Ceres: Celestial Legend, Vol. 11: Maiden

妖しのセレス [Ayashi no Ceres] #11

by Yuu Watase

Hell hath no fury like a heavenly maiden.

Horror, Comedy, and Romance Made in Heaven

Yuu Watase , the immensely popular writer/artist of the shôjo (girl's) fantasy smash Fushigi Yû The Mysterious Play , has turned her creativity and wry sense of humor to the horror genre with her anime/manga hit Celestial Legend . Aya thought she was a normal teenager until she discovered that she can transform into a vastly powerful “heavenly maiden” named Ceres...But Ceres is furious and out for revenge!

Whatever You've Done, Whoever You Are

Reunited with her beloved in both passion and purpose, Aya decides to join Tôya in the quest for his real memories. A visit to an island where Aya spent a summer in childhood promises one of their first real leads to that end--turns out Aya and Tôya met long before, back when she was a little girl with a seashell, and when he...looked just exactly the same as he does now! Despite not knowing who or even what Tôya may be, the two decide to travel back to kindly Doctor Kurozuka in Niigata Prefecture to make a life for themselves there. But Kagami is still on the hunt for Ceres' hagoromo , and is in fact even closer to it than ever before. For every great advance, there must be an equally great sacrifice--how will Chidori figure into it?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels, Shojo, Horror, Comics

200 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 1999

About the author

Yuu Watase (渡瀬悠宇) is a Japanese shoujo manga-ka. She is known for her works Fushigi Yūgi, Alice 19th, Ceres: The Celestial Legend, Fushigi Yūgi Genbu Kaiden and Absolute Boyfriend. She likes all music, except heavy metal and old traditional music.

She received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Ceres, Celestial Legend in 1997. Since writing her debut short story "Pajama de Ojama" ("An Intrusion in Pajamas"), Watase has created more than 80 compiled volumes of short stories and continuing series. Because of her frequent use of beautiful male characters in her works, she is widely regarded in circles[which?] as a bishōnen manga artist.[citation needed] In October 2008, Watase began her first shōnen serialization, Arata: The Legend in Weekly Shōnen Sunday.
Her name is romanized as "Yû Watase" in earlier printings of Viz Media's publications of Fushigi Yūgi, Alice 19th, and Ceres, The Celestial Legend, while in Viz Media's Fushigi Yūgi Genbu Kaiden and Absolute Boyfriend her name is romanized as "Yuu Watase". In Chuang Yi's English-language versions of Fushigi Yugi (spelled without a macron or circumflex), her name is romanized as "Yu Watase".

Reviews

[Coke Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10.
Un tomo más calmado, romántico y en el que se empieza a vislumbrar el verdadero pasado de Toya.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuu Watase is an amazing storyteller and draws some gorgeous artwork! She is one of my favorite manga authors and I love everything she has done. The characters in Ceres are amazing and imaginative and extremely easy to relate to. She is able to capture the character’s emotions amazingly with a realistic outlook on life. Aya’s reaction to finding out about her supernatural powers was real and her ongoing fight through all of her problems strikes the reader as something that would ring true. My favorite character was Touya, hot and mysterious with a little bit of attitude thrown in. The series has gory moments and is dark but everything about life is not always peachy as Yuu Watase truthfully is able to point out.

Note: this review is about volumes 1-14 .

[Saidah Gilbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm in the middle of this volume. I can't finish it.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for complete series



After I didn't enjoy Fushigi Yuugi as much as I had hopped I would, I was a little concerned how well I'd like Ayashi no Ceres - after all, I was much more interested in the former. Now that I have read both, I think the latter is the superior work in terms of story telling. Pacing was one of the biggest issues I had with Fushigi Yuugi and, while the beginning is a little slow, the other all pacing is infinitely better. The flow of the story felt right with neither dragging nor rushing and the order of events made reasonable sense.

Thanks to the good pacing, the relationships between characters were a lot more believable. Yuu Watase writes likeable characters but sometimes fails to connect them - it's not perfect in the case of this series but it is so much better done than I have seen her do in other works. My only issue probably lies with how fast Aya falls in love with Toya. I wouldn't necessary call it instant love but she definitely has her eye on him from chapter one and the extent to which she starts to love him comes around very quickly. As a result, I initially struggled to root for them but I have to say that the story between them was otherwise nicely written. I definitely really enjoyed the friendships that were formed and was sad about many of their fates.

This series has an over all darker and more mature tone than many of Watase's other series. While she's never exactly been afraid of killing off a few of her characters. Some of the deaths caught me off guard but over all this was a borderline slaughter fest, at times I wondered if I'd picked up Angel Sanctuary instead - I do see fans of one liking the other. In this darker plot, Watase tried to include some comic relief in the form of Kyuu (the housekeeper of sorts?). I didn't like this character at all as she had zero substance beyond apparently being so ugly characters feel sick at the site of her. This joke soon became very, very, very old, especially given that it was repeated regularly over a 14-volume series. Not too mention that I found this joke to be in poor taste.

