While February seemed to last forever, March felt like it sped by pretty quickly—it’s already time for the next manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! (Part of the reason it seems to have arrived so soon is that this is one of the earliest days possible for a giveaway to start in any given month.) February’s giveaway focused on immortals, characters whose bodies don’t die, which got me to thinking about a slightly different version of immortality, reincarnation. And so for this month’s giveaway, you’ll all have a chance to win Chika Shiomi’s Yukarism, Volume 1, published in English by Viz Media. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!
Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, it makes for some very interesting storytelling. In a way, it’s a sort of immortality—a person’s soul or very self is born and reborn over and over again. Generally, that person does not initially realize they are a reincarnation, but as they become aware of their past lives and memories their current lives and relationships are significantly impacted. Saki Hiwatari’s Please Save My Earth, Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary, and Chika Shiomi’s Yukarism are a few of the manga series exploring some of the implications of reincarnation that immediately come to my mind. (Interestingly enough, they all happen to be shoujo manga, too!)
So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Yukarism, Volume 1?
1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite manga dealing with reincarnation. (If you haven’t read a reincarnation story, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).
And there you go! With one week to submit comments, each person participating in the giveaway can earn up to two entries. If needed or preferred, comments can also be emailed directly to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will then post them here in your name. The winner of the giveaway will be randomly selected and announced on April 1, 2015.
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.
Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Yukarism Giveaway Winner
First one that comes to my mind is Kannazuki no Miko: Destiny of Shrine Maiden not particularly good but the amount of cracked out elements make it amusing none the less.
Reincarnation is one of my favorite manga themes! I have a whole list of ones I love: Please Save My Earth, Oyayubihime Infinity, NG Life, Threads of Time, certain characters in Phoenix, I can’t pick a favorite!
There’s some anime favorites too, like Fantastic Children (since PSME only had a 6 ep OVA, I tend to point people to Fantastic Children as its nearest anime equivalent. Stories and characters are quite different, but it’s impossible not to notice the similarities. Also the dub sucks, watch it sub). Can I count Avatar/Legend of Korra too?
Hmmm… I think the only manga I’ve read that really touches on reincarnation at all — and only in a kind of oblique way — is The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography by Tetsu Saiwai. Obviously, the book mostly focuses on his life and only references the belief that he’s the reincarnation of his predecessor early on.
Please don’t enter me into the drawing–i already have this volume.
Ceres: Celestial Legend involves reincarnation in a fairly unique way. In this possibly cringeworthy story high school girl Aya is constantly having her body stolen/consciousness suppressed by Ceres, a goddess ancestor of hers. Although Ceres is an antagonist in the beginning they eventually work together and trope-like bodyswapping hijinks ensue. The manga isn’t cingeworthy because it has incest (I sincerely hope we’ve let go of that reaction by now), but rather in that it’s extremely hammy with very minute character development and would probably be a dead-ringer for X/1999 if it didn’t take itself so seriously.
Cloning isn’t really reincarnation in a traditional sense, but Afterschool Charisma is the closest thing to a good reincarnation story I can think of. It’s one of the best sci fi stories I’ve ever read. Other than that, I’ve read The Betrayal Knows My Name which actually does have reincarnation, but that… wasn’t good.
The Betrayal Knows My Name–unlike the above commenter, I loved it! It may not be great literature, but I really liked the characters and the art is beautiful.
Not sure if this counts, but my favorite yaoi manga Embracing Love (Haru wo Daiteita) has a subplot in which it’s implied (though not stated outright) that the main characters, Iwaki and Katou, are reincarnations of a pair of star-crossed samurai lovers. The samurai story eventually gets made into a movie starring Iwaki and Katou.
Hajimari no Niina! That manga has blown me away and took the reincarnation plot device in a totally different way than I expected.. and I LOVED IT! I’m not going to spoil anything, but it’s seriously so heartwarming. I adore all the characters, and the main protagonist is one of the most admirable heroines I’ve come across in a shoujo manga. I love the relationship between the main couple and I just.. AHHH IT’S JUST AMAZING <3
Thanks so much!
Ah! And I also tweeted as @OtomeTimes
Thanks again!
Maybe it’s because the anime just ended, but I’m really on a Yona of the Dawn kick right now. I haven’t read many reincarnation manga but Yona is really spectacular, both as a character and as a story. I need a second season, or at least a manga license!
The first one which immediately comes to mind for me is Ceres Celestial Legend. I’ve never read a reincarnation story quite like it! NG Life is fun too, it’s such a shame it disappeared with Tokyopop but at least they got all the volumes out.
BOKURA NO KISEKI! I’ve been in love with the manga for years, that and Yona were my two big hopes to get animated and this one was always the longer shot. Main character Harusumi has always had memories of being a princess in a pervious life and using magic but by middle school he’s started trying to hide that from his classmates and convince himself that it wasn’t real. Until he really uses magic and then, fast forward to high school and it turns out a lot of his classmates have the same past life and then it’s politics, trying to solve how everyone died, romances, conflicting friendships, and a bit of gender-bending. I adore it, like it sounds like CLAMP-levels of craziness but it’s pulled off really well, the manga-ka has a clear plan and in retrospect it’s had a fair bit of foreshadowing as well. I’ll probably import it someday (since it’s never getting licensed ;-; ) but apparently the vocabulary is really hard to translate….
And here’s my twitter link! https://twitter.com/WanderinDreamr/status/581659131586744321
1. My favorite series is Phantom Thief Jeanne, in which the main character, Maron Kusakabe, is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc. Maron’s duty is to find paintings that have been possessed by demons and then expel the evil from them. This series has a very interesting and unique story, and I thought that many of the characters were likeable. I really ended up enjoying this series.
2. Here’s my Twitter link:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Bamboopanda27/status/581901296481017856
1. For first that comes to mind is Ayashi no Ceres, but 2 people seem to have mentioned it already
so.. how about Angel Sanctuary! Setsuna is a reincarnation of the Angel Alexiel, and his sister Sara is reincarnated Gabriel. Alexiel’s curse is to be reincarnated into a human with miserable life, and in this one there’s a bit of incestuous love goin on
2. twitter, check
https://twitter.com/persoconchii/status/582301915716915200
I love mangas with reincarnations but I can’t remember the last one I read tho