Sand Land was a manga Akira Toriyama wrote and drew in 2000, running a total of 14 chapters, and about 215 pages. Set on a world where humans narrowly avoided wiping themselves out in a war decades ago, only for the great river that provided water to most of the inhabitants to dry up as a great drought took hold. Everyone is stuck buying their water from the king, but Sheriff Rao wants to go looking for the "Phantom Lake." It's a dangerous journey, so he travels to the home of the demons that also live on the planet, and requests help. Ultimately, the Prince of Demons, Beelzebub, and one of his servants, named Thief, agree to go along (Rao offering them a Playstation 6, complete with Dragon Quest 13, helps seal the deal.)
A lot of the story revolves around Rao's past. We gets hint at it when Rao turns out to be a pretty good hand-to-hand fighter, taking on a gang of KISS Army rejects with just a pair of tonfa, or when he knows how to turn on and drive a tank belonging to the King's Army. Toriyama pulls a fast one on us when Rao hangs a pin-up of a well-known actress - named Sexy Terrier - in a tank they've stolen. It seems like Toiyama's usual gag about dirty old men.
It turns out more sad than anything. Rao was a general, who attacked a peaceful race because he was told they were building a doomsday weapon. The resulting explosion killed most of the Picchi people, and also destroyed Rao's home village, killing his wife in the process. His wife was the actress, and with his home destroyed, that magazine pin-up is the best he can do for a photo. The real joke, such as it is, was that the Picchi people were building a machine to make water, something Rao learns from Thief.
Which is a recurring theme in the story. For all they're called demons, even by themselves, Beezlebub and his people aren't all that bad, or even bad, period. Certainly not compared to humans. Beezlebub does rob water shipments, but doesn't take all of it, and even gives some of it to a small child, arguing it's better to wait until the kid gets bigger to beat him up, when it'll be more fun. His examples of "evil" are sleeping in late and not brushing his teeth, whereas Rao acknowledges that he's killed many. In war, but, 'killing is killing.' He was the one fooled by the propaganda of his superiors, and went on a mission he wasn't meant to survive, because he didn't like his bosses and was outspoken about it. Yet he followed orders all the same, and it cost him everything. His wife, his home, the men who followed him, his idealism. It's the demons, who exist outside human society, but could conquer it easily if they chose, who see the truth of things.
Toriyama does add in a few goofier aspects. There's a family of criminals called "The Swimmers" who wear swim trunks, swimming caps and goggles. None of them except the father can actually swim, since there's not been any water around to learn, but they've got history with Rao and Beelzebub both. Thief gets them supplies from a village while dressed as Santa, because that'll provide a cover story if anyone catches him. The Supreme Commander of the King's Army is a miserable, withered old bastard, but he's confined to a floating version of that wheelchair Commander Pike had on Star Trek.
I believe Toriyama was working on a sequel or continuation to Sand Land when he passed away, and there was going to be anime adaptation as well. I don't know what the status is on those at this point, and the series seemed to pretty well resolve itself. The river was restored, Commander Zeu is dead, the King's pressured into giving up half his wealth as food for the people, and the demons are revealed to be great heroes who helped the land.
And with that, throw your hands in the air, because we are finally - finally! - done with the letter "S."
2 comments:
I think there is an anime, but it may be based on the computer game from last year rather than the manga.
Ah, I hadn't considered that. I had read Toriyama was working on a sequel manga, so I assumed the anime would follow or adapt that.
Post a Comment