Ranked #1497

Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi (Manga)

Interested in reading a manga that feels like an old school Japanese RPG? If so then this manga might be (and I mean MIGHT BE) for you. This manga feels like it was written during the late 1980's all the way to the early 1990's because the story and design is so similar to the early Final Fantasy games.

The story is about a boy with a strong sense of justice named Al who inherited a powerful sword from his father during an age of conflict and warfare. He travels across the continent (or world... I'm not really sure) and ends up getting involved in fighting a tyrannical kingdom bent on taking over the continent/world with the help of dragons. During his travels he discovers the existence of powerful artifacts called Fire Emblems and ends up fighting along side an enormous knight (Gant) and a princess (Tiena) as well as other guest characters who are all fighting against the tyrannical kingdom. To counter the dragons, Al and his party begins searching for information about the Fire Emblems and in the process get involved in the battles of other nations...

If you're looking for characters with complex character development, then you definitely won't find them here. Almost all characters present in the story are uninteresting because they are all based on certain anime and manga stereotypes such as the kid with a strong sense of justice and friendship (like Naruto).

The artwork is pretty decent but is nothing special, it is pretty difficult to tell which soldier belongs to which army and the minor characters such as the soldiers look generic to one another. Many scenes are also not shown such as how they were able to infiltrate a castle and make their way to the location of their captive comrades. The fight scenes are both hard to follow and lacking as you would often times be forced to use your imagination on how the massive battles concluded because these battles usually only focus on two or maybe 3 characters fighting while the rest of the soldiers are just shown having a static brawl in the background and it seems that the only significant role these poor guys have is to raise their sword and shout Hurrah!.

Overall: This manga is nothing special and is definitely aimed at fans of the game it is based on as well as fans of traditional Japanese RPGs. If you're reminiscing about the good old days of old school RPGs, then this manga might just suit you're taste but if not then perhaps it would be better to read a different title. read more