Immortal Rain
Encyclopedia
is a manga
created by Kaori Ozaki. It was first published in the Japanese monthly anthology Wings as Meteor Methuselah. As of September 2007, the current eight volumes have been published in English by Tokyopop
, with the rest of the series, when published in Japan, expected to follow. The 10th volume has recently been released in Japan.
named Machika swears to kill the one bounty her grandfather couldn't get: the immortal
Methuselah
. But when she goes after him, she finds a clumsy, kind man named Rain who has lost more than he can bear in his unnatural lifetime. Unwilling to admit at first that she likes him, Machika willingly follows him as he waits for the one who made him immortal, still swearing to take his life one day. Their love for each other grows as they battle bounty hunter
s, a mysterious organization, and monstrous "angels" in order to save Rain and perhaps even humanity.
The military
was also in contact with Yuca, who was apparently researching the development of "angels". An angel was a human experiment given "angel" powers; however, the human body couldn't stand the change of their cellular structure, and they died after becoming angels. The military wanted to use the development of angels as biological weapons during the war, but ran out of prisoners of war to use as test subjects.
Yuca later volunteered to use 20 new subjects for experimentation—the subjects being Freya, the 18 children at the orphanage, and Rain. Ignorant of the reality of the church up north, Rain decided to stay behind at the church because he was suffering from tuberculosis
, and he didn't want Freya to know about his condition. Days passed and Rain saw an angel experiment on the news at the church, and recognized it as an orphan girl he knew. He traveled fast to the northern "church", only to find it destroyed. He found Freya, and tried to run with her to escape but his cough slowed him down, and they encountered Yuca.
Yuca shot Freya, and then Rain, but didn't kill Rain. He fed Rain Freya's flesh and blood, since she was an "infected" experiment, but not yet transformed into an angel. Afterwards, he embedded the iron cross
in Rain with the date on which Yuca would be reborn. The iron cross also serves the purpose of keeping Rain from transforming into an angel and then dying from cellular structure. It was also revealed that Rain had a second heart in his body as well.
Yuca's reason for making Rain like that was because he was tired of living as the spirit of Methuselah, being reborn over and over again. He told Rain that life wasn't as precious as he thought it was, and that if Rain wanted to keep protecting it, he needed to kill Yuca each time he was reborn. He wanted Rain to feel the misery of immortality, until Rain to reach the point that the only way to escape it all was to kill the rest of humanity. In fact, Yuca plans to destroy all of humanity, so that there will be no one left to give birth to him, and he won't have to be reborn ever again.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
created by Kaori Ozaki. It was first published in the Japanese monthly anthology Wings as Meteor Methuselah. As of September 2007, the current eight volumes have been published in English by Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
, with the rest of the series, when published in Japan, expected to follow. The 10th volume has recently been released in Japan.
Plot
A young assassinAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
named Machika swears to kill the one bounty her grandfather couldn't get: the immortal
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
Methuselah
Methuselah
Methuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
. But when she goes after him, she finds a clumsy, kind man named Rain who has lost more than he can bear in his unnatural lifetime. Unwilling to admit at first that she likes him, Machika willingly follows him as he waits for the one who made him immortal, still swearing to take his life one day. Their love for each other grows as they battle bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
s, a mysterious organization, and monstrous "angels" in order to save Rain and perhaps even humanity.
Main characters
- Machika Balfaltin - At the beginning of the series, Machika is a fourteen-year-old assassinAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. Her grandfather, and presumably her only guardianLegal guardianA legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
, died a month before the series starts. Machika is a tomboyTomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
who shows little interest in men until she meets and falls in love with Rain. She is very determined and headstrong and never gives up hope. She later witnesses the horrible "death" of Rain and meets him a year later. Her grandfather was Zol the Assassin, which is why she first wanted to hunt down Rain, the only bountyBounty (reward)A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
her grandfather could never catch.
- Rain Jewlitt - More commonly known as MethuselahMethuselahMethuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
, Rain is 624 years old. His immortality makes him famous, and he is the subject of numerous bounties. The cause of Rain's immortality is a mysterious man who appears in flashbackFlashback (narrative)Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s early in the series. Rain is described as a "nice screw-up" and is one of the funniest characters. He falls in love with Machika as the story moves along. Tending to stay away from violence, he doesn't try to stay close to others because he fears their deaths. Rain in the flashbacks was shot and killed by Yuca and then 'reborn' by him after Yuca fed him Freya's (an infected subject) flesh and blood. Rain is the opposite of Yuca in many ways, and has told him he will never view life the way Yuca does. Rain has all the powers of an angel, but none of the drawbacks, and is considered a 'perfect immortal'. He has a relaxed, slightly off beat personality.
