Impression: Please Save My Earth 7

Volume seven continues the enchanting story-telling of volume six.

---

Summary

---

In volume seven Alice comes to the Moon Dreamers meeting, but she can't seem to add anything to the discussion, which prompts Sakura to doubt she is Mokuren. Jinpachi defends her, but the meeting goes no where.

When heading back on the train, Alice tries to talk to Rin, but he screams at her saying he hates her. This causes Alice to stop dead in her tracks. We are then taken back to Alice's childhood, where she lost friends for no reason she could discern.

Rin calls Haruhiko for another meeting where he tells him to keep Alice busy and away from the Moon Dreamer meetings. When Haru asks why, Rin tells him that he doesn't want Alice remembering things at random. Haru then comes to the realization that he is a pawn in Shion's game against Gyokuran for Alice's affection and that he is currently the stop in place keeping Alice and Gyokuran from getting closer.

Fed up, Haru asks if "M" is also someone Rin is using to keep him in check. This, however, turns out to be wrong, and Haruhiko has now unknowingly given Rin information about his allies. Haru then realizes that "M" must be helping him with Mr.Tamura and that his letter did get to him. Riddled with guilt, Haru desperately tries to jump to Kyoto, but his heart cannot take the strain and he faints.

Meanwhile Rin sends a love letter to Takashi asking him to meet him at the Renmyo Temple at 6 o'clock.  One of Tamura's men intercepts the letter and lets Tamura know. Rin also calls Tamura telling him to bring "M".

Tamura arrives at the temple and "M" comes a little later. When "M" arrives, a psychic battle between him and Rin commences. Unfortunately, Rin has the upper hand and just as he is about to blast "M" and Mr.Tamura, Haru appears in front of the blast. Leaving us with a nice cliff hanger.

---

My Thoughts

---

Well I have finally gotten the characterization I was asking for with Alice. The flashback, while a mere 5 or so pages, gave me such a rich understanding of her. Her meekness and lack of confidence make perfect sense now. I've actually grown to sympathize with her now, whereas in other manga with similar characters, I cannot stand them. Characterization is an important element in getting the reader to sympathize with characters, especially those with unlikable traits; at least that is what I strongly believe. And with that little tease, I am looking forward to what Hiwatari-san can do with more back story. I hope Jinpachi and Mokuren are next since these two have very little inner monologue or what, in Jinpachi's case, he has had, it was rather shallow.

And is Rin ever evil, but I can't bring myself to hate him. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because I know it's Shion and those 9 years that are affecting him, and maybe it's also because he's so young and my maternal instincts are acting up. Well, whatever it is, I just can't seem to hate his character, even though he's such a villain! Poor Haru, he can't seem to get any slack. He was quite noble, doing what he did after his heart attack.

Also, I find it cute how Sakura still feels loyal to Enju and gets angry at Jinpachi and Alice. I think I may just ship these two together~ Issei and Sakura complement one another really well too. :3

The cover of this volume is rather plain: just a frontal portrait of Rin, but it's still quite nice. I am looking forward to the next volumes. Please Save My Earth has been picking up a lot of steam!

~Joanna

Impression: Please Save My Earth 6

Volume 6 picks up the slack of volume 5 and I find myself engrossed in the story once more.

---

Summary

---

Rin decides to cancel his engagement to Alice, which causes Alice to make sure he is ok. When the two of them talk alone, Rin speaks oddly, stating in his dreams he is alone once more.
Furthermore, Rin's teacher notices the boy has exceptional talent. He shows Rin's mother a poem he wrote and tells her that not matter how one looks at this poem, it cannot be one an eight year old would write.

Meanwhile the other Moon dreams are becoming suspicious of "Shion" after Rin tells them he broke off his engagement to Alice due to "Shion"'s insistence. During the meeting they recollect that they had some passwords for the Moon Base and the general events that happened during their last days on the Moon Base.

Later, Jinpachi confronts Haruhiko about Rin's cancellation of his engagement to Alice. Naturally, Haruhiko has no idea what Jinpachi is talking about and gets up to leave. When Jinpachi holds him back, Haruhiko slaps him and tells him to "try being me and see how you like it".

Back at Kyoto, Mr.Tamura gets a call from Hokuto saying that his mother wants to meet up with him. During their meeting, Hokuto's mother talks about her other son, Mikuro, who also has ESP. After she finishes her story, she asks Mr.Tamura not to forget that "S" may be in need of his help as well.

At their next meeting, Daisuke has come up with a rough outline of what happened during their previous lives. Using the outline, the others begin to fill in the missing information and recall how Mokuren was a special "Kiche Sarjalian" and she performed a special dance and song at all national holidays.

