SEASON ONE

This is one of my favourite things ever.

The classic, show-stopping, breath-taking, earth-shattering, jaw-dropping, brilliant, incredible, amazing, wonderful, spectacular first season of Sae-ism. I'm treating all four volumes as a whole because, when I first read them, I binged them all in the same day and now they are inseparable to me. THIS is peak fiction. These seventeen chapters were a RIDE in the purest sense of the word, I felt like I was on an infinite rollercoaster of wonder. If I could heat this up on a spoon and inject it into my bloodstream, I would. I think I know every dialogue by heart. Every copy of Sae-ism season one contains a little piece of the flesh from my heart. If you pirate it or buy it online and zoom in real close you'll see little red pixels, those are specks of my blood that I've left there because I love Sae-ism season one too much. If you read Sae-ism season one three times in front of a mirror I will appear. This changed my fucking life and I am genuinely so amazed and grateful for the fact that this exists. I love it so much that I literally can't fully understand why. Even apart from the things I said in the intro, there's something about this that vibes so fucking hard beyond logic or reason.

It is very "pure" in terms of plot. It's exactly what it says in the intro: Misao is a friendless loser until the popular Sae starts talking to her; then Sae becomes more and more obsessive and controlling, and Misao seeks help to get away from her. It's only 17 chapters and focuses on a few characters (Sae, Misao, Kokai, Ran and Shibako) and on this precise storyline. It doesn't quite have the complexity or the wider array of characters or the winding arcs and backstories or the superb art of part two, but it is the Sae-ism I originally fell in love with, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Compared to the second part, it is way more fast-paced and very focused on action. There are only a few slow, non-action moments in all 17 chapters. This means that, on one hand, it's very thrilling and engaging and constantly has you on the edge of your seat; on the other hand, it lacks introspection and doesn't focus much on characters and their development, like part two does. So, its fast pace and focus on action can be both negative and positive, depending on how you look at it. In my opinion... As professor Oak said: "There's a time and place for everything", and season one is the time for letting the edginess RAIN. These four volumes have so many unforgettable, strong, dramatic scenes that I wish I could read for the first time again. For example Sae's court in chapters 8-9. Like

HOLY SHITTTTT GO OFF QUEEN "crimes against me"?? And these two chapters are just PACKED with stuff. Confrontation between Kokai and Sae for the first time? Misao with a gun? Kokai wearing a traditional japanese costume for no reason? Sae explaining her thought process and talking about morality for once? Killer furry with a hammer? (And Kokai bringing a knife to the "killer furry with a hammer" fight?) A half-dead gangster on a motorcycle? Reconstructed model guns and diy bombs? Explosions? Attempted murder-suicide in revenge? Inexplicable disappearances? Ran watching it all while eating a sandwich? This is just an example, these four volumes are full of drama and twists and turns and it never stops THIS IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE.

These four volumes can be divided in two parts; the first of which is characterized by the presence of Kokai as Misao's helper, and it's just strategy after strategy that Kokai devises to try and separate Sae from Misao - including his aforementioned attempted murder-suicide, which he elegantly dubs "the Maki explosion strategy". Yeah I'm sure you can tell he's a bit of an edgelord but I mean, I would be too if my best friend got sexually assaulted and murdered. As a consequence the first half is very dark, with hardly any comedic moments or relief from the constant tension. (This is not a negative, I really like it). Most of these comedic moments are given by Kokai being flamboyant and parading around in his ridiculous costumes and making a show of himself for NO reason. He's a rockstar's son after all. I love him. What a man... And this first part ends badly, too. After the attempted murder-suicide Sae survives unscathed, but Kokai disappears and is presumed dead (he actually was abducted). Before Sae's court, he even tells Misao "In the end, I couldn't save you... I'm sorry". Even HE couldn't save her. So it seems like there's NO HOPE at all. That's where the second half begins, and where Ran comes in. She appears out of nowhere in a moment of total despair, indiscreetly steps in a delicate, dangerous situation for seemingly futile reasons (she's simply curious about it all), and actually makes everything better. She seems almost supernatural in this regard. I think this is intentional, because of her full name, Ran Daimon. This is highlighted by the fact that the chapter in which she appears for the first time is called just "Daimon" (and it also has a very cool cover). In ancient greek mythology a daimon is an intermediate being between humans and gods, who can sometimes choose to help humans. Tohru is big on classical themes (some of his past works being named Asclepius and Agrippa) so it's probably intentional. Ran effectively stands between (physically and metaphorically) the seemingly invincible, superhuman Sae (like, actually superhuman) and the all too average, human (or subhuman... boooo she's lame) Misao. She appears out of nowhere and helps Misao even though she has no connections to her or Sae, almost like she fell from the sky. She's also the only person who has the ability to directly oppose Sae without hiding herself or resorting to strategies and tricks (all things that Kokai did), and to have standoffs with her where they just stare at each other like fucking Jojo characters.

