Takeru: Opera Susanoh Sword of the Devil Volume 1 by Nakashima Kazuki and Karakarakemuri

I’ve always been a little wary of manga with overly long titles. Most of the manga I’ve enjoyed does not suffer from an excess of nouns in the title, and a title as long as this one makes me wonder if the story is going to be as convoluted as the title suggests. In this case “Takeru” refers to the names of the three main characters. After reading the manga I’m not sure how “Opera” is involved in the story, but the manga was adapted from a play, so maybe it relates to the stage production. “Susanoh Sword of the Devil” refers to the mystical artifact that the trio of Takerus seek out on a quest.

The first Takeru is a traveler and thief who wears his good humor and womanizing ways like a mask to obscure his true intentions. He arrives in Oyashima searching for a small box with a snake carved on its lid which matches one already in his possession. Takeru fails to pick up a woman, and sees a man with a spear about to kill a sick crow in an alleyway. Takeru heals the crow and goes to meet a merchant who is holding the mysterious snake box only to find that the box has been confiscated by the despotic local authority, a man named Fudaru. Takeru susses out the situation with a handy spy glass, figuring out where the storehouse is that might hold his treasure.

Elsewhere, a large man working as a soldier decides that he doesn’t want to take part in terrorizing the local populace. His former colleagues turn on him and he’s about to take them all on in a fight when a series of sudden explosions throws everything into disarray. Takeru hauls the large man away and asks for some help with breaking and entering in return. Takeru and his large companion break into the storehouse and find the missing box. They are caught out by Fudaru and his men. Fudaru is both bloodthirsty and polite, proclaiming “If one person crosses me, then someone else will try it, and the next thing you know, I’ve got anarchy on my hands. We can’t have that in a civilized place. Therefore, I must tear off your head and smear your blood on my walls. For civility’s sake.” Just when things look bleak a masked warrior with a spear appears to assist with the fight.

The trio manages to escape and Takeru demonstrates the snake boxes to his new companions. A mystical light emanates from letters hidden inside the lid, telling of the existence of a powerful weapon in the land of Jagara. The big guy is happy to come along on an adventure. Spear guy requires payment, and Takeru produces a gem he lifted in the warehouse. They introduce themselves. Traveling thief Takeru’s name is Izumo-no-Takeru. The muscleman is named Kumaso-no-Takeru. The silent assassin with a spear is named Oguna-no-Takeru.

The Takerus set off for the land of Jagara in search of the mystical weapon. Jagara is ruled by an army of amazonian women, and Kumaso and Izumo are looking forward to meeting some ladies. Kumaso thinks they are both idiots. The Takerus get caught in a battle between the Jagara women and their enemies and see the mystical sword demonstrated – it looks like a rainbow of blood as it destroys the enemy soldiers. They venture into the jungle in search of warrior women and the mystical sword.

The character designs are attractive and distinct, which is good since it is several pages into the volume before the reader learns the main characters’ names. I thought that the character types represented by the Takerus were overly familiar. I’ve seen the roguish thief, dim-witted muscleman, and sullen assassin many times before. The action scenes were sometimes a little muddled and Karakarakemuri has a habit of drawing distant characters without eyes or faces, which was a little distracting. Overall, Takeru: Opera Susanoh Sword of the Devil seems like a serviceable middle-of-the-road fantasy manga, but my attention wasn’t really captured by the story. There are flashes of humor here and there, and it seems like the Takerus all have mysterious pasts that could be explored in further volumes. I don’t think I’ll be following this series, because if I want to read a fantasy story about men going on a quest together, there’s always the much more entertaining Saiyuki. This reminds me that I have several volumes of Saiyuki Reload sitting on the shelf waiting to be read…

Review copy provided by the publisher