Kamisu Reina Series

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Perhaps you've heard of a little-known light novel that goes by the name of 'Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria', and perhaps you might've heard of the mass critical acclaim it has received. Widely considered to be one of the greatest light novels ever writtenーand rightly soーit's an understatement to say that HakoMari is highly regarded in the light novel community. Eiji Mikage, the author of HakoMari, has written several other works that are, unfortunately, typically overshadowed by this giant. Kamisu Reina is one such series.

Much like HakoMari, Kamisu Reina is a psychological, supernatural mystery drama. And much like HakoMari, the writing is ... gripping. From the first page, Mikage's writing grabs you and throws you right into the heart of its narrative and its characters. It doesn't screw aroundーyou'll have a hard time putting it down after you've picked it up. The series is written from a first-person perspective all the way through, the first novel exploring the narrative through 5 distinct perspectives. Every character has their own endearing flaws; their own unique and captivating thought processes. If there is one thing that Kamisu Reina does phenomenally, it's characterisation and character development. These characters are more than believableーif you're anything like me, you will relate to them, you will understand them, and you will wonder if Mikage somehow found some way to transcribe your thoughts onto paper. All of them are interesting in their own right, each painting the same world in a different shade. Each character has their own chapter, where they are defined, explained, deconstructed, and, of course, broken. They are deep characters, chock-full of substance and personality. The common link between all of these characters?

Kamisu Reina.

But who is she? Who is...Kamisu Reina?

"She is my best friend—a member of the track-and-field club and in a different class, but we always go home together.
She is my hateful nemesis—the murderer of my family. I won't forgive her and I will take revenge!
She is my fellow partner—together, we fight against the humanoid energies to save the world.
She is my..."

The first novel devotes itself to answering this question, each character discovering their own piece of the puzzle and all of them coming to radically different conclusions. The series excels in developing a sense of intrigue, mystery and Mikage's trademark narrative trickery. Kamisu Reina brilliantly leads you into false assumptions and breaks said assumptions apartーit does this both with the nature of Kamisu Reina and the nature of the protagonists. Kamisu Reina is smart, and it will trick you, and you will praise it for being able to do so with such finesse. Everything you thought you knew, everything you thought you had figured out--will be completely turned on its head by the end of any given chapter. HakoMari dabbles in this, but Kamisu Reina dials it up to eleven.

This being a psychological series, it delves deep into the minds of its characters, their motivations and their true natureーnot just Kamisu Reina. While the centric, overarching mystery may be the true nature of Kamisu Reina, every chapter has its own self-contained mystery (that sometimes carries over into other chapters): why the protagonist needs Kamisu Reina, why she appears in that particular form, and why she carries that particular relation to the protagonist. And the more we learn about a particular protagonist, the more we learn about the enigmatic, eponymous Kamisu Reina. Every one of them is a part of Kamisu Reina...and Kamisu Reina is a part of every one of them.

Everything presented in the novel (both in the first and the second) is intricately tied together as you will figure out as you progress through the narrative. Kamisu Reina's narrative is brilliantly paced and incredibly engaging, however, while it deals with a plethora of dark ideas throughout its narrative, it isn't too depressing because of it. In fact, it's the way that the series juggles those dark ideas that makes it so appealing and gripping in the first place. I believe that you can't have a truly deep psychological narrative without being dark, but you don't have to make it depressing, and Kamisu Reina is a perfect example of this.

In spite of the glowing praise I have for Kamisu Reina, I must warn that Mikage fans may not be able to lose themselves as easily in its narrative as with HakoMari. Kamisu Reina is a far more abstract series than HakoMari; the writing is very different despite sharing some similarities with HakoMari. If I had to describe it, I would say that HakoMari's writing is 'emotionally logical' and Kamisu Reina's writing is 'logically emotional'. A common criticism with this series is that there seems to be an odd sense of distance between the characters and their emotions. Everything is explained using logic in Kamisu Reinaーwhile this could very well be interpreted as a warning sign that the writing in the novels is dry and out-of-touch with it's characters, let me assure you that this isn't the case. I didn't see this as a detriment; I appreciated it as a different way of conveying the narrative. In fact, I even preferred this to HakoMari's storytelling. I'm a much bigger fan of Kamisu Reina's abstraction than HakoMari's more 'modernised' and straight writing, but this won't be the case for everyone. I suspect that I'm actually in the minority with this one. Potential readers should keep this in mind before diving into Kamisu Reina.

The Kamisu Reina Series is one of my personal favourite light novels in existence, topped only by my all-time favourite, Ame no Hi no Iris. I identified, related with and cared about most-all of the protagonists, or, at the very least, appreciated their phenomenal characterisation. I read the first novel all in one sitting because I simply could not put it down. I was engaged from start to finish, captivated by its masterfully crafted narrative that had me constantly questioning everything that went on and throwing me for a loop countless times. 'Who is Kamisu Reina?' Both the question and the supposed answer lingers in my mind to this day, albeit with less fascination and awe, as I've become somewhat desensitised to it at this point. No other novel has captivated me with the same capacity as Kamisu Reina, and I suspect it will stay that way for a long time to come.

