Customer Reviews

Twin Spica, Volume: 01

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This manga exceeds all expectations. The art is beautiful, the story is magical, and the dreams of a future "rocket driver" makes you believe in your own childhood dreams. You dont have to be interested in space to like this graphic novel, it is for all ages and up. Every moment is breath taking, and makes you want to keep reading. I know I had a de ja vu, reading about this sweet girl and her ability to achieve her dream despite "what people would expect of her." Sometimes you just have to believe to make it happen, if you want your dreams to be real. That is the main point the novel tries to relay.
Trust me, you will want to read volume 2 and on! This has become my favorite series.

In the early Twenty-First century a disastrous malfunction sends a Japanese space launch straight into the middle of Yuigahama city, leaving both burnt out wreckage and lives in its wake. Despite this, Asumi Kamogawa grows up there dreaming of piloting a rocket and journeying into space. As a teen, her childhood dreams will run into difficult realities: other potential astronauts with differing motives, the pressure of attending an academy where only a few will graduate, and the fact that a town that has suffered such a tragedy leaves scarred lives looking for revenge.

If I can emphasize one thing: do not let the covers fool you. Yes, they are a hard sell: they look sweet and like it is a series for children. Yes, there is a talking lion-man. Yes, I almost didn't buy it for those reasons, too. However, that would have been a big mistake. Despite the age of the main characters, it is not a childish manga any more than Miyazaki's anime, to which Spica has drawn comparisons, is merely for children. This is a book about hope and seeing dreams come to fruition, despite a context of pain and tragedy.

The first volume should have you hooked, but if you're not convinced by the end of the second, well, I worry about the state of your heart.

Reason for Reading: This is a Cybils '10 nominee and required reading for me as a graphic novels panelist.

I think you could say I read my fair share of manga, and as time goes by I'm reading more and more; it has become one of my reading passions. I don't think I've ever been this enthused about a first volume since I've been reading manga. Absolutely brilliant! First off we have an utter realistic science fiction story, set in 2024, about a 13yo girl, Asumi, who wants to be an astronaut and takes the exams to enter space training school. Her mother died shortly after she was born when Japan's first ever completely Japanese made fully-manned rocket was unsuccessfully launched and crashed into a city causing many deaths. This rocket was named The Lion, which becomes a theme carried on in the story. Now Asumi and everyone who passed the space school entrance exams have been taken to the school and put under a 7 day confined space test in groups of three. What happens is an amazingly well-written science-fiction story.

While the present story is going on, we also learn much about her character and back story through frequent flashbacks to her childhood. It is at this point that an edge of fantasy, or perhaps magical realism is added to the plot, as Asumi had an invisible friend growing up called Lion, who looked like a man with a lion mask on. Now whether he was imaginary or a ghost from the past is something that is explored and though it sounds strange becomes integrated seamlessly into the story.

Asumi has been characterized with insightful skill, the reader gets inside her head and learns what makes this girl tick, what she feels and how determined she is. Asumi is also a nice person, regardless of who she meets up with she manages to let her own true character prevail through others often heated discord. This volume ends with the final selection of those who passed the test (which was very intense) and will make up the space program class.

Following this we get the *bonus material* which includes the original short story that was the inspiration for this series. Then Yaginuma followed the story up with a mini-series about Asumi's childhood, which follows next. That mini-series was such a success that he followed it up with this sensational series we are finally able to read in English. But that's not it! To finish up the book Yaginuma gives us one more extra short story about Asumi. The first four books are out and I plan on buying them, 5-10 are planned to be released in 2011 and the final 11-16 in 2012. This is a definite must read for me!

I was previously mostly uninterested in the manga genre except for things like "Phoenix" or "Astroboy" (by Osamu Tezuka, the father of the Manga genre), but I decided to be open-minded and browsed a manga bookshop for something that stood out with more warmth, originality, good characters, and an intelligent story. I found that in "Twin Spica." As a Toy Designer, I was pleased to find a manga that was not just pleasingly well-drawn, but had positive character models for children, dealing with difficulties of growing up and a wonderful message of focusing on a life's dream and education, despite personal tragedy, gender biases, family problems, and physical limitations. Its intelligence, warmth, and appreciation for quiet moments in natural settings mixed with fantasy reminded me of what I love about Miyazaki films.

I also enjoyed how it interwove real historic events with imagined future events, along with lovely interpretations of the afterlife. The conflicts portrayed with the main character's parents and friends at school feel very real and relatable. I found myself surprisingly touched by the end of this volume, and I really look forward to reading the rest of the series. It's the sort of book I wish I had as a child, and I will definitely share this with my little relatives.

I have read a lot of manga over the past 5 years. Probably to the point of over saturation where everything seems the same to the point that I get series mixed up. They seem similar to category romance series (a la Harlequin) in that they are more like conveyor belt stories that are pumped out rather than unique stories in fresh settings.

And then I'll come across a series (or standalone manga) that reminds me of why I fell in the love this particular storytelling art form.

"Twin Spica" is one of those series.

Writer/artist Kou Yaginuma's story of a 13 year old with aspirations to go to the stars seems simple enough. But set against this dream is a tragic accident that is part of her history that makes the dream more complex than it seems.

Asumi, the 13 year old heroine, has secretly taken the exam to go to the Tokyo Space School. Her only confidante in this undertaking is her semi-imaginary friend, Mr Lion. She has not told her single parent father of what she has done.

Even in this little scenario (her father finding out what Asumi has done), the reasons for her actions and her father's actions do not look as they seem at first. This theme permeates throughout this first volume and that's the beauty of it. Yaginuma recognizes that the most dreams and aspirations come from a place that is both simple and complex.

As the story unfolds, Asumi goes to Tokyo to participate in what seems to be an initial test for suitability to the school. Again, what seems straightforward becomes more layered.

All in all, this is a wonderful start to an intriguing new series and I look forward to more volumes of this series.