さすらいエマノン

SASURAI EMANON

MANGA

STATUS
CANCELLED
VOLUMES
3
RELEASE
December 19, 2017
CHAPTERS
37

DESCRIPTION

Emanon's wanderings across late-1960s Japan bring her across other lives in small country towns, with each encounter leaving people transformed in her wake. Yet when love once again leads to pregnancy and the start of a new cycle in Emanon's birth and rebirth, she is confronted with something she has never before borne: twins, one of them, for the first time, a boy. Will he too grow up to inherit her immortal memories, as all her daughters have before?

(Source: Dark Horse)

Volume 1:

- Sasurai Emanon, chapter 1-8, revised and colorized chapters from Emanon - Sasurai Emanon Episode: 1

Sasurai Emanon '67, chapter 1-7

Volume 2:
Sasurai Emanon '73, chapter 1-9
Sasurai Emanon '80, chapter 0

Volume 3:
Sasurai Emanon '80, chapter 1-2
Sasurai Emanon '88, chapter 1-5
Sasurai Emanon '90, chapter 1-4
Epilogue

CAST

Emanon

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO SASURAI EMANON

Cover Art for EMANON: Sasurai Emanon Episode: 1

MANGA AdventureEMANON: Sasurai Emanon Episode: 1

MANGA DramaOmoide Emanon

REVIEWS

GoronyaaNeko
90/100
Amazing stories and breathtaking art makes it a perfect continuation to Memories of Emanon.
(Writing a first review in a loooong while so apologies for the bad quality)

A thing isn't beautiful because it lasts.
They expire. They have an end. And so do we.
But what if someone doesn’t. That’s the story Wandering Emanon says.

The manga Memories of Emanon is a prerequisite for reading Wandering Emanon.

Spoiler free portion:
The manga adapts different separate stories of Emanon in a chronological manner and gives conclusion to only one of them. As a result of this, except for a couple of storyline, it feels largely incomplete and might leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Though the storylines were completed, the conclusions they received is a poignant one. The first portion of the story is coloured, which adds to the already simple yet gorgeous art this series had and makes for a great reading experience. Perfect for those who wanted to experience more of the wonderful concept of a character that Emanon was in the same gorgeous art.

Spoiler portion:
The story is divided into 5 portions, or years as the story puts it. The story in the original novels are apparently separated and the mangaka took the effort of trying to put it in chronological order in the story.

No date is given for the first portion, but it seems to take place after the events of Memories of Emanon. The sense of purpose and responsibilities that Emanon shows in the story and “...have their own role to play. So do I. And so do you.” indicates connection to the conversation she had in Memories of Emanon. This was something satisfying to read as it shows how impactful the conversation was for her, than just a statement from her in the first story.

Second story, which took place in 1967, was a missed potential due to not being adapted completely. The art however was a treat, best it had been alongside the amnesia story. Second story, which took place in 1967, was a missed potential due to not being adapted completely. The art however was a treat, best it had been alongside the amnesia story.

Introducing one iteration of Emanon which, unlike any other before, had a twin brother. This brought up a lot of emotionally tense moments, and chance to explore how the iteration of Emanon occurs and what happens to the previous one. The best part of this story was about what it added to the previously known “lore” of Emanon we had, and questions like “Why is there another one?”, “Will he die and then the memories transfer to Emanon or will he go through several iterations like Emanon had”, “Why did a change happen and what’s the purpose of this”, and it ends on a cliffhanger where the narrator narrates that they will meet at a certain year. The worst part of this is, this story isn’t adapted completely and we don’t know what happened of their next encounter, hence leaving the questions unanswered. This probably is in the novels, but as they aren’t translated in English, can’t do anything other than wait for them to be translated.

The next part of the story, which occurs in three different years in the story - ‘73, ‘80 and ‘88, is the best part of this series, both in content and the presentation. It starts off with wonderful spreads of Emanon in forest in rain. The way it looks is just breathtaking.

What’s interesting about this arc is the setup - a case of Emanon when she has lost her memories temporarily. This allows us to have a peek at Emanon’s life if she was a normal human being and not an organism who’s at the forefront of evolution. The way this is tackled is made even interesting later with the way her memories are trying ot return to her which feels like nightmares to her, an aspect of her mental health that wasn’t the focus of the story before. Despite being an organism who has an overwhelming and sharp memory, the burden of memories of 3 billion years is an unfathomable thing, which is made immensely clear by the visual storytelling that was present in these pages.

