Ceres: Celestial Legend, Vol. 4: Chidori

妖しのセレス [Ayashi no Ceres] #4

by Yuu Watase

Here is another exciting installment in the popular manga series. After she sees Ceres and Yuhi fly off the Mikage Corporation building, a girl named Chidori wants to find the airborne duo. Locating them, she asks Yuhi to grant her crippled brother's wish to fly. They discover that he is part of the Mikage Corporation's genome experiment!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels, Shojo, Horror, Young Adult

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 1997

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

[Judyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3/5 (maybe)

[Contains some spoilers, and anger.]

This series is just not impressing me at the moment. There were even a couple of parts that frustrated me. I still have hope, though, that it will get better. Also, I’m hoping the next book to be easier to read, if only because it’s in the modern format that VIZ prints today, and not this American-reading-style, large and skinny way that they used to produce them.

So. In this volume: Suzumi got fixed, then we met this new character, Chidori, who looks younger than the rest but I guess is about the same age as Aya and Yuhi. She saw Ceres flying with Yuhi, thinks they can help her sick brother, and so has come to find them. There’s this one annoying part, though, when she first shows up, where she throws herself at Yuhi, and the others make fun, calling him a pervert and all that, when he’s clearly never met her before. I didn’t really find that funny; it also didn’t help that Aya was acting like she was disgusted by him, supposedly in a funny way, but also in a jealous way. The jealous part continues throughout the volume, and that just annoyed me to pieces, because she’s supposed to be fully in love with Toya.

I think I’m kind of starting to really dislike Aya. I’m not really sure how this came about. Maybe because she’s starting to act like she’s in love with Yuhi as well as Toya, and because she’s just generally not being helpful to anyone with anything. Also, this:

“I just wanted a little excitement at first. I’d flirt with him like a silly schoolgirl with a crush, and get all giddy when he humored me a little.” Aya thinks this at one point while staring at Toya, and it just pissed me off. Because that’s a total lie. Not once did she act like it was a harmless, petty attraction; the whole times she’s been acting like she’s in love with him, like she wants to be with him forever, yada yada yada. She can’t just now realize that she has a real attraction to him when she confessed her love in, like, the first volume. I don’t accept that.

The only good thing Aya’s done, I think, is decide to start getting along with Ceres, let her take over every once in a while when it’s needed.

Because, for some reason, I’m starting to really like Ceres. I think she’s supposed to be wrong, or cruel, or something, but I personally think she’s the only one who gets anything done. She’s useful in fighting, she isn’t hurt easily, and she doesn’t back down from anyone. Also, when she first came out and was with Yuhi, she confronted him about his sexual attack on Aya, telling him that that wasn’t right. Which, thank god, because no one else said anything. Aya didn’t even say anything. Yuhi, even, acted like he knew it was wrong, but excused it because he couldn’t help himself, which is just bullshit.

I don’t know why, but I just seem to be pissed off about this book. It just… happened, somehow.

Anyway, other things that happened. Aya’s family poisoned the town with her blood, because anyone who feels weird from it apparently has celestial powers inside themselves. That’s why Chidori’s brother is sick, only for some reason, he doesn’t have powers, Chidori does. As does this other girl in the hospital, who starts causing explosions all over the place. But don’t worry, Aya’s family takes the other girl with them, claiming they’re going to help her or whatever. Chidori decides to go with Aya and Yuhi, so she’ll be sticking around for a while.

Aki, on the other hand, is starting to experience weird blackouts and this weird attraction to his sister, and these moments (the blackouts, as he doesn’t remember them) where he believes Aya is his or whatever, and where he’s kind of violent, because his past self is starting to show up. The next volume, I believe, is going to have more of him, and that’s surely not going to be good.

There’s still tension between Aya and Toya, only now there’s also tension between Aya and Yuhi, and Yuhi and Toya. Also, Aki knows that Toya likes his sister. The whole love thing is getting rather ridiculous, honestly. Oh, and at one point, Yuhi was told that Aya will love him at some point, which just doesn't make sense to me. And I'm not sure if I want it to, because I think I prefer Toya.

Humor is still not working for me, just as the horror is still not. I'm really hoping that that gets better soon. The italics are still ridiculous and horrible and make the reading jilted, and it looks like it will continue into the other format. I’m not really looking forward to that. Here’s an example: “Their necks were broken when they tried to shield Shota and me. …They died instantly! …That’s how Shota got hurt!” (Also, be aware that those ..."'s are not my shortening the quote, those are actually in the book.) I don’t understand why shield needed to be italisized; it needs absolutely no emphasis, in my opinion. Also, why do those exclamation points need to be there? It doesn’t even look like she’s exclaiming, in the book. The writing is just not the best

So. I have the next volume, and I will be reading it soon. I’m not particularly looking forward to it, but I’m holding onto my optimism.


