"The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages - Legendary Edition" by Akira Himekawa

            Hey, all, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin. I’m your reviewer, Tim Cubbin. The following is a review of “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages Legendary Edition” Manga by Akira Himekawa. It is NOT a review of the video games.

            Okay, so here’s how this is going to work. I write reviews all the time, as some of you will know. This Manga is a two title adaptation of the video games “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons” and “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages” as well as a bonus story “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – Short Edition.” This review will break down each story separately. This is going to be a little different than usual compared to my other reviews. After each story review, I will share my thoughts on the specific story. Then I’ll give a numeric score for each story individually. After all three stories have been rated, I’ll rate this book as a whole. I’ll talk a little more after that as to if I actually recommend this book to other readers and who would be best suited to read it. Then I’ll give the blah blah blah closing and send you on your way to whatever else you feel like doing the moment after you finish reading it. Of course, some of you may opt out of finishing this review, but if you stay all the way to my last three words, you are THE BEST! Okay, I know I’m boring you now and you’re thinking “Tim Cubbin, get on to the reviews already,” so you know what…? I will.

            First we’ll discuss “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons.” The story starts with a young boy named Link. He comes from a family of Knights for the Kingdom of Hyrule. Note that while the series is called “The Legend of Zelda,” our hero is Link, while Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule. Oddly enough, Zelda plays a very little part in the story, but it’s still “The Legend of Zelda” and not “The Legend of Link” for some reason I don’t think I’ll ever understand. Anyway, Link. Link does not want to follow in the family tradition of being a Knight. Link is purported to go on to be a true hero as he was born with the mark of the Triforce on the back of his left hand, a sacred relic, but he just doesn’t want to be one. He is content to farm on the land of his grandma and grandpa, but grandpa has been grooming him to be a Knight for his entire life. He is sent to Hyrule to take part in the Knights’ Trial. Link is greatly overlooked. He decides to sneak off into Hyrule Castle. In the basement, he finds the three golden pyramids that make up the Triforce. Curious, he touches one and finds himself transported to the land of Holodrum. He lands in a troupe with a dancer named Din, a cook named Impa, and a group of other performers. Link joins the troupe and now thinks he has found his calling in life. But his contentment is not to last. The evil General of Darkness Onox discovers the troupe and it is revealed that Din is the Oracle of Seasons. She controls Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn in Holodrum. Onox kidnaps Din (this is based on a video game, so of course SOME woman has to get kidnapped, it’s just how it works), sinks the Temple of Seasons, and locks up Din in a magic crystal enchantment. This now throws the seasons out of whack. You can be in one spot and it will be snowing, but if you take two steps in another direction, the sun will be beaming down. Link meets his new best friend Ricky at a boxing gym, and the two begin to travel together. Ricky is a kangaroo and Link now realizes he can talk to animals and even the Maku Tree. Link must discover the Rod of Seasons so he can temporarily stabilize the seasons so he and Ricky can travel to Onox’s castle and then set Din free. Unfortunately, upon Link and Ricky arriving at the Temple of Seasons, the BFFs meet the “Great Witch” Maple, who is after the Rod of Seasons herself to grant her powers so she actually CAN become a “Great Witch.” Of course Link finds it first, but Maple tags along with Link and Ricky, planning to steal it when Link isn’t looking. Link arrives at Onox’s Castle and battles Onox in his true form and rescues Din. What Link doesn’t know is that upon defeating Onox, he inadvertently lights the Flame of Destruction that the evil witch sisters the Twinrova have been trying to ignite for a very long time. I know, spoilers, but you obviously know that Link will defeat his enemies because this is, after all, an adaptation of a video game and the protagonist always defeats the main antagonist at the end of the game (if you’re actually a good player and make it to the end, of course). Link is able to return to his homeland and is now given Knighthood and becomes a Knight of Hyrule, a role he now willingly accepts, making his grandpa proud.

            Okay, now, as promised, my thoughts. I’ve actually played and finished the video game, and unfortunately, this is just NOT the video game AT ALL. I mean, yes, it must be compressed since this IS a Manga after all, but the comparisons are VERY minimal. The video game DID NOT put such an emphasis on Ricky and Maple, and the video game DID NOT have the plot of Link being raised by his grandparents, or any backstory of Link prior to discovering the Triforce, the video game DID NOT have any content of Link joining Din’s troupe, the book DID NOT have ANY scenes in the land of Subrosia that Link travelled to in the game, and this book DID NOT spend much time with Link fighting enemies as he does in the game. This is VERY MUCH unrecognizable to the game, and I rather enjoyed this game, so I was pretty disappointed.

            Okay, now for the score; I always base this score on a scale of one-to-ten, one being this book was a waste of time and I regret spending my time reading it, ten being this was awesome and I’m totally going to read it again. So I said that this Manga was unrecognizable to the game that I enjoyed the game, and I was disappointed. BUT! This is NOT a review scored on a comparison to the game, this is a review about the Manga. I have to accept the Manga on face value. I felt that the Manga on its own was actually an interesting story. I enjoyed the development of the characters, except for the lack of Subrosia. And the video game spent no time on Link’s history nor Link’s growing from a farmer to a Knight, so I found Link’s personal story to be compelling, and the story of Link’s friendship with Ricky and “alliance” with Maple actually interested me and I got to actually KNOW the characters as compared to the video games, so I felt that this was a plus. SO! ON ITS OWN, ignoring that this was based on a video game, I give it a seven. I felt that the story itself was good, and I did enjoy it, especially my investment with the characters.

            Now, I’ll move on to “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.” This continues from where “Oracle of Seasons” left off. Players of the games will know that there was a feature that united the video games and you could play “Oracle of Seasons” or “Oracle of Ages” in either story and actually connect the story and items together and then go on to the final ending after both games connected are completed. We’ll get back to this feature in a little while, I still have to review “Oracle of Ages” first. In this story, the Twinrova send out Veran, the Sorceress of Shadow out to fight Link to ignite the Flame of Sorrow to resurrect Ganon, the King of Evil. Princess Zelda sends out Link and Impa on a quest to find Nayru, the Oracle of Ages and bring her back to Hyrule Castle after Zelda has a premonition of great evil approaching, namely the return of Ganon. Unfortunately, Veran can possess people. She sets out to possess Impa in order to obtain the powers of Nayru, the Oracle of Ages. Nayru has the Harp of Ages and can travel through time. When Veran makes her way to Nayru, she possesses the Oracle of Ages and now controls her. Veran travels back in time to influence Queen Ambi of Labrynna into building a tower to the heavens. Ambi forces the male citizens of Labrynna into constructing the tower. Link and Nayru’s old friend Ralph travel back in time to fight Veran. Link allies with Sir Raven, a double agent who claims to kidnap and kill traitors for Queen Ambi while actually rescuing them and bringing to the safe haven of Lynna. It turns out Raven is actually an ancestor of Link, forcing Link to provide extra protection for Raven to ensure Link is not erased from history in the event of Raven’s death. Ralph is also unwilling to kill the evil Queen Ambi as she is an ancestor of Ralph and killing her will erase Ralph from history as well. Link, Ralph and Raven are able to separate Veran from Nayru and fight Veran in her true form. Upon her death, the Flame of Sorrow is lit and Ganon is resurrected. Fortunately, the Twinrova’s spell is not completed properly and Ganon does not possess intelligence, leaving Link, Ralph and Raven to fight a ferocious beast.

            Okay, that’ll do for that. As I said before, the connectivity feature of the games makes it so that the two games are actually one story and completing both games unlocks the final ending where Link must save Zelda by killing the Twinrova and Ganon. If you have read one of my other two “The Legend of Zelda” Manga reviews, or actually read the Manga separately yourself and are just reading this review for my opinion, or even have ever played a “The Legend of Zelda” video game, you may be familiar with Ganon by now. I have played the game “Oracle of Ages” prior to writing this review, and I’ll say that this had more similarities to the game than the “Oracle of Seasons” Manga. However, the game DID NOT have Sir Raven AT ALL! In the game, Ralph wasn’t prominent in the defeat of Veran. In the game, more time travel was involved. And in the final ending, Link faced the Twinrova in battle and their fight interrupted the spell that resurrected Ganon.

            Again, taking this Manga at face value, I actually really enjoyed it. The character of Sir Raven was a welcome addition for me, and I felt it really helped with character development that actually compelled me as I read the Manga. As far as giving this a score, I actually have to give it an eight. And prior readers of one of my review posts know I am a VERY difficult scorer, so an eight on a video game Manga is a REALLY good score, especially since I enjoyed the game and there were a substantial amount of inconsistencies. Still, I thought it was a good effort and I have to applaud Akira Himekawa for what I felt was a job well done.

