Rokka no Yuusha
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers

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"I am the strongest man in the world" - Adlet


Hello, fellow myanimelist users. Today I present you the first review of Rokka no Yuusha and I hope it will encourage you in reading the source material and of course make you watch the upcoming anime adaptation and with that let’s jump in.


Ishio Yamagata is a rather unknown light novel author, despite him having fan translations and even more so because he has already an anime adaptation under his belt. You may know it as The Book of Bantora, and as such if you have watched or heard of it you might know how Ishio uses ... unique concepts to his works, be it world setting, characterization or motives. Especially when compared to most light novels who are centered on school and the problems of youth. As such he brings fresh air to the current stale demographic of light novels and of course Rokka is no exception to his previous works.



-Story-

Rokka starts out with fate choosing six heroes, who have a mission to defeated humanity’s mortal enemy the Majin. In that sense the story moves from point A. the human realm to point B. where they fight of the Majins minions and of course with the main objective of defeating him, as have the previous heroes. Kind of boring isn’t it? Well so taught the author too and added a little spice with mystery elements to it, with the biggest one being the 7th hero’s identity.
With that he has written a light novel with the usual heroes saving the world concept and added to it a smaller objective that being just to survive. And that’s just is the tip of the ice berg. Mix in the fantasy world, which subtly ask the question of environmentalism in form of the Majin and racism between those two factions. To the high paced fights, which aren’t too stretched, as such it makes them always fun to read. To the mystery of who is going to betray them? This gives a lot of pressure not just to the characters but to the readers themselves. It is a story of camaraderie, love, friendship, family, revenge and so on...





-Characters-

The characters are as mentioned a group of seven heroes and as such they need to have diverse personalities to them for shear entertainment value and they deliver that. They are all brought together as the six heroes of flowers and need to fight the Majin, if they want to or not, and as such they all have different motives to why they are doing what they do, which is further enhanced by their back stories and it seems like Ishio uses each volume to cover a different heroes story so far. And sadly I can’t cover each one as I may spoil the fun. Than again their summary spills a lot anyway. Although, I will mention my two favorites that being Adlet and Fremy. Adlet is for most people a clown, because of his quote "I am the strongest man in the world!!!" And as such he does have quite a lot of confidence, combined with his fighting style, cheerfulness, intellect and leader ship qualities he became my favorite character of this series. Even if he may be a bit to shonen-ish for most people I guess.
Fremy on the other hand is the total opposite of Adlet. She is a loner type of character, always having that cold aura around her, which she of course has reason to be but as the story unfolds she opens up more and more to the group, especialy to Adlet, despite in what danger they are. Well that was the Human side lets move to the Majins. The Majin is by most described as a creature without intelligence and as such it has only one point of living and that is devouring humanity. As it lost to the Hero of Single Flower and was sealed in a comma like state. The minions of the Majin are born from it and only have one objective that is reviving him. The minions are called Kyouma in it self are combination of different animals, only being different because of their
Horn on the forehead and their inner core. Although they are a lot of numbers to them, they are mostly unintelligent, although there are ones able to think, speak, just like humans. Amongst them the strongest and most intelligent are the Commanders. They are unlike the others, very humanly, and as such have their own personality to them that even go beyond their very existence...






-Art-

Hazuki Terui has archived what most illustrators don’t (lie), that being picking my interest into a series.
Just look and the covers and you might want to check out this light novel. They have really a high fantasy feeling to them, and what is really lovable about it is that they suit the characters and the combination of various styles, from the clothes, to the weapons, to the more earthy colors; it’s just an instant win.
On the other hand the manga design is just plain awful, god that moe art (although the original art is moe too I guess) just looked so bad and it was poorly made as a form of fan service. Thank god it got canceled.






-Enjoyment and Final Verdict-

Ishio Yamagata made a nicely put together story, with likable characters and interesting battles. However it isn’t perfect by all means. The Mystery aspect regarding the 7th isn’t a really as strong if you have been reading other mystery novels, and as such you might at some point find out who he/she is but I would
stick with it to the end, but only if you are able to appreciate the other aspects of the story. Second point, there might become ass pulls. It sometimes grabs just the intense moment that the story created at some point and leaves you hanging after it only to start again with the same formula. Although they are reasonable and you might think otherwise but that’s understandable. And as such it creates the impression that the author is prolonging the story so that he can stretch it as much as possible. But none the less the story is still quite good and I might have missed some important things that might be on its favor or not but I am only 2.5 half volumes in, but at the very least I can say that I don’t regret the time I spent on Rokka no Yuusha.

I give additional thanks to the NanoDesu translation and especially Zero Ender and his team for picking up the series, at a time when no one even bothered.

Amogus: the novel

I did not care much about the anime. It certainly didn’t give me the impression that the original work might be good, so I’ve assumed this would be another case where the reception of the novel is high because almost nobody except those who liked the anime rated it. I’m pleased to find out this is not the case.

Granted, the first volume was somewhat weak. The first volume is also the only part that was adapted into anime, so that solves the mystery of the difference in experience with the anime and the novel – the anime is literally just the weakest part ... of the original work. Well, let’s get to actually reviewing the thing.

The initial concept of impostor hero is definitely an interesting one. And keep in mind this started releasing in 2011, so it’s not actually some sort of knock-off of le imposter memes. But it is also where my main worries come from – how does one stretch the story of finding odd one out in a group into multiple volumes? Wouldn’t it get stale and boring? How would the story even continue in the event that the false one is found out? Thankfully, already the end of the first volume shows that the author has fortunately thought about these questions too, and has a solution prepared. And it is exactly after the first volume when the story really kick off. So worry not dear reader, it actually keeps getting better.

