Himegami no Miko v1c0

姫神の巫女 (Himegami no Miko): Successor to Kannazuki no Miko?
This is something that has been on my mind for a good part of the day. I'll start off by saying that Kannazuki no Miko, one of the first straight-up anime centering on yuri that does not try to hide this fact in the slightest, is very much the anime I still a.s.sociate with to this very day. It was licensed in the U.S. by Geneon Entertainment in 2006, the time I was finis.h.i.+ng high school, though I'd discovered it back in 2005. I don't want to give my entire life away but goodness, if there was a character I could whole-heartedly see my personality in, it is without a shadow of a doubt Himemiya Chikane. It really reflected what was going on with my personal life at the time. I still feel like I can relate over 3 years later, though the situation is entirely different for me now. My perspective hasn't changed, though. Well, I suppose I owe a bit of an explanation, don't I?

Kannazuki no Miko involves a love triangle between Himeko, Chikane, and Souma. Himeko is clumsy, shy, pretty helpless, Chikane is the s.h.i.+ning star of the school, and Souma is the knight in s.h.i.+ning armor. Despite peers setting up the prince with the princess of the school, Chikane and Souma are obviously in love with Himeko…most people at the beginning will probably ask themselves, out of all people, why Himeko? I don't really want to reveal much more of the plot, but legend, as well as the idea of fate and destiny, tie into the story that particularly binds Himeko and Chikane. There are other aspects, like mecha and other embellishments but, at the root of it all, the story is this triangle. BUT, for once, there isn't a completely depressing end to it like the bad reputation that had been following yuri around since the 1970s. Ahh, I feel like I can pa.s.sionately go on forever when speaking of this t.i.tle, but I'll try to restrain myself.

Himegami no Miko
Himegami no Miko
Anyway, I read on a discussion board that Kaishaku, the two-person team that created the KnM manga in the first place, has another story in the works. (Mind you, Kyos.h.i.+ro to Towa no Sora offered KnM fans glimpses of characters who look just like Chikane and Himeko and established them as a couple very much in love with one another, but were downgraded to secondary characters, leaving fans aching for more.) It is called Himegami no Miko. Now, I haven't read Kaishaku's blog in detail, so I don't know the validity in this, but they're said to have released a portion of the manga this month in the comic magazine, Young Ace. There's also a website that went up: www.himegami.com that has artwork reminiscent of Kaishaku's works AND looks like yet a third version of Chikane and Himeko. So far, the girl that looks like Chikane is holding a sword and there seems to be no mecha. Good, I don't feel like they were fundamentally needed, anyway.

How I feel about it, though, I don't know. It's hard to say exactly. I want to feel excited yet, on the other hand, I don't want to in case it ends up in another disappointment for being a poor re-hash. Still, I can't help but think about it and this post is my way of releasing the mulling over that's been going on in my head for hours on end now, lol. If anything, the fact I went to the 'Zero' link that's the only one up and translated an entire entry must say something, huh? Here you have it:

Under the brilliantly s.h.i.+ning full moon…
Two figures stood facing one another.
One girl carried the divine symbol of the moon upon her back, sword in hand.
The other, carrying that of the Mother of Earth*, gazed up to look at the moon and the girl.
The two were a pair.
They were born on the same day, at the same time,
Both were marked with the same divine symbol,
And on their 15th birthday, they left their shared hometown,
Planned to have been born under the star of destiny.
The priestess of the moon grasped the sword in her right hand and thrusted the point against the chest of the other girl on the ground.
The tip of the sword moved slowly, tearing at the cloth on the girl’s chest.
Though she was of age, a small cleavage was exposed.
A faint pink glow emitted from the symbol that was etched there.
”You have the mark of a priestess.”
“…”
The girl on the ground promptly nodded.
“I do also. I am the other priestess.”
“..You are…”
“I won’t let anyone else wound you.”
“…”
“In the name of us priestesses, I must kill you.”
Her voice lacked eagerness, as well as hesitation.
She conducted herself in a manner akin to was.h.i.+ng your face in the morning, like simply performing a daily ritual.
She resembled the glow of the moon from a wintry night’s sky- like she wasn’t of this world, like she came from h.e.l.l…
That was the sort of silent and bottomless iciness she had about her.
Clearly, it is nothing like word play.
At the moon priestess’ feet there were shadows—of her companions—that was definite proof that they had fallen.
However, there was no fear, hatred, or any sadness in the eyes of the girl who had been sentenced to death.
She simply stared straight and earnestly at the girl directly in front of her.
Her eyes clouded over with great emotion, her cheeks were dyed red due to shame.
That stare, that atmosphere,
The coldness the moon priestess had enveloped herself with seemed to harbor something completely contradictory.
Like the sunlight filtering through the trees, warmly and innocently, the earth priestess slowly opened her mouth to speak.
“Ok…I understand.”
“…?”
“That’s fine. It’s alright if you kill me.”
The moon priestess’ eyes opened wide with astonishment.
“In exchange, I have a request.”
“A request?”
“Is that ok?”
When she said that, she smiled at her.

*This must be Izanami, the G.o.ddess in the s.h.i.+nto creation myth, from whom the j.a.panese islands are believed to have been created along with her husband, the G.o.d Isanagi.
Wow, this took me a while to translate. It was hard trying to keep the imagery, voice, etc. coherently so as to not sound weird or remove too much on how this was beautifully written in the original j.a.panese. There's a line or two that sound awkward, I realize, but I'll let it mull in my head to see if I can figure it out better and edit as needed. Definitely exercised my brain and translation skills. Credit for the original goes to its respective source and the translation is credited to me so, if you wanna share, please make sure to give me my props, ok?

I guess time will tell what happens with this.