VOL. 1 – The Yamato Fantasy Tale
The Boy
Who Destroys and the Girl Who Establishes
Nice
beginning chapter, the story is not that captivating, but it has potential to
get better. The male protagonist is a
typical hero, strong powers, good looks, cool attitude, but that doesn’t make
him any less likeable. The story itself
feels like history, with the aim of the Empress trying to unify Japan, I don’t
know, just doesn't feel too compelling to me.
There are users of magic here, and I do like how Shion called up his
soul blade, Shingu. The art is okay and
not too bad considering from the era it had came from, and being the first work
of Kentaro Yabuki. It’s interesting
enough for me to keep reading the rest of the chapters, I just feel it’s
lacking something special in it’s story that captivates the readers.
As the
Empress
Not a bad
chapter, but still feels like it is lacking something, some special that will
set this manga apart from the countless others.
It still feels really typical that Shion is some super powerful guy, and
so it’s a bit boring as you know everything will go well with him around. Some of his exchanges with the commander were
funny, and it is a fairly exciting chapter.
I’m hoping for some really exciting to happen soon, or a sort of
challenge, because if Shion continues to overcome these ‘problems’ and
‘assassination’ attempts so easily, it’s going to get boring real quick.
The
Thing That Links Them
Mediocre
chapter, it is okay, still feels a bit dull and you keep waiting for something
awesome to happen, but there isn’t one.
We get Shion who is confused about being a companion, and lo and behold,
in this chapter, he learns how to accept it, and understands what it is about,
no surprises there.
“One
More”
Not bad,
Shion is starting to adapt with his ‘company’, so I guess that’s one problem
down. Now onto the process of trying to
find the city of Takama and that’s where the interesting tidbits come. Chapter ends with another nation on the verge
of being destroyed, by one spellcaster, looks like a fight may be coming up.
The
Meaning of “Nation Destroying”
Ah, a much
better chapter, and the enemy is a really formidable warrior that even Shion is
no match against. Although the story
still isn’t that great, I think it’s gotten better, and I like the weapon
designs though, especially the shingu’s.
The One
Who Pushes
Shion gets
some extra power from his dream, typical really, but what can you expect, this
series was never going to be a breakthrough with the tried and tested
plot. However, it was still a decent
read, and you do get a sense of satisfaction when Shion wins.
Smile
A fairly
uneventful chapter, but one in which the characters decide to do
something. Title refers to how Shion
smiles for the first time (since he had never done it before), and the ending
when Renza showed up was a bit amusing.
The Man
Who Lives for Love
An
interesting chapter, Renza had a special power (who doesn't in manga…) and that
he can talk to the trees. This was a
better chapter than any previously just coz how much more exciting it was,
there was enough humour to keep it from getting too boring, and the content
wasn't bad.
Overall
It’s easy
to notice that the quality of the story and art isn’t as good due to this being
the author’s first work. However, it’s
passable, but not really something I would get hooked onto.
