Utahime, the Songstress

by Aki

Book Overview

Only women possess the power of the "utahime." Born with this talent, thesewomen are handed over to the state, and as long as they sing, its peace ispreserved. But could a forbidden male "utahime" have arisen?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569700443
• ISBN13: 9781569700440
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 13 to 16 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 11

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good

Don't be fooled or disappointed that this DMP title is not BL. This is not the first time that they have licensed or released a non-BL title and they have gone to great lengths to differentiate their non-BL imprints from their BL imprints. Unfortunately, they have decided to use the same print volume size for their DMP line as the June Manga/Yaoi Manga line (the BL imprint). Digital Manga's other imprints, 801 Media and the new Doki Doki, use different print volume sizes, and they help to differentiate the content within them in a way that DMP fails to do with this line of non-BL titles, creating a troublesome issue of continuous misunderstandings by BL fans picking up and being unhappy with the non-BL titles published under the imprint. Coming into this or any DMP imprint title expecting it to have any similarity to BL is a mistake and will only result in a negative bias against the work, which would be unfortunate. Utahime, literally, "song princess," is the tragic tale of a group of people shackled by the social laws of their world. In each generation a male heir takes over the royal bloodline that rules the kingdom, while a female heir takes over as the kingdom's "protector," singing nightly, imprisoned in a tower, keeping peace in the land. However, in this new generation, the now deceased king of the land fathered only a daughter and the Songstress (as the English adapation calls her), has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. No one questions that the daughter is the one who has inherited the gene that gives the Songstress her power, but in fact it is her son, Kain, who unknowingly has received it. The new female monarch of the land faces a dilemma: break tradition and rule as the first female ruler of the land, or fall to her uncle and presumably be killed. She chooses the former, quite expectantly, and leaves on a journey to find the fabled "male Songstress," to confirm her suspicions and start down a new, different path of rule for her kingdom. This is where the story, told out of chronological order, begins. The focus of Utahime is on the personal character developments of Kain, his tragically fated sister, Maria, and their friend, Thomas, the son of the mayor of the town that lies at the foot of the tower. These towns have a rather unfortunate task. They ensure that the Songstresses are protected, but also that they do not "escape," as because the ability of the Songstress can only be passed from parent to one child, if a Songstress does not give birth to an heir, the line will die and that town will be killed along with it (quite literally). Thomas befriends Kain and Maria, seeking a better relationship between the Songstress and her imprisoners, but Kain, who has been told by his own mother not to trust the people from the town, feels threatened by Thomas' kindness. He sees in this boy a rival for protecting his sister and making her happy, and as a result he decides to run away and leave his sister to be more