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Utahime: The Songstress
Only women poss the power of the "utahime." Born with this talent, these women are handed over to the state, and as long as they sing, its peace is preserved. But could a forbidden male "utahime" have arisen?
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews
October 20, 2023
Aaah! I didn't realize this was a one off story and now I'm sad - the art is gorgeous and I loved the story of both one-shots that were included! I wish both stories could have gone on to more volumes, Utahime especially, but for now I'll just enjoy what it was. <3
September 14, 2018
I loved both of these stories. They presented fascinating worlds and well-thought-out characters, with a little bit of melancholy. Aki's art is amazing, too.
January 26, 2021
It is a whimsical tale about two special children who have special abilities when they sing. It's a short composed story and has pretty artwork from the creator, Aki.
October 12, 2010
It begins on the morning that Kain discovers the hand-drawn wanted posters plastered on his wall. As he contemplates them, reading the rather vague description of the girl who is being sought - it says that she is wearing purple garb and has a ponytail - he is approached by Thomas, the village chief, with food from the village, as well as the villagers' best wishes for the village songstress. Kain is singularly unimpressed, and is rather rude. But he does have a right to be - the village thinks the songstress is his twin sister Maria. Little do they know that it is Kain himself, and always has been, and that Maria is dead and has been for two years. Just then they hear a thud and discover that a strange girl has fallen into their midst.
They take the girl into Kain's home, and while she is unconscious, they speculate about her. Thomas realizes that the poster is the work of the royal knights, and therefore this girl must be of royal blood. He has recently spent a lot of time in the capital, and learned of the passing of the king, and of the designs of the king's brother to assume the throne. But it seems that the king has a daughter. The surly Kain warns Thomas to lock the door when he goes, so that the girl doesn't open the door and see what she is not meant to see, what they have been hiding - surprisingly - for two years. But for how much longer can they keep up the charade?
The land in which they live is protected by two things - its sovereign and its songstress. And long ago it was decreed that the sovereign must be male, and the songstress female. Should the songstress die without issue, the entire line would die out, and chaos would ensue. But in this case, the songstress was born a male. And the sovereign a female. When the girl recovers, she reveals that she is indeed the king's daughter, Lah, as Thomas suspected. She has heard rumors of a male songstress, and come to see for herself if the rumors are true. Kain is upset that Thomas has allowed their secret to be revealed. Thomas apologizes for him, explaining that he hasn't gotten much sleep, singing all night and caring for Lah all day, so he's a bit cranky. Lah understands. She has sought him out because of her position as female sovereign, comparable to his as male songstress. Lah is the only other person to know that the village songstress is not Kain's twin sister Maria, it is Kain. Thomas explains to her that the village protects its songstress, bringing her food and gifts to the tower in which she lives; in return they receive special privileges. Kain refers to them as parasites. At one time, Kain ran away from home. He was gone for ten years, only returning when by chance he heard something wrong in his sister's voice. When she died, he secretly assumed her position as songstress, to ensure the well-being of the village. The royal knights locate the sovereign, and take her back to the capital. She feels sad for Kain, knowing how alone he truly is, and that he has it worse than she does.
When Thomas was a boy, he lived with his family in the lower village, where his father was chief, and where Thomas knew some day he would be as well. He can hear the singing from the tower on the hill, although he is forbidden to go near it. But being a curious boy, he goes anyway, behind his father's back, almost getting lost for his effort. He hears voices, and that is how he meets Kain and Maria. When Thomas introduces himself as the son of the village chief, Kain instantly pegs him as the leader of the parasites, as he refers to them. From the beginning, Kain is hostile, but Maria is more open to friendship. They live with their mother, who is the village songstress, and some day Maria will be songstress. Thomas begins to visit them on a regular basis, behind his father's back. Kain tries to warn his sister not to trust Thomas, or anyone else from the village. The villagers bring Maria food and gifts, in anticipation of her becoming the songstress, but they ignore Kain.
You can read my complete review at Anime Radius!
They take the girl into Kain's home, and while she is unconscious, they speculate about her. Thomas realizes that the poster is the work of the royal knights, and therefore this girl must be of royal blood. He has recently spent a lot of time in the capital, and learned of the passing of the king, and of the designs of the king's brother to assume the throne. But it seems that the king has a daughter. The surly Kain warns Thomas to lock the door when he goes, so that the girl doesn't open the door and see what she is not meant to see, what they have been hiding - surprisingly - for two years. But for how much longer can they keep up the charade?
The land in which they live is protected by two things - its sovereign and its songstress. And long ago it was decreed that the sovereign must be male, and the songstress female. Should the songstress die without issue, the entire line would die out, and chaos would ensue. But in this case, the songstress was born a male. And the sovereign a female. When the girl recovers, she reveals that she is indeed the king's daughter, Lah, as Thomas suspected. She has heard rumors of a male songstress, and come to see for herself if the rumors are true. Kain is upset that Thomas has allowed their secret to be revealed. Thomas apologizes for him, explaining that he hasn't gotten much sleep, singing all night and caring for Lah all day, so he's a bit cranky. Lah understands. She has sought him out because of her position as female sovereign, comparable to his as male songstress. Lah is the only other person to know that the village songstress is not Kain's twin sister Maria, it is Kain. Thomas explains to her that the village protects its songstress, bringing her food and gifts to the tower in which she lives; in return they receive special privileges. Kain refers to them as parasites. At one time, Kain ran away from home. He was gone for ten years, only returning when by chance he heard something wrong in his sister's voice. When she died, he secretly assumed her position as songstress, to ensure the well-being of the village. The royal knights locate the sovereign, and take her back to the capital. She feels sad for Kain, knowing how alone he truly is, and that he has it worse than she does.
