Founded in 1999, ComicsOne hit the ground strong by licensing & releasing a wide variety of not just manga, but also Korean manhwa & even Chinese manhua. Not just that, but ComicsOne was also willing to put out both then-recent titles as well as old classics, so alongside the likes of Ginga Legend Weed, Dark Edge, & Lunar Legend Tsukihime there wsd vintage manga like Wild 7, Wounded Man, Bridge of Deimos, & Karasu Tengu Kabuto. ComicsOne was also (quite possibly) the first English manga publisher to try its hand at the digital market as it offered some titles via Adobe eBooks, & even put out some titles as digital-only releases due to their niche appeal, like Bass Master Ranmaru, Pachinker Atsushi, & Loan Wolf; again, this was in 2000! Therefore, it's no surprise that ComicsOne's eventual fate was to disappear in March of 2005, with its printer DrMaster taking over only a portion of the publisher's catalog (most notably Iron Wok Jan!, which was later revealed to be the sole title keeping either company afloat), though DrMaster itself would fold after 2009 (i.e. after finishing Iron Wok Jan!). Truly, it's fair to say that ComicsOne was well ahead of its time in the English manga industry, and that possibly is what led to its downfall. However, there's no doubt that the catalog ComicsOne wound up having by the time the company (as per DrMaster's own words) "stopped paying its bills and...disappeared" was actually a rather good one, with some honestly outstanding titles that (sadly) may never be given another chance in today's English manga market, despite their quality... and there's one manga in particular that I've always wanted to check out from ComicsOne that, unfortunately, was left unfinished in English.
Born on December 26, 1949, Masahiro Shibata (not to be confused with the former actor; different kanji for "hiro") would make his debut in the manga industry in 1973, after first getting his start as part of the doujin group Mikazuki-kai & working as an assistant for the late Shinji Wada, of Sukeban Deka fame. Due to how he got his start, Shibata was initially a shojo mangaka (at a time when men became less & less known for making that kind of work) who focused primarily on sci-fi stories, and his first truly notable works were stories published under the collected name of Akai Kiba/Crimson Fang, which he made from 1975 to 1989. The most well known Crimson Fang manga was the series Blue Sonnet, which ran in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume from 1981 to 1987 for 19 volumes & later received a five-episode OVA adaptation that saw international release via Central Park Media (in the US) & Manga Entertainment (in the UK). After Blue Sonnet Shibata's next major work was Tokime Densetsu Karudaruma, which ran from 1990 to 1996 for 18 volumes in Shonen Gahosha's seinen magazine Young King (not to be confused with its sister magazine, Young King OURs, which tends to be more well known outside of Japan) & became known for its heavy usage of sexual themes & highly suggestive scenes; Shibata was also doing all sorts of one-shots & short-run manga during this time, too. After finishing Kardaruma Shibata would then stick with Young King for his next long-running manga, 1998's Sarai. Unlike before, Shibata would focus almost entirely on Sarai exclusively during its serialization, only making two other shorter manga in 2005 & 2006, and during the serialization Shibata actually suffered both a cerebral hemorrhage & then later serious injury via a car accident!
However, Masahiro Shibata was able to recover from both incidents & eventually finished Sarai in 2008, with a total of 19 volumes, of which ComicsOne only managed to released eight of between early 2001 & late 2002 (i.e. this was cancelled long before ComicsOne went under). On March 30, 2008 Masahiro Shibata would announce on his website that with Sarai over, & his doujin work also done with, he'd take up an offer to be a part-time lecturer over at Kyoto Seika University's manga department, and in 2015 it became a full-time job that Shibata continues to do to this very day, alongside the likes of Keiko Takemiya, Akiko Higashimura, Motoka Murakami, & Akihiro Yamada. For all intents & purposes, Masahiro Shibata has long retired from making manga, so good for him. I remember first hearing about Sarai not too long once I started really getting into manga in the mid-00s, especially when I started reading other works from ComicsOne & DrMaster, and alongside Kazan by Gaku Miyao was a manga that (even by then) was hard to find all eight volumes of for a decent price, in particular the last two volumes (but especially Volume 8). However, much like how I eventually managed to get all of Kazan in 2023 (& that manga truly was excellent) I was finally able to get all eight volumes of Sarai from ComicsOne for a good price earlier this year, so as we near the end of Demo Disc let's see if Masahiro Shibata's "final" manga (or at least 42.1% of it) was truly worth keeping my eye out for over 20 years.
