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Apr 29, 2020
A fantasy story that's not isekai or have any overpowered characters? Is such a thing possible? Well, here you got an example. No spoilers, by the way.
The story starts well after the heroic stage of the main character has ended. Once he is old and battered by the life he has lived, decides to travel to find his final resting place.
For those fearing an extremely introspective manga, like I was before I read it, I can say, do not worry. It explores plenty of action scenes (To be honest, I was surprised, I expected a cooking fantasy manga).
The story is quite well
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paced, the first twists of the storyline are resolved quite quickly actually. It goes to the point. Any time a problem is presented, the reasonable course of action is explained and taken, no pointless exposition or emotional bait.
The art is quite good, even very good I'd say. The physical conflicts are well represented. You know who hit who and when, it's not just sword swinging with appropiate results. Backgrounds are well defined, no plain whites if it can be avoided.
The main character has it's own ideas about honor, violence and vengeance, and most do not match with a modern point of view. This is not a manga where the main character intends to play the part of the hero. He IS a hero, by the standards of a medieval society. No modern morality bullshit. Secondary characters are colorful and different, and because the wandering nature of the main character, they come and go all the time.
I was actually surprised by the quality of this work overall. It's strange it does not have any review for a work four years old as of now.
I absolutely recommend it to seinen and fantasy fans. I hope you'll like it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 4, 2020
Wasted potential: The manga. Mild spoilers ahead, nothing serious tho.
At first, this may seem one of the best "back in time" stories around. The main character is strong and has her own voice, and the secondary characters are charismatic and funny to read about, with many chapters where you can enjoy their antics and smile. And that's good, that's the part I like about this manga.
Now there's the bad. This manga devotes most of it's length to action, politics, tactics and strategy, being what you could say "the core" of what actually happens, but does it rather poorly.
Action is showy, but it's
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not taken seriously. The good guys slash enemies left and right and are only wounded by massed firearms or named enemies. That's to be expected tho, but the action scenes could be a lot clearer about what's happening, as we usually see one or two panels of each important character doing their thing, not actual combat secuences of any kind. When a combat extends in time, action becomes sword crossing and screaming their values at each other, more than displays of swordmanship or martial arts of any kind.
Politics consists on entire chapters of pure exposition and monologues in which the characters involved detail their motivation to become engaged in the age of the Warring States... Only to be trumped by the MC talk-no-jutsu. Yeah, let's totally forgive those people who have killed hundreds or thousand of your subjects because they feel bad.
Tactics are mentioned in the manga as well. We see some basic maps detailing unit movement and the characters go on about the strenghts and weaknesses of their troops and army, but most battles are decided because one of the MC just barges in and defeats the enemy commander in single combat, ignoring hundreds of soldiers that were allegedly capable of winning the battle, instead of winning through actual tactics.
Strategy-wise, the good guys armies can move around and seemingly teleport where they are needed the most, also win against armies far superior to them with really low casualties, because... well, they're motivated. No talk about supplies, terrain or anything else. There's just a convenient ridge from where to look down at your enemy before scathingly tell them that your bonds are too much for them to break with their puny (and several times larger than yours) armies. Scouting and spying's done, most of the time, by one dude.
So that's it. I'm a bit disappointed, because I really wanted to like this manga, but it's just not good at what is TRYING to do. It should dedicate more time to the personal lives of the main cast and their dinamics, or take war and history seriously, or both, but right now is a half-assed attempt on both things.
And please, stop with the annoying talk-no-jutsu. I understand the MC is trying to instill into the warring state's poeple a sense of family and kindness that belongs to our era, but there's thousands of people's lives at risk at some points and she asks everybody to bend to her will and stop/take unreasonable decisions because "I'm sure they are doing it because they hurt". No shit. Honestly I could not stop thinking that If things went out well it was because of pure luck and MC bullshitery, nothing else, because the actions taken were not smart at all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 9, 2020
At this point (Chapter 13) I can say with no shame that this is a GOOD isekai manga, way above most of them. I started reading it, as many, because of meme magic. I just wanted to see an Isekai with Putin riding monsters and defeating enemies left and right.
Instead (Or we could say "also"), I got a fun, engaging manga, with atypical characters (None free from imperfection), above average art and some interesting twists on the most basic isekai tropes. It's too soon to emit a deep analysis on it at this point, I think, but I would definitely recommend it to anybody
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who likes fantasy stories, not just isekai fans. It seems to be going a bit into "settlement management", we could say, something I always appreciate in manga about people from the present sent to fantasy worlds.
