Basara (manga)
Basara is a Japanese fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Yumi Tamura. The story takes place in a future Japan, reduced to a barren desert by a catastrophe at the end of the 21st century. The main character is Sarasa, a girl whose twin brother, Tatara, is prophesied to be the "child of destiny" who will bring back the country's independence and stop the tyrannical rule of the Empire, namely the Red King. When Tatara is killed, Sarasa pretends to be him in order to keep the downtrodden from losing hope.
The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's Bessatsu Shōjo Comic magazine from September 1990 to June 1998. Shogakukan collected the individual chapters into 27 bound volumes under the Flower Comics imprint from March 1991 to March 2000. The manga won the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 1993. Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America; they published 27 volumes from August 2003 to May 2008.
Basara was adapted into a 13-episode anime television series titled Legend of Basara, which aired in Japan from April to June 1998. It was produced by KSS and directed by Noburu Takamoto.
The manga was also adapted into several stage plays in Japan, the first of which premiered in 2012. A filmed performance was released on DVD in July 2013. The second stage play was performed at Theater 1010 in Tokyo from January 9 to January 14, 2014. The third stage play was performed at Kinokuniya Hall in Tokyo from January 25 to January 28, 2019.
Overview
In Basara's post-apocalyptic setting, Japan has been controlled by a succession of corrupt and oppressive rulers of Saffron Clan. The current one is the Golden Emperor, a sovereign so obsessed with maintaining his power that he has had most of his children killed. He later appointed territories to the remaining children, allowing them to rule as subordinate kings and expend their energies in rivalries among each other, instead of trying to dethrone him. As a result, most of the Kings neglect the people they rule.Though the peasants have been downtrodden for decades, they have not completely lost their rebellious spirit. Four swords named for the Ssu Ling gods—Byakko, Suzaku, Seiryū and Genbu—forged for fallen rebel leaders two generations past, are the symbols of underground resistance groups across Japan. The sword of Byakko is kept in Byakko Village, and according to a prophet, a child of fate who will lead a revolution will be born there. When twins are born—a girl and a boy—the prophet says that one of them is the child of destiny. Villagers believe the boy, Tatara, is the child of destiny, but ultimately the girl, Sarasa, is the leader. When the local ruler, the Red King, destroys her village and has her brother beheaded, she assumes his name and duty to lead her people in rebellion.
Sarasa undergoes psychological strain over having to pretend to be a boy. As such, she often visits hot springs to "let her hair down." During these visits, she runs into a mysterious young man named Shuri, and they fall in love with each other.
Unknown to Sarasa, Shuri is really the Red King, upon whom she has sworn revenge for destroying her village and killing her family. The Red King is likewise unaware that Sarasa, in her alter ego, is the rebel leader he is trying to kill. As the story progresses, the pair's relationship deepens even as their struggle becomes more bloody.
Characters
Main characters
Sarasa;The Red King, Shuri
Byakko Village
The Deceased
;Tatara;Makoto
The Revival
;Nagi;Kakuji
Butterfly Circus
;Ageha;Madame Butterfly: the mistress of the Butterfly Circus.
;Aro: the former female fellow of Ageha in the past, she had slept with Ageha. She died in a razzia led by Shido.
Suzaku Tribe
;Hayato;The Suzaku tribe: the tribe under the lead of the wielder of the Suzaku sword.
;The Shōjō clan: the traitors of the Suzaku, they took over the Suzaku battleship by creating a fake Suzaku sword to fool others.
Chacha's Pirate Ship
;Chacha;Zaki
Suō Castle
;Shidō;Senju
Seiran Castle
;Asagi;Snake King: the false Blue King.
;Raizō
;Seiryū sword: One of the four swords descended from the Basarano rebels. It was Tenmanya Nabezou's weapon.
Kumano Region
;Nachi;Hijiri
Okinawa Isle
;Bashō;Nakijin
;Yūna
Tōhoku Region
Kazuno
;Masunaga;Tamon
;Genbu sword: One of the four swords descended from the Basarano rebels. It was Akihiko's weapon.
Hokkaidō - Abashiri Jail
The land entrusts the emperor's brother.;Kaze no Fukuro : Prince of Hokkaido. He is the son of the emperor's brother, also a cousin of Shuri. His face resembles Shuri.
;Mizu no Shika : Close friend of Kaze no Fukuro.
