Kyoko Hikawa

Review for series as a whole:

First, hello Anime Industry, why is this not animated???

Concerning the story, this was an interesting read with a few twists. It is one of the better "teenager transported to another world (isekai for manga reader)" plots.

Misery abounds! With an ever-present feeling of dread after every two pages of happiness and two cracked eggs and milk, the readers are due to trouble. The Murphy Law is fully in effect here, and nothing stays perfect for long.

The ending was show more really lackluster, but I enjoyed the journey and finished the series in two days. I think it was decent fun, not delirious but decent.

Halfway Spoiler:
There aren't any weddings or babies, so the ending could disappoint some.

Characters:
Noriko is the main character, and she's only working with 3 facial expressions at most. Some of this might be attributed to the art style. I liked that language learning is a part of her character arc. In this new world, she didn't speak the language. I've always admired bilingual characters/characters forced to learn a language.

In volume nine, she finally showed some spunk in her character and took the initiative to do something dangerous. I think that is truly her only shining moment since every single scene in this entire manga is her wanting Izark, her crying, and her having a fish-out-of-water expression. I understand the situations present were very horrific for her, but, if that blank '80-'90s anime face doesn't get you, her Studio Ghibli tears will. This chick could have replenished any drought and most definitely has SCS (Shoujo Crying Syndrome).

Izark was my favorite character though not many others got developed in this series. I enjoyed the development of his character and powers. He had a lot of angsty brooding moments and kept pushing Noriko away too often. He reminded me of a gentleman white knight character, who got dealt a bad hand, which was being the spawn (descendant?) of Satan. His devil heritage gives him Superman-like powers and Wolverine's quick healing ability, but he constantly has inner turmoil about using these devil powers. Instead, he prefers swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat.

A good point with Kanta Kara is Izark, arguably the strongest character alive isn't a Gary-stu, and I think his being at war with his powers kept his character anchored, made me feel honest sympathy for him, and gave him room to evolve. However, I just couldn't stand watching him push Noriko away constantly though when that stopped I couldn't find any other qualms with him. Also, it's so cute how he cried at the end when he got frustrated. His learning to get in touch with his emotions was a major stepping stone for him too.

Gaya would have been the stereotypical ugly woman in any other manga, scratch that any other media, but in Kanata Kara she is treated like an actual character. Gasp! She is a great warrior, mother figure, and shrewd businesswoman. Since she never shunned Izark, who had been rejected and shunned way too many times, I instantly took a liking to her and it never left.

Rabamadan was almost like a one-note character. He was there when the plot needed to move along, but not in much else. I thank him immensely for being the catalyst to knock some sense into Izark.

So yay for love rivals, who you already know are going to lose from their first appearance!

Barago and Doros are two ugly guys that were more than their looks. Garabog, a once bloodthirsty gambling warrior, finds purpose after encountering Noriko and Izark, and Doros finds peace from a simple gesture. I loved these two! I honestly felt sympathy for more characters than just the main couple.

Agol and Geena were two I wished could have had more backstory. Although more backstory is not something the manga needed for them, I personally wanted to know more. Who was Geena's mother?

I liked the black-haired girl and her mother too, who were both so beautiful, but not very memorable. The people of the last town were hilarious and imaginative!

Art:
Izark is handsome but in certain shots, his mullet looks unflattering and his pointed Dorito chip nose did not help. In other shots, he's the heartthrob the manga intended him to be. I like seeing him in motion during his numerous fight scenes and his agility on display.

Noriko, like before stated, had very few expressions that were repeated often, but she looked beyond gorgeous whenever Izark would pick her up when she was sleeping. Noriko's side views sometimes looked like her forehead would sink in and her eyes would be two inches above her mouth, which was not a look I like. Keep that for chibis.

The backgrounds were diverse and the clothing (a mixture of Japanese and Middle Eastern) was very appealing. I liked the nice collars, stylish boots, and long jackets!

The monsters were gruesome just like you would expect too!

Overall:

I am glad I read this, and I want to find another manga in this vein. I love those “girl gets teleported to another world” shoujo stories. Still, I wish Kanata Kara could have been a bit more romantic. There were like three kisses in total, and they were less than pecks! Maybe the timeframe of this manga made it super chaste, but come on I like a nice shoujo kiss with or without cherry blossoms in the background.

But yes, definitely read this! show less

This thirteenth entry in Kyoko Hikawa's fourteen-volume fantasy manga epic opens as Zena, having related the ancient legends concerning the evil priest who unnaturally elongated his life, before eventually becoming a powerful evil spirit and the source of much of the current misfortunes besetting the world, in the twelfth episode, concludes here that Izark is not truly a monster, nor a force for evil. The affirmation from their circle of friends, and the support offered to Izark and Noriko, show more mark the beginning of the final phase of the battle between good and evil raging in their world, as all parties finally know who they are. When Noriko is kidnapped by Lord Rachef, while Izark is off defending Ennamarna from the armies of Donya, his worst nightmare seems to be coming true, and he can barely suppress his inner monster. Noriko's escape reunites them, but she is terribly weakened by her solo synchronization with the chimos, and is bed-ridden within the walls of Ennamarna as Izark heads out to confront the maniacal Keimos. Can Izark prevail against such a strong enemy, without calling upon his own inner demon? Will the citizens of Ennamarna stay strong, when Rachef and Gorya issue an ultimatum, demanding that they turn over Noriko? It all concludes in the final fourteenth volume...

