I loved Episode-hen of Berubara a lot! I went into reading these with really low expectations, because I wasn't expecting much from a "milking effort" that came 4 decades after the manga. However, I ate my words. All the stories that retold certain bits from the original story and the ones that were side stories/sequel stories kept me engaged throughout. These four supplementary volumes would be pleasing to RoV fans. They are certainly better than what Ikeda was going for with the Loulou stories.
And for the love of kami-sama, someone throw me some sources on the strangest cross-over to ever happen in shoujo: Poe Clan x RoV! And please tell me Hagio also drew vampire Girodelle somewhere in her neo-Poe! Actually, I should write about vampire Girodelle because I don't want to forget it. Something this random rarely happens in the manga world.
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[Reflection/Analysis] The Poe Clan: The Grief of Immortality
Source: The Poe Clan, Chapter 5
By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting
At one point in time, I was obsessed with reading vampire novels. I couldn’t get enough of them, especially during my “Twilight phase.” Even now, I still enjoy vampire stories, but I prefer the philosophical ones that explore the nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. This preference may be why I’m drawn to Gothic literature but not to straight-out horror.
During the time I was reading all those vampire books, I discovered Moto Hagio’s The Poe Clan (1972-1976), a fascinating series of vignettes that reminded me of Anne Rice’s 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire, despite their significant differences.
Interview with the Vampire, the first novel in The Vampire Chronicles series, tells the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a plantation owner in Louisiana who becomes a vampire after being turned by Lestat, another vampire. The two struggle for dominance over one another during their time together, and the novel explores themes of immortality, evil, and the meaning of humanity through this struggle, as well as the through the child vampire, Claudia, who struggles to live unchanged by time.
Despite their differences, both Interview with the Vampire and The Poe Clan share significant parallels, particularly in their characters’ internal struggles. Both works feature vampires being turned, but at very different stages of life. Lestat, an adult, turns Louis as an adult, while Edgar and his sister Marybelle are initiated into the Poe clan of vampires at a young age, forever doomed to live out eternity on the brink of adulthood.
Where Rice’s work explores immortality and its subsequent loss of humanity as being evil, creating deep conflict between mortality and immortality, Hagio’s explores immortality and its subsequent loss as one of profound grieving over being left behind by the mortal world. The Poe Clan also delves into the complex relationships between vampires and their isolation from humanity, in contrast to Interview‘s questionable coexistence, as a result of no longer being bound by time in the same way as their mortal counterparts.
Edgar feels guilt and mourns the loss of Marybelle’s and his own humanity, much like Louis feels immense guilt at Claudia’s death and turning. Edgar and Louis are figures of sorrow, abandoned by time and grieving its passing while remaining unchanged. Edgar is especially pained as he recognizes that he will forever be a child but forever growing on the inside too after having been turned as a teen, similar to Claudia.
Source: The Poe Clan, Chapter 5
For a short while, Allan and Edgar coexist in a peaceful way, but Allan is constantly reminded of Marybelle, grieving for her as his first crush, while Edgar is grieving too over her loss, his only sister and reason for being. Both characters mourn for Marybell in different ways; both characters are marked by loneliness and sorrow, seeking companionship desperately. After an incident that ends up killing a young couple, they take in the couple’s young girl named Lidelu and raise her for several years, but they never turn her. Edgar does not want to add more to the clan, and moreso than Allan, he recognizes the value of her mortality causing him to further grieve the fact that he will never experience the full range of human life like growing old and having a family.
In the end, The Poe Clan is a compelling exploration of the human condition and the search for meaning in a world where humanity marches relentlessly forward toward the future through the eyes of the immortal, adolescent vampires that were unwillingly left behind to watch, forever suspended in time. The dynamics between the vampires in The Poe Clan remind me so much of other vampire stories, particularly in the bond between Edgar and his sister Marybelle and later Allan. They are marked by grief and loneliness but take a unique approach in examining companionship during grief as both an accompaniment and issolating factor.
Truly, The Poe Clan a spectacular story to reflect upon and one I highly recommend reading if you have not done so already. (Oh, and on a final note: Despite its characters’ names being derived from Edgar Allan Poe and the setting of the Poe clan, there isn’t a direct tie storywise to the author and Hagio’s work.)
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Written by Peggy Sue Wood and Editing using ChatGPT
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