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Reviewed by David Rasmussen Well I’ll be; it’s been awhile, but here’s something I’ve been waiting for: a title with just enough kick, action, humor and drama to make it a title not only worth ranting about BUT for which I’d want to go back to the first volume and review the whole series from ground zero. Finally. I didn’t think I’d see this day again. Kurohime apparently never played God of War, or she’d have known the whole axiomatic thing about biting the deities that you serve. In this case, once upon a time, she used to be a great Witch-Gunslinger (like in the XBox360 game whose title eludes me, only cooler) until she went and got on her godly bosses' bad side by doing the whole defiance act. As punishment she was turned into a little-ish girl with a mere faction of her former power. Recently she’s been on a quest to get her powers back, by hunting down the powers of the Four Spirit Kings… though really, considering this volume’s “King” is, in fact, a Queen (yuki-onna, the Snow Goddess) there’s gotta be a better name for her... Speaking of which, right now she’s in a bit of an emotional bind since she got her humanity back thanks to a young gunslinger named Zero (who, of course, she’d have to fall for, only for him to go and die on her, for her sake… that whole sacrifice for the one you love thing and all that). One thing leads to another and she ends up still on a quest to get the Spirit Kings which now includes a bargain to bring Zero back from the beyond. To aid her, the goddess Kurohime is in cahoots with to do all this gave her a flower that blooms in her heart, which can restore her to full power at the cost of a precious memory of her love for Zero… wow, that sucks. So it’s just not bad enough she’s freezing her tightly-clothed rear off with her fire-powered ally -- what?!? Even as they’re on top of the cold mountain looking for the Snow Goddess, an enemy named Yashahime (she who is a powerful High God over the land itself) has already taken it upon herself to snap up Zero’s soul from the land of the dead to use him as a pawn to destroy Kurohime? Yuck!! (So even if Kurohime can take the Spirit King she’s going to end up fighting Yashahime and the new “Dark Zero”… love sucks, and then somebody dies… maybe again. I like the balance of action, nice humor, solid drama and overall good storytelling with solid artwork. I didn’t think I’d find as solid a title as this again; lately it seems I just don’t get ahold of much I can really rant about, but this one really did give me hope for a brighter-reviewing future… or at the very least motivated me enough that (one day) I’m going to go back into the bargain bin and review the series from the start forward (Volumes 1 to 8), so that’s something to look forward to… oh, and review from 10 onwards too. I have to go do that too. In the meantime? You know the drill. While I do recommend this to you as being a fine read of fantastical fantasy slice of goodness, I do recommend you start at the very beginning (Kurohime Volume 1) and work your way up… believe you me, you’ll appreciate this series just that much more that way if you start from ground zero and work up… hmm… is there an Anime to this? I have to check youtube about that. Anyway, recommended read, a nice little action yarn that should delight. It's good enough for me, and it’s good enough for its score of a B+. Enjoy. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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