About the Mangaka

Itsuki Natsumi is best known for writing science fiction manga. She debuted in 1979 with Megumi-chan ni Sasageru Comedy in LaLa. She won the 1993 Seiun Award for best science fiction manga for Oz and the 1997 Kodansha Manga Award for shojo manga for Eight Clouds Rising. Several of her works have been adapted as anime, including Jyu Oh Sei, Oz, and Eight Clouds Rising. Her series Demon Sacred and Jyu Oh Sei are licensed in North America by Tokyopop, the anime of Jyu Oh Sei is distributed in English by Funimation.

(snipped from Wikipedia)

About the Manga

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Damn what a volume!! Jyu-Oh-Sei goes right to the top of my Essential Read list, hell if there’s only one series you buy this year, make it this one!!

Yeah that was a tad OTT, but the sentiments are the same none the less.

Natsumi’s art really does sell the story, it’s one of the few series out there where I really can’t fault anything.

The older style art gives an atmosphere to the series, one that would be lacking if it had a more modern style, or a more shonen style.

The great thing about this volume is we get to see the characters growing. One minute we have them as eleven year olds, and the next they’re fifteen. The change in the characters is staggering, and yet perfect.

The other thing that really surprised me was how the new designs fit perfectly. Because of the huge time slip between one page and the next, I was expecting the designs to be a slow to feel right. However I found I could easily accept the new designs without any conscious effort.

Once again Thor and Tiz are drawn stunningly well. Tiz has a whole cute aspect, while still being more mature. And Thor, well, my friend states she wants someone like him to keep her warm :D

I have to admit I do like the way Natsumi has handled the various changes in characters. Though I have to admit Chen is the one that took me the longest to get used to. Probably because she’s only vaguely in the volume.

However Karim steals the show, just as she did in the anime. There’s something sexy and alluring in the way Natsumi draws her, and the way they’re introduced. She fits so perfectly with Thor.

Story wise we get loooooads of development. Natsumi has clearly thought about how she wanted the story to flow, and the result shows in the story. Even with a four year time slip it doesn’t feel wrong in any way. It’s very fluid in the way it moves.

I felt really sorry for Tiz in the end as the penny dropped, and the truth came out. The way Natsumi does those scene had me really pitying her

I do have a small grievance with this volume, though I suspect it’ll be resolved next volume. That is Colin, who was introduced in the previous volume. I was expecting another encounter this volume after things were revealed. I’m hoping this is handled some how in volume three.

Tokyopop again surprise me by doing an exceptional job with this release. The translation is smooth and consistent, and the huge volume is well worth the added cost. I especially liked the extras, the concept art. These pages give a glance into the amount of work Natsumi has put into the series.

Sadly, it does suffer from the usual crappy Tokyopop paper, and at times, some horrendous guttering. But I can live with that because this series is so damned good!!

One final thing that I have to comment on. The anime has thus far followed the manga almost word for word, sure we have a few minor things that were added, or changed sequence. However the vast majority of it follows the manga. This is one of those rarest of the rare I love to find, a true conversion.

Where to Buy

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