It was worth staying up late last night to read this volume, even if I do feel a bit groggy today - I'm just surprised that I was able to get to sleep at all, with just one episode left in the saga, and the fate of Noriko, Izark and their world hanging in the balance! Immensely engaging, this entry in the series had it all: intense action scenes, heartwarming moments, frightening developments, and further revelations. Lord Rachef, determined to claim whatever power the Awakening confers, offers Noriko the chance to save her life by becoming his, reflecting in the process on his eternal sense of emptiness - the lack of fulfillment that seems to grow stronger, the higher he rises in the world. Izark and Noriko's companions give important moral support, in their various ways, each expressing their belief that the couple are not agents of evil. I loved the opening scenes, when we finally see the fruits of their many good deeds, of all the help they have offered to others. All in all, a volume I raced through in record time, determined to get to the finale! show less

Opening in the same bucolic Aibisk farming village to which Noriko and Izark had fled at the end of the ninth episode of Kyoko Hikawa's fourteen-volume manga fantasy epic, From Far Away, this tenth installment of the series sees our hero and heroine discovering a new set of companions and allies, while the villainous Lord Rachef's source of power, as well as some of his back-story, is revealed. As Irk and the other tree spirits struggle to maintain a protective shield around the village, show more evil grows ever stronger throughout the world. When three rogue Gray Bird Tribe warriors break through the shield, Izark teams up with Roki (real name: Alef) to fend them off, and then the companions - Izark and Noriko, Doros, Duke Jeida's wife Niana, his daughter Glocia, and their bodyguard, Roki/Alef - flee once again. Back in Rienka, in the meantime, Rachef conducts an impatient Keimos back to the ruins, where he reveals the source of his own strength: the deeply buried crystalized moonstones. The episode closes as Izark, Noriko and company confront yet another set of challenges, in the form of political corruption in their new town...

This was a particularly amusing entry in the series - the scene in which it is revealed just who Roki and company are is particularly hilarious, as Noriko and Glocia keep blurting out the exact same thing at the same time, and then, with great comic timing, turning to one another in surprise; and the exchanges between Izark and Roki are likewise entertaining - and I enjoyed reading it a great deal. I appreciated the brief but chilling glimpse of Rachef's childhood, and the few scenes involving Gaya, Barago and Jeida were quite welcome, although (as always) I wanted to see a little more of their activities. I was very glad to see the map on page 136, as I'd had a difficult time envisioning the physical layout of the countries mentioned, and their geographic relationship to one another. I do continue to wonder, however, whether this world has any specific name. It was quite interesting to witness Rachef's musings about the Awakening, his contemptuous dismissal of Noriko as "just" an ordinary girl. I was reminded of Lord Voldemort's similar feelings about the "ordinary" Harry Potter and his "ordinary" Muggle mother, in J.K. Rowling's fantasy novels.

In sum: exciting, engrossing, and very satisfying, with plenty of action, some heartwarming scenes, and lots of humor. On to the eleventh volume! show less

This ninth installment of Kyoko Hikawa's fourteen-volume From Far Away series, an epic fantasy saga involving two star-crossed lovers and their struggle to understand and possibly change their fate, by circumventing the prophecy which foretells that one of them will "awaken" a terrible demon in the other, picks up in the middle of the same fight sequence that ended the previous episode, as Izark and Keimos Lee Goda battle one another in the buried ruins to which the cunning Lord Rachef has show more transported them. Noriko, in the meantime, struggles against her captors, including the evil seeress Tazasheena, eventually escaping with the help of former Rachef underling, Doros. Rushing to the side of the terribly wounded Izark, Noriko spurs him on to greater efforts, and drawing on a part of himself even deeper than the sky demon, he sprouts angelic-looking wings and flies them to safety. Aided by Irktule - the spirit of the white mist tree forest, encountered in the fifth episode - Noriko, Izark and Doros make their escape from the region, eventually settling in a farming village in the nearby country of Aibisk. But although they have found temporary shelter, they know they will soon be pursued...

I enjoyed this episode of the ongoing story, which starts with a bang, and doesn't let up! The exciting early scenes, in which Izark and Noriko battle their enemies separately, before escaping together, are balanced out by the more bucolic farm-village moments toward the end, as they rest and recuperate, and provide plenty of fodder for the local gossips. I found the villagers' many guesses, as to the true identity of Izark and Noriko, immensely amusing - perhaps they fell into the swamp! perhaps they are actors fleeing from a lovelorn mayor who wants to marry Noriko! - I appreciated the reappearance or Irktule, and I came away with lots to ponder. What is this deeper level of identity that Izark discovers? What does it have to do with the wings that he briefly sprouts? New characters, in the form of Roki, and the two shop-keeping women he seems to live with, are introduced, and it is hinted that they are relations of Duke Jeida's, which suggests that the other companions might enter the main story again sometime soon.

In sum: another entertaining episode in an enjoyable serial story! I just wish that I'd been able to obtain a print copy, as I've done with most of the other episodes. show less