Planet Ladder

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Planet Ladder

プラネット・ラダー (Puranetto Radā)
Genre	Fantasy, Science fiction
Manga
Authored by	Yuri Narushima
Publisher	Sobisha
Serialized in	Crimson Comics
Original run	1998 – 2004
No. of volumes	7

Planet Ladder (プラネット・ラダー, Puranetto Radā^?) is a Japanese manga created by Yuri Narushima which was published by Sobisha Inc. and appeared in Crimson Comics. The series consists of 7 volumes, the last volume released in Japan in May 2004. It is also licensed in the United States by TOKYOPOP, which has released translations of all seven volumes of the manga.

1 Synopsis
2 Volume Summaries
3 Characters
4 Worlds
5 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story centers around a teenage girl named Kaguya Haruyama who, when about four years of age, was found abandoned looking like a refugee of a war, with no memory of her past. After living with her foster family for many years, strange events occur as she is abducted by a mysterious boy that she only knows from her dreams. Soon, she finds herself swept away to a far off world where she is referred to as a princess and the 'Girl of Ananai,' the only person said to not be influenced by fate.

Kaguya eventually learns that there are nine dimensional worlds engaged in a war with each other. Every world is interested in her destiny because it has been prophesied that she has the power to save one, but only one, of them. The series chronicles Kaguya's travels through these worlds and her encounters with strange and enigmatic characters in each one, including a woman named Bambi and an emotionally distant prince named Seeu, as she also struggles to find out her self-identity.

The manga holds several similarities to the Japanese folk tale "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" about a beautiful girl named Kaguya who is discovered to be the princess of the moon.

[edit] Volume Summaries

These following volume summaries were obtained from the TOKYOPOP website for Planet Ladder.

Volume 1: Kaguya is an orphan who's been living with a Japanese family since she was a little girl. In the middle of another boring, ordinary high school day, she's mysteriously transported far, far away to a new world filled with strangers who call her a Princess -- and who tell her that this is her real home planet. Now, Princess Kaguya needs to uncover both her true identity and the motives behind her capture… ISBN 4-420-17002-6 (Japanese, released December 1998).

Volume 2: Orphaned Kaguya is lost and confused in a strange new land with no one by her side except her mysterious and silent robot companion, Gold. But when she stumbles into the realm of a strange and beautiful woman named Bambi, Kaguya finally learns about the universe crumbling around her, and the motives behind the raging warlords who hunt for her day and night. Now, Princess Kaguya must discover the reason for her royal title in this warring world, and the role she is destined to play in creating peace in the battle-scarred realm. ISBN 4-420-17010-7 (Japanese, released August 1999).

Volume 3: My name is Kaguya. In an instant, I went from being a regular high school student to a savior princess. Now I have been driven into another universe, where fate binds me to its salvation. I find myself traveling with a beautiful woman named Bambi and Gold, a strange, expressionless doll that protects me at any cost. Both of them are supremely skilled in what they do, yet I feel utterly useless! I was hoping to befriend Bambi and prove my worth during our travels, but I cannot seem to find a way to make my mark. Along the way, we meet the wise Waseda, who ironically is from my world. Can he help me fulfill my given destiny and find my way back home? ISBN 4-420-17019-0 (Japanese, released June 2000).

Volume 4: Orphaned in a war she can't remember, Kaguya is happy with her adopted family. But chaos returns when a mysterious boy tells her of her past as a princess from another world. With her guardian, Gold, she sets out on a journey from world to world to claim her birthright. Courted by some, hunted by others, Kaguya's destiny is feared by all for it is her fate to decide which worlds will rule…and which ones will die. ISBN 4-420-17031-X (Japanese, released June 2001).

Volume 5: Kaguya continues the journey to claim her birthright and learns more about the history and fate of her family. Even more troubling is the fact that she holds the key to the fate of worlds. While forces move in the shadows, a slide towards all-out war begins. ISBN 4-420-17044-1 (Japanese, released 2002-09-25).

Volume 6: An ancient prophesy dictates that one of the nine worlds will be saved while the other eight perish in a great apocalypse. Princess Kaguya learns that fate has saddled her with the responsibility of choosing which of the nine worlds survives. However, at the moment of her choosing, Kaguya shocks everyone with her declaration that she will not choose one. Instead, she will find a partner with whom she will work toward salvation for all. Her naive idealism, though, leaves no room for the greed and corruption already spread across the nine worlds like a virus. The Emperor Kura, for one, will stop at nothing to control all worlds. So whereas Kaguya sees her message as a call for peace and unification, Kura and many like him see it as a call to arms in a multi-dimensional war that could mean the destruction of the entire known universe. ISBN 4-420-17051-4 (Japanese, released 2003-07-25).

