Kaikisen

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Return to the Sea, Summer of Tension

Japanese: 海帰線

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 1

Chapters: 7

Status: Finished

Published: Mar 26, 1990 to Jun 18, 1990

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young Magazine (Weekly)

Authors: Kon, Satoshi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 6.69¹ (scored by 4,010 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #13322²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1884

Members: 10,490

Favorites: 30

6.69

Ranked #13322Popularity #1884Members 10,490

MangaYoung Magazine (Weekly)Kon, Satoshi (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /1

Chapters: /7

Available on Manga Store
Tropic of the Sea
Volume 1
$9.99

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Synopsis

Yosuke Yashiro's family has a strange, unique tradition -- once every sixty years they receive an egg from a mermaid where it sits protected in a shrine. Once the egg matures the family dutifully returns it to the sea, where the whole process is repeated. In exchange for this favor, the mer-people bless their coastal town with bountiful catches of fish and calm seas.

But as commercial developers encroach on the sleepy seaside hamlet and Yosuke's father is lured away from tradition towards modern prosperity and turns the mermaid's egg into a tourist trap, what will happen to the promise their family made to the mermaids all those years ago?

Included one-shot:
Summer of Tension

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Background

Kaikisen was published in English as Tropic of the Sea by Vertical Inc. on September 17, 2013.

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Reviews

Nov 23, 2012

_Rika

Recommended

If I have to sum up Kaikisen in a few words, they would be: Mesmerizing, Serene, Euphoric, Profound, Phenomenal. A modest coastal town, the tranquil sea and an intriguing legend about a mermaid that engulfs the town. It might not be the most original setting or premise but it is done so well, the first few pages were all it took to draw me into the story.

While the manga’s charm without a doubt lies in the mystery surrounding the mermaid’s existence and her ‘egg’, the characters and their portrayal are yet another of its redeeming points. We have our protagonist Yosuke who is ...

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Nov 15, 2015

Chinomi-san

Recommended

I can't say that this plot is very original, the struggle between breaking tradition and changing for the better. Nevertheless, the story is made interesting by the incorporation of the mythical mermaid, and that is what really kept me going: the hope that Yosuke would get a glimpse of her. The thought of a mermaid egg is also peculiar and original. Otherwise, the plot moves along at a good pace over the span of seven chapters, and it is nonetheless inspiring and intriguing.

Yosuke is obviously the main character here, and he does shine as an individual. He doesn't have the strongest will in the beginning, ...

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Jul 26, 2013

yuridice

Mixed Feelings

Well that was just a little heavy-handed.

Kaikisen: Return to the Sea falls into a classic trap. Is the greedy land-developer character not perceptibly evil enough despite the fact that he literally wears sunglasses indoors? Let's also have his driver almost hit the main character in his fancy car then, just to show that he really isn't someone who cares. It should be enough to let the motives and major actions of your characters speak for themselves, but sometimes authors just can't resist adding that extra little "kick."

Yes, our villain actually kicks a dog.

The absurd portrayal of the people behind the development project ruins what what ... would have otherwise been a relatively reasonable portrayal of the trade-offs between sticking to tradition and accepting modernization. (Well, it would be a little biased still, but we can accept that fiction in general has an inescapable fondness for the days of yore.) Instead, what we get is some hackneyed pseudo-profound mash-up of "respect nature/tradition/something" and "Magic and Miracles are Real!"

The climax and conclusion of Kaikisen, I feel, are similarly poor. A poorly-integrated extended car chase and a gratuitous all-out brawl at a festival might be excused perhaps, but some things are unforgivable. Not only is the age-old (and just absolutely tiresome) trope of Faithful Dog Companion Frees Hero By Attacking Evildoer invoked, but a similarly cringe-worthy moment is when the main villain has a complete change of heart in the space of two pages. And how can we be so sure that he's a good guy now? Well, just look at how sympathetic he looks without his sunglasses! Clearly, the sunglasses had been controlling him all along.

All that said, there is one major redeeming quality. As others have mentioned, the art is superb both technically and stylistically, and the confident linework, solid panelling, and careful shading and texturing can feel like a clinic in how to actually draw manga that looks good. Stylistically it's nothing to write home about, but that's just fine. Not everything needs to look like Gogo Monster or not simple, and if I were to borrow for just a moment that good old MAL system of assigning sub-scores for art, characters, and et cetera, I'd give this a full 10 in that category. First and foremost, the particularly strong art saves Kaikisen from being an unengaging read, but it is also valuable in one other notable respect. The subtly expressive way in which figures are sometimes drawn by mangaka can bring instant yet meaningful characterization to a character if done properly, and some of the best characters of this manga are not the main characters, with the exception of Natsumi, but characters like Yosouke's father, the mermaid, and the less caricatured of the townfolk.

Ultimately, however, it is difficult for Kaikisen to save itself from its heavy-handed moralizing, and while enjoyable enough most of the time due to the excellent artwork, the shallow build-up and entirely empty conclusion will not leave very many readers satisfied.

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