Author: Shin Takahashi
Publisher: VIZ
All Chise ever wanted to do was fall in love. But things never worked out for the cute high school girl. Once she accepted her destiny as Japan's ultimate war machine, she never had time for stuff like boyfriends and promise rings.Now, with the war almost over, Chise begins to realize that her last chance for happiness is slipping away forever. Desperately trying to reclaim the humanity that she lost, the shy teenager makes one last bid for true love.
But is it too late? Has Chise lost the opportunity to experience the most basic of all human emotions? Despite her awesome arsenal of military might, Chise has never been able to take control of her own personal life. The war is ending and the world is about to explode. Cue up the last love song on this little planet.
With this, the seventh and final volume, Saikano draws to a close with all the terrifying beauty it has maintained throughout its short run. Really, I don't think I've ever experienced the same array of emotions, all so severe and extreme in nature, with any kind of fiction as I have Saikano. If I were somehow appointed Lord of Manga it would be among the first titles I'd make cannon. There are few finer examples of the human condition with all its magnificence and ugliness represented so acutely. So yep, yet another moderately bias manga review from HVO. People will start to think I only review the manga I like . . . *shifty eyed*
But to suggest I think Saikano is perfect would be wrong. I could spend a good 500 words recounting all the niggles and problems I had with it as I experienced these dramatic highs and lows, but my biggest contention is Saikano's art. While there is a lot of striking beauty to be found in it, if only in the stunning covers, I just don't enjoy Takahashi's character designs. Not to suggest they don't do their job well; I simply found them (especially Shuji) to be bulky and unrefined. Perhaps my preference for the panther-like sleekness of xxxHOLiC or the robustness of modern Naruto is to blame. Still, it's something I never came to really accept over the course of the series. The strange mix of photography and drawn media for the backgrounds grated somewhat, too. Yet, these gripes rarely interfered with the deep emotional connection I came to form with this manga. As with most artistic pursuits: good writing always prevails.
This is a massive volume and it covers a lot of ground before the inevitably bleak but entirely moving conclusion. Chise and Shuji demonstrate the disarming bravery that has made their love story so enduring as they prepare for Chise's impending deterioration now only one pill (that sustains the weapon parts of her body) remains. The scenes between Shuji and Chise, whose voice has become inaudible to human ears, are touching beyond mere words. The awareness and understanding Shuji shows for Chise as he affectionately compensates for her blank replies truly demonstrates how their love has developed past the initial awkwardness into something deep and genuine. This of course makes witnessing Chise's slow death all that more unbearable. Mercifully, Shuji thinks the same way and gives her back to the JSDF to be 'repaired'. With this the pair are separated for a number of chapters as Shuji returns home to the newly named 'Chise's Town', a place that remains protected by Chise from the hugely destructive war that goes on around it.
Chise and Shuji are later reunited for one of Saikano's most explicit sex scenes, which last for two or three chapters. I had a number of problems with this - none of which actually relate to it being sex scene; we got fair warning of this from the shrink-wrapping and the invasive message on the cover. I'm not bothered by sex in manga at all. My main issue is to do with Chise's objectification and detachment of personality during these scenes. Firstly, Chise does not look seventeen-years-old. She looks more like a twelve-year-old. Regardless of how much her underdevelopment is elaborated on I couldn't help but feel massively uncomfortable as she is subjected to Shuji's sexual desires. The entire scene was needlessly gratuitous and it went to places I wish Takahashi had shown more restraint in indulging. The raging feminist in me wants to rant endlessly on the huge, huge issues I have with Japan's little girl fetish and the objectification of women in general, but I'll suffice in stating it really is the biggest strife I have with Japanese media. Saikano Vol. 7 goes to no lengths to avoid this repulsive convention and it truly undermined much of my love for series. The fact that Chise at this point is nothing more than a mindless weapon with 'the right holes' only aggravated me further.
Conclusion
This aside, volume seven of Saikano is still a moving end to one of the most crushingly beautiful things I have ever read. It never reached literary levels of writing or plot, but the sense of development was so grand in scale and the levels of pathos so overflowing it was often difficult to maintain composure while reading. We cared for every single character, incidental or otherwise, and Chise & Shuji's love story was represented with a brutal honestly rarely found in any kind of fiction, let alone the sphere of young adult male manga. The war setting and the gimmick of Chise's abilities never encroached on what is fundamentally a love story and for this Takahashi receives extra kudos. I look forward to the day in the near future where I sit down, read every volume in succession and enjoy it like a fine vintage. Exceptional stuff.
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