Back to the main part of it, the reason this is special is because of getting a glimpse of Emanon if she was a normal girl without the burden of knowledge. Her falling in love, being able to smile freely, talk freely, laugh freely, to travel with loved ones, to feel jealousy and just her being able to enjoy a normal day to day life without the “impulse” forcing her to start on traveling.

This portion can be said to have three conclusions, all of which are extremely impactful. First one being after the new iteration of Emanon occurs, reverting back to how everything was and yet retaining the memories the “amnesiac” Emanon had. The sadness that’s visible in Hyouzou’s face on knowing the one he loved has again forgotten everything, the year that she spent with him, probably the best years of their life, and the face of the baby Emanon who feels pain for Hyouzou and who cannot and wouldn’t speak the truth to him.

The next conclusion to this tale is 8-9 years after this, where the old Emanon has been able to live as a normal human being and not just a shell of past Emanon with the help of Hyouzou. This speaks for the time Emanon had with Hyouzou, that the impact her time with him allowed the past Emanon to be more than a shell of her past shelf. The conclusion present here kinda elevates the character of Hyouzou for me. While he indeed tried to learn more about her with hypnosis and hid from her, it was in good faith and with her consensus. The reason why it elevates his character for me is to be able to live in the lie, not escaping it but accepting it and adapting to it, trying to make the best of it without making it difficult for Emanon (who’s now a shell) and Eiko (who’s now Emanon) really takes a lot of courage and strength.

And yeah, everytime the sort of being Emanon is is being told in the story, the way it is presented gives me goosebumps every time. Every new time tells the same information in different way, for which the art that accompanies it really does wonders.

This part made me like Emanon’s character, her moments with Hyouzou & shell Emanon and her past with Hyouzou even more due to her fighting off the impulse to travel to give Hyouzou a happy family life, which was robbed from him due to the iteration of Emanon which was beyond the control of the amnesiac Emanon.
The other most interesting yet most underwhelming thing that happens before Emanon leaves for her journey after realizing Hyouzou knows the truth is addition of another character calling himself the next step in human evolution. The conversation between him and Emanon was a great setup but it is a shame that the story focusing on them isn’t adapted beyond this conversation.

The next part, while being extremely short, is a really emotional story beat as it is about the death of Emanon’s oldest friend, a time traveler. It is just fascinating the way the author brings up these sort of “super-powered” individuals who are really common in pop culture, but their dynamic with Emanon just makes them among the most interesting examples of these sort of characters.

This part focuses on something which was mentioned back in the first story, Emanon having to be with her friend Hikari in her final moments. What makes this portion of the story good is seeing Emanon with these sorts of emotions she’s showing which she doesn’t otherwise, all which are nothing but calmness before the storm when Emanon finally breaks into tears, and starts weeping on Hikari’s back.

The fact that this isn’t the Emanon who’s amnesiac and is just a normal girl but is the Emanon who has lived for 3 Billion years speaks for the impact Hikari had as a friend to her. This really speaks for how human she feels alongside Hikari despite being as old as Earth itself.

And the final blow to this is this panel

and the fact that she has to go through death of Hikari’s countless times and still feels this much pain every time.

And yeah the final conclusion to the Hyouzou story. Just this image should suffice.

Flaws:
The major flaw this series had for me is how incomplete it was, which was apparently what the mangaka did. In the afterwords, he mentioned about it being a sort of treat to the fans of the novels and the purpose of this wasn’t to completely adapt the story. So really can’t say anything much about the content presented than the fact that I wish they would be complete.

I would say tho, the story couldn’t take the complete advantage of the concept it had created. The themes of things coming to an end and accepting changes, while present very minutely, was something which would immensely amplify the impact of the story. And the other mixed opportunity is how this was restricted to period after 1960s for everything other than the flashbacks. Emanon in the edo period, which led to the myth which was mentioned in the original story, or the Emanon in stone age, glimpse of which we saw in Hyouzou’s story, could have been really positive to the story.

Damn this was long. Hope this wasn't really bad.
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