Kyoko Hikawa

Welcome to volume 5 of From Far Away! In this volume...there's a lot of hair. I mean a lot. Like Shepard Book levels of hair.



Also some people really try it with Izark and it DOES NOT go well for them.

We have a name for our ghostly boy - its Irkule! He's the spirit of the Morning Mist Tree and is simply at a loss as to how to help the villagers trapped by the hair monster of nightmares. Have no fear though he helps Noriko realize that just being herself is such a big responsibility.

Minor digression - from here on out its an important theme that each character, simply by being their truest self, can and will help others. Other then Izark none of the other characters in the main "good guy" cast have offensive supernatural powers, but they are able to achieve the results they do by believing in something larger than theirselves. Namely in Noriko and Izark, but also in the inherent goodness in people's hearts.

Back to the volume at hand, we also see Izark just...well he demons out. He and Noriko wind up in a nasty jam thanks to the hair demon nightmare thing and he loses control in his fear for Noriko. So Noriko sees the Sky Demon form of Izark (random aside: in volume 5 of Fruits Basket, this happens to Tohru and Kyo as well) and while Izark is busy alternating between freaking out and growing so frantic he can't think straight, Noriko realizes two things: 1) she can totally see why Izark is scared of being the Sky Demon and 2) him being the Sky Demon meant he'd leave her and THAT WOULD NOT STAND.

We have what young me jumped up and down about - a confession! And it works!

Its important to note however that at this point Izark is not really romantically in love with Noriko. He cares about her, he worries after her and he doesn't want to leave her side, but he's so frightened by what being the Sky Demon could mean he's not at liberty to love her. When Noriko confesses to him, while he's in almost full on Sky Demon mode, he's reacting less to 'omg she returns my feelings!' and more to 'omg she isn't scared of me and cares about me still?'.

We also get a side story about when Gaya met Izark for the first time (he's like...15?) that really illustrates why Gaya trusts him and why Izark trusts her. Also the words that Gaya speaks about the Founder of the Gray Bird Tribe are very important later on. Just saying.… (meer)

Welcome to volume 2 of From Far Away! In this volume Izark and Keimos learn the measure of each other, Rachef is super weird and what's this about Noriko being adopted??

New (recurring) cast member Seer Gorya who is Rachef's main seer and vassel makes his first appearance and we learn a little bit about the "chimos", an animal that's a bit like a chinchilla and can help a person teleport.

Noriko continues to try her best to learn the language while Izark continues to tell her he doesn't understand when she babbles. I appreciated the minor digression into why Noriko is so determined to be useful. Noriko learned, from a young age, that unfortunate things can and will happen, but dwelling does nothing. Channeling that anxiety about her future into creating a present she feels fulfilled in, is the core of Noriko's character. Does she wanna get home? Yes. Does she know how? No. instead of focusing on THAT she is focusing on how she can help others who are offering her so much.

Izark has a sadder back story, of which we see a brief bit about and some of which Keimos makes guesses at. Izark also resolves to find a solution that does NOT end in Noriko, aka The Awakening of Doom and Destruction, dying.

Keimos is fucking crazy. I don't mean he's reckless or does nonsensical things. I mean he is a psychopath, maybe a sociopath. I don't know if he distinguishes between right and wrong. For him it's "strong" and "weak", you're one or the other and if you're strong he cares about you existing...until you prove stronger then he.

Rachef shows a bit of his true colors here when he unleashes a power of his. His motivation basically being it's less of a pain to do this then if he gets hurt and is useless to me.

Meanwhile the villagers of Calco waste no time speculating about Izark & Noriko nor does the Mayor mind asking Izark to handle their bandit problem. Shameless!!… (meer)

Welcome to volume 1 of Kanata Kara or as it's known in English, From Far Away. This is another manga I picked up because of an article in Animerica Extra, but the added bonus is I love Hikawa-san's other works (notably Chotto Friday and Chizumi & Fujomi). This is a straight out the boat fantasy (despite Noriko saying it's a cool scifi story), which Hikawa-san doesn't have many of.

Cast!
Noriko, a high school student--I believe first year (10th grade) making her about 15?--who dreams of a fantastic world filled with beautiful sights. Thanks to a terrorist bombing (and destiny) she finds herself in another dimension at the center of an age old prophecy naming her The Awakening. Will she bring ruin and destruction to this land or could the prophecy be wrong and short sighted?

