This is the transcript from my Red River review video. Some grammatical errors may exist.
Cold Open
You know what I think we need? We need to bring back the teen girl heroin getting transported into a fantasy world and saving the day while also falling in love. I know, I know it sounds crazy but hear me out. Kagome, Yuri, Yuki- all of these girls figured it out and I think that’s proof enough that this is a good idea.
Today, a lot of people associate the isekai genre with a person down on their luck dying and as a result getting transported into a fantasy world akin to an RPG video game and having to figure it out as themselves or you know reincarnate it as a vending machine or some empress’s fiance. A lot of the isekai genre was paved by a lot of the older stories that may not have as many whimsical elements. Luckily with the help of manga companies a lot of these classic stories are getting a new chance to shine in the spotlight and really prove why they have been a pioneer in the isekai genre. Such is the case with the shojo classic Red River. With Viz announcing a new reprint of the series in an Omnibus 1 in 3 version, many like myself are discovering this series for the first time and what a journey it has been.
Intro
I have always heard of Red River it’s hard to exist in the shojo spaces communities online without hearing about Red River and how badly people wanted a reprint of this series. I was completely new to the series so when I had the opportunity to access it early via Netgalley and Viz I definitely took the opportunity and I am so glad that I did but when can I tell you that I was severely unprepared for what was about to enter my mind and thoughts I I was very very unprepared.
About Red River
Red River was created by Chi Shinohara a fellow Aquarian it was published in Sho-comi from January 1995 to June 2002 it spans 28 volumes and has been licensed in English by viz the story is about about a 14-year-old girl named Yuri who is transported to Hattusa an ancient civilization due to a queen wanting to use her as a sacrifice for power she meets Prince Kail who saves her from the Queen’s guards and they immediately become like entrenched with each other while she wants to go home Yuri finds herself in the middle of a power struggle of husa and ends up becoming involved before she can leave in the author’s notes throughout the volume we learned that shinohara wanted to do a manga set in Hattusa after visiting the ruins.
This is crazy…
So right off the bat this situation is crazy and I immediately love how Fantastical this story starts like you have a regular teen girl just plopped out of her life into a strange world where the first thing that happens is like this strange but hot guy kisses her and this kind of to me reminded me of like my child like imaginations when I was a kid or when I was like a pre-teen and I would think like Aaron Carter would discover me on the street and fall in love with me like it’s just so Whimsical and out there but it also makes sense.
What’s even crazier about this situation is that Yuri’s home life is actually like really good and was on the cusp of just getting better right before she’s like transported she gets her first boyfriend they start going on first dates I believe she has her first kiss and she’s just having a good time I think she’s also about to take College preparation exams so your girl’s like living the best teen life possible and to me this oh this stood out because sometimes people are just out on their luck and them getting transported to a new world is like the icing on top of the terrible cake that they’re going through but in Yuri’s case like she had it good at at home her having such a good life at home just adds to the stakes of her being taken away and why she so desperately wants to get back.
The Dark Themes
Red River to me really stood out because as someone who’s raised by the church of clamp and I’m very used to dark themes it has been a while since I’ve read something that really gets dark very quickly and we see that even just the premise of Yuri arriving at husa is dark she is going to be sacrificed in the methods of being killed in order for this queen to have her way in her you know the Power Systems that exist and that’s like the first chapter the first couple chapters and you’re like wow this is dark and it just keeps getting darker we see Yuri befriend Tito the servant um that serves Kail and he is very helpful to her she gets close to him and feels like she can trust him and then he is killed he is gone and like we just got to know him and already he has been killed and not only has he been killed then we see unfortunately his skin being used by the enemy wearing it that doesn’t feel just dark and Eerie to you I have no idea but for me and maybe because my taste and what I read now is just very different I was a little bit alarmed I was like oh this this is this get crazy and then I’m like girl you was raised by X in Tokyo Babylon this is this is on par with that uh but it was still kind of like oh I was like oh this is this is what we’re doing here another point of darkness in this series that we see throughout Volume 2 and three is the fact that Yuri has to kill someone and she has to kill specifically Suwa who killed Tito and avenge Tito’s death and for me this is very this is a very layered part of the story because she personally feels guilt for killing Tito and knows in her heart that like it was her fault that Tito died because she rushed into the Queen’s area unprepared and she you know if she would have just waited none of this would have happened so she feels that personal responsibility for Tito’s death and then this is also after the point where she has met Tito’s family they had been lied to essentially believing that Yuri killed Tito like maliciously intentionally and while she didn’t do that intentionally you know she didn’t mean for him to die she does does feel like they are right and in order to make amends like she has to prove to them that you know she didn’t kill him intentionally by killing the person who killed him Suwa and the fact that this 14 15 yearold girl like is having to make these decisions and literally take a life away after feeling the burden of a life that was lost at the you know Helms of her actions I was like damn Yuri like you going through it girl it really felt so heavy and I love that there’s so much Nuance there with you know it’s not just her exacting Revenge it’s her feeling this burden it’s the family and basically proving like I’m able to accept the consequences of my actions even if these consequences are me taking away a life of an evil person yes taking a life nonetheless especially as somebody who probably never thought they would ever kill somebody.
