Basara

A post-apocalyptic fantasy where a young woman assumes the identity of her brother to lead a rebellion against a ruthless Empire.

This was a series a classmate from Japanese school lent me. The fantastical setting and gripping story completely sucked me in. Little did I know I was reading one of my first shojo manga. It should’ve been obvious considering the heroine falls in love with the enemy king but neither of them know each other’s true identity. Also almost every character is a pretty boy bishonen and there is even a BL guardian figure. Not that any of this matters because Yumi Tamura‘s art work is equally lovely and dynamic. The only thing I’ll say is that it’s an older series from the 90s so you have to deal with some offensive stereotypes here and there. Otherwise an excellent series that can help bridge male readers to some quality shojo manga.

Available from VIZ.

~dakazu