Many thanks to Yen Press for sending a review copy.
About the Mangaka
This is Hiromu’s third full series to be published. The first being Stray Dog, then her more famous Full Metal Alchemist. As well as manga she has worked on anime, and dojinshi, and has also done cover designs for novels.
No info on Huang Jin Zhou, aka Studio Flag
About the Manga
When I was reading this in the Yen Plus Anthology I really started to get into it, however now I’ve got a number of issues with this series that are really holding me back from enjoying it to the max.
Art is one of the biggest hurdles for me, everything about this series screams Full Metal Alchemist transplant.
Sure the setting’s are different (this being quasi-historical), but the basic character designs could have literally just been lifted out of the the FMA series, which I don’t like.
The more I read into the volume the more the similarities became clearer. This I felt was similar to Adachi using the same characters in his series.
However Hiromu is an excellent artist, there’s no tow ways around it. Her designs have greatly improved since FMA, the characters have a more polished and rigid shape to them.
For some of the characters this works out really well, however for the main lead, Taitou, I feel it has the reverse effect. I feel he’s to rigid in his design, lacking something that makes him likeable.
Laila on the other hand was the reverse, I really liked her (even if every thing about her screams Winry from FMA). Although by the end of the first volume I sort of feel I know what her role in this series is going to be,
The other thing I liked, for the most part, was the backdrops and settings. The bits we get (and sadly there aren’t many), are very well drawn. Though I have to admit that there wasn’t really a chance to really get into the setting so much, since they weren’t used very much.
I think in time I’ll get used to the character designs, but I wish that Hiromu had directed some of her obvious talent into creating new characters from the ground up. Rather than just altering her previous designs.
The story, and the way it developed this volume was okay, but lacked anything that really grabbed me as exciting. It wasn’t a bad read, and the character developments were okay, but I felt the introduction of five characters in one volume, and so close together, was just to fast. I think a slower pace would have allowed the main characters time to build their relationships. But that’s not Hiromu’s fault, as the story was done by Huang Jin Zhou (pseudonym foe Studio Flag)
I’m hoping the series will improve over the coming volumes, and the characters grow their own personalities and feel.
Yen Press do their usually high standard again, and I have to admit I loved the colour panels of the volume, they were nice and vibrant full of life. I also liked the cover art, and the font used for the title was awesome as well. Almost no guttering at all, even the double spreads didn’t gutter to much.
The fonts were clear and easy to read all the way through, with the exception of the first B&W page, which has iddy-biddy text. TBH I had fun getting the magnifying glass out just to see what it said lol.
‘m not sure I’ll ever add this to my Essential Read list, FMA doesn’t make it either. Both series are lacking something that grabs me. I do feel this series started better than FMA and it is worth reading. However I’d stick with reading it in the anthology for a while, if you find you like it then you can pick up the volumes. If you don’t like it, then you have an extra bit of cash to buy other Yen Press volumes 
Where to Buy
