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Aki (1)

Autor(a) de Olympos

Para outros autores com o nome Aki, veja a página de desambiguação.

9 Works 338 Membros 8 Reviews 1 Favorited

Séries

Obras de Aki

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Nome padrão
Aki
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
Japan
País (para mapa)
Japan
Ocupação
Mangaka

Membros

Resenhas

Gorgeous, stunning art and a wonderful cast of characters make this story of Greek gods and the mortals they watch for entertainment, published in a top-notch omnibus edition by Yen Press (with full color inserts, unf!) that is certainly worth the admission price. Don't be misled by the summary; it's more Apollo's story than Ganymede's, although Ganymede is a huge player in the overall story. I think my favorite character is Hades; I didn't expect the lord of the underworld to be so, well, hot. I can only hope there's more of Aki's works available in English soon; her artwork alone is enough to earn a permanent place on my favorites shelf.… (mais)
 
Marcado
sarahlh | outras 3 resenhas | Mar 6, 2021 |
Let’s see: beautiful artwork, a goofball king and his much more competent and deserving best friend (who secretly resents him), an angel that won’t mind their DOGGONE BUSINESS, paternity woes a la Maury Povich, and politics. Okay. A bit confusing but lovely to look at…
 
Marcado
DestDest | outras 2 resenhas | Jul 14, 2020 |
The Angel of Elhamburg is about two friends, Madeth and Lalvan (or possibly Lalva – either someone at Yen Press screwed up, or "Lalva" is a nickname, because both versions are used in the text). When Madeth and Lalvan saw how the current lord was mistreating the people, they decided to do something about it. Lalvan was the one who fought the best and won all the battles, but Madeth was the one that everyone gathered around, leaving Lalvan secretly jealous of his childhood friend. A part of him couldn’t help but look down upon Madeth, who he saw as being less accomplished than himself. After all, Lalvan did everything for Madeth. He even wrote Madeth’s love letters for him, since Madeth couldn’t hardly read or write and cared nothing for poetry.

Lalvan is reminded of his jealousy every time he sees the Angel of Elhamburg. The angel kissed Madeth, blessing him the same way it had blessed the previous lord of the castle, but it kept its distance from Lalvan, even though Lalvan was the only one who could see it. Unfortunately, what Lalvan doesn’t realize is that he isn’t the only one hiding a secret, festering jealousy, and the next generation has to deal with the consequences.

My review, the short version: Well, that was kind of depressing.

The longer version: The Angel of Elhamburg was pretty, like all of Aki’s works. Also, like all of Aki’s works (or at least the two I’ve tried), it’s a bit of a downer. However, while I’d call both Olympos and Utahime: The Songstress bittersweet, I do think they had stronger bright notes than The Angel of Elhamburg. Either that, or time has softened my impression of them. At any rate, jealousy, fear, and an inability to properly talk things over tore Madeth and Lalvan apart and then put a wedge between Madeth and his son Perseus. I had hoped that Aki would allow the next generation to overcome the negative emotions that Lalvan and Madeth couldn’t get past, but instead I got a situation where the slate had to be wiped almost completely clean. Nearly everyone degenerated into something pitiful and pathetic. It was especially depressing seeing how Perseus turned out. He never really had a chance. Even his closest friend was using him.

This wasn’t bad, just kind of draining. Like the other works by Aki that I’ve read, it was very spare, character-focused to the point that world-building was vague at best. Even the artwork was that way. Aki drew beautifully detailed characters (although some of them had a tendency to look confusingly alike, like Madeth and his son Perseus - seriously, how could anyone ever think they weren't related?), but the backgrounds were often just empty white. I loved the way Aki drew Lalvan and Madeth, the way the years visibly wore them down.

I’m glad I read this, but I’m not clamoring to own my own copy. I adore Aki’s artwork, particularly the two color illustrations at the beginning, but the story is just a little too tragic for me to want to reread anytime soon. I want to shake Lalvan and Madeth for letting things get so bad, and I feel so bad for Perseus, who just wanted to be loved and to feel connected to someone.