Izark, a mysterious fellow of few words who saves Noriko after she lands in his world. His favorite saying is currently "I don't understand what you are saying" since Noriko initially can't speak his language (nor he hers). He's superhuman in speed, fighting ability and leaping tall mountains in a single bound. Sadly if Noriko does turn out to be the The Awakening of the prophecy he has to kill her. Its sad because he kind of expected The Awakening to be less...nice.

Keimos, basically a violence happy merc that loves blood, dying men screaming and killing. Not always in that order tho. He's joined a search party looking for the prophesied one (aka the Awakening) and is rather put out that someone potentially stronger beat him to it. He's so put out that he kills a man for pointing out that its must have been hard for that mysterious other man to do such a thing. Keimos is then FURTHER put out because Agol is like "dude stop killing the peons".

Lord Rachef, young, polite defacto leader of the free city of Rienka, he has a keen interest in Keimos and the Awakening (mostly in that order) and knowing the future. Geena Haas gets a creepy vibe from him (which Agol just assumes is because he's such a powerful figure), but look he has this sinister little smile on his face the entire time. And he's only interested in Keimos AFTER Agol says he's a crazy homicidal brute.

Agol, father to the brilliant Geena Haas, he became a merc for hire to earn money to cure Geena Haas' blindness but regrets that it means she's lonely often. Probably a much better guy then his current occupation would imply though. Currently in service to Lord Rachef (more or less).

Geena Haas, extremely young (she's like 5) but powerful seer who happens to be blind (I would draw the conclusion that because she's blind she can "see" so powerfully, but I really think her blindness was a device of the story so that Agol would work for Rachef). Tends to act older than her age, and is devoted to her father Agol. Bit of a serious sort and shy.

Part of what I love about this manga, and is something I rarely see, is that Noriko takes the time to learn the language. We see her struggle through a few volumes before becoming fluent enough to converse easily and throughout the rest of the series she still speaks in a much simpler, stilted manner than the others. Having read more portal fantasies (or Scifi portal books) then I can name, its aggravating when its hand waved away somehow. (The Touchstone trilogy by Andrea K Host also features this to an even more detailed degree). Plus Noriko does this when she realizes that if she learns the language to some degree she can be less of a burden on Izark and helpful. Potentially also figure out how to get home.

There is also the fact Noriko is a practical sort. She freaks out, that's to be expected, but recognizes that she needs to be less of a burden on Izark. She works hard to be useful, even as limited as her abilities currently are, which only confuses poor Izark more because really who expects the ruination of their world to be cheerful and friendly?

Izark for his part doesn't get upset with Noriko or irritated. He's occasionally exasperated (she wakes up at one point and would have run blindly into a stone wall if he hadn't protected her head), but overall he treats her kindly despite his conflicting emotions about the fact if she turns out to be The Awakening she has to die a real dead death (his hardline about why is explained later on).

As a whole the series is a much more thoughtful and quiet manga, unlike Red River which was releasing at the same time (in America at least) and is a soap opera roller coaster (plus smutty, From Far Away does not feature the smut). There is action, but it largely contents itself with soft beautiful illustrations, quirky characters living their lives and an examination of what a foolhardy endeavour it can be to trust prophecy.… (meer)

Welcome to volume 4 of From Far Away, or as I like to call it Izark, the Blushing Sky Demon.

When last we left our fine friends Noriko had made the acquaintance of the mercenary Agol and his Seer daughter Geena Haas, Gaya had watched as Izark was imprisoned and Lord Rachef was calmly sipping tea as he pondered who Izark was.

Rachef often calmly sips tea while pondering about Izark, I'm sure that means nothing.

It seems Izark found himself the new fighting toy of the usurper ruler Lord Nada. After refusing to fight Barago, Nada had Izark drugged and kidnapped, gloating about how he would make Izark grovel.

Izark meanwhile was somewhat more worried that he had made a grave error in leaving Noriko with Gaya since it seems Gaya embroiled her in the politics of the region.

All of that gets itself resolved to the point where Izark and his Merry Men wind up on the road to a monster ridden forest of pretty trees.

Noriko continues her campaign to be the most pragmatic shoujo heroine EVER and Izark tries on the brooding hero 'why do I miss her' mask. Lord Rachef is so busy thinking about Izark he barely bothers to talk during a representative meeting...but he's so damn powerful no one nay says him the moment he does. Also no one is allowed in his crib. Keimos is also dreaming of his wedding daynext fight with Izark, and it makes me sad since he'd be the prettiest homicidal murderer at the ball.

Honestly folk spend as much time contemplating Izark as they do Noriko.… (meer)