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Genbu Kaiden
Most people have seen or at least heard of Fushigi Yuugi, the shojo manga by Watase Yuu. The Genbu Seishi had a very minor role in the series, appearing for only two or three chapters in volume 9, and a few minutes in episode 34 of the anime. Their role in the OAV's doesn't count, because that was just weird.
Now, almost a decade after Fushigi Yuugi's completion, Watase has begun publishing a new Fushigi Yuugi story: the Genbu Kaiden which focuses on none other than the Genbu Seishi and Takiko. Although it follows a similar story line to Fushigi Yuugi, Watase has decided to change certain aspects of it (as can be expected from 10 years of creative development!) so not only has her artwork improved, but the entire telling of the story is much more dramatic!
The Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden manga by Watase Yuu was first published in Sho-Comi in 2003. New chapters are published every three months in the Fushigi Yuugi Perfect World magazine, and new volumes of the manga come out every six months. The English edition has already been liscened by Viz.
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden is set around 1923 in the north of Japan in a town called Morioka. The heroine of the story is named Takiko Okuda. She moved to Tokyo to her mother's hometown in Morioka. In some ways, she is the typical spunky Watase heroine. She loves to train at martial arts, and clobbers her classmates with her enthusiasm. All isn't well at home though. She lives with her grandmother and her mother who is seriously ill, and her father (a writer) has been away from home for years. Takiko has a tendency to become enraged if anyone mentions her father, as she feels that he abandoned her family. Her closest friend is Takao Osugi, who is also a friend of her father. When she saw him the first time ten years ago, she fell in love with him.
Takikofs father suddenly returns home, but he doesn't seem very concerned about his sick wife or his daughter, as he is frantically trying to finish translating a book from China, "The Universe of Four Gods".
Takiko doesn't like her father because he never seems to care about his family. When she returns from a meal with Takao Osugi she is told that her mother died. Even more than her mothers death she's pained by her fathers (non-existant) reaction to it.
She runs out of the house followed by Takao. He hugs her to console her, but she suddenly confesses that she loves him. She wishes for him to be by her side, always. He cannot fullfill her wish since he is already married and has a family. She gets herself together and says that she's a strong girl. She then says farewell to Takao.
Takiko returns back home and together with her grandmother she prepares her mother for the funeral. During that time Einosuke finally finishes his translation. His daughter storms into his room, angry as hell, because even now he isn't helping them. She takes the book out of his hands and runs away with it.She confronts her father, but he keeps evading her questions and when he asks her to return the book she tries to rip it apart. Instead the book opens and Takiko disappears in a bright light.
Takiko finds herself on a snow covered mountain. In front of her is a girl chained to a stone piller. The girl advises Takiko to run away quickly. Some very scary snow monsters appear, and again the girl tells Takiko to run. She seems strangely unconcerned about her own fate, even though she is chained to a piller as a sacrifice. Back on earth, Takiko's father picks up his book and sees that the story has changed. He's now reading about the adventures of his daughter in another world.
Takiko thinks that shefs having a bad dream, but she picks up a stick from the ground and prepares to defend the helpless girl. The girl mutters to herself that she'll have nightmares if she lets Takiko be killed, and suddenly gusts of wind come out of nowhere and break her chains. The girl uses the power of wind to defeat the monsters, but then collapses with a high fever.
Takiko picks the girl up and starts to take her to a nearby village, but she almost collapses herself. A child suddenly appears, greets Takiko as the Priestess of Genbu, and helps her on her way. She gets a room at an inn, still mystified about not being in Japan anymore. Takiko removes the girl's clothes and notices the character for woman on her chest. She decides to treat the girl's fever by removing her own clothes and getting into bed with her. As they sleep, the sick girl's mark fades away and Takiko wakes up in the morning in bed with a boy (Rimudo) who comments that she's very daring!
As the story continues, Takiko and Rimudo (the boy with the Ranma 1/2 like tendency to gender switch) get to know each other a little better (not that way!) and she wonders what to do, as everywhere she goes in this strange new world, she is greeted as the Priestess of Genbu...
To know more about the characters in the Genbu Kaiden, CLICK HERE!
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