THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, VOL. 8: THE MINISH CAP

The Legend of Zelda #8

by Akira Himekawa

R to L (Japanese Style) In the mystical land of Hyrule, three spiritual stones hold the key to the Triforce, and whoever holds them will control the world. A boy named Link sets out on a quest to deliver the Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, to Zelda, Pr

The Minish CapOn the day of the Picori Festival, Link and Princess Zelda go to watch the sword-fighting tournament. The winner is a strange man named Vaati, who has come to claim the Light Force which is sealed within the Bound Chest. When the Light Force turns up missing, Vaati turns Princess Zelda to stone! To save his friend, Link needs the power of the Picori Blade, but only a certain master swordsmith can reforge it. Can Link find the pieces of the broken sword before Vaati does? The manga adapation of the legendary video game series, now available in English for the first time! Become part of the Legend – The Legend of Zelda!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Video Games, Adventure, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Akira Himekawa is the collaboration of two women, A. Honda and S. Nagano. Together they have created nine manga adventures featuring Link and the popular video game world of The Legend of Zelda, including Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords. Their most recent work, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, was serialized in Shogaku Rokunensei.

Reviews

[K.K. Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loooove all those Zelda/Link storys <3

[Javier Lárraga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pues la verdad es que estoy gratamente sorprendido con este manga de Zelda. Como algunos de mis amigos más cercanos sabrán soy muy fan de esta franquicia de videojuegos y aunque siempre soy de evitar este tipo de adaptaciones por las restricciones que les imponen a los escritores (no olvidemos que tienen que trabajar con un guion ya establecido), el manga de The Minish Cap ciertamente fue muy divertido de leer.

The Minish Cap para mi fortuna es de los pocos Zeldas que no había jugado así que sin saber la gran cosa de su historia entre a esta versión re-imaginada por Akira Himekawa que estuvo muy bonita y creo que valió mucho la pena. El argumento nos habla del reino de Hyrule que en el pasado había sido invadido por una horda de demonios que estuvieron a punto de llevarlo a su destrucción, fue entonces cuando aparecieron los Picoris (o Minish en su idioma original) y le otorgaron a un joven espadachín una espada sagrada con la que derrotó a los monstruos y los selló en un cofre. Después de algún tiempo de paz y de prosperidad y en el aniversario del acontecimiento, aparece un hechicero llamado Vaati que rompe el sello por lo cual un niño del pueblo llamado Link se lanza a la aventura para encontrar a los Picoris; los únicos seres capaces de restaurar la espada y de paso detener al poderoso brujo.

La trama como podrán ver es la típica historia de “el viaje del héroe” que caracteriza a los juegos de la franquicia, y aunque el guion es bastante simplón (apegandose a la fórmula de los juegos en los que progresas, entras a una mazmorra y repites), a mi lo que me sorprendió fue cómo es que el mangaka adaptó la historia del Zelda en cuestión y a su vez las mecánicas jugables de manera que el manga se siente bastante orgánico respecto al material de origen y no como que solo se esté trasladando la historia principal de un videojuego cuyo enfoque es la jugabilidad y las cosas que el usuario puede hacer por su cuenta, claro hay cosas que por obvias razones deben acortarse como la exploración e interacciones con personajes secundarios pero afortunadamente Zelda es de esas sagas que son un 50/50 en la experiencia jugable y en la trama así que no queda nada mal la visión que Akira tiene del videojuego.

Lo segundo que más me gustó fue el arte que aunque es muy caricaturizada con rasgos típicos de personajes de ánime, creo que a este Zelda en específico le pega muy bien ese estilo pues los modelados de los personajes del juego también tenían características similares, puede que esto junto a las libertades creativas que el artista se tomó para contar la historia molesten a algunos de los fans pero yo creo que el manga esta muy bien funcionando como algo autoconclusivo y separado de la cronología oficial.

Pienso que The Minish Cap fue una experiencia muy bonita y que sin duda alguna sus encantadores personajes y ese final tan emotivo me dieron muchas ganas ver que fue lo que hizo el mangaka con las demás historias de Zelda que adaptó.

