Guardians of the Louvre

This is not an "every-man's" manga. Even if you're a fan of alternative seinen manga, or manga by Jiro Taniguchi specifically, you still may not enjoy this one. If you are a fan of the Louvre Museum, art history, or peeking into the thought processes of famous artists, then this is a title that you will thoroughly enjoy--if not, this isn't the manga for you, as it has relatively little to do with plot or character development. Keep in mind that Jiro Taniguchi was commissioned by the Louvre to create this manga, so his writing and artistry will be reflective of that. Lengthy disclaimer aside, ifyou have been to the Louvre, this manga will fascinate you, as Taniguchi managed to capture everything that makes the museum so special. At times I felt as if I were walking through the Louvre myself, and I remembered thinking, "That's exactly what it looked like!" many times throughout my reading. I wouldn't call myself an expert on art history or a tremendous fan of art outside of the world of comics, but I was still intrigued by the bits of history sprinkled in, especially during the bits about World War II and the lengths the workers had to go to to preserve and hide the Louvre's artwork from the Nazis. The art is fantastic, and in full-color, and while the characters and story themselves were nothing particularly special, this is still a truly unique manga. It's bizarre for a manga artist to settle on a setting like Paris, France, and even more bizarre to zone in on the Louvre specifically, so I was very excited to read about something like that in something as Japanese as a manga. While I was enthralled by the artwork and pain-staking thought and detail that went into Guardians of the Louvre, I was not blown away, nor was I personally affected by its story. I'll have to settle on a 7/10. Not Taniguchi's best, but certainly not a bad title at all. It can be truly beautiful if you have a connection to it.