Ceres: Celestial Legend, Vol. 9: Progenitor

妖しのセレス [Ayashi no Ceres] #9

by Yuu Watase

Shocked to learn (from Aki, of all people!) that the entire "Tôya Mizuki" personality is false - a fiction, a cipher without a past of any kind - Tôya struggles to find his own identity. If he doesn't know who he is, how can he help Aya? Elsewhere, while Aya recedes into herself, heartbroken and distraught over her separation with Tôya, Ceres must deal with a bitter and increasingly mad Miori, who blames Aya for everything. Will Aya emerge and face Miori's accusations...or leave her to Ceres? Later, Aki, still fully possessed by the "progenitor," the forefather of all the Mikage, launches a new scheme to claim Aya...his woman.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Romance, Shojo, Horror, Comics

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1998

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

[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.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following on from last volume this concludes the Miori arc in the darkest possible way. Toya discover's he's been manipulated and goes off to try and uncover his real past. Meanwhile Yuhi and Aya (back in control of her body) enrol in yet another high school whilst on their quest to find the Hagimono. Aya's twin Aki now totally possessed by the evil rapist Progenitor and blackmails Aya by threatening to kill Yuhi unless she does what he wants.

Oh my is this dark: we have suicide (Miori), murder (Aya's slaughter in v1 which includes Miori's mother), incest (Aki's unhealthy interest in Aya), Amnesia (Toya) unrequited love (Yuhi) evil experimentation (Kagami), rape (progenitor/ceres and possibly Aki/Aya in the future...) There's angst galore in this series much of it cropping up in this volume alone!

Personally I'm not as keen on Aya with short hair but I can see why she did it. Artwork is still really high quality and the story is highly emotional and very very dark.

[Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creo que éste fue el tomo más dramático hasta ahora.

Entiendo que Aya esté sufriendo con todo lo que pasa, pero su personalidad se vuelve cada vez menos personalidad, y sigo esperando su evolución como protagonista (poner buena cara aunque esté triste no cuenta).
Muchas situaciones se podrían resolver con la aparición de Ceres, pero supongo que no ocurre para que la historia tenga más conflicto.

Me estaba haciendo falta el aparente cambio que ocurre al final. La historia está, mal que mal, siempre girando sobre lo mismo: Tooya, Yuuhi arrastrándose atrás de Aya, y la búsqueda del hagomoro. Me gustaría que lo encuentren de una vez así pasamos a otra cosa.

Creo que ya se puede decir con absoluta seguridad que si aparece "Aki" va a haber al menos un intento de violación garantizado.

[Kasumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si creíamos que Aya había sufrido mucho, en este tomo la cosa empeora, ya que ahora no solo tiene que enfrentarse a que Toya no la recuerde, sino al dolor de ver morir a un familiar y enfrentarse al primer antepasado con el rostro de Aki que hará lo que sea para recuperar a "su hembra" y, ahora que no está Toya, Yuhi se ha convertido en su objetivo.

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing volume in this series. The absolutely incredible character growth Aya goes through as well as Tooya in this volume, the way the story deepens and progresses, its a completely different pair of protagonists than when this story first began. Incredible!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Yuhi :(

[Coke Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m kind of tired of this series but I want to know what happens to everyone...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so said that I'm almost done this series. Yet another stellar installment. Well development story and a constantly building storyline have me hooked. Highly recommend.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot happens in this volume omg.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was such an emotional rollercoaster oh my god.

[Maria del Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passen coses molt interessants, necessito saber com continua
(arrgg la mania amb "ets meva")

[Ryofire · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is part of two arcs that are both quite bad and uninteresting. Even for teenage melodrama, they're just boring. It's hard to be invested in anyone when all the plot is this awful.

[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 .

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miori gets rid of herself; Toya runs off to figure out who he really is, leaving his weird body-generated dagger as a promise to come back to Aya; Aya and Yuhi start at yet another new school where they encounter another new student called Mikage--and it's Aki, still possessed by Ceres' wicked husband from long ago (the Mikage family's "Progenitor.")

Progenitor-possessed Aki is skin-crawlingly creepy as he continues to pursue and hit on Aya/Ceres, not caring that his former wife is housed in the body of his host's twin sister. Now he delivers an ultimatum--he'll leave Aya's friends alone if she comes to live with him. Ick!

I'm hoping Watase doesn't pursue that line of thinking too far and Aya finds a way to escape in the next volume...

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aya is suffering a lot psychologically from all the trauma she's facing, and although this is an urban fantasy, the character developement in this area is very realistic. Even despite the cultural differences, I can understand Aya's reactions and mistakes.

[Shannon (Twilight Sleep) · Rating 5 out of 5]

First manga I started collecting. Watase-san is a literary genius. I love her works. Ceres is an incredible story.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

near the end they lose what they were all fighting for. but later try to find a end to the madness!

good read

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap the Progenitor is a complete d*ckhead and Miori, jeeze, she was just crazy.

Aya, you poor girl. I know that you will be kicking butt soon. You'll have to!

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Yuhi....never gets a break....

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Aya/Tooya emo-ness is startin to get old, but then Aki/Mikage-the-original-bastard makes his way back into the story and stuff gets interesting again!

[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.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third book of BTAT and another manga and reread. Love this series, but I hate what the Progenitor does to Aya in this. And the next one which I might read tomorrow.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sad now but why can't Toya and Aya be together. I thought they were perfect.