Louie the Rune Soldier

Publisher
ADVManga
Writer
Ryou Mizuno
Artist
Jun Sasameyuki
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2000

Louie the Rune Soldier GN 4

By David Rasmussen
2nd Apr 05

Previously…
Yeah, once again I missed a Graphic Novel. Sorry.
Seems I’m almost destined to review the even numbered books… go figure.
Anyway not much happened last time… well, lots happened last time but you can find that out yourself.
Let’s see where we are with this new book.

Graphic Novel 4
Either it’s the best magical school in the land for drunken parties filled with hot ladies, or something has gotten Louie serious about learning magic! Uh… it’s probably the latter. Too bad his brief brush with the learning arts is not going to end well.

After that it’s a trip to Genie’s hometown when her little sister comes a callin’ asking for help… seems, however, there’s more to this trip than meets the eye. Might be a job for Louie after all, especially since it means having a face-to-face negotiation with a stranded ice themed “holy giant“ -- yes, believe it or not it looks like Louie might actually be useful for something… hold your applause.

After that take a look at a younger, less annoying Louie as we go Behind The Spellcasting and… oh, wait, it’s just because of a magical time ring used by the cute, but kind of freaky, glasses wearing mage Ila.
Oh, and if Melissa (who Louie is supposed to be watching over) wasn’t so happy with him before, she won’t be happy with how she may have played a role in making Louie the… well… the “man” that he is today.
Moral of the Story : Do a background check on your role models before you go pushing their “lifestyle” on other people.

Finally a wandering female spirit gets to spend the time of her life in… well, Melissa’s body. And she is not going to be a happy camper about that one, especially since it was Louie’s idea to have her “cohabitat” with the spirit in the first place! Yes, it was for a good cause, but still… anyway that wraps it up.

And that’s it… review’s over… hmm… got time to kill.
Hmmm… does anyone want me to review Graphic Novels 1 and 3? I’ll order them if enough people want to see those reviewed, just so I know.

Oh-kay. Nuff time wastin’, let’s break it down.

Louie the Rune Soldier Breakdown the 4th
What’s Hot? - I like this series. It’s good… now if I can only get ahold of Graphic Novel 1 and 3.
Louie isn’t always a pain, as you know, and the entire cast is pretty good if I do say so myself.
It’s a fairly good read, so you should check it out.

What’s Not? - Well… sometimes the title does seem to be predictible. You might see the ending coming because it’s such an obvious set up here, or there, but still I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.
The characters are likeable, the story is fairly decent, and the artwork is nice. Somehow I think this title’s one weak point just isn’t worth worrying about. Yes, at times it will seem oh so familiar, but that doesn’t mean the title isn’t worth a check-out, because it is.

Moments to Remember? - Usually the best moments comes with the ladies of the title being present. And there isn’t a moment without one or more of them being at hand for some memorable moments.
Kinda sad that Louie can’t hold a memorable moment without at least ONE female co-star to give a helping hand, but I like the female characters better anyway.

What to Ignore? - So how did Louie get into that magical school anyway? Did he drink a professor under the table for his entry exam? And why was it so obvious that the story was going to end the way it did?
Maybe you should ignore that… yeah, ignore that.

Overall? - It’s not always an original read, sometimes I see where things will be heading without even having to read it all the way through, but it’s a light fun read which just hit’s the spot so that’s good.
Try it out, and I’m sure you’ll find merit in this book. Oh, yeah, and if you’ve read the manga you might want to take a spin with the anime too, but I haven’t seen the anime yet so I can’t judge that for you, just this. Anyway try it since I figure you might like it.

-- David Rasmussen 2nd Apr 05