"The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Legendary Edition" by Akira Himekawa

 

            The following is a review of “The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Legendary Edition” manga by Akira Himekawa. It is not a review of the video game “The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords.”

            The story of “Four Swords” takes place in the land of Hyrule. Princess Zelda is good friends with the young knight Link. Link’s father is also a knight in the service of Hyrule. Zelda is tasked with protecting the legendary Four Sword, which is said to split its wielder into four parts, each part with a different facet of the wielder’s personality.

            Long ago, the evil Wind Mage Vaati was defeated by a hero who wielded the Four Sword, and Vaati was sealed away into a stone by the Six Maidens, who are sworn to protect it and the seal was held into place by the Four Sword. Zelda is tasked to examine the seal, which has steadily weakening, Zelda asks Link to come along to protect her. Upon arrival, the maidens disappear, and an evil demon emerges, taking on the form of Link. The Shadow Link then abducts Zelda and vanishes into thin air. Link now realizes that he must draw the Four Sword. Upon doing this, Link is separated into four versions of himself: Green, who is focused and motivated; Blue, who is hotheaded and aggressive; Red, who is innocent and optimistic; and Vio, who is calm and collected. In doing so, the evil Vaati is released into the world. The Links are able to defeat one form of Vaati, but this is only a temporary reprieve.

            Hyrule castle is overrun by Vaati’s evil minions, who then eliminate Link’s father. Vaati then hurls Hyrule into the Dark World.

            The Blue Maiden is able to contact the Links to inform them of Vaati’s domain in the Tower of Winds, and that to stop all the world from being pulled into the Dark World and to rescue Princess Zelda and avenge Link’s father, they must travel there to defeat Vaati.

            The Links travel to a land with no adults and battle the monster Stone Arrghus to rescue the Yellow Maiden, but discover the Four Sword has weaknesses and are given the Moon Pearl, which opens the gate to the Dark World when struck by moonbeams.

            The Links travel towards Death Mountain by boat, but the boat crashes and the Links are separated into four different locations.

            Shadow Link encounters Vio and Vio is seduced to the Dark Side.

            Green, Blue and Red continue on, fighting many monsters created by Vaati. Along the way, the Links learn that Vaati is not the ultimate evil and that the King of Evil Ganon is using Vaati in an attempt to be released. Vio then comes into conflict with Shadow Link as the two form lofty ambitions and plan to see who can release Ganon and rule the Dark World by his side. The Links learn that their father is still alive, but has been corrupted and must duel him in battle.

            After many twists and turns, the Links must battle Vio, Shadow Link, and Vaati to prevent Ganon’s return to power.

            I have given prior “The Legend of Zelda” mangas very low praise. Purchasing the book was intriguing for me as the “Four Swords” video game had very little story, more running around as the four Links and battling Vaati and his minions to rescue Zelda, but many “Zelda” games are essentially just battle Ganon and save Zelda, but you do have to consider the first “The Legend of Zelda” video game was released circa-1986 on the original Nintendo Entertainment System and a game you could save your progress on was a huge deal as this was relatively unheard of and that was its appeal. “Four Swords” was released circa-2002, but was featured on the same cartridge as the Game Boy Advance remake of “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” and really was only made so multiple players could play the same game at the same time and was considered by the developers as an afterthought. So an entire manga based on this sorry excuse for a video game had great potential when I purchases it. I mean, it’s a Japanese comic book that’s 363 pages, so it’s probably bound to be something. And I have to say, I highly enjoyed it. Himekawa actually created an intelligent version of the story, with twists, turns, and surprises, and I was hooked as I read it. Now, as far as graphic novels go, yes, the story is a big deal, but don’t forget the graphic part. Art in comic books is highly important, and can make or break it. Manga does have a highly unique quality of art, very different from comic books people are used to. The style just does not look like other comic books, and is traditionally featured in black and white. I have to say that I am not an expert on mangas, I’m used to Marvel comic books as many of my prior readers know, so this was interesting for me. I’ve also written three other “The Legend of Zelda” manga reviews, so you can look back on them if you wish. Having a slightly sour taste happened with them, and the reviews are mixed. But this! This was something I highly enjoyed. I was also thrilled by the presence of Ganon, who was not in the game. It has to be said that there have been many Links in “The Legend of Zelda” video game series, most of them being different in each game. There has been wonky continuity, with branching paths, alternate timelines, and the games not being released chronologically. But there has been only one iteration of Ganon in all the games. The only difference was his semi-human form as a Gerudo in “Ocarina of Time” that was corrupted into Ganon, and was resealed by several different Princess Zeldas over the course of “The Legend of Zelda” series, who have also changed over the continuity. There are many theories about this among fans, but I honestly do not feel like speculating on them, that would be too long, boring, and highly irrelevant to this review, I’m just going by what is contained in the manga by itself.

Now, none of my reviews would not be complete without a numerical score. I base it on a scale of one to ten. One is that it is so horrible I regret reading this, ten is I would love to read it a million times. Some of my prior readers will know if I really like a book, I will read it multiple times (particularly my “Harry Potter” reviews, which, if you like “Harry Potter” I highly recommend you read). So, taking in everything I felt while reading this manga and writing this review, I score this as an eight. Prior readers know I am a very harsh scorer, so scores eight or over are big deals for me.

What kind of a blogger would I be if I didn’t talk about if I recommend this manga? Well, I have to say I’d recommend it, but there is a little warning for graphic novel fans who have never read a manga before. I said that mangas have a unique style. Well, this style includes how to read it. Mangas are read from right to left. What readers would think is the back cover is actually the front cover. You must read from back to front. You must also read the right page first, then the left page. The trickiest thing is reading the panels from right to left. It does take a bit to get adjusted to at first, especially if you read graphic novels that aren’t mangas before, but I think this book is worth the effort. If you are a fan of “The Legend of Zelda” video games, I highly recommend you read this manga. This manga took a flimsy little game and actually made an intelligent story, so it was actually fun for me to read. If you’ve never had a “The Legend of Zelda” encounter before, I’d still recommend it to you. The book is self-contained and you don’t need to have any prior knowledge of the series. If you’re just looking for a good read, a good graphic novel, a good manga, what-have-you, I think this book is a good choice.

I am now wrapping this up. I do a lot of book reviews on this page, but being a certified, unemployed journalist, I write a lot of essays and editorials, and having a bachelor’s degree in English, I write short fiction and nonfiction and poetry, and am currently working on my first novel. Writing is how I keep busy. So feel free to keep looking at this blog, I’m a frequent poster, and I have several projects in the works, so I have plenty to come back for. I’d appreciate it if you would like, retweet, share, follow, comment on this, and you can even continue a discussion for me and my other readers, that would be great! But rest assured: I will be back. And now, until then, Tim Cubbin… out!