Jonas reviewed Tsurugi by Nerikomi Tōkichirō
More detective story than romance
3 stars
On the kickstarter project description this was described as a "Fantasy WLW Romance". While there are two women who at the end get together, the romance between them is not the main focus of the story. The setting is low fantasy or alternate history (no magic or fantastic creatures in the plot).
Still, I had a good time with this manga. Indie author Nerikomi Tōkichirō tells an entertaining story about princess Reina uncovering a ring of human traffickers and dealing with it herself - helped by her loyal servant and guard Isseh. Questioning victims, fighting bad guys, gathering intel at brothels, considering court politics - Tsurugi doesn't get boring. The art is good, as is the English translation. The writing doesn't always flow well, though, especially in the beginning. Tōkichirō mentions scrapping the first draft and rushing through the second, final draft. Starting with zero info, your introductions to the …
On the kickstarter project description this was described as a "Fantasy WLW Romance". While there are two women who at the end get together, the romance between them is not the main focus of the story. The setting is low fantasy or alternate history (no magic or fantastic creatures in the plot).
Still, I had a good time with this manga. Indie author Nerikomi Tōkichirō tells an entertaining story about princess Reina uncovering a ring of human traffickers and dealing with it herself - helped by her loyal servant and guard Isseh. Questioning victims, fighting bad guys, gathering intel at brothels, considering court politics - Tsurugi doesn't get boring. The art is good, as is the English translation. The writing doesn't always flow well, though, especially in the beginning. Tōkichirō mentions scrapping the first draft and rushing through the second, final draft. Starting with zero info, your introductions to the main characters are a bit fragmentary. For instance, princess Reina's name isn't given on the first few pages. I have no idea what's going on on page 4-5 (who is Isseh kneeling on?), and it wasn't immediately clear to me that the dark haired, dirty child on pp. 6ff. isn't the same as the one on the first few pages (which is young Isseh). These issues may be due to condensing introductions and part of the story to get to the main conflict as soon as possible. After that, the writing becomes more solid, although a few points remain that could have been clearer in my opinion. That said, Tsurugi is entertaining, nice to look at and fun to read.