To Your Eternity, Vol. 8

不滅のあなたへ [Fumetsu no Anata e] #8

by Yoshitoki Oima

While traveling with the Guardians, Fushi is captured by Prince Bon, a man who can see the dead. Soon after, Fushi and Prince Bon embark on a journey to provide aid to the people of the land, as well as protection from Nokkers. But before long, they are faced with a force that considers Fushi’s very existence to be heresy.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fiction, Shonen, Adventure

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2018

About the author

See also: 大今良時

OIMA Yoshitoki: 大今良時
Associated Names:
Yoshitoki Ohima
Yoshitoki Ooima
Yoshitoki Ōima

Even though her one-shot Koe no Katachi won critical acclaim, it took a longsome law suit to get a magazine to publish it because of its socio-critical theme. Eventually, it was featured in the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazin, where it placed first, and later in the 12th edition of the 2013 Weekly Shounen Magazine.

She has also collaborated with UBUKATA Tow for the manga adaption of his novel Mardock Scramble.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume is a bit of a mess with some problematic scenes revolving around the foppish prince, homophobia, cross-dressing, gender identity and body image. Also, a new power for Fushi is revealed that could really undercut all that has come before.

That said, by the end of the book, regardless of the ridiculousness of the situation in this new arc, I found myself drawn in by the emotional core of the characters and the literal cliffhanger ending.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I keep saying this but this series just keeps getting better. There were a few subplots here that I feel could have been handled with more grace, but in general I love the direction the story is going. I loved Bon from the start, but he is really growing into a great character (which is unfortunately a red flag). And Fushi's emotional development should prove to be interesting too, as it'll provide more opportunities to philosophize not just about existence and life and death, but a wider variety of topics that Fushi will undoubtedly learn about - which will also inject new themes and new life into this already incredibly well-rounded story.

[Fatima Alqassab · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In this world, there are things you can see and things you cannot. It took quite a lot of time before I relized that very basic fact.. because I thought I saw everything. Naturally even my future.."

-Bon

[Aitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una vez más, me encuentro en un callejón sin salida con Ôima. Por alguna razón que se me escapa y que llevo intentando dilucidar seis tomos, sus personajes resultan muy poco accesibles. Donde el chico del primer capítulo, March y Parona lograban crear conexiones instantáneas, el príncipe de este nuevo arco narrativo y todo su séquito se me hacen intragables. Sé que muchos claman que, con este tomo, Ôima se mete de lleno en la transfobia y la homofobia; sinceramente, no creo que ese sea el problema. Sí, hay muchas frases y situaciones extrañas desde el punto de vista de alguien que quiere ver esa representación queer, pero no creo que su intención sea negativa y el resultado no es perjudicial; tan solo evade los temas cuestionablemente. Se intenta a medias con Kahaku una aceptación de Inmo más allá de la performatividad de género; el problema es que se represente como un pervertido cuando se mira tras la obra y se entra en el terreno del mensaje entre líneas.

Mi problema, decía, viene directamente de los personajes más allá de su género o intento por tratar lo queer. Simplemente, no guardan ningún interés. Son arquetipos con historias manidas o muy poco exploradas que, en consecuencia, hacen que quiera irme a leer algo más productivo. Una vez más, Inmo se convierte en la excepción, aunque tampoco demasiado (sigue anclado en el tomo anterior y tan solo se intenta avanzar en la parte más íntima de las relaciones). En general, si algo veo que le falta a este arco es tener un reparto original que permita explorar a Inmo al mismo tiempo que se tratan otros arcos de personaje. Por eso, hasta Gûgû, es aceptable; a partir de ahí, apártame a Inmo y vámonos.

Tema argumento. Pues está ahí, no mucho más. Tan solo entra de puntillas en el tema religioso y en esas identidades no normativas. Incluso el poder de Bon, que daría para mucho impacto emocional y explorar tanto a su personaje como a Inmo, se queda en un "so desu ka" de manual. Hace ya muchos tomos que he perdido la esperanza en esta serie y tan solo sigo por el dibujo (que es cuco y funcione) y, especialmente, por el personaje de Inmo, que es lo que salvó el tomo 7 y lo que, ojalá, salve los siguientes cuando Ôima se deshaga de la panda de impresentables que tiene el arco como reparto.

[Aimé · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha llegado el día.
A explicarle a Fushi cómo funciona el amor.

[isaac⁷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25*

although this might be my least favourite arc, it still raises important questions on heresy, immortality and love (the last two are the connecting threads of this whole series anyway). bon is not as unlikable as he was at the start of this volume which is a win.

excited for volume 9 now.

[Laura Coll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseña completa: https://paseandoentrepaginas.blogspot...

