saifighter's reviews
217 reviews

 It took me a while to read this. And I really love the themes and ideas explored in this essay manga. But there was something about this duology. I struggled to finish it. The author does an amazing job of drawling how an emotion feels. Its probably the best part of the books. There exploration of their trauma is really great. But something about the non-binary part of the story feels incomplete. I'm not asking that everyone's gender discovery story has to be neatly tired up in a bow. But while the trauma of the sexual harassment is all on the table, the gender stuff feels like its at arms length with the reader. I'm sorry to say that this was a little disappointing. I don't see myself re-reading this series, so I'll probably end up selling my copies. 

 It took me a while to read this. And I really love the themes and ideas explored in this essay manga. But there was something about this duology. I struggled to finish it. The author does an amazing job of drawling how an emotion feels. Its probably the best part of the books. There exploration of their trauma is really great. But something about the non-binary part of the story feels incomplete. I'm not asking that everyone's gender discovery story has to be neatly tired up in a bow. But while the trauma of the sexual harassment is all on the table, the gender stuff feels like its at arms length with the reader. I'm sorry to say that this was a little disappointing. I don't see myself re-reading this series, so I'll probably end up selling my copies. 

This is so cute! And I like the main couple so much, they are so cute!

You know, I have really fond memories of this series and of most of Yû Watase’s work. But this first volume was just so bland. Uninteresting characters. Nothing unique about the story. It’s just a normal transfer student slice of life drama with nothing to make it stand out. Also, my copy (Viz Media 2004) had a tone of typos! Under normal circumstances I would not continue this series.

First DNF of the year!

The dialog was just not for me. Really sad cause I like this concept and the rest of the book was fine. Its just one of those things

A Review? “Iron Widow” & “Heavenly Tyrant”: From Feminist Rage To Political Manifesto

“Iron Widow” is probably one of my favorite books of all time. It sits in the space of not good but not bad. Its no literary master piece but it’s also incredibly fun. Its self-indulgent. I first read it in 2023 (2 years after its release) and when I found out that a sequel was on coming out that spring, I was ecstatic. But then it was delayed till April 30, 2024. Then delayed till December 24, 2024. Then the libraries wait list would make to where I wouldn’t be able to start it till January 9, 2025. And now, a month and some change later I have finally read “Heavenly Tyrant” and I’m disappoint to say that I have very mixed feelings. I think to really understand these feelings I have to go back to what I really liked about “Iron Widow” and what my expectations were going to “Heavenly Tyrant.”

“Iron Widow” Retrospective

“Iron Widow” is all wrapped up and deep fried in a Gundam fan’s wet dream of a setting. The book borrows so heavily from anime that I can’t imagine the book being understood by non-anime watchers. The “Darling in the Fraxx” concept is interesting and blatant symbolism. A lot of the characters while maybe not likeable are interesting. To add to this perfect messy pie, the poly-triad with 2 men and 1 woman where the woman is the dom is just the cherry on top. (If I remember right, its mostly fade to black, but this good.) Its well written and easy to read.

At the end of the day, “Iron Widow” is the narrative manifestation of feminine rage in a post Roe V. Wade world. A grotesque glorification of female empowerment and is in no way a picture of polite pop-feminism. “A riot is the language of the unheard” (MLK) and “Iron Widow” is the story of that riot for women. It’s following the legacy of “the Yellow Wallpaper” and “Night Bitch.” She’s singing “Labor” by Paris Paloma. It didn’t matter if the book had confusing world building, unlikeable characters, hard to follow fight scenes, and underdeveloped romance. Everything about this book said to the reader “you have the right to be angry” and I was high off of that validation.

Expectation for “Heavenly Tyrant”

Reading the blurb and following the hub-bub online I knew that “Heavenly Tyrant” was not going to just be all self-indulgent feminine rage. That rage had to be used for something besides violence (no matter how satisfying that violence was). I knew that this second book was going to be slower and very political. I wasn’t expecting a political manifest and socialist utopia but that is what we got. It was very in vain with “The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia” by Ursula K. Le Guin but was more socialist than anarchist. While some readers might find socialist wish fulfillment too unrealistic to enjoy, it didn’t bother me. In fact, while I missed the anime fueled Gundam (they are still here, its just not front and center) the shift to political intrigue was nice and not entirely fumbled. It’s not “The Goblin Emperor” but its good.

