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Reimei no Arcana
Dawn of the Arcana
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Reimei no Arcana

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Reicana

Japanese: 黎明のアルカナ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 13

Chapters: 65

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 24, 2009 to Jun 24, 2013

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Demographic: Shoujo

Serialization: Cheese!

Authors: Touma, Rei (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.95¹ (scored by 17,393 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #881²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #411

Members: 44,462

Favorites: 1,101

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 29 / 29

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Jul 15, 2010

QueenOfAlbion

Recommended

Preliminary (13/65 chp)

At first glance, Reimei no Arcana may seem like your oh-so-clichè romance and shoujo manga set in fairytale land. Thankfully, this isn't the case. Reimei no Arcana has a more deep, almost depressing story behind everything. There's blood. There's violence. There are characters that actually develop instead of just act the same throughout the story. This really isn't the typical romance manga directed at young girls.

Story: 8/10
While it's not the most original plot in the world, Rei Toma executes it beautifully. The princess who has been shunned all her life is in an arranged marriage with a prince that she finds disgusting. After spending some ...

Jun 21, 2010

shojoaddict17

Recommended

Preliminary (11/65 chp)

Starts with a marriage of convenience between feuding royal families, complicated with racism and bigotry (about hair color and half-human half-animal "subpeople"). The main characters are both stubborn and really hate each other, but what else can this lead to but sweet sweet awkward jealousy. Who should she choose? The enemy with the grand gestures or the loyal friend? You'll be pulled apart, just like our heroin.
This manga is wonderful! A real hybrid of the Shojo and Shouen styles, a complicated romance for the not-girly reader. A really addicting read, and more than the average shojo has ...

May 21, 2015

elichu

Not Recommended

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to choosing what to read, since I hate leaving things unfinished. Hence I went into this manga with eyes and ears open, having read a LOT of reviews. I thought I knew roughly what to expect, but without having particularly high or low hopes. Boy was I disappointed.

Story: 5

Obviously this is a cliché story about an unwanted princess who is forced to marry the enemy kingdom's prince for the sake of peace. The princess discovers she has an innate ability that gives her enough power to take control of her life and kingdom. It's incredibly cliché, which would be ... okay if her development was executed well. But the story is... stupidly simple, only made to appear complicated. Even the princess' power - the Arcana of Time - is loosely defined in the first place, and complex actions that would be near-impossible in real life are overly simplified - like (SPOILERS!) the act of simply "giving" an entire country to someone else, or migrating an entire race... I mean, at one point our heroine princess even has two husbands through some bizarre logic made up for the sake of the plotline...!? (/SPOILERS!) It's convenient writing for the sake of complicating an incredibly basic plot line that wouldn't have any direction or closure otherwise.

Characters: 7

The cast is as cliché as they come. I wasn't a big fan of the princess, but she was bearable and a host of minor characters kept me mostly interested. Loki, the princess' battle butler, was probably the main reason I kept coming back to the manga despite all my obvious issues with it (and I actually shipped the prince with the princess, not Loki). As a character he's written very tragically and right from the get go it's hard to tell who commands his true allegiance. Is it truly to the princess, who he protects with his heart, body and soul? There's a LOT of convoluted drama involving him, which crops up again and again throughout the story. While he doesn't necessarily appear to develop, I wasn't disappointed and liked the conclusion to his character development. I would suggest you only read this manga if you are drawn to Loki's story, but THAT in itself would be cruel - I know a LOT (if not most?) of readers have had an issue with his storyline.

Art: 6

It's usually pretty decent. Being nit-picky... a couple of characters look similar (Caesar and Adel, anyone?), the fight scenes were badly done, and there were some weird character design choices. But yeah: usually it's pretty decent, and the cover art is gorgeous.

Overall: 4

I'm being pretty harsh, especially considering the story, art and character ratings I've given so far in this review, but I can't in good conscience give a higher score. This is probably the worst manga I've ever read.

Nov 10, 2014

Cryptic-senpai

Recommended

Reimei no Arcana is a fantasy shoujo manga by Touma Rei, totalling thirteen volumes. We begin our tale at a wedding ceremony, the participants a red-haired girl and a black-haired boy. The girl notes dispassionately that her new husband has crushed her hair in his hand, unbeknownst to the onlookers. This is a marriage of convenience, for the purpose of upholding a treaty to keep the peace between two warring countries, Senan and Belquat. Not only is she of a different nationality to the prince she has married, which automatically makes her unlikable, but she also has filthy, red hair. Why is red hair so ... bad? Only commoners have red hair, of course.

The manga is set in a medieval fantasy world where those of royal blood have black hair, whilst merchants, servants, and other common folk have other colours in their glossy locks. Not only is it scandalous for a royal to have a hair colour other than black, it is also nearly unheard of. Why would anyone of the nobility want to sully their name by reproducing with someone of a different hair colour, after all? It’s even worse when you throw “ajin” into the mix – also known as “sub-humans”, people with animal characteristics are shunned by society and considered worse than second-class citizens. It is in this crazy world of discrimination and hatred that we meet our main protagonists.

While the story isn’t very original (I am certain you have heard of political and arranged marriages before), it redeems itself through the almost epic scales it hurtles toward. Redemption, revolution, coups, love, betrayal – this is certainly going to be a grand tale. The main (and, I’d honestly argue, only) problem with the plot is that it kicks off rather slow. The first several chapters detail how the main characters play off of one another, interact, and start developing feelings of love or, alternatively, hatred, for each another. One’s mileage might vary, but I can see some people getting rather bored or disillusioned if they expect a hard-hitting thriller right off the bat. (It’s not a thriller, either; sorry if I got your hopes up.) Another aspect of Reimei no Arcana that readers may find themselves trudging through is the politics. It is not laid on thickly, and it is not droned on about for pages at a time, but the intrigue and political affairs of the world the story is set in are still quite important. I rather think the author has gotten politics right, since I was only interested, never jaded.

Due to the fairly placid pace the manga begins with, some important aspects that seem like they ought to be explained as soon as they are introduced are instead shrugged off as if they were never mentioned before. This can at times bring feelings of confusion – did I miss something or is my comprehension just awry? Not to fear, dear reader; everything will be made clear in due time. The errant way the manga tosses plot pieces and names left and right will easily be forgiven once you take a skim through after completing the manga. Speaking of which, there is quite a bit of double-meanings and foreshadowing in certain characters’ words, expressions, and actions. It’s quite pleasant to see how much the author truly had planned in advance and see that reflected in the manga itself.

Our main characters are Nakaba, Loki, and Caesar. Nakaba is the red-haired first princess of Senan, sent as a “sacrificial goat” to Belquat. She is not the shy, weak-willed, and insipid girl that so often plague shoujo manga; in fact, she is self-righteous and knows what she wants. She does not let her husband bully her around, nor does she wallow in despair for being segregated based on her hair colour. She stands above this. She is, however, very much resigned to her fate. As she herself says, only the place she will die has changed by moving to Belquat. At first, she has little interest in bettering herself. This changes, and she becomes an ambitious and motivated woman, and at times even ruthless when it comes to completing her ultimate goal.

Her servant, Loki, is an ajin, a man bearing the traits of a dog. Quiet and loyal, he attentively sees to Nakaba’s every need and ensures her safety. He serves to his princess’ every whim quite selflessly. Then we have Nakaba’s husband, who is none other than Caesar, the second prince of Belquat. He might as well be the exact opposite of Loki; completely unimpressed with the idea of marrying a red-haired princess, he at first treats Nakaba quite poorly and obviously wants little to do with her or her sub-human servant. However, due to a series of events that leave him introspective, he finds that he is quite “hollow”, and decides to try to change this.

While some characters’ actions make them seem extremely unlikable and vexing – case in point, Caesar – they are also understandable. The society they live in, along with their completely outrageous taboos (as we see them), would naturally warp their personalities in such ways. As such, while I do consider some actions to be very much deplorable, I can also see the reasoning and logic to those actions. That brings me to the most wonderful part of Reimei no Arcana, which is easily the fact that every single character has their own motivation. While it’s easy to see what characters you should like or dislike, there’s also the aspect of morality. If you were a blonde prince, wouldn’t you resent your younger brother for having black hair, and thus being immediately more favourable for the throne in the eyes of your own peers?

Too often in manga are characters just cardboard cut-outs with a name and a few traits pasted on. Most of Touma Rei’s characters don’t even fall into complete archetypes (apart from the couple tsundere male characters). A good chunk of them feel realistic enough to stand on their own outside of the manga. Special shout outs go to Cain, Louise, and Guren.

The other characters of Reimei no Arcana are given adequate panel time. As is the case with any manga, some are more developed than others, while a few select characters overstay their welcome. Overall, though, none of the characters are “filler”; all serve a purpose to the plot and the storyline and most get their chance to shine, one way or another. A few characters depict a subtle but welcoming character progression that can only completely be appreciated by flipping back to their first appearance and forward to their final one. There are a few characters that seem to be forgotten and set aside (for example, Leo and Lala), although this can be forgiven due to the calamity of events that occur in their absence.

Despite my praises, I do have some gripes with the characterization in this manga. Namely, my main issue is how quickly Nakaba forgives Caesar’s original treatment of her. In fact, it’s difficult to call it “forgiving”, since she nearly goes on as if it never even occurred. I do believe that a few more chapters detailing her inner turmoil of her feelings and her dignity as well as her empathy for the prince of Belquat would have been helpful in providing some more flesh and realism to the story. Same goes for Caesar, too – while we do have some more insight into his feelings regarding Nakaba, he wasn’t exactly the victim (regarding the two of them), and he wasn’t the one getting his hair pulled or his name spat upon.

Touma Rei’s backgrounds are fairly lacklustre and most leave details to be desired. It’s generally the most “important” aspects (such as the bricks of a wall and the arbitrary desk and chair) that are sketched out in the bare minimum. This is a fairly prevalent issue in a lot of shoujo manga, but I felt it necessary to mention anyway as it does end up affecting my overall opinion of the mangaka’s artistry. Touma makes up for her mediocre backgrounds with quite detailed clothing and character designs. She definitely knows how to draw good looking men and women, even if there were a couple guys I mistook for women at first sight. In retrospect, this was likely on purpose. There is fairly heavy screentone usage in the manga, primarily for shading, clothing, and hair.

Since there is some action in Reimei no Arcana, it’s worth noting that, for the most part, the panels are clean and clear. I only found myself confused at what was happening during action scenes in the first few chapters, and this is mostly due to a distinct lack of detail in the drawings. It could be said that this was on purpose (and by that I mean the details, not the confusion).

I’d highly recommend this manga to anyone looking for something just a bit different. Reimei no Arcana is an intriguing shoujo manga that, for me, was able to blend several genres together – romance, mystery, fantasy, and drama – quite well, and delivered a truly stomach-punching ending that will definitely remain in my mind for a long, long time. This manga made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me hopeful for a brighter future, both in Nakaba’s world and in mine.

Jun 15, 2014

BeATrixster

Recommended

As somebody you already read the manga I have to say that I never read a manga like this!
When I started I thought this will be the usual "They hate each other then they will fall in love and everybody will be happy..END".
THIS IS NOT THAT TYPE OF MANGA!
There were many twists and shocking events.

Story 9/10
If they would not start with such a cliche then I would have given 10/10 for sure.
But even like this I love the whole story.
When I thought I know the final out come the author slapped me and I was in the dark once again. It's really great.
And at the ...

Aug 6, 2013

Jayex

Recommended

Preliminary (43/65 chp)

Reimei no Arcana is a one-of-a-kind manga. Instead of following the average, archetypal shoujo manga plot, the author has created an excellent work by effectively using plot-twists, great character development, and deep, underlying meaning/foreshadowing within most chapters.