I won’t spoil the specifics as that would defeat the purpose of reading this in the first place, so you’ll have to be content with vague praises. I’m keeping it vague for your own good, really.

I’ll start off with the villain as that’s my favourite part – the villain in Rokka no Yuusha is great. They are fleshed out, their character is compelling, their background and motivations are fleshed out and very importantly, their plan makes sense. It’s definitely not the usual “I’m bad, so I gotta defeat the designated good guys”. “The plan makes sense” is an understatement. It’s in fact one of the greatest strengths of this novel – how it is gradually being revealed, how thought out and complex it is and how it completely adds up with what we’ve seen yet keeps on surprising with every new reveal.

The protagonist characters – on their own they aren’t that interesting, which is precisely why the writing works with them as a group, and it is through this that the character interactions, the accusations, the motivations, alliances and betrayals shine. You could say that the main protagonist is the situation rather than the characters by themselves. That said, even by themselves they are written distinctly enough for them to feel like a different people with their own quirks, strengths and weaknesses, so that’s good.

Although not being a large part of the work due to this being the novel, the artwork is also nicely done. It’s not the usual style of “slightly more detailed manga art”, but it’s distinct and stylish enough to be able to work even as a standalone painting. Props to the illustrator.

It’s not easy to describe the good points in detail without straight out spoiling most of the plot, so let me just say that each volume ends with intriguing cliff-hanger that really made me want to continue and read the next rather efficiently. Unfortunately, the latest volume is no exception, but there is no next part at the moment as the series is currently on the hiatus. It's also why I'm holding of from rating this higher even though I'm almost inclined to give this 8, as I'm still wary of the possibility of unsatisfactory finale. As a consolation, the latest volume also concluded a large arc, so while more new questions were raised, lot of previously presented mysteries were also solved. So don’t be afraid to start this even if it’s currently unfinished.

This is my first review, so please forgive the rookieness.

Now then, with the excuses out of the way, Rokka no Yuusha--a story about a merry band of heroes going out to defeat an evil god(dess?), courageously beating up monsters along the way.

Except one of them is an imposter.

Story (minor spoilers for volume 1): 10/10
At first, Rokka no Yuusha's story doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Underdog protagonist goes out into the fantasy-like world, beats up some people, meets a cute girl with high authority, becomes one of the chosen ones (braves), and then starts his journey with the cute girl from ... before to go out and prevent the terrible evil god(dess?) from reviving.

However, the twist comes when the braves reach their meetup point. While the are only supposed to be 6 braves at a time, hence the title (The Six Braves of the Flower), seven people arrive. Not only that, but the braves' trap for the monsters, or more accurately demons, was activated too early, trapping them. Why would the imposter trap them in? Simple. Because they can use the confusion to kill off the braves one by one, and thus allow the evil god(dess?) to revive and destroy the world.

So what do the braves do? Obviously, find the imposter, and kill them.

The story quickly goes from a happy fantasy adventure to a dark mystery, where the braves scout each other out, trying to find the imposter while also moving ahead to where the evil god(dess?) is to defeat it, while ALSO defeating the evil god(dess)'s demon army. As you might predict, the mystery of the 7th brave constantly keeps the tension high, with alliances, truces, betrayals, misunderstandings, and more. The story also keeps that tension by making the reader rethink who the 7th is each volume by trickling information little by little through character backstories and the like.

I would mention the romance subplot here but because those are important story spoilers and also because this is already getting a bit too long, I'll just leave you to read the story for yourself and be wowed by it.

Overall, it's really easy to get sucked into the plot, and the constant tension and thinking can be really enjoyable. Of course, turning off your brain and enjoying the reveals is also fine.

Art: 8/10
The artstyle is...unique. Sometimes, it's hard to understand the finer details of it, since there's so many lines and colors (just look at that cover!), but it fits well. Not much else to say about the art. It's just solid.

Character: 9/10
For the most part, the seven braves are a unique and quirky bunch, which is to be expected when they're only chosen based on their strength in combat. Each volume gives more and more hints on their reasons for fighting, and combined with their consistent personalities, makes them feel more like people than characters.

Though, while I say all that fancy stuff, the main reason why I rate this section so high is simply because the characters are entertaining. Seeing how they react to the unexpected situations they're tossed into and how their personalities bounce off one another, whether it'd be joking around, or finding the imposter, is never boring. The dynamic changes in relationships between all of them and the trust that's gained each time also help with the enjoyment.

Moving on, the villains.

If I were to sum up the villain of the first 6 volumes in a few words, they would be "terrifying," "twisted," and "dedicated." The villain of the first part of Rokka no Yuusha is a demon who, like the braves, has a proper reason for being the antagonist. He's an interesting character who does nothing but make sure his elaborate plans succeed, and honestly, kind of a freak. But that's what makes him so entertaining. Both he and the twisted plan he uses to inflict pain on the braves are unpredictable and cautious. Essentially, he just feels like a villain. Not a character that could be redeemed, not someone that you could bargain with on their final goal, just a smart, cautious villain, giving a sense of foreboding each time he enters the story, which is perfect.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Rokka no Yuusha is very enjoyable. It's mysterious at times, funny at others, and sad at others. The range of emotions that the series gives you feels fresh, while also not being too confusing and sudden. The thinking that comes with who the 7th is keeps each bit of the plot uncertain, because even if the braves come up with the perfect plan, you never know who could be the traitor and mess everything up. And of course, even if no one messes up the plan, you never know if the plan has already been incorperated into the villain's predictions. The characters' relations with each other, constantly changing as time goes on and context is given; the suspense at the end of each mini arc; everything is just fun to read.

If there was one downside...it'd be that it's on hiatus, for nearly 7 years now, as of writing this. We can only hope that the author will continue writing this story, but since there are already 6 volumes out right now, what are you waiting for? Go read!!