Anyways so the second half of part one has Ran as Misao's helper (or daimon if you will), and as a result it's less gloomy and has some comic relief. Also... It has Ran so it's great, full stop. She's in all other volumes too because she's one of the main characters of course, but she really shines here. She's a joyful, lively and energetic character and she can take the edge off such an intense and dramatic story, which is a very nice and refreshing change from the first half. Kokai is awesome too but he could NEVER.

In volume 3 they all go to Sae's villa on the seaside, and this part is so good it's exhilarating. It's like that episode in slice-of-life animes where they all go to the beach, except that one of them is trying to murder another, and they're in a huge old house with secret passages, giant underground halls, coffins in plain sight and a weird man with a creepy mask. This is yet another part that I really wish I could read for the first time again.

It's a small detail, but I vividly remember reading it and being so excited about seeing that fucking star-like symbol (the one in the marquee up here!!) EVERYWHERE, in every single door and object in the villa and also on many things that Sae wore, and not knowing what it was, but knowing that it was gonna be really important later on, and that the lore was about to deepen. Spoiler warning, it's the symbol of the Nazo corporation. And when I finished part one and I was about to move on to part two, I remember being so excited about the fact that I was going to see that symbol again and again, and that the whole Nazo corp thing was going to be expanded upon. It sounds dumb, but it was a small thing that contributed to the great time I was having while reading the manga. I really wish I could experience it all for the first time once more. And again, there's RAN.

(↑ they're playing briscola)

Speaking of the villa arc... I fucking love sleepyhead Sae. This is sleepyhead Sae.

Basically whenever Sae's (they actually say this) "SAE-nsor" SAE-nses something suspicious going on while she's asleep, she becomes half-awake just like this. When she's in sicko sleepyhead mode she's completely unhinged and insanely overpowered: she can smash brick walls with her bare hands, she can lift the equivalent of her body weight with one arm, she can climb completely vertical cliffs by punching holes through them, she can crack a ribcage by squeezing it with a single hand, she acts according to her basic istincts, she moves and talks like a zombie, and she's very horny. She reminds me of that tumblr post about cavewomen being twenty feet tall and psychic and killing shit with their teeth and having their pussy out. Remember when in the intro I said that there are certain moments when the series gets so over-the-top that it's almost laughable, but those same moments are somehow actually really good? This is a perfect example of that. Like, just fucking look at her. "Drew like a dark, fucked up version of Sae Maki..." She's so overpowered, insane and just edgy that the mere concept should be ridiculous, but I unironically love it. I unironically love sleepyhead Sae, just like I unironically love everything that's "too dramatic" or over-the-top about this series, thanks for coming to my TED talk. She only appears twice in the whole series, and that's a shame, but also fair since she's so overpowered.

