Manga Review - The Tent of Jadugar
In April, a promotional video for an anime series appeared in my YouTube recommendations, and the thumbnail strongly caught my attention.
Less than ten seconds in, I was overcome by that feeling I always get when buying manga or movies based on their covers: the sense that 'I absolutely have to watch this'.
Since it was scheduled to start airing in July, I was thinking I should set up a recording or add it to my favorites on TVer, when it suddenly appeared in my manga app recommendations, and I accidentally ended up binge-reading the first volume.
What is this?
It's fresh. It has been about ten years since I felt something this new.
It's not a superpower battle series, not a robot series, and certainly not a 'Narou' web novel adaptation.
In terms of being set in Iran, it shares common ground with 'Persepolis,' which I read around 2005. In 'Persepolis,' the protagonist was a girl living through the turbulent 1990s following the Iranian Revolution. On the other hand, 'The Tent of Jadugar' is set in 13th-century Iran and Mongolia, and the protagonist is a slave girl.
The story unfolds based on historical facts, but given her era and status, the protagonist, Sitara, is beset by various hardships. For her, the light of hope is not a Prince Charming who appears out of nowhere, nor a hero of justice, and certainly not a suddenly awakened superpower. It is her passion for learning.
Even under the irresistible circumstances of an invasion by a powerful empire, Sitara tries to overcome difficult situations by making full use of the solid knowledge and education she has acquired.
In this day and age, where only manga and anime that reuse best-selling templates seem to sell—or rather, even get noticed—it is truly impressive that such a challenging and passionate work was turned into a comic and even made it to an anime adaptation.
I wish I had known about such a wonderful work sooner, but I am very happy that I was able to read the original work before the anime started airing.
The dilemma now is the luxurious problem of how to pace myself while reading the original manga. I know that binge-reading isn't ideal, but it is so interesting that I simply cannot stop reading in the middle of a volume.