#sitara

In all seriousness though, I really enjoy your characters and I hope you keep posting them haha! Originally Charlie told me that you liked IchiShiho and I was going to draw that, but after looking at your blog, I fell in love with your character designs and I KNEW that I had to draw them!! I really enjoy these characters so much 🥹🥹 You cant tell me that they wouldn’t read under the stars together!!! Im willing to bet they would have a whole collection of books to read together or even to Sitara’s classes haha!

The story is basically about Sitara, a slave girl, who gets employed into a scholarly family and later becomes a successful woman in Mongolia due to her desire to overthrow the nation for losing everything she held dear by them. From the research I’ve done, Sitara is based on a real person named Fatima who was a successful woman in the Mongol Empire due to her intelligence. As you can tell from the names and setting, Sitara’s land is based on Persia which did get invaded by the Mongol Empire back in the 13th century.

Honestly, seeing a Japanese mangaka write a story about Islam and not have it be over exaggerated or romanticized is honestly amazing. Tomato Soup could’ve just used it as a backdrop and concocted some crazy orientalist story, but they didn’t. I’m not Middle Eastern myself, but I can see how much love and care the backdrop is put into the storytelling. The clothes and nuances feel so vibrant. Nothing feels offensive. It’s like a regular story that’s set in Persia. I feel like that’s the ultimate form of respect.

Anyways, onto the characters, the main character Sitara seems like a very witty girl. She has a rebellious side to her as she’s prone to running away from slavers, but ultimately develops a sense of loyalty towards the people who bought her as she understands the importance of knowledge. In a way, this is basically a story of an illiterate girl who later grows into one of the most intelligent women in the century. Still, I do love her wit as she likes to tease Muhammad for his shyness around her, mostly when it comes to her without her hijab.

The people who bought her and the other slave girl Anis are all very good people too. Fatima basically becomes something like a mother figure to her. Zumurrud is like an auntie. Anis is like an older sister and Muhammad is something like a mix of possible brother and possible romantic interest (too bad it’s not going to happen given the narration). The uncle also seems to be a good person too despite his exasperation with Sitara’s reluctance to learn earlier. I do like that they’re all intelligent people, so they don’t treat her like an idiot, but also makes sure she can read. Anis makes a good point about the live of a slave. While she’s being treated kindly by her mistress, freedom could be hard to earn despite pledging for it. Regardless, I do like that they all prioritize Sitara getting education as much as she can in order for her to get more opportunities. They’re all her guides in a way.

The voice cast is also pretty great! Akira Sekine voices Sitara; some of her roles include Sora Harewataru/Cure Sky in Hirogaru Sky Precure, Saki Aoi in Senpai is an Otokonoko and Moonlight Lunacy in Umamusume. Her mistress Fatima is voiced by Houko Kuwashima who is a prolific veteran voice actress; she voiced characters like Sango in Inuyasha, Kie Kamado in Demon Slayer and Presea Combat in Tales of Symphonia. The uncle is voiced by Tsuguo Mogami who voiced Keith Shadis in Attack on Titan. Anis is voiced by Mariya Ise who is also a prolific voice actress; she voiced Killua in Hunter x Hunter, Ray in The Promised Neverland and is going to reprise her role as Mitsuki Koga in the Green Yuri anime.

But there are also names I’m not too familiar with like Jun Saito who voiced Muhammad. He’s mostly an actor and his most notable role is playing Satomi in the live action movie adaptation of Let’s Go Karaoke. Zumurrud is voiced by Farahnaz Nikray who is actually a Persian voice actress and stage play actress based in Japan! I’m honestly surprised with the diverse casting from a Japanese anime in general.

By the way, Jaadugar means Magician in Persian. There are also sources saying that it’s also that meaning in other languages like Hindi, etc. This is also another piece of evidence showcasing how much Tomato Soup did their research. Anyways, the anime has a two episode premiere and I’ll be back to review Episode 2 later. Let me know your first impressions about this anime!