Thrust into a Role
We see as the third volume ends that Yuri has pretty much done something very like amazing in the sense that people are comparing her to Ishtar and they think she is related or reincarnation or a symbol of the Goddess Ishtar she kills zua with a specific dagger that is said to have belonged to the goddess so already we see Yuri in the certain light where it seems like she’s going to get this responsibility of being this Beacon of being this symbol and also just being a warrior and a fighter in this time and that’s going to be an interesting thing to see play out because again this is not her country this is not where she’s from her main priority had been to get home but now she’s stuck here and whatever it like what else is going to happen I’m very curious to see how this is going to play out in the future and you know what else she’s going to have to get into and how she’s going to struggle or deal with this part of her life that’s unexpected while we see her developing feelings for Kail also you know her wanting to get home and knowing that she missed that opportunity and it’s like okay you’re juggling that and also wow everybody in this place that is really down on bad times with all this war and you know situation that’s happening we see now like how she’s going to deal with that and I’m very curious to see where it is.
The Romance is an Afterthought
The one thing that I find didn’t make that much of an impression on me yet and I find that this is probably due to my age is this potential budding romance with Kail and her at this point I’m not impressed I mean yes it’s very early in the story and you know she’s kind of still thinking about her boyfriend at home even though she is becoming very aware of Kail and she’s noticing that she’s caring about him and she’s kind of getting invested in his livelihood and like what is to come and like I said this part of the story romantically just isn’t moving me yet because I don’t think it’s bad in any way it’s very typical of a series of this time but I’m just like girl like you are about to be the symbol in this place you’re about to have all this responsibility trust upon you and you’re kind of stepping into it you’ve already in the span of such a short time have matured so much have dealt with a lot like grief and loss and loss of Tito but also loss of her life and kind of recognizing that wow it doesn’t look like I’m going to be getting back home anytime soon so the fact that like all those parts like they’re just so cool that it’s overshadowing the potential romance that I believe will come uh towards the end of course is you know this romantic elements to this story but I’m going to need a little bit more to impress me like you can’t show me that this girl is like this badass even if she’s from the future like she came in and already is Making Waves in this place and that to me trumps any romance like focus on the fighting focus on the war focus on helping these people because you can’t you know you’re not going to be able to go home for a while you know the love can come later and I’m sure that it will.
90s Tropes in a 2024 World
With this series it’s important for me to keep in mind that it is definitely a product of his time and some of the scents with some of the tropes that we’ve seen like for context this series came out in January 1995 to me reading it I definitely see some of the things especially in the relationship with Yuri and Kail or like you know the blossoming relationship between them where I’m like like I don’t like this but aside from that I can’t get over just how rich and detailed just in the first three volumes this series is isn’t than just the first volume alone how much World building has been accomplished and just how rich and nuanced specifically Yuri is and I you know I don’t doubt that as the story goes along we’re going to see more of Kail’s motivations and the Queen’s motivations but right now focusing on Yuri just I it it’s not lost on me how much of a fully fleshed out character she was even right from the beginning and that in something that is as old as this is just so so so refreshing it makes me so happy to see.
Because you know a lot of the times people because you know because of some things like I I find that like with a lot of older series people will just put them like in a blanket statement right like for example the romance we between Yuri and Kail that is blossoming a lot of us are like uh this is you know cuz like some of the themes and some of the the approaches that we would not be okay with today specifically kind of like him being very forceful with the kissing and with the affection and you know she has a boyfriend at home so she ain’t down with that but that speaks to a lot of the product of its time and sometimes I find that when stories contain things like that people put an entire blanket on the series or on the story and think well this whole series has aged terribly because of this one concept that is wouldn’t be acceptable or is frowned upon today and I don’t like looking at series like that and I think especially with Red River it’s very important to kind of zoom out on that especially because so much love and care has been poured into Yuri and we’re seeing that right from the beginning and one thing that I love about older manga specifically well I do think some newer manga do this but it really I feel like was done a lot back then is that you see a lot of author commentary throughout the volume and that I find helps form your thinking of the series too because in the specifically for Red River in this first Omnibus all throughout each volume the manga specifically talks about when she went to visit husa her her interest in it how she knew she wanted to do a story on this the amount of research and time that it took her to put this story together you can see that there’s a lot of love and care that has been put into this series overall
Conclusion
Red River with as much love and hype that it gets online I’m so happy to report that for me personally it did not disappoint I some of my viewers May if you follow me on other social media may have seen some of my reactions as I started reading the series and I like you know I’m clutching my pearls but I’m very invested in this story and I really can’t wait to see you know what else happens and like what Yuri is going to do because damn like you missed the time to go home and this is really like you’re stuck here and now only are you stuck here but now you are a symbol of the society in maybe a positive way but we yeah you know we’re going to have to see how that plays out but overall I really really like this series I’m loving what I’m seeing I think I saw today that volume uh two which should contain volumes four five and six of the manga are available um for Early Access for press so I’m hoping I can get my hands on that because I want I want to know what happens next immediately other than that thank you guys so much for watching this video I would love to know your thoughts thoughts on my thoughts your thoughts on Red River if you are not new to this series you know you’ve been reading this since it came out or if you just you’re just discovering it now like me I would love to know all of that in the comments and we can continue this conversation we can start our little newcomers to Red River fan club I’m very happy to lead the charge on that but this like I said this has been such an enjoyable volume and I’m ready to see where this goes thank you guys for watching watching and I will be back soon with another classic shojo that is getting relicensed and I can’t wait to talk about that one either so I will see you guys on my next video but for now peace
