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妖しのセレス [Ayashi no Ceres] #7
Ceres: Celestial Legend, Vol. 7: Maya
Yuu Watase, the immensely popular writer/artist of the shôjo (girls) fantasy smash Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play, has turned her creativity and wry sense of humour to the horror genre with her anime/manga hit Ceres: Celestial Legend. Aya thought she was a normal teenager until she discovered that she can transform into a vastly powerful "heavenly maiden" named Ceres...But Ceres is furious and out for revenge!
Hell hath no fury...or, in this case, Heaven, as it's a celestial maiden or "ten'nyo" who's unleashing it! The search for Ceres' hagoromo or "celestial robes" brings the action back to Tokyo - to Miyagi, specifically, where rumours of a spectral white dog ("figuring in the celestial legend!," says Suzumi) prompt a transfer to girls-only high school for Aya, Chidori, and...Yûhi?! Connected to the dog's increasingly frequent attacks is a sweet and popular girl named Maya Hirobe, but why - and more importantly, how - is she involved? Is it possible that Maya is a C-Genome...and doesn't even know it?
Hell hath no fury...or, in this case, Heaven, as it's a celestial maiden or "ten'nyo" who's unleashing it! The search for Ceres' hagoromo or "celestial robes" brings the action back to Tokyo - to Miyagi, specifically, where rumours of a spectral white dog ("figuring in the celestial legend!," says Suzumi) prompt a transfer to girls-only high school for Aya, Chidori, and...Yûhi?! Connected to the dog's increasingly frequent attacks is a sweet and popular girl named Maya Hirobe, but why - and more importantly, how - is she involved? Is it possible that Maya is a C-Genome...and doesn't even know it?
200 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 1998
6 people are currently reading
278 people want to read
About the author
Yuu Watase
362 books1,163 followersYuu 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 26, 2025
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.
July 9, 2024
A kind of forgettable volume I think the anime made a good choice to nix entirely.
There is some development in the monster of the week plot with the C-Genomes, and obviously a big development with Toya and Aya's relationship, showing off Aya's... very strange personality.
A sequence of events: Aya finds Toya heavily injured. She goes with him to his hotel and helps bandage him. They sleep together. She walks up first to admire her love bites in the bathroom. She walks back into the bedroom to find him awake and admiring her. She throws an object at his head and calls him a pervert. She then apologizes for this. Because...? I don't know. There's a vague plot in there about how she is young and heavily traumatized and this is screwing with her reactions to things, but it just reads to a messy, uncomfortable reading experience with an increasingly unlikable protagonist in a number of different romantic and/or physical relationships, none of which seem enjoyable or good for anyone involved.
Meanwhile Toya's amnesia simply means he has no personality, and this just increasingly reads like the proto-Absolute Boyfriend: a boyfriend made for the protagonist. That can be fun and fine for people who want that. Personally I found this version of it really depressing. Maybe the point is that Toya is destroying himself for Aya's happiness, that this is what that kind of relationship could entail. I'm not sure. It's just a dismal read.
Meanwhile, Yuhi is being a creep, and he and Aya have this continued nonsense relationship where Yuhi insists on being a creep because he's in lurv.
All in all, nothing is really lost in the anime adaptation getting rid of this. Unlike most of the cuts, this one is forgettable.
There is some development in the monster of the week plot with the C-Genomes, and obviously a big development with Toya and Aya's relationship, showing off Aya's... very strange personality.
A sequence of events: Aya finds Toya heavily injured. She goes with him to his hotel and helps bandage him. They sleep together. She walks up first to admire her love bites in the bathroom. She walks back into the bedroom to find him awake and admiring her. She throws an object at his head and calls him a pervert. She then apologizes for this. Because...? I don't know. There's a vague plot in there about how she is young and heavily traumatized and this is screwing with her reactions to things, but it just reads to a messy, uncomfortable reading experience with an increasingly unlikable protagonist in a number of different romantic and/or physical relationships, none of which seem enjoyable or good for anyone involved.
Meanwhile Toya's amnesia simply means he has no personality, and this just increasingly reads like the proto-Absolute Boyfriend: a boyfriend made for the protagonist. That can be fun and fine for people who want that. Personally I found this version of it really depressing. Maybe the point is that Toya is destroying himself for Aya's happiness, that this is what that kind of relationship could entail. I'm not sure. It's just a dismal read.