The Plot ~
The plot is well written. I admit that at times in the manga, I felt that I could "see the ending!" only to find that a plot twist--or a major event that affects the entire manga--was put into play the very next chapter. The plot twists and transitions within the story were masterfully executed, and was neither too complex nor simple for the reader to ...

Feb 7, 2016

Souphead

Mixed Feelings

As far as shoujos go, I thought this had an interesting premise.

Story: 7
The basic storyline is that a red-haired princess (Akage) is married off to a prince of another country for a peace treaty. She is shunned because she, a royal, has red hair instead of black hair. Yeah, that's right. And not only that, but throughout the story kings and royalty make crazy freaking decisions based solely on the fact that this girl has red hair. It's a puzzler to me...and despite all of the clearly corrupt, lazy, and plain stupid royals, the citizens don't complain or rise up even once. The background ...

Dec 27, 2017

pomegranit

Recommended

Wow. I wasn't expecting this, but then again, I almost never am. Whenever I get into a series, I was go in with an expectation that seems to have nothing to do with what actually happens. I saw this on a list of shojo arranged marriage mangas, and after reading Hapi Mari, I was wondering if there were any more with that dynamic. I got here and realized that while it did have elements of that in it, the plot really doesn't focus on romance at all. So if you were here for that, prepare for an actual plot.

The story is very good. I ... liked the world building and the unique setting, along with the important messages on discrimination. Sometimes it seemed unfinished or disconnected and seemed to drag, but it went well in the end. Most of the time, mangas can't make me cry (unless I've seen the drama or anime of it before, simply for the reason that I need moving visuals and voices most of the time, but this manga managed it. I cried throughout the last volume especially, though I also cried during some tragic romance moments (while listening to Rewrite the Stars, no less). This might just be because I'm too sensitive for my own good, though. :D Other than that, it's a very interesting fantasy-war-kingdom storyline with enough angst to keep me alive.

The art was gorgeous. Enough said. All the women were beautiful, men were handsome, and all of them had very different designs so they were easy to differentiate and appreciate. The author also managed to portray complex emotions just through facial expressions, which I really appreciated.

The characters were good. I had a few problems with Caeser's character, simply because he fell in love with Nakaba too easily, and Nakaba with him. After they fell in love, they felt natural, however. Loki, too, was a little iffy for me. As much as I love Loki, once they revealed his true feelings at the end (let me honest and tell you that I didn't see any of that coming) it didn't really make sense in the context and the way he carried everything out seemed completely against his love for Nakaba that had driven him to do the worst from the very beginning. He claimed to (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) have hated Nakaba at times, but that didn't really make sense to me since he was ready to sacrifice anything for her. Maybe that was just me who felt this way. I think his character could've been given a little bit more depth. (END SPOILER).

I enjoyed this way too much. There were cute SQUEEE romance moments, there were funny moments, there was enough angst to sate my angsty soul, and it served as a catharsis for me, to be honest.

All in all, it was great!

I would recommend this if: you like fantasy, you like warring-kingdom AUs, you secretly love it when characters you love die and stab holes in your heart, you like strong heroines, you're fascinated by magical powers/seeing the future

I would NOT recommend if: you're here looking for a plain romance, you wanted a classic arranged marriage AU, you wanted a jerk leading man, you came for a love triangle, you wanted a dumb or helpless leading lady, you don't like it when characters die, you don't like thinking about problems like discrimination, genocide, or sickness and death

Oct 26, 2010

Pyxis_Muse

Recommended

Preliminary (14/65 chp)

I know people have said that the characters are too usual and annoying, and the plot is boring, etc. I suppose you'll hear that for everything, because there will always be people who don't like certain stories. However, in my opinion, this is an excellent manga. I do not find the characters too regular at all, and certainly not annoying. In fact, I think they are rather complex. I have found myself getting involved in them, and relating to their emotions; especially Nakaba and Loki. Nakaba is not the usual clumsy-but-happy heroine, nor the strong-and-bitter type. She is more like a real person. Loki is ...

