Guest Review – Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea
Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea
By Nakaba Higurashi & Seiichi Morimura
Published by CMX
Review by Megan M.
This single-volume manga is about the earlier life of Genghis Khan, covering the period where he was uniting the tribes of the Mongol Empire. This is based on the same book as the recent movie, but I’m not certain if the transition was from book to manga, or from book to movie to manga.
Unfortunately, there is far too much story covered for a single manga volume. The timeline tends to jump around, touching on several points in Genghis Khan’s childhood before focusing most of the story in 1202-1204, with several flashbacks. There are, however, several points early in the book where I’m not entirely clear if the action is set in the “present,” or if it’s another flashback. That Genghis Khan and his brothers look very similar to Genghis Khan’s sons, while fairly natural, doesn’t help with clarity.
His chief antagonist in the story is Jamuqa, his childhood friend and eventual lifelong enemy. “Friends turned enemies” is one of my huge fictional kinks, but unfortunately, the relationship here isn’t developed enough for the tragedy of that to really be fully realized. This is actually true of most of the relationships in the book. There’s Genghis Khan’s various relationships with his father, mother and brothers, the not-quite-friendship between his son and Jamuqa’s protegee, his status as a potential half-breed, and more. Elements are included that could evolve into engaging and possibly tragic tales, but they aren’t developed enough to really grab me.
As a series, even a shorter one of three to four volumes, I suspect I would have loved it. Sadly, there’s far too much story, far too many characters, and too many relationships for anything to really be developed or explored enough to really grab me.
Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea is available now. Review copy provided by the publisher.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Welcome, Megan! And good review! That’s too bad that Genghis fails to deliver on its potential; it certainly looks lovely.
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Megan M. Reply:
August 1st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
The art actually has me very curious to see more from the mangaka. It’s rough (some of the character look far too alike, even for an artform where hairstyle is sometimes the only way to distinguisg between two characters) butthe mangaka mentions that it’s his/her first work, so I have great hopes.
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August 1st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I thought this was a fantastic review! You really broke down exactly what doesn’t work and why how it could have. Thanks for coming on board, Megan! You’re a great addition to this place!
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