[Marcella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eu comecei odiando o Bon Uralis e agora se qualquer coisa acontecer com ele eu vou chorar

[Ren (A Bookish Balance) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5 stars

I'm really not enjoying the direction the story's decided to go, and Hayase's ancestors do not fail to weird me out. Prince Bon is a bit much, and initially I didn't like him, but by the end of the volume I softened towards him. This is also the one time I don't actually mind the resurrection trope being used, I'm really interested to see how that carries out.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

La Tasty Peach got a little better, but the story needs to move on. I don't like these characters and I miss Gugu.

[omar ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ratings of the following volumes:
Vol. #6: ★★☆☆☆ (2.5)
Vol. #7: ★★★★☆ (4)
Vol. #8: ★★★★★ (5)



I'm hated the island arc so much. The characters were so annoying but I can understand why it was needed and the character evolution from a couple of those new characters was actually really good.
The time skip really surprised me.
Fushi's power up is broken! I don't want a war but I think our group will be pretty savage
Bon is the highlight of the newer characters! I love him

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this is getting interesting. Story is still feeling rushed and at times a little too ridiculous considering theres not enough character development for me to care about anyone- however I will say Prince Bon is growing on me and I'm hoping the next volume will flesh him out some more. This volume was far better than the last few I will give it that.

[onion64 · Rating 4 out of 5]

molten iron fushi 🔓unlocked

[Bruno Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta historia cada vez es mejor.

[DonutKnow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is a bit too weird for me…

[Littlebookterror · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was prepared to give this three stars.
I was unhappy how the plot was going, I didn't like the new light, kinda silly tone and did not think Oima could write herself out of that one.
Boy was I wrong.
Not only is prince Bon now one of my favourite characters, I was very impressed by how she handled him. Overall, the new story about religion and fanatics, what it means for Fushi to only have dead friends and the new revelations of his powers brought it up a whole nother level. Also Fushi learns more about feelings and love and it was the cutest. The short outtake of that love story he read broke my heart.


(Was the "suddenly slim now" plotline necessary though? Not really.)

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bon ♥♥♥

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm adding the "LGBTQ" tag this time around because they (especially Bon and Kahaku) make Fushi's gender an issue.

Oh, and also Todo,* though that's more genderbending for Mulan-esque reasons.

I've generally tried to like this series, since it has some genuine tearjerker moments and is relatively unique in its ability to make initially dislikeable characters entirely sympathetic** by the time they die. [This isn't a spoiler; the series spans CENTURIES, so literally everyone other than Fushi will eventually die. Even the "Black Man" claimed he would go away one day.]

But Bon marks a distinct shift in the storytelling, no matter how much I've tried to change my mind about him (especially since his Japanese voice actor is one of my favourites). He's a self-absorbed prince obsessed with convincing his father (the king) to name him as successor instead of his much more mature and capable younger brother Torta, and he tries to do so through ridiculous gimmicks—like capturing "the Immortal"—rather than through demonstrating himself to be a thoughtful and responsible adult. This volume doesn't help much in that respect, other than to reveal that the "fits" he would have are a result of his being able to see ghosts and his reactions to them.

I'm still reading (though, out of order, since I can barely find the books without having to resort to special-ordering them, which I prefer not to do since the list is already SO LONG), but I anticipate the volumes through the end of Season 2 are going to be less emotionally powerful than the first book—admittedly a tough act to follow, since the White-Haired Boy's story contained so much in so little, and the rest of the series from Gugu's time on has been intersected with the larger story of the Nokkers, that they're trying to cover a significantly more complicated problem than "I'm the last survivor of my village and don't know what to do with myself."

Something that surprised me, though, was how tall Pocoa is—she acts like she's a VERY young girl, but apparently in some scenes she's even taller than Fushi as Parona, when I had thought Parona was fairly tall? (Might just have been Parona was tall compared to young Tonari and etc., but it's been a minute.)

I also really want to know where this mystery gift horse is going, what was the point of introducing it (I have an idea, but the anime didn't cover it, and I'm pretty sure it's following the manga as closely as possible). But the volumes I have are arbitrary, and I'd really hate to start reading one just to end up midway through the still-nonexistent season 4. Book 8 was a pretty safe assumption that it would still be ground I've already covered, though. I'm just not excited about it as I was for the first few books.

I get that! It's really hard to sustain a masterpiece that starts as high as this series did. Even trying to keep the story "pretty good" is a tall order, unless literally the whole thing was written and extensively workshopped before putting panel 1 to paper (and even then, I do mean the ENTIRE story, not light novels, which certain ones I could name prove can lose sight of the goal midway through and veer off into irrelevance without even finishing).

A good ending is imporant! And I want to see that this series has one! Starting to doubt, though, despite having accidentally read a spoiler on the wiki I so enthusiastically linked above, haha. (Or maybe a different, duplicate but more complete one, but a wiki, either way.)

tl;dr: Okay installment of the ongoing series, but not terribly exciting, other than one specific plot development that I didn't mention here because it's a huge spoiler.

*/Iris

**except Hayase

NEVER Hayase

[Mathilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une intrigue autour de l'évolution d'Imm qui reste toute aussi prenante au fil des tomes. Toujours plus de nouveaux personnages attachants ou complexes qu'on adore rencontrer au cours de la série.

[Nightshade · Rating 2 out of 5]

This manga started out so good, but I'm disappointed by the direction it's heading. I really disliked Prince Bon so that made this volume difficult to read. The characters we've met so far have been really well written, but those introduced in this arc are not as good.

I plan to continue for now and hope it improves again soon.

[Herdis Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While traveling with the Guardians, Fushi is taken captive by the theatrical, eccentric Prince Bon. Chiefly interested in securing the kingship of his country, Uralis, for himself, Prince Bon is selfish and vain, but he also has a unique gift: he can see the dead.

Prince Bon and Fushi soon embark on a journey to protect people from the Nokkers, as well as offer aid where they can.

But the Nokkers are no longer Fushi's only enemy. The Church of Bennett considers Fushi a demon, and they will stop at nothing to capture and contain him ...



This was an interesting volume.

First of all, I absolutely adore Prince Bon. He is, at once, horrifically self-involved and clearly desperately in need of companionship and approval. Almost the moment I met him I felt he should get a kind of development/redemption arc, and I hope this turns out to be the case.

I also love Todo. So adorable.

It is also interesting how Oima plays with gender and sexuality here. Because Fushi can take on both male and female shapes, he/she can be appealing to men or women depending on his/her shape. But where do Fushi's interests and desires lie?

I am hoping to see more of this, and I also hope Oima chooses to be a bit less rigid with the sexuality aspect of this. There is not, as of yet, sufficient acceptance amongst the characters that a man could find another man attractive, or that a woman could love another woman. I hope the manga distances itself from judgmental attitudes concerning homosexuality.

Whilst on the subject of attraction, I really appreciated how, in this volume, it was made very clear that it is unacceptable to force your affections on someone. The manga has, for the past few volumes, had some creepy, rapey scenes where Hayase (and, later, her descendants) seek to possess Fushi physically. It is nice that this kind of comes to a head here and is dealt with .

The last part of this volume was particularly interesting, and I'm excited to read on!

[Doc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bound by the opinions of others.

Not sure if this will affect the opinion of others but this volume deals with Fushi trying to understand himself better after isolating himself for a very long time in the past. With the characters he is currently interaction there are moments of body shaming, inappropriate forcing of oneself unto another, and moments of gender and/or sexual identity.

After being "captured" by the comically flamboyant prince Bonchien Nicoli la Tasty Peach Uralis (henceforth known as just Bonchien for simplicities sake) he and Kahaku, the 6th descendent of his old enemy Hayase, are not treated as prisoners but as guests. However trouble is rarely far behind Fushi as he and his group including Bonchien's men go out to stop another nokker from harming others before helping the locals as best they can. However it is not the nokker that is the greatest threat this time but the anti-Fushi church declaring him an agent of the devil and taking steps to use their influence to deal with him in anyway they can.

Now this might rub some people the wrong way but throughout history people, being fallible, can become corrupted by power such as has been shown in organized religions of great influence in the past influencing whole governments through the use of either fear or through the hands of those people they have influenced with their doctrines. So far the church represented in this series is certainly showing such tendencies and I have not seen such a threat since I have read the Spice and Wolf series in the past where the church did their best to not only control trades through tax like tithes but also their attempt to strike against the pagan ways like the titular character Holo who was a wolf god of the harvest. Needless to say from the beginning of the volume to the cliff hanger ending the world and those involved with Fushi will be dramatically changed. Only time will tell how difficult things will be for all involved if the church finds out they have not been as successful as they originally thought.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's more of a 4.5.

This volume focuses on Fushi's continued adventures with Kohaku, Prince Bon, and company, but tragedy struck.

Kohaku shows that, yes, he is definitely related to Hayase and Hisame--obsessive and capable of making some really creepy faces. He decides to act on the feelings he's developed for Fushi (which was initially only when he was in Parona's form), which causes whatever remnants of Parona are still alive in Fushi to get violently ill. Fushi bolts but is restrained by Kohaku, so Fushi tries switching between forms to get Kohaku to stop, so there's a panel of Kohaku grabbing Fushi in March's form while Fushi/March is telling him to stop that is really uncomfortable. I'm enjoying the Church of Bennett story line more than the Fushi discovers romance story line.