Another thing that makes this series different from Watase's other works is the art style. While it is still recognisably Watase's style, it is over all less cute and I take this as an attempt to match the more mature story. I do generally prefer her usual style over this one, but it's not that there is anything wrong with the style used here - it's simply different and, unlike me, others may prefer it over her usual style.

Over all, Ayashi no Ceres surprised me in a good way. It is an all around well crafted sci-fi manga that keeps most of its secrets for the final two volumes. Sci-fi isn't my main genre and there were a few hiccups along the way (Kyuu and the somewhat rushed romance) that prevent me from giving this a full score but it definitely earns its place among shoujo manga classics.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the darkness of the previous volume this 'fluff' seems a little strange, but knowing Watase its clearly just the lull before the storm. So pretty much the entire volume is dedicated to Toya and Aya reuniting as lovers and moving in together. Love scene is beautiful but the whole volume is a bit dull - Snippets of Toya's memory return, always to do with the ocean and he suddenly recalls an island where it seems that he and Aya met as children 10 years ago... We also meet Kagami's mother and begin to see some motivation for his obsession with celestial maidens.

Stunning artwork and deep emotions Yuu Watase's trademark are here in spades, but somehow this series has failed to grip me as much as all her other titles.

[Kasumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Después de toda la angustia de los tomos anteriores, parecía que había llegado la calma a la vida de Aya y Toya ahora que habían decidido vivir juntos, pero Toya descubre que esconde algún misterio más que su pérdida de memoria cuando su cuerpo cambia en un accidente de barco y está seguro de que conoció a Aya mucho antes de su primer encuentro.
Por desgracia, el Proyecto C sigue en marcha y solo se estaba tomando un descanso mientras trataba de reproducir el manto con restos que han ido localizando y Chidori está en su punto de mira, así que parece que se acaba el descanso y volvemos al dolor y la angustia.

[Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

Perooooo... ¿Nadie los busca después de escaparse del laboratorio? pasean lo más tranquilos, hasta fueron al hospital a ver a la madre de Aya, ¿En qué quedó todo? ¿Qué me perdí en medio?.
Me causó gracia ese salto, pero definitivamente fue una decisión extraña para la historia.

Este tomo fue 98% relleno (fue absolutamente shôjo por cierto, y solo hubo sexo concensuado al fin) y si no fuera por el esbozo de revelación del final hubiese sido completamente salteable, salvo que seas fan de la relación Aya-Tooya... que no es mi caso.

Tengo mi teoría formada sobre su pasado por cierto.

[Maria del Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

En aquest capítol podem veure com avança la cerca de la memòria d'en Toya i com tornen a estar junts amb l'Aya.
L'avantpassat segueix sent imbècil, però destapa que té algun secret en relació amb Ceres.
Força misteri i sense tan contingut masclista (però l'Aya és qui s'ha d'encarregar de treballar, fer el menjar, comprar...)

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Aya and Tooya finally reunited and the dark past couple of volumes sort of settling down, we start to focus more on Tooya's past, and their lives together now that life is a little quieter (for now), making this volume to be a much slower, calmer one, but full of mystery. It was nice to rest for a bit.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich, exciting story with well developed characters, intriguing plot, and captivating art. Starting to branch off from an ensemble piece to more focus on smaller groups of characters. Can't wait for next volume.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad they've stopped fucking around and just have Tôya and Aya be together for a bit! I have read this before but I really can't remember how this series wraps up! Defo excited to finish the story.

[Sinistre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Going worse and worse...

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this volume. I'm glad that Aya and Tōya are together and living together. I can't wait to see how he recovers his memory.

[Ribrarian Not · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Edición descatalogada, tomo 11/14.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot happened in this volume... Toya trying to figure out who he was before he lost his memory again (some sort of frog-man?) Still not all that invested in Aya and Toya's relationship. What's there to love about a guy who doesn't know who or what he is? Ah well.

[Shannon (Twilight Sleep) · Rating 5 out of 5]

First manga I started collecting. Watase-san is a literary genius. I love her works. Ceres is an incredible story.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is when being a maiden becomes something to live for.

great read

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm getting nervous. Watase has lured me into a false sense of security and I know that the bottom is going to drop out and I know I won't like it, nope, not one bit.

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toya has rescued Aya from Howell's lab, but she's not waking up! Now that he's finally came to take her away, will their love end in a coma?

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

w00t, lets hear it for Aya/Tooya non-emo times! Also C-Genome Project progress of sorts

[Danyka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched and loved the Anime version of this since I was a kid. It also landed on my favorites.

For now, I got no plans for buying a copy.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventh book read of BTAT 2017. This is the volume where things really start to change. I love it, but there's a lot of pain ahead.

[Diana Fritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is intensely depressing. I partly regret getting rid of it because it was very well written (and drawn!!) but after I had the ending spoiled for me, I just couldn't finish it.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Chidori... I squealed when I saw that Toya and Aya met in the past.

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

What? Just what.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edición española. Colección Shojo Manga. Tomo húmedo.