The last time I was at Barnes and Noble, I saw this series on the shelf, but I didn't have time to sit and read it. I've been looking forward to reading it and posting my review for you ever since.
(There haven't been that many new manga series coming in to my local bookstore. Sorry.)
"Spirit Circle" is a new series by Satoshi Mizukami, creator of "Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer" (which I have not read).
Mysterious girl Kouko joins Fuuta Okeya's class one day, along with a handsome spirit that he thinks only he can see. That same day, Fuuta has a dream of what looks like a past life, where he is named Fortuna and Kouko and her ghost are also there. Later, Kouko tells Fuuta that he looks like someone she hates. He makes the mistake of bidding farewell to both her and the ghost, causing her to reveal his mysterious birthmark, which she claims is a mark of shame. Producing a magic flaming wheel weapon called a Spirit Circle from somewhere, Kouko hits Fuuta down the stairs, leading him into another dream where he is a boy named Fone who has a girlfriend named Rei. When Rei is offered as an unnecessary sacrifice to the gods, Fone/Fuuta dies trying to stop it, slain by a woman named Stona.
When Fuuta wakes in the hospital with Kouko next to him, he sees that she has the same face as Stona. Kouko then pledges to make him die seven more times. The next day, the two of them meet on the roof. Kouko reveals that the dream was indeed a past life and that Fuuta must relive at least six more deaths before she can kill him and break the reincarnation cycle
Thus begins an unusual series that loosely connects a series of 1-2 chapter vignettes with an over-arcing story that attempts to tie everything together. Little things from each "past life" bleed into other "past lives" and into the over-world itself from time to time, but I fear that this will only serve to alienate newcomers and only make sense to those who've been following since the very beginning.
Not that the past life vignettes are bad, far from it.
There seems to be a reoccurring theme in the past life stories of Fuuta's desire to be a hero and protect everyone, as well as a healthy contempt for organized religion and primitive superstition.
That being said, one can't help wondering where the over-story is really going. The back cover and the first few pages all seem to imply that this will be a battle manga, not some vignettes that fall more into slice-of-life. We see that Kouko and Fuuta will eventually battle it out by clashing their Spirit Circles together like weapons, but the first volume gives us no clues of how exactly things will come to that.
The art style is okay, if a tad cartoony for the subject matter. And the characters aren't horrible. We'll probably see why Kouko acts the way she does. But Fuuta is at once both a lot like and nothing like a lot of the major manga protags that I've seen.
He doesn't want this madness that's taking place in his life. He values his normal day-to-day life and wants this whole "past life" business to stop, but he accepts this as something that needs to be done and doesn't whine about it like some people.
Fuuta also really seems to want to become friends with Kouko, despite her wanting to kill him (several times, in fact!) and not even for any kind of physical relationship. But, again, he's not all pushy and obnoxious about it, like some people.
Long story short, though I do like the surprise of this being not entirely like the back cover of the manga said, I don't think I'm going to become overly invested in this series any time soon. Perhaps it will stroke my heart and emotions, but I will probably just read the entire series once and then never touch it again.
Sorry for not being quite as friendly or eloquent or upbeat as usual; it's been a long day and I'm just tired.
Peace out.
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