Meanwhile, Yuhi is being a creep, and he and Aya have this continued nonsense relationship where Yuhi insists on being a creep because he's in lurv.
All in all, nothing is really lost in the anime adaptation getting rid of this. Unlike most of the cuts, this one is forgettable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2018
Struggled a bit with the opening of this one and it really doesn't help that on the cast list the picture for Yuhi is in fact one of the villainous henchmen Wei - huh?
Aya, Yuhi and Chidori travel to Miyagi to investigate a celestial legend - they enrol in the local high school where they meet the new C-genome character for this volume - Maya - a girl who has the ability to project a white dog to attack people who upset her.
I wasn't keen on much of this volume - the story felt like filler, and is very distant from the main Mikage plot, and over all this one isn't as dark as earlier volumes - the opening is confusing and I've never been overly fond of the characters. However Yuhi is forced to masquerade as a girl which is comedy gold as are the infrequent appearances of Mrs. Q. The biggest plus point for me is the development of Aya/Toya's relationship towards the end. Finally some emotion from Toya! we begin to see that this romance isn't all one sided. The love scene is nicely done. I also loved the ending where Aya begins to realise just what might happen if/when Toya does regain his memories.
Lets see what volume 8 will bring....
Aya, Yuhi and Chidori travel to Miyagi to investigate a celestial legend - they enrol in the local high school where they meet the new C-genome character for this volume - Maya - a girl who has the ability to project a white dog to attack people who upset her.
I wasn't keen on much of this volume - the story felt like filler, and is very distant from the main Mikage plot, and over all this one isn't as dark as earlier volumes - the opening is confusing and I've never been overly fond of the characters. However Yuhi is forced to masquerade as a girl which is comedy gold as are the infrequent appearances of Mrs. Q. The biggest plus point for me is the development of Aya/Toya's relationship towards the end. Finally some emotion from Toya! we begin to see that this romance isn't all one sided. The love scene is nicely done. I also loved the ending where Aya begins to realise just what might happen if/when Toya does regain his memories.
Lets see what volume 8 will bring....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2023
3.5
Estando en la mitad del manga me doy cuenta que a pesar de que estoy cansada de Aya, quiero saber en qué termina todo ésto.
No tengo nada contra Tooya honestamente, me da curiosidad cuál va a ser su historia real, pero su relación con Aya no me convence aún ahora. Creo que Chidori tiene razón, son muy diferentes (y ni quiero hablar de la diferencia de madurez entre sus edades).
Me gustó que el comienzo de este tomo tuvo humor, como para alivianar un poco, pero mi ánimo se fue al tacho con las escenas de maltrato animal. ¿Eran necesarias? Empiezo a sentir que a Yuu Watase le gusta ir por el camino de horrorizar yendo a lo que seguro tiene efecto instantáneo.
Omitiendo esa parte de la historia, este tomo fue más ameno y con más avance que los últimos.
Estando en la mitad del manga me doy cuenta que a pesar de que estoy cansada de Aya, quiero saber en qué termina todo ésto.
No tengo nada contra Tooya honestamente, me da curiosidad cuál va a ser su historia real, pero su relación con Aya no me convence aún ahora. Creo que Chidori tiene razón, son muy diferentes (y ni quiero hablar de la diferencia de madurez entre sus edades).
Me gustó que el comienzo de este tomo tuvo humor, como para alivianar un poco, pero mi ánimo se fue al tacho con las escenas de maltrato animal. ¿Eran necesarias? Empiezo a sentir que a Yuu Watase le gusta ir por el camino de horrorizar yendo a lo que seguro tiene efecto instantáneo.
Omitiendo esa parte de la historia, este tomo fue más ameno y con más avance que los últimos.
December 31, 2018
Quizás no acabe de ver el encanto de Toya sobre Aya, pero está claro que se quieren y en este tomo, por primera vez, Aya necesita estar alejada de Toya al haber (por fin) visto con sus propios ojos, lo letal que puede ser. Mientras seguirá buscando el manto y descubriendo otras descendientes que aun no son conscientes de su poder y eso las hace también muy peligrosas. Todo ello, y la posibilidad de perder a Toya, harán que finalmente se entreguen el uno al otro, y quizás todo ello por fin consigue despertar los recuerdos de Toya, por lo que deciden investigar en su pasado, aunque quizás Aya no haya pensado bien si lo que puedan descubrir también pueda separarlos definitivamente.
