Soara and the House of Monsters 06 Manga Review
Soara to Mamono no Ie 06
ソアラと魔物の家
NOTICE!!! In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I am the adapter for the official English translation of the True Tenchi Muyo! novels, which are also published by Seven Seas.
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* * * S P O I L E R S * * *
The Story, in Brief
Kirik, Niko, Gansho, and Soara head to the Dragon Kingdom, which is a massive, sky island. There, they hope to meet the Sky Emperor. They try building flying contraptions. Kirik crashes into a massive spider web. The giant spider comes to get him and a trapped, juvenile reptile named Baku. Soara obliterates the web, freeing all captives therein. Baku gives a sad tale of his life as a rejected frill-necked lizard.
Soara believes he’s a dragon. As such, she dislodges a stone from him and eventually, the juvenile dragon breathes fire. Seeing a Crimson Sparks flower in action, Kirik gets the idea to make a hot air balloon. Once built, Baku is proud to be needed to make the balloon soar. His instincts help guide them to the island floating in the sky. Unfortunately, their path is blocked by Cloud Sheep.
Crashing on the island, they are beset upon by several, large dragons. Soara uses her training and what she’s learned from traveling with Baku to defeat them. An elder dragon arrives and identifies Baku as a son of the Sky Emperor Gishath. The group is flown to the cave the Sky Emperor resides in. He’s a three-headed dragon, where the heads constantly bicker and fight. Kirik is depressed to learn that Gishath wants to resume the war against humans.
Kirik gets a lay of the island and how dragons pass their days. He determines that dragons are suffering from a severe lack of sleep. After Baku saves some Cloud Sheep from a Sky Shark, they get free wool. Kirik fails to solve the sleep problem though. Meanwhile, Baku learns that as the last dragon to hatch, his siblings kicked him off the island. Soara finds a kindred spirit in Baku. He’s still depressed, but finds the pile of shed dragon scales. This gives them an idea.
However, Gishath refuses to listen to them. Baku challenges his father for the leadership. He leads his father to the challenge zone, which is the Dragon Heat Cage (sauna) that Kirik made. Their sauna challenge results in ties. Kirik then shows Gishath around to the resort he’s made for dragons. Gishath relaxes and all three heads fall asleep together for the first time in ages.
There Be Dragons!
It surprised me that the entirety of Soara and the House of Monsters 06 would be about dragons. And to get things started, we get Baku, the clone of Dino the Dinosaur. 😂 Seriously, the moment he appeared, that was my first thought. And there’s no way I’m not going to believe that at a minimum, Yamaji-sensei wasn’t inspired by Dino. I don’t remember Dino talking. (I haven’t watched The Flintstones since forever.)
Still, as an outcast, picked on, bumpkin character who finds he does have value, Baku works. He provides a positive message about moving forward even if you were rejected by your own kind. Plus, I like the parallels Yamaji-sensei gives between Baku and Soara. She recalls her own life as an orphan and the struggles of her training under the harsh hand of the Human Hero. That said, until Baku grows wings and starts looking more like a dragon, he is still going to be difficult to take serious.
The unusual aspect to this volume is that Kirik failed so much in his creations. First it was trying to fly. I suspect Yamaji-sensei just wanted to draw flying machines. Of course, a hot air balloon is suited for the Baku character. But then on the island, Kirik didn’t find a bed solution at first. In some ways, it felt like marking time to allow for the dragon story to go longer.
As to the dragon story, it is fine for what it is. The dragons serve their purpose for Baku’s character arc. But their larger ambitions for going to war with humans still has to be resolved.
Omake
There’s little omake content to speak of. There’s a slight tease for the content of the next volume. Then there’s a bit of art from Yamaji-sensei. Following that are ads from Seven Seas.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
In the end, Soara and the House of Monsters 06 is a slower-paced manga volume. We get introduced to a new character, thus some character work for him and Soara. It isn’t bad or boring, but I won’t say it was the most entertaining or interesting volume of the series. Still, I am interested to see where things go.