Rating Note:

If I had to round my rating up or down, I'd probably round it down to 3 stars. The world-building was almost too spare - for much of the beginning of the volume, I think until Prima appeared, Madeth and Lalvan felt so alone in the world that I found myself wondering if the rest of the world was just a dream or hallucination on their part, because readers weren't shown any of the work it took to turn Madeth into a High King. However, I had too much of an emotional response to their tragedy to give it a flat 3 stars, so I bumped it up to 3.5.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
… (mais)
½
 
Marcado
Familiar_Diversions | outras 2 resenhas | Sep 25, 2015 |
So far, three of Aki's manga have been released in English. First was her debut, Utahime, published by Digital Manga. Second was her short series Olympos, released by Yen Press as a single omnibus volume. Most recently published in English is Aki's The Angel of Elhamburg, initially conceived of as a short, one-shot manga, but expanded to fill an entire volume. Also released by Yen Press, The Angel of Elhamburg is presented in an attractive hardcover edition with a dust jacket with foil accents. The manga was released in Japan in 2013 and in English in 2015. Aki's manga tend to be historical fantasies with prominent European influences and a fair amount of melancholy and sadness. The Angel of Elhamburg falls into that category as well. Although I sometimes find aspects of Aki's storytelling frustrating, I largely enjoy her manga and her artwork is consistently beautiful. I was very happy to see The Angel of Elhamburg licensed.

After successfully overthrowing the previous lord, Madeth has become the High King, something that would not have been possible had it not been for the support and efforts of his close friend and knight Lalvan. Madeth has extraordinary charisma—people easily love and willingly follow him—but he is uneducated and of low birth. He lacks the ambition and confidence that one would expect from a ruler. Lalvan, on the other hand, is exceptionally clever and capable. But despite his talents, and his peculiar ability to see spirits invisible to others, Lalvan has always been overshadowed by his friend and most often finds himself in an auxiliary role. Now that Madeth has become king, their relationship has started to fracture as long-hidden and suppressed insecurities, jealousies, and issues of trust threaten to destroy their friendship and perhaps even throw the kingdom into turmoil once more.

Although the title is The Angel of Elhamburg, the role of the angel in the manga—a spirit that watches over Elhamburg Castle, the kingdom's seat of power—is actually a relatively minor one. The fact that Lalvan can see the angel significantly impacts some of the story and character developments, but the angel itself is not an active character, merely a notable presence. The real focus of The Angel of Elhamburg is on the changing relationship between Lalvan and Madeth, with a particular emphasis given to Lalvan and his perspective of events. This highlighting of the characters is present in Aki's storytelling as well as in her artwork. Although overall quite lovely, the backgrounds and settings tend to be somewhat limited; more attention is devoted to the characters' facial expressions and body language, and to the details of their clothing and design. Because the manga's focus is so much on people as individuals, The Angel of Elhamburg often feels very intimate and personal.

The Angel of Elhamburg is told in five scenes, or chapters. I particularly liked the structure of the first which is further divided into three acts following Lalvan, Madeth, and the angel respectively. However, once Aki decided to expand the manga, the narrative deviates from this initial structure and becomes more linear until the last scene. The final chapter is a little confusing at first since its use of flashbacks and flash-forwards obscures the story's chronology. The Angel of Elhamburg is a bittersweet tragedy. With the manga's classical feel and theatric nature, I could easily see it being adapted as a stage production. The rise and fall of a kingdom serves as the backdrop for the interpersonal drama and conflict, which is the true heart of the manga. There is a story, but The Angel of Elhamburg is probably best described as a character study. The Angel of Elhamburg excels in conveying the depth of Lalvan and Madeth's individual personalities and fears, ultimately showing an established and evolving relationship that is believably complicated.

Experiments in Manga
… (mais)
 
Marcado
PhoenixTerran | outras 2 resenhas | May 1, 2015 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
9
Membros
338
Popularidade
#70,454
Avaliação
4.2
Resenhas
8
ISBNs
36
Idiomas
4
Favorito
1

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