Genre: Romance
Age Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $8.99
Akram, the head of the Demon Clan, has sworn death and destruction on the capital. And as Akane learns her duties as Priestess and deepens her trust in the Eight Guardians who will protect her, Akram is watching with great interest...
Haruka -Beyond the Stream of Time- is one of the titles serialized in Viz's Shojo Beat magazine. Reading a whole volume of this series instead of one chapter at a time makes for a new reading experience, though not necessarily a good one.
This volume picks up where volume 1 left off. The story about Yorihisa and his monster friend the Nui ends in a typical, samurai fashion. There there is a side story about General Tachibana and Princess Fuji, an actual arc story that introduces a new Guardian from the Office of Civil Affairs, another side story with Shimon and the sneak peak at another Guardian, and finally ends with a completely unrelated short story by the artist.
Haruka, as read in Shojo Beat isn't a bad title. It's one title of six, often only getting one or maybe two chapters an issue. When read this way, the flaws in the story aren't as noticable. But, when it's collected into a volume, they really start to stand out. This volume is pretty light, at 138 pages, and half of it is filler story. There is next to no movement in the plot, and being so early in the story still, this really slows things down. Do we really need to see Tachibana and Fuji bantering about his womanizing? Or how Akane met Shimon? These are stories more appropriate as bonus stories, or intergrated as a flashback, not as stand alone chapters that make you wonder what it has to do with main story.
The reason, I believe, they can get away with doing these things is that the story isn't really that important. This title is based on a visual novel, like La Corda d'Oro (also publsihed by Viz). The difference here being, the main character in that story has a personality. Akane, on the other hand, has none. In the game it was understandable as she was the avatar for the player. But in a manga, it's a little more important for the reader to relate to the main character, not be her. But Akane is nothing more than a damsel in distress, walking around clueless, getting captured by the demons, just so she can be rescued by her bishonen guardians. They are the true focus of the title. They are eye candy for women to fawn over, and watch in action. The story seems superfluous, a convienence to get them into a situation where Akane needs to be saved.
The art, though, is beautifully drawn, making the eye candy all the more sweeter. Mizuno-sensei makes her men just as beautiful as the women. I can't recall of an ugly person yet, even with the demons. And her renderings of the clothes from the Heien period are just as beautiful as the men that wear them. The designs and textures are just amazing.
Perhaps sometime in the future, the plot might have some meaning, but right now, Haruka is just about watching and collecting the pretty boys. If you're looking for a very light read where the pictures are more interesting than what they're saying, this is a good volume for you. And, it's only fair that the women get some fan service too.
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