©1998 SAKURA TSUKUBA/HAKUSENSHA INC.

‘Blindfolded’s’
visions enlighten

Manga, or Japanese comics, are a hot commodity lately. Just how hot? How about the fact that American comics giant DC Comics recently created CMX, its own manga publishing company to release licensed Japanese titles stateside?

One of CMX's debut titles is "Land of the Blindfolded" by Sakura Tsukuba. (CMX's series so far have the author's first and last names printed in reverse order on the book, in the traditional Japanese style of first giving one's family name.)

High schooler Kanade Outsuka has a gift: When she comes in contact with a person, she can sometimes see that person's future. But the visions don't come all the time, and they last only as long as there is contact. In a land where people are "blindfolded" to all but the present, she says, sometimes her blindfold slips a bit.

She runs into a new student at the school, the cheerful Arou Naitou, who somehow knows about Kanade and her abilities. He tells her that when he touches people, he can see their past. But his power is much more advanced; his "blindfold" is completely gone, and has been since he was a child. He can see the past of anything he touches, even inanimate objects.

Arou's and Kanade's ideas about their respective abilities differ: He feels she should remain passive, especially since her visions are incomplete. But Kanade insists on stepping in to "save" others from their fate, especially when it involves someone apparently getting hurt.

And supernatural "gifts" are rarely so simple. The pair's loosened blindfolds become the ties that bind as Arou is helpless to do anything to change the past, and Kanade must struggle with her desire to try to change the future.

When she ends up hurting her best friend, Eri, after envisioning Eri's boyfriend cheating on her, Kanade finally feels what Arou discovered long ago: She becomes afraid to touch anyone, for fear of seeing the future and unerringly causing more pain.

But the girl's passion for wanting to help others quickly rubs off on Arou, who, despite having accepted his ability, still has some baggage from the effects his gift had in his childhood, and he finds himself slowly setting aside his original policy of passivity.

Their ability to "see" in a different way make Arou and Kanade develop their own kinds of blindfolds because of their feelings for each other. They refrain from touching each other, afraid of what they will see in each others' minds.

However, as Kanade realizes, no one can see into a person's heart -- and that is what ultimately helps the pair conquer their fears.

Adding to this equation is Namiki Masahiro, who also can see the future. But unlike Kanade, he uses his powers for personal gain and amusement, snickering to himself when he knows that a man is about to be hit by a car and betting on a horse race in which he "sees" who the winner is.

Namiki transfers to Kanade's school after he witnesses her using her ability to prevent a traffic accident. Arou, knowing how Namiki uses his talents, takes an instant dislike to him.

By the end of the book, the scene is set for some major ideological clashes between the three young people. Kanade is in the center of the storm, as she must still find her footing in how to put her powers to use.

Kanade is the stereotypical energetic, happy heroine of "shoujo" (girls) comics, whose caring personality is part of her appeal. But her underlying uncertainty about her powers and the brave face she puts on it are also cause for some pity, making her all the more human and all the more appealing.

Volume 1 includes two bonus stories by Tsukuba that are separate from "Blindfolded": "After the Festival" and "The Mistaken Man," both charming love stories that, as the author says, led to a change in the tone of her storytelling.

And as is getting popular with some shoujo manga, included every so often are Tsukuba's brief comments on the story and her life in general. The columns were written at the time of the original Japanese publication (the first "Blindfolded" graphic novel was published in 2000), and so the events they sometimes mention are far out of date.