The Earl & the Fairy

Story - This story confused me greatly at 1st. I tend not to read the smaller texts in the manga, but in this case, if you didn't read every little thing in the manga, you'd probably be lost. For me as a reader, I skim read. I read, but I skim at the same time. I did that with 'Wuthering Heights' and understood the series pretty well. And yet with 'Hakushaku to Yosei', I was confused at the end of the manga which I finished not too long ago (due to the fact that I read online and the updates are a bit slowat times). So after rereading, the plot itself didn't entice me b/c I saw no real purpose behind it all. I wasn't convinced of why Edger did what he did and why Lydia did what she did. I couldn't see their justification for most of their actions. - Art - As for any review that I do (and I've only done... 10 or so) I always give the art a 10. Why? Well, I can't draw any better. I reference the art maybe, but that doesn't make me better. I can't draw any better and the fact that the mangaka drew such a drop dead gorgeous viscount is enough to give it a 10. - Character - I couldn't relate to any of the characters. They may have been well drawn, but I felt that the mangaka could've put more time into the character development. I didn't care for Lydia since the start of the series. I also had a hard time understanding the human logic of why Lydia and Edger were doing what they were doing. Honestly, if they had died at the end of the series, I wouldn't really give a shit. I'd just be like, "Oh.. it's over. Next manga." I felt no empathy, no sympathy, no likeable emotion towards them. I just read the 15 chapters. After that, not a single fuck was given.- Enjoyment/Overall - As you can tell from above, I did not enjoy the series as much as I had hoped. It was recommended to me as well so it really disappointed me that a friend kind of... over exaggerated a lot of the plot. -

I picked up this manga seeing how lovely the cover art was. Plus, I could see a beautiful ship approaching with the two main characters on it, Lydia and Edgar. The title was also alluring: The Earl and the Fairy. I adore historical manga as I do historical fiction, so I was sold on the description of a Victorian romance set in 19th century England involving fairies and other mystical creatures. This manga proved to be a delightful mix of mystery, love, and fantasy. The author sets up the story quite nicely, describing the Victorian era by clothing, setting, and speech. Right away readers can seewhat’s so special about Lydia; she can see fairies, brownies, goblins, and more, all of which many people cannot see at all. It’s no surprise that they scoff at her “fairy doctor” title. No one believes in fairies any more. Despite the pressure of public opinion, Lydia’s beliefs are firm and unyielding as a result of her desire to remember her mother’s teachings. While a strong heroine is usually admired, Lydia’s courage can be reckless at times. Because of being doubted all the time due to her profession, she’s used to holding her own head high and listening to her heart. She could be wrong sometimes, but she doesn’t find out until she’s in a little deep. I found the story particularly intriguing when Lydia met the earl under unusual circumstances. From the beginning to the end, the earl was shrouded in mystery. He exudes elegance and refinement and knows he’s attractive, so his interactions with Lydia don’t always seem genuine. Though I love a handsome male love interest, it’s difficult to like someone so exceedingly cool. As the story unfolded, his past was brought up and further muddled his character. That definitely made him imperfect, but I wasn’t sure whether or not he was a good person and was confused as to what was the truth. Despite my iffiness on the characters, I was thoroughly engrossed with the plot. Legends and myths of treasured items lost in time, magical worlds thought to have been made up, everything lovely and beautiful beyond one’s wildest imaginations… The amazing artwork coupled with a fantastical story reminded me of novels I had read in my younger years involving evil witches, fallen angels, wishing stones, and more. There was always more to find out in addition to where the hidden treasure was, like what exactly the earl was planning, who was involved, why someone acted in this way, etc. The artwork for this manga was absolutely gorgeous. I wished every page could have been in color. Lydia’s hair was always drawn so lightly, and she was so pretty. The earl was definitely attractive in every way; I swooned at every panel he was in. Their clothes were very detailed. The artist took great pains into making sure their Victorian garb looked authentic with the sleeves just so and ruffled collars. I loved seeing Edward in coats and Lydia in dresses all the time. As you can see, the adventure aspect in this manga was amazing. I finished this manga in the span of two days, two volumes each. There was a wealth of characters to meet, a budding romance to unfold, and so much more to see. Unfortunately the manga ends before the light novel does, so there isn’t as much development in the plot as I’d have liked to see. It does make me want to read the light novel and watch the anime, though. Hakushaku to Yousei was a short read, but very pleasant nonetheless.

