Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time Volume 1

If you're a manga reader, Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time Volume 1 will give you an immediate sense of deja-vu. But that is this story's greatest burden: It will inevitably be compared to similar, superior works like Fushigi-Yugi and Inu-Yasha, but its weak storytelling and its whine-y, boring heroine will leave readers confused and uninterested in the characters' future adventures.

While its art is delicate and lovely and its harem of male characters are hunky, Haruka lacks the heart and soul that makes great manga worth reading.

A modern high school girl is transported to the distant past, where she becomes a priestess with a magical quest. If you're a manga reader, fantasy stories like Fushigi Yugi and Inu-Yasha will immediately come to mind. But that is Haruka's greatest burden: It will inevitably be compared to these similar, superior works, and will not measure up.

It's not for lack of beautiful artwork -- Mizuno-sensei's style is delicate and lovely. Haruka has a harem full of swoon-worthy bishonen to rival Fushigi Yugi's Seven Guardians of Suzaku.

But these embellishments are like layers of kimono with no one inside. Mizuno's artwork and characters are pretty, but they are empty shells with very little personality.

Haruka was originally meant to be an video game, where Akane is blank slate heroine whose personality and fate are determined by the player's decisions. That might work for gameplay, but it doesn't for manga. I found myself asking, "Why are these hunky men falling in love with this boring, whine-y girl, much less wanting to risk their lives for her?"

Mizuno is a fine character designer, but she lacks the storytelling skills to pace her story in a compelling way. Within the first few pages, Akane is sucked into the past. She gets the Dragon Priestess job. Her classmate Tenma fights bandits, becomes Akane's bodyguard and confesses his love for her. An evil female demon feeds men's flesh to bloodthirsty mermaids. Akane has several rendezvous with her nemesis, Akram, the masked demon. If you blink, you'll miss the hows and whys of these events, because this all happens at breakneck speed, sometimes only explained in dialogue instead of pictures.

All this makes reading Haruka a pretty, but confusing and emotionally empty experience. I don't often say this, but watch the anime instead... it'll make more sense.