Manga Impressions: Kurohime

Before I go much further, I want to explain something first really quick. Both here and in my "Mnemosyne" post I titled the entry as an "Impression." What this means to me is that it's a series that I haven't watched or read all the way, or even most of the way through. For the record, I'll use "First Impressions" if I've only read one volume or only seen 2 or 3 episodes of a standard 13 or 26 episode series, "Impressions" if I've gone past the first impressions but haven't gotten much further than halfway, and "Reviews" if I've seen most or all of the series. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's move on to "Kurohime."

The setting for the series is some kind of hybrid between a medieval fantasy world and the wild west: there are villagers living in thatched roof cottages, castles and knights next to gunslingers, gunslinging bandits, and old covered wagons out of an old western. Magicians in this world skip the traditional wands, staves, and scrolls in favor of guns with magic bullets that they craft (apparently on the spot) to have a variety of effects from healing to summoning stone golems and the like. In this world, the most powerful magician was a beautiful and buxom witch named Kurohime who challenged the gods and was punished for her arrogance: she was sealed into the form of a child with her powers suitably weakened and she would remain in this form until released by the power of love. The child, named Himeko, is a selfish, obnoxious and arrogant brat (apparently not that much different from before) who seems to constantly forget the limitations of her current form and is constantly in trouble. Enter her protector: Zero the gunslinger. As a boy 10 years ago, he was saved from death by Kurohime and fell in love with her on the spot and dedicated himself to the path of the righteous gunslinger that he saw in her at the time. He carries four guns, is crazy fast and accurate with them, but refuses to kill and instead chooses to disarm his opponents en masse. The last recurring character is Onimaru, a large man who apparently used to follow and love Kurohime 10 years ago, but was just being used and cast aside. He seeks revenge for this betrayal (and the tatoo on his back that says "dog" that Kurohime left him with) and has formed a personal army of bounty hunters for this task, but he's really more of a comical character who still pines for Kurohime somewhat.

At least up through volume 4, most of the chapters follow one of two outlines: 1) Onimaru and his gang chase Zero and Himeko and corner them, Zero puts himself on the line to protect Himeko, Himeko temporarily turns into Kurohime and saves the day or; 2) Zero and Himeko travel around looking for someone who can break her curse, happen upon Baddie-of-the-week who is misusing their magic for evil, Himeko's plans to run are foiled by Zero's sense of justice, then Zero puts himself on the line to protect Himeko who transforms into Kurohime and saves the day. Sometimes they mix it up and have Onimaru chase them and then they stumble on the bad guy. I apologize if I sound a little bit harsh, but frankly this series hasn't done much to impress me so far. The artwork is pleasant, if a little bit on the generic side, but it's just how mind-numbingly repetitive the story's been so far that really gets me. Now this is apparently a Shonen Jump series, so I understand that it's supposed to take awhile to build up your characters and flesh them out, but this is kind of ridiculous. Kurohime has something resembling character development finally start in volume 4, but it's a revelation that seems fairly obvious. Zero on the other hand is so predictable that it's almost annoying. In every chapter it seems, he makes some comment about how his guns are devoted to justice, he never hesitates to try and help some hapless bystander, and his devotion to Himeko, despite her being apparently completely contrary to the image he's idolized for the last 10 years is almost befuddling. But that's all he is. Seriously, by the end of volume 4 that is all there is to this guy. Since he has the same reaction every time a certain situation comes up, and since the types of situations never really change, there's never a chance to explore who he is or why. Maybe that's intentional but if so, you need to at least lay hooks or foreshadowing that there is something deeper behind the dull and cheerful surface. Something that will make you just kind of raise an eyebrow the first time you read it, but in time you come back and go, "So that's what that meant." Then at least there is some kind of trail that suggested that you knew where you were going with the character all along and didn't just suddenly change something to make him more interesting. *steps off soapbox*

With all my griping, you might think I hate "Kurohime," but that isn't the case. There's a reason that I try to read three or four volumes into a series before I abandon it. Even though I'm not particularly impressed by the way the series has started out, developments near the end of volume 4 have intrigued me enough that I will stay tuned to see if anything good comes out of it. This is not a great series and I doubt it ever will be, but it may yet become something entertaining. If you like shonen manga with tall, buxom ladies (the servants of the death god all look like a cross between a succubus and the Witchblade) you might want to check out "Kurohime." Just lower your expectations accordingly. Agree? Disagree? Got suggestions for improvement? Leave a comment please.