Paros no Ken

La spada di Paros vol. 2 by Kaoru Kurimoto Yumiko Igarashi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This story (Parosu no Ken) is part of the more complex world created by Kaoru Kurimoto, however, it can be read without knowing so much about it.

In this sense, there is not a deep connection to the rest of the fantasy saga, except for small hints there and then.

Even though the drawings are very nice as always, this time, they are different from the usual Igarashi style and it is very reasonable to have it so, since this clearly has a different target/scenarios than the usual ones that are drawn by her.

When reading the first chapters, I got the sensation that there were a lot of resemblances with Versailles no Bara, from the main character, to her "sidekick", a strange copy of Oscar and Andre'. However, it turned out just to be an illusion since, even though there is somehow the theme of the male/female double as in Versailles no Bara, Princess Erminia has clearly no doubts about her sexuality.

I found the plot interesting, but definitely trivial. Intrigues, stubborness from the princess, the poor little girl getting a lot of attention: these are classical elements of similar manga. Everything seems clear until the last part of the story: it is clear the connection with the Paros' world, it is clear what is happening, it seems clear where everything is going...but all of a sudden, the end of the story is drawn very quickly, and it left me a bitterness which I could justify just with the fact that it seems not connected to everything that had been written/drawn until that point.

Maybe the surprise effect was planned in order to give a touch of originality to an otherwise not innovative manga, but instead of highlight the story, it puzzles the reader.



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