About the Mangaka

Onogi Hiroshi is better known for his works in anime, with titles such as Macross, Orguss, Gundam and the RahXephon anime under his belt. His list of workings are extensive. Though he’s only done three novel series. This one, Genesis of Aquarian and Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

About the Manga

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This volume was astounding, and greatly improved over the first volume in all areas. I was finally able to get into the feel of the series and enjoy reading it.

One of the biggest concerns I had after volume one was Onogi choosing the first person perspective for his writings. However in this volume I started to get the impression that this was actually a good choice he made.

One of the things I liked was that Quon got some focus. In both the anime and manga she was a rather unusual character that didn’t really say a lot, but had a unique feel to her. In the novelisation, and especially in this second volume, this is reinforced all the more. However because Onogi choose to use the first person perspective we get treated to seeing things as she does.

This is amazing, because he writes her weirdness into the story, the way she thinks and see’s is totally insane, and amazing. Because of the way she talks, and because of the way she thinks and we’re given the glimpses of it, we get to understand her uniqueness. I feel that the Quon in the novel is the best out of the three, because she’s more real, and more fleshed out than in any of the others.

The same is true for the other characters, with the first person aspect we’re treated to new sides of the personalities, and we get to understand how they arrive at the decisions they make.

In the afterword Onogi comments on how things were changed from the anime, and some elements were removed or rewritten completely. Some of these I feel would have been good personality builders for the novel, and I think the lack of them is evident.

Several of the characters have a different feel to them, especially Ayato who has lost his emo side. Sure he has it in the initial chapters of the story, which is understandable given what he goes through and learns. However unlike the anime it’s not dragged on throughout. In fact in this volume he shows a lot of maturity that he didn’t gain till the last few episodes of the anime. For me this made him easier to relate to and enjoy following him, rather than wanting it beat him up.

Haruka seems to have changed very little really, which surprised me. To be honest her personality irritates me the most, something about the way she acts and talks really irritates me.

One element I hated about this volume, though it started in the previous one, was Mamoru. I felt to much information regarding who and what he is is revealed way to fast. Especially regarding his relationship with Ayato and the Mu.

On the opposite side of the coin we get more information with regard to his mother Maya, especially with regards to her relationship with Ayato. I loved this since neither the manga nor the anime really go into this, and it’s an element I feel was essential.

One of the things I am hoping to see revealed is more information on Futagami Joji. The anime version was rather hap-hazard with this character. Given the role he plays in the series I always felt it was a bit of a let down.

Once again we’re given a few sketch drawings in the volume, and once again I love them. Though I do wish there had been more of them. Gotta love the cover design as well, Haruka looks awesome on it.

DrMaster seem to have given their editor a swift kick in the nuts, since this time there were only a few minor editing mistakes. As a result it was an easier read than the first volume and easier to get into the flow. The other improvement was on the chapter titles, more of them had who it was listed. I felt this was essential since as it’s a first person novel, it’s sometimes hard to know who’s talking. However the increase of titles just made the ones with out them stand out all the more. I also noticed several obvious chapter mistakes (as in several chapters were simply labelled ‘1’).

However overall I have to admit that I’m all the more in love with this series after this volume. It easily retains it’s place on my Essential Read List.  This is a novel series I highly recommend people pick up. Yes the first volume is, well, and editing nightmare; but if you persevere and follow through it really does play out well.

Where to Buy

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