February 6, 2023
Technically a 3.5 stars for me. It was nice to see Tōya and Aya spend more time together in my opinion. (I'm Team Tōya honestly.) I am curious about his past more, especially because he seems to slowly recall certain things in his memory towards the end of this volume. Makes me really intrigued about how Watase is going to show more of his memories overall. Also, the fact that Aya and Tōya spent the night together kinda surprised me a bit. I knew they loved each other but I wasn't expecting that so soon in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2024
So far in terms of the whole series up to this point, I think Volume 7: Maya is my favorite one out of the whole franchise. This volume had a little less comedy, we follow Aya in another storyline which involves another Tennyo descendant but with a bit of a dark twist...as of the Aya/Touya romance, man is it much more improved in this volume by Aya actually having a backbone in this volume, she overall takes active part in the story in a way that's much more interesting and genuine. As of Touya, his backstory being explored is way overdue but I look forward to the next couple of volumes!
December 5, 2017
It's started to get better again but sob! It's just so melodramatic (isn't that a hallmark of the genre though?). The art's beautiful and I love Yuhi (he's much better than his Fushigi Yugi analog Hotohoti). This issue was sad and I don't like the Maya loose ends (like shouldn't they in the very least forcibly checked her in with a shrink? Maybe even checked her in for a hot minute?) I digress. Onto the next volume so I can notice more differences between the manga and the anime!
June 6, 2023
Me l'he polit en pocs dies i això que no és el volum que més m'ha agradat.
Hi ha una bona dosi de masclisme i abús sexual (en general tota la sèrie, però en aquest volum és on m'ha molestat més) per part del Yuhi, qui es pensa que per ser amable amb l'Aya ja li pot demanar favors de caire sexual i li fa morrejos sense permís i li toca els pits. NO, NEXT.
Hi ha una bona dosi de masclisme i abús sexual (en general tota la sèrie, però en aquest volum és on m'ha molestat més) per part del Yuhi, qui es pensa que per ser amable amb l'Aya ja li pot demanar favors de caire sexual i li fa morrejos sense permís i li toca els pits. NO, NEXT.
November 17, 2019
I’m just over Aya... how were we accepting these female protagonists in the past?
April 27, 2020
Ok, yeah, this volume made me cry.
March 4, 2021
This story just keeps getting better and better. Solid art and characters, steadily developing story. Highly recommend.
January 13, 2023
TW for dog abuse and death in this one. My least favorite volume by a lot so far.
Read
September 14, 2025well that dog death bummed me tf out
January 4, 2022
All men continue to be creepy in this story agh. Also I find the Maya storyline to be so out of place - these books keep spending time chasing what turn out to be dead ends, and introducing characters who seem to fade back away after one volume. The whole ghost dog thing is so weird! I do like Shuro though :))
March 9, 2013
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 .
Note: this review is about volumes 1-14 .
June 4, 2012
Kagami's minions are trying to kill Toya, as usual... meanwhile, Suzumi transfers Aya and friends (including Yuhi, dressed as a girl) to a girls' high school in Miyagi Prefecture to investigate another possible C-Genome girl, Maya Hirobe, whose dark side is unleashed in the form of a massive white dog with very sharp teeth... subsequently, Toya and Aya become... ah... closer (which I still don't completely get--what's there to like about a guy who doesn't even know who he is? Is that supposed to be hot? It must be a teenager thing).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2012
Another place to travel, another mythical maiden fable to learn, another crazy C-Genome girl to discover!
This series could have easily turned into a mythology travelogue if Aya didn't have Tooya feels to run back to (and emo on for a few pages) every couple chapters
This series could have easily turned into a mythology travelogue if Aya didn't have Tooya feels to run back to (and emo on for a few pages) every couple chapters
January 16, 2009
First manga I started collecting. Watase-san is a literary genius. I love her works. Ceres is an incredible story.
Read
February 25, 2009Ayashi no Ceres Vol. 7 (Ayashi no Seresu) (in Japanese) by Yuu Watase (1998)
August 13, 2016
This was probably that started to lose my interest in the series. The concept and plot were good, but to me it just seemed like recycled material with really great art.
August 2, 2012
Finally getting some good character development for Tooya.
April 7, 2013
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.
For now, I got no plans for buying a copy.
October 14, 2016
Reread again.
October 30, 2014
I'm worried of Toya and Aya. There relationship..
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews