Manga Review: Children of the Sea Plunges Readers Into Magic, Mystery

The trouble with reading a lot of comics is that after a while, you get these flashes of deja vu. "Didn't I read something similar to this a little while ago?" or "This character reminds me of... [insert other series here]." Generic, androgynous and interchangeable characters and predictable, derivative plots are all too common in manga today -- but that's exactly why Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi is so refreshing and rave-worthy. Instead of mimicking other manga artists, Igarashi-sensei takes a different approach: he draws real people, real animals and real places and weaves in magically surreal circumstances. The result is an uncommonly mesmerizing and memorable manga that rises above the rest.

The "children" in Children of the Sea seem ordinary enough. Ruka is a rough and ready tomboy who is spending the summer at the aquarium where her dad works. While there, she meets two boys who are about her age, Umi and Sora. "Umi" means "ocean" and "Sora" means "sky," which are fitting names for two boys who seem to unusually attuned to the ways of the sea and its creatures. Ruka finds herself fascinated by the two boys, and soon discovers that they have something in common: They've all seen a phenomenon they call "The Ghost of the Sea." As fish mysteriously disappear from aquariums all over the world, and deep sea fish begin behaving strangely, it appears that there may be more to these mysterious undersea lights than meets the eye.

Children of the Sea isn't the first Igarashi story published in English; The Festival of the Bell Horses was a short story of his featured in the French-Japanese manga anthology Japan As Seen by 17 Creators. But Children of the Sea picks up on themes of nature, mythology, legends and magical realism touched upon in Bell Horses and takes it to a whole 'nother level of graphic storytelling greatness.

Check out my review of Children of the Sea Volume 1 by Daisuke Igarashi from VIZ Signature / VIZ Media, and see why this uncommonly lyrical and lovely manga earned both spots in the 20 Most Anticipated Manga of 2009 and the summer reading list, 12 Great New Graphic Novels for Grown-Ups.

You can also read the entire chapters of Children of the Sea for free, online at SigIkki.com, VIZ Media's new online manga magazine, IKKI, with new chapters appearing weekly. It's well worth a look, and it'll have you looking forward to picking up your own copy of Children of the Sea when the print edition comes out in mid-July 2009. VIZ Signature's IKKI site also features an interview with Igarashi-sensei, and a chat with Ajima-san, the Japanese editor of Children of the Sea.

Image credit: KAIJU NO KODOMO © 2007 Daisuke IGARASHI / Shogakukan