Phoenix: Volume 10
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Mania Grade: A+
Story and Art: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Viz
Rating: Older Teen

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"Phoenix: Volume 10"

Almost every culture on earth has a legend about the Phoenix, a holy bird possessing unworldly powers of rebirth and immortality.  Manga legend Osamu Tezuka keeps the myth burning for modern generations with his masterpiece series, Phoenix. 

Tezuka's work on Phoenix literally spanned decades and was left incomplete with his death in 1989.  Each of the 12 volumes is a self-contained story interlinked by the presence of the Phoenix, the firey bird who has watched over life since the beginning of time.  Each volume of Phoenix takes place in either the distant past or the far-flung future until the timeline gradually closes in near the present day.  Volumes 11 and 12, titled "Sun," (and published in North America as volume 10 and the yet to be released volume 11) are two parts of a story that finally bring the past and the present together. 

In 663 AD, a young Korean soldier named Harima is defeated in a battle against the Chinese.  After being captured by the enemy, his face is skinned and replaced with the face of a freshly-hunted wolf.  The wolf's skin bonds with his own, and his dire fate as an outcast "monster" seems inescapable. But when Harima befriends an old sorceress, she predicts a strange and glorious fate awaits him.   

Times are troubled.  Across Japan, monks bring their Buddhist gods into the favour of the Imperial family and Shinto deities are subsequently forced away from the lands they protected for countless generations.  Harima is caught in the middle of the conflict as he does what he can to assist the old spirits in reclaiming their land. 

His efforts are marred by troubling nightmares about a young man, Suguru, who lives in a dark underground city in the early 21^st century.  Having been banished as a child to this "Shadow World" by the surface-dwelling Church of Light, Suguru works to bring down the Church by attempting to steal the source of their power--the legendary Phoenix, who presented herself to space explorers in 1999.           

The parallels between the two eras are not only limited to religious conflict; Suguru and Harima share similar character traits and often wonder about the person "mirrored" in their dreams.  The Phoenix series contains strong themes of reincarnation, so while the similarities between the two protagonists are not surprising, they don't make the story any less intriguing.  Tezuka's trademark art style shifts easily from scenes on ancient battlefields to a seedy underground city where people survive eating rats and insects.