The next day at school, Jinpachi tells Issei that the tree by the window where Alice sings has grown a lot. Issei agrees with him and Jinpachi says they must convince Alice to come back to the Moon Dreamers meetings. Issei says he has school council duties, so it falls on Jinpachi to convince her. Jinpachi passes Alice in the hallway and calls to her that she doesn't have to ignore him and apologizes for his previous behavoir. He tells Alice he knows why the Ginko tree by the music room has been looking really healthy and has been growing and asks her to come back to the meetings. Alice agrees to come back to the meetings.

Meanwhile, Haruhiko is at an aquarium, while recollecting his life as Shukaido, a stranger bumps into him. The stranger hands him a book and leaves. Inside the book he finds a warning about teleportation.

---

My Thoughts

---

Last volume was rather slow as I noted, but volume six really picks up the pace. Truth be told, volume 5 was partly to blame for me taking so long to get to volume six. While five was by no means bad, it wasn't as attention grabbing as some other manga at the time, which caused me to shift my priorities to other titles. I do regret that now, since volume six has shown me why I fell in love with this series in the first place: the story telling is solid; Hiwatari-san moves seamlessly between the past on the Moon and the present on Earth, she gives us bits and pieces of the story on the Moon, which only increased my curiosity without showing me everything at once and thus keeping me in suspense. Likewise, the character development was really good this volume as we get to see more of Issei's inner turmoil and we finally get a look into Sakura/Shusuran, but most importantly, we get to see behind Rin's mask for once and learn some more about the other Moon Scientists.

Issei is currently my favourite character. I love how he struggles against his past, and just in general he is quite likeable. Rin, although not my favourite, is quickly becoming my reason for reading Please Save My Earth. I'm genuinely intrigued with his demons and how he appears to be walking a thin line between sanity and insanity. I currently don't hate any of the characters, although I do wish Alice, Diasuke, and Jinpachi would get stronger characterizations. Alice, in particular, really needs it since she is suppose to be the main character.

I was surprised that in one of the side notes, Hiwatari-san wrote that people are calling Haruhiko a cry baby. I'm not a fan of frail characters, but Haruhiko isn't really frail, he's acting quite strongly for the situation he is in. He cries because of everything happening in his life. It's basically being torn apart for mistakes he didn't do (his past self did them) and he has no one to give him moral support. It's kind of hypocritical really, since Alice isn't being called a cry baby but she was crying through volume 1 and 2 because of what happened to Rin (in a situation similar to Haru's, where she had little moral support with the whole school against her and Rin's family despising her). And just like with Haru, I think they both reacted realistically and strongly for the situation they were in. *Sigh* And people think I'm hard on characters. I'm actually not too hard so long as the characters act with some realism (also known as, characters have common sense that *most* people have).

Ah, but I'm rambling off track now. So I'll just conclude this with saying that volume six of Please Save My Earth really impressed me and I am looking forward to reading volume seven. :)

~Joanna

Impression: Fushigi Yugi 9

With volume nine, I have hit the half point of the story. Like last time, I'm going to try and keep the summary short with more focus on my own reactions to the story.

---

Summary

---

Volume nine beginning with Nuriko's funeral, after which the remaining warriors head inside the cave. Once inside, they discover that the Shentso-Pao is guarded by two of Genbu's warriors. Unfortunately for the Suzaku warriors, these two are ghosts and cannot be defeated. It is then that Miaka steps up and begs the two to let her pass. They agree so long as Miaka can prove she is indeed the Priestess of Suzaku.

The test involves Miaka overcoming the ice powers of the two warriors. And just when all hope is lost and Miaka is fully frozen, thoughts of Nuriko awaken his bracelets that Miaka is wearing, and Miaka bursts forth, out of the ice. Having proven that she is indeed the Priestess, the Genbu warriors present her the Shentso-Pao.

But before they can celebrate, a giant wolf steals the Shentso-Pao right out of Miaka's hands as she is leaving the cave and brings it to Nakago. Nakago confirms it is Ashitare, whose wolf blood has taken over after his human death, and promptly kills him.

Miaka, depressed, runs off again and Tai-Yi-Jun appears before her. When Miaka asks for her help in getting the Shentso-Pao back, Tai-Yi-Jun suggests the bedding technique to disrupt Nakago's chi. Miaka, confused, asks how she can have sex when the Priestess must be a virgin. Tai-Yi-Jun laughs that she lied and that it was just a precaution against love disrupting the quest. She confirms this by pointing to Yui, who was raped. After Tai-Yi-Jun leaves, Miaka decides she wants to try it since Nuriko gave his life for the Shentso-Pao. Meanwhile, Tai-Yi-Jun appears in front of the Suzaku warriors and tells them that she is taking care of Miaka and tells them to go on ahead to the southern city where the second Shentso-Pao lies.