This review is also available on my blog, among many others.

[Ryofire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly like the plot with Yuhi being the reason Suzumi decides to keep living. I like that he has people who care for him, and that his brother wanted to look after him, while his father also wanted to care for him, even if there isn't much evidence the man did anything other than acknowledge him as a son. This plot deals with the complexities of adultery and how children suffer under the weight of terrible adult decisions, which contrasts with the idea Ceres states, that children are happy events (well in the anime I think the official subs call it the happiest time, but the manga just leaves it more open: that she was happily married and expecting a baby with her partner, which was the happiest time of her life). Yuhi's presence, meanwhile, was so unwelcome in a way that his mother eventually left him behind, possibly out of pressure from Yuhi's father or Yuhi's father's wife. We just don't know, which makes it odd for why Aya states that she didn't abandon Yuhi. For all anyone in the know knows, she did.

What's less compelling is how Yuhi assaulting Aya when he states his love is handled, and how no one notes that his behavior is an issue, at least in a way that makes sense. Mrs. Q seems to take it that Aya and Yuhi are a couple, Suzumi - even after being assaulted by a group of men - also takes it as love, and while Ceres calls it assault, repeatedly, and pushes back that love doesn't excuse everything, she relents, too. It's not like the fictional narrative has to say assault is wrong, but this might be playing with the idea that even victims who knows a terrible thing happened struggle to vocalize it. As a result, Yuhi's behavior doesn't change. He's apologetic for some vague part of his actions, but believes his intentions are good. Aya, meanwhile, wrapped up in a dozen forms of trauma, is at turns ready to beat him up for touching her and also notes that she's sort into it on a physical and perhaps emotional level. But she's also a teenager - they both are - and it's possible they're just confusing lust for affection (especially with literally no adults around willing to help them; I love Mrs. Q, but she's very unhelpful in this avenue). Aya knows something is wrong, and struggles to vocalize it.

Also I don't know if I missed it somewhere, but where did Yuhi learn martial arts? I know he's into cooking and music, and his interest in school is dubious, but where did he learn to fight exactly? This is never explained and it was while watching him take out the Mikagi thugs in the anime adaptation of the first arc that I realized that has yet to be explained, even in an arc heavily involving his backstory.

The hospital arc is boring. Like I could go on about how it's kind of piggybacking on the narrative theme of suicide presented in the previous arc, and how important it is to give living a shot, or something about how the arc plays with Yuhi and Toya's relationship (at first hostile and then humorous when Yuhi grabs Toya in order to ask where the bathroom is, and then a bit tender and/or jealous when Yuhi ignores Toya in favor of trying to save Shota), or that Aya is realizing that her messing with Toya could hurt Toya and isn't as clearcut as she tries to think in her affection... But most of that isn't compelling to read. I'm not interested in Shota or Chidori or the new C-Genomes. It's a set-up for later material.

I appreciate Aya really coming into her own and taking a hand in her own destiny in this arc, at least. She's heavily traumatized and deserves a break from all the horror, but she's stepping up and trying to take control of things. For a 16-year-old who's gone through as much as she has, that's saying something.

Meanwhile, Aki is being subsumed more by his ancestor's personality, which is troubling him more and more. His fear of who he's turning into, and his increasing inability to trust himself, spurred on by Kagami just wanting to screw around, is quite tragic. I like the development of characters around Aki, as well. Although he's not the protagonist, he's arguably the deuteragonist, and he's surrounded by a cast of interesting people (namely Alec and Toya) with their own stories and relationships to him.

All in all, it's a plotty volume that presents a few interesting things, but I can't say I recommend it to anyone.

[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.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Himmelsfee in dir wird immer stärker,

aber dein Feind auch.





Zum Inhalt:

Nach einer alten japanischen Legende lebte einst ein junger Fischer, dem es gelang einer badenden Himmelsjungfrau ihr Fluggewand zu stehlen. So konnte er das göttliche Geschöpf an sich binden, und sie verbrachte zahlreiche Jahre bei ihm und gebar ihm viele Kinder. Doch an jenem Tag an dem sie ihr Gewand wiederfand, kehrte sie ohne Zögern in ihre himmlische Heimat zurück. Der Kultklassiker von Yuu Watase!

Cover:

Das Cover ist sehr hübsch anzusehen und zeigt ein Portrait der Himmelfee Ceres, welche im Körper von Aya lebt. Sie blickt dem Betrachter ernst und entschlossen entgegen, eine schöne Interpretation dazu, dass sie versuchen will mit allen Mitteln an ihr Federkleid zu gelangen, damit sie von ihrem „Fluch“ befreit wird. Top.



Eigener Eindruck:
Nach ihrer Entführung erwacht Yukis Schwester Suzumi wieder aus ihrer Hypnose. Währenddessen will der Mikage-clan künstlich Himmelfeen erstellen, um deren Macht zu nutzen. Aya trifft Toya in einem Krankenhaus wieder, wo er ausgibt dort ein Arzt zu sein, dabei kommt es wieder zu einem Zwischenfall, bei dem Ceres eingreifen muss. Außerdem verändert sich Ayas Bruder Aki immer mehr und scheint sich schließlich doch für die Machenschaften des Mikage-Clans einzusetzen…



Der vierte Band der Reihe „Ayashi no Ceres“ war für mich bei weitem interessanter zu lesen als der Vorgängerband. Dieser Teil besticht mit spannenden Szenen, weiteren unerwarteten Wendungen und langsam aber sich kommt Licht ins Dunkel, denn Ceres scheint etwas über Toya zu wissen, was seinen Charakter natürlich noch reizvoller macht. Außerdem ist die Tatsache, dass der Mikage-Clan versucht Himmelsfeen zu erschaffen fast schon ein bisschen dystopisch und wahnsinnig, aber allein diese Ideen zu haben, zeigt, wie genial die Mangaka eigentlich ist. Diese Ideen zeichnerisch auch noch umzusetzen ist in meinen Augen schon ein richtiges Meisterwerk. Noch immer kann ich mich auch nicht entscheiden ob ich nun Team Yuki oder Team Toya bin, wobei mir der Yuki als Charakter mittlerweile viel besser gefällt, weil er echt und aufrichtig ist. Bei Toya weiß man noch immer nicht so recht, was ihn bewegt und das macht ihn für mich leider noch immer recht schwammig. Aber wer weiß, vielleicht bekommen wir noch eine ganz romantische Lösung für sein Verhalten? Ich bin jedenfalls gespannt, wie es weiter geht.



Fazit:

Wieder eine interessante Fortsetzung mit unerwarteten Wendungen. Ich freue mich schon auf den nächsten Band.



Idee: 5/5

Charaktere: 4/5

Logik: 4/5

Spannung: 4/5

Emotionen: 4/5





Gesamt: 4/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783770484768

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: E-Buch Text

Umfang: 192 Seiten

Verlag: Egmont Manga

Erscheinungsdatum: 05.06.2014

[Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mejor que el anterior, pero sigue sin ser 'wow'.
Démosle una cálida bienvenida al incesto, o impulsos de.

Aya francamente me molesta, su único propósito (aparte de darle lugar a Ceres) parece ser declararle amor eterno a Tooya (desde el tomo 1...). Y él aparentemente la ama también. A pesar de que no se conocen, él es un adulto y ella una adolescente. Ajá.
Una historia donde la protagonista es prescindible está fallando para mi gusto.

Suzumi es la más interesante hasta ahora, su historia es muy triste y ella en general está más lograda que Aya.
Y quiero más tiempo de Ceres, definitivamente.

Ya puedo decir que no soy fan del conflicto que introdujo con Chidori.

Moraleja de este tomo: LOS HOMBRES ABRAZAN AUN SIN AMAR.
Las cosas que hay que leer xD.

[Kasumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia se va volviendo más oscura a medida que Aki despierta sus recuerdos de su vida pasada. Está claro que nada bueno puede salir de eso, pero él está convencido de que podrá manejar esos recuerdos y devolver el manto a Ceres, terminando así con su enemistad y recuperando a su hermana. Por desgracia no parece que eso sea lo que vaya a pasar y mientras su familia sigue buscando más descendientes que puedan tener el gen de la doncella para activarlo y experimentar.
Si solo fuera esto la historia, me encantaría la historia, pero reconozco que el triángulo amoroso (que acabará siendo un cuadrado si Aki sigue así) no acaba de convencerme.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one introduces Chidori and her brother Shota - The Mikage's think Shota has the celestial gene when in reality its Chidori and she can fully transform just like Aya! The love triangle continues apace - Yuhi trying to come to grips with being in love with Aya. Aya in love with Toya who because of his total amnesia is very distant. And now Aki who is reported to house the 'spirit' of the Mikage who raped/captured Ceres can't help himself kissing her portrait - But since Ceres is in his twin sister Aya - this could get even more dark and twisted very fast...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting, suspenseful story with well developed characters. Volume 4 was a little darker than the earlier volumes but as the battle against the Mikages heats up I expect they'll only keep getting darker.

