Manga Review – Ubel Blatt Vol 0 by Etorouji Shiono (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Length: 432 pages
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: October 28, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0316336161
Stand Alone or Series: Book 0 in the Ubelblatt series
Source: Gift
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Rumors stir throughout the land: when the wielder of the black sword draws his dark blade, all who stand in its path are torn asunder…!

Köinzell, the mysterious young boy who carries the black sword, undeniably wields it with exceptional skill, but can he truly be responsible for the bloody rumors?

Pursued by the Traitorous Lances, four powerful warriors who were thought to have been defeated by the Seven Heroes, the strength of the young swordsman will be tested to its limit. At battle’s end, only the shocking truth of Köinzell’s quest will stand above the corpses of his enemies…

An epic fantasy on the grandest of scales!”

My husband actually got this for Christmas and I wanted to read it as well. It’s a massive manga volume. It has an intricate story with interesting characters and is well drawn.

I was impressed by the excellent illustration. I enjoyed the characters and the story. It’s a creative story that is engaging and interesting.

I did struggle a bit with how much the story jumps around. There are a lot of characters in here and the story jumps between different locations and past and present. Sometimes these jumps are noted at the top of the page and sometimes they aren’t. I ended up having to read this pretty slowly and backtrack a lot to keep track of what was going on. As a results this wasn’t the easiest manga to follow.

Additionally I should mention this is a very adult manga. There are a lot of sex scenes, nudity, bribery by sex, and gory violence throughout. This is a manga I ended up reading after my 9 year old son went to bed because I didn’t want him coming up and peeking over my shoulder while I read it.

Overall this was a strong start to this fantasy manga. There is a great world and story here with some intriguing characters. The illustration is excellent as well. I struggled a bit with following the story at times; it jumps around quite a bit. However, hopefully that will be better in future volumes. This is one I plan on continuing to read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge