Enchanter Volume 1 (Manga)

Enchanter Volume 1 (Manga)

Hawkeye

65 years ago was the last time the human world laid eyes on the human turned demon Fulcanelli and his traveling companion Eukanaria. But after all these years of lurking under the surface, Eukanaria has reappeared to find her beloved Fulcanelli’s soul a new body.

Enter Haruhiko, a high school boy who’s very good with electronics and grew up next store to his beloved Yuka, who happens to now be a science teacher at his school. He looks like Fulcanelli, is a brilliant scientist like Fulcanelli, and even has a similar spirit to him as well! But despite all this coincidences, he’s less then pleased when Eukanrai, who happens to look just like his beloved Yuka (though certainly much more scantily clad), appears and tries to cram Fulcanelli’s soul into him. If having a she-demon after him for his body wasn’t enough, creatures from the nether world sense Fulcanelli’s powerful soul and, in order to defend himself, Karuhiko must learn to become an enchanter and make weapons of both science and magic!

The story seems to have a good and interesting basis. Karuhiko isn’t your normal, just slash them up, hero; instead he makes his weapons and has to invent things for different circumstances. It’s a lot of fun to see what he’ll come up with next. However, the series is so far lacking much of an overall plot, and seems like it’s going to be one of those monster of the week titles. It may get tedious after awhile, if a larger, more in-depth plot isn’t introduced, but, for now, it’s a lot of fun and a good blend of magic and science.

This artwork is a bit heavy on the fan service. There’s cleavage and panty covered butt shots but nothing that wouldn’t be shown in a standard teen movie nowadays. And fan service aside, the character designs are unique and original, not something I’ve seen over and over again. I really liked how, despite the two main characters having doubles in the series, they managed to keep the four characters separate by their personality, clothing and facial expressions. It really helped define and separate them so it wasn’t confusing.

This series can be a little dialog heavy at times. There were a few pages where the massive amount of text bubbles and incredibly wordy dialog detracted from the artwork and made the layout really crowded and hard on the eyes. However, one of the advantages in having a lot of text is that they were able to define the characters’ personalities through their speech. The layout was easy to follow and naturally directed my eyes to what to read next, and as a nice little treat, they even left in the original sound effects in kanji and put in small English subtitles over them.

This manga was action-packed with good fight scenes and intriguing characters. The back story is excellent and this series looks like it’s going to be light and fun. This isn’t for anyone who’s looking for a serious plot or serious characters but if you want something entertaining and fast-paced this is for you.

Entertainment: 8
Lacking a bit in substance, but I enjoyed it.

Technical: 8
Well drawn and well laid out, though a bit heavy on the fan service.

Overall: 8

Age Rating: YA For Young Adults 16+
Publisher: DMP
ISBN: 1-56970-866-5