I have never read any other works of Mr. Matsuri Akino, so this will be the first of his works I have come by.
I would say that this story was 'OK.' Not overly interesting, but not that bad of a bombshell.
I was not as engaging but there were a few witty moments, and some memorable artwork. I will continue to read the second volume just to stay optimistic. ( )

PLUS -
* It's an interesting premise (boy finds out he is reincarnated ruler of mysterious land, has special powers and animal guradians) and if it had been prose fiction not manga I probably would have quite liked it.

MINUS -
* Characters seem one-dimensional and just not very interesting. Bearing in mind that there are 8 books in the series thus far, lets hope that there's a bit more character development as the story progresses.
* I struggled to work out what was going on a lot of the time - characters appear out of nowhere with little introduction or explanation, and it's not immediately obvious when visions and premonitions are being portrayed.

OVERALL -
* I know that I struggle to read graphic novels, and I'm not a regular reader of manga, so that partly accounts for the low rating I've given this. I just find it hard to get my head around what is going on without the additional help of some sort of narration and description. Having said all that though, I still think the characterization and plotting is a bit weak. ( )

Mr. Main Character is a fairly normal school boy (besides some stuff he tries to hide) till he's approached by a bird man and told he's the reincarnation of the ruler of the small country of Dhalashar, which is just so happens has supposedly already found it's long lost reincarnated ruler and put him on the thrown. Bird man thing would really like Main Character to go back and take his place in the country, but Main Character really doesn't want to cause he's just a normal kid. Besides his apparent resurfacing ability to heal, save wandering souls, have premonitions of people's deaths, and all that kind of good stuff. And now in addition to all the great life experiences those kinds of abilities bring, Main Character also has other guardian beast things like bird man coming to kill him cause they think HE'S the fake reincarnation.

I've seen a lot of good reviews for this one, and I admit there are various things to like about it. For one, I like the premise. Main Character (oh, fine, I'll look up his name... Fuuto.) isn't the long lost queen king of a magical land he will be whisked away to. He's the ruler of a (in this universe ^_^) place that exists in the real world, albeit exoticized, that has a fake ruler put in place by the Chinese government. The choice to not entirely throw off the constraints of the real world is a little refreshing. Plots about being able to see ghosts or premonitions of death are done to death and I wouldn't find it a drawing point normally, but when added on to the already fairly interesting plot, it starts feeling like some extra spice for a little more fun, rather than a completely lame recycling of a tired idea. And though the manga is generally fairly light-hearted, it has some moments that are, quite frankly, truly morbid. It's by no means a constantly present trait of the volume, but it was just nice to see the manga wasn't going to flinch from going there.

Still, for me this manga didn't live up to the praise I'd seen for it in reviews. Though I originally thought the premonitions and spirits were spice to the interesting plot and would be worked into the overall story somehow... It seems like there were just being used for episodic moral 'lessons' like you would see in any other story of this type. A man feels guilty about the suicide of his wife, wife talks to him to tell him not to be. Find body of girl who was murdered so her spirit can be at rest. Woman abuses her son, is touched by main character and stops.

Not only are those sorts of stories lame, especially when rushed through like they were and not really fleshed out to make them feel more personal, if not original, but they tend to come with a pet peve of mine, the Sudden Magical Manga Change of Heart (though, no, it's not just manga. But I think you see it more in manga than a lot of things). A woman was abused as a child and abuses her son, WOULD have abused him to DEATH if the main character hadn't made sure the kid wasn't around for it to happen...And then a regression into a memory of herself as a child being abused, and having the main character step into this memory and just this one time to 'take her pain away,' and suddenly she wakes up a reformed woman? Or the main character tells his bird man he thinks some people deserve to be punished for killing a classmate, but when it starts happening he suddenly says, 'Oh, no! Don't do it! I do not have the right to dole out judgment and forgiveness after all! And besides, there must be another path besides violence and vengeance!' Ok, actually having to see the guys get 'punished' could change anyone's mind pretty fast. But such sudden, clear-minded reversal, complete with speech on forgiveness and non-violence? When things get too psychologically unbelievable, I get disinterested.

As for some other minor quibbles (these ones being more related to just my personal tastes), the supporting characters are 'zany' and so far seem one-dimensional. The female lead seems she might grow to something more interesting, but so far is just an emotionless doll in a wheelchair. The main character isn't great but he isn't bad and COULD be fun to watch if he had some more interesting characters to play off of, but, well, right now he doesn't.

Also, the manga is...very shoujo-ey. Yeah, it's shoujo (maybe? I'm not actually sure what it's 'officially' considered to be), but I didn't know that at first. When I first saw the art I thought it was just shounen with shoujo-ey art. But reading it, despite there being no real romance (yet?) and male main character, you can tell. Because the main sits around, stationary, acted upon by all the outside forces till they are forced to react. That is, besides when they are morally obligated to spread love by helping spirits or such, the only time they can be a little more proactive. ...Admittedly I haven't read a lot of shoujo so maybe this isn't as characteristic of it as I've gotten the feeling it might be from the ones I've read. Still, it's not a very shounen-manga-like way of going about things, is it? Now, part of me is a little happy to see that it apparently doesn't always have to be the female sitting around taking this lame passenger-seat role in her life. ...On the other hand, it's still a freaking lame role. Unless you're doing something original and interesting with the concept, I just don't really want to watch it.

In the end, concept-wise I kind of like this manga, but the overall experience was only a little above average. I don't plan to try any more volumes. ( )