            Finally, we have “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – Short Edition.” Yes, in this, Din was captured by Onox, yes Link had to come and rescue her and get the Rod of Seasons, but in this he had to fight the Great Moblin and another monster from the game and battle Maple for the Rod of Seasons.

But taking a story of considerable length such as the full-length Manga of one-hundred-eighty-six pages and condensing it into twenty pages just DID NOT work. If I said the full-length Manga was not the game, this version was nothing like the game. I thought it was rather pitiful. It even almost seemed that Akira Himekawa just did it as a joke. Granted seeing monsters from “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons” the video game was slightly a perk, but it wasn’t enough for me.

So now that I put down the little story, I have to give my numeric score. I hate to do this, to say this, I really do, but I have to score it as a two. I’d totally say you’d probably not miss much by getting this book and not reading “Oracle of Seasons – Short Edition.” It was a weak attempt, and reading it was totally a waste of six minutes or however long it took (I totally didn’t time it). The score was only a two and not a one because of the Great Moblin and the giant lizard dragon that made me have a slight appreciation, and without them I probably WOULD have given this story a one.

Alright, now we’re up to my score for the book as a whole. Linking (no pun intended) the two stories from the separate titles and having the final ending was fun for me to read. It’s been twenty years since I played the games, so revisiting the stories in a new interpretation was welcoming for me. I know I dissed this due to the Manga not being the games, but I appreciated it as the adaptation it was. And speaking of appreciating the adaptations, I’m giving my score of the entire book. I have to give it a (drumroll please!) six. Look, I liked “Oracle of Seasons” and “Oracle of Ages” quite a bit, but “Oracle of Seasons – Short Edition” had to bring it down. I’m sorry Akira Himekawa, you did a good job at most of the book, but there was so much for me to dislike. I don’t regret reading this book, that’s for sure, and, hey, maybe I’ll end up reading it again someday, but ultimately this book was rather flawed for me.

Okay, finally, do I recommend this book to you? I say this every time, but for you newbs, I can’t tell you if the book was a good book. I can tell you to me it was a fun book, but you don’t think the same way I do, you won’t have the same opinions as me. You might read this and think it’s trash and say “Tim Cubbin, how could you like this piece of garbage?” but you may also think it was so good and say “Tim Cubbin, what is wrong with you, this is an awesome book, how could you find flaws in this epic, great Masterpiece?” that’s all you. I’m just telling you in MY opinion, how I feel about it, but leave everything else to you. If you want to read this, go right ahead. I would recommend this book to you, but if you played and loved the games, you might love this new interpretation or you might hate that it’s not the game, that’s a tricky gray area, but not knowing anything about “The Legend of Zelda” could welcome you to Link’s world or just totally turn you off and not want to get involved, again, tricky gray area, I leave the opinion up to you. This makes telling a demographic audience impossible. We’ll leave it as that I played the games and loved them, then read the Manga of those same games and fairly enjoyed it, there’s nothing more I can say. BUT! I do have a warning for those of you who have never read a Manga before. A Manga is a Japanese comic book. There’s a consistent look to them, the art style (which, I didn’t mention before, but I personally loved it), in black and white, the exaggerated sound effects, the quirky little words appearing a points. The BIGGEST THING I can tell you is how to read it. I’m American, I’ve been reading comic books since I was five years old, and getting into my first Manga was an effort. That might sound strange to say… until you actually look at one. A Manga is read from back to front, from right to left. In other words, to American comic book readers like myself, it’s backwards! It will take some practice to get into a Manga, but once you get the hang of it, it’s actually kind of cool. And yes, you may have slips in learning it, mastering a Manga to regular comic book readers is an effort, but for “The Legend of Zelda” fans like myself, I think it is worth the work.

And now, I will bid you adieu. First, though, know that I am a rather frequent blogger. I don’t work on a schedule, I just post when I have something to post. I’m rather busy right now, so my posts won’t be as frequent as they were in the past, but keep looking for me in the future. I also do reviews of other graphic or prose novels I read (almost entirely Marvel, I am a die-hard Marvelite), I do editorials and essays and articles (as a certified, currently unemployed journalist), I have a complaint series B’ings, I write short fiction and nonfiction stories, I do poetry, I do a lot of stuff other than just this, so check out some more of my posts if you’ve enjoyed this review (and you’re still here, you are THE BEST!). I hope you come back for more, but for now, Tim Cubbin… out!