35 chapters)

Getting this out the way, Reiri is a samurai manga. I know I said I broadened my scope but I didn’t say I’d exclude anything. Samurai manga just tend to be the cream of the crop, what can I say?

In any case, The story here follows a young girl named Reiri, a peasant girl who lives in peace with her family, until one day in the aftermath of war, soldiers ruthlessly murder and behead her mother, brother and father. Lucky for her, a general from the opposing forces saves her and so she grows up and grows stronger serving him, but has always eagerly sought death so she could be together with her now lost family.

Short and sweet read. solid art. and though the cast wasn’t as expansive or dynamic as I’d usually like, there was a tendency towards depth even in the shorter interactions. I think the creators had a message or discussion around a topic they wanted to get across/have, and they did a pretty good job, especially with so few chapters. You could probably tell from the summary but the main subject was death, or more specifically in my mind, the question of, what kind of life should one lead to have a satisfying death?

That’s pretty common in samurai manga and samurai media in general, but there were two major differences from the usual that made this read more interesting and added a bit more nuance than usual. One was the fact that the main character was a woman, which I honestly always dig.. love a woman that can kick my ass.mp4... but seriously, if you know anything about samurai society there’s no way she could be considered a samurai and die in battle like she hoped. The second point kinda springs from the first in that because she was a woman, even though she was pretty strong, the people around her tended to try and discourage her from her pursuit of an honourable death. Which when said out loud sounds like the obvious normal reaction, but again, this is samurai society. If she were a man, everyone would either be pushing her towards death in battle or asking her why she hasn’t already killed herself out of shame for being unable to protect her family. I think these two things really added to what could have been just another samurai manga.

In any case this is just #5 on the list, short as hell and not THAT much packed in so not much more to say, maybe a bit too much yapping there but definitely recommend.

#4) Ragna Crimson (Story&Art by Daiki Kobayashi, 2017-present, ongoing w 77 chapters)

This right here is some major meathead shit. Which usually wouldn’t do anything for me but 1) swords and 2) the levels of rawness, aura and whatever else the kids are saying nowadays just tipped the scales. It’s almost too crazy I'm telling you.

Anywho, the story here takes place in a world constantly under threat from dragons, and we follow the main character Ragna, a pretty shitty dragon hunter, that follows around and takes care of one of the strongest dragon hunters around. One day a larger than normal dragon horde threatens everything he loves when suddenly he has a flashback, to the future... His future self explains that this dragon attack changed his life and destroyed everything he held dear, leading him to be the strongest dragon hunter ever. Sadly even that wasn’t enough to kill every last dragon, so now he’s sending all his power back to present day Ragna so he can grow even more and hopefully protect the ones he loves, and maybe more importantly, kill every last dragon.

First off, I usually I have a bit of distaste for reborn or future knowledge stories cause the mcs tend to just,, know everything,, nothing’s a challenge, and in my mind, every arc, subplot and etc is a completely uneven playing ground where they have almost every upperhand and everyone else is either in complete awe or fear… but i digress… That wasn’t the case here, they handled it pretty simply and pretty well in that the mc didn’t really get all the memories, it’s all a bit fuzzy, so he has all this power but pretty much zero know how.

In any case the art is fairly solid, gotta say the big impact moments were very big and impactful, really well done. The story so far was kinda just okay and really heavily carried by all the raw fighting content, which I guess is to be expected in a battle manga, but the story aspect has been picking up and I can see that side of things getting much more enjoyable.

Great cast and character interactions, which may sound a bit weird given what I just said about the story but I really really enjoyed watching them and their antics, and that goes for pretty much the entire cast. I actually think that’s what really did it for me and got it on this list. Typically, in world threatening or apocalypse scenario stories, the cast and mood tend to be kinda serious, moody, edgy and whatnot,, which makes sense and isn’t a fault more so than it is me having had enough of that, but here the cast was pretty goofy and they pretty much all had some quirk or the other that made them distinct if not stand out. Small spoiler for the sake of a nice example, but the mc has horrible social anxiety that often makes him throw up in a crowd, so you can see how that would make trying to be a world saving hero difficult. I think any story, especially battle manga where it’s pretty much expected, can have a good fight, and those fights can even have really deep meanings, but no manga can be all fights all the time, not even battle manga. And so the in betweens, transitionary phases, etc are really important. It’s easier to get away with in anime with an sakuga and so forth, but in my opinion, if it’s not there in manga, the whole thing's just gonna feel like a slideshow.

