Story and Art by Yuriko Akase
Originally published in Japan by LEED Publishing 2015-2018.
English language publication by Seven Seas Entertainment August 2020.
English translation by Adrienne Beck
Adaptation by Ysabet McFarlane
Layout and Lettering by Karis Page and Gwen Silver
. . .
"I know it's a terrible idea, but somehow . . . I just can't hate you guys. I'm hopeless."
. . .
Review by William D. Tucker.
Mina, a magical young woman on a flying space bike falls for a boring-but-nice young man, Sazan, who is a construction worker, and together they team-up with space pirates to save the Earth with True Love, the Power of Friendship, etc.
You see, Mina is an extraterrestrial superhero, and she was created long ago to be a living source of power. Mina could go toe-to-toe with the Avengers and the Justice League and she would probably do okay.
Sazan is a standard issue human, but he’s a very nice person. He's sincere. He's honest. Believes in true love. Blandly handsome.
The space pirates are led by a belligerent pig-man who can alter his size at will. He becomes the frenemy of Sazan and Mina.
There are dangerous swarms of robots.
There's a villain packing schemes that he's perfectly willing to monologue about.
Most impressive of all are the whimsical visualizations of a science fantasy future-a watercolor future, no less. Just looking at it gives a lift to my spirits.
This one has lots of wild action, but no brutality. There are consequences to the mayhem, characters do suffer, but this is not a bloodbath. It's exciting without running on nightmare fuel.
The story is assembled from an identikit of manga plots and themes and characters and sentiments. If you-like me-are a longtime reader of manga and watcher of anime there’s not a single surprise in the narrative. Sazan and Comet Girl would be an interesting first manga, maybe for a younger reader. If you got a brat, and you're looking to hip them to manga this is a fun, wholesome introduction, I suppose.
What's noteworthy is that Sazan and Comet Girl is five hundred pages of fully watercolored manga-not the usual black and white-and it feels startlingly effortless for all of the detail of its visuals. Of course, it's anything but effortless. Comics is hard work, and I can only stare in admiration at the hundreds of pages that must’ve taken years to draft and craft and color into their final form. Remember, this is the work of a single author, not the Marvel Bullpen. The visual flow is nonstop, even if the story, themes, plot, and characters are kitbashed from earlier works.
Look, I'm too cynical, too old, and far too steeped in more sophisticated works of comics and animation to buy in to this True Love At First Sight In Spaaaaace bullshit.
But even a heartless cyborg like me got caught up in the fun and elaborate watercolor futurism of the visuals.
So, I say give it a look.
And keep an eye on the future works of Yuriko Akase. I think she's in the manga game to stay. And with the best yet to come . . .
