Kaina of the Great Snow Sea – Review of the first volume

Kaina of the Great Snow Sea it will certainly not be new for those who followed the animated series presented in the winter 2023 season of Crunchyroll (our review here), but many instead, even among fans of Tsutomu Nihei, they may have missed the paper title announcement. Thanks to Planet Manga, this story with post-apocalyptic and science fiction hues, arrives in Italy with a delicate and harmonious first volume. Will it be a story worthy of expectations? Find out with us!

Once upon a time there was a great sage

The first volume of Kaina of the Great Snow Sea focuses mainly on the presentation of the world and the two protagonists, Liliha And Kaina precisely. The first, a princess of an unspecified named kingdom Atland, she ran away from the war to look for the great sage, a man who according to legend would have the ability to save mankind from the lack of water; the second, one of the few remaining inhabitants on the celestial membrane (a sort of shell that envelops the sky, supported by orbital trees), rescues her by chance during one of her expeditions in search of food, saving her from certain death. The two thus end up exchanging information on their respective worlds, and Kaina, struck by the girl's narration, decides to help her reach the again sea ​​of ​​snow, an immense white layer that seems to cover the entire globe and located infinitely below the membrane. How will Kaina and Liliha reach the Earth's surface? And will the boy be able to help the princess against the fleet of Valgia? You will find out by reading the next volumes! However, we can tell you that it will be a journey full of difficulties, clashes and mystery.

The further down you go, the later you come back up

Let this volume be the background to an epic storycharacterized by a trip in style Conan, the boy of the future or Nausicaa of the valley of the wind, you can imagine it from the caliber of world-building… but we'll talk about this later. First it is right to focus on the two protagonists and their ability to express, with a few gestures and words, a direct and intuitive humanity: difficulty, frustration, fear, innocence; the level of the characters described here can be seen both from the naturalness with which Kaina hunts for food in her absurd world or from how she tries to interact with a girl she has never seen (with first and weak hints of romance), and from how the princess reacts in front of the clashes and faced with the fear of death, or the death itself of his comrades. All features that they do not seem to build the classic hero “predicted” by the fairy tale, but which certainly contribute to creating a solid base for tackling the descent towards the snowy sea, which requires skill, resistance, courage, and not superpowers. However it is a manga that will talk about war and survivalWith the'evergreen of the lack of water (as for the beginnings of Ken the Warrior), which seems to cling to a classic development, but by no means banal: the volume ends in fact anticipating the descent towards the sea of ​​snow, but we can already sense the grandeur of this adventure, with the theme of the journey which has roots as broad as those of the orbital trees for future digressions and enrichments. “The further down you go, the later you come back up” Cristina D'Avena sang in Nadia – The mystery of the blue stone and this title gives me many similar sensations, in particular that of a journey that will lead to discovering unspeakable facts from the past, including organizations, wars and technological residues.

A fairytale world-building

As anticipated, what is striking about this volume is the reasoned and majestic construction of the world where the work will be set. A structure to Made in Abyss which offers intriguing spaces: i Tenmaku, that is, the gigantic orbital trees, with their thin membrane that envelops the planet, the animals that try to repair the holes, the sea of ​​snow that envelops everything except for small islets of civilization located on the roots of the trees themselves, and that whole series Of enormous spaces that know how to convey the feeling of emptiness in this desolate world where life is disappearing. A title therefore that focuses a lot on the descriptive component and less on the action (at least for the moment) and which however is precisely capable of arousing curiosity and interestwith a subtle elegance.

The brief parenthesis of this first issue on Kaina's family, and in particular on “grandfather cartel”, is a pleasant choice to explain some basic concepts to the reader, as is this sky-earth dichotomy which manifests itself in the differences between the two protagonists; among these there is the innocent “not knowing” on the part of those who live in the world above, like the boy, of the inconceivable wars below, which for example have already led the princess to touch her blood first hand. Already there is a promise of pleasant growth for both of them, and at the same time for the world around them.

Everything is clear as snow

The name of Tsutomu Nihei is generally a guarantee of the “darkness” of a manga, with its dystopian scenarios: it is difficult to forget the Blame!pervaded by darkness and cruelty, or those of Biomega, despite their more cyberpunk aspects. You won't find all this in the first volume of Kaina of the Great Snow Seayet this collaboration with Itoe Takemoto knows how to fascinate right from the cover: almost watercolor scenarios contrasted with the thin and clean lines of the characters, with sometimes candid drawings with direct graphic rendering and others more dreamy, but always with particularly clear faces, which focus heavily on the centrality of the eyes. A representation quite different from the anime that we have seen, but which retains some characteristics: first of all that sort of environmental oppression given by the places represented (such as the voids and indefinite spaces of the boundaries of heaven and earth). Then the characterization of the characters, between equipment and movements, finally the fights, where Nihei's typical wickedness is smoothed out by the lightness of Takemoto's illustrations, almost creating a light of works such as Knights of Sidonia. There is more hope than fear and there is more welcome than oppression in these tables, but even as an admirer of previous works I can say that this is more than fine.

Who do we recommend Kaina of the Great Snow Sea to?

Kaina of the Great Snow Sea it certainly focuses on action and exploration, but it is not the classic title with fairy-tale fantasy hues, because it certainly hides mature and reflective traits. We recommend it to those looking for something mysterious, where sensations count more than words, and therefore not for those looking for typical shonen fighting. Nihei fans might appreciate it, but don't expect yet another raw and impactful title, just like those who appreciated the anime of the Polygon Pictures he might find himself disorientated by the change in style (although I am sure that the manga will be able to better illustrate some points left out by the anime). In any case it is about an interesting work, with an excellent startwhich can be read far too quickly (let's remember that Nihei prefers few volumes) which is why, even on an economic level, I find no reason to tell you not to give it a thought!