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| Going with the covers for images here, mainly because I don't want to damage the actual books I own for scanning. |
It's the year 2041 & the world has been left a post-apocalyptic mess filled with desolation after humanity destroyed itself roughly 20 years prior. In this current world all people below the age of 16 run the risk of various genetic mutations upon reaching that age due to how polluted the world has become, including turning into monsters, and only certain things like "pure" water & addictive medication can stem transformation. Sarai Kannagi is a 15-year old girl who travels this desolate world as a C-Class Guard Maid, those who have been trained not just to serve their current masters that they've been assigned to but to also combat any & all enemies that try to kill them. However, what truly is the secret behind the Guard Maids? They're all shown to be immensely strong & fast in ways that their bodies don't show, but what power does Sarai hide to herself, one where she seemingly grows multiple wing-like protrusions out of her back? Also, why does Sarai have memories of things she did in Japan... when Japan long ago sunk into the ocean because of the apocalypse?
Sarai is made up of various jobs Sarai & her fellow Guard Maids take, titled "Works" in the manga itself, with the overall manga totaling 26 Works & a three-part "Last Work", of which ComicsOne's release includes the entirety of the first ten. Work 1 (Volume 1) is The Fountain of Daphne, a single-part (though still just over 100-page) story which sees Sarai & fellow Guard Maid Flicker Fractal hired to work for the Castanzo Family, who take advantage of the nearby village by selectively dispensing pure water to them, while at the same time taking children to work at their mansion, under the pretense of protecting them from transformation. Work 2 (Vols 1 & 2) is The Village of Stone, a 14-part story where Sarai & Flicker go to Fiolito, a town where the citizens have the risk of a unique mutation where their bodies start to crystallize, resulting in people dying by the age of 20, while a man named Barosso offers a drug to help stem the symptoms. However, is the drug truly as good as he claims it is, and how does it relate to the stone golem Pegmatites that threaten Fiolito, as well as Mother Bujold of the local monastery? Work 3 (Vol 3) is The Boy of Barcacia, a four-part story where Sarai is hired to protect Paolo Macvecci, an orphaned boy from a well-to-do family living in a Venice-like water city where people have become obsessed with the rumor that eating the flesh & blood of little children will prevent mutation from happening. Work 4 (Vols 3 & 4) is The Dark Flower, a six-part story which sees Sarai & Flicker crash land in Jiscool, a village that's isolated itself completely from the rest of the world & is inhabited by people who have mutated to have hair all over their body. The only exception is Capino, a young girl whose clairvoyancy has made her the village's shaman, but her furless skin makes them treat her as even less than the animals they herd... the same animals that Capino befriends.
Work 5 (Vol 4) is 21 Keys, a one-off where Sarai is hired to kill Maresco, a maniacal man who's looking to gather 21st & final key needed to unlock a grand treasure within the town of Bourgogne. To do this Sarai disguises herself as Viquy, the woman who was set to marry Maresco, but is found out by Sheryl Seaplug, an A-Class Guard Maid who was hired to protect Maresco. Work 6 is (Vol 4) Melancholy Holiday, a three-part story where Sarai & Flicker are on a temporary break in the area where the organization they work for is located, but Sarai winds up having to fight with Sheryl after Sheryl accuses Sarai of not taking things seriously enough, especially after some special creatures used for A Class Maid training were (allegedly) recklessly destroyed by Sarai previously. Work 7 (Vols 4-6) is Dark Bazaar Souk, an 18-part story where the giant zeppelin used to transport Guard Maids is attacked by the notorious Karole Gang, who kill two Guard Maids & kidnap Flicker. Sarai now has to team with Sheryl & go to the Pazoculver Souk to rescue Flicker from Karole, as Sheryl is sure that's where she was taken to be auctioned off. Besides, it's where Sarai & Sheryl were assigned to anyway to protect the Souk's Sultan... but is Pazoculver himself really any better a person? Work 8 (Vol 6) is Wandering Hurricane, a two-part story where Sarai & Flicker need to keep their home base safe during a wild hurricane. Meanwhile Sarai also has to deal with Ork & Felu, two Karole kids she saved during the last mission & are unwanted by everyone else at the base, but when one of the zeppelins gets carried away by the hurricane, with two young Maids-in-Training aboard, it's up to Sarai & the Karole kids to save them.
