King of Eden

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Reading King of Eden is like watching a blockbuster movie. The story and setting are very movie-like. With a proper budget, this could be a decent live-action movie. The story is 6 volumes long, the length is just about right. It didn’t overstay its welcome and I was never bored reading it. When I try to rate a manga after finishing it, one thing I look for is whether after reading one volume, I have the urge to read the next one, which I did.

The art is quite good. The artist is very well at drawing human facial features. Unlike some artists who can ... only distinguish characters by hair style, unique facial characteristics are in strong contrast for each character. The writer must have done good research because the story is filled with rich history and archaeological lore.

There is a twist regarding the true identity of the wolf king in the last volume, which did not make much sense to me. The ending is also underwhelming. Overall, it is a pretty good suspense thriller story with just the right length for a good read.

I do not know why this has only 6.9 rating, i think it should have at least 7.5. Art is good, story is good and deep enough to keep the reader hooked. Anyways, this review may contain some very minor spoilers.

Art: the art is very good. It is realistic too, and one can see the differences in characters by their faces, and even guess their races (whites look whites, asians look asians e.t.c). My only problem with the art was the appearance of the wolves. Many times they are shown, the art is too moody, not so clear, which makes it irritating, at least for ... me.

Characters: Characters are a little weak point here for those who want character development, but it should be expected; this is not a character driving story, it is a story where the characters serve only as vehicles to drive the story. This is not neccesarily bad, and the way the story is formulated, this is appropriate. This is not a story about a person, it is a story about the history of the world. But, it should be said, that character development in general is not weak; what is weak is extensive character development. In this manga, even the president of countries are shown behind the scenes, how they think, e.t.c. The "chosen" ones also do not have any major backround arc, which is consistend with the story which tells the history of the world. The only backround arc they have is the one related to the story, namelly when they are in school and discuss the myth of cain and abel, and when the group of 4 finds out the wolf vyrus.

Story: the story is the strongest point of this series in my opinion. I would dare say it has one of the best stories for the gender, and it is also very realistic, in the sense that it tries to depict how a global vamprie-werewolf epidemic would have been viewed by the modern world governments. It also manages to tie the whole event with abrahamic legends, and a world battle of good and evil going since the time of adam and eye, which ties up the story with the horror-metaphisycal element. If this was not present, the story would propably be just a dystopian horror story.

All in all, i think the reader should read this, they wont lose. Score i put, 9.

𝐍𝐎𝐓 recommended!
Slight story spoiler so watch out.
I decided to take a look at this manga because of the author. He worked on "Kurokouchi" and I hoped it would turn out interesting as well.

The other two reviews mentioned the art, which was highly rated. I would definitely say the drawing style is the high point of this manga. The rest however did not interest me in the slightest. My main issue is the story / characters. There's very little character development, if any at all. There's this one character who goes from wimp who's scared of everything to super killer in just a few pages. It's ... extremely fast, it feels really unrealistic.

Same goes for the protagonists or any side character. Everything happens way too fast, with very little context. The very best trained military teams in the world can lose in 2 min. Why even hype them up then? All the confrontations are one sided. There's very little suspense, almost no weight to the fights as you can guess the results before the battles even start.

Another issue is the author thought he was writing some Hollywood style Jason Bourne movie. We go from Romania to Jason, to Turkey to China, to Korea to Mongolia without any transition. It goes on an on, we get introduced to some politician, some dude character and boom! Move on the the next ones, repeat. We are just witnessing the plot, but instead of being captivating the book feels boring in its predictable plot.

The lack of character development creates a lack of attachment. Why should I care about this guy or that one?

Another problem I have is how some characters are written, totally unrealistic. Female protag is not only an archeology expert, she's also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Krav Maga badass who can defeat the a CIA ! I mean c'mon, it's tropey to death. The make hero is WANTED by several countries and Europol but he just goes in a book shop and gets new passports, like how did the guy even get the biochip and the laser markings? Then he takes the plane but no airport flags him because, hey he's got a new ID! His huge serrated knife, no problem of course he can travel with it!

Characters with no cars travel hundreds of kilometers , unexplained. Where does the money come from? How does the protag go everywhere without a job? Unexplained.
I won't comment on the villain as I found him to be non-appealing.

Too many plotholes, unrealistic characters, no character development, the villain is just not interesting either. Exposure, the Manga.
Not recommended.