The Kamisu Reina Series is one of the most gripping, thought-provoking psychological narratives I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Kamisu Reina is a narrative that thrives on *good* plot twists. It is dark, and perhaps even disturbing, but not overbearingly so. It's Kamisu Reina's particular brand of darkness that manages to pull you into its world instead of simply feeding off of depressing and disturbing content in a feeble attempt to grab its readers. Kamisu Reina doesn't just scratch the surfaceーit goes all in. It delves deep into its concepts and themes in each chapter and over the course of the entire novel (as well as the second), rather than presenting a bunch of half-baked ideas and never truly doing enough with them.

If you won't shy away from more abstract writing, this novel is worth your time. The Kamisu Reina Series isn't something that everyone will enjoy, but if you're willing to give it a chance, you will get something out of it. Kamisu Reina is a very well-written novel that will have you questioning every thread it introduces all the way through and long after you've finished reading it. Kamisu Reina is something very different from the norm. Kamisu Reina is all of these things, and it is also my favourite Eiji Mikage novel and my favourite psychological novel yet.

Now, I ask you:

What is Kamisu Reina to you?

Note: I have only read the first volume as the series is not completely translated.

Reina Kamisu is a friend of loners, a slayer of families, a savior of worlds, and a killer of lovers.

Who exactly is Reina Kamisu? What are her intentions?

That is the greatest mystery behind the novel. The answer is at the end of novel so you will have to read on to find out. The novel is divided into 4 stories, each involving different characters, yet the same person, Reina Kamisu, who is said to be absurdly beautiful. How beautiful she is, is up to how you define beauty.

I don't ... usually read stories with psychological genre but the synopsis sounded really interesting, doesn't it? I must say, I enjoyed the story very much. I would definetely recommend to you if you're looking for something interesting to read.

If there's a word that can describe Eiji Mikage novels, it would be "Unique".

After finishing HakoMarie I felt a huge gap in my heart, a void of sorts. I wanted more but at the same time I wanted something new. And that's when i came across this. While it's not at the same level as HakoMarie, it's pretty damn near.

Eiji Mikage has proven once again to me why is he the best author out there. his unique style of writing and the dark athmosphere in his storys is what actually shines about him. and trust me when I say this ; Kamisu Reina series is ... dark.

this is a review of the 1st and 2nd volume, so it may contain minor spoiller of the first volume.

The Story: 9/10.

Now, the subject of suicide is nothing new in our lives. We see news about suicides every day in the newspaper or the TV. and it can even happen to someone close to you. So why is this topic the best thing about this novel? simple, it's the cause of suicide. The story of this novel doesn't really focus on the act of suicide, but the causes of it. And according to the plot, the causes are a phenomenon called Reina kamisu. But, for this phenomenon to appear you have to actually believe in it. now I can't say any more becuase it would be a huge spoiller of the 2nd volume. So, I'll keep it brief. This phenomenon is in fact the "best friend" of our first "protagonist" Fumi Saito, who in fact is a lonely highschool girl with no friends except for one, Kamisu Reina. What she didn't know though is that Reina is actually there to help her remove her miserys and get her to other world which is called "THERE", in other words, heaven.

The Characters : 10/10.

This is actually the strongest point about this Novel. The characters are totally different people, half of which don't even attend the same school. but they're all somehow connected as though they all can see and talk to Reina, and they all have a miserable life or a dark past. The way the author presented these characters is beautiful to say the least. For each chapter we get to expirience the events in the prespective of a certain character, which in the same time denies the presence of a main character. But in the very end we get to know who is Reina Kamisu, in the final chapter she's the protagonist and I must say that was greatly done.

The Art: -/10

The biggest disappointement of this novel is the art. Well, there are none. Except for the cover there are absolutely no illustrations. I can understand that since Reina Kamisu is "absurdely beautiful" and it would be hard to creat a certain character design for her so it's best to let it for our imagination. But the same can't be said for the rest of the characters. I really wanted to see how Shizuka and Kogure looked like, the others as well. But sadely there aren't any illustrations of them.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I got hooked on this series from the very first chapter. And I enjoyed my self all the way. It was one hell of a ride.

Overall: 10/10

Eiji Mikage once again reminded that he's the king of Light Novels. I haven't read much, but from what I've seen so far no author can be compared to him when it comes to writing style and setting the athmosphere. this novel and HakoMarie are without a doubt the best thing I've ever read. And I'm looking forward to read whatever he writes in the future.

This is my first review, and english is not my native language, so i appologise for the bad english .