Volume 7: It's the end of the world and Kaguya knows it--and she feels…nervous! All nine worlds rest in the hands of Kaguya, 'The Chosen One.' She knows she can only save one out of nine worlds, but why just stop at one? She enlists the help of Kura and a few other friends to execute her plan to save everyone! Will it be public extinction or will Kaguya bring salvation to the nations? ISBN 4-420-17057-3 (Japanese, released 2004-05-25).

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kaguya Haruyama— a fourteen-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a calamatic war and was adopted by a nice family on Earth at the age of four, crying on the side of the road in tattered clothes.

In the beginning of the story, we find out that her adoptive father, a banker, is placed under arrest for some sort of fraud. Though this is presented as a big scandal, Kaguya's adoptive family, including her parents and older brother, and their problems seem to disappear after the first volume. Kaguya's biological parents were survivors of the last intergalactic war.

Ever since she was little, Kaguya has had a dream in which she is crying inside a flame and a boy reached out to her even though he was hurt. She does not know the meaning of this dream until one night, when she is captured in her bedroom by Seeu and taken to an unknown dimension where she learns of her destiny as a princess.

Kaguya's purpose as the famed "Girl of Ananai" is to choose the planet which will survive as it is foretold that all 9 worlds will collide. She does not know what to make of this great responsibility but eventually claims she will side with a person who can think of the solution that will save the most lives. In the end, however, she realizes that there is no real "Girl of Ananai," and Kura is only using her reputation so the people of his world and beyond will follow him. When she tries to stand up to him, he tries to hurt her, but she is carried off by Waseda and reunited with Seeu.

She eventually blurts out without thinking that she is in love with Seeu (only having realized it as she says it), and in the epilogue, she is shown to be living in peace with him and a son who she describes to Bambi to look very much like his father, but with her eyes.

Meshie says that she and Kagami are descendants of the Ancient, from the Blue Clan Weimar, which is a very rare bloodline, only having 1,200 living descendants left.

Prince Seeu— called "The Mad Prince," he is a mysterious ruler who expresses little or no emotion. Seeu has never known the touch of another human being because as a child, a deadly virus swept across his planet Asu, and he was not allowed any contact with his subjects to prevent him from contracting the virus. The only interaction with the outside world he had was through the protective windows of his palace with his subjects, where they could watch or talk to him, but never touch him. He was raised by "Dolls" or human-like robots with no personality of their own. Kura called Seeu a "doll" himself because while his purpose as the prince of Asu was to grant the wishes of his subjects, he still could not cure them or grant his own wishes, thus becoming a kind of puppet himself.

As time went on, Seeu watched all of his beloved subjects fall victim to the disease. Having some scientific knowledge, he desperately experimented with transferring the souls of his subjects into dolls. These experiments were seemingly unsuccessful, and the pain of loss drove Seeu mad. Because of this, he initially comes off as cruel, but is later revealed to be a gentle soul inexperienced in human interaction. He later falls in love with Kaguya, the first human ever to touch and show kindness to him.

Seeu was one of the fighters in an interplanetary war aside others who held living weapons, with Kagami as his closest ally. He holds a special guilt in his heart for the death of Kagami, and created many dolls in Kagami's image, ending with Gold which not only wields Kagami's weapon, but has one of his arms as well.

In the epilogue, he is shown to be lounging on the grass (with short hair) with his young son, waiting for Kaguya to come with a picnic basket.

The "living weapon" Seeu wields is known as the Lunato Mercury that resembles a scythe.

Idou— a monk who once fought in the war and the guardian of Sarita. Idou is trapped between loyalties to his fallen allies (including Kagami, Raguna and in a sense Seeu) and the dominant will of Kura. Idou also seems to have some sort of respect for Seeu in opposition to Kura who has nothing but contempt for the Mad Prince, and also a desire to find a peaceful resolution to the war, yet he ultimately chooses to work alongside Kura. He later dies saving Kura from an assassin six years after the end of the series, or two years before the epilogue.

Idou wields the living weapon, "Zenith Crystal".