When Miaka makes it to Nakago's camp, it appears he has been expecting her. He confirms this and tells her that the Tai-Yi-Jun she saw was a fake created by one of Sieryu's warriors. He then proceeds to have his way with her, which he states will remove any chance she has to summon Suzaku. When Miaka asks about Yui, Nakago, with glee in his eyes, tells Miaka she was never raped. He saved her before anything happened but she is convinced she was violated.

Meanwhile, Tamahome has an ill feeling and decides to head back to check on Miaka. After he finds her, the two of them do not know how to react with what just happened. Eventually Tamahome tells Miaka that she looks just as pure as ever and that nothing could ever tarnish her. After a loving embrace and maybe more (it is not certain since nothing is shown explicitly), Miaka decides that she has to run away once more because she is unworthy of both Tamahome and summoning Suzaku.

---

My Thoughts

---

Well, this was certainly a very dramatic and tense volume. I sort of found it strange that it is titled Lover, given what happens to Miaka...but maybe the editor was aiming for the final chapter. Just, personally, I find it rather ironic that the subtitle is "Lover" when Miaka gets raped...supposedly. Yeah, I have my doubts. I mean, we know the good girl wins in the end and I have a vague idea that Tama (Tamahome's real world counterpart) was created through Miaka's wish...so if the virgin deal is real, then nothing happened and it was more a psychological attack on Nakago's part. Plus this is a shoujo series and I have yet to encounter one where the main character is actually raped. Lots of shoujo series come close, (probably to amp up the drama) but none cross the line, and I cannot see this being different.

Half the volume was actually pretty good, until the ill-fated rape scenes (nothing is shown, mind you, only implied). I've got nothing against depicting rape, but it seemed to me that it was included just to amp up the drama, and that sort of annoys me. But maybe I'm wrong and volume 10 will confirm that Miaka was actually raped, who knows?

I actually wasn't annoyed that Miaka believed the fake Tai-Yi-Jun. It was a perfect trap. And it was honourable of her to try and do something herself, even if it wasn't well thought out (she knows she has no sexual experience, so how is she suppose to seduce Nakago??? She even doubts she can do it while heading there, so I just don't understand why she thought she could do something...ah shoujo heroines, so stupid sometimes.) No actually the part that annoyed me the most was Miaka running away, yet again. She showed a little character growth/maturity with the Genbu test, but yet again it's all discarded and she reverts back to her weak emotional self. Where is the brave talk of doing this for Nuriko? Now, when more then ever she needs to be strong, she caves in and runs away. Agh! When will we finally get some character growth out of this heroine?! But I guess I shouldn't expect much out of someone that needs to be told what to do (i.e. Tamahome needs to tell her that grieving now will waste Nuriko's sacrifice.)

Honestly, I'm not trying to hate on her....I'm really trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and trying to be realistic....but I can't help but wish for a stronger heroine. I guess that's just the kind I like, since I've never been one to depend on others for everything the way some of these shoujo heroines do.

But enough about Miaka, time to talk about Tamahome. Is he ever unrealistic. I mean, your girlfriend has been raped, and you're totally fine with it? I'm not saying he should be disgusted by her, I'm saying he should be confused. Confused as how to react, how to comfort her...but nope, Tamahome is like a sage, he knows exactly what to say and do. It's sort of ridiculous. Gah, I know I know, it's shoujo and it's suppose to be idealistic love, but it just takes me out of the story when a character acts so unnaturally. Personal taste I guess, but I dislike idealistic depictions of love. The cynic in me sneers at them.

So I bet you're thinking, if you hate the main leads so much, why the hell do you bother reading this anyway? Especially since I've dropped other manga for the exact same reasons. Well, it's because, while Miaka and Tamahome do annoy me from time to time, I haven't yet learned to loathe them like Hatsumi and Ryuko from Hot Gimmick, and the secondary characters are actually likeable. But the biggest reason is that the story is still engaging; I'm still interested in Nakago's goal, whether Yui or Miaka will summon their god first, what will happen to the fictional world, and just whether there is more to the Universe of the Four Gods than has been laid down so far. So for these reasons, I'm willing to continue reading even if there are a few weak volumes, like seven, and the main leads make me roll my eyes from time to time. So yes, I'm still looking forward to volume 10.

~Joanna