- Sharem - In the earlier volumes, this beautiful woman is the villain. She is the Vice President of a company called Calvaria which is trying to find the secret to immortality, eternal youth, and weapons of mass destructionWeapons of mass destructionA weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
. It is later revealed that Sharem is also the President's wife, and her son was victim to a tragic accident. She never got over the death of her son, especially considering after him she was no longer able to bear children. She adoptsAdoptionAdoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
orphanOrphanAn orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
s as a means to torment her husband for the death of Ys, her first son. After her sister gives birth to Ishmael's second son, she adopts him as her own and names him "Ys" in memory of her old son. She doesn't know that her second son is also a reincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of Yuca.
- Yuca Collabel - This man is seen in Rain's flashbacks. His place and purpose is explained throughout the series. His main goal is to end human life as each time he dies he is reincarnated as another human being. Yuca is the reincarnation of the spirit of Methuselah, the name later applied to Rain. He wants to die eternallyEternityWhile in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time. By contrast, infinite temporal existence is then called sempiternity. Something eternal exists outside time; by contrast,...
but the only way to guarantee his final death seems to be having no population left to birth him. He reincarnates as Ishmael's son (his mother, who is Sharem's sister, immediately dies after giving birth to a child that is already in the form of a young boy), and Sharem names him "Ys" as she believes that he is the reincarnation of her son Ys. He has had experience creating "angels" in his previous "life" so during his life as Ys he creates numerous "angels" as devices for mass destruction. He was the person responsible for Freya's death and production of the biological weapons, and for Rain's immortality. He wants Rain to experience his pain and see his depressionDepression (mood)Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
from being the person that he is. In a later volume, it is hinted that a part of Yuca secretly wants Rain to stop him.
- Freya - A girl also seen in Rain's flashbacks. She was Rain's love interest until she was shot by Yuca. She played the violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, the one which Rain carries despite his inability to play. Since she was one of the infected "specimens" of Yuca's experimentations who had not yet transformed, her blood was used to immortalize Rain. Unfortunately for Rain, Freya loved Yuca more. Rain is constantly reminded of her when he's with Machika.
- Kiki - A cat-like "angel" created 600 years before, at the time of Rain's making. He was rescued by the Doctor and given to Machika. In volume 5, Kiki begins to talk and has developed a taste for cat meat.
- Zol the Grim Reaper - Machika's grandfather, and also the famous bounty hunter who was later assassinated. The only bounty that he could never catch was the immortal Methuselah. His trademark weapon was his scytheScytheA scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
, which Machika now carries, and he was the closest person to Machika before she met Rain. There is a miniseries prequel about the encounter between Rain and Zol AKA Shinigami of the East in the Japanese Magazine "Huckleberry".
Rain's immortality
The very thing that haunts Rain to the present day is his immortality. He's constantly reminded of the man who made him that way, Yuca Collabell. When Rain was younger, he lived at a church with a 17 year old girl named Freya, and a young Yuca. They lived there with orphans, during the time of a war. Freya loved Yuca, much to Rain's sadness.The military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
was also in contact with Yuca, who was apparently researching the development of "angels". An angel was a human experiment given "angel" powers; however, the human body couldn't stand the change of their cellular structure, and they died after becoming angels. The military wanted to use the development of angels as biological weapons during the war, but ran out of prisoners of war to use as test subjects.
Yuca later volunteered to use 20 new subjects for experimentation—the subjects being Freya, the 18 children at the orphanage, and Rain. Ignorant of the reality of the church up north, Rain decided to stay behind at the church because he was suffering from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and he didn't want Freya to know about his condition. Days passed and Rain saw an angel experiment on the news at the church, and recognized it as an orphan girl he knew. He traveled fast to the northern "church", only to find it destroyed. He found Freya, and tried to run with her to escape but his cough slowed him down, and they encountered Yuca.
Yuca shot Freya, and then Rain, but didn't kill Rain. He fed Rain Freya's flesh and blood, since she was an "infected" experiment, but not yet transformed into an angel. Afterwards, he embedded the iron cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
in Rain with the date on which Yuca would be reborn. The iron cross also serves the purpose of keeping Rain from transforming into an angel and then dying from cellular structure. It was also revealed that Rain had a second heart in his body as well.
Yuca's reason for making Rain like that was because he was tired of living as the spirit of Methuselah, being reborn over and over again. He told Rain that life wasn't as precious as he thought it was, and that if Rain wanted to keep protecting it, he needed to kill Yuca each time he was reborn. He wanted Rain to feel the misery of immortality, until Rain to reach the point that the only way to escape it all was to kill the rest of humanity. In fact, Yuca plans to destroy all of humanity, so that there will be no one left to give birth to him, and he won't have to be reborn ever again.