|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
Reviewed by Lisa Anderson When last we left our three heroines, they were on their way to retrieve the legendary mineral Escudo. Wasting no time, volume two starts with the introduction of Ferio, a mysterious swordsman on his way to Eterna as well. The girls work quickly at striking a deal - they will lead him to Eterna, if he will agree to serve as an armed escort. After a short but dangerous trip, the group is ambushed by Alcione, who is more than ready to get a bit of revenge after their last fight. Spurred on by the attack on their friend, the remaining knights make short work of her, learning new magic along the way. For any that have played a RPG before, you can pretty much guess the general format from then on. Gradually the girls are put through emotional and physical trials, both individually and as a group. Things only get harder as time passes, but luckily they manage to get weapon, armor, and magical upgrades to meet such challenges. While that seems pretty standard, Magic Knight Rayearth continues to go about it in an interesting way. Despite following the standard rail that plagues most fantasy games, the story isn’t afraid to poke fun at it, or up the ante a bit. Characters can be hurt seriously, to the point of being killed off in harsh ways. There are no simple quests to find a lost pet or kill so many of one monster…instead the knights must learn to face their inner demons, be they in the form of parents, a friend, or themselves. At other times, the knights clearly reflect the fact that they aren’t natives of Cephiro. While many stories have the characters quickly adjust to their new surroundings, time and again the trio remark on their odd new lives. One perfect example is when the girls finally reach The Legendary Fountain of Eterna…which they decide should be renamed The Weirdo Fountain of Eterna…a clear observation on how different the two worlds are. The manga also has a few noticeable problems as well. The story itself, like the games it echoes, seems a bit forced at times. Encounters follow on the heels of each other, offering no time for the girls to really rest or wander about. Other characters are also introduced rather abruptly, taking either an immediate like or dislike to the knights. While on one level this works for the story, keeping it from dragging too much, it also makes it harder to believe in the characters themselves. At times I found myself looking at them more like puppets, their emotions and motivations changing drastically at the pull of a single string. Like the games though, Magic Knight Rayearth requires a certain level of imagination and disbelief. Certain things go hand-in-hand with the genre, at picking at them won’t change anything. If you can’t look at this with a certain level of childish abandon, it might be best to find a different manga entirely. As with the first volume, the second leaves off right at the introduction of a new character. While this grabs my attention and curiosity for the next volume, it also reminded me of many a fantasy story with cliff-hanger chapter endings. It made a nice additional touch to the story, offering another nice tie-in to the style and genre used as a background for Magic Knight Rayearth. While definitely a fun read, I could hope for smoother transitions or more convincing motivations. Looking at this from the RPG viewpoint, it’s much easier to chalk such mistakes up to the genre itself. Like any good game story, some things just can’t be conveyed well without bogging down the entire system. If you can put aside the little problems, Magic Knight Rayearth is still a delightful manga, and should only get better as the story progresses. Comment on this review of Magic Knight Rayearth v2 on the Manga Life Forums. |
8 October 2008
|
||||
 |
| home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us |