When Thomas was a boy, he lived with his family in the lower village, where his father was chief, and where Thomas knew some day he would be as well. He can hear the singing from the tower on the hill, although he is forbidden to go near it. But being a curious boy, he goes anyway, behind his father's back, almost getting lost for his effort. He hears voices, and that is how he meets Kain and Maria. When Thomas introduces himself as the son of the village chief, Kain instantly pegs him as the leader of the parasites, as he refers to them. From the beginning, Kain is hostile, but Maria is more open to friendship. They live with their mother, who is the village songstress, and some day Maria will be songstress. Thomas begins to visit them on a regular basis, behind his father's back. Kain tries to warn his sister not to trust Thomas, or anyone else from the village. The villagers bring Maria food and gifts, in anticipation of her becoming the songstress, but they ignore Kain.
You can read my complete review at Anime Radius!
November 14, 2009
This was interesting. The art is very nice and the storyline is different. For centuries, the kingdom has always had a male heir that runs the country and in turn there are always female songstresses who sing at night which somehow keeps the country safe (we don’t know why). The story opens with Kain and Thomas, brother to the songstress and the village chief respectively, who are looking at a wanted poster for a young lady who they summarily meet. As it turns out, she’s the princess and the only heir to the throne, who’s come to see her songstresses. The problem is Maria, Kain’s sister has died and he’s pretending to be her because for the first time ever the songstress is actually male. Kain is trapped. His sister died by setting up a dissonance in her song and no one can know that for the first time ever the sexual roles have been reversed, no prince and a male songstress. Kain and Thomas thinks this spells doom but the princess seems convinced things can change.
It quickly becomes obvious that this opening is part of a frame for the story. Most of the book then spends time with Maria, Thomas and Kain as youngsters. It details why Kain took off on his own, how he meets other songstresses and we learn their whole history, which is interesting. It’s clear Kain’s mom hated the village because as it turns out that the villagers are compensated for hosting a songstress and only a songstress can birth another songstress so they’re kept as virtual slaves by the villages to keep that royal money flowing in.
The ending completes the frame but its solutions were too passive and too naïve for me. It was a good story that ends rather weakly. I would have liked more time to have been spent on the gender switch in the roles. That had the potential to be a very powerful idea. The weirdest part was the mangaka said she wanted to make Maria a brother and didn’t and regrets that she didn’t…um then your whole premise would have been a totally different story….
There’s another short story in this rather thick volume, Darika about a soldier who has to kill any Darika (a manufactured child of god) if they manage to meld with their diva (the demon part of them). It was odd but interesting. I can’t say much more than that without totally spoiling the story.
It quickly becomes obvious that this opening is part of a frame for the story. Most of the book then spends time with Maria, Thomas and Kain as youngsters. It details why Kain took off on his own, how he meets other songstresses and we learn their whole history, which is interesting. It’s clear Kain’s mom hated the village because as it turns out that the villagers are compensated for hosting a songstress and only a songstress can birth another songstress so they’re kept as virtual slaves by the villages to keep that royal money flowing in.
The ending completes the frame but its solutions were too passive and too naïve for me. It was a good story that ends rather weakly. I would have liked more time to have been spent on the gender switch in the roles. That had the potential to be a very powerful idea. The weirdest part was the mangaka said she wanted to make Maria a brother and didn’t and regrets that she didn’t…um then your whole premise would have been a totally different story….
There’s another short story in this rather thick volume, Darika about a soldier who has to kill any Darika (a manufactured child of god) if they manage to meld with their diva (the demon part of them). It was odd but interesting. I can’t say much more than that without totally spoiling the story.
August 26, 2015
I neither liked nor disliked this one, I'm afraid.
So much was left undeveloped. Why was a female sovereign born? Why was a male songstress born? Was it really just a freak coincidence? Was there greater magic at play? What's the end result of all these story threads?
What's the point?
There was so much potential for this, but then it just... ended. Without really wrapping up anything at all.
So much promise, but the way it stands, it's just "meh."
So much was left undeveloped. Why was a female sovereign born? Why was a male songstress born? Was it really just a freak coincidence? Was there greater magic at play? What's the end result of all these story threads?
What's the point?
There was so much potential for this, but then it just... ended. Without really wrapping up anything at all.
So much promise, but the way it stands, it's just "meh."
September 5, 2015
Having read another of this authors manga I'm beginning to see their stories tend to be about ambiguous characters with not so happy endings - but the stories are so intriguing and the character development so interesting that it is a wonderful read. What can I say, I'm a sucker for well written and drawn angst.
November 21, 2015
The story, unfortunately did nothing for me and I was incredibly bored the whole way through it.
September 26, 2016
Leseeindruck
- nette 1. Geschichte
- 2. Geschichte gut gelungen, auch wenn ich das Ende nicht ganz verstanden habe, jedoch mag ich sie mehr als die Erste
- nette 1. Geschichte
- 2. Geschichte gut gelungen, auch wenn ich das Ende nicht ganz verstanden habe, jedoch mag ich sie mehr als die Erste
December 31, 2016
Wish there had been more but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Very sad though.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews