Brack Heart

Author: Arina Toshimi
Imprint: PC
Publisher: Rapport
ISBN: zasshi (magazine) 54811-27

Reviewed by Jeanne

(Yes yes, the Japanese don't really think there's a difference between r and l because they both sound the same to a Japanese ear. Only people who never confuse wa and ga are allowed to snicker at this.)

OK, I was wrong. Arina Toshimi's first manga wasn't Kimi no Mukougawa. It was this, published in 1992 even before, I suspect, she began doing YYH doujinshi. It's not exactly her doujinshi artstyle (though it's a very accomplished one) which may be why I somehow managed to forget that it was she who did Brack Heart. I read it some ten years ago- or rather, tried to read it but couldn't make head or tail of it. Some of that's due to my Japanese at the time; rather more is the fact that the manga doesn't make sense. But oh my, what glorious non-sense it does make when looked at again.

Let's face it: mangaka who publish monthly are a lot like people who post chapters of ongoing fic to ff.net. There are mangaka and authors who say flatly that they've always had the complete story in their heads and know exactly where it's going. And I say 'Yeah, sure.' I might believe the authors, but the mangaka are following their noses. If a nice idea occurs to them they'll throw it in, even if it's totally out of left field, even if it contradicts whatever's happened up to now. I could only wish they'd follow their noses like the young Arina did.

We're told in a kind of throwaway intro that there's a 'black tribe' of those who fell from heaven and became rulers of demonkind. Their hearts exist separately from their bodies. If one of them manages to join a heart with his body he becomes supreme ruler and king of the others, because the king is the only 'complete' member of this tribe. We then cut to two candidates for black kingship, dark-haired Sanan who looks a little like a Kurama manqué, and light-haired Senega. Mocking Senega has found Sanan's heart and proceeds to send it into a human body on earth- that of what else yer average high school student, an ordinary guy called Shuuji. Sanan is told by an ancient crone that the only way to get his heart back is to rip the human's physical heart from his body and eat it, after which of course he'll be king because he has his heart together with his body. He's also told that no-one who's had his heart 'stolen' by a human has managed to regain it. You are invited to provide three guesses as to why, and the first two don't count.

(Follows spoilers for the action.)

We seem happily set on the tried and true path of human/ demon love, and that *is* what happens, yes, but not as we're used to it. Sanan tries, Sanan fails for the obvious BL reasons, Sanan goes back to demonland where he's locked up as punishment for the shame of having his heart stolen by a human, though of course it was Senega who took it in the first place. And so we get a lot of murky demonland politics- one has the feeling Arina was suffering from Lumen Lunae overload at this point- and murky love triangles with the introduction of this stunning and highly ranked Stella person who's Sanan's main backer in his bid to become king and who wants to get rid of the human boy who so inconveniently has Sanan's heart. Only *then* we have another triangle thrown in because yes wouldn't it be neat if Senega was in love with Sanan too? Oh and then, guess what, Stella and Sanan and Senega are all candidates selected by the king himself to vie for the position of being his heir, only Stella seems at once to have resigned any thoughts in that direction, and hey here's another wrinkle- Stella and Senega are of noble birth but Senega is a commoner. And then look, it wasn't Senega's idea to steal Sanan's heart it was the king's hunky white-haired chief counsellor's. He told Senega where to find Sanan's heart to further the king's intentions because the king wants Sanan for his heir, and they thought Senega would then make the heart his own which means he'd be 'complete' which means he'd become king so *why* did the counsellor tell Senega to steal Sanan's heart? well cause, well cause, see you can't take your heart back yourself, the guy who has it has to give it to you by cutting his own chest open which he'll do if he loves you enough and then he dies happy (and they thought *Senega* would do that? Hoo boy.) And then and then, Senega raises a demon and goes after Shuuji to try and get Sanan, and then and then, uhh well then it's over.

I mean, it's a mess. But it's such a lovely resonant mess, and has such lovely resonant throwaway details (so who's this crone? and where do the king's counsellors fit in all this?) and relationships merely mentioned in passing (so what's with Sanan's mother? and what about the nice schoolkid with the hots for Shuuji? and just what does Stella think she's thinking anyway?) and all the characters and all the demonland settings are drawn so beautifully, that really what one wants to do is just rip the story as it stands apart and use the various pieces for independent fics. (Is this the WK Syndrome? "Nice ideas you got there; now let *me* show you what to do with them.") It's such a waste of so much creativity otherwise. And one does keep thinking, if only Lumen Lunae had been drawn like this and not in the frivolous pointy style it was drawn in, how much more chilling it would have been.