Volumes: 1/1 (Complete), OOP, but not hard to find
Shounen
Genre: Fantasy, Fighting, Magic
Summary: In a world where magic users are common, Kokuyo and Harika are looked down upon for being the lowest class of magic users, called Obsidians. Normal Sorcerers possess both Yin and Yang energy and can cast all spells without assistance, but Obsidians only are born with one kind of magic energy and require the use of a substitute energy sphere to cast. They are useless without it.
Kokuyo claims he will become the strongest sorcerer ever, but he can’t even pass the lowest level magic exam, and studies under his adoptive father’s magic cram school. However the bond between him and Harika might contain a powerful secret!
Review: Overall this basically reads like a failed pilot for a Shounen serial that got cancelled.
The Good: The art-style was better than average, and parts of the fights made me want to check out this mangaka’s most well known work in English, Venus Versus Virus, which I think I will. But this story, by itself could have been much better than it was.
The Bad: personally, I find magic systems fascinating, and the more complex the better. So it’s frustrating there only really seems to be one main spell everyone uses, which is a basic slice from a distance attack. While it does seem sort of useful in that you can hit with way more power than like a sword strike, and at a distance, it’s really quite simplistic and lacking in creativity for a fighting Shounen manga.
My second main complaint was the characters. They’re both pretty generic in personality and background.There’s also a hint of romance between the main two leads, which unfortunately goes nowhere. All in all, it wasn’t a bad read, and at the ending did have at least some emotional payoff for investing in the series. And it did have its moments.
Finally for the ending twist, if you know how a battery works then this twist you can see coming a mile away. But it was a decent ending.
Recommended: If you have some time to kill and don't mind reading a light Shounen fighting series then it's not bad, just not particularly good either.
Age Rating: PG for some mild violence
Other works by this mangaka in English: (from most to least popular)
- Tokyo Ravens (Shounen)
- Venus Versus Virus (Shounen)
- Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess (Shounen)
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