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Ayashi
no Ceres was a great story. But let's face it, it left us hanging at the
end. Will Tooya die? What will happen to Aya and their baby? Do they have
a happy ending? Will Aya end up with Yuuhi?
Watase Yu have already made a reputation for herself as being unable to let sleeping dogs lie. Or dead bodies remain buried. However that expression goes. After Fushigi Yuugi's ending, she had to create not one, but... *counts on fingers* oh, I give up. She created several installments, which includes character novels and Genbu Kaiden. And from the looks of it, there'll be more where those came from. Well, at the time this review was written, anyway.
Ayashi no Ceres deserved a sequel far better than Fushigi Yuugi. It had to tie up all those loose ends. It is three volumes long and picks up where Ayashi no Ceres left off. So if you haven't read Ayashi no Ceres yet, I suggest you go read it up before continuing here. That'll make this review much more understandable ^^. Episode of Miku, at the time this review was written, was not made into an anime like Ayashi no Ceres.
Synopsis
So Tooya and Aya saved the world. And they're pregnant. And they couldn't
get married, because Tooya doesn't have an established identity. They
decided to eke out a living in Hachijoujima, in a little hut and making
ends meet via Tooya's salary as a diving instructor. Finally, Aya gave
birth to a little girl, whom she named Miku. Miku held a lot of promise,
because she was conceived while the tennyo, or heavenly maiden, resided
within Aya and the mana resided within Tooya.
Ayashi no Ceres left off with impending doom for Tooya. Since he gave the mana to the heavenly maiden, he was not supposed to live long. After his daughter was born, his health began to deteriorate. However, he continued to fight fate and hold on to life so that he could be there for Aya and Miku.
Meanwhile, Alexander Howell was cleaning up the remains of the C-Project. He gathered the fertilized eggs that he and his boss, Kagami, have collected from women who had the tennyo gene. He hurled all but two of the eggs, encased in capsules, into the ocean. The two remaining eggs belonged to Chidori and Miori, who played significant roles in the events that happened in Ayashi no Ceres. Alec felt it would be more proper to bury them.
However, the day after, the eggs developed at an alarmingly fast rate. To make matters worse, Alec realized that one capsule was left behind. Before he knew it, he found himself with three little girls who continued to grow fast. He named them CP-1, CP2, and CP-3, after the C-Project. These three girls were insatiable for knowledge, and there came a point when they asked Alec to give them real names. Alec decided to name the two of them after their mothers and called them "Chidori" and "Miori." Alec named the third girl, who came from the egg that was left behind, "Shiori." It was after a character in his favorite videogame, "Tokimeki Memorial."
By hacking into Alec's computer files, Chidori, Miori, and Shiori found out that they originated from the C-Project. Furthermore, Chidori and Miori found out who their mothers were and subsequently assumed their identities. Shiori, however, could not find any information about her mother.
At the end of Ayashi no Ceres, Tooya told Yuuhi to take care of Aya when he dies. In Episode of Miku, however, Yuuhi changed his mind. He argued that it was Tooya whom Aya needs, so Tooya would just have to stay alive. And not long after this, Yuuhi finds the new Chidori and was given a second chance at their relationship. Well, in a manner of speaking.
The new Miori, having assumed the identity of her mother, was filled with hate and the desire for vengeance against Aya. But Miori was not the biggest of their worries. It turned out that Kagami's still alive, and he got his hands on Shiori, with a plan to get to Tooya, Aya and Miku. And from the looks of it, Miori's desire for vengeance doesn't compare to Shiori's frustration at not having an identity.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, at some point during the story, Aya realizes she's pregnant again, this time with the reincarnation of Aki.
Review
The problem with sequels is that everything's not brand new. And in this
case, the story reuses old villains so much that dead villains are reincarnated
and villains who were believed dead were actually alive and eager to spring
back into action.
Really, there wasn't anything new with this story. Even the brand-new characters have recycled pasts, as they are reincarnations. The issues that have plagued Tooya and Aya before are still there, since Kagami is still alive. The new additions, such as Miku and Shiori and unknown facets of Kagami and Alec, were okay. However, the whole thing just seemed like... it was trying to drag on Ayashi no Ceres for as long as it could.
The best thing Episode of Miku could have done was give closure. I was pretty worried about what would happen to Tooya. After all, he's a total bishounen. But Episode of Miku didn't even grant me that one indulgence. At the end of the story, Aya had given birth to Aki and Tooya's still alive. Then he closes his eyes. The end. What? So is he going to stay alive, or did he die then and there? No one knows. Well, except for Watase-sensei, perhaps. After living through Tooya and Aya's continued saga, I was nowhere close to gauging whether the two of them will grow old together. Maybe they will. It'll just be too sad if Tooya dies and leaves Aya alone with two small children.
If you want to know if Tooya escaped the evil, immediate clutches of mana deprivation, this series won't be of much use to you. That said, it's still a sequel to a very popular manga-turned-anime series. If you love Ayashi no Ceres a lot and want to know anything and everything about it, then run and get your grubby hands on Episode of Miku. If you're want to know what happens next to Tooya and Aya, then go ahead and read this, too.