Orfina Vol 3-4

[meganbmoore]

Still a pretty good fantasy manga, though with less of the technology that helped set it apart in the first two volumes. Still some unnecessary fanservice.

Fana is gathering up her army, and apparently doing a pretty decent job of it. Cisun has an inner badass, and seems to be being set up as Fana’s love interest. A bit cliché (though her being a decoy princess is a bit different from the normal princess/rogue) but I can’t think of any objections. Cisun’s boss/Fana’s other right-hand-man, Merduz seems to have secrets up his sleeve. He’s also a bit of a ladies man, which means he has a girlfriend who runs a bar and isn’t exactly pushing away Ruka, the cute noblewoman who helps them break into a castle on a rescue mission and has a crush on him. I’d be all for Merduz/Ruka if he didn’t already have a girlfriend, and therefore needs to keep his hands off Ruka.

Actually, I do have a complaint: Fana is doing less fighting now that she has Cisun. Though my annoyance with that is slightly lessened by his tendency to do things like stab his own hand and bang it repeatedly against the wall to keep himself from passing out from smoke when he’s trying to rescue her from the dungeon.

I’m easy that way.

I very much liked the two backstories here. The first was Hyleka (the badass female Granzian[enemy] general with a facial scar) being pulled from the front lines to be the bodyguard of the young Granzian prince. Since she’s in Cordia now and leading men again and the general the prince was worried about is running things, I predict much angst that will eventually be used to have Hyleka switch sides. The second was Orfina and her fiance, Shett, and how they met. Which he flashes back to while visiting her grave, and then slaughtering Granzian knights who watch the site for the Cordian knights who visit it. I predict that he, too, will eventually join with Fana and indulge in much “Woes! She wears the face of my True Love but it is not her!” angsting. Not to mention that everyone will be assuming they’re in love, since they think Fana is Orfina.
 

Comments

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to check this out at some point, but can never remember.

How long is the series supposed to be, anyway?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The series is 12 volumes, but there's a sequel series that hasn't been licensed yet.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

Hmm, probably pushing it as I've got more shelves of long manga than I really want to own as it is. I may need to look into a way of reading it, but still support the creators (I suspect it won't be in the libraries around here (which are just plain awful))