Before I talk about the ending there's something else I want to say, something stupid but that felt great at the time. In chapter 16 we see this scene where Kokai is summoned in front of Sae and some of her servants

And like. There's Tazuru. The maid with white hair. Yes that's literally what I wanted to say. Because at the time I didn't know who she was obviously, but since she has such a striking, IMPECCABLE character design I was so excited to know who she was, what she did, where did she come from, where did she go, etc etc... After part one I was SO excited for volume 5 for various reasons, and one of them was seeing her again and learning about her. Needless to say, she did NOT disappoint: her backstory is one of the most incredible, heart-wrenching parts of the series. I just wanted to say this, because I genuinely hope that I'll never forget how exhilarating it felt to have finished part one and being about to move on to part two. I miss that feeling very much.

Also. Just a few words about him.

The killer furry with a hammer. Taicho. Captain kigurumi. He is Sae's servant and he helps her beat people up, in a fursuit, with a hammer. The first time we see him, first he's advertising a sale on a crowded street, then five minutes later he's single-handedly beating to death numerous armed gangsters. And he never talks, except for one time in Sae's court. He was so entertaining to see, and as a concept, too. Another one of those over-the-top things that fit seamlessly into the story and that I adore in this series. I just love him. Well... Loved him. Tohru fucked him up after volume 10...... I just wanted to say this in remembrance of how great he was before he took off his mask.

Anyways... After all the fun we've (*I've) had, there comes a big grievance... THE ENDING * horror movie soundtrack *. The ending to part one is notoriously bad. This manga is kinda obscure, but in every single review people are complaining about the ending. I'll tell you straight away that they're right: the ending is very Bad and Rushed. First of all, the lore surrounding the Maki family, the Nazo corporation, Sae's cycle of death and rebirth etc etc is infodumped in the last chapter, which is a massive shame, because it's a BIIIG plot point. I'll even tell you how the ending goes but like please don't laugh because this is still my darling dearest manga. Sae gets struck by lightning and dies. While Misao is confronting her, a lightning strike falls on her and she dies. I am not: kidding, joking, fooling around, jibing, or quipping; it's actually what happens. This is very anticlimatic and I don't think anybody liked it. It's OBVIOUS that Tohru rushed it at the last moment because he had to meet a deadline or something. I kind of feel bad for him, because it must have been hard when he picked the series back up after three years, and had to come up with a way to fix the MASSIVE DAMAGE that this ending did, and he KNEW he could never explain it either. Like... Lightning strike? Seriously? Did Zeus smite her? Kokai even says at the end "the heavens destroyed Sae Maki..." and when I read that I wanted to piss myself laughing, NOT IN A GOOD WAY. (Also, needless to say but it's not a sentence to take literally, he's just an edgelord). So... It's a bad fucking ending. BUT, I have to say that I wasn't too disappointed or mad about it, just because I knew there were other ten volumes waiting for me, and I was confident that Tohru was going to fix it all. Just because of that. If I had read the manga when part two hadn't been announced, I would have been pretty disappointed and mad. I guess I'm just lucky and read the manga at the right time. For some time, while I was reading part two, I was sad that Sae the ninth had to die in that shitty ending. I missed her and her stun gun :( But then I got over it because the new Sae is an even more interesting character with an even more complex and tragic backstory - you'll see.

Before I wrap it all up, some things that I found out while stalking Tohru's blog. Very early on, Sae-ism was supposed to be called "HELP"?????? And that the first three chapters were published under the name "HELP"?????? Imagine if it kept being called "HELP", it would be unsearchable, imagine googling "help manga read online". It would probably be lost media right now, and instead of this shrine there would be a paragraph in my journal saying "guys there was this really cool-looking toxic yuri manga called HELP but I cant find it anywhere... :(".

I feel like most of the criticism that can be given to the first season (except the objectively bad ending) can only be given in hindsight, after reading season two. Like, after reading season one I was enamoured and I wasn't asking for more... Although season two DOES give us more, in terms of plot and characters and artstyle. But, like I said in the beginning, THIS is the Sae-ism I fell in love with, THIS is the purest form of Sae-ism, THIS is a classic, THIS is irreplaceable, and THIS is peak fiction. I rest my case.