[Juliette Sarrazin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Teo Stammler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's too cute

[Celebandùne · Rating 3 out of 5]

7.5/10

The legend of ZELDA - The Minish Cap is an adorable and cute story that this manga just makes even more adorable! Link is Princess Zelda's childhood friend and wants to celebrate the Minish Festival, which happens to be on a 100th anniversary; a special occasion because legends say, the portal to the world of the Minish opens only once every 100 years. A big tourney is held in the castle of Hyrule, and a mysterious magician named Vaati easily wins it. He manages to get his hands on the Minish Sword, destroys it and petrifies the princess. Link, the son of a smith, takes the sword to get it fixed, but the King of Hyrule tells him, only the Minish can fix the sword. And since only children can see Minish, Link is tasked with finding them and restoring the sword to full health!

The manga is sweet and tells a simple but somehow captivating story, as close to the game as possible, with all the extra story bits needed for a story like this to work. It has an adorable art style and can be lots of fun to read. Like many other Zelda mangas, it doesn't get very deep at all, but I wouldn't say that kept me from enjoying it in the long run!

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tone of Minish Cap is much in line with the Oracle of Seasons/Ages set. Comical, silly, and fun. Perhaps even more so.
The tone and attitude never even remotely veers towards dark and gloomy. Ezlo is a constant source of snarky humor. This interpretation of Link is rarely serious and often a bit of a bumbling goofball.

Battles are at an all time low and most of what Link does is simply show up in time to receive a prize or talisman. Temple progression is barely even depicted. Often he simply is shown finishing or receiving whatever is needed. Travel time is also low and the journey feels rushed into a fast forward pace.

The art style is wonderful and there are a few moments that really give the reader a feeling of a great epic journey. Though they are just glimpses of what is left unsaid and under shown.

Perhaps the least serious entry of the entire set. This book shines in its total embrace of comedy and character interplay. Though the lack of a serious tone and feeling of gravity to the events unfolding does feel like a slight betrayal of the story actually being told.

[Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute! I always really liked the Minish Cap's more small scale (teehee) adventure and I admire the attempt at adding a bit more depth to the narrative with Link learning the merit of hard work. That being said it feels a little too shackled to hitting all the notes of the game instead of actually exploring that storyline with a defining emotional conflict. By the end point, the manga is having Link say these heroic lines that don't really have anything to do with the adventure he went on since it was a bunch of "Link went here and fought this thing'. Overall it was still an enjoyable, short read and the art was adorable; it's just not all that deep.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first manga. I loved reading this one.

Only the first pages are coloured and the others are monochrome. I think it would be nice if all the pages were coloured, so it will be graphically even better.

It’s very smoothly to read. I think the art looks nice and the story is fascinating. There are cute things but also funny situations in this story.

The sound of Link while swinging his sword written down in this story.. it’s like you’re playing the game.

Just read this one and let Link take you on an adventure!

[Nick 4/7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting contains a lot of content and is very enjoyable

[Rainier C · Rating 5 out of 5]

bro who decided to make a damn HAT that gives me gender envy. like ezlo is actually the ideal shape

[Brie Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I demand justice for the great mayfly fairy

[Mega · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been quite a while now since I last took a look into the world of The Legend of Zelda manga adaptations, and that is a damn shame, not only because of the fact that it took too long for me to get to this next volume in the series, but also due to the fact that..... I have missed the series quite a bit. While I wouldn't say that these are the best adaptations that I have ever seen, and all of the books so far have had their own sets of problems, they definitely made up for it by managing to properly retell the stories of the games in a concise and accurate way (for the most part), gave the characters plenty of personality which made you love them more then you would've in the games, gave us plenty of sweet art, action and fun dialogue to go with it, and even on rare occasions, gave us a nice change of pace compared to other volumes in this series by taking specific stories in a different direction which were also very welcome, and were fun to read as well. Makes me wish that I have been more consistent with reviewing this series so I can see it in action more often, but thankfully now, I am going to fix that (kind of) by taking a look at the next entry in this series, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap manga adaptation.

Like with every other adaptation in this series so far, I too have played the Minish Cap at one point long before I decided to sit down and check this manga out, and it was actually kind of convenient, considering this was actually the Zelda game that I had beaten most recently, which wasn't gonna end up changing my opinion on the thing at all, but it was still a nice little coincidence. Either way though, my recent history with the game didn't have much of an impact on what I was expecting when going into this manga, which was more or less just more of what we got from the previous adaptations, with some changes to be seen here or there. Not to mention, given the fact that this one was going for a much more cute and fun art style, I assumed it was gonna be a lot more comedic in nature as well, which I wasn't entirely against, but I was at least hoping that they were gonna give us a good balance of both comedy and action to satisfy both crowds when it comes to these stories, along the comedy and action themselves both being good of