What did suffer in this book was the characters. Zetian and Yizhi are on the chopping block for character assassination but yank their heads back at the last second. What I mean to say is, they seem to change a lot during the book to the point where they don’t really seem like the same characters. Zetian had seemed to lose all her fire and rage. Yizhi lost all of his care and understanding. I actually HATED Yizhi in this book! I literally almost DNF-ed over him. (Side Note: Shimin is barely in the book but that’s understandable). But then at the end of the book, the characters say SIKE and go back to their old selves that I know and love in the first book. Which their characterization was disappointing and honestly frustrating, I think it was done for a reason.

Spoilers Ahead for “Heavenly Tyrant”

In order for me to explain why I am giving “Heavenly Tyrant” a pass on all its short comings, I do have to talk about the ending of the book. I will try to keep it vague but there is going to be some spoilers. Zetian and Zheng decide to go to “heaven” and “kill God” because it’s the only way they can truly have their socialist utopia. I didn’t really understand why until we actually got there. Come to find out that while Huaxia represents the socialist utopia, “heaven” is capitalism. The ending seems to start to imply that while we may dream of a socialist utopia, its not possible as long as “the powers that be” (heaven/the gods) are around. It starts to head in the direction of having to compromise under capitalism, when Zetian finally lets her rage come back to her and says “fuck that.” There is no negotiation, the only way to escape capitalism is violence. Once its established that utopia can not be won through negotiation but only through violence, Zetian and Yizhi are back to themselves. Its as if the boot of capitalism was forcing them to become these unlikable characters and that only with true freedom (Zetian’s version of socialism, not Zheng’s) can one truly be free and themselves. So, was this character assassination? Or an elaborate (but frustrating) long haul show and tell of how much capitalism ruins us? Who knows. While the last book was the manifestation of female rage post Roe V. Wade, this book is voter frustration of the present.

Conclusion

While I think I can justify the character assassination, its still VERY frustrating to read. This, along with the anime vibes being turned down from 11 to like a 6, this book is a solid 3.5-4 star for me. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the next book. I’m interested to see if Zetian keeps her rage in her pursuit of her utopia or if the author will choose something else. Also, I am READY for Shimin to return (I love him). I still very much love this series very much, and “Heavenly Tyrant” is joining the ranks of my problematic faves.

This is a re-read for me. I actually own this volume. Its so old that its the ADV copy (they don't own the  license for it anymore).

Kiyohiko Azuma's previous manga Azumanga Daioh was once called the "Seinfeld of manga" in that its a manga about nothing. I think a lot of slice of life manga kind of falls into this category but I think with Azumanga and Yotsuba its especially so.

On re-read, I was trying to really understand what it is that makes Yotsuba especially good. Her childish naivety being more than usual for a small child, makes normal childish misunderstandings so much more funnier. Her dad playing into those misunderstandings and being silly with her. The Ayase family are perfect foils to the Koiwai's. (Like a straight man and stooge comedy duo). And then Yotsuba's ability to find joy and happiness in everything, despite her mysterious backstory. Along side that, Azuma captures the stillness of everyday life in his backgrounds and landscape drawling.

All of those elements combined, I think at the end of the day this manga oozes one key element: nostalgia and anemoia. Its simple bottled childhood peace and joy captured on the page. 5/5 always. Its honestly a shame that chapters are rarely released.

I am going to be honest, I don’t think I have read anything like The Golden Compass. And for that reason, I am giving this 5 stars. Is this a 5 star book? Absolutely not. But I genuinely don’t think I have read something so original in a really long time. 

Pre-Read 

Going into this, I didn’t know a lot about “The Golden Compass.” I knew that everyone had some kind of animal companion and that there would be at some point a talking polar bear. I was also vaguely aware of the movie, but I have no memory of actually watching it. 

With my pre-book research, I became aware that this series has been criticized for having anti-church messages (litcharts link) and the author himself is Atheist (according to his wiki) The fact that religious critics have said " "far more worthy of the bonfire than Harry [Potter]" is WILD. 

