Planet Ladder

Planet Ladder (プラネット·ラダー) is a fantasy science-fiction shōjo manga written and illustrated by Yuri Narushima. Appearing as a serial in the Japanese magazine Crimson from March 1998 to May 2003, the chapters of Planet Ladder were published by Sobisha in seven tankōbon volumes from December 1998 to May 2004. The story focuses on a teenage girl, Kaguya, who is prophesied to save only one of the nine parallel worlds, and her quest to bring peace to a waring universe while discovering her true identity. The series shows influence from the Japanese fable The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, in which a young girl named Kaguya-Hime is discovered to be the princess of the moon.

Planet Ladder was licensed in North America by Tokyopop and released from April 2002 to March 2005. Planet Ladder was one of the first Tokyopop licensed manga to be released in its original right to left format. However, all seven volumes of Planet Ladder are currently out of print.

Plot
The series focuses on Kaguya Haruyama, a young girl found abandoned with no memories of her past. For many years she lives with a Japanese foster family until Idou, a monk loyal to Kura, and Seeu, an emotionless prince, appear in her home one night. While they fight each other, Gold—Seeu's robot modelled after Kaguya's deceased brother Kagami—brings Kaguya to Telene, a world parallel to Earth, on Seeu's orders. After exploring the world with Gold, Kaguya encounters a mysterious woman named Shiina Mol Bamvivrie, who calls her the "Girl of Ananai". Shiina explains that nine worlds exist: Ancient, the first civilized world that was mysteriously destroyed; Asu, Seeu's disintegrated world; Eden, present day Earth; Telene, a small world allied with Geo; Fifth World, a politically neutral world; Geus, a peaceful world under the control of Geo; Geo, the most powerful of the worlds; Asuraitsu, Geo's rival; and the Ninth World, destroyed before the start of the series. To move from one world to another, hourglasslike devices called "Collapsers" are used to create a bend in the dimensional fabric. Shiina reveals that a legend exists of a girl, the "Girl of Ananai", who is destined to save only one of the nine parallel worlds from collision.

Shiina and later Waseda, a Tokyo University student trapped in the body of a giant rooster, joins Kaguya and Gold in traveling across Telene. After hearing about Seeu's tragic past from Waseda, Kaguya decides to change the fate of the nine worlds by going to Geo to confront Kura, Geo's decadent emperor who ordered Idou to kidnap her. However, Gold brings her to Seeu's floating castle in Asu. Meanwhile, Kura captures and recruits Shiina into his army.

Seeu's castle moves to the Fifth World where Kaguya makes an interplanetary broadcast, announcing that she refuses to choose one world to save and will instead choose a person to help her save most of the worlds and the people. Kura begins to destroy other worlds in order to increase Geo's survival chances. Deciding to use Kaguya as a political figurehead, he sends Shiina to abduct her; however, Kaguya refuses to help him. Angered, Kura divulges that the "Girl of Ananai" legend is a hoax spread around by him and Kagami. After a brief battle with Shiina, Seeu arrives to rescue Kaguya and she realizes that she loves him. Suddenly Gold transforms into a dragon and teleports everyone to the first world; there the sages persuade Idou, Seeu, Kura, and Shiina to combine their powers with Gold to fix the rift in the universe, the cause of the eventual collision between the worlds. The series ends with an epilogue seven years later, with Kaguya explaining the fate of everyone and meeting Seeu and their small son with a picnic basket.

Production
Yuri Narushima stated that she began the manga with "a dramatic feeling in mind " and wanted to "start off with a comic book for young girls (shōjo manga)." Narushima planned to have the plot progress quickly so the readers remember the events and can "'digest' the foreshadowed events". Planet Ladder was inspired by and based on the Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter about a girl named Kaguya-Hime who is discovered to be the princess of the moon. Additionally, the protagonist takes her name from the fable.

After discovering that a North American version of Planet Ladder was being simultaneously released, Narushima designed the cover of volume 6 to be "export friendly", describing it as "like Japanese style, but slightly off". Additionally, she considered serializing Planet Ladder in another magazine, but decided against it since the series was close to ending.

Release
Written and illustrated by Yuri Narushima, Planet Ladder appeared as a serial in the Japanese manga magazine Crimson from March 1998 to May 2003. Sobisha/Shueisha later published the chapters in seven tankōbon volumes from December 1998 to May 2004. Shueisha re-released Planet Ladder in four bunkoban volumes from July 18, to August 8, 2008.

Tokyopop licensed Planet Ladder for an English-language release in North America and serialized it in its manga magazine Smile. The first Planet Ladder volume was released on April 23, 2002; the final volume was published on March 8, 2005. All volumes were published in its original right-to-left format, making it one of the first Tokyopop licensed manga to do so. To promote Planet Ladder and the other manga in its original format, Tokyopop planned display cases and placed ads and promotions in magazines such as Wizard, Animerica, Anime Invasion, and online fan sites. However, Planet Ladder is currently out-of-print as of April 2, 2007.

Only the last two volumes were given titles in the English-language release: The Fate of the Dark Planet for volume six and Ananai of the Puzzled Star for the seventh volume.

Reception
Planet Ladder was positively received by English-language readers. The fifth volume placed in the 44th spot on the list of the 50 best-selling graphic novels of February 2003, with an estimated 1,176 copies sold. The sixth volume reached the 71st place on the list of the 100 best-selling graphic novels of February 2004, with an estimated 984 copies sold.

English-language reviews of Planet Ladder was also positive. In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson rated the series three out of four stars, observing that Planet Ladder is "reminiscent of prose science fiction such as Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber". Thompson considered Kaguya's initial reactions to being kidnapped believable, but notes she is a "passive" heroine. Additionally, Thompson criticized Planet Ladder for the "inconsistent designs, crude faces, and too much greasy looking screentone". While observing that Planet Ladder is a "difficult title to warm to since it feels like we're in the middle of the story, rather than the beginning", Mike Dungan of Mania Entertainment considered the effort "worthy", and noted that it made Kaguya more sympathetic at the cost of the other characters. Dungan enjoyed the "pleasant though not especially unique" art, the "attractively designed and well-drawn" characters, the occasional humor, and the overall adaption, especially the "natural sounding dialogue". However, he criticized Tokyopop's art reproduction of the manga, pointing out that the sound effects were "handled in variety of ways" from being replaced with the English translation to being ignored. Sequential Tart ' s Sheena McNeil praised the plot as original and noted elements from fairytales and fantasy in the series. In follow-up reviews, she praised the manga as "turning out to be one of the best fantasy manga out there; it stands apart from the rest with it's [sic] uniqueness" but was surprised that Sheena's name changed to Shiina halfway through the series with no explanation.