2 screenshot limit

I think that I’ve mentioned sometime before that Chika Shiomi has steadily moved her way up on my list of favorite mangaka. I love her designs, and her characters are generally likeable and admirable sorts that make reading her stories a worthwhile pleasure.

It didn’t hurt that several of the English publishers of manga helped me along by publishing the majority of her works. Between CMX, Viz, Go-Comi, and Aurora, five of her series are available in English (I’m counting Rasetsu no Hana in the list even though I don’t think Viz has yet released the first manga volume).

Aurora Publishing made a semi-big deal out of their Shiomi title by plastering all the anime websites with their PR of the exclusive arrangement with Borders. A deal that, in my amateur opinion, backfired on them. What’s the point of plastering the web with announcements but then not actually have the book in said bookstore? I staked out the Borders closest to me, looking up if they were ever going to have the manga in-store, but all it told me was that it was backordered and wouldn’t be available for 6 weeks.

To Aurora’s credit though, they responded to me quickly when I complained about this situation — Elise Tung replied within a couple of hours and suggested that I could just order it directly from them.  They may be a small company, but Aurora really made me love them more by their great customer relations.

Anyhow, the manga — it pains me to have to write this, but the story wasn’t that great.  It’s hilarious that after all the work that I put in to get this book, reading the actual volume was disappointing.

Queen of Ragtonia starts off with the almost-attack of a young woman, Falna, in the forest. Just as the monster is about to pounce, she is rescued by a mysterious stranger. Falna, as it turns out, is the last remaining member of the royal family, and is on a quest to regain her ‘powers’ back from a Necromancer who stole them away from her. She teams up with the mysterious stranger, who’s also on a quest of his own, and they use the power of the sword Igliese in their journey.

Maybe it’s because it’s based off a doujinshi, or maybe even because the author is desperately trying to recreate a D&D-type of story — but I really thought the whole premise was weak. I like Falna and I feel bad for what she’s had to go through, but the pacing of the story feels so rushed that I really can’t care too much after I finished with the last page.

It’s such a shame that the plot isn’t compelling enough, especially as Shiomi’s art hasn’t decreased in quality one bit.  I’m still in awe how she uses fine lines and minimal toning in her work. I think I spent some time just to look at the manga panels and admiring the comic’s visual presentation.

I think I’ll still order volume 2 out of loyalty to Shiomi-sensei, but honestly, if you want a better introduction to her work, go pick up Night of the Beasts instead.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under manga & manhwa, other publishers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.