Dream Saga Vol. 3

夢幻伝説 タカマガハラ [Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara] #3

by Megumi Tachikawa

A quest to save the sun that shines on two worlds begins the day a magic stone falls from the sky into the hands of Yuuki Wakasa, an ordinary fifth-grader.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Comics, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Fiction

179 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 1998

About the author

Megumi Tachikawa (立川恵) is a Japanese shōjo manga artist, best known for the manga Saint Tail, which was also adapted into an anime series. She made her manga debut in 1992 with 16-sai no Tiara, which was nominated for the 'New Face' manga award.

Reviews

[Devinne W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previously when I was reading the first two volumes, I recall stating in both of those reviews that I felt as though this story was moving at a breakneck pace and was hard to keep up with. I'm glad to say that the pace evens out just a little in this volume. Important events take place, make no mistake about it, but this time it doesn't feel as though several events of equal importance are crammed into less than 200 pages in a rush job.

That being said, the rest of this review will probably be (for the most part) under the spoiler cut, so read what I have to say at your own discretion.

In the last volume, we've finally found the fifth magic stone user, Nachi. I mentioned in my review for volume two that the twist with Nachi is that they are a boy in Nakatsukuni and a girl in Takamagahara. I had been hoping in all honesty that the juxtaposition is an indicator Nachi is trans MTF and not a genderbending gag for the LOLZ. Well, it would seem this was destined to disappoint either way, as it's boiled down to "Nachi 'knew they were actually a girl the moment they developed a crush on their male classmate Takaomi' and so they're therefore a girl in the spiritual world of Takamagahara."
I shouldn't have to explain why this is a letdown, but I will, for the sake of needing to vent my own grievance if nothing else. While this was originally published in 1998 in Japan, it's frustrating to get a throwaway, shallowly-depicted reasoning behind Nachi's gender identity. Gender identity and sexual-romantic orientations are not mutually exclusive to one another. Nachi could just as easily have been kept male for his Takamagahara counterpart with the general reveal that he has no romantic inclination towards girls, or that he likes both girls and guys, and that would be fine. Or, keeping the spiritual counterpart indicating Nachi is actually a girl and the physical body they were born with does not reflect their truth of self, Nachi is technically a trans girl but does not need the "oh I was attracted to a BOY and that's how I KNEW I can't be a boy myself!" explanation for their gender identity. It rings hollow, disingenuous, and just utterly lazy.

Moving back to the plot, the gang is all together and though there isn't a large amount of focus on their interactions with one another, we do get to see more of a natural rhythm and camaraderie develop between them. Of course, there's mild angst on Yuuki's part regarding Takaomi, and for Takaomi himself we learn more of his past history, secrets and dangerous connections. This takes up about 2/3rds of the book, which I didn't mind in the least. It was nice to get a bit of a slower pace in there in order to focus on fleshing out details. Additionally, when we learn about the birthmark on Takaomi's forehead, we also learn from the treacherous Lord Tsukuyomi (Amaterasu's brother) that this means Takaomi is meant to wield the missing 6th magic stone, but supposedly when that happens, Tsukuyomi will be able to achieve his power-hungry goals.

The final third of this volume involves traveling to rescue a surrogate sister of Takaomi's, Lady Kaya, and during this we get more encounters with human pollution affecting nature. This time, we see Nachi use her stone to help bring healing and a solution to the problem, saving a giant crab in the process, and the band of 6 continues on their way. They reach a cave by the last several pages, and it's evident the cave is crawling with something that is sinister in nature. I didn't mind this part of the book, but I will admit it feels like it was rushed or happened a bit too quickly and conveniently for the sake of possibly getting the plot back to its previous fast pace.

It should be noted there is some miscommunication or non-communication or wrong assumptions going on in this book, on Yuuki's part, about Takaomi. I thought this was actually handled in a way that was both realistic while also giving Yuuki a chance to show some of her personal maturity and desire not to be jealous or spiteful, but I can understand why it might frustrate some readers.

All in all, I think volume 3 has been my favorite of the series so far.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dream Saga 02 von Megumi Tachikawa




Zum Inhalt:

Yuuki stellt immer öfter fest, dass ihre wirkliche Welt und die Traumwelt miteinander verschmelzen. Probleme tauchen in der realen Welt auf, die sie sich nur noch im Zusammenhang mit der Traumwelt erklären kann. Gemeinsam sucht sie mit ihren Mitstreitern weitere Kinder, welche ein Magatama-Juwel besitzen. Begleitet werden sie dabei von dem Bandenanführer Takaomi, welcher ihrer heimlichen Liebe in der realen Welt zum Verwechseln ähnlich sieht. Yuuki hofft, dass es sich bei beiden Jungen um die gleiche Person handelt und schließlich bekommt sie die Chance, die Wahrheit zu erfahren. Als die Gruppe schließlich in der Stadt ankommt, treffen sie schließlich auf zwei weitere Kinder mit einem Magatama-Juwel...


Cover:

Auch dieses Cover ist wieder sehr niedlich gestaltet und kann sich meiner Meinung nach sehen lassen. Besonders jüngere Leser werden hier beherzt zugreifen. Zu sehen ist auf diesem Cover wieder die Heldin Yuuki auf blauem Grund, was wohl das Meer darstellen soll, da sie von gelben Fischen umgeben ist. Das wirkt freundlich und magisch.