I was expecting this manga to be a light-hearted fantasy shoujo manga, but I was wrong. The story was interesting. There are only 16 chapters, so the story progresses quickly and advances continuously in each chapter. The end of the chapter had enough suspense to make you want to start the next chapter. The story was easy to follow and wasn't complex, but it was interesting enough to make you want to finish it. Though it was a short manga, it didn't feel rushed, but the ending was not satisfying. There wasn't an ending. The story doesn't finish, and we don't exactly know what happensto the characters after it just stops. The art is crisp and well done. I think the art style suits the manga, and the effects were nice. The manga panels were fluid and easy to follow, and the art was still noticeable in the small boxes. The backgrounds felt pretty simple and average. Each of the characters was unique and didn't look similar to each other. Their clothing suited their personalities well and matched each character's personalities. The characters are very frustrating and hard to relate to. Most of the characters are flawed, and it is shown throughout the story. They made stupid decisions, and it was confusing to figure out why they did things the way they did. The way they reacted to certain situations was frustrating and unrealistic at times. Throughout the story, the characters pretty much stay the same. There weren't any villains in the story, and the antagonist felt like they were there for the plot, and that's it. I think the author intended to make some of the characters dislikeable because they don't show any signs of ever changing. But even though the characters are flawed, they are simple and not that memorable. I did enjoy this manga, but to be honest, I was glad to be done with it. I feel like others will not really like this manga, though. It's pretty short, the story feels incomplete, and the characters are very dislikeable. This manga was definitely a one time thing, and I don't see myself rereading it in the future.

When I was younger, around the year 2008, I watched an old anime called Hakushaku to Yousei, commonly known in English as Earl and Fairy. I remember watching it all the way through and liking it as a teenager, but after that, I just forgot about it. Earl and Fairy actually started off as a light novel series by Mizue Tani, completed in 2021 at a total of 32 volumes. The light novel series hasn't been licensed, and originally, the anime wasn't either until Discotek Media put it out in the US in 2017. However, Viz Media picked up the manga adaptation in 2012, andonly just now have I managed to get around to actually reading it. It helps that it's complete at four volumes and cheap copies of the paperbacks can be found online pretty easily. So now that I've finally checked out the manga...unfortunately, I wish I could like this more than I do, because even by light novel adaptation standards, Earl and Fairy's manga is pretty dull. And it so shouldn't be, because the premise is actually pretty interesting! In an alternate 19th century England, fairies are said to be the stuff of myths, but Lydia Carlton, a 17-year-old girl living in the town of Edinburgh, knows them to be real. She is a fairy doctor like her late mother, and her job is to speak with fairies and solve problems. Unfortunately, regular people can't see them, so most people think she's insane. But Lydia is determined to carry on her mother's work and give aid to fairies and humans alike. A trip to visit her researcher father leads to her getting kidnapped, but is rescued by a rogue claiming to be named Edgar Ashenbert, also known as Lord Ibrazel and a supposed descendant of the fabled Blue Knight Earl. Edgar needs Lydia's help to find his ancestor's sword, and as much as she really doesn't like him, Lydia has no choice but to help him in his quest. Having seen the anime in high school, kid me would have absolutely devoured this series. But reading the manga as an adult...I really hate to say it, but this manga adaptation is actually pretty dull. All the characters are really bland and one-note, little more than amalgamations of shoujo cliches you've seen in many other mangas before this one. But the main reason the characters are so dull is that the manga continuously violates "Show, Don't Tell." The manga is very wordy and full of exposition that could have easily been better off actually being depicted on the page. Many characters shill Edgar as being this troubled yet kind man, but the problem is that he's not actually written or depicted in a way that communicates any personality beyond vague smarminess or scheming manipulator, and he's constantly using other people, Lydia included, for his own means, not caring about how they'd feel about being roped into his schemes, something Lydia frequently calls him out on. Another contributor to this is the manga's ridiculously fast pacing. It jumps from one plot point to the next without much in the way of a break, and a lot of details are just info-dumped by various characters rather than having things play out organically. While I normally like it when something actually strives to tell its story rather than dawdle around with needless filler, Earl and Fairy just rushes through its plot and expects its readers to care about it while making no effort to really flesh everything out. Plus, considering this manga is only four volumes long, it doesn't even have time to resolve all of its plot beats anyway, ending on a really open-ended note with a lot of the big mysteries never getting wrapped up in any way. This is further compounded by the fact that Ayuko, the illustrator for the manga, says in the author's notes that she was forced to leave out a lot of details from the novels, so was unable to adapt all of what was available at the time of publishing. It's a shame that she wasn't able to adapt the light novels in a way that did the source material justice. Whether it was due to time constraints or executive mandate, who knows? Plus, I remember the anime having several characters and subplots that don't even exist in the manga, so her claim that she wasn't able to adapt everything from the light novels definitely has merit to it! The only positive thing I can really say about Earl and Fairy is that the artwork is, at the very least, competent. The character designs are faithful to those of the light novel, but are still pretty generic by themselves. The backgrounds and the fairy designs fare much better, as they're given the appropriate amount of detail, and many of the fairies are given very fun, creative designs. I really liked the way the Merrows were drawn. That being said, the panels and their placements are very cluttered, paired too close together to the point of it feeling suffocating. The pages are often very crowded, and the visual flow between panels is stunted, making it hard to follow what's going on at times, especially when there's motion and action involved. So yeah, Earl and Fairy as a manga is generic, cliche, devoid of personality, and doesn't do the source material justice. It's really a shame, because in better hands, Earl and Fairy's premise could have been amazing. But it's not likely to enchant readers any time soon. If I ever get around to rewatching the anime, I hope to God it's somewhat better than the manga.