Megami Saga: Resurrection #1
Studio Mizuki / Magi Entertainment, Inc.
Writer/Artist: Studio Mizuki
Reviewer: Derrick Crow
Summary: Reiko is the reincarnation of the Kitsune (Fox) Deity Sakura, along with her friends she battle demons who would rather see the world burn.
Review: This comic, which I think is a tie-in (prequel? maybe?) to a game that was successfully funded on Kickstarter called Megami Saga: Crimson Princess, is rather interesting. Definitely inspired by the Touhou bullet hell games, Sailor Moon, and I think even a little bit of InuYasha as well, a lot of the tropes are on display. That doesn't make this any less fun, nor does it take away from the originality of the idea.
I think it's very smart for the creators to use cross-media to advertise their game and if they tell a great tie-in story in the process even more awesome. I like cross-media franchises like this, and I believe it to be a fun way to explore more of the world you're being introduced too.
Now, it is a little too early to tell where this is all going, and whether it'll be worth the payoff, but what we're given here is a fun first issue for those who are fans of demon hunting fantasy stories as well magical girl tales. Not a lot happens, and mostly we're just introduced to the characters as they battle a demon who is wanting to sacrifice Reiko to summon forth the original Sakura deity.
We get to an insight into how these girls, there being 3 of them so far, react to one another and it seems like not all of them get along very well. I like that confrontation, because you know they'll be better friends eventually, it will just take time. Reiko seems like a nice girl and is protagonist material, and her Sakura form is even quite cute in fact.
Ai seems like she's going to be the b-word of the group, and the moral antagonist for Reiko. You can tell they tolerate one another, but Ai and Reiko's journey will be an interesting one if handled right. Hina is the third, and we don't actually get to see a lot of her. We're told about her in the bio, but as for the story itself she's kind of in the background during most of it. So time will tell on what happens with her.
The art, I'm gonna be perfectly honest, isn't that great. That's not to say it's bad, trust me I've seen far worse; but it isn't that pleasing to look at really. All the characters are very stiff, and the fluidity of motion is all but lost here. Everything just looks so... static. That's not to say this won't be different in the game, as I'm sure it will, but for the comic the art is sadly out of place with the story it's trying to tell.
Issue #1 also gives us some great 4-koma goodness, and I found it to be very pleasant when I looked at the Table of Contents and it even said “4-koma” right there. For those unfamiliar, '4-koma' is a term used to describe comics told in only 4-panels, and generally they're gag stories because it's easier to set up the joke and then the deliver the punchline in 4 panels than it is to tell a serious story in that amount of time.
The 4-koma, in which there are 3, center around a 4th girl named Mizuki, who looks an awful lot like Reiko so I'm a little confused as to whether she is her own character, or if it really is Reiko with another name, or what? I won't dwell on it for now though as long as we get to meet Mizuki in issue #2 or at least rather soon. The first 4-koma comic is a straight up reference to Sailor Moon and a very enjoyable one at that. The other two focus on making fun of Mizuki's height and being too short to ride a ride.
The jokes on those last two are a little less funny than the first simply because instead homaging a story I know, they focus simply on the quirks of a character that I have yet to be introduced too and her introduction seems to come out of nowhere just for the 4-koma. That being said, they ARE funny, they would've just been more funny had I know who she was.
Overall, issue #1 seems to focus more on introducing the characters and the concepts more than anything else, while giving us a fight against a demon that ends on a sort of cliffhanger. If you're excited for the game, Crimson Princess, then definitely check this out for further exploration into the world. If you just want to experience some Megami Saga to see if you'll like it, go ahead and check this out. It's not bad, it does have a lot of potential, just a lot of that potential isn't put on proper display here. Here's to hoping issue #2 sees an improvement.
Final Score: 3 Shrine Maidens out of 5
Studio Mizuki / Magi Entertainment, Inc.
Writer/Artist: Studio Mizuki
Reviewer: Derrick Crow
Summary: Reiko is the reincarnation of the Kitsune (Fox) Deity Sakura, along with her friends she battle demons who would rather see the world burn.
Review: This comic, which I think is a tie-in (prequel? maybe?) to a game that was successfully funded on Kickstarter called Megami Saga: Crimson Princess, is rather interesting. Definitely inspired by the Touhou bullet hell games, Sailor Moon, and I think even a little bit of InuYasha as well, a lot of the tropes are on display. That doesn't make this any less fun, nor does it take away from the originality of the idea.
I think it's very smart for the creators to use cross-media to advertise their game and if they tell a great tie-in story in the process even more awesome. I like cross-media franchises like this, and I believe it to be a fun way to explore more of the world you're being introduced too.
Now, it is a little too early to tell where this is all going, and whether it'll be worth the payoff, but what we're given here is a fun first issue for those who are fans of demon hunting fantasy stories as well magical girl tales. Not a lot happens, and mostly we're just introduced to the characters as they battle a demon who is wanting to sacrifice Reiko to summon forth the original Sakura deity.
We get to an insight into how these girls, there being 3 of them so far, react to one another and it seems like not all of them get along very well. I like that confrontation, because you know they'll be better friends eventually, it will just take time. Reiko seems like a nice girl and is protagonist material, and her Sakura form is even quite cute in fact.
Ai seems like she's going to be the b-word of the group, and the moral antagonist for Reiko. You can tell they tolerate one another, but Ai and Reiko's journey will be an interesting one if handled right. Hina is the third, and we don't actually get to see a lot of her. We're told about her in the bio, but as for the story itself she's kind of in the background during most of it. So time will tell on what happens with her.
The art, I'm gonna be perfectly honest, isn't that great. That's not to say it's bad, trust me I've seen far worse; but it isn't that pleasing to look at really. All the characters are very stiff, and the fluidity of motion is all but lost here. Everything just looks so... static. That's not to say this won't be different in the game, as I'm sure it will, but for the comic the art is sadly out of place with the story it's trying to tell.
Issue #1 also gives us some great 4-koma goodness, and I found it to be very pleasant when I looked at the Table of Contents and it even said “4-koma” right there. For those unfamiliar, '4-koma' is a term used to describe comics told in only 4-panels, and generally they're gag stories because it's easier to set up the joke and then the deliver the punchline in 4 panels than it is to tell a serious story in that amount of time.
The 4-koma, in which there are 3, center around a 4th girl named Mizuki, who looks an awful lot like Reiko so I'm a little confused as to whether she is her own character, or if it really is Reiko with another name, or what? I won't dwell on it for now though as long as we get to meet Mizuki in issue #2 or at least rather soon. The first 4-koma comic is a straight up reference to Sailor Moon and a very enjoyable one at that. The other two focus on making fun of Mizuki's height and being too short to ride a ride.
The jokes on those last two are a little less funny than the first simply because instead homaging a story I know, they focus simply on the quirks of a character that I have yet to be introduced too and her introduction seems to come out of nowhere just for the 4-koma. That being said, they ARE funny, they would've just been more funny had I know who she was.
Overall, issue #1 seems to focus more on introducing the characters and the concepts more than anything else, while giving us a fight against a demon that ends on a sort of cliffhanger. If you're excited for the game, Crimson Princess, then definitely check this out for further exploration into the world. If you just want to experience some Megami Saga to see if you'll like it, go ahead and check this out. It's not bad, it does have a lot of potential, just a lot of that potential isn't put on proper display here. Here's to hoping issue #2 sees an improvement.
Final Score: 3 Shrine Maidens out of 5