INTRODUCTION

If you don't know a thing about Basara, I encourage you to buy the manga right now! It's one of the best shoujo fantasies to come around in ages. Essentially, it's about the conflict between a girl who must disguise herself as a boy to lead a revolution, and a prince who hates prophecies. They're fated to be enemies, but they just happen to become lovers as well. Romance, tragedy, and epic adventure ensue.

Here are some basic information. Basara was created by Yumi Tamura, who wrote the manga from 1991 to 1998, totaling 27 tankôbons. The artwork was a bit strange, but the writing was so exceptionally good, it propelled the manga to become a huge hit in Japan. Ultimately, Basara was popular enough to be animated as a TV series in 1998. But it wasn't popular enough to get more than 13 episodes. In the end, the anime only covers manga volumes 1-5.

It was my mission - as well as many others' - to translate the rest of manga volumes 6-27, so everyone can find out how the story ends. Several wonderful people worked on this project, myself included. We translated as much as half the series, and introduced a lot of people to this amazing series. In the end, our efforts paid off, because Basara is finally licensed by an English publisher (VIZ). New volumes are being released every other month. Now, if you're curious about the story and can't read Japanese, you can just walk into a bookstore and sample a few Basara books for yourself. Enjoy.