Innocent Bird is another yaoi that I looked at again recently, after a first reading that left me with mixed feelings. It was worth a second reading.The angel Karasu is sent to earth to retrieve an illegal immigrant: a demon who has taken up residence as a human and whose visa is about to expire. Kirasu begins his search by the simple expedient of asking a resident of the area where he can find the most beautiful person in the neighborhood. A boy leads him to "the Pastor" -- none other than the demon marquis Shirasagi, who not only lives as a human, refusing to use his demonic powers, but has become a man of the cloth who operates a store-front church where he not only tries to guide souls to God, but also teaches children who can't go to school because their parents are not citizens. Due to his intervention in the case of another demon, Karasu manages to get himself suspended and starts visiting Shirasagi -- as he freely admits, his excuse of "being in the neighborhood" really means that he just wanted to see him again.
But Shirasagi was the Archduke Beelzebub's plaything, and Beelzebub wants him back. He kidnaps Karasu as a means of making that happen.
This one is interesting in a lot of ways. Kisaragi has drawn the angelic forces as a bureaucracy -- Karasu is merely one field agent in the operation, although somewhat of a misfit, as it turns out. And Shirasagi really is interested in finding a way back to God, even though he is one of the Fallen. The take on Christian mythology is interesting, with Powers and Dominions on the side of the angels and Archdukes and marquises on the side of the devils combined with images of a large bureaucracy at work. And the angels aren't necessarily presented favorably: the "enforcers" for Karasu's District Manager, a Dominion, are rendered as jackbooted army officers, World War II vintage, armed with long and very effective swords. (Fortunately, Karasu's swordsmanship is superior.)
The characters of Karasu and Shirasagi are tremendously appealing: Karasu is a bit of a rogue, something of a misfit as an angel, while Shirasagi, the demon, is nothing less than a saint -- although certainly not in the running to be a martyr. Both are faced with moral choices that really are moral choices: both recognize the difference between blind adherence to God's laws and, as Shirasagi says "obeying what's in God's heart." It's a take that hits home to a contemporary American, watching the ongiong battle between those who blindly follow a rigid god of unbending laws and those who follow a god of love and compassion.
The graphics in the main story are strongly reminiscence of Nanae Chronoe's Vassalord -- the same density, the same tendency toward fragmentary images, the same general feel, although I have to say they are somewhat cleaner and less cluttered.
There is a side story, quite a substantial one, "My Sweet Darling," that is also remarkable on several counts.
Two brothers, Shuuji and Souta, live together after the death of their father. Their mother had deserted them years before, and Shuuji harbors a fair amount of resentment. Then a stranger knocks at the door, introducing himself as Kyoto Nishiwaka, their brother: he is the son of the man their mother left them for. She and her husband have also died and Kyoto has nowhere else to go. He moves in and starts behaving like a "mom" to the two brothers, until Shuuji can't stand it any more and throws him out. Another encounter on the street as Kyoto is about to run into major trouble marks a deep change in their relationship.
This is another one that tackles some substantial questions, including one that we've run into before, the complex of what makes a family and the meanings of love. The graphic work is also substantially different from that in the main story: while stylistically identifiable as the same artist, it's much leaner and more open, with a much clearer line that suits the story better.
This series is at three volumes, and I'm in hot pursuit of the remaining two. From BLU.
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