Dream Saga, Volume 1

夢幻伝説 タカマガハラ [Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara] #1

by Megumi Tachikawa

Yuuki Wakasa is a typical 5th-grade schoolgirl who dutifully helps her mother around the house by taking care of her three younger brothers (a.k.a. the "monkeys"). She's often found escaping to her room at any given chance to read manga, which her mother thinks she does too much of! However, when Yuuki finds a red magic stone she also discovers she's the 'chosen one' who must enter the world of dreams in order to save the Sun God from destruction.

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

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 1997

About the author

Megumi Tachikawa (立川恵) is a Japanese shōjo manga artist, best known for the manga Saint Tail, which was also adapted into an anime series. She made her manga debut in 1992 with 16-sai no Tiara, which was nominated for the 'New Face' manga award.

Reviews

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool story

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute manga, but at times it would have a page full of artwork that was just a bit confusing. I felt like I had to hold the book at arms length to make out what I was supposed to be seeing. The story was a fun one, though, and I did enjoy reading this. I just wish the art was clearer in a few places.

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story, great for those just starting to get into manga. It's heavily based on Japanese mythology, but everything is well explained in the series, so even if you don't know the myths well it's easy to follow along. It's also full of environmental themes.

In other worlds, very Japanese, with a look to the past and at the future.

[Elyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

**Manga**

Unfortunately, I was not a fan of this format at all. I chose this book after the original Manga I bought was not in the format of back-to-front and right-to-left. Though I think this book would be a quick read for someone who is familiar with the genre, I could not get into it and had difficulty following all the different panels and speech bubbles. However, I think that this book would be good for students who enjoy fantasy, comic books, or graphic novels. The main character, a 5th grader named Yuuki, is also someone many kids could probably identify with in her normal life as she goes to school, interacts with friends, and helps take care of her younger siblings. The story of going off to a magical land to save the sun was interesting, but I just couldn't get into the story because the format was too distracting for me.

[Holly Letson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuuki lives in 2 worlds. Nakatsukuni is Earth, the living world while she's awake, and the world as we know it ourselves. Takamagahara is another world altogether, a world where ancient Japanese myths are their way of life, and she can only be awake there while she is asleep here.
Yuuki has been chosen to yield the mysterious stone, and be the Chosen Girl--the Horizon Girl--who will save the sun in Nakatsukuni. But, how will she do this? Even she doesn't know!
But, when she meets up with a few boys from her Nakatsukuni class, while in Takamagahara, things start to get interesting. And, along with "her" bird, "Binga", and those two, she just might stand a chance....

[Connie]

My first manga. (:

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is so much better when you figure out it is a version of Japanese world creation mythology or something like that...

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt (Rückseite):
Yuuki Wakasa geht in die 5a der Kamishiro Grundschule. Eines Tages fällt ein Magatama-Juwel aus den Wolken in ihre Hand. Von diesem Zeitpunkt an kann sie, wenn sie träumt nach Takamagahara reisen - ein Zauberreich, in dem Yuuki und andere Auserwählte die Göttin Amaterasu retten sollen...

Cover:
Das Cover des Mangas sieht recht niedlich aus. Zu sehen ist hier auf grauem Grund die Protagonistin Yuuki, welche ein niedliches Kostüm trägt. Das Cover sagt so nicht viel aus, jedoch ist es hübsch anzusehen und deutet von der Art des Charakters darauf hin, dass es sich bei der Geschichte rund um Yuuki um eine Story für jüngere Leser handelt. Das bestätigt sich spätestens bei dem ersten Blick ins Buch. Als Reihe betrachtet passen die Cover alle recht gut zusammen, weshalb ich es sehr ansprechend finde.

Eigener Eindruck:
Yuuki ist die Älteste von vier Kindern und hat ihre Brüder gut im Griff. Sie besucht die Schule in der fünften Stufe und wird eines Tages durch einen Magatama-Juwel auserwählt Großes zu vollbringen. Durch ihn beginnt sie eine Frau in Spiegeln zu sehen und glaubt zuerst, dass es sich dabei um einen Geist handelt. Doch Yuuki ist mutig und stellt sich dieser geheimnisvollen Frau. Von ihr erfährt sie, dass sie in die Traumwelt Takamagahara reisen kann und nur wieder in ihre Welt zurück kehren kann, wenn sie in der Traumwelt selbst einschläft oder einen magischen Spiegel zur Hilfe nimmt - welchen sie aber zu Beginn ihrer Reise gleich verliert. Sie wurde auserwählt um die Sonnengöttin Amaterasu zu retten. Gelingt ihr dies nicht, so scheint die Sonne in Yuukis Welt nicht mehr und dies würde den Untergang der Menschheit bedeuten.

Nachdem Yuuki in die Traumwelt gelangt, begegnet sie Takaomi und seiner Bande. Er scheint der gleiche Takaomi zu sein, in den sie sich in der Grundschule heimlich verliebt hat, doch hier ist er ganz anders und ein Draufgänger. Gemeinsam machen sie sich auf den Weg, um Yuukis Aufgabe zu erfüllen und begegnen dabei dem heiligen Vogel Binga sowie einem Klassenkameraden von Yuuki, der ebenfalls einen Magatama besitzt...

Dieser Manga ist wirklich herzallerliebst umgesetzt. Auch wenn er am Anfang etwas verwirrend scheint, so ist es eine wunderbare Story, die im Laufe der Zeit immer mehr Informationen rund um die Menschen- und die Götterwelt preisgibt. Die Zeichnungen sind gut umgesetzt und eigentlich hatte ich mir den Manga auch nur geholt, weil mich das Cover etwas an CLAMPs Card Captor Sakura erinnerte. Dem Alter der Charaktere entsprechend ist der erste Band ebenfalls so gestaltet, wer hier also Actionszenen, Blut und dergleichen sucht, dem empfehle ich die Finger davon zu lassen. Wer träumen möchte, der ist hier genau richtig. Was mir ein bisschen schwer gefallen ist, waren die ganzen komplizierten Wörter rund um das Magatama und die Götterwelt. Die scheinen mir bisweilen so kompliziert, dass sie sicher auch für junge Leser nicht unbedingt verständlich sind und durchaus ein bisschen den Lesespaß nehmen können, was ich persönlich schade finde.

Idee: 5/5
Emotionen: 3/5
Logik: 4/5
Zeichnungen: 4/5

Gesamt: 4/5

Daten:
Taschenbuch: 208 Seiten
Verlag: Feest Comics (September 2002)
Sprache: Deutsch
ISBN-10: 389885504X
ISBN-13: 978-3898855044
Vom Hersteller empfohlenes Alter: 8 - 10 Jahre
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 11,4 x 2 x 18 cm

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and series! I love it because it’s about saving animals and creatures! This story is based off of the Japanese myth and legend of Takamaghara and Amaterasu in which Amaterasu is the sun and she hides in an Aminowato (a giant rock) because her brother is coming to kill her. Then the people of Takamaghara have a party to bring her out, to bring the sun back. Takamaghara is considered the “land of the Gods”, but is also the dream world in this series. That’s why when Yuki dreams she ends up in Takamaghara, but when she is awake, she is in the real world, Aka Nakatsukuni.

If you are not familiar with Japanese mythology, like I was, you will learn a lot about this mythology and it is a very fun way to learn about this story.

In the very beginning of the story, we are introduced to the “Horizon Girl” also know as the “Legendary Girl” who is a 10-year old girl in 5th grade named Yuki who found a stone falling from the sky that gives her special powers to speak to the animals and creatures in Takamaghara and she learns she is destined to save Amaterasu and both worlds. But first she has to find the other 5 magic stone users to help her save Amaterasu!

The premise of this story is that the sun in Takamaghara is dying or is going to because Amaterasu (the sun) in Takamaghara and Nakatisuni (the real world) is fading due to Amaterasu being in hiding from being destroyed; which in turn makes the sun fade and makes everything dark in the real world. If the sun dies, both worlds and all the people and animals will too, because the sun is vital for life. That is why the Legendary Girl exists to save the sun and both worlds!

In addition, this is also a romance/fantasy series. But the romance is light and cute. Some of the characters are really funny too. I also like that it is a short manga series and every volume has something exciting and a new creature to help or save!

This is an adorable series that teaches a lot about this particular Japanese mythology.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally I read through the first couple volumes of Dream Saga in high school, courtesy of a friend who bought the series and loved it, but so much time passed I was able to go into this with a bit of a fresh start, as I didn't really recall what it was about.