;Hi no Kitsune
- Karon: Hi no Kitsune's guard
;Prisoners
- Shirasu: The perverted prisoner who leads the prisoners at Jail A, guarded by Mizu no Shika. He and his companies threaten Sarasa by noticing her feminine smell. To protect her, Ageha sacrifices his body to Shirasu.
Capital Kyōto
;Hiragi
Four Nobles of Blue King
In the English version, they are called "The Four Virtues." They appear to work for Asagi, the true Blue King, but it is revealed later they belong to the White King. Each has a plant as part of their name.;Kikune
;Muratake
;Ranmaru
;Umewaka
Four Elders of the Capital
;Hagiwara of the South;Momonoi of the North
- Hozomi: son of Momonoi. Lives at Suo and is famous for his paintings.
- Renko: lover of Hozomi. A reporter, friend of Taro.
;Sakurada of the East
Yarogumi
The guardians of the capital. Their leader is Hachiya.;Hachiya
Shikoku Castle
;Murasaki no Ue;Black King
;Hida no Ichimatsu
Others
;Tarō-chan;The old man: Taro's adopted father when he investigates the plan "Pomegranatte" of Hagiwara.
World: Important Places
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Japan is under the tyrannical rule of a monarchy. The Golden Emperor has divided Japan into several provinces, entrusting the rule of these provinces to his offspring, consisting of the Black, White, Blue and Red Kings.- Kazuno – The northernmost part of Honshū, which has been fighting against the Black Army for independence. Kazuno is protected by four generals, Tamon to the north, Masunaga to the south, Hirome to the west and Mochikuni to the east.
- Motokuro no Ryōdo – the realm of the Black King
- *Shikoku is Motokuro no Ryōdo's capital and lies in the northeast. The Black King and his mistress Mogami no Kata live here in Kotsuki castle.
- *Tenkyōko is a lake where the Black King has a second castle called the Dove Pavilion. This is where Shuri traps the Black King and his mistress, Mogami no Kata.
- Kantō – the realm of the Blue King
- *Seiran is the capital of Kantou, where the Blue King resides. There are ruins of the high-rise buildings, maybe the ruined Tokyo after the apocalypse.
- Kyōto – the capital of Japan, where the Emperor resides in Ukon Palace. Kyouto was the site of construction for a large-scale gold Buddha, which required the labour of many slaves which were taken by the Emperor from his son's realms. Protected by four elders, Momonoi to the north, Sakurada to the east, Tachibana to the west, Hagiwara to the south. These four names correspond to the Japanese names of certain botanica.
- Ōsaka – A nearly autonomous merchant town.
- Kii and Kumano – lies south of Kyoto and is considered a holy land, it is a site for religious pilgrimage.
- Sanyō and Sanin – a desert land, the realm of the Red King
- *Suō – The Red King's capital, known as 'The Ruby of the Desert' which prospers until a military coup sends the Red King into exile.
- *Byakko no Mura – Byakko village, where Tatara and Sarasa were born. The village was razed by the Red King and no longer exists.
- *Shikoku – One of the provinces entrusted to the Red King, it is divided into four nations
- *Kyūshū – entrusted to the Red King, Dazaifu is its capital, and Sakura-jima is in the southern part of this province
- Hokkaidō – The northernmost part of Japan, this is where Abashiri prison is. Hokkaido is entrusted to the Emperor's brother.
- Okinawa – An island to the south that has declared its independence from Japan, it has a democratic government.
- Europe - it is known that the European civilization survives and rebuilds itself to the 19th or early 20th century level, with steam warships and rifled artillery. The Europeans government threat the Japan as the barbaric nation, and retaliated with force against any hostile actions of Japanese.
Basara no Gaiden – Basara's Sidestories
Katana
The Four Swords' TaleWakaba
The story is about Japan after Tatara's successful revolution. In this side story, Hayato, using the false name "Shun", is the main role. There are also new characters such as Sarasa and Shuri's children, Ayumu and Hikaru, the mature Raita, son of Raizou and the mature Motomichi, son of Shidou.Anime
A 13-episode anime adaptation, titled Legend of Basara, aired in Japan from April 2 to June 8, 1998. It was produced by KSS and directed by Norihiro Takamoto. While generally very faithful to the manga, some material from further into the story was cut, such as Senju's assassination attempt and the Suzuno Murder Race episode. The anime roughly covers volumes 1–5 of the manga. The anime was released on home video in Japan, first on VHS and later on DVD. The opening theme is "Endless Loop" by Rouage.| Title | Original airdate |