Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

STORY 6/10
The story is simple, but nice. It is nothing spectacular, almost everything is pretty much previsible (but there are some nice plot twists). Its simplicity, however, makes it enjoyable to read. Everything that happens in the story is epic and cute(?). Despite story being simple, it is well structured. All the characters shown in the manga have some relevance, and the story has a clear beginning and ending. The downside is that the story is not very creative... But we must considerate that it is a story for children.

ART 9/10
The artstyle is beautiful, clean and it fits well with the manga. However, I ... think that the pannels could be bigger. The mangaka tried to put a lot of information in one page, adding lots of small panels.. I prefer mangas with bigger panels, making the page "cleaner".

CHARACTER 7/10
The story is manichaeist. There are the good characters and the evil characters. Link is your traditional brave hero and Ganondorf is a traditional villain. A good aspect o the manga is that all characters have some relevance. The characters which appeared in the beginning will appear again throughout the story.

ENJOYMENT 7/10
It is a pleasant and simple reading. It does not make you laugh or cry, and it is not that exciting, but it has a few plot twists and its simplicity makes it somehow enjoyable.

OVERALL 7/10
A beautiful fantasy manga, but nothing excepctional.

First off, you should know that for the most part, this manga is a retelling of the story in the Ocarina of Time game; there aren't a lot of changes that are made in the storyline and not a lot of filler which some may or may not like but it is what it is.

Overall, I loved this manga and its portrayal of the characters from a personality standpoint. One of the few things that the video game didn't focus much on was the personalities and emotional development of the characters (due in part to the fact that OoT was already pushing the limits of ... what the Nintendo 64 had to offer). This manga gives a bit of insight as to how many of the characters, especially Link and Navi, may have acted between moments of action; and many of these are sensible given the characters personalities in the game. Also, I enjoyed the detail they put in the art, making the characters' features less exaggerated (and in some cases less goofy looking) than the video game counterpart (ex: Nabooru's nose which drove me insane in the game).

I have one gripe about this series however, which makes a large impact on my score (I would've given this a 9) because it irritated me so much; it moved way too fast. The entire series took a total of 18 chapters, and that includes 3 bonus chapters not related to the story. That means the entire Ocarina of Time story which took hundreds if not thousands of gamers hours upon hours to complete, took only 15 chapters to get through (maybe half a night of sitting down and reading). Link went through entire sections of the game within a few pages, which as you could imagine put some major holes in the story that would utterly confuse anybody who has not attentively played through the entire game. I desperately wish they had slowed the pace of the manga down significantly and, though they showed the development of Link himself adequately, they should have put a bit more spotlight on some of the minor characters that had a connection with Link and made a a major impact on the story (ex: Saria, Ruto, Malon, etc).

All in all, I would recommend this series to anybody who loved the Ocarina of Time video game (and really who doesn't?) and if you're not bothered by the rushed feeling of the manga, then this is definitely a great choice for a good read.

As much as I love The Legend of Zelda as a video game franchise, this manga just does not quite deliver up to the high standards set by the game. Please also note I am saying this as a huge Zelda fan.

Story: 6/10
Honestly the rating for this would be much harsher. However the overall story is still insisting because it is basically from the original game that it is inspired from. However that still can't make it rise any higher than a 6/10 for me. The story progression is honestly awful. The game has this grand adventure and I really can't feel it when they ... story adapts like 4 temples per volume.

Art: 9/10
The Art here is great. Honestly when I think of Zelda in a manga form, this is how I hope it would be. It really has some breathtaking scenes. Clearly a lot of time was put into the art and it really shows and paid off.

Characters: 5/10
No Character really gets time to develop besides Link. Even then I feel Link does not develop enough as a character to make me care. Zelda and Ganon don't get any screen time and there a re barley any of the iconic side characters from the Zelda games.

Enjoyment: 6/10
It is an okay adaption of the Ocarina of Time game. The Art lives up to the high expectations I had for a Zelda Manga. Everything else.... yeah not so much. If it just toke the time to flesh out everything, then honestly I would give this a higher score. I mean it is not the content that is bad. It's the speed and adaption that it.

Final Verdict: 6.5/10
If you are a huge Zelda fan, then I would highly recommend this. Sure it has it's short comings. But it is very enjoyable when you have experienced the original games and you are invested in the series. If you have no clue what Zelda is, then I would approach this one with caution.