Maya no Souretsu (original) (raw)
Synopsis
Maya's Funeral Procession dates back to 1972; Ichijo's style is very different here, a combination of the quickly evolving shoujo style still very influenced by Osamu Tezuka's designs and of the blockier Gothic horror style reminiscent of woodcuts. The blacks are very solid, the whites are very bright; there is some stippling and cross-shading, but it all looks hand-drawn rather than screen-toned, and the panel layouts are just gorgeous.
On the way to her family's new country house, innocent young Reina notices a tall, dark, striking woman standing in the shadows. Soon, neglected by her parents, Reina falls under the spell of the mysterious Maya ... but family secrets may destroy any chance Reina has for happiness. This is one of the earliest examples of shoujo-ai (girls' love or lesbian romance) in manga and it is the kind of over-the-top Gothic melodrama that could easily be slipped into a collection by Edgar Allan Poe.
(Source: coffeeandink)
Characters
Reviews
Sep 3, 2024
A short fairytale type of story, the one you can only lament there is no movie for (I can so pictue this being turned into a Ghibli movie). Probably one of the first shoujo ai there was and due to lengh the pacing is a bit off with a lot of stuff happing within 140 pages. Not gonna lie it does feel a bit confusing at first with how fast everything is happening. Even so the art is absolutely mesmerising adding a lot of fantastic elements to the story, taking you into a different world. It's insane how the manga makes you feel like there... are supernatural forces invloved when actually there is nothing out of ordinary.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 24, 2023
“Maya’s Funeral Procession'' is a delectable early 1970’s Shoujo drama that captures it’s thrilling story through strikingly severe visuals. This manga is one of the works that helped establish and reinforce early Yuri tropes, yet it still has much to offer as a succinct and fast paced melodrama beyond the historical intrigue of the work. Despite being so brief this manga makes good work of symbolism and foreshadowing, and unique among the Shoujo genre, it does a good job showing and not telling when it comes to characterization. I would have preferred this manga have the runtime to more fully explore it’s characters and their... motivations, as well as more time for dramatic events to settle and gain traction so we could truly see the impact, but as far as I’m concerned this is a must read for lovers of early Yuri and Shoujo works.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 4, 2021
It's a interesting shoujo ai manga about a rich girl named Reina who stays in a random summer villa and doesn't appear to have caring parents because they're marrying her off to a childhood friend she doesn't love. She meets Maya, a mysterious beautiful woman who wears a black long sleeved garment, and the two become closer as they learn more about one other. And, my God, there's so much more to the narrative than them falling in love, like there's quite a few plot twists in this shoujo ai people that you wouldn't expect to happen at all!
If you really like your mysterious,... horror or GL, this short old skool manga is worth the read guys!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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