Feb 16, 2013

KunoYuna

Recommended

Preliminary (39/65 chp)

This story of a marriage started out really well. I loved it for a time, but as the story progressed, my love for it became nonexistent. It's not your old cliche kind of arranged marriages. The characters' back stories are interesting and heart felt in their won way. But I can't relate to the characters. I have not problem with Loki and Caesar, but Nakaba [who's the main heroine] I cannot relate to. I can't bring myself to love her either. After 30 chapters I really started getting bored of it all. The concept is nice, but it's not something that I generally like since ...

Sep 26, 2015

VerballyStunted

Recommended

I'll try my best to avoid !!SPOILERS!!, but it'll be impossible to explain my complaints without including a few. You've been warned.

I had a hard time with this one because there are some really awesome moments, but the execution felt somehow clumsy. I got the impression that the mangaka started out with some very specific things that would happen, but struggled to fill in the blanks along the way. For example, the Big Twist at the end is foreshadowed very early in the story--almost immediately--but random things like being able to have two spouses (something you'd think would be an important detail ...

Apr 13, 2019

conquerwithin

Not Recommended

Preliminary (10/65 chp)

Misogynistic. Cliche. Boring.

In essence, terrible.

I thought it was going to get better with character development. But every time you'd think the characters have finally changed, they'd disappoint you again.

The love interest (the prince) commits terrible things against the female main character (FMC) (yanking her hair, strangling her, forcing kisses on her,etc) yet the weak ass FMC grows to love him. In fact the prince continues to act possessive as fuck and like a 5 year old child. But of course instead of developing his character into becoming a better person, the author romanticizes this.

I thought Loki would be better but he's as ...

Feb 24, 2021

treeshrew

Recommended

Not the best fantasy/shoujo manga out there, but I would say it's pretty good and worth giving a try!

Although the romance is cliche and quite cute, it's definitely not shallow as some of the fantasy shoujo's I've read before. I think that there is an underlying issue of discrimination against difference races/classes that we have to deal in our world today, that the mangaka tries to symbolises in this mythical world and she does it pretty well. The art style is also very beautiful and it's fun to be taken to another world all together. The lead female is completely badass as well and ...

Feb 8, 2018

Jobeth

Recommended

Wow...... I thought it was going to be really different than how it turned out. I was expecting something more like Niehime to Kemono no Ou, it was a lovely surprise! The romance was beautiful and really make you think about the concept of love and being loved.

If i had to say something i disliked, i could say the story tends to lean to the sad side, its like tragedy after tragedy. I wish to have been able to explore the worlds more and understand the countries better.

Overall I loved this story, i'm sad i dont get more.... The ending made me cry! ...

Nov 14, 2016

aceofangels20

Recommended

----Story 8/10----
I read Reimei no Arcana expecting a cliche story where the girl falls in love with a prince who basically hates everything, something big happens, she cries, he cries, blah blah blah, the end, they live happily ever after. Yeah!

I couldn't have been more wrong. Reimei no Arcana is one of the darkest and deepest shoujo manga I've read, making it very unique and interesting. This story is not your typical happy shoujo manga where the most trouble they have is the rejection of the other person. There is a lot more in this manga then it seems.

----Art 9/10----
There isn't really much to say ...

Jul 6, 2021

Kaela_Amihan

Recommended

Found this manga by accident a few years ago. It was the first manga that made me weep. I remember taking a few weeks of break during the climax because I was getting too emotional. Its been many years since I've read it and still in my mind till this day.

Story: 9/10
The beginning was a bit predictable and generic. A typical mistreated MC in an arranged marriage with a foreign prince. Gladly I stuck with it, the progression of the story as the lore and characters got more fleshed out made me invested to the story more.

Art: 7/10
Nothing special about the art. It is ...

Jun 27, 2020

zztl9

Recommended

tldr; Good balance; 60% conflict 40% shoujo

I remember reading it while it was still publishing back in 2011, and I am very happy to have found it again. Made me get all nostalgic.

