I'm not back back. Don't know if I will actually "be back" but I'm here to write something (not the food for thought post that I mentioned in my "NO POST" post) because I'm bored and want to avoid studying for a little bit. This post is actually a topic I thought up a while back but I didn't so much as like the way I was writing it so here I am, attempting it again by simply writing whatever first comes to my head.
First of all, the type of story I'm talking about is those mangas where you have a person from the future jumping back into the past by some supernatural phenomenon. In some instances, the future jumping back into the past, it's like "another world" (hence why I included that in the title of this post). It's actually had to split the two up because it seems like a lot of mangas involve the "blast to the past" in another location other than the country of origin (e.g. Japan to Ancient China). But anyways, this is the foundation for which this post is going to be about.
Now, for me, I came in contact with this sort of story for mangas before I knew about online manga i.e. from my (awesome) city's library system. The first mangas that I read that touched on this type of story would be (of course) Inu-yasha by Takahashi Rumiko and Fushigi Yuugi by Watase Yuu (later followed by Red River by Shinohara Chie [aka Anatolia Story] and one volume or two of Genbu Kaiden spin off from Fushigi Yuugi). Now...Inu-yasha and Fushigi Yuugi were all the hype back then. Both were good for comedy and had an interesting story. I liked them a lot back then but then again, my pool of accessibility to manga (if that makes any sense) was quite limited i.e. small.
Anyways, personally how I feel about this kind of plot now...I love it because often times it's a portrayal of historical fiction (one of my favorite genres) but I am also ambivalent. One major reason is (if you read my post on harem mangas) because of Wastase Yuu and her over use of the whole "to the past, priestess and HAREM" stuff that made me more skeptical of reading mangas with this sort of plot. The idea is pretty golden but her type of story with the priestess and the harem of men has been way over used (also the female lead in the original Fushigi Yuugi story is really annoying and, I'll say it, dumb) so when I encounter this type of story, I'm critical of it. (But generally anything Watase Yuu starts low in expectations for me now i.e. I don't really like Watase Yuu's mangas anymore).
Kind of an awkward segway but as I stated before, I love it because of the portrayal of historical fiction but am also critical of it. The reason I love it is because I like looking into other cultures, even to people in the present, the past of their country is pretty much another culture. It's fun to see the style and such. It's also pretty interesting to see the difference between modern and historical attitudes, dispositions, ideals, morals/principles and such. However the most important factor of course is having a strong lead. I read more shoujo/josei so this means a strong female lead, preferably sharp and useful off the bat (unlike the girl in Fushigi Yuugi) kind of like Red River/Anatolia Story.
Right now, I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if it's just me but I've been seeing more of this type of manga being released (new) which was why I had tried to work on a post like this previously but failed to. Anyways the following are a list of some of the mangas that I enjoyed their "blast to the past" and some that have pique my interest =)
Well I hope you liked reading this post. I should probably reread this and make edits but I'm throwing this up on a whim because I'm taking a break from studying and I still haven't finished compiling the recommendations list for this topic. I'll get that up asap. (Considering creating a page specifically for recommendations since I'm taking time to compile then already, just a thought...)
Until next people,
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| tohukyo |
P.S. I totally forgot that this kind of story can also apply to stories involving returning to one's past like changing one's future kind of story. There's only one story that I know that I actually enjoyed. There is also another that I started reading but am quite skeptical of considering the sensitive theme involved, bullying. But I'll provide a list there as well as personal comments too. Darn since it's a P.S. it's not doing this type of story justice so maybe I'll post a short follow up on this as a post topic.
COMING SOON....(hoping it will)
"From the Future" recommendations
Topic on mangas based on personal timeline travel/family timeline + recommendations
Food for thought topic (topic will remain undisclosed until posted).
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