The author is still seems pretty active even at 78 years old and released a short story in 2022. (And he has been busy being incredible based on Twitter) I like his comments on writing saying "I have stolen ideas from every book I've ever read. My principle for researching a novel is 'Read like a butterfly, write like a bee,' and if this story contains any honey, it is because of the quality of the nectar I have found in the work of better writers." He has also said that the line between adult and children's lit shouldn't be so strict and he was against put age or gender suggestions on the cover of books (Ex. This book is best for 5+ or This book is good for girls). I an adult who enjoys kid lit and middle grade, I agree completely. 

So now with the idea that the author is a pretty cool dude and that I should probably be on the look out for some religious themes I set out on my reading journey. 

Reading 

I really enjoy that the story jumps right into it. Honestly even though this book took me 2 weeks to finish the plot doesn’t really drag and I was excited to know what would happen next. Two weeks is kind of a uncharacteristic long time for me to finish a book of this length. Usually only takes me 3-5 days. I don’t know what happened because it really wasn’t the books fault. The plot is interesting, the world is great. I love this idea that everyone is born with a little demon companion that basically represents your soul and character as a person. Feel like that is easy fandom territory right there. What animal would YOUR demon take? Found this neat quiz. I got brown bear. Anyway, the world is very cool. I also like this weird 19th century setting that’s going on. 

I really like the writing. I feel like the author is pretty good at conveying emotions, feelings, and environments. There is a lot of child abuse so maybe mentally prepare for that because it did blind side me a little. There are a group of people called the Gyptians which took me way too long to realize were just Romani people. There are some really fun characters like Lee Scoresby, the balloon pilot guy. Who identifies as Texan, as in from the country of Texas. Which I thought was so fucking funny. I really like his relationship with Iorek Byrnison, the Panserbjorn which are the talking fighting polar bears. The Panserbjorn are cool as fuck, and I wanna play one in my next DND campaign now. 

In the second half of the book, we are really starting to hit some of the important themes. Mom and Dad representing church and science is pretty obvious. The fact that Dad is being put to death/being outcast for having a thought that goes against the church parallels the scientists being killed by the church for promoting Heliocentrism. I found that super interesting. The demon’s settling into one form as an adult representing the lose of innocents was interesting. Although later in the book its kind of compared to original sin and children who are severed from their demon are saved from original sin. This separation is compared to castration. But also dust also represents original sin? And by being cut from your demon you keep your innocents but that also means that your demon will never settle into a form, there for a child who is cut from their demon can never truly grown to understand themselves as a person.  At least in theory? Chapter 18 is just here to talk about free will vs destiny (the Texan represents free will because of course he fucking does). Chapter 21 just starts dropping scripture. Pretty sure Dad Asriel said “FUCK YOU I'M GOING TO HEAVEN TO KILL GOD.” 

Its at this point that I really asked myself, is this a children’s book? Is this actually middle grade? Because I have NEVER seen these kinds of ideas being presents in middle grade before, EVER. Its honestly amazing. These are questions and ideas that children think about but no one except Philip Pullman has the fucking balls to actually write about. It’s fantastic. I’m utterly confused, but it is very cool. 

Post-reading 

The only bad thing that this book has going for it is that it’s just the beginning of a bigger story. It ends on a cliff hanger, but I’m not mad about it. In fact I think I am pretty excited to pick up the next book in the series. 

10/10 I think everyone should read this. Its really unique and amazing. 

This was so good! Every pan in this manga has so much presents and power. i can tell that the author puts a lot of thought into the purpose of each panel and makes sure its utilized fully. The art is the kind of "non-anime-ish" art style that I really like seeing in manga. The story hooks you in immediately and I was quickly addicted. I had read 9 chapters with out even realizing I had gone past the first volume! Its very "Breaking Bad" in its vibes. The drama and twists just makes you wanna binge the whole thing in one sitting. Not only is it an addictive drama, its also really funny at times. And I fell in love with each character immediately. I already feel so endeared to the main couple. 5/5 Great start to this series. I'm now gonna go read more of it.