Heaven's Will [Paperback]

Satoru Takamiya (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

Sudou Mikuzu has a very special talent--she can see ghosts. And because of this predisposition, she's become a magnet for all sorts of unwelcome monsters. Luckily for her she's just met Seto, a friendly, cross-dressing young exorcist. Sudou needs protection from all the creepy phantoms bugging her, and Seto needs to practice his exorcism skills. Consequently, the pair decides to team up and help each other. In return, Sudou promises to bake a cake every time a ghost gets zapped!

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Original edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421522586
• ISBN-13: 978-1421522586
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mikuzu and Seto Will Live on in Your Head, November 24, 2009

By 

GraphicNovelReporter.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Heaven's Will (Paperback)

Mikuzu Sudou is terrified of ghosts, vampires...and men. Luckily for her, the one man in her life, a transvestite exorcist named Seto Ashiya, looks--and acts--like a beautiful girl. The two young people meet by chance one day; Mikuzu is a Kenki, a person who can both perceive and attract restless spirits called "oni," and Seto saves her from a particularly troublesome one. Unfortunately, the supply of oni is endless, and Mikuzu's safety can only be temporary. So in return for protection from future supernatural mischief, Seto convinces Mikuzu to bake a cake for him every day. And before long, he has also convinced her to join him in starting a ghost-busting business.

Their first and only on-the-job adventure is at the student council president's home. He wants them to exorcise the oni possessing his handcrafted upright piano. However, even with the assistance of Seto's vampire companion Kagari, they meet with failure. If they are to have any hope of success, Mikuzu will have to unravel the mystery that is Seto. Why is he dressing like a girl, and what does he hope to accomplish? The answer to the riddle may well destroy the tentative bonds of friendship only too recently formed between Mikuzu and Seto.

The single-volume shoujo manga Heaven's Will was never intended to be a multichapter storyline, yet even when expanded significantly by creator Satoru Takamiya, it does not feel particularly complete. Readers never even learn Seto's real name, for example, and there is no romance to speak of between any of the characters. Nevertheless, this attractively illustrated title serves up plenty of provocative food for thought about the boundaries between male and female, friendship and love.

Of course, this manga, though free of explicit content per se, is nonetheless rife with sexual ambiguity and homoerotic tension. Since Mikuzu is afraid of men, Seto's crossdressing makes him the only tolerable male friend. Yet at the same time, the reader is never allowed to forget what lies beneath the long blond locks and frilly dresses, so when Mikuzu realizes that what she wants most in the world is to stay always with Seto, you are not entirely certain whether her affections are wholly platonic. Seto, for his part, has some serious, self-effacing issues related to his crossdressing, but I will not spoil them here. Suffice it to say that they are equally--if not more--intriguing.

Takamiya's artwork in Heaven's Will is pretty and light. She combines the vintage shoujo horror style of Chie Shinohara with latter-day gothic Lolita fashion sense while demonstrating an unexpectedly high level of skill in her angles and panel layouts. Seto's fan-wielding exorcisms are reasonably dynamic from a visual standpoint yet remain pleasingly easy to follow and digest quickly. Takamiya's character designs are likewise lovely. Mikuru is a dark, brooding waif, while Kagari (a vampire after all!), and to a lesser extent Seto, boasts a delicious fission of decadent sensuality in selected panels.

In the end, the banal dichotomies between male and female and friendship and love are never fully recuperated. So although the story at times feels disjointed and unfinished, it is this very lack of closure that makes it so memorable. Mikuzu and Seto will live on in your head for far longer than it will take you read this compact volume cover to cover.

-- Casey Brienza

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining, emotional manga, but not for everyone, April 11, 2009

By 

Amanda (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Heaven's Will (Paperback)

Heaven's Will is an emotional, well-told manga from popular shojo author Satoru Takamiya. In the tradition of my shojo mangas, Takamiya weaves together a gothic tale of love, loss, friendship and the paranormal. However, Heaven's Will is a complete, one-shot manga where the entire story is told in just one volume, which is fairly uncommon. In my opinion this really adds to the value of this story -you don't need to run out and buy subsequent volumes or wait months for the next installment to hit shelves. Everything about the world of Heaven's Will is packed into one convenient book.

Here, teenager Mikuzu is not like other girls her age-she can see ghosts, or oni. Mikuzu is convinced that she's alone in her talents until she meets the beautiful, cross-dressing exorcist Seto. Seto, along with his vampire companion Kagari, team up with Mikuzu to protect her from oni -but not, of course without payment. What's the best way to pay an exorcist? Why, with cake of course! Mizkuzu pledges to make a cake for Seto every day in exchange for protection from the oni. Soon after, the trio decides to turn their unique gifts into a lucrative exorcism enterprise.

Their first case, however, is more involved then what they signed up for. Mikuzu and Seto are asked to exorcist the ghost inside a wealthy man's piano, but the mission brings up some painful memories and emotions from the past. Most importantly, the adventure forces Mikuzu to deal with her fear of the oni and become stronger.

While the story features next to nothing new for a shojo manga, the emotion packed into these pages is believable and very, very real. Even though I only knew these characters for a short period of time, I still felt for their losses and their troubles. I wouldn't say it made me tear up, as the author was probably hoping, but it gives Seto and Kagari amazing depth and dimension for one-shot characters. However, since Takamiya spends the entire story focused on these two characters, Mikuzu kind of gets left out in the cold and remains a little two-dimensional for my tastes.

The artwork, however, is lovely. It takes a minimalist approach, which works with the simplicity of the story, but may bother manga fans who are picky about artwork. The characters also tended to seem a little like CLAMP knock-offs to me, complete with elongated limbs and ridiculously pretty faces. It's not the best shojo artwork out there, but I've definitely seen worse.

Without a doubt the most impressive part of this manga is the translation; it's really some of the best I have ever seen. The editors did a wonderful job of localizing the material and explaining the Japanese words and traditions in ways that Western readers can easily understand. It's highly accessible to any reader, no matter if this is their first or 51st manga.

This manga gets off to a great start, but sadly doesn't quite follow through. The premise, while not too original, is cute, fun and highly entertaining, but at times the emotional angst of the characters and their back stories completely eclipses the plot. While this gives the book phenomenal characterization, it makes the plot feel flimsy and nearly none existent. The ending is the biggest let down however, because it feels anti-climatic, sudden and unsatisfying. While I was somewhat grateful that Takamiya didn't use the predictable, easy ending, it still felt incomplete, almost like the story should have continued into subsequent volumes.

Bottom line: Heaven's Will is a frivolous, semi-entertaining manga that young girls and die hard Twilight fans will enjoy. The story may be a little difficult for fans of plot and manga artwork to get into, but for readers who enjoy emotional characters tied into a simple plot, Heaven's Will is perfect for them.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great., May 10, 2009

By 

Meggie Boo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heaven's Will (Paperback)

Heaven's Will is something that could use a continuation. The artwork is nice and the characters are enjoyable, but the plot is very simple and lacks depth. Personally, I would have loved to see more of Kagari. I really like his character, but there wasn't a lot of focus on him. Had this been an ongoing series Satoru Takamiya could have done a lot with it. The end would have been fine for the first volume of a series, but as a standalone it was very open and there wasn't really any closure to the story.

Even so, I'm still giving it four stars. Kagari was my favorite, but Seto was interesting and brought some laughs. The story wasn't bad, just simple. Although I do wish more had been done with it, I still enjoyed what there was.