Dawn of the Arcana

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to choosing what to read, since I hate leaving things unfinished. Hence I went into this manga with eyes and ears open, having read a LOT of reviews. I thought I knew roughly what to expect, but without having particularly high or low hopes. Boy was I disappointed. Story: 5 Obviously this is a cliché story about an unwanted princess who is forced to marry the enemy kingdom's prince for the sake of peace. The princess discovers she has an innate ability that gives her enough power to take control of her life and kingdom. It's incredibly cliché, which would beokay if her development was executed well. But the story is... stupidly simple, only made to appear complicated. Even the princess' power - the Arcana of Time - is loosely defined in the first place, and complex actions that would be near-impossible in real life are overly simplified - like (SPOILERS!) the act of simply "giving" an entire country to someone else, or migrating an entire race... I mean, at one point our heroine princess even has two husbands through some bizarre logic made up for the sake of the plotline...!? (/SPOILERS!) It's convenient writing for the sake of complicating an incredibly basic plot line that wouldn't have any direction or closure otherwise. Characters: 7 The cast is as cliché as they come. I wasn't a big fan of the princess, but she was bearable and a host of minor characters kept me mostly interested. Loki, the princess' battle butler, was probably the main reason I kept coming back to the manga despite all my obvious issues with it (and I actually shipped the prince with the princess, not Loki). As a character he's written very tragically and right from the get go it's hard to tell who commands his true allegiance. Is it truly to the princess, who he protects with his heart, body and soul? There's a LOT of convoluted drama involving him, which crops up again and again throughout the story. While he doesn't necessarily appear to develop, I wasn't disappointed and liked the conclusion to his character development. I would suggest you only read this manga if you are drawn to Loki's story, but THAT in itself would be cruel - I know a LOT (if not most?) of readers have had an issue with his storyline. Art: 6 It's usually pretty decent. Being nit-picky... a couple of characters look similar (Caesar and Adel, anyone?), the fight scenes were badly done, and there were some weird character design choices. But yeah: usually it's pretty decent, and the cover art is gorgeous. Overall: 4 I'm being pretty harsh, especially considering the story, art and character ratings I've given so far in this review, but I can't in good conscience give a higher score. This is probably the worst manga I've ever read.

As somebody you already read the manga I have to say that I never read a manga like this! When I started I thought this will be the usual "They hate each other then they will fall in love and everybody will be happy..END". THIS IS NOT THAT TYPE OF MANGA! There were many twists and shocking events. Story 9/10 If they would not start with such a cliche then I would have given 10/10 for sure. But even like this I love the whole story. When I thought I know the final out come the author slapped me and I was in the dark once again. It's really great. And at theend...I seriously cried a river! It was so shocking. Art 10/10 I can't say much about the art just that it is Perfect. It made the manga even more enjoyable and all of the characters (even the ver very side characters) were detailed. Characters 10/9 As the manga starts it's not so special but in this case I would say the character development is the most important. How Princess Nakaba becomes strong, how Prince Caesar becomes less tsundere-ish (lol) and how Loki changes. Even the side characters have background and we can get know them a little bit. Enjoyment 10/10 Most of the time I decide what point to give to a manga or anime based on the enjoyment. After starting I couldn't stop to read this manga. It's really captivating and although the start is kinda slow, but as the story goes on it will definitelly take you into it's world. (no escape until the end.. ;D) Overall 10/10 I have nothing to say just that it's FANTASTIC! Although there are parts that's predictable it is definitelly worth to give a shot. Who to recommend? If you are looking for a lovey-dovey manga, I suggest you not to read this. Although the bond between Nakaba and Caesar are really beautiful and some of their interactions are sweet, overall the manga is not about this. I would recommend this manga for those who like to see how the characters develop and for those who don't like predictable mangas. It also stands on its ground as a historical manga so ppl who like that stuff could try this too!

As far as shoujos go, I thought this had an interesting premise. Story: 7 The basic storyline is that a red-haired princess (Akage) is married off to a prince of another country for a peace treaty. She is shunned because she, a royal, has red hair instead of black hair. Yeah, that's right. And not only that, but throughout the story kings and royalty make crazy freaking decisions based solely on the fact that this girl has red hair. It's a puzzler to me...and despite all of the clearly corrupt, lazy, and plain stupid royals, the citizens don't complain or rise up even once. The backgroundfor either of the three countries that are presented is not really developed beyond what the climate is. But the plotholes and lack of storybuilding aside, the plotline was fairly linear, though some major elements are left undeveloped (the swords made of ore, the Arcana, etc.). Art: 7 The characters all had lovely designs (Loki and Ahkil were my favorites), though they weren't all that diverse. Pretty much all the guys look female, too. The action scenes were a bit silly and awkward. Character: 3 Meh. Main defining traits of characters were hair color, whether they were an Ajin or human, whether or not they had Arcana, and who they had a relationship with. The main character, Nakaba, was quick to cry or lash out. Enjoyment: 6 I didn't hate it. It's definitely worth reading just for the ending and also Loki. If you're looking for something to read through quickly but still enjoy some nice pictures, then Reimei No Arcana is for you.

Wow. I wasn't expecting this, but then again, I almost never am. Whenever I get into a series, I was go in with an expectation that seems to have nothing to do with what actually happens. I saw this on a list of shojo arranged marriage mangas, and after reading Hapi Mari, I was wondering if there were any more with that dynamic. I got here and realized that while it did have elements of that in it, the plot really doesn't focus on romance at all. So if you were here for that, prepare for an actual plot. The story is very good. Iliked the world building and the unique setting, along with the important messages on discrimination. Sometimes it seemed unfinished or disconnected and seemed to drag, but it went well in the end. Most of the time, mangas can't make me cry (unless I've seen the drama or anime of it before, simply for the reason that I need moving visuals and voices most of the time, but this manga managed it. I cried throughout the last volume especially, though I also cried during some tragic romance moments (while listening to Rewrite the Stars, no less). This might just be because I'm too sensitive for my own good, though. :D Other than that, it's a very interesting fantasy-war-kingdom storyline with enough angst to keep me alive. The art was gorgeous. Enough said. All the women were beautiful, men were handsome, and all of them had very different designs so they were easy to differentiate and appreciate. The author also managed to portray complex emotions just through facial expressions, which I really appreciated. The characters were good. I had a few problems with Caeser's character, simply because he fell in love with Nakaba too easily, and Nakaba with him. After they fell in love, they felt natural, however. Loki, too, was a little iffy for me. As much as I love Loki, once they revealed his true feelings at the end (let me honest and tell you that I didn't see any of that coming) it didn't really make sense in the context and the way he carried everything out seemed completely against his love for Nakaba that had driven him to do the worst from the very beginning. He claimed to (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) have hated Nakaba at times, but that didn't really make sense to me since he was ready to sacrifice anything for her. Maybe that was just me who felt this way. I think his character could've been given a little bit more depth. (END SPOILER). I enjoyed this way too much. There were cute SQUEEE romance moments, there were funny moments, there was enough angst to sate my angsty soul, and it served as a catharsis for me, to be honest. All in all, it was great! I would recommend this if: you like fantasy, you like warring-kingdom AUs, you secretly love it when characters you love die and stab holes in your heart, you like strong heroines, you're fascinated by magical powers/seeing the future I would NOT recommend if: you're here looking for a plain romance, you wanted a classic arranged marriage AU, you wanted a jerk leading man, you came for a love triangle, you wanted a dumb or helpless leading lady, you don't like it when characters die, you don't like thinking about problems like discrimination, genocide, or sickness and death