The world is ruled by a race of gods with long lifespans and supernatural powers. Due to a pathogen that has been transmitted to humans, people’s bodies are designed to combust when they come close to natural fire. Fire Hunters obtain the fuel that people need to live from Fire Fiends that roam the Black Forest. A rumor spreads among the Fire Hunters that the Millennium Comet, an artificial satellite that was launched before the final war, will return. Rumors say that the Fire Hunter who successfully hunts the Millennium Comet will become the King of the Fire Hunters. And if that happens, people will no longer have to fear Fire Fiends or the Black Forest.
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This is a strange story in a strange world. Two main characters navigate this dangerous setting: Touko and Koushi.
Touko was born and raised in a paper-making village. She breaks the rules of her village and goes into the Black Forest to get medicine for her grandmother, but is attacked by a Fire Fiend. The Fire Hunter who saves her dies, leaving behind his hunting dog, Kanata, and a gold-edged sickle that he uses as a weapon. Touko travels to the capital in a black cart that travels between the capital city and the nation’s villages to return Kanata and the sickle to his family, but the journey is extremely difficult.
Koushi has always lived in the capital. He is the son of the Fire Hunter who saved Touko’s life. After losing his mother to an illness caused by factory pollution, he lived with his sickly sister Hinako for a short while. The wealthy factory owner Yuoshichi Okibi invites the children to stay at his estate. This invitation is not entirely altruistic: Yuoshichi quickly suborns Koushi into creating a weapon using lightning fuel, which is a special kind of fire fuel harvested from dangerous Fallen Beasts. These weapons will be used to fight against the Spiders—former gods who were banished from the capital long ago. Spiders are now trying to recapture or destroy the city.
In the second volume, Touko finally arrives in the capital and meets Koushi. The story then introduces new characters, making it even more complicated. As anyone who has read the first volume knows, the content is quite disturbing and cruel, but the great appeal of this epic four-part series is that it does not turn away from horrific events, but instead accurately depicts the state of the world. It is by no means a story for children, even though the main characters are both children.
A unique characteristic of this story is that everyone is uncertain. There is no way to know what is good or evil, right or wrong, without investigation. Koushi is researching and creating weapons, which is arguably wrong, but he is doing that to protect his family and the people in the capital, which is certainly right. Parallels to the atomic bomb are evident. Is creating such a weapon really moral? Koushi himself is troubled by this question as the weapon nears completion. Akira, a Fire Hunter, tries to deliver a petition to the Guardian Gods’ shrine, but her brother was killed by the Guardian Gods and she can probably expect the same treatment for her trouble. Can people really trust the Guardian Gods? Akira doesn’t know—no one does—but she decides to do what she can regardless.
Another characteristic of this story is that characters don’t unite to fight a common enemy, but continue along distinct story threads. Although Koushi and Touko are sometimes together, they almost always act separately. We may all wish for peace in the world, but the ways to achieve peace will differ from person to person. This is true not only for Touko and Koushi, but also for Akira, Kira, Yuoshichi, and everyone else.
Something I find wonderful about the story is that characters truly inhabit their lives; they have consistent pasts that inform their current behavior. (Yuoshichi remains something of an enigma, but pieces of his past are revealed in a short story, “Wild Light.”) Characters who had a primary role in the first novel are dead by the second. The message is that every character has their own life and has no idea when or if it will be cut short. For example, Kaho’s decisions after coming to the capital are convincing because we know about her life up to that point, and we can see her strength of will. None of the characters are there just to move the story forward or to add excitement.
In this story, there is no hero with overwhelming power who represents humanity. There is no one with the strength and wisdom to solve every problem; the problems the world faces are too complex to be solved by just one person. At the same time, there is no axis of evil that controls everything from behind the scenes, either. The Guardian Gods are mysterious and the Spiders are a threat to humans, but there is no primary antagonist hell-bent on causing people to suffer. There is no absolute evil or good, and there is a little bit of good and evil— or something that is misunderstood—in everyone, and that is what creates the world’s chaotic circumstances.
Both Touko and Koushi share the same desire to make the world a better place. But there are so many things they don’t understand as children/teenagers, and they are frequently confused about what to do.
In this volume, Hibari, one of the Guardian Gods, has memorable words for Koushi: “You and that village girl are interesting. You are both trying to understand what kind of world this is. You are not struggling to somehow save it, nor are you hoping for its destruction. You are both simply trying to understand what this world is like.”
These words really made me stop and think, because Hibari is right. It’s important to understand the world you’re living in before trying to change it. If we blindly accept what is told to us and wave around empty platitudes and baseless rules and laws, we can lose sight of what is truly important to us. That is why both Touko and Koushi continue to think seriously about justice, morality, and making the world better. But their world is in chaos, and their ideas about right and wrong can have no impact until that changes.
The use of Protector Stones and how they’re given is shown quite a lot in this volume. Touko receives a Protector Stone from her family; the Fire Hunter who saved her also carried one. As characters suffer injury and danger, these Protector Stones change hands, showing just how much characters care for one another. Each person’s battle is a lonely and individual one, but their mutual consideration shows a desire for cooperation and the safety of their friends.
So what will happen in Touko and Koushi and the rest? Volume 3 has the answer to that question.
Be sure to check out Volume 4 and the extra short stories in this series, too!
Takii Asayo
Translator's Note
Takii Asayo is a Japanese writer who has reviewed many books for children.
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