As far as shoujo goes, this one has a few elemental similarities to Fushigi Yugi and Inuyasha, the difference being that this one dives pretty deep into the core or heart of ancient Japanese mythology, it is much lighter in tone and thematics than either of those older teen series, and our protagonist is a precocious 5th-grader who has a bit of a terrifying Mama Tiger™ streak. Yuuki is the legendary Horizon Girl, destined to save both Nakatsukuni [our world] and Takamagahara [heaven, or in this case, the dream world.] She must find and unite, and then unleash, the power of all five magic stones and their destined wielders. Should she fail, both worlds will die once the sun dies.

The story starts off pretty mild, and a lot of the long Japanese proper nouns can be hard to follow. It's worth sticking with though, because the story is pretty fun and if you read the author blurbs on the pages or feel like looking things up, you'll learn a little more about Japanese mythology in the process. I will also say that this first volume ends on a bit of a pretty intense little cliff-hanger, so be aware if you want to read this but don't have the following volumes to pick up afterward.

All in all, this is an interesting and somewhat diverting read for a shoujo manga so far, and I am already quite eager to get my hands on the rest of it.

[Rereader · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's sad to say, but I was disappointed with this volume. The story has a lot of potential and I love ANYTHING that deals with Japanese lore and legend, but reading this volume was an absolute CHORE. The paneling tries to flow and blur to make scenes more dream-like, but what ends up happening is I can't always follow events as they should be occurring, so I end rereading whole pages so that I can properly understand what happened.

On top of that, the pacing in each panel doesn't flow well either. Certain events that take up huge panels are then followed by smaller panels that are meant to transition the scene, but those panels are so small that I end up glancing over them, leaving me to wonder how we've gone from one scene to the next.

Oh yeah, and the second Yuuki lands in Takamagahara, she is found by a group of men who look for girls for their boss to fool around with. Yuuki is in fifth grade. Their boss is 15. And he hits on her multiple times, one time he does asks if she could "repay him some other way?" then stops himself and says, "how could I live with myself if I harm the legendary girl?" Glad you've got you're FUCKING PRIORITTIES STRAIGHT, ASSHOLE!

So yeah, not thrilled with this volume and DEFINITELY will not be continuing with the series. Give it a shot if you want, but there's better shoujo manga elsewhere.

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dulu waktu SMP aku sering melihat halaman promosi Dream Saga di komik Card Captor Sakura yang kupunya. Akhirnya rasa penasaran menahun itu bakal terbayar tuntas. Premisnya menarik, tentang seorang gadis kelas 5 SD yang bisa masuk ke dunia mimpi Takamagahara demi menyelamatkan Dewi Amaterasu supaya matahari di dunianya dan di dunia Takamagahara tidak lenyap.

Petualangannya masuk ke dunia mimpi setiap dia tertidur di dunia nyata juga digambarkan dengan sangat menarik.

Hanya saja satu hal yang bikin aku bertanya-tanya. Apa waktu dia masuk ke dunia mimpi sosok Yuki, sang tokoh utama, jadi sosok gadis remaja? Soalnya temannya yang juga masuk ke dunia mimpi dan pemegang batu giok magatama, Sota Inaba, begitu masuk dunia mimpi punya sosok yang berbeda. Terlihat lebih dewasa dan gaya rambutnya juga berubah. Habisnya ada adegan Yuki sempat mau dicium oleh Takaomi saat dia baru tiba di Takamagahara, sih. Lha, dia kan masih kelas 5 SD (sosoknya juga kelihatannya nggak berubah di Takamagahara. Atau ini karena gaya gambarnya aja?). Sedangkan Takaomi yang mau nyium dia itu digambarkan sebagai pemuda kekar yang tampaknya sudah dewasa, begitu juga teman-teman dari kawanan pencurinya. That's so disturbing in many levels you know.

Tapi back again, gaya gambarnya Megumi Tachikawa bikin aku susah membedakan rentang usia para karakternya. Semuanya digambar dengan gaya imut, sih. Sigh.

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have held this title in my mind for probably 15 years, ever since I read the first volume at a public library while on a family trip. Now I'm finally reading it again and will get to find out how it all ends.

Cute art and interesting story, but sometimes the panels and dialogue are confusingly arranged. It's very '90s, but a fun introduction to manga and Japanese mythology.