From the surface, the story would feel like a Romeo x Juliet scenario, but luckily, it doesn’t turn out as a copy of the work. At first, you’ll hate some if the characters, but eventually you get to understand more about why they are in their current state and can’t help but empathize towards them.

There is character development, too, although at times it may feel a bit rushed (but then again, that ...

Nov 23, 2018

HFH

Recommended

Teared up so much!!! X,,,[

Great manga, would recommend! Especially if you're a fan of Yona of the Dawn, as there were numerous similarities
Be prepared for some huge twists!

Pretty crisp art, which is why I gave it a 10. I found it easy to read ie not blurry or hard to distinguish between forground and background
amazing storyline that I did not fine repetitive, with a great progression in the protagonists' action throughout
good character development and backstory tie-ins,
also a good range of deep, not filler characters (but not too many to the point where you don't know anyone's name by the next volume)
...

Nov 11, 2017

69thStreet

Recommended

Summary: A princess who was sent to the enemies' nation in order to bring peace and prosperity by having her marry the prince of the opposite kingdom. The story follows the princess's point of view, so we'll see her romance with the prince, her development as a character since she's never really seen the world, and it's later explain she has the power to see the future. The world in this setting is shown that people with black hair are nobles, any other colored hair are shown as commoners, and beast people are shown as slaves... so yes, the princess herself has red hair, so ... the story follows heavily on that.

Story (7): I picked this manga by random, I read one chapter and yeah, one chapter became the whole series. It's not anything out of the ordinary, but it should have enough originality to keep you reading, although the setting is cliche itself, the love story has been done before many times, and there's too much left to be desired. When I was reading, there's moments where I wanted to know more about certain plot points, but they were sidelined, there's certain characters that were pretty good themselves but didn't get any time to shine in the light, Arcana itself wasn't built upon and was left a mystery til the end and so on. I gave the story an average score because of these few reasons, but there's enough twists, turns drama, and romance to keep you reading. Just one thing I want to elaborate on, it's one of those stories where it started out a bit confusing and makes more sense while you keep reading... up to the end.

Art (7): The art isn't too great with all honesty, but it's good enough to look at atleast. So don't expect Picasso!

Character (8): I've seen these characters before, but it doesn't mean that I didn't love them. Nakaba left a really good impression on me, I really thought she was cute and inspiring, something I don't really see in many animes/manga I've watched/read. Loki and Caesar are great characters in their own right, just that they are the same characters you've read in many other romance stories. The support and minor cast are average at best, they leave a load of rooms to develop on, but they get easily overshadow from the main cast. If Nakaba was another character, this would've gotten a 6 or 7.

Enjoyment (9): Like I've said, one chapter became the whole series. The twist and turns were enough for me to want to keep reading and the last few chapters really made me go 'wow....!" I wish Reimei no Arcana would put more of its focus on the Arcana itself, and put action in this genre, because there's parts in this story that really calls for both, but for what it's worth now, I don't mind reading it again in the near future.

Overall (8): Even though the story is cliche with a bit of originality, the art still needs room to be improved on, and only one out of all of the characters left a really fine expression.... I still enjoyed it, and I will love if the author decides to make a sequel and expand the universe of Arcana, because the setting still needs to be explored and there's still so much left to be told.

By the way, don't you dare ship LokixNakaba, you'll see why it's disgusting at the end lol. ~ Shaney @69th Street

Sep 19, 2016

dsfroggy

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/65 chp)

As a disclaimer, I quit this series after only one volume. But I thought some people might be interested in knowing why, considering I don't do that very often.

Story:
I'm not necessarily adverse to political marriage plotlines if done well, or at least if it avoids sensationalizing it. Which is exactly what the author seemed keen on doing.
Caesar is verbally and physically abusive to Nakaba from first meeting, and by the end of the first volume there's a distressingly long forced kiss scene which is obviously meant to be ~sexy~ and if you're into that, perhaps you'll enjoy it. But for me, ...