From Far Away, Volume 7 Book

This seventh installment of Kyoko Hikawa's fourteen-volume manga epic, which follows the story of star-crossed lovers Noriko, a Japanese schoolgirl mysteriously transported to an alien world where her coming (as "The Awakening") has been foretold, and Izark, a wandering warrior destined to be transformed by the Awakening into a terrible sky demon, sees some key developments in the storyline. As Izark, having magically reattached his arm(!!) after it was sliced off by Banna at the end of the last installment, races to save Noriko from the demon Mokumen and his followers, who intend to use her as a sacrifice in order to increase their own powers, his strong emotions begin to transform him, and by the time he has confronted his enemies he has assumed the guise of the monster he fears he is doomed to become. It takes Noriko to bring him back to himself, but when the two escape from Mokumen's temple, and confront the seeress Tazasheena in the woods outside of town, her revelations about their respective identities sets a new crisis in motion. Will Noriko, now aware of who she is, and what she is destined to do to Izark, abandon her erstwhile protector? Will he let her...?

As the conclusion of this seventh volume marks the halfway point in the series, the answer to these questions is: obviously not! Clearly these two have plenty of adventures still before them. Action-packed and lots of fun to read, this episode contained quite a few exciting fight scenes, but it also included some lovely moments depicting the development of Noriko and Izark's relationship. Izark's confession, wrest from him in a moment of desperation, when he believes that Noriko is leaving him, that he wants to stay with her because he loves and needs her, not (just) because he is being "nice," is very well done, and the scene in which he kisses her is both humorous (her wide-eyed surprise!) and heartwarming. The separation of our hero and heroine from their erstwhile companions is somewhat sad, but then, I suspect they'll be reappearing in the story, at some point. In sum: a strong episode in an engrossing series! Now the wait begins for episode eight to arrive in the mail...