[Sarah Holl · Rating 5 out of 5]

それは本当に良かった！

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not so good version of Inuyasha mixed with Fairytales(?), but with Sakura from card captor as the main character.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I genuinely only picked this up to read because the title font is the font used for Bratz

[Stevie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the author's previous work, Saint Tail, and I was not disappointed by this one. The characters are interesting, even if they are cookie cutter anime stereotypes. The heroine in particular kept me reading on and on. I love a good magical girl tale; give me a spunky heroine with magical powers any day! I definitely want to read the entire series but I believe my local library only has the first one. Looks like I'll just have to snatch up copies wherever and whenever I can!

[Ace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readers with a background in Japanese mythology will have a leg up on the mythologically-based Dream Saga: it leaves the story with a lot of complicated, long names (Takamagahara, Nakatsukuni, etc). Fifth grader Yuuki finds a magic stone one day; it allows her to travel to an alternate dream world in which she (eventually) discovers two others from her grade. Unfortunately, the boy Yuuki wants to see most - Takaomi - isn't present in this world, and if he is, he's taken the form of an older, tougher boy who lacks the kind-hearted qualities that Yuuki loves so much. The story is cute, reminding me of a similar dream world plot line in Desert Coral, though I personally found Dream Saga less confusing.

While the artwork is beautiful, it can be confusing at times. Perhaps this is because this was one of my first manga. It falls into a lot of the "chosen one" stereotypes, but overall, the story is cute and fun with a nice environmentalist message.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Manga Selection:
Yuuki is a fifth-grader who leads an ordinary life. She goes to school and helps take care of her younger brothers even though she is often annoyed by them. However, her life changes when a magic stone fall from the sky one day. Yuuki discovers that her life is not ordinary at all and that she must enter a magical land called Takamagahara to try and save the sun before it disappears forever. She is one of the chosen ones.

This was my first manga book and I do not have a background in Japanese fairy tales, so reading this book was a stretch for me. I would recommend this book for upper elementary school and middle school readers who enjoy graphic novels or comic books. Although I had difficulty at times following it, I would imagine that younger readers who are interested in this type of book would like the story line that follows Yuuki and her friends.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhm, ich bin verwirrt: ich bin nicht sicher, dass ich verstanden habe, worum die Story geht. Es gibt ein Mädche, das in Japan lebt und nach einer anderen Welt gebracht wurde. Sie muss die beide Welten retten aber sie muss erst vier andere Personen suchen, die dasselbe Juwel haben als sie. Sie begegnet zwei in diesem ersten Band und sie sind auch ihre Klassenkameraden aus Erde. Dann es gibt ein Paar fantastische Elemente aber... ja, sehr verwirrend! Es gibt viele, viele japanische Mythologie und vielleicht das macht das Lesen noch schwieriger.

Die Zeichnungen von MegumI Tachikawa sind OK aber ab und zu sind die Panels zu voll und man kann nicht verstehen, was gerade passiert.

Ich werde weiterlesen und ich hoffe, dass die Geschichte ein bisschen verständlicher wird.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it is recommended for the youth, I decided to read this story anyway. The idea of having the sun disappear from two worlds and the usage of falling asleep to go between those two worlds is kind of old but if you were drawn into the story then it's not so old after all. The relationships between the characters is put together well. Yuuki's strong personality is definitely what I like about her the most so far. Although the story seems hard to follow at first it eventually becomes more exciting as you keep reading. This series has been my favourite manga series since I was 14.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things I liked most about this book was that I understood all the references to Japanese mythology--Amaterasu, Takamagahara, the magatama, etc. The drawing was pretty kawaii, but the story also had some more mature elements that kept it serious enough to be an enjoyable story without being /too/ cute. The whole 'dream world' thing is kind of cliché, but it has some original elements that make it interesting. I look forward to reading more of this manga.

[Miss Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahhh nostalgia. This is exactly the sort of story I consumed by the ton when I first got into manga, young girls launched into secondary worlds where they're magical saviours and all the characters have enormous eyes. Very good, this pleases my inner preteen. I hope Yuuki saves everyone and gains an entire menagerie of magical animal companions. 2.5 stars

[Lamia · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm its ok i dont really think i liked it that much but it was allright and everything its just not exciting.

[Nudraat · Rating 1 out of 5]

one of my first manga books. it was really weird but i was impressed with their art.

[Diane ϟ [ Lestrange ] · Rating 5 out of 5]

cant wait for the next volume

[Bshayer Alkuwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first manga.