Work 9 (Vols 6 & 7) is Memorial Shower of the Cherry Blossoms, a 12-part story where Sarai is assigned to protect Princess Kaya of Mabasu, the last remaining place on the planet with denizens of "Old Japan", as assassins are trying to kill Kaya before she can follow the tradition of appeasing the "Sea Gods" (& preventing mutation) by way of a sacrifice.. but is Kaya planning something different? Meanwhile, the "Sea Folk" who wish to overthrow the Magistrate of Mabasu, Kaya's father, have hired Flicker to kill the Magistrate himself. Work 10 (Vols 7 & 8) is Chains Run Amok, a five-part story where Sarai is ordered by her superiors to recover Patchouli Seal, a Class A Guard Maid trainee who's escaped from the base & is immensely powerful, but also suffers from immense psychological trauma that makes her highly dangerous on her own. Finally, Volume 8 also has the first three chapters of Work 11, A Man on the Run, which doesn't get enough time to really set anything up, outside of what looks to possibly be the first real indication of what's really up with Sarai herself. Looking it up, Work 11 runs all the way to the end of Volume 10 & is a 24-part story, so ComicsOne barely got anywhere into this one. Volumes 7 & 8 also each feature a Twelve Tips bonus story that star a member of the titular Tips, a special group of 12 A-Class Guard Maids with special abilities. The first one (The Errand) details Patchouli's backstory as a twisted & immensely dark Little Red Riding Hood variant, while the second (Naji) sees the titular Naji (or maybe it should be "Nudge"?) be assigned to the mansion to protect its mutated residents by the prejudiced village it's a part of, following the death of the mansion's beloved heiress.
What really sells Sarai best, from an overall perspective, is in showing just how rough & sad the world has become, despite people trying their best to continue living in spite of the now-short lifespans of anyone born after the desolation happened. While there are adults in the manga, Shibata does a good job in showing that they really are remnants of the "Old World", & an arc like The Village of Stone shows how teenagers have to mature quickly, establishing them as working jobs, getting into relationships, & even having children before they reach 16, due to the threat of mutation after that point, while those who manage to survive into their 20s without mutation almost feel guilt over the fact that they're still alive. This is enforced with the means by which some young adults are able to seemingly continue living without mutation, whether its something like the pure water that the Castanzo's flaunt or the medicine that Barosso gives to his clients, which tend to carry some sad truth behind them, like whether or not the Castanzo's are actually giving people clean water, the addictive nature of Barosso's medicine, or the idea that Barosso is simply using his clients like guinea pigs for research by giving them imperfect medication. Others, though, are altered both physically & mentally, like the denizens of Barcacia who want to feed off of Paolo's unmutated body, or the residents of Jiscool who think that furless humans are the "inferior" mutants. Meanwhile, children are often seen as either good for labor, due to them not being mutated, or literal sustenance to keep adults from mutating; overall the world of Sarai isn't a happy one, though there are some who continue to try their best within it.
Of course, the main attraction of the manga would be Sarai herself, as well as her fellow Guard Maids. As our lead, Sarai is admittedly the kind of hero you'd expect based on the things I've already previously established, i.e. she's kind, sweet, ever-so-slightly aloof at points, & wants to do what's right (even if it means eventually going against her current "master" at that moment), but at the same time is ready & willing to kill when need be & has a mysterious (& likely dark) past that even she may not know the full details of. Still, Sarai is good to see in action, & Shibata does a great job showing her at both her most caring & compassionate as well as her most serious & ready to act, often in the same story. Often appearing alongside her is Flicker, who's a good foil to Sarai in that the two really do get along well more often than not, but occasionally are more than willing to toss verbal jabs as each other, when warranted. Then there's Sheryl, an A-Class Maid who's more than willing to flaunt her superior rank over Sarai & Flicker, and verbally point out to Sarai how her kinder nature (& virgin-like attitude) should make her a terrible Guard Maid, as they should be ready & willing to do anything for their job, including giving their very body to their current "master" if need be, and questions why the organization allows Sarai to continue taking jobs. Sure, Sarai can easily fend for herself if need be, but Sheryl's experience has made her much more cynical & realistic to the world they live in, so Sarai's attitude often confuses (& irritates) her.
