On Epicness and the Legend of Basara – A MUST READ EPIC SHOUJO GEM!!!!
August 9th, 2009
These are the times when I’d feel really grateful to the Google Reader Shared Items Secret Society — you made me snap out of my laziness and actually inspired me to actually post about Basara! FINALLY! TT_____TT yes, I know, I owe Sasa a BIG APOLOGY for neglecting this for so long. Oh and HELL YES, I’m neglecting my other planned posts just for this. [oh and a little warning, the pics might be a little spoilerish]
I’ve been meaning to write about Basara, a shoujo manga by Yumi Tamara from the Age of Antiquity (considering it’s been almost 2 decades since this manga came out), for quite some time now. In all the years I’ve spent reading shoujo manga (wooo credentials!), I’ve never seen anything epic like it, in the true literary sense of the word, and that epicness alone would mean that it’s worth reading, worth recommending and worth PIMPING FOR ALL IT’S WORTH!! If it’s so epic why haven’t I written anything about it but pitiful little shout-outs, you ask? Well you see, it’s so epic that I doubt any post I write would give it justice. hurr durr. Ok ok fine, you got me, it’s just pure laziness on my part — lazy to find the words to describe it, to show the whole wide world what I love about it, and wanting to write about it together with my Favorite Mangas of All Time List didn’t really help my cause. In case you’re curious, Houkago Hokenshitsu (After School Nightmare), Mars, Tokyo Crazy Paradise, Cipher, Kanata Kara, Miriam, Please Save My Earth, and Aka-chan to Boku are among those in my list. /segue~
One shared item on the topic of epicness was all it took to awaken my BASARA-LOVING SOUL, more so when you add the IKnight Seal of Approval!
ghostlightning has his [Nekki] Basara, and while I may not share the same love for Basara the Macross 7 star, Legend of Basara (like THE shoujo manga I’m talking about) makes me want to shout “LISTEN TO MY SONG!” Oh and forget Sengoku Basara, this Basara, or heck even the female heroine Sarasa alone, is so much more GAR than that show could ever be, and I mean it! /with conviction!
Sasa and Anna-senpai would certainly attest to this, right?! 
If there’s one reason why Basara captured my heart way back my earlier anime/manga fandom days, it’d that it’s an epic LOVE STORY. And if having retained my love for this manga despite the decade that passed (6 years to be exact) isn’t enough proof — you’d know that this isn’t your ordinary romance tale, it’s an exceptionally timeless one. It’s the kind that would simply grow on you as you and/or your taste matures, because you’d gain even more appreciation for how the entire story was weaved — the whole politics of the world they were in, the entangling of fates, etc.
The post-apocalyptic world of Basara became the backdrop of Sarasa and Shuuri’s love story, undeniably so, but unlike that of Toshokan Sensou, you can’t argue that the “war” here was “simply a backdrop”. Sarasa and Shuuri found love amidst the war in their world, a love that grew in this war, with it, and through it — a war whose fate lies on this very love itself (and no it’s not as simple as it sounds). Think Romeo and Juliet, much more epic version, and no one character takes the easy way out of their fate but FIGHTS THROUGH / AGAINST IT.
Another thing I like most about Basara is that it boasts awesomely dynamic characters, characters whose GARness will be remembered even in their death, not-your-ordinary protagonists and antagonists. One could even say it’s like Darker than Black in how the characters question the very “fate” they were in — characters and their quest for “identity” (most especially true for Sarasa and Shuuri) throughout the chaos, the quest for “peace” (what is “peace” anyway? is there no other way to end a war but through another war? must lives be sacrificed in order to achieve peace? — told in an epic fashion with a bittersweet romance twist). The series itself blurs the line between “shoujo”, “shounen”, “seinen”, and “josei”, making it all the more, yes you guessed it, AWESOME.
Also, I haven’t seen Juuni Kokki (12 Kingdoms) but I am fairly positive that Basara can rival its epicness (not to mention Basara is complete at 27 volumes 
) Would be very happy to see someone attest to this.
So yeah, GO READ BASARAAAAA!!! If you’ve lost all hope in shoujo manga, this might just bring it back!
Need I say more? 
Yes, I am totally telling you to go out of your way, take a step back from the summer season and read this. and hey if you’ve got some more time in your hands, why not right?! And while we’re at it, you can also check out the 13-episode anime of this one if you want, though it covers only the first 5 volumes of the manga, and hence NOT ENOUGH! *sigh*
May Skip Beat forgive me, but in all honesty I’d say this is the Real True Epic Shoujo. Amen.
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