Ceres: Celestial Legend, Vol. 13: Ten'nyo

妖しのセレス [Ayashi no Ceres] #13

by Yuu Watase

Hell hath no fury like a heavenly maiden.

Horror, Comedy, and Romance Made in Heaven

Yuu Watase , the immensely popular writer/artist of the shôjo (girl's) fantasy smash Fushigi Yû The Mysterious Play , has turned her creativity and wry sense of humor to the horror genre with her anime/manga hit 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!

Survival Of The Species

Escorted about the facilities of the C-Project laboratories like the prize Mikage breeding-stock she is, Ceres uses the existence of Tôya's child, now thriving inside her, to taunt the monomaniacal Kagami. An outraged Kagami tries to kill Ceres, but will another's sacrifice be enough to protect this "First Mother" of all Celestial Maidens? Aya, initially horrified by Ceres' claim to be "no different" than her relative, Kagami, eventually receives from Ceres the truth--about the past, about how things really were between her and the Progenitor...and about the shocking nature of the mysterious ten'nyo or "celestial maidens" themselves.

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

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 1999

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 5 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.

[Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me puse contenta viendo que sólo quedaban dos. Si no fuera porque es una relectura y quiero completarla, realmente hubiera abandonado hace bastante. Hubo muchos de relleno en este manga.

De todos modos este tomo me gustó más que los anteriores, fue definitivamente más interesante.
Al fin tenemos la historia de Ceres! Fue inesperada en cierta manera, dulce y triste.
No decido sobre el mensaje que buscó mandar, o quizás simplemente lo contó así porque quiso y yo estoy leyendo entre líneas donde no debería xD.

Hablando de triste, voy a extrañar a Shuro, me encantaba ella, y fue re noble y glorioso su final.

Me resultó anticlimático que al final hicieran el hagomoro en laboratorio. Lo estuvieron buscando para nada en la práctica, si no fuera porque se originó con los restos de la tenyo.

Yyyy volvió Tooya en forma de ángel, o Tenyo quizás? Las propiedades curativas del agua de mar.

[Kasumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Después del final del anterior tomo, tuve que leerme el siguiente del tirón y por fin nos enteramos de la verdad del pasado de Ceres y el primer antepasado, qué es el manto y porqué Ceres lo busca de forma tan desesperada (literalmente, le va la vida en ello) y porqué eso significa el fracaso del Proyecto C si siguen negándose a entregárselo. Aunque eso a los financiadores del proyecto les dé igual, porque siempre quisieron el manto para ellos.
En fin, que solo queda un tomo y si lo de Chidori no fuese suficiente, ahora Shuro da su último concierto y se revela al mundo como doncella para asegurarse de que Aya pueda escapar y conseguir el manto. ¿Será suficiente este sacrificio o todavía Aya verá morir a alguien más en el último tomo tras el sorprendente final?

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuu Watase continues to take our breaths away with this pre final volume volume. I'm not sure how this story will conclude, and I'm happy I have spent years never once being spoiled about it, but I absolutely am on the edge of seat, crying, throwing up, fight tooth and nails in my cage waiting for answers!

[Rebecca Dawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has gone to some crazy places I was not expecting it to.

[Laurelyn Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost finished! I like the mix of science fiction/modern technology with the old myths, and her mythology choice was diverse, including selkies.

[Elia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my God! Noooooooo!

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, some answers . . . but what even is going on? Nothing in this story has been what I thought it would be . . . it's all endgame now though. Just one more volume.

[Maria del Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

El final es posa bo...
Tot i que hi ha coses que no acabo d'entendre?

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

sento il bisogno di dare 500 stelle a questo volume.

[Ryofire · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only things that were interesting in this volume were Shuro's friendship and love for Aya, and the sudden and random Ryurik/Alec ship. The volume is otherwise pretty bad.

It turns out the celestial maidens are some... weird versions of Amazons or something. They just want to get human seed to procreate. And the central story of the story - that Shiso raped Ceres - was actually sort of the real lie? The truth is that relationships are complicated and humans can go power-mad.

Also the robe was never a robe, precisely. It's a... life-giving/seed-seeking thing. I don't know why this was a secret, exactly. I think there's value in hiding the fact that the thing is your lifeforce, because people could use it to blackmail you and trap you, as Ceres was. But it's weird she gets mad at people for not finding it when they have no idea what it is.

I'm so glad we've sort of moved past the random Japanese obsession with Christian crosses. It's so weird. It's not entirely gone, but it's so cringe in this series. I know it's an aesthetic thing, but given it never comes up in any other way (except the Christian-looking random nuns at the C-Genome center?), it's kind of just extra weird.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aya has gone to C-Project headquarters to obtain the hagoromo they've created in hopes that it will help her send Ceres back where she came from. Instead, they of course take her captive. After she's attacked by the The Progenitor and becomes Ceres, Ceres eventually explains that the "celestial maidens" were actually asexual beings trying to continue their species by reproducing with humans, but that most of their family lines have died out. We also learn of Ceres' past and discover that she did not anticipate falling in love with a human. Once she shared some of her power with him, he became corrupted and evil, and was eventually reincarted in Aya's twin, Aki.

Shuro uses the last of her power to free Aya from the C-Project building and (probably) dies. Kagami takes Ceres away to the C-Project's secondary headquarters on a giant ship, where she tries to reach her hagoromo, or "mana" (wow, we're really mixing mythologies now). Ceres reveals that without their mana, celestial maidens can't survive for very long, which seems to be part of why the C-Genome girls at the project are beginning to die. Soon, Toya (with wings) appears, apparently resurrected by having had his body flung into the ocean (he seems to be a powerful descendant of a tennyo with ties to the sea).

I'm not sure why Watase chose to name the C-Genome types after Greek and Roman goddesses (Ceres, Pallas, etc.). She's not terribly clear about which world mythologies are the equivalent of Japan's celestial maiden tales within the storyline, but she alludes to many, such as the selkie legend.

[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 .

[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.

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

Most of this was me going...."Hu-What!"

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTABULOUS!

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "bad guys" explain their motivations, and I start to sympathize with them.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really? THAT'S the explanation behind this story?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

... explanations for tennyo/hagoromo myths at last!

[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.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shit is really hitting the fan omg. I appreciate that the final push to the end is occurring but heck this feels chaotic.