Title: Kanata
Kara (From Over There)
Author/Artist: Kyoko Hikawa
Publisher: Hana ta Yume Comics
Style: Shojo -- Fantasy/Romance
# of Books: 8 and still going
Rating: PG
Summary written by: Gloria Oliver
Main Characters:
Noriko
Your typical Japanese student, Noriko has for a while been plagued by dreams of a beautiful world. Her friends love to hear about the dreams, figuring it is just something from her imagination, which they've figured she's inherited from her father who is a science fiction writer.
On the way home from school one day, the girls walk along the streets unaware of the public warning that has been issued. While a group of bandits was captured, the police were asking everyone to stay alert because the bandits had left a bomb sitting somewhere in a store paper bag.
As the girls walk on oblivious to this, a ball comes bouncing their way. Noriko says she'll get it, when it suddenly hits a rock and bounces away from her. As her friends laugh at her seeming clumsiness, Noriko tries to explain about the rock, and looks back only to find that the rock is not there.
As she catches up to the ball, it bounces off a paper bag set up against a light post. Moments later, it explodes.
Noriko finds herself being thrown off her feet but never landing back on the ground. She sees her friends as if from far away, as they explain to the police what they saw happen. They can neither see nor hear Noriko. She is then picked up by a warm cloud as other visions assail her. These, however, are not of Earth, but of the world she has been dreaming of. Those in the visions speak of the coming of the Awakener. Divination bowls split, scrying pools turn the color of blood. But Noriko does not understand a word of what is said.
Then she falls only to land gently on a bed of golden moss hidden beneath the roots of a giant raised tree. As she looks about her and realizes she in not where she should be, she is attacked by giant flower bugs.
Isaac
Isaac is Noriko's mysterious rescuer. He saves her from the flower bugs and then contrives the means to get her out of the Sea of Forests.
As Noriko quickly discovers, Isaac is not like the men from her world. Though aloof, he seems to posses incredibly power and speed, which he is forced to use a number of times on her behalf.
Neither can communicate with the other, not understanding each others' languages. Noriko wonders if all the men from this world are like him.
Isaac was in the Sea of Forests looking for The Awakener. Many others have come to the forest to seek her as well, but he found her first. But, because of Noriko's innocence and totally lost demeanor, he's not sure he has actually found her. And he must make sure, for once he does, he will kill her.
Story Summary
Unbeknownst to Noriko, she is the long awaited Awakener foretold by prophecy long ago. For once the Awakener arrives, the Heavenly Demon is soon sure to follow. And if the Heavenly Demon is not brought under control, the evil force that this monster will unleash could very well destroy the world.
Isaac becomes Noriko's unwilling protector, for he must keep her away from those who would use her to control the Heavenly Demon at all costs. For it is Isaac's belief that he will become the Heavenly Demon. But Noriko, after all the years of waiting, is not what he had expected at all. Soon he realizes that she is as much an innocent victim as he. But it will not stop the others from still looking for her.
As Noriko's travels unfold, we learn more about the people of this strange world. Isaac, a loner, with but one person whom he might call friend, slowly finds himself more and more attracted to the very person he's feared to meet all of his life. Knowing nothing of this, Noriko tries her best to fit in and protect Isaac just as he has been protecting him.
Beautiful art and a fascinating story, more and more of Isaac's secrets unfold as we go forth. A wonderful fantasy!