I'll keep an eye on it from now on. Good stuff.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 20, 2019
Interesting take on political intrigue by the hand of Natsume Ono, one of my favourite mangakas. Fully recommended to those who liked the masterpiece that is "Saraiya Goyou", along with those who liked "Pumpkin Scissors" or "Taihou no Stamp".
No spoilers ahead.
First things first: Excuse my poor english.
Story 8/10:
VERY character focused. A story with a simple premise, that later on gets more complicated, but not to the point of being extremely convoluted.
It does not overload the reader with characters, motivations and unnecesary exposition about what's happening; everthing is explained in a few words when it must, and most of the dialogue is
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fairly natural, no exposition for the sake of advancing the story among characters who know what's happening already.
Most of the thrill actually comes from not knowing who knows what and who's lying and who does not.
If you are looking for action, tho, you must look some other way. It's practically inexistant.
Art 7/10:
Following the typical artstyle of Natsume Ono. Some will find it weird, but i find it soothing and stimulating at the same time. I specially like the expressions, most of the work woes into these and it shows. It's one of the few mangas that have going back time and time again to particular drawings just to try to find exactly what's the meaning behing this or that stare. The rest is mostly secondary.
Character 8/10:
Mysterious characters with untold backstories and interesting but not readily apparent motivations populate it's pages. There are hardly any characters in the entire manga that one would calify as "bad people", and none outright evil.
Most of the main characters get developed along the story, not because they change during it a lot (It is not a long story) but because you discover more about their intentions, clarifying past doubts about why they do what they do.
Enjoyment: 10/10.
This being the most personal section, I must say I love this kind of story. I just put some piano (Max Richter, I am looking at you) and read the whole thing in one go.
Overall:
Truly recommended. It's an intelligent, pleasant work, worthy of any library, be it composed of mainly manga or otherwise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 11, 2019
First, I must say I do not usually drop any title I have started, but this one managed to get me do it (After I read the first 26 chapters). Also, excuse my poor english, if you find any gross mistakes in my grammar or orthography.
Now to the point:
This is a power fantasy of a manga, where the main character is just awesome and everybody loves him. This is not an uncommon thing, as anybody who has read some Isekai manga surely knows, but this one I found particularly dumb and dishonest.
The art is decent (Not very good tho), but the characters and
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plot are just... not good. And let's not speak about the treatment of the female characters of the story by the MC. I do not like to add modern politics and stances to my manga, because I understand Japan is a very different culture that my own, and many times manga covers very different societies and temporal eras, but this is one of the first manga to make me cringe because of the representation of female characters.
Seriously, not good. If you want to read some isekai just to let your mind wander off, I'd recommend Isekai Kenkokuki, Botsuraku Youtei Nanode or Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami, instead of this filth.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 12, 2019
Interesting military manga, going deep into logistics of war through a curtain of comedy. Characters are well defined, although until this point it has not gone to the past of most characters (surprisingly, the most detailed background descriptions are those of the antagonists or secondary characters).
Half gag manga and half pure military story, it's a nice read if you liked the more "strategic" or "negotiation" side of Youjo Senki or Pumpkin Scissors.
A particular thing about this manga is that the author designs one military vehicle in each chapter, dedicating a full page to explaining it's capacities, pros and contras. The author is definitely
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a war otaku.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 27, 2019
My first review, excuse me in advance for my clunky english.
Really solid (And I mean SOLID) manga about the aftermath of a long war, the social, political and technological consecuences of such a war and the personal tragedies (and good fortunes) of the people involved in it.
One point I really liked about this manga is the discourse, specially in the later volumes, about the discrepancies between technological and social advancement in a particular society. Technology advances a lot faster than social conventions and, like in our own world, we get to see how most of the people making the decisions are not prepared
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to understand the applicability of new tech and legislate accordingly.
Every now and then the author goes into somewhat deep explanations of the technology and methodology of several branches of sciences, and even the basics of the philosophy of science itself and it's ethical ramifications.
The manga also goes deep into the characters motivations and evolution, and even secondary or tertiary characters get fleshed out quite well.
On top of all this, you also get a healthy dose of action, quite realistic even, not scared of going into real gore at some points.
About the art, at the beginning is a bit basic, but improves along the manga. I particulary like the characters expressions, with a wide and carefully drawn repertory of feelings to enjoy while reading it.
In short, totally recommended, specially for those who like to read about how the different government branches operate and how the individual people in them face the challenges of a rapidly-changing society and the problems that arise from war, be them recent or long-going.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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