Sarita— a young survivor of a world which was destroyed by Kura. She has deep feelings or adoration for Idou and hates Bambi who is supposedly her "sister".

Gold— a doll made by Seeu to resemble Kagami. Gold wields the "Organic Gold," the living weapon of Kagami. Gold also has one of Kagami's arms, which may have helped him wield his weapon. Kagami's personality seems to emerge from Gold from time to time, helping Kaguya along the way and yet vanishing moments later.

Sheena Moru Bamvivre— an attractive blonde woman who was one of Kaguya's companions in her travels. Sheena Moru Bamvivre was her birthname, but she received the nickname "Bambi" from her grandfather.

Bambi is also highly intelligent, which makes her desirable to Kura, who values IQ as much as he does beauty in his "lovers." Because of her heritage, she was locked away in a castle on the planet Telene, which she later left to assist Kaguya on her travels.

Bambi is also the genetic descendant (and possible clone) of Raguna Haan, a former warrior who wielded the living weapon, "Pyro." She later picks up Pyro and appears to serve under Kura as a general in his army. It appears that Bambi chooses this in order to avoid being just another woman in Kura's harem, and also because she sees this as a path back to Kaguya, her first friend. She has a special hatred of Seeu which stems from her jealousy surrounding her feelings of friendship, and maybe even love, for Kaguya.

Damien, Kura's attractive right hand man, later falls in love with Bambi as she serves as a ruthless general under Kura's army. She is possibly one of the only women who treats him with indifference. In the epilogue, she is shown to have remained friends with Kaguya, disguising herself as a brunette. She still hates Seeu - when Kaguya tells her about their son, she says that she can handle the children, but she can't stand the father.

Kagami— The original wielder of the "Organic Gold." Kagami is the biological brother of Kaguya, and hence is the only fighter to not come from any of the doomed worlds. He died in battle while fighting alongside Seeu, but before his death, he set a plan into motion in which his sister would be able to save the nine worlds. This plan included inventing the legend of "The Girl of Ananai" and using Kaguya's image to give hope to the worlds and break the pattern of collision.

Kagami confides in Meshie that he thinks Seeu could save the worlds, even though he is fated to die in each repetition of war. It is because of this belief that Kagami sacrifices his own life to allow Seeu to live. Kagami also seems to wish for his sister and Seeu to fall in love, as he is shown in flashbacks describing Kaguya to Seeu and asking him what he will do when he finally meets her. The love between Seeu and Kaguya is thought to form an alliance which will solve the worlds' problems.

In the last volume, he appears as a golden dragon and guides Seeu, Idou, Kura, Bambi, Meshie, Gaeviella, Didius, and Kaguya through the worlds that hold some connection to each of them, then to a place wherein they can agree to help him to restore the worlds to a condition wherein no collision ever occurred. He cannot speak to Kaguya anymore, but she can feel his presence.

Kura— king of Geo, the most powerful of all the worlds. The main antagonist of the series, he is selfish and decadent, and the conqueror of many planets who abuses the subjects of his conquests with his imposing rule.

Kura used to fight alongside the warriors in the battle for the universe, and now prides himself on the capture of the remaining "living weapons" and free planets.

When Kura was younger, he was married to a beautiful young woman of extremely high intelligence, as part of the scheme to make him ruler of Geo. His wife's death devastated Kura, who later held a large harem of beautiful and intelligent women to fill up the void in his heart, although his interest in these women seems shallow and empty compared to the deep love he held for his wife.

Kura orders Bambi to capture Kaguya so he can use her reputation as "Girl of Ananai" to gain support. When Kaguya figures out his plan and tries to fight back, he yells at her and tries to hurt her, but Kaguya is saved by Waseda.

He dislikes Seeu's personality, and teases him by pulling on the prince's hair. In one of his only changes of stoic expression, Seeu gives him an annoyed look and cuts his own hair away from Kura's grasp with Lunato Mercury. He eventually notices how different Seeu is when with Kaguya, and tells her to take care of the prince, because his personality is a lot better like that.

In the epilogue, Kaguya recalls that Kura had been "in a lot of trouble," and was almost assassinated if not for Idou's intervention. He was devastated by Idou's death, but, as Kaguya says, he is "okay, now."

Kura wields the living weapon "Nox Light."

