WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Sazan & Comet Girl Omnibus, on sale in English now from Seven Seas Entertainment.
While many manga are full of symbolism, Yuriko Akase's Sazan & Comet Girl uses one particular artistic technique rarely seen in manga: color. Mina's shift from red to blue mirrors her character arc. Originally appearing with red hair, eyes and bikini top, and a touch of blue in her jean short-shorts, Mina transitions to having a completely blue scheme by the end. We'll be going into what each of these colors represents, along with the significance of the changes that accompany the alterations.
Mina, the titular Comet Girl, has been on the run her whole life from space pirates who seek to control her vast stores of energy for monetary gain. Born from a comet, she has vast powers such as super-strength, the ability to go through the void of space without the need of a suit and exploding hair. As such, she's gained a reputation as the "harbinger of destruction," which perfectly fits her primarily red outfit at the beginning of the book.
The color red symbolizes the comet's immense power, and everything Mina hates about herself -- the fear, anger, hatred and destruction that follow in her wake as she is hunted for that power, and her own inability to stop it. As a bounty hunter herself, she closes herself off to others in a lonely existence. That all changes when she meets Sazan.
Her first meeting with Sazan is her seeing someone who looks down on their luck and offering them a ride. While she initially sees it as just a fun little excursion, pirates soon come for her, forcing her to reveal her powerful nature. To her surprise, afterward, Sazan invites her out for drinks, and it is here that we see the first shift to blue as she dresses up for their "date." She dons a black and blue bikini top, with blue symbolizing the acceptance, and peace she feels, while the black adds in a hint of reluctance and wariness -- as though she's afraid to open up.
It also symbolizes the start of her friendship with Sazan, as up to this point, blue has primarily been his color, whether that be through his space-suit or the stripes on his construction uniform. This is significant because the change in color takes some aspects of Sazan (his kindness, and calmness) and overlays them on top of the excitable Mina. It shows how she's opening her heart to him and his way of thinking.
She briefly switches over to an all-black outfit for bounty-hunting, symbolizing the emotional distance needed for this profession. Once again, she finds herself hunted. This time, however, she barely escapes, and black ends up being the perfect outfit for telling Sazan he'll never see her again.
As she flies away, all three of her primary colors come together in her tears, symbolizing her conflicting emotions. The fact that Sazan then takes one of those tears shows how he's accepted Mina completely. He has no expectations of her -- and likes her as she is.
The next time Mina's shown, she's in her fourth and final outfit -- the aforementioned blue bikini. She's been completely changed by meeting Sazan and realizing just how much danger she could put people in if she got close. This time, though, the blue shows the peace she's made with that fact, as well as her desire for peace in her life. As such, when Sazan finds her under attack, she rejects him -- for his own safety. It's only after Sazan's declaration of love, and Mina's return of (platonic) affection, that the doors for cooperation open.
When Mina is captured, the final color shift takes place. Sazan and the pirates rush to aid her escape, but Sazan is fatally wounded in the process. Now understanding too late what love is, Mina confesses to Sazan that she does love him, and in so doing, unlocks the true potential of the comet. It's no longer a red bringer of destructive force, but the blue ocean of life flying through the night sky as Sazan told her it could be. Her hair and eyes turn blue, symbolizing her willingness to sacrifice herself for those whom she loves. Sazan is brought back by the strength of her emotions and the entire planetoid given life, like a second genesis project. With Sazan asking her to settle down on Earth with him, and her acceptance of the invitation, her arc is completed.
Throughout Sazan & Comet Girl, Yuriko Akase makes wonderful use of her watercolor artwork to add extra layers of meaning into her story. Mina's character arc is not merely told, but truly shown through her transformative outfit changes.
