BATTLE VIXENS (VOL 1)

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BATTLE VIXENS (VOL 1)

November 12th 2011 01:25

Category: Manga

Story & Art by: Yuji Shiozaki
Translation by: Louie Kawamoto
English Adaptation by: Keith Giffen
Retouch & Lettering: Maitreya Andrews
Cover Layout: Harlan Harris
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Cost: AU$12.95/US$9.99

Apparently according to the blurb on the back of this particular volume the inspiration for this particular manga is a Chinese literary masterpiece known as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This particular work was penned by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th Century and is generally acclaimed as one of the four great literary masterpieces of Chinese literature. So just like Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload and Dragonball Battle Vixens relies upon a major Chinese novel as an inspiration; the drama that unfolds is meant to be mimicking the drama that occurred in ancient China although the setting is the Kanto region of Japan and the time is the contemporary era and rather than warring states its warring high schools…got the drift? Oh and did I mention that the major characters are all busty babes?

Defined as an action/comedy genre manga Battle Vixens would have to be the first manga I’ve ever purchased where there’s been a parental advisory warning on the front cover. This is not one for the kids; in fact it’s more in the vein of adult entertainment – though it’s more due to the language involved, the amount of flesh seen and certain concepts than actual intricate narrative or character development. And when all’s said and done you have to wonder whether seeing a girl’s top get ripped to shreds in a fight scene is in fact all that necessary? Fan service it might be but does it real do anything for the story?
As I remarked earlier on a major work of Chinese literature that is centred on the warring states period of Chinese history is the inspiration behind this particular manga – although I was kind of at a loss at how to grasp just how this fitted in with things. From my perspective it’s like the author has given us two stories instead of one, and one is the obvious visual story that is there on the page as we read but layered beneath this is the other story and it’s there that the connection to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be found. Catching on? Yeah I found it hard to grasp – but then again I’ve never read the Romance so that might be where the problem lies in my understanding.

For me it all seemed like a martial arts style manga where a young prodigy by the name of Hakufu Sonsaku suddenly finds herself thrust into the world of battling high schools each competing for dominance over the Kanto region. Although why these schools are all fighting with each other does some somewhat neglected, or perhaps again my lack of expertise in Chinese literature is tripping me up? Anyhow Hakufu is a girl who just loves to fight and although she is a busty babe she is also one serious bad ass character. Fighting seems to come naturally to her as breathing or walking does to anyone else – though her mother has told her to reign in her fighting instincts and instead attempt to be more lady like and try and find a husband, a rich husband.
Sadly though such a ‘happy ending’ is not fated for Hakufu, instead she ends up getting into a fight with a talent scout from one of the schools in Kanto thereby sealing her fate. Although precisely what this fate is; other than to become a fighter, isn’t really clarified. Instead we get hints of how being a toushi (fighter) is an existence filled with contradiction and dichotomy and the warning that such an existence is fraught with danger and generally ends badly.
In fact if I did manage to get anything from all these hints and vague pronouncements it was the fact that Hakufu had made a similar choice to Achilles of the Iliad, a life that burns brightly but very quickly. Whether or not that is case will no doubt be revealed but suffice it to say in this the first volume Hakufu, our plucky and busty protagonist is on the opening stages of her journey. Although as she swiftly finds out it is a journey that could quite literally see her crossing the river Styx and entering the afterlife. Once she manages to enrol in Nanyo Academy; a high school that her cousin Koukin attends. Someone very much wants her dead and thus issues an edict of assassination…why? No doubt that’s something that will be revealed in later volumes.
So what did I think of it in the end? I have to admit that when the dust finally settled I had far more questions than I did answers – although granted I did enjoy reading it, but when you’re left wondering why the heck things are the way they are its kind of annoying. Like the magatama, the jade earrings that toushi wear, why on earth are these things in Kanto dangling from the ears of Japanese high school students? And if they contain the spirits of former Chinese heroes from the Three Kingdoms just how many heroes were alive back then? If the manga is anything to go by it must have been bucket loads…
Still there is the concept that in writing this particular manga the author is taking the Mick out of all the other mainstream fight manga that are the mainstay of the shonen arena. And you can see that in format and plot development the story mimics perfectly a mainstream shonen battle manga – just that it gets a bit subversive with its ecchi elements and its use of a predominantly bishojo cast…for me though I’ll think I’ll stick to more mainstream manga.

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