Louie the Rune Soldier

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

Louie the Rune Soldier GN 2

By David Rasmussen
17th Aug 04

Studio - ADVManga
Age - 13+
Story by Ryou Mizuno
Artwork by Jun Sasameyuki
Character Designs by Mamoru Yokota
ADV Manga credits
Translator - Brendan Frayne
Lead Translator/Translator Supervisor - Javiar Lopez
ADV Manga Translation Staff - Kay Bertrand, Amy Forsyth, Haruka Kaneko-Smith & Eiko McGregor
Publishing Editor - Susan Itin
Assistant Editor - Margaret Scharold
Editorial Assistant - Varsha Bhuchar

Graphic Novel 2
It must be an unsettling burden to seek a great hero only to discover your choice has been dealt to you from the bottom of the deck.
That is a thought that no doubt comes to the minds of the three who have ended up with so called hero Louie. He who speaks before he thinks, and carries a big mystical stick -- or used to.
This Graphic Novel out he'll have to replace said mystic stick tool, only for the gang to end up being locked up by elves upon whose territory they did their tree "hacking" for suitable material for said staff.
Guess Louie will have to do something to get the out of this one.

Then the majority of the story revolves around courting gone horribly wrong, and how Louie ends up having to duel the fiancee of series major female character Melissa and how he beats Mr. Fancy-armor.

Lastly it's a tale of vengeance that doesn't seem to pack any real punch.

Ok. Let's break it down now.

Louie the Rune Soldier Breakdown the 2nd
What's Hot? It has it's moments, and I would like to read more. It has abit of humor, and some action in it, but not enough -- maybe it's just because it's just this one book I'm reviewing but I would have liked to have had more from this title.

What's Not? If I had to, however, compare this to another recent fantasy realm setting series I just reviewed (that being ADVManga's Those Who Hunt Elves) I'd have to vote for Those Who Hunt Elves over Louie the Rune Soldier. I don't know but somehow the characters seem to had more depth and personality, and the action was more intense in Elves over Rune Soldier.

Moments to Remember - It has it's moments, trust me. There are some good moments here (moreso with the humor than the action however).

What to Ignore? - Not much, I'm afraid -- maybe ignore the fact that Louie doesn't seem to have as much depth and interest as Those Who Hunt Elves.

Overall? - It's a middle of the road review here. I haven't seen the Anime yet but if the manga is any indication then I might have issues with the Anime.
Guess I need to see more of this series before I can say for certain, but it has it's moments and it's worth checking out to see if it'll appeal to you or not.

-- David Rasmussen 17th Aug 04