Animania

In another foray into the japanese light novels, I picked up Ballad of a Shinigami, released by Seven Seas Entertainment. Seven Seas is a relatively new company, having started in 2004, focusing on English manga-inspired comics and webcomics before it began licensing and releasing real manga in 2005. They moved into light novels in 2007, with Ballad of a Shinigami being one of the first six titles they picked up and began releasing. Ballad of a Shinigami, which premiered in Japan in June 2003, is written by K-Ske Hasegawa and illustrated by the one-named Nanakusa. I was first introduced to the series in the form of its six episode anime series, which aired in 2006 and I watched via fansubs. The anime is unlicensed, but I enjoyed the touching stories. When I learned about the novels, and that they had been licensed, I looked forward to giving them a go.

Similar to Kino no Tabi, Ballad of a Shinigami is a series of shorter stories in which the central characters interact with other people. Unlike Kino, however, Ballad of a Shinigami's Momo isn't so much as an observer and traveler, as she is the catalyst for major events in those people's lives because she is a shinigami - a god of death who usually meets someone because they, or someone they are close to, is about to die. Momo isn't like other shinigami, however, in that rather than wearing all black and handling her job with grim efficiency, Momo wears white with red shoes and regularly cries for those whom she's met. She is almost always in the company of Daniel, her demon servant cat.

This first volume contains four stories in which Momo finds herself breaking the rules while performing her duties so as to allow people to take care of "unfinished business." Each story is takes a look into some of the various ways people view death and think about death, against the backdrop of human relationships that are at times touching, and disturbing. During these seemingly disparate stories, we learn more about the unusual shinigami Momo, and get a bit of foreshadowing that her being different has not made her afterlife pleasant at times, but still she manages to smile "beautifully." The relationship between she and Daniel is also quite an interesting story in and of itself, with their easy camaraderie and obvious affection for one another.

Light novels have had mixed success here in North America, so Seven Seas has decided to buck the trend in hopes of turning the tide. Ballad of a Shinigami has been released in the original size that light novels are released in Japan, which is "pocket size" making it very easy to hold in the hand, slip in a back pocket, or tuck in a purse. They included all of the color pages from the original, which are beautiful, with quite a few translation notes. This first volume is absolutely beautiful, as well as adorable, and I find myself regularly looking at it just to enjoy the view.

The series is still on-going in Japan, with eleven volumes released thus far. I'm curious as to how well Hasegawa will handle the need to keep the stories fresh, while also progressing with some of the underlying themes that have been hinted at here. I sincerely hope Seven Seas's gamble pays off and they will be able to keep going with the series to the end. The next two volumes have been solicited for May and November releases, respectively. I'll be picking them up as soon as they hit the stores as I want to read more tales of Momo's assignments, as well as learn more about this childlike Shinigami in the bright red shoes.

Rating: A+