[Bee (BacchusVines) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume introduces one of my faves of supporting cast, Chidori!

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mixture of absolute, horrifying tragedy and violence and utterly hilarious comedy in these volumes sure is something.

[Toviel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ceres: essentially a goddess reborn on earth. Unstoppable reaper of vengeance. Protectress of children and celestial descendants. Absolute troll.

All joking aside, this is the volume where the story finally starts to form a concrete direction to go in. After quickly finishing up Suzumi's backstory, the story quickly shifts to the introduction of one of the final main characters: Chidori, who happened to glimpse Ceres' flying abilities in an earlier volume. She demands that the celestial maiden help her crippled brother achieve his dream of flying, although apparently Ceres would much rather run around and mess around with Aya's love life instead.

In her defense, both boys need and deserve the serious talking to that she gives them.

Speaking of which, since Aya and Toya can't physically be together nearly as much as before, it gives both of them needed time to reflect on everything that's happened between them and everyone else. Indeed, Aya actually acknowledges that her behavior around him since book one was kind of immature and shallow! Yuhi stays as jealous as ever, but in his defense, he's a stupid hormonal teenager with just as much stress on his shoulders over the Mikage situation as Aya and far less screen time to deal with it. Besides, any time that could have been devoted to him is instead given to Chidori, who is a breath of fresh air. While I don't like her personality very much, she does add a sense of brevity that's been sorely missed for the last couple volumes.

Ceres' character is actually written quite inconsistently in this volume. She emerges and disappears seemingly at random, and when shit hits the fan, she clearly knows about it... but instead seems to be content to let a series of emerging c-genomes devolve into unavoidable chaos while she chats with Toya and flies around with a child (who, I might add, is extremely vulnerable due to his inability to walk). Her incompetence clearly only serves to force Chidori to take the stage and stand for herself, but surely there was some better way to incorporate both this and her growing fondness for Aya and humans without sacrificing her intelligence.

Aki's exploration into his past life is brief, but it may be disturbing for some readers. Because after four volumes of death and destruction, clearly incest is what we needed to throw into the plot. I only note this because it only gets worse as the series progresses, and squeamish readers may want to take note before continuing forward.

In the end, this was a standard volume of the story thus far. Still good by shojo standards, but it's hardly anything to fangirl over.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sep 2024
The drawings of Yūhi and Ceres in the back of the car will always be my faves. Also the cup on Mrs Q's head gag is so funny to me.

Dec 2023
I will always in my core ship Yūhi and Aya rather than Tōya and Aya, but I do have to admit he's especially creepy in Volume 3 and 4. Good on Ceres for calling him out on it, but I do think she backs down a little too soon.

The action in this one is really good, and I feel like it adds a lot to the future plot. We learn a lot here, and we meet an important new character. I also always want to express how beautiful some of Yuu Watase's art is.

Dec 2021
Kagami is such a creep agh. And I also always find it really odd that Chidori like turns into a full grown woman (or at least teenager) its so icky. I know she's actually in high school but having her drawn like that when normal and then turn into this full grown celestial maiden does weird me out a bit, especially when she acts so immature.

I think also, as other reviewers have said, Tôya and Aya's relationship is a bit weird given their age difference and also maturity difference. I kind of don't buy that Tôya is so invested right now, like I believe Aya would fall quickly but I want Tôya's affection for her to be drawn out a bit agh.

[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 .

[Ceejay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the Celestial Maidens continues in volume four of this great manga series. In this volume Aya/Ceres follows a young girl to a town where the young girl's brother is being treated for an accident that crippled him. The sister's name is Chidori, and we learn some very interesting things about her by the end of this volume. We also find that Toya is working as a doctor at the same hopital! It seemsth at he is doing research on the celestial maidens. Can people with certain DNA markers become celestial maidens? You'll also find out why Chidori gets an entire volume named after her.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the Mikage's are collecting tennyo now... this just keeps getting weirder and... better? I still don't get what Aya can possibly like about a man with no personality, or what he likes about her. That whole thing doesn't really make sense to me.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume had so much packed into it. Between Ceres being out more to finding out about Chidori awakening. I felt really bad for Shōta though. He blamed himself for his parents death and it took such a toll on him. I'm happy that he finally realized that it wasn't his fault in the end.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

these books got a little too risque for me

[Paula Urdaneta · Rating 4 out of 5]

una historia adictiva.

[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.

[Laurelyn Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is sooooo pretty, so it gets a three instead of a two (that and the nostalgia factor. I loved the anime in middle school).

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things are getting darker and more taboo. I'm glad that Aya has another ally.

[Katie Gaulke · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what it is, it's fun