Dec 12, 2021
A blast from the past from one of the most influential men behind Gundam, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. He wrote this manga from 1979 till 1984 (his peak creativity period), a saga which blends Greek mythology, revenge, war and tragic love, telling the story of Arion in 5 volumes.
Calling it a historical fiction manga is a big stretch considering that the gods of ancient Greece existed only in myths yet the journey of our main character throughout the land, meeting people, going to well known cities, climbing famous mountains might make us readers question what is fiction and what is reality. Do you know those people who
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jokingly say that The Lord of the Rings happened in real life? yes, this manga gave me the same feelings.
At its core, Arion is the revenge story of our titular protagonist, he is a little boy in the beginning who only cares about his mother but because of politics and the evilness of some characters, he has to renounce his former life in order to become a warrior, a chosen fighter who has to finish the old war of the gods between Hades, Zeus and Poseidon.
We probably saw and heard about this type of story a thousand times, even Hollywood made movies like that, take a demi-god character and make him fight the gods for some reason in an old world setting, add in a cute girl who loves the main dude, lots of violence and cool fight scenes, finish it with some important character deaths and a big war in the end, our guy wins, gets the girl and all is good in the world.
I hate to be blunt but this is more or less the structure of Arion, some may consider it generic and boring but I loved it because of the setting and the plot for I enjoy myths and revenge stories, even if I read a copy of a copy of a story like that, I still wouldn't get bored. Ever since I was a kid I used to read Greek myths like the Iliad, the Odyssey, the legend of Heracles and so on, Arion feels like in the same category as those but in manga format.
Arion has some tropes which are very well crafted into the story, it doesn't feel like a drag reading and they weren't added in for the sake of being added in, it complimented the rest beautifully. Like I said above, it's a matter of preferences, if you read and liked these types of stories, you will certainly have no problem with what's happening here.
- the mentor
- a flashback arc lasting one volumes
- main character goes from weak to strong (lots of training, as in sword fights and spiritual training)
- love story
What bugs me the most about this manga are the comedic scenes. I think it just doesn't work with the tone of the story, we're trying to have a tragic saga and we're suddenly hit with weird gags. I'm not saying comedy should not exist but this is over the top obnoxious, I am a funny guy, I like funny manga and I can totally see that Yoshikazu can't make a joke. Forget the dark humor of Chainsaw Man, forget even Puck from Berserk, Arion deals bad in jokes, there's this guy who's in a sword fight then he starts playing baseball, there's also a guy named Pervertus and guess what, he's a pervert. I just couldn't laugh or smile, I just wanted to forget and move on. And if you don't trust me, my proof is the movie adaptation, they cut off all of the jokes because they really didn't fit in and the show turned great.
This is a big minus but if the reader gets passed it, the overall elements should be satisfactory and enjoyable.
The main character Arion is fun to follow, he starts as an annoying midget who cries for his mother's bosom and he grows by the end of the story into a fine man, he really went though a lot. His development won't feel forced or sudden, the pacing is kinda fast but all of Arion's important moments are treated with care, there will always be scenes with him questioning his ideals and actions. It's not a psychological manga per se but it has its good scenes, I was never disappointed in how he was portrayed.
The rest of the cast is interesting to a degree, the adversaries of Arion are written not as simple as random evil villains, they have their reasons for taking a certain side, be it Athena, Zeus, Prometheus, to be short, it's "Mount Olympus politics".
And I said something about a girl, she's cool and all, she's mute too and does absolutely nothing for 90% of the time but she's cute. Take it as you want, some people just don't like "useless" girls like Orihime. I think Lesphina is a perfect fit in this manga, why the hell would I hate a girl for being weak? She has some great qualities though, she's kind, gentle and feminine, I love her character.
People who watched Gundam are familiarized with Yoshikazu's art style, the characters look the same but with more details. The mangaka managed to draw some good clothing, I don't know what the ancient Greeks were wearing but at least they look ancient in the manga, the armors are great, the weapons are simple swords, shields, axes etc. The backgrounds look gorgeous, every time I saw a river, some mountain or a panorama of an old city I was impressed. The author uses a lot of black in the panels, I mean it's more black than white, it works well for the dramatic and thriller scenes. To be fair, it was made in the 80s, a reader who knows only post 2010s manga may not be that attracted to it, in the end it's a matter of preferences.
In conclusion, lovers of mythological Greece stories should take aim at this manga, it has all of the elements we all know and love. Also, Gundam fans will probably dig the action and politics presented here. It's very easy to read even though I mentioned all that stuff about myths, drama and politics. It works for action fans too and for the people who want to read something with a grand plot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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