Manga review: 7 Seeds

7 Seeds has given me mixed feelings all the way. It's the first shoujo/josei manga that gives a tremendous impression on me (with the lack of non-cliches all shoujo mangas have). Even my hubby who loves seinen was impressed with the quality of the storyline of this manga. I'm puzzled that it didn't make the top 10 list of online manga reading sites. Maybe its a little too serious for the majority younger readers? (I don't think so..hmm..). There are times I'm sooo happy, and then I was crying due to sadness..The turbulent of emotions evoked by the storyline was powerful to me, which reminds me of One piece (which I believed is much better than one piece). The illustrations were beautiful and sparkling. I totally loved it!


 

Title: 7 Seeds
Status: Ongoing
Nationality: Japanese
 Genre: Drama, Josei, Psychological, Tragedy, Horror, Mystery, Action, Mature
Online reading source: mangafox

Written and illustrated by Tamura Yumi sensei, this manga brings a non-generic josei genre, which targeted on adult women's readers, while maintaining certain shoujo characteristics (with the big sparkly eyes and everything haha)..very little romance ensues, but still, the feelings are richly present among a number of characters. In 2007, this manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award under the category of shoujo manga. High quality scanlations are done by the Tsukihana group while summaries can be read at Megchan's blog, if you can't wait that is. I seriously recommend for you to go for the scanlation site itself, their works are top notch and one of the best I've seen amongst other scanlations, I could actually feel the love and the passion :) Currently at chappie 114 under the 'Awakening Insect' arc, this manga was update once or twice a month at around 30-40 page/update.

 To me, this manga has no lead. It spins from an arc to another arc where all the characters are similarly important, which is similar to George R.R. Martin's works on the Song of Ice and Fire novel series (although the characters were not as many). The setting was done some years ahead, after the world has survived a post-apocalyptic doomsday, where all humans are wiped out due to a big meteorite hitting earth. 5 groups of 7 young healthy men and women + 1 guide emerged from their cryogenic sleep and strive to survive the wilderness, hence, where the name '7 seeds' comes from. Each group were named after a season; summer, autumn, winter and spring. Their mission in life is to survive the harsh environment and repopulate (laughes! easier said then done). The Japanese government has placed 7 caches known as Fujiis scattered around Japan, where food, day to day survival gears, seeds, books and etcs, as a measure to help these chosen individuals to survive. Hence, by being able to reach these Fujiis, their survival may be guaranteed.

Each person in this manga is someone special/skillful in a certain field. Team Summer A was trained like crazy for this while being emotionally scarred due to excessive psychological torture. Team spring, autumn and winter were normal skillful people of different ages. While team summer B was a back-up team established after all 4 teams, which consists of 'rebellious' teens, just incase the characteristics of the 4 aforementioned teams were not suited to survive the future. This is always done in laboratory experimentations (my personal experience), which is called as the control group.


However, life is not a book correct? How well you plan ahead, it won't guarantee that it'll follow just the way you like it. That's how the drama unfolds.

Team Summer B, from left: Kaname (cap), Hotaru, Botan (guide), Semimaru, Arashi, Natsu; 

Back from right: Matsuri (pigtails), Chiamaki

 Team Spring, from left: Chisa (sitting), Momotarou, Haru, Fujiko, Hana, Mansaku

 Part of team Summer A, from left: Ayu (long hair), Koruri (curly short hair), Ango (black hair), Ryou (most right)

 Team Winter, from left: Kumakawa (guide), Mutsuki, Mitsuru, Fubuki

 The only surviving winter team member, Aramaki, an ex-Koshien pitcher

 

 Part of team Autumn, from left after Hana: Ran, Akane, Kurumi, Ryuusei

 The thing is, the mangaka hinted that other countries besides Japan, also have performed such tactics, providing a wider possibility for the plot to further expand. Although it is under josei, to me, men or women alike will enjoy this tremendously..maybe 17++..I don't want to reveal too much of the plot, dun wanna be a spoilsport haha. I'm always on edge when reading this manga, and I believe you will too.

 Rating: 9.9/10