In a story of espionage and geishas, Yuka Nagate paints the landscape of a Japan in full confrontation with the West through religion. In this fourth volume, Butterfly Beast also invites you to discover a new neighborhood. Prepare your swords but also your crucifixes to follow our chronicle.
Two against one
Following the last two volumes of Butterfly Beast, Ochô is again confronted by renegade Christians. The geisha was able to prevent a coup led by a priest and unemployed soldiers. This union may seem surprising, but it brings together those excluded from the new political regime. Indeed, many soldiers no longer have any resources with the end of the civil war. Christianity is forbidden on the archipelago, its followers are tortured to return to the Japanese religion. In Butterfly Beast, the Christian religion is a sect threatening the old order. This vision shows that Yuka Nagate writes for Japan because Christian prayers, gestures and rites are explained.
The central power has been shaken by this coalition because there is also a traitor in the secret organization of Ochô. To discover the culprit, the geishas is hired to infiltrate the shogun's palace. A twist in the penultimate chapter transforms this mission to go into an unprecedented infiltration… She finds herself alone because she acts in a neighborhood reserved for women. After the pleasure district, we discover another place of feminine but very hierarchical power that destroys the idea of a society entirely dominated by men. If all these characters are invented, we meet in Butterfly Beast real actors of the story as the leader of a peasant revolt. Through the investigation, we enter the ôoku, the women's quarter of the palace.
The Return of the Messiah
If the opponents are weakened in Butterfly Beast, Father Thomas and Private Kazuma are still alive and they are determined to act by force of arms or negotiation. A courtesan, Ayame, joined them. Formerly close to Ochô, this woman is very touching. Indeed, his soul is divided between his sincere Catholic faith and his love for the priest. Through the diversity of female characters but also men, Butterfly Beast gets out of masculinist stereotypes that are too often found in samurai movies or manga. A hero or heroine does not need to be strong (physically or psychologically) because the most important thing is her determination to fulfill her mission. The series is even more complex because it questions the morality of the service. The heroine knows that this mission is morally dubious or even unfair but she has no choice but to fulfill her role.
Writer of Butterfly Beast, Yuka Nagate also draws throughout the series beautiful pages. It serves not only the narrative but the illumination. She also created a painter character. The artist Gonnosuke Yamada comes from far and wide to the pleasure district to draw on the back of Ochô. Through him, the series introduces for the first time touches of humor. On the one hand, drawing is for him as strong as sex and on the other hand, this ultimate work is also a message of tolerance. Yuka Nagate manages very well to spare the suspense by revealing this painted back only at a crucial moment. This visible proposition is paradoxical for a spy and demonstrates the rebellious spirit of Ochô.
Butterfly Beast, published by Mangetsu multiplies the extremes and proves again its quality. We meet the great history and an invented spy sect. If a courtesan is the main character of this historical series, the Christian religion led by a man is at the center. We alternate action scenes and more intimate moments.
You can find on the site chronicles on Shy, a less historical series and a selection of short manga.
