manga: Suikoden III Vol 1-3

[meganbmoore]

NOTE: There’s a 3-page introduction to the first volume of this manga. The first page yammers about how the Suikoden gaming franchise is superior and more complex than other, flashier games. It will annoy you. Ignore it. It will annoy you. Fandom elitism and superiority complexes are for blogs and forums, not publication. The second and third pages give an overview of the world and first two games. Read them, though you don’t need to to understand what’s going on.

After years of pointless fighting, the Six Clans of the Grasslands and the Zexen Commonwealth are both ready to stop fighting, each side sends an envoy to the other with a peace treaty, unaware of the other’s actions. The Karaya Clan sends their chief’s adolescent son, Hugo, and the Commonwealth sends Chris, a young captain who is the daughter of a knight who was lost in battle 15 years ago. An unknown third party, however, wants the two sides to stay at war, and frames Chris for the murder of an ally of the Karayans. To escape, Chris is forced to order her men to burn the Karayan village down, and kills a friend of Hugo’s in self-defense in the process.

Then there’s Geddoe, another third-fourth?-party who is a mercenary captain searching the Grasslands for the Flame Champion, a hero of the Grasslands from fifty years ago. Geddoe is in the service of the Harmonian Empire, whose 50-year truce with the Grasslands has just ended. Geddoe takes in Aila, a girl from Hugo’s village, but appears to be completely neutral in the conflict.

The series is already very complex three volumes in. Several roles have changed, various characters are off on personal missions, and there have already been a number of twists* and revelations, including a few secret identities. I am suppressing a lot of “ZOMG! Plot twist!” comments in an effort to avoid spoilers. I suspect that’s all future posts on the series will be, though. All sides in the conflict are portrayed sympathetically, and several people you would expect to be villified aren’t. With the exceptions of Hugo and Aila (who are noticably younger than the rest-13 or 14 would be my guess-and also have the issue of wanting vengeance), no one in the cast is portrayed as strictly “good” or “bad.” At this point, even Hugo has had to face the reality that there’s more going on than just being able to point at Chris as the destroyer of his home, and Chris herself has forced him to realize that killing someone is a burden.

There’s also a cranky, cigar smoking military duck, and a horde of ax-wielding bunnies. I love you, Japan. Not to mention Hugo’s pet gryphon, Fubar. It takes great effort to type that name without giggling. Fubar has amazing angst.

Also, while the male fighters outnumber the female fighters quite a bit, we have female characters in a variety of combat and leadership roles, not just Chris, and so far, they’ve all been treated as equal to their male counterparts. I’m particularly fond of Hugo’s whip-wielding mother, who is evolving into the leader of the Grassland armies.


*The twists haven’t been particularly unpredictable, but they have been fun.

Comments

[lostopenwindows.livejournal.com]

One of the strongest points in the Suikoden III game is that the POV switches between Hugo, Chris and Geddoe. While it's not my favorite Suikoden III game it holds a special place because of it shows different perspectives and no one is really just good or bad. The manga doesn't have the clear distinction between the different POV as the game had but still does a very good job showing it.

And the axe wielding bunnies? Recurring in all Suikoden games.

Reading this post reminds me that I need to read the last two volumes. I bought them last summer and have completely forgotten about them :S