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A few days ago, I bought the first volume of a manga series at the used book store near me. The synopsis described a cute teenage romance between a typical high school couple, with female lead's role as weapon of war in her spare time making things amusingly awkward at times.
That is not what this story is.
Rather than something resembling Ah! Megami-sama, Saikano reminds me more of Gunslinger Girls: stories of young girls made into cyborg assassins and soldiers and dealing with their achingly contradictory lives with their government handlers.
Saikano is in a harsher world of grander scale. The backdrop is a terrible war rather than the individual missions of espionage and intrigue of Gunslinger Girls. Chise, the weapon, does not really understand why she has been made what she is. She does not want to kill, but feels forced to to prevent so many other deaths. Adding to the ambiguity of her situation is that no explanation is forthcoming for the war; it's context and goals are as unclear to the reader, at least so far, as they are to Chise.
Her boyfriend, Shuji, doesn't know how to talk to her or be with her. Should he pretend all is normal and try to give her happy moments away from chaos and terror, or encourage her to talk through her experiences with him, the only person she can be open with?
As in many other romances, physical intimacy and sex are points of tension, and their friends give them well-meaning and inexperienced advice. And, as in many other romances, Chise is scared of being vulnerable as the object of her partner's lust. Unlike many other romances, part of her fear is realized when Shuji undresses her for the first time (against her vocal protests, which I'm trying hard to reconcile with the character without being uncomfortable enough to stop reading) and sees the radiating gashes across her torso that expose the machinery within.
Physically, Chise becomes less organic and more machine. Shuji can no longer hear her heartbeat, or feel warmth in her skin. She is damaged and rebuilt until her changes are irrevocable. She destroys fighter jets and tanks, and even razes whole cities as she thinks of Shuji and the way that writing in their shared diary helps her feel more human and less alone. At the end of a date, Shuji wants to make a photo of them together, but Chise refuses. "If we had a picture of us," she says, "it might make it easier for us to be apart. We can look at each other when we're together. I want to see in you...that I...really exist."
I fear that this story will leave wounds on me on in its wake, but its claws have already pierced me; to withdraw them now would leave bleeding holes.
Yesterday, I returned to buy the remaining six volumes in the series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saikano
(Do not read too much of the Wikipedia article if you don't want spoilers.)
That is not what this story is.
Rather than something resembling Ah! Megami-sama, Saikano reminds me more of Gunslinger Girls: stories of young girls made into cyborg assassins and soldiers and dealing with their achingly contradictory lives with their government handlers.
Saikano is in a harsher world of grander scale. The backdrop is a terrible war rather than the individual missions of espionage and intrigue of Gunslinger Girls. Chise, the weapon, does not really understand why she has been made what she is. She does not want to kill, but feels forced to to prevent so many other deaths. Adding to the ambiguity of her situation is that no explanation is forthcoming for the war; it's context and goals are as unclear to the reader, at least so far, as they are to Chise.
Her boyfriend, Shuji, doesn't know how to talk to her or be with her. Should he pretend all is normal and try to give her happy moments away from chaos and terror, or encourage her to talk through her experiences with him, the only person she can be open with?
As in many other romances, physical intimacy and sex are points of tension, and their friends give them well-meaning and inexperienced advice. And, as in many other romances, Chise is scared of being vulnerable as the object of her partner's lust. Unlike many other romances, part of her fear is realized when Shuji undresses her for the first time (against her vocal protests, which I'm trying hard to reconcile with the character without being uncomfortable enough to stop reading) and sees the radiating gashes across her torso that expose the machinery within.
Physically, Chise becomes less organic and more machine. Shuji can no longer hear her heartbeat, or feel warmth in her skin. She is damaged and rebuilt until her changes are irrevocable. She destroys fighter jets and tanks, and even razes whole cities as she thinks of Shuji and the way that writing in their shared diary helps her feel more human and less alone. At the end of a date, Shuji wants to make a photo of them together, but Chise refuses. "If we had a picture of us," she says, "it might make it easier for us to be apart. We can look at each other when we're together. I want to see in you...that I...really exist."
I fear that this story will leave wounds on me on in its wake, but its claws have already pierced me; to withdraw them now would leave bleeding holes.
Yesterday, I returned to buy the remaining six volumes in the series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saikano
(Do not read too much of the Wikipedia article if you don't want spoilers.)
