Manga: Red River by Chie Shinohara

One of my absolute favorite series makes its debut on my blog, Red River by Shinohara Chie! I cannot stress enough how much I love this manga. The series had a long run, ending with 28 volumes. It is a historical fiction manga dating back to the B.C. era in the Hittite Empire during King Suppiluliuma’s rule, really near the end of his rule. Many of the events that happen within the manga are actual events that was recorded in history, which I personally think is amazing. This manga, I believe, is the first of its kind. I have never see another manga to use this time period in this location, most mangaka write about Japanese history due to the fact that it’s what they know. You don’t normally get to read western history in manga unless it’s about Egypt, but this is not a story centered around Egypt, it is about the Hittite Empire during the peak of its reign.


(SPOILER WARNING! START)

Our main character is Suzuki Yuri, a modern day 15 year old girl from 1990s Japan. She’s a regular girl until water starts attacking her. She becomes wary of water after she almost drowned in her bath tub, hearing a woman's voice and seeing arms try and grab her. Yuri behaves this way for several months, not going out if its raining, being very aware of semi large bodies of water like aquariums, big and small. It becomes very annoying for her boyfriend, Himuro Satoshi, who she had just gotten together with right before all the strange water incidents started to happen.

Satoshi invites her out on a date to the movies, which she agrees to. There's snow on the ground outside, melting, and as he walks her home she's spirited away in a puddle, arms reaching upwards towards her, covering her mouth, stopping her from calling to Satoshi. 

Being pulled downward into the water, Yuri is dragged through space and time... all while being suffocated. She breaks free from the hands but then Yuri appears in a spring, startling everyone around her, all speaking in a strange tongue, in a strange location without any idea of where she is. With nothing else but the clothes on her back she starts to run around, trying to find out where she is, but she has definitely gathered that she is not in Japan anymore. Soon she is chased down by guards trying to capture her and while she is running away she meets a man who hurriedly helps hide her, kissing her and covering her up with his shawl. Suddenly after he kisses her, she is able to understand the language, Tamaranean much? Points to you if you understand that reference. Moving on, she runs from the strange man, confused by his questions and being able to suddenly understand him, only to be soon captured by the queen's guard, as they are called by the man.

Yuri is held captive and the queen makes her appearance, welcoming her to Hattusa, the Hittite Empire's capital, and starts to spill her plans to the girl. She tells her how Yuri will be used as a blood sacrifice to activate a curse that will kill all the princes so that her one son can succeed the throne and will be the next king. The king soon appears as well but Yuri is gagged and the queen makes up a lie about how Yuri will be sacrificed to Teshub, a weather god in Hittite mythology, to bring prosperity to the empire. He accepts this explanation and things go according to the queen's plan. Just before Yuri is to be sacrificed the next day, Prince Kail, the man from before, stops the ritual by throwing his goblet, walking up to Yuri and undoing her gag. The queen is absolutely furious but Kail addresses his father, the king, making sure that they need a virgin to offer to Teshub, which the king says yes to. Kail then proceeds to tell everyone that he had deflowered Yuri, in which she agrees with him to keep her head. He offers cows and goats as a replacement for the ritual, to which the king accept and then spirits Yuri away from the temple. Kail starts to question her and she explains everything, that she is from Japan and the reason for Queen Nakia, name revealed, bringing her to Hattusa. Yuri finds out that she is in the Middle East as soon as Kail talks about Egypt but is then despaired when Kail talks about the current pharaoh  being Tutankhamen. She realizes that she is in ancient times and all she wants to do is go home. 

(SPOILER END! END)

This series spans 28 volumes so I'm going to try to condense it the best I can. Throughout the rest of the series, Kail and Yuri make many attempts for Yuri to be able to go home, but they face many obstacles in their journey. Yuri ends up making many friends and many enemies, protectors and killers. 

There is much tragedy in this series, but it is accurate to the time period because even though there are people we want to keep alive it simply just isn't possible. Many characters die and there is much heartache but Red River is an amazing series, a little long but most definitely worth all the time it takes to get to the last volume. This is hands down one of my absolute favorite series of all time. I want an anime to be made of it and have more of Shinohara's titles brought over to America. Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope to see you guys next week!

Comment below and tell me what you thought of this week's post. Have you heard of this series before? Are you a fan of Shinohara Chie like I am? Have you read any of her works before? Would you be interested in reading Red River?

ShojoBeat if you are reading this, please try to license Shinohara's newest title, Yume no Shizuku, Kin no Torikago!