Welcome to volume 2 of From Far Away! In this volume Izark and Keimos learn the measure of each other, Rachef is super weird and what's this about Noriko being adopted??

New (recurring) cast member Seer Gorya who is Rachef's main seer and vassel makes his first appearance and we learn a little bit about the "chimos", an animal that's a bit like a chinchilla and can help a person teleport.

Noriko continues to try her best to learn the language while Izark continues to tell her he doesn't understand when she babbles. I appreciated the minor digression into why Noriko is so determined to be useful. Noriko learned, from a young age, that unfortunate things can and will happen, but dwelling does nothing. Channeling that anxiety about her future into creating a present she feels fulfilled in, is the core of Noriko's character. Does she wanna get home? Yes. Does she know how? No. instead of focusing on THAT she is focusing on how she can help others who are offering her so much.

Izark has a sadder back story, of which we see a brief bit about and some of which Keimos makes guesses at. Izark also resolves to find a solution that does NOT end in Noriko, aka The Awakening of Doom and Destruction, dying.

Keimos is fucking crazy. I don't mean he's reckless or does nonsensical things. I mean he is a psychopath, maybe a sociopath. I don't know if he distinguishes between right and wrong. For him it's "strong" and "weak", you're one or the other and if you're strong he cares about you existing...until you prove stronger then he.

Rachef shows a bit of his true colors here when he unleashes a power of his. His motivation basically being it's less of a pain to do this then if he gets hurt and is useless to me.

Meanwhile the villagers of Calco waste no time speculating about Izark & Noriko nor does the Mayor mind asking Izark to handle their bandit problem. Shameless!! ( )

I wonder what Izark is? Maybe he is a Japaneses vampire or something... but there is the whole chi thing... I wonder. ( )

I wonder what Izark is? Maybe he is a Japaneses vampire or something... but there is the whole chi thing... I wonder. ( )

This manga has lovely artwork and an interesting plot. I particularly like how Noriko cannot speak the language when she first arrives in the new world - so many books and movies don't seem to acknowledge this detail. This volume is very entertaining and full of laugh out loud moments. I highly recommend it. ( )

Picking up right where the first volume of Kyoko Hikawa's fourteen-volume manga series From Far Away left off, this second entry in the romantic fantasy saga sees Japanese schoolgirl Noriko, stranded in an alien world in which her coming has been foretold, and wandering warrior Izark, with secret reasons of his own to dread Noriko's coming, temporarily trading places. As Izark, depleted by a mysterious recurring malady, becomes desperately ill, Noriko rushes to help him, fetching a doctor in spite of her ignorance of the local language and customs. The bond between the two grows stronger, despite Izark's internal doubts as to the wisdom of protecting "The Awakening" when he should want her dead, and when the thieves that he bested in the first installment return, he is recovered enough to defeat them, with a little help from Noriko. Former Rienkan mercenary Keimos, in Calco town as well, is another matter however, especially when his erstwhile boss, Lord Rachef of Rienka, takes a hand in the combat...

I enjoyed this second installment of the series just as much as the first - more, probably, because I started it eager to know what would happen next. I liked the way the characters were developed here. We learn a little bit more about Izark: the flashback to his youth, when his own mother abandoned him, after revealing that she only bore him because she was paid to do so, went some way toward explaining his isolation, although the exact nature of his superhuman/inhuman curse is not revealed. Noriko, although still a little silly - she is a teenager, after all! - continues to improve, showing that she can be strong, when needs must. I liked the way she stuck up for Izark, when she thought the doctor and mayor were bullying him, even though it turned out not to be necessary, and the scene in which she manages to carry the wounded Izark to safety was quite a surprise. The relationship between the two feels more reciprocal here, with each lending a hand, when the other needs it (although Noriko certainly needs it more, there is no denying). All in all, a solid follow-up to the first, one which left me wanting to know more! Time for the third installment, I think... ( )