Magic Knight: Rayearth I, Book 3

Rating:
Summary: The shocking ending to a great series!!
Review: The final book in the MKR series, cycle one. Hikaru, Umi and Fuu, summoned to Cephiro to save the princess from the evil Zagato, must revive the Mashin, great spirits in the form of huge meccha, and defeat Zagato¡¦s minions; the little boy summoner, Ascot, the lovely Gardina, and former chief of the princess¡¦ guard, Lafarga the swordsman. Will they triumph? Can they become Magic Knights in time to save Caphiro? Will Umi and Mokona ever get along? Can Mokona say anything but Puu?! The answers to all these questions and more can be found only in the MKR1 final volume!!!
A word of caution; before you finish reading the first three volumes, don¡¦t read the reviews of the second series of MKR, because just reading the reviews will ruin the shocking surprise of the ending. It¡¦s also kind of a cliffhanger ending, so buy the second series also. It¡¦s even better than he first, and all the loose threads of the first series are tied up. =^-^=

1. Story: Great story, very classical Shoujo storyline, but definitely original and captivating.
2. Love Interest: Come on guys, it¡¦s a Shoujo manga; it¡¦s got the cutest love stories ever, but in the first cycle only Fuu gets a love interest, but boy! What a guy she gets! Don¡¦t worry parents, nothing offensive, and there isn¡¦t even any kissing ƒ¼.
3. Artwork: Gorgeous. And you can trust my opinion; I draw manga, so I know good artwork when I see it, seriously.. The rest of the artwork will have you drooling (especially over Zagato) and the character design is scrumptious, but some of the battle scenes are confusing until you get the hang of them and know what to look for. I love the profile shots, especially of Emeraude.
4. Translation: Great translation; great fonts. Princess Emeraude, Zagato and the Mashin all have their own personal fonts, a really neat stylistic quirk. Even the speech bubbles are different, depending on whether the character is shouting, thinking or just talking. It really adds depth to the story. There is a small problem cuz Japanese isn¡¦t written like English, so the speech bubbles are taller than they are wide, but that¡¦s usually not a problem. ¡¥Why don¡¦t you¡¦ is spelled ¡¥Whydoncha¡¦ and Ferio charmingly greets the girls with, ¡¥who are y¡¦all?¡¦ but overall it was perfect.
5. Quality: Excellent Quality, it¡¦s a beautiful book that will not fall apart like the Sailor Moon manga reportedly does. It reads from right to left; Japanese form, but since I can read and write Arabic, it came naturally to me. On the last page is a quick, useful tutorial to show you how to read authentic manga in it¡¦s original form. Words don¡¦t lead off the page or anything, and the paper is beautiful.
6. Nudity: NONE
7. Price: Ok, now, as much as I love manga, ten bucks for a 120-page comic book is kind of a lot. True manga fans like myself would never blink an eye at the price of ground-breaking manga like MKR, but when your parents pay for everything online, it makes your life hard ¡Vsigh-

It¡¦s easy to see how anime is adapted from manga; reading manga is like watching anime; the expressions, the fight scenes, the characters, everything. There¡¦s a lot of laugh-out-loud fun, mainly from Mokona, but there is also the usual, shoujo sweet-talk. The girls call each other sisters, would gladly sacrifice themselves for one another, etc. The girls don¡¦t go up levels and stuff like I was led to believe, but Fuu compares their situation to that of RPG games. In this volume, their armor and swords evolve three times almost simultaneously, giving Fuu the coolest sword ever! (My favorite girl is Hikaru, by the way) Definitely worth every penny, and a great place to start any manga library. Puu!
Don't forget to buy the next cycle: MKR2 !!!