In any case, for the more elitist, nitpicker listeners, it's labeled dark fantasy but it's definitely a mickey mouse series,,, but in a jetix kinda way if that makes sense… I said that in a discord and they said that basically means it’s an early 2000s fest and I agree.. All that being said I still recommend it, really great if you like to turn your brain off, solid enough if that’s not for you and for the anime watchers, there is an anime with 24 episodes, can’t speak on the quality as i have not and do not plan to watch but just putting that out there.

#3) Samurai Executioner (Story by Kazuo Koike and Story by Goseki Kojima, 1970-1976, complete w 54 chapters)

Firstly, this story art duo is responsible for creating my #1 samurai read from way of the sword ver.1, lone wolf and cub,(again i urge you to check that out, the ramble or even just that one manga specifically), so it’s great to see greatness from them again, + i’ve been told and seen from related manga sections that there’s a bunch more where that came from so i’m looking forward to reading more stuff from them in future.

The anilist description of the series is pretty hard so i’m gonna run with that here;

In a prison world, there are few good stories, and this is the world of Kubikiri Asa, the beheader and master samurai under the Shogun. It's a world full of vengeance, greed, and violence. A world of depravity and sin. One man can set things straight if he can keep his wits. This is a story of extreme proportions, of sword study thick in tradition and with grim purpose, of blood rivers, agonizing screams, bondage, torture, and the evil prevalent in human failure. Drafted by the confirmed masters of the international medium of manga, Samurai Executioner is a shocking combination of darkness and fire, fine lines, and a fine man in the face of human decline.

Very episodic, much like lone wolf and cub was at first, and though it had some overarching continuity, it didn’t really have the same culminating payoff. Still great though as each chapter was very poignant, and as a story that very much focused on death, almost every chapter ending being the end of a life, it's very fitting.

Great art if you’re into the old school feel, which I like in general but also goes fabulously with stories set in older time periods. Solid cast, though as I said it’s pretty episodic and outside the main character almost everyone was a passing face, but again those passing faces, especially the ones meant to be executed, had a lot to say. Even the few chapters sprinkled throughout that didn’t have executions and were just conversations tended to be very contemplative. In the same way lone wolf and cub was a great dialogue around the meaning of being a samurai, this was a brilliant dialogue around the meaning of life and death. The main character’s words to live by were literally “All things are impermanent. This is the law of life and extinction. When both life and extinction perish, nirvana will be bliss.”

Brilliant short read. something to savour. highly recommend.

#2) The legend of the northern blade (Story and Art by Hue Min, Original story by U Gak, 2019-present, ongoing w 192 chapters)

I won’t call this meathead. It’s meathead adjacent,, so we’ll call it action packed,, but meatheads would definitely enjoy this. 

The story here is that for pretty much a hundred years and through 4 generations, the northern heavenly sect has protected the country from the evil silent night. Sadly, because of envy for their growing strength, the 4th generation leader is betrayed by those he swore to protect, and in the end is forced to disband his sect and kill himself to protect his son. Years later, his son, our mc, is kept under surveillance by his enemies and is forced to lead a miserable life almost completely alone in the ruins of his former glorious sect. One day a surprise attack by members of the silent night gives him a chance to escape and so he begins a long journey of training in order to master his fighting techniques, and eventually take revenge on those who betrayed him.

Great cast. great story. great art. Great pacing, which sadly, is something I feel like I haven’t said in a while., Admittedly the start is a bit slow but after the first 10 or so chapters are out of the way, which are kind of like a prelude, it picks up and pretty much keeps on picking up. They introduce the cast really well on both the protagonist and antagonist side, nothing really feels predetermined or too obvious like oh this dude is definitely gonna join or be against, it’s just kind of circumstantial and felt very natural. Very solid for a revenge story, i think i’ve said it before but imo manhwa seem to be very revenge focused for some reason and the mcs tend to have a habit of getting lost in the sauce of it all, but our mc, Jin Mu Won, is a goat that keeps his cool. My dude is frosty. My dude is ice cold. Bro is literally too cool for school.. but I digress… Last but definitely not least is the action. The art is pretty solid throughout but when it comes to the action? They’re on some anime sakuga type shit, very strong choreography that only gets better and better, definitely has its fair share of mob cuts but even those go pretty hard, and the big boss fights are 5 star chef’s kiss. The only downside, is that if you know anything about manhwa, korean webtoons and the like, they tend to go with this one page scroll like type layout so most places you read it outside of the official source slice up a lot of otherwise beautiful panels with separating black lines. It’s sad but it still manages to remain solid in that aspect despite being put through the blender. Definitely the most hype thing I read this month, obviously also very solid coming in at number two, and it was a pretty close call tbh but yh, definitely highly recommend. Especially as it seems to be entering the final arc so it’s a really really great time to jump in.

