Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion Volume 1 [Paperback]

Sakurako Gokurakuin (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2004 | Series: Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion (Book 1)

Sixteen year old Mana returns to her hometown to unite with her childhood sweetheart after 7 years. But Kaname seems to have changed during their years apart. Mana's presence sets off a chain of events that changes the lives of Kaname and his best friend Naoya forever. Their classmates Isshin and Tsukasa, and their teacher Tomonori find themselves drawn to her as well. They soon discover that they are all a part of the Aquarian Age - a secret war raging for thousands of years. Now the fate of the world hangs in the balance as one girl meets her destiny.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Broccoli Books (April 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932480099
• ISBN-13: 978-1932480092
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,493,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the naysayers, August 19, 2004

By 

Miyabi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion Volume 1 (Paperback)

I do not often feel compelled to write reviews, but I thought I would do so for those who may have gotten a false impression of the book based on the vague claims that "this is a rip of of CLAMP's X". I will not deny that there are some similar elements, and I won't try to pretend that that isn't part of the reason I like it.

Animes and mangas often become formulaic by their very nature. This story is about a young girl destined to lead a group of bishounen against an opposing force. In this sense it is more like Fushigi Yuugi than it is X, not only in the disproportionate male to female ratio, but in the tendency of several characters to fall for the blushing, naive heroine like she's the best thing since sliced bread.

Now let's get some of the similarities between X and Juvenile Orion out of the way. Mana and Kaname's relationship is very much like Kotori and Kamui's, a girl who ernestly tries to recapture what she had with her childhood friend. Although it is Mana that returns after years away, as opposed to Kamui, is is still the guy who, for one reason or another, thinks it best that they keep their distance. Kaname *looks* like Kamui as much as he acts like him, from his messy, dark hair to the wings, but if wings, black hair and a tendency to be antisocial makes Juvenile Orion a rip off of X...well then I can think of several other series that should be considered rip offs as well.

As well, the father/son (or slightly more, depending how you want to read into it) relationship between Tomonori and Amou is a vague reminder of Seishirou and Subaru in Tokyo Babylon (another of CLAMP's works), with their roles somewhat reversed--but I won't go into detail for fear of ruining any plot twists.

That said, let me tell you why I enjoy Juvenile Orion. The art of the manga is absolutely *beautiful* and is what first attracted me to the series, you can call it a rip off of CLAMP's work if you want, but only when the artist starts to distort body proportions as heavily as they are in X can you truly call it a rip off. There is a mastery of screentones in Juvenile Orion that CLAMP, in X at least, could only dream of. The panels are detailed but not too cluttered, and very rarely did I get confused just because there was too much going on on one page.

I've only read the first three books, so I cannot say whether or not the plot closely parallels the storyline of X. I do not, however, know what will happen ultimately, nor do I know how anyone who hasn't even read the manga could claim they do.

The point of this review is that you cannot look at the elements of a story and scream "plagarism!" Often works get inspired by similar things, or inspired by each other. It is not a crime to read a manga and say "I want to write a story that has that kind of effect on people". As a writer I know you pull your inspiration from many sources, you assemble it, and you personalize it. If Juvenile Orion was as predictable as people have made it out to be, I would not be eagerly awaiting the next book.

Tokyo Babylon is my favorite manga of all time, and I love CLAMP, but X is only decent in my mind. Why is that? The characters...it takes fully developed characters to get into a story, and CLAMP simply waited too long before getting into the hearts, souls, and minds of the people they were killing off. I like the characters of Juvenile Orion, they are what keeps me coming back to the story ^^

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Wonderful, January 26, 2005

By 

Youko Koryuu - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion Volume 1 (Paperback)

I bought volume 1 of Juvenile Orion on a whim from a local Barnes and Noble. I expected an average manga with slightly above average artwork, like so many other series, but I was pleasently surprised. The story is captivating, the artwork is phenominal, and the characters have depth to them, which I find increasingly hard to find in manga. Honestly, I hadn't even thought of the similarities to X until I read the reviews, and I believe that, while slightly reminiscent, the differences are great enough to create a unique and absorbing plot that will keep you reading. I immediately went out and bought the next three volumes after reading the first, and they were even better than the first. I highly suggest this wonderful series to anyone who likes almost any type of manga!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aquarian Age????, April 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Aquarian Age - Juvenile Orion Volume 1 (Paperback)

This book starts out kind of slow in the sense that you don't know who is who and it's rather confusing unless you stick with it. But if you do (which i highly recomend) you'll be rewarded with the story and action of the manga. It took me a while to figure out who were the characters but i read it and i wanted more!!!!If you like manga then you'll like this!!!!I recomend this to perple over the age of 12.