Since this is only a Demo Disc piece, & not a full review, I obviously can't give any overall thoughts of Sarai as a whole, especially since these first eight volumes focus much more on simply telling of Sarai's various jobs as a Guard Maid, with only little hints & teases about her backstory given here & there. And, really, that's where actually writing about ComicsOne's release of Sarai becomes tricky, because I really have to treat it more as a series of (mostly) standalone adventures than as an overarching storyline, since that's all that we got in English. There are certainly some inferences that one can make based off of what was released here, like Sarai more than likely being some sort of modified clone of a girl who lived prior to the apocalypse that happened, hence why Sarai has memories of Japan that she shares with Paolo, despite not being old enough to have actually lived in Japan. That'd also explain why she's clearly a mutant with fin-like wings that she can unleash in the most precarious of moments, but at the same time is not yet old enough to be able to mutate, as she's younger than 16. The most we get from the stories seen in ComicsOne's release are just quick lines here & there either questioning Sarai's existence in some form, or (in one instance) outright stating that she's artificial. As for the other Guard Maids, Sheryl is given essentially a "complete" story over the course of the two arcs that she's featured in, while Patchouli's Twelve Tips story is, quite honestly, all sorts of messed up in the things that happen to her.
Without a doubt, Masahiro Shibata makes damn sure that the reader never forgets that, underneath the stories of people trying to live their best lives in this post-apocalyptic world, it's very much a dark, lurid, & downtrodden world that they all live in. The longer story arcs, in particular, tend to have a habit of starting off somewhat straightforward but very quickly show that no one side is necessarily "ideal", and more than one arc in these volumes have a tendency to end with either much of the cast exclusive to their respective stories either all dying, if not at least a good portion of them dying, or a melancholic final message that's anything but a "happy ending". Hell, some stories even see the Guard Maids on opposing sides, with Sarai generally being the only one who questions why, as her fellow Guard Maids simply accept that this comes with the territory of their occupation. That's not to say that there isn't any sort of comedy or "fun" to the series, though that almost exclusively comes from Sarai's generally good nature, or the duo of Ork & Felu, who don't really accompany Sarai on jobs but whenever they appear are usually portrayed as innocent little kids. Another recurring cast member who does seem to have importance later on is Tilga, who's first seen in The Fountain of Daphne (where he plays an important part of the supporting cast for that story) but isn't seen again until Dark Bazaar Souk (where he never interacts with the Guard Maids), followed by A Man on the Run (which ComicsOne only barely got started with), so I literally can't say much else about him other than he comes off as a nice guy who's maybe in over his head with the jobs he finds himself on.
However, there's no doubt that Masahiro Shibata's artwork for this manga is top notch, even if ComicsOne's actual printing quality is only decent. Having already been in the manga industry for over 20 years by the time this series debuted in Japan Shibata's distinct style is in full effect here, and while there is the occasional similar character design for the Guard Maids here & there (Sheryl & Flicker initially look almost exactly the same, except for their hair being slightly different, plus the height difference) all of Shibata's characters really do look good. Shibata is also not afraid to show off some of the harsher aspects of the world this series takes place in, as while it's not necessarily a gory series from a visual perspective there are still plenty of violent moments, as well as some moments where sexual violence is showcased. Shibata is also not afraid of laying bare his female characters, despite them mostly being teenagers, but it's easy to tell that this is never really done for the sake of titillation, but rather it's to just emphasize the harsh world that these stories take place in. Patchouli's backstory in The Errand, in particular, is an especially strong example of that, taking the general idea of Little Red Riding Hood & turning it into an especially dark & messed up story that more than establishes why Patchouli is generally so distant with other people. The first two or three volumes also had a bizarre obsession with spanking, with even Sarai teasing Flicker by saying that she probably enjoys them, and while this stops being a thing after those initial volumes (though it returns a bit in Volume 8) it really did give that feeling of "The Writer's Barely Disguised Fetish" gag from Police Squad.
