“The story of Qwan is set in China during the Han dynasty (which ended in 206 B.C.) where prophecies are predicting the end of the Emperor’s reign. Unknowingly in possession of the Essential Arts of Peace Scroll, a scripture which would allow him to save himself from his fate, the Emperor fails to notice its existence and he continues toward his now inevitable demise. Realising that time is short and that the scroll is going to waste where it is, Spiritual Astronomer Kuko leaves with the intention of finding one who will be able to take the scroll and use it to its full potential. Sounds like a simple plot? Well this is just a side story at the moment which is bubbling away in the background. Placed in-between scenes of the main narrative, these parts seem totally unrelated to anything else even though it will most likely come into the spotlight later down the line.
Our actual main character is Qwan who is a strange individual of unknown origins. While human in appearance and speech, he has enormous strength and fighting skills as well as the ability to consume supernatural demons and monsters whole. He attacks monsters on sight and doesn’t flinch when destroying them (actually, he seems to enjoy it more than anything). The only reason I can see that he doesn’t kill humans constantly is that he’s so much stronger than them that they’re barely worth taking seriously. He’s also quite young, impatient and naïve to the workings of the adult world. He certainly proves to be an intriguing main character.
As the story progresses, Qwan learns of and turns his attention toward obtaining the Essential Arts of Peace Scroll (remember that?) so he can discover his true purpose. Also after the power of the scroll is Lord Yuushi for his own potentially perverse desires. It’s all gotten quite involved now and I had to flick backwards and forwards through the book a fair bit to piece all of this together. It’s not that the story is particularly complicated, it’s just easy to get so involved with what’s happening that you forget references to things that happened 70-odd pages ago.
You’ve probably already guessed that Qwan isn’t exactly the easiest character to identify with, so it’s handy that we get someone a bit more normal to help us through. Enter Chikei, a bit of a lowlife who sees the boy in action and pretends to recruit him in the hopes of having an easy ride. His back story is still under wraps but I’ve got the feeling that his real role, like many of the other characters in this series, will eventually prove to be much more significant as time goes on. These allusions to all kinds of mysteries and secrets are all foreplay and seem to have really worked on me. This first volume is a little too chatty for my liking and I share Qwan’s dissatisfaction that there haven’t been enough monsters to sate my hunger. I find myself fidgeting as I read and I really want to sink my teeth into meatier action as well as finding out just where this story’s going to end up.
The artwork is very accomplished and done in a more realistic manner to other manga. It’s portrayal of China, the characters and the monsters are very convincing and help draw you into the world that has been made. You get the feeling that Shimizu knows exactly what to do and you never get the feeling that a panel is out of place or that a person looks disproportionate. The best sign work is that nothing stands out as being odd while reading and it all fits together very nicely. Only when you go back for closer inspection do you appreciate things like the clothing and the confident use of perspective.
I’m hoping that this will be an epic series in terms of scope and length as the ingredients are there to really make it go the distance. If it ends up being rushed or cut short then I’m going to be pretty disappointed as I want it to last. In other hands this series would feel overly ambitious, but I have the confidence in the storytelling skills displayed in this volume that my expectations will be met.”