Eigener Eindruck:

An sich ist die Geschichte wirklich schön. Besonders auch der Hintergrund, welcher die Kinder lehren soll, dass die Natur nur schön sein und existieren kann, wenn man auf sie achtet und sauber hält, ist wirklich wertvoll. Aber die Art und Weise, wie der Naturschutz in die Länge gezogen wird und doch ein bisschen die Spannung und die Geschichte abflacht, finde ich nicht wirklich gut. Da hätte mehr Pfeffer dahinter sein können. Schade eigentlich. Qualitativ sind die Zeichnungen in diesem Band auch wieder sehr angenehm anzusehen, jedoch treibt sich bei mir immer wieder der Wermutstropfen um, dass dieser Manga eben doch das jüngere Publikum anspricht und deswegen sehr verspielt wirkt. Das haut mich jetzt nicht so vom Hocker, leider.



Fazit:

An sich finde ich die Geschichte nicht unbedingt schlecht, jedoch ist sie sehr sprunghaft und recht kindlich gehalten, da es vor allem das jüngere Publikum ansprechen soll. Das ist Geschmackssache, deswegen gebe ich hier keine Leseempfehlung.





Idee: 5/5

Charaktere: 4/5

Logik: 3/5

Spannung: 2/5

Emotionen: 3/5





Gesamt: 3/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783898855051

Sprache: Deutsch

Seiten: 208 Seiten

Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband

Verlag: Egmont Manga und Anime Europe

Erscheinungsdatum: 01.11.2002

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ceritanya makin lama makin menarik. Putri Kaya diculik oleh segerombolan serangga kristal yang mendendam pada Tsukuyomi yang pernah membunuhi mereka sampai nyaris punah demi membuat kubah yang melindungi istana dari udara kotor.

Takaomi ternyata memang pemegang magatama keenam. Hanya saja magatamanya sepertinya dibawa oleh Tsukuyomi. Tsukuyomi menyuruh Takaomi menyelamatkan putrinya dengan iming-iming akan diberi magatama dan diberi tahu jati dirinya. Takaomi yang ingin mendapatkan magatama demi bisa mendapat ingatan dunia nyatanya tentang Yuki pun menyanggupi. Tapi Yuki salah paham. Mengira itu karena Takaomi menyukai Putri Kaya.

Para pemegang magatama kemudian menyadari bahwa mereka bisa mengeluarkan kekuatan seperti Yuki dengan membaca huruf Takamagahara yang terukir di tiap batu magatama mereka. Sementara itu Yuki bertanya-tanya, mengapa semua temannya memiliki wujud remaja usia 15 tahun di Takamagahara sedangkan hanya dirinya yang berwujud anak kecil, layaknya anak kelas 5 SD.

Bener berarti, pas dia mau dicium Takaomi di jilid pertama itu wujudnya memang masih kecil. Aneh kan adegan pemuda usia 15 tahun deketin anak kelas 5 SD. Iya kalau udah sama-sama dewasa gitu, gak aneh lagi. Selain itu komik ini memasukkan sedikit unsur cerita yang nyerempet LGBTQ. Nachi, di dunia nyatanya adalah cowok. Dan dia tertarik pada Takaomi serta menunjukkannya terang-terangan. Tapi di dunia Takamagahara, dia adalah wanita, dan juga tertarik pada orang yang sama. Sedangkan Sota, tertarik pada Nachi saat bertemu dengan anak ini dalam wujud perempuan. Akibatnya perasaannya pada wujud Nachi di dunia nyata yang sama-sama lelaki jadi rumit. Maksudnya apa coba masukin unsur LGBTQ di cerita anak-anak??? Jadi inget Card Captor Sakura, dah. Padahal, tanpa itu pun ceritanya udah bagus.

Ngomong-ngomong ada humor Keima sang penemu yang perannya kayak Doraemon di sini. Pokoknya kalau ada masalah genting, seperti saat mereka harus menyelam ke dalam telaga padahal Yuki tak bisa berenang, dia pasti langsung mengeluarkan alat yang bisa jadi solusi. Sampai-sampai teman-temannya bilang, "Sebentar lagi dia akan mengeluarkan mesin waktu. Hahaha 🤣"

[K Gover · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I tried it! Reading back to front and right to left took some adjustments, but the short dialogue style text made it manageable. The illustrations were sketches and not as detailed as I was expecting. This book was broken up into episodes (not chapters) and each episode introduced new characters. I had a hard time comprehending what the problem was as it seemed to change each episode. Also the names were new to me, although the character names were different enough that I could keep track of who was who!
A few random, weird speech bubble about "eating to make your boobs grow" and "your girlfriend is hot"- but otherwise appropriate for any reader that dares to tackle this manga style!

[Shakhzoda · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

[Ace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume three spends more time exploring the dream world instead of bouncing readers back and forth between reality and dreams. Earth-Takaomi makes a big announcement, dream-Takaomi gets some serious character development through extended flashbacks, and crystal-back worms kidnap the shrine maiden Kaya, a potential rival for Takaomi's heart. By devoting most of its time to the dream world, the adventure heightens and this volume is by far the most interesting and developed out of the series so far (even if it falls into a lot of the chosen one/magical girl cliches).

This is a cute manga for kids interested in mythology or as an introduction to the fantasy/adventure genre. Though beautiful, the artwork can be confusing at times since Yuuki's classmates look alike; differentiating between them can be difficult.

[Rezza Dwi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Yuki, jika ada yang dapat dilakukan oleh aku yang 'tak terpilih' ini...."

Di antara semua laki-laki yang ditugaskan melindungi Yuki dengan kekuatan, cuma Takaomi yang nggak punya magatama dan ingatan di dua dunia. Padahal dia yang paling sayang Yuki.

Takaomi, I feel you! Jadi inget Asuka-nya Meirin di DR. RIN yang sama-sama nggak punya kekuatan apa-apa padahal dialah yang paling sayang sama Rin.

Ini cerita baperin banget elah.