Sophomore's obviously interested in finding more and more interesting things for it's readers, even if they're low in numbers at the moment. Another obvious thing is that we're interested in manga and anime stuff. This Sunday We'd like to introduce to you a title that's probably going to be[if not already] one of the best seinen titles.
In my constant search for more interesting manga series I stumble upon many different positions. What brought the attention of this blog's mod this time is a very interesting manga with the mysterious title Übel Blatt. What we deal with here is a traditional epic story set in a medieval world simialr to that of the Scandinavian mythology. High elves, knights, dragoons, mystic creatures and hi-tech magic hopping in here and there. Sound's familair? That's probably because the manga's issued in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine which in my opinion is a gold mine for RPG games scripts.
The manga features a feminine boy by the name of Koinzell as the protagonist, with a scar over his left eye, two long white braids and red eyes, wandering around the outskirts of the empire that's son to be the main scene for the events of the story and killing of the leaders of a revolutionary army. Nothing interesting really until the boy reveals his identity to one of the said leaders. From there the story's plot starts to spice up.
On his way Koinzell meets more and more people, that although reluctant at first eventualy end up aiding him in his journey. Soon enough he's known in the entire empire as the 'hero of the borders', but in the background of this story we have a fable and an ominous prophecy which both prove to be rather twisted and ironic as the plot progresses. A lot of dark themes to deal with here.
As far as the art is concerned, it's just splendid. Awesomely planned panels and battle scenes with pretty female chars. As a seinen, the manga incorporates a lot of blood, sex and nudity as well as obviously violence everywhere. Monsters chop of people's heads and limbs while people do things worse than monsters, and all that served as a series of amazing pictures.
Cut cut cut lil' boy.
The frequency of the heroes getting outnumbered by weird enemies in a battle is beyond everything here.
As mentioned before the medieval character of the world is contrasted with hi-tech science and technology pretty often here, so seeing a flying fortress hovering over a typical 14th cenury town sin't something weird in this manga. But as these are somehow generic things in contemporary manga, after all the Vampire Hunter Ds and all, I'd like to focus on the PLOT. Certainly not that generic anymore, if you're a fan of Count Monte Cristo, V for Vendetta and all that vengeance stuff , you're gonna love Blatt. With it's variety of main and sub-characters. Saying all this I reccomend Übel Blatt to everyone that's looking for some fresh story with interesting characters, plot and certainly suspense that makes you anticipate the next chapter like a little fangirl.
