Forum - View topic"Crest of the Royal Family"-A sadly overlooked manga
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2986 |
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Stop me if you heard this one. A teenage girl is sent through time into the past and has all sorts of crazy adventures back there. If you guys think I'm talking about "Inuyasha" or "Red River,"you'd be wrong. But,this manga could be the template for both series. It's called "Crest of the Royal Family" and sadly,it's overlooked by a lot of the big manga companies here in America.
I first heard about this thing was in Jason Thompson's book about manga,and I was intrigued to say the least. It was started in 1976 by Chieko Hosokawa,a manga artist who earlier had done something called "Attention Please,"a manga about airline hostess trainees. "Crest of the Royal Family" revolves around Carol,an American girl with a passion for ancient Egypt. On a trip to Cairo with her class,she ends up going back in time to ancient Egypt,due to a curse placed on the tomb that she was researching. She ends up falling in love with the pharaoh of the time,much to the chagrin of his priestess half-sister who also has feelings for him. She ends up playing an important role in that world due to her immense knowledge of the time period. Now here's a question that I have. Why haven't companies like Yen Press or Shojo Beat brought this manga to America? I've had a look at some English translations of this online and from what I've seen,I've liked. It's one of the more positive portrayals of Americans in manga,and I've seen stuff like "Cipher" and "Chrono Crusade." Possibly,it's due to it's length. "Crest of the Royal Family's" been around since the days of Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter,platform shoes and Studio 54. It's around 71 volumes and still going. I don't know how Ms. Hosokawa's done it. How this manga's remained popular in Japan after all this time is something amazing. This manga doesn't have the spice of having strange demons like "Inuyasha" has. It's just about a girl who falls in love with a pharaoh and uses her knowledge of the past to do amazing things. It's also similar to it's other inspiration,"Red River,"in which a contemporary Japanese girl is sent back to the Hittite Empire due to a magic spell. "Crest of the Royal Family" deserves to be called the "Gunsmoke" of shojo manga for it's longevity. It won an award for best shojo manga in 1991. It's a shame that this can only be found online. I think it would be great if companies like Viz,Yen Press,and Shojo Beat would bring this to America. From what little I have seen,it deserves a least a look. I may be surprised and it may be brought here someday. Who knows? They brought "Red River" and "Inuyasha" here,why not this one? Last edited by Snomaster1 on Sun Nov 19, 2023 6:50 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Wooga
 Posts: 916 Location: Tucson |
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That sounds really interesting, actually. I also like from Eroica with Love that cmx brought over, a 70's manga still running today (actually came back after a long hiatus, but still). I think they should have more print on demand manga titles for niche things like this.
Another overlooked shojo (i think) manga is Vampire Game, I had really low expectations when I first began reading it. It's not actually about a vampire, the main character is a spoiled princess who crossdresses as a knight. There is a vengeful vampire, unfortunately he is reincarnated as a vegetarian kitten and has to tag along with her. An interesting fantasy world brought over by early tokyopop, I think Dragon Knights is similar as well, however I'm having trouble hunting down volumes of that... |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2676 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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This is one of my more favorite shoujo titles, actually, and at the top of my wish list for release in a language I read more easily. But sadly, Sno, I think you answered your own question about why it isn't in English when you mentioned the length - 71 volumes and still going. That's a lot of volumes, with only The Big Three of shounen coming close to it in terms of English releases. While I wish I wasn't saying this, I can't see any of the English-language companies taking a risk with it.
(France? Italy? Want to give it a go? Indonesia's translating it!) |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Isn't it on hiatus now?
I was probably too old to fall for romantic plot when I reached for Ouke no Monoshu. I also had read Read River before and the older one looked really pale in comparison. Characters seemed messy and stereotypical, especially Carol, who could go from intelligent student with knowledge about Ancient Egypt to annoying ditz thinking in XX century standards in span of one volume. OnM also didn't earn any points when it come into setting. Whole "Ancient Egypt" thing seemed like paper decorations taken from 50s Hollywood blockbuster- Sphinx, pyramids, Pharaoh riding a horse and incestuous marriages. Even when Carol travels the setting changes so much that they take pyramids out of sight. To say nothing about antivenom. Applied orally after being brought around for several days in pocked during Egyptian summer. OK, there were 70s, but it was after Egyptian Sinue, in time when Ikeda and Tezuka researched and planned with carefully that may amaze modern reader. Maybe OnM was the first of it's kind, but it had better successors like Inuyasha or said Red River. I'd also suggest changing title to "Crest of the Royal Family- sadly overlooked manga". |
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Snomaster1
Subscriber Posts: 2986 |
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Thanks a lot,EireformContinent,for the idea of the title change. That worked out really well. I appreciate the advice. Again,thanks!
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JR-1
Posts: 71 Location: Southeast Asia |
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Uh, where did you get that info? AFAIK it hasn't been translated into Indonesian yet. Though there is a lot of shoujo fantasy manga that is currently being translated, old or new (Basara, 7 Seeds, Red River, Akatsuki no Yona, Dawn of Arcana, to name a few well-known ones) so it's likely only a matter of time. |
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Snomaster1
Subscriber Posts: 2986 |
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Well,JR-1. I'm glad that Indonesia might get this manga. It's a shame America has yet to get it. I'd love to see how this is handled in the hands of professionals like Viz,Yen Press,or Shojo Beat. Especially Yen Press and Shojo Beat. This would be right up their alley. I've got a question. What does AFAIK mean? I have no idea what that means.
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Symmetrical_Magician
 Posts: 274 |
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I believe that Shojo Beat is just the "brand" Viz attaches to their shoujo manga, as Shonen Jump is for their shounen. And that acronym is "as far as I know." |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I can't see it ever coming here outside of a digital release. Personally I couldn't get into it, and usually I'm rather open to classic shojo manga. The art of the earlier volumes has not aged well, and the first couple volumes that are supposed to pull a reader in has a rather weak and shallow story line with unappealing characters (Oh god, Memphis and his sister, gehhhhh.)
The only one really bringing in classic shojo at the moment is Vertical, and they like to do smaller series that have (in my opinion) rather unique stories for their genres, or are just short classic, staples. I'll take Glass Mask over Crest of the Royal family any day as a long running unlicensed series I'd happily throw my money at. Age has treated that one rather kindly, and even with all the manga today that it has obviously influenced (Skip Beat for example) the art and story, and characters, still stand on its own. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 2676 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Really? I could have sworn the scans I saw were from an Indonesian edition. I must have gotten the writing confused with another language. Sorry! |
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JR-1
Posts: 71 Location: Southeast Asia |
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Well, I did said AFAIK. Indonesia get a lot of shoujo manga. With few exceptions (extreme smut shoujo manga like Black Bird and select few superpopular titles like Kimi ni Todoke) most popular contemporary shoujo manga are licensed. Classics are different question though. The bulk of it is translated in the 90s so many are long OOP, but select few that are popular back in the days are currently being republished (Glass no Kamen, Koko wa Greenwood, Seito Shokun) and some titles that are considered risque in the 90s are currently being translated in the more adult line that only appeared a few years back (Ayashi no Ceres, Red River). Ouke no Monshou, I know for sure, is not currently being translated. I don't know for sure if it was translated in the 90s as I only started collecting in the mid-00s, but I don't remember seeing it in used bookstores and flea markets and I also can't find it it online used bookstores and second-hand markets. |
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