Etorouji Shiono

Originality
A standard shonen epic fantasy with a dose of harsh medieval realism thrown in for good measure. Not a whole lot of explanation of the magical system is provided.

Artwork
The action, depiction of the different characters and creatures as well as the vehicles are quite detailed. I especially like the schematics of the dragon airships. The maps could use a little more detail; for example, to include the city of Rielde-Velem.

Story
Solid plot that has one major twist. The transition between one major time span to the next (from the flashback to Durch Bruch) could've been handled more explicitly.

Content Warning: Nudity, sex scenes, including one that implies bestiality.

Characterization
Not terribly deep characters, but that's not the focus. For the most part, the hero, Köinzell vanquishes his foes through his fighting prowess and superhuman powers instead of his intelligence.

Personal Notes
This world is a male-dominated one where fighting ability is the most important personal attribute. Women and children are, for the most part, relegated to supporting roles or mere chattel. In spite of the fact that it is hinted that some of the women characters could become stronger, I don't find the world appealing. Still a solid epic and where it lacks in originality it makes up with action and art.… (mehr)

The story continues to get better. In general, refer back to my other (brief) reviews for earlier volumes. A few things stand out for this volume in particular:

There's reference to a character who only exists in flashbacks, and his son. All the hints and foreshadowing and so on suggest that the son is one particular character, except for the fact that twenty years have passed, which makes it effectively impossible for it to be that character, the way he has been depicted thus far. I guess I'll have to read the next volume to figure out what's going on with that.

Character development is even getting a fair bit of attention for characters who are long dead by the time this series began (in volume zero). I like this. Static, two-dimensional, trite and overused character concepts bore me; this series seems intent on developing characters well beyond that kind of facile stereotyping.

One female character who ends up bathing a fair bit (semi-gratuitous nudity) seems almost entirely immune to having her nipples show, which seems odd in the context of other nudity in this series. In fact, the majority of nudity in this volume involves that character, and there is basically only one page in the volume in which there's any real nipple in view -- and that's mostly a different character's nipples. I wonder if there's some kind of bias toward presenting the girl's "purity" in some way by hiding her nipples behind her hair, or maybe the whole series is just leaning more and more toward getting less graphic in terms of nudity. The contrast with the rest of the depictions of nudity and sexuality in the series is just a bit jarring.

I still enjoy it. I'll read more.… (mehr)