A Thousand Miles

Kamui

****

Kamui is a Fantasy Action manga by Shingo Nanami released in 2001. It was serialized in Square Enix’s “Monthly Stencil” magazine – and eventually their “Monthly Gangan Wing” magazine for its 11 volume run until 2003. The English localization was done by Broccoli Books.

Cover Appeal

Shingo Nanami – Our mangaka is one Shingo Nanami. This is my first time reading any of their works, but cursory gander at their published works reveals a budding pattern. Kamui and Sengoku Strays are Shoujo and Shounen Action Fantasy pieces respectively whereas Tennen Yuuryouji and J Wota Danshi☆Asahina-kun are Shoujo and Shounen Rom Coms. My embarrassingly late recognition of Kamui as a Shoujo title makes some of its elements make a lot of sense.

Glamour Shot – Jumping off from that point, Kamui has a couple of these glamour shots preceding the table of contents. The one on the cover here is of our protagonist, Atsuma, and is my favorite of the three. The color, pose and hair and fold detail, in my opinion, makes it a really well done picture. Admittedly it looks like a an anime version of a magazine fashion ad, but has a reserved, yet vulnerable vibe to it and that strikes me as on point for Atsuma

The Gist

Humans and spirits once lived in unity. All was balanced as it should be….until it wasn’t. Two massive earthquakes (known as the “Great Earthquakes”) practically leveled Kyuushu, Shikoku and greatly damaged Honshu. Society was heavily fragmented into smaller self-governed groups. If that wasn’t bad enough, Okikurumi, one of the sacred Kamui disappears from their village threatening global destruction. A young man from said village, Atsuma, heads out to return the spirit to its dwelling place. Can Atsuma find Okikurumi in time? And just what does the NOA, the organization that’s been running aid post apocalypse, have to do with this?

The Cast

Atsuma – A young man from Okikurumi’s village sent to retrieve the spirit. He wields a powerful ancient spirit sword.

Sumire – NOA’s second in command and commander of their Heaven Division. As the wielder of wind powers, she’s rather strong. But she’s listless and brings Atsuma into the NOA as she finds his spiritual sense and talk of a miracle interesting

Aika – NOA’s First Lieutenant and Sumire’s right hand woman. She’s fiercely protective of Sumire and very “no-nonsene”.

Shiki – NOA’s Top General. Unlike Aika’s strictness, which is an expression of her devotion to Sumire, Shiki’s cold ruthlessness is in service to forcing her devotion to him. Needlesss to say, it’s very ineffective.

The Rub

It doesn’t take much to catch on to the fact that Kamui is a fantasy property, with its near immediate mention of spirits and all. However, that isn’t the only thing that immediately sticks out. The age of the protagonist, combined with the character art accompanying the table of contents, certainly gave me that “moody piece that’ll likely be cathartic to teenagers” vibe. After reading this first volume, I’m confident that my assessment was correct in all the right ways – specifically, that my initial apprehension at its purported angst was unfounded. It isn’t as immature as “In the End” nor is as full of angst (and devoid of plot) as “Clover”. It reminded very much of the short story “Terra” from the end of Demon Diary – and I loved that story.

There’s a juxtaposition, if not outright conflict, between “Old” and “New” (old folks vs young folks, old spiritualism vs new technology, etc). This is embodied in the NOA speech to the rank and file soldiers. Older generations were dismissive of the younger ones, until the two Great Earthquakes, after which the older generations readily came to rely upon the NOA, it’s technology and the young people that manned it’s stations – fueling an animosity the NOA makes no effort at all to hide. If anything, they seem to be practically weaponizing it to motivate their members. Furthermore, it’s heavily implied that the NOA’s technology is imitating, if not outright stolen from, the titular Kamui.

The name of the game in regards to the character interactions is devotion – devotion to other characters and to their respective factions/duties. There’s a refreshing variety of devotion on display, albeit the kind built on love, friendship or the professionally opportunistic kind. Hell, try to not let the irony of the NOA, despite preaching about their hyper-meritocracy and condemnation of the elders taking them for granted, practically cannibalizing their young, able-bodied members in devotion of their science. A science, mind you, that may very well be worsening the environmental crisis they’re supposed to be combating.

In Conclusion

I was under the impression that I would have to engage with Kamui in a more detached manner as it had “mid-2000’s teenage feel-fest” written all over it, but as I read it, it became more apparent that this was aesthetic flourish to some degree. Furthermore, I really did enjoy that the main character isn’t whiny, but raises some very important concerns about how the NOA treats it’s members. I guess I was expecting more style than substance and I’m pleasantly surprised that there seems to be a story with some potential there, instead.

Continue?: Sure, why not?