Manga Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 5, by Akira Himekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Release Date: July 2019

Volumes: 7+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Link must defeat evil at every turn in his perilous quest to help Princess Zelda!

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards’ power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light.

Midna has been Link’s traveling companion and ally since the start of their journey, but will her ultimate goal of saving the Twilight Realm drive her away from Link? Link’s own quest to save Hyrule leads him to seek the advice of Princess Zelda—and learn that to defeat the ultimate evil plaguing the world they will need a particular weapon: the Master Sword!

Review:

Midna and Link confront a couple of people in this volume. They confront Midna's past, mainly. The twilight realm that's hurt her, and the one person from the light realm that she connected with.

The one part I didn't expect here was what happens with Zelda. I didn't expect this and it confuses me, a lot. What happened to her? I'm not okay with this plot point, and I want it resolved soon please.

After that, Link officially becomes Link, I guess? Whether he accepts it or not, he becomes the hero of the story, whom everyone was waiting for.

There was also a weirdly intimate moment with Midna near the end here. This series is making me feel weird things and I don't like it.

A video game being turned into any other format is always kind of weird. You can tell when something would have been a battle in the game, and yet is cut so very short and anticlimactic in this format. It just leaves things feeling a bit unfinished.

Despite that, this is still an interesting series to follow, for people who've played the game or who haven't, I think.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 4, by Akira Himekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Release Date: September 2018

Volumes: 7+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3. 5.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards’ power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light.

Link and Midna head for Death Mountain to dispel the darkness that is plaguing the Gorons and hopefully obtain another shard of the Shadow Crystal. If they can recover the shard they’ll only need to find one more piece of the Crystal. But their journey is far from over—shadows are gathering at Hyrule Castle and there are still many grave dangers and terrible foes to face!

Review:

We find out where Ilia has shown up, only to discover she doesn't remember anything. It's an interesting side story, and a bit of a surprise for Link. He doesn't really know how to pretend, though, and act like he doesn't know her. That's a bit outside of his repertoire.

Aside from that, Link fights a few bosses and continues traveling around, trying to find the pieces and save the kingdom. There's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end here, as Link and Midna finish one quest. This will probably only complicate things in the mean time, though.

I don't mind following this series, but it's mostly just okay. That's probably how it works when you adapt a video game, though, even if it's done pretty well. 

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 3, by Akira Himekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Release Date: March 2018

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Link must defeat evil at every turn in his perilous quest to help Princess Zelda!

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards’ power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light.

Link and Midna journey toward Death Mountain, seeking a power that can save Hyrule from the Shadow King. In the face of so many obstacles, Link must steel himself to overcome his own doubts and to find Ilia and the other villagers kidnapped by the forces of evil. But even if Link can defeat these challenges, he still has to find the shards of the Shadow Crystal. The quest continues in the Shadow Realm…

Review:

We find out that all of the children have unintentionally joined up in a village way out on a hill. At first this seems good, but then something comes over the village. Thankfully they're mostly safe with a shaman there. Link is on his way there, though also unintentionally. He runs into a man with a nest in his hair, who gives him a lantern, and he's on his way.

Link has to fight his way to save the village. Then he gets Epona back, and he has to face off with a beast. He's determined to find Ilia next, but it looks like there's a few other things he has to take care of on his way.

This series is okay. It's a little average in excitement and characterization for me, so not much of it is really grabbing me. I will admit the scene we got of Ilia in this volume is probably the one that stands out the most to me. Having never played the games, though, it's interesting to find out some of what happens.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 2, by Akira Himekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Release Date: August 2017

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Link must defeat evil at every turn in his perilous quest to help Princess Zelda!

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards’ power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light.

Link awakens in the Twilight Realm, in the form of a wolf! Here he meets Midna, and she escorts Link to Hyrule Castle where none other than Princess Zelda bestows a question upon him—if the world is to be saved from the encroaching darkness, Link must recover the shards of the Shadow Crystal. The task will be long and difficult, and Link will need to use new powers he doesn't know he has!

Review:

We get a glimpse of Zelda as the volume starts. The princess is remembering things, and having to figure out a way to save her kingdom.

Then we see that Link is now a wolf, and following Midna. Midna acts like she's on his side—kind of—but it's a bit hard to tell, and Link doesn't quite trust her, understandably. But he's a wolf and in an unfamiliar place and doesn't really have a lot to go on, or any idea what to do at this point.

Link gets to come face to face with the evil that's happening and invading, and he gets to battle it and discover what his part in this whole plot might be.

This was an okay volume. While I've always liked the idea of Zelda, I've never actually played any of it, nor read any of it. So this is rather new to me, and it still feels like it's getting started. I'm intrigued, though.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 1, by Akira Himekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Release Date: March 2017

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards' power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light.

Review:

I know next to nothing about Zelda, and particularly about this plot line, since I've never played the games, nor have I watched anyone else play them. Thankfully, you don't need to know anything to read this volume, as it explains things as it goes.

The story line is a little muddled to me, and I'm not really sure where it's going or how it started. It's mostly the start of the volume where I was a little lost. But then we get to really meet Link and where he is and why he's there. He has some tragic backstory, and I'm sure we'll see more of what it means soon. There's also some hints of him seeing Princess Zelda, and their relation. Then near the end we see Link's relation to the wolf, and the people who are after his village.

This was a little slow, and I wasn't too sure where it was going. I have to admit it didn't really pull me in, and I didn't really get a big feel for Link's character—or at least I didn't grow attached.

I'm a little intrigued, but this might just not be my genre of story.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!