What I can be definitive about, though, is ComicsOne's release of the manga, in general, because while overall I'd say that it's "fine enough" there is definitely a general sense of sloppiness across the board at times. I brought this up when I covered NOW via Demo Disc, which saw ComicsOne be a bit too literal with some of the characters' names, but for Sarai ComicsOne definitely had some bizarre inconsistencies. For example, ComicsOne goes with "Flicker" for the first seven volumes, but then for Volume 8 they suddenly go with "Fricca", while Felu is initially spelled "Feru" at first, with both spellings even being seen in the same book at least once; same with "Karole" becoming "Carolle" in Volume 8. Easily the most slipshod, though, would be Volume 6, which has Works 8 & 9 listed as "Freak Storm Zone" & "Flower Storm of Memorial Cherry Blossom" in the Table of Contents, only for the actual title pages of their respective chapters in the same exact book go with the much more reasonable "Wandering Hurricane" & "Memorial Shower of the Cherry Blossoms"; Dark Bazaar Souk was also later simplified to just "Souk" after Volume 4. Remember, ComicsOne didn't go under until about three years after Sarai's release was stopped at Volume 8, so this company seemingly always had an issue with quality control. Luckily, the translation itself is fine & reads perfectly well, but these kind of inconsistencies really do bring down the product, as a whole.
Despite their problems, ComicsOne was a publisher that really did have greater ambitions than what the market was truly ready for at the start of the new millennium, as they were attempting things that really didn't become more viable or standardized for well over a decade later. I look at the catalog of a now-defunct publisher like Gutsoon! Entertainment, the company that did Raijin Comics, and it's actually kind of astounding at how many titles Gutsoon tried in the early 00s have since been given new attempts (City Hunter, Baki the Grappler, Fist of the North Star, Slam Dunk, Mamotte Shugogetten, & even Hana no Keiji!), with some not happening until just now. Meanwhile, you look at ComicsOne's larger (& more varied) catalog of manga & see that very few have been given that second chance, despite the undeniable quality of a lot of those titles. Hell, Iron Wok Jan! is getting a TV anime adaptation later this year, but I highly doubt anyone's going to license rescue the original manga. Does Sarai belong in that list of "This manga deserves another chance in English"? Honestly, it's kind of tough to tell based solely on the first eight volumes that ComicsOne managed to release in English.
Unlike something like Iron Wok Jan!, Kazan, NOW, or maybe even Wounded Man (I haven't read that last one, but I know of its notoriety), Sarai really does take its time showing its hand to the reader when it comes to revealing more about Sarai herself & the mysteries surrounding her. Instead, the volumes that ComicsOne released focus more on telling (mostly) self-contained stories about the various jobs Sarai & her fellow Guard Maids are assigned to, all of which carry with them some sense of bittersweet melancholy, due to what the world has become like since the apocalypse, even if the actual ending is an overall happy one. It's especially annoying because the last chapter of A Man on the Run in Volume 8 shows Tilga seeing Sarai & wanting to finally reunite with her, but it's made clear beforehand that Sarai is on the newly-repaired zeppelin with the group she works for... so the girl Tilga saw is clearly not he Sarai that's the star of this manga. Yeah, ComicsOne stopped releasing Sarai just as the manga was finally looking to start explaining what's going on with Sarai herself. As I said, Sarai & Kazan were the two ComicsOne releases that always had been on my radar for so long, but while Kazan will definitely stay in my collection because of how damn good it is (plus, it's actually complete), Sarai will likely have to find a new home. I definitely am glad that I finally got to read this incomplete release, and it is a very damn good manga (so I'd be all for a new English release that actually goes all the way to the end), but what ComicsOne released of it winds up being more of a tease of seemingly even greater heights.
Manga © Masahiro Shibata
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