Ranked #1729

Ayashi no Ceres (Manga)

Another Classic from Yu Watase! This manga is from the mid-1990s right after Fushigi Yugi. With manga fans, it's either a love it or hate it manga but what's not to like about Ceres: The Celestial Legend? It has a great story, excellent artwork and developed characters. It's not the newest manga on the shelves, but mentioned before it's a classic.

The art is very Yu Watase: detailed eyes and whispy hair. The hair is perfected in very strained making it realistic. The eyes have the most detail and the most enjoyed feature in the artwork. Border line between realistic and exaggerated, Ceres has shojo artwork. The backgrounds are also detailed, almost as much as the characters. Yu Watase's biggest flaw in creating manga is her repetitive cast of characters. Everyone has seen her style before, and some characters look exactly the same as previous ones from her other manga. (Knight from Absolte Boyfriend and Limdo from Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden is ONE example) At least, the characters in one series aren't the same, which would be too confusing. Those who like her artwork and/or new to Watase's work would love the art to this manga. Despite using the characters over again (it doesn't bother some) the artwork is beautiful. (It's not a big flaw since her artwork is wonderful)

There are a lot of strong characters in this series. They are developed as the story goes along, which makes the story and characters more enjoyable. Watase is big on having love triangles (which is present in Ceres) but this love story ends up more like a dodecagon. It sounds like something from Springer but it actually adds to the story. As the story goes along, bits and pieces of characters are added. One of the best manga series that deals with character development.

The story is very unique and raises a lot of questions and hooks. The great thing about the story is, like the characters, information is added as the story goes along. This technique captures the reader into making them what to read more. It's a fantasy story but with a modern day twist. It's also a horror story that adds suspense and drama, but has some comic jokes here and there-- it's a mix of genres rolled into an interesting story. Unlike the anime, it has more detail and information. For 14 volumes of manga, there are 26 anime episodes.

Ceres is under the shojo category and is meant for a teen audience. Men may not enjoy this as much as women, as well as younger fans may not enjoy this as much as older fans. Ceres one of Watase's best storylines, which most manga fans can enjoy. For more to the story they can check out volume six to Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden. (written 10 years later)


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Ceres is one of Watase's most popular works and, in my opinion, her best. It's a much more mature story than her others, dealing with themes of sexuality and violence (often a mixture of the two), but as my mother would say, it is tastefully done. Probably 16+ should read this, not because of content, but because the themes are very complex and require a more mature understanding of sex and violence. Besides the 'parental disclaimers,' Ceres is a beautiful love story and a sci-fi/horror thriller with social commentary and humor. The main storyline is that Aya, on her sixteenth birthday, is possessed by a spirit named Ceres. To make matters worse, her family wants to kill her to keep Ceres from being unleashed. So Aya must find a way to rid herself of Ceres...or at least that's how the story starts. There are fourteen volumes in all, so the story has time to become really complex (but not like Pirates of the Carribean 3-I-have-no-idea-what-is-going-on-complex). It's a long series, but it's worth the time (and money if you buy all the volumes like me). read more