Bon is interesting. On the one hand he has a really caring side towards those who work for him, on the other hand he can be a foppish brat and has a very manipulative side. Although, he and his parents look like they came from a goofier manga than To Your Eternity with their over the top hair styles. I'm predicting next volume will have some big character growth and probably death like a redeeming sacrifice for turning Fushi in to try and protect himself/his kingdom and hiding the fact that Fushi can kind of raise the dead that will grant Fushi his form and ghost seeing abilities for him next volume.

Fushi is pushed to his limits emotionally and physically and gets more powerful as a result which is good. I'm also starting to suspect that the Beholder is less some sort of being that can't comprehend human/Fushi's emotions and more sinister after one of the later chapters.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is really hard to review because SO much of it is plot relevant and all crammed into a single volume so talking about something cool at the end spoils the story if I'm not careful! It's a great position to be in, because whoo! good story, but aah!!!

Prince Bonchien Nicoli La Tasty Peach Uralis...or Prince Bon for short is...a character. He's almost your stereotypical foppish prince, selfish and almost girly in mannerisms. But then he shows this unrelenting loyalty to his people, able to call them out by name and they all love him. He's also extremely smart, when he's not being a pansy, and has an strong drive to one day becoming king. (His sister is also adorable; she's got some kind of speech impediment which is classic Yoshitoki Ōima.) My favorite Bon moment has to be page 96-99, it's like that Michael Jackson popcorn meme but with tea and crumpets.

But he's keeping secrets from Fushi and when the Church of Bennett gets involved, everything spirals into chaos and loyalties are tested on all sides. And Bon gets some major character development.

[AguacateConCara · Rating 3 out of 5]

❌ SPOILER ❌
Tres estrellas y media. ⭐⭐⭐🌠

En este manga empezamos a ver cómo la sociedad lentamente ha avanzado a una especie de feudalismo, y una religión ha decidido que la existencia de Fushi es un peligro para la sociedad y demonio que está en contra de su Dios. ¡Fushi puede clonar cuerpos y algunas veces revivirlos! Pero todavía no lo sabe.

Esa misma iglesia Bennet encierra a Fushi en fierro fundido. Pero se libera con determinación.

Mi escena favorita: cuando Fushi se emociona por ver una muñeca de trapo muy bonita, y piensa si esa muñequita le gustaría a March.

Kahaku casi abusa de Fushi, vale verga la vida... :''c

Bon evoluciona como persona.

[Dani Wladdimiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

El problema que tengo con la obra es que de temas tan desarrollados como en los primeros volúmenes, acá se hablan de forma muy superficial, es prácticamente volátil la profundidad con que los toca. Quizá es introducción para darle crecimiento más adelante, pero entonces si fuera así, sería buena idea de plantear bien los temas que desean abordar a futuro. Siento que la trama va a continuar, y temas tan potentes como la sexualidad, quedarán en segundo plano, y veremos lo más importante para la trama principal que sería la Iglesia. Espero no decepcionarme más adelante, porque si bien me dan ganas de dejar hasta acá la historia, creo que hay que darle una oportunidad a una historia que tiene mucho, pero mucho potencial.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not understand this story arc or this new character that's suddenly a huge part of our focus or why I'd care about him. I don't like him, I don't find him funny or charming and I don't get how he adds to the story. he feels so out of place, even in his wardrobe. this may the worst volume. there's a lot of story arcs I didn't enjoy, one that was very creepy but I will admit, it came to a sick conclusion. the real development happened in the last 30 pages and it was admittedly innocent. la tasty peach???

[Yuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I can’t stand anymore the “evil church” trope. Second, the resurrection plot was boring and it seemed weird to appear at this point because Fushi had already known that it could be a possibility, a flawed one though. Anyway, didn’t enjoy volume nor the arc so far. Furthermore, the author could’ve explored more the LGBTQ+ aspect of the story. Like Todo/Fushi being ok with their queerness and Kahak’s sexuality as pansexual instead of using to endorse homophobic statements.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quizás el tomo más difícil de digerir hasta el momento. Ya lo esperaba, pero el explosivo Príncipe Bon ha trastocado bastante el rumbo de la historia (algo que ya había hecho Hayase y su culto y descendencia en el anterior y que aquí está tratando de destacar sin mucho éxito) que, además, se emboza bastante al querer tocar el tema de identidades de género y sexualidad de momento de forma muy chapucera.

[Eduardo Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

To tell or not to tell. Our glorious Prince Bon is faced with a heavy predicament on what to do regarding Fushi's powers. I love this part of the series because it brings forth a new question on how life and death will be treated once Fushi finds out what he can do. To others this may feel like a bad thing to bring into the story, but I personally think it will bring forth new questions on when will enough be enough?