Takeyoshi Waseda- A former resident of Eden, Waseda was a student at Tokyo University in the 1940s. Waseda somehow is transported to Asu and meets the young Prince Seeu there. He also seems to fall for Serenade, a citizen of Asu determined to help Seeu in his quest to transfer souls of people into Dolls, and who later dies in the process.

Waseda is one of the last to "die" from the virus that swept Asu, and the first successful soul/doll transfer, having his consciousness trapped in a body which looks like a giant rooster. Waseda travels with Bambi and Kaguya for a while, and later becomes a companion of the lovely Sarita. In spite of everything, Waseda is loyal to Seeu, and betrays Bambi by guarding Seeu in battle. He also remains close to Kaguya and Seeu until at the end of the story. Kaguya recalls how he often slept (showing that Waseda was growing old), and one day, went out to the garden after dinner to look at the flowers, and fell asleep in the garden. He hasn't woken up since.

Damien— Kura's most trusted officer in his army. He is considered very good-looking by the women of Geo, but later falls in love with Bambi who seems to have little interest in him. Damien wields a weapon which draws its power from the "Nox Light." In the epilogue, Kaguya is grateful to him for being able to sneak pictures of her family in Eden to her. Bambi is said to have dumped him.

Didius Dee- Considered to be a prophet who continually speaks of the future. In reality, Didius speaks all possible outcomes depending on what circumstances affect the universe. This may be where Kagami came up with his idea of spreading the legend of "The Girl of Ananai". Kura has her as a prisoner, cruelly having her mouth sewn shut so he can no longer hear her "prophecies". She is later revealed to be the biological mother of Kaguya and Kagami. She stays in a vegetable-like state for the rest of the series.

Meshie- A Sage who helps Kaguya and Seeu on their quest and has a connection to Didius Dee. He is the one to have figured out what Kagami's plan is - to return the worlds to their original condition. This will only happen if the four who wield the living weapons give them up. He takes lead in the plan to destroy the weapons. He has the power of the comet and works for most of the series to settle the conflict between the worlds.

Gaviella- She is a Sage who assists Meshie. She has the power of the shooting star, and she, like everyone, has a bond with Kaguya, understanding her want to become useful, especially in Seeu's castle.

[edit] Worlds

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

There are nine 'worlds' in the universe of Planet Ladder that appear to be like parallel worlds. People use Collapsers to move from one world to the other, and they all have 'Earths.' The 'war' repeats itself over and over, ending in the collide of the Earths. Each time this happens, a slight change in the universe is born, eventually resulting in Kaguya's birth.

The worlds are as follows:

Ancient. This seems to be the first 'civilized' world, and was destroyed a long time ago, leaving only mystery. Now only oceans remain.
Asu. Seeu's world. It used to be the most beautiful of all the worlds before it was destroyed by disease. Seeu is the last survivor of his own planet. He lives in his castle which has fallen into disrepair. The planet itself does not even look like a planet as it has mostly disintegrated.
Eden. Our world. It is the one with the most people, and also the most twisted world. Many criminals were sent there, and even now, there is no communication between it and the other worlds. This is where Kaguya grew up. It is considered to be very ugly.
Telene. Where Kaguya and Gold end up, and where Bambi grew up. A very small empire which is in the midst of war and is beginning to destroy itself. According to Bambi, its rulers are idiots who survive only by sucking up to those of the seventh world. This is also the resting place of Raguna Haan. The emperor of Telene sends women to Kura for his harem, avoiding his own daughters who would most likely be considered undesirable due to their low IQ and not being physically attractive.
The Fifth World. A collection of small countries, each with their own way of thinking and current situation. There are rumours that the Wise One of the Way of the Comet, Meshie, and the Wise One of the Way of the Meteor, Gaviella Ebira, are whispering together.
Geus. A planet with little civilization, it is relatively calm and is under the control of the seventh world.
Geo. Kura's world and the most politically powerful of all the worlds. The "prophet" Didius Dii is there, held in a terrible fate by Kura who sewed her mouth shut to prevent her from speaking her predictions. They believe strongly in the wisdom passed down from Ancient, and also forecast the end of the world. They also believe in the Princess. Kura has controlled the empire for over 300 years.
Asuraitsu. This world believes in the sun. The master of "Zenith Light," Idou, is famous, even though currently he obeys Kura's commands.
The Ninth World. A world that had few people, and was destroyed in the war. Sarita, Bambi and Raguna Haan are from this world. Kura expresses hatred for the people of the 9th world.