Jul 21, 2024
This historical manga by Junji Takehara began publication in Japan in 2023 and I have been reading it in its French translation which began this year.
Set in the medieval Duchy of Brittany in the 13th Century, when it was an independent principality caught between the kingdoms of France and England, it is an intriguing story of knights errant, troubled dynastic successions... and cross-dressing.
Thomas, a young, earnest but at times clumsy squire-herald has been tasked by his lord, Raoul de Dinan, to find the daughter of Raoul's old friend, André Le Bleau, whom Raoul wishes to betrothe to the heir of the new duke, Pierre I
...
of Brittany. Thomas's investigations lead him to meet a young knight who calls himself André Le Bleau, who bears the same name as his father, but is not the damsel he was sent to look for... until Thomas discovers that this knight is really a 15 year-old girl, whose real name is Andrée... Since her father's assassination by unknown marauders, she has been on the run, dressed as a man, and she seems determined to ascertain who killed her father and to avenge him.
Thomas dutifully decides to accompany the maiden-in-disguise and they set off across different parts of Brittany to solve the mystery of her origins, and figure out why Thomas's master wanted him to find and protect her.
The two published volumes do not lack plot variations and additional elements to the mystery, mixed with the complex political history of the Duchy of Brittany in those times. It's a well documented historical thriller in which some well known figures of the time: Pierre I, but also Philip Augustus of France, and the English kings Richard Coeur de Lion and King John make cameo appearances. The author also describes the strict social hierarchies of feudal Europe, the power of the Church and many tidbits that range from heraldry to local cooking, minstrel culture, architectural techniques.
The two characters, Thomas and Andrée, are engaging in their respective if clashing personalities; the young herald is determined to make himself a name and place in the world, while Andrée strives to belie the secondary place in nobility that her gender implies.
This is a very recommendable manga for fans of medieval history and mysterious family sagas.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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