By the Sword, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Published by: ADV Manga
Writer & Artist: Sanami Matoh

Rating: 2 out of 5

Premise: Whilst wandering medieval Japan, an itinerant demon hunter finally finds the mystic blade through which he can properly channel his powers, but it comes with some baggage…

just this once, since for this title they tend to go on for much too long, I’ll list the credits after the break…

192 (184) pages.
Original Language: Japanese
Orientation: Right to left
Vintage: 2003. US edition March 2005.
Translator: Yuko Yoshikawa
Translation Staff: Javier Lopez (Translation Supervisor), Kay Bertrand, Amy Forsyth, and Brendan Frayne
Print Production/Art Studio Manager: Lisa Puckett
Production Staff: Klys Reedyk (Pre-press Manager), Jorge Alvarado (Senior Designer), George Reynolds (Group Leader), Heather Gary (artist), Natalia Morales (artist), Mark Meza (intern)
International Coordinators: Toru Iwakami, Atsushi Kanbayashi, and Kyoko Drumheller
Editor: Susan Itin
Editorial Staff: Margaret Scharold (Assistant Editor), Sheridan Jacobs (assistant), Mike Essmyer (intern), Marsha Arnold (research)
Executives who get their name in the book though it’s questionable if they actually did any creative work on the project: Kevin Corcoran & John Ledford.
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 13+

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Synopsis:

We meet our hero, the demon hunter Asagi, in a brief action sequence that kicks off the comic. Asagi offs the demon he is fighting, though he has to use his mystic power to do so. (it’s an unspecified power, but really good against demons, apparently.) His power can only be used when channelled through a sword, though this has the side-effect of fatally weakening, or even destroying, the blade.

Soon after, he gets a tip on a mystical blade, the Moegi, that would let him fry and chop up demons as much as he’d like, if he can find it. His only clue is that the one who supposedly has the blade is a girl named Kaede in a prefecture a couple of mountains ranges over.

This being a two volume mini-series, only a couple pages later Asagi tracks down Kaede (well, he randomly runs into her at a temple, after making his way to the prefecture in question) and he now has the blade he needs. Sort of.

Asagi can use the blade, when Kaede lets him, but she insists on carrying it around & generally not letting it leave her sight. The blade also comes with other baggage: namely, Kuranei the fire demon, the blade’s forger. Well, Kuranei is feeling a little under the weather; his body is missing so it’s just his spirit that hangs around. His spirit appears as a foot tall version of himself. And he’s a reformed demon, he doesn’t go around eating people’s livers any more. Oh, and he happens to be Kaede’s father.

The volume ends with some more exposition on how each of the characters ended up like they are, as well as a bit of a cliffhanger.

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Review:

If the number of people listed in the credits is any indication, ADV is fairly serious about making a business of this manga licensing thing. Sheesh, people, I just want to know which poor, underpaid artist actually did the lettering, I don’t need to know the whole office staff, or who went out for coffee and doughnuts. I tried to summarize as much as I could in the header above (this is only a review, after all) while still giving credit where due.

(to be fair, this is one of ADV’s first releases– first manga release, anyway; they’ve done two boatloads of anime– and in a more recent release from ADV which I’ve referenced, it seems they’ve reined in a bit on the credits.)

If you’ve seen Inuyasha on Cartoon Network then you have a feel for this type of background and setting already. Fans of one will likely find something to enjoy in the other. Still, the plot seems wafer thin and character motivation and development are both fairly simplistic.

I can say a few good things about the art, though. The panels are dense, and renderings use both hand-drawn inks and screen tones to produce some very lush, expressive black and white artwork. Action scenes have a lot of punch [har har] and all in all, the book is fun to look at.

Even with all the pretty art to distract me, I still thought the story was yawn inducing. I probably won’t even bother buying the second volume.