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Culdcept, Shinya Kaneko
Nov. 1st, 2010 08:10 pmSo, lots of comic requests! I've been mostly re-reading old stuff right now. Culdcept is a manga that was based loosely on a videogame series that came out on the PS1 & PS2, and was a combination of Magic the Gathering, a board game, and Pokemon rolled into one.
The manga follows Najaran, a young summoner ("Ceptor") and her animated magic cane, Golligan as she travels the world fighting the classic "Big Evil" set of villains.
The fantasy world created in the series is really interesting twists on classic fantasy tropes. The "Great War" was actually a full-out battle between the dragons and an evil sorcerer= so bad the Goddess had to step in and her holy book, the Culdcept, was shattered into thousands of fragments - the individual "cards" that the Ceptors use to summon creatures and items. Because the Culdcept included everything that was, or will be, some of the summons are fantastically futuristic - the "Knight" for example, is a giant mecha-knight.
Najaran is a pretty awesome character that manages to avoid the usual shonen manga traps- she's not hypersexualized, she's not overshadowed by male characters - it's very much about her and her adventure. The story manages to stay light hearted - though on a giant quest, Najaran, personally, is mostly concerned with what tasty foods await her around the world. Golligan, despite being an ancient artifact, gets used for the most mundane of tasks- stirring soup, being used as a pole to dry laundry, etc.
There's only 5 volumes in the whole series, so it's not a giant read, and it's fun and well drawn. Kaneko's sense of pacing is excellent - I never feel lost in reading the panel layout or following the action. It's a fun, short series that I found entertaining and love coming back to.
Also: Najaran is a woman of color-
http://www.culdceptcentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=469&Itemid=338
The manga follows Najaran, a young summoner ("Ceptor") and her animated magic cane, Golligan as she travels the world fighting the classic "Big Evil" set of villains.
The fantasy world created in the series is really interesting twists on classic fantasy tropes. The "Great War" was actually a full-out battle between the dragons and an evil sorcerer= so bad the Goddess had to step in and her holy book, the Culdcept, was shattered into thousands of fragments - the individual "cards" that the Ceptors use to summon creatures and items. Because the Culdcept included everything that was, or will be, some of the summons are fantastically futuristic - the "Knight" for example, is a giant mecha-knight.
Najaran is a pretty awesome character that manages to avoid the usual shonen manga traps- she's not hypersexualized, she's not overshadowed by male characters - it's very much about her and her adventure. The story manages to stay light hearted - though on a giant quest, Najaran, personally, is mostly concerned with what tasty foods await her around the world. Golligan, despite being an ancient artifact, gets used for the most mundane of tasks- stirring soup, being used as a pole to dry laundry, etc.
There's only 5 volumes in the whole series, so it's not a giant read, and it's fun and well drawn. Kaneko's sense of pacing is excellent - I never feel lost in reading the panel layout or following the action. It's a fun, short series that I found entertaining and love coming back to.
Also: Najaran is a woman of color-
http://www.culdceptcentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=469&Itemid=338