#1) Azumi (Story & Art by Yuu Koyama,1994-2008, complete w 350 chapters)

Now this isn’t really samurai, though it does take place in that period,, and has a lot of samurai… but the main character isn’t a samurai, she’s an assassin, so we’ll say it’s historical. And it definitely is as a lot of real life key Japanese historical figures are littered throughout the story.

In any case, the story here starts with 10 orphans raised and trained in seclusion from a very early age to be assassins. Not just any assassins, but assassins meant to put an end to all wars in japan. The most gifted among them being Azumi, who as you can probably tell by the title, is our mc and who we follow throughout the story. 

This story has a very epic feel, not in the adventure time adjective kind of way but in the more iliad type beat extended story kind of way, much like I described lone wolf and cub to be last time… and as you can probably tell by the 300+ chapter count. The chapters are very well used though, as I said the story starts out with them as kids but it follows Azumi into adulthood. The pacing and passing of time feels very natural, like it doesn’t even feel like there were any time skip so much as literally just watching her grow. The cast naturally changes with the times and although not a lot of them stick around physically, as the main character and her world views changes with the people she meets, many characters stick around in Azumi’s psyche and reemerge in her mental state. The art is great, has that old school vibe in an old school context that I love and the action and choreo were great too. Had a real kill bill siren feel cause Azumi was a manslayer fr.

Feel like I haven’t done it justice, I don't think I can either... I realize I often feel that way with my number 1s and that’s probably because the truly meaningful transcends mere words, but it’s my number 1 pick for this month and it’s there for a reason is all i can say.

hm: isekai samurai, return of the blossoming blade

TOP 5 OLDER READS

#5) Shigurui aka death frenzy (used to be #2 here)

#4) Ichigeki aka one hit kill (was #2 in new reads of ver.1 and #2 overall that year)

#3) Vagabond (unchanged)

#2) Lone wolf and cub (was #1 in new reads of ver.1)

#1) Blade of the immortal (unchanged)

that's it for the ramble, you can check out beer. 1 below and if you're not gonna listen in for the post ramble ramble then take care until next time.

[hatsumishinogu]

Shanai Renai Flag ga Tatanai!

[halcyondaaze]

Real

[mamangasick]

Children Of The Sea

Daisuke Igarashi

[artisautismtic]

[demonspeeding666]

[inatenshin]

her last brother ⚔️💙

[resetmyfeelings]

[calywitsune]

Hi! I’m back!! Hope you’re doing well! And I have a heart breaking question! If Azumi was to die in her showdown with Akaza what would her last words be? And/or who would they be meant for?-D

Hi D!! Missed you!! I’ve been very busy irl but doing well!

Oooo honestly… there’s two ways she could die during that fight. First being Nakime separates her from the actual conflict in a way that mortally wounds her, or… she’d die by Tanjiro and/or Giyuu’s hand orchestrated by Akaza. Ow. Yeah that’s heartbreaking

Let’s go with the more heartbreaking latter option! >:D

Akaza through the fight would be trying to get Azumi out one way or another, so long as it didn’t involve him actually killing her with his own hands. Which means he’d try to maneuver the slayers into accidentally slashing her. They’re too slow to react once - just once. That’s enough. And one of them fatally pierces or slashes her.

So many thoughts would be racing through her head, and theirs. But they can’t stop the fight. Adrenaline is keeping her up for the most part.

“It’s okay— it’s okay I’m fine,” She’d yell, “focus, don’t let him get away! We can’t… I can’t let him go again. This ends here one way or another.”

She’d keep going until her grip gave out, and even then she’d force herself further.

When it’s finally said and done, she’s on her knees. A heavy breath leaves her chest and there’s a satisfied smile on her lips. But she’s staring at nothing, unfocused. Giyuu runs to her, assessing the situation.

She grabs his arm, still smiling.

“It’s not your fault; not his either. Please, don’t hold this in your hearts, my comrades. I’m leaving feeling… accomplished. Thank you.”

“End this all, for everyone.”

She slumps into his arms.

[otaku-republic]

Rutile (BL Magazine) March.2023