by Rachel Gruber, Guest Reviewer
As a teen growing up in the 2000s, my introduction to yuri anime naturally came in the form of the “big three:” Strawberry Panic!, Simoun, and of course, Kannazuki No Miko. The latter is as iconic as it is infamous, so it’s no wonder that its creators, Kaishaku, chose to bring back poor Chikane and Himeko in series after series over the years. After their truly atrocious 2009 outing in Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian (Volume 1 and Volume 2 were reviewed here in 2010,) a series rightfully given a 1/10 here on Okazu, Kaishaku made the wise decision to let Chikane and Himeko sit out the 2010s. But by the time 2020 rolled around, they were apparently ready to get back to business. Enter: Himegami No Miko.
This fourth(!) incarnation of Chikane and Himeko have returned with a distinctly modern art style that’s reasonably cute, if admittedly lacking any unique distinguishing features, and a story with a decent mix of new and old concepts from previous series. Instead of a story that ends with the two fated lovers having to kill each other, this one begins with assassination as its core goal. Each of our heroines come from two noble houses on an island ruled over by the evil snake demon Orochi (who is unfortunately not a robot this time) and, upon reaching the proper age, are meant to have the usual duel to the death in order to determine who gets to be this generation’s sacrifice to said evil snake demon. But unlike every previous iteration of these characters, Himeko manages to show some actual agency for the first time by running away from her fate. When Chikane inevitably follows her and ends up on the mainland, she also finds herself making a promise to serve as Himeko’s friend until the date of their duel–at which point Himeko will allow Chikane to kill her. Not exactly breaking the mold when it comes to murder promises in yuri, but it’s a solid enough foundation to build a romance on. Everything is in place for Kaishaku to hit us with another terrible cash-grab. There’s just one problem:
Himegami No Miko is…actually pretty good?
The story is nonsense, of course, and you’ve got your standard sexual predator/fanservice elements that you can expect from Kaishaku, but there’s also enough heartfelt emotion in there to get the reader at least a little invested. What really makes the series stand out, however, is its characters. The usual cast have been given more than a fresh coat of paint this time around; Chikane is less full of self-hatred and guilt than usual (and not a rapist! Yay!), Souma has become both a girl and a villain, and Himeko…Himeko actually gets to do stuff this time! She even gets the best moment of the series, a shocking villainous turn that made me gasp in real life. Throw in a final third full of appropriately dramatic and daring rescues, climactic showdowns, and other unoriginal yet enjoyable moments before providing an actual happy ending, and you’ve got a series that left me smiling far more than I’d like to admit.
Is it still a mess? Absolutely. Supporting characters drop in and out without warning, logic gets tossed out the window on more than one occasion, and there is a hilarious amount of blatantly incorrect medical information. On its own, it’s a dime a dozen action yuri series. But as a sequel to Kannazuki No Miko? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think it might be better. Hell, it might even be better than Shattered Angels. It shouldn’t be possible, but here we are. Himegami No Miko is good. Not great, but good. And after Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian, that might as well be a miracle.
Ratings:
Story – 6
Art – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 5
Overall – 7
Erica here – You can read the first chapter of Himegami no Miko as a free sample in Japanese on Comic Walker. I admit to having forgotten to finish it. ^_^; Perhaps I’ll get back to it if this is a decent-er ending than the last…3 times. ^_^
This review was a delightful read! Made me laugh at it reminded me of the absurdity that is Kannazuki no Miko. I was in a nostalgia kick recently and rewatched both it and Strawberry Panic. I was surprised by how fun I was having with SP… was not surprised by how much fun I wasn’t having with KnM. I unfortunately still care about Chikane so maybe I’ll give this manga a try!
SP is lovely! It feels a bit like “Oniisama e Jr.” as it were. Kannazuki is…well. If you’re an unfortunate Chikane lover like me, then Himegami is definitely worth it for her alone. It cuts out the grossest bits of her arc in KNM so you get a Chikane that you can love without reservation. I hope you enjoy it!
Strawberry Panic! is an actual parody of Marimite, and a host of similar school stories, many of which western audiences never knew, like Himitsu no Kaidan which I reviewed here: Volume 1 (https://okazu.yuricon.com/2006/11/10/yuri-manga-himitsu-no-kaidan-volume-1/) and Volume 2 (https://okazu.yuricon.com/2006/12/08/yuri-manga-himitsu-no-kaidan-volume-2/). ^_^
After years of fanservice, an incarnation of Chikane and Himeko that even diehard fans hated (Amnesian), Kaishaku (with some help from the late Sumio Uetake who helped planned the Kannazuki no Miko anime), finally introduced an incarnation of both Chikane and Himeko that’s easy to follow, has BOTH Himeko and Chikane be realized characters AND gives them the ending they deserve that doesn’t involve rape, sexual assault or incest.
I mean, they both try to kill each other, but progress is progress.
Himeko having agency and being able to contribute to the plot beyond being a victim or a damsel in distress was by far the most surprising part of this series. After three whole series of her being brutalized in all sorts of ways, it was such a relief to finally see the poor girl come into her own. She even had the best moment in the series!
For reasons that I’m not even sure, I still like ‘Strawberry Panic’, albeit for reasons different from my earlier fandom (now that I’ve aged and recognize it as a parody), but I don’t quite like ‘Kannazuki’ like I used to. Reading this review has intrigued me enough to hope for a future license, however.
“Himegami No Miko is…actually pretty good?”
This line is SO real. I picked it up out of boredom, fully expecting to hate it for the same reasons I didn’t really like KnM… but then I didn’t?? Like sure, it’s not a literary masterpiece, but it’s definitely the most solid and interesting thing Kaishaku has done (that I’ve been able to read/watch anyway), and it’s a fun read in its own right. I found myself quite fond of Himeko after reading this.
Himeko’s villainous turn was also SO GOOD!! I did not expect this series to be able to surprise me, but it did! And in the best way!
Honestly, I’m hoping this gets an official loc at some point, because I’d like to own it… a thing I never thought I’d say about a Kaishaku title.
This gets pretty spoilery so I’ll be vague, but I’m curious if you read the epilogue or not? I read the last chapter, felt satisfied, and then read most of the epilogue and was like “ok that’s cute” until one bit that just :( it kinda killed a lot of what I DID like about this version of their romance. However, I do think this is very much a your-mileage-may-vary thing so maybe it worked better for others than it did for me!
I quite liked this manga, admittedly. Of course, I’ve been named on this blog’s comments several times as liking the original anime. Which is a highly, highly problematic anime indeed. Can’t bring myself to hate it still, even though parts of me thinks I should.
Thanks for this review :) Not the usual fare I became a patreon of this blog for, of course (Erica’s views are well known and pretty damn fair), but variety :D
We’re expanding now – Okazu has 5 staff writers and countless guests, so that it’s not just me all the time. Once it became impossible for me to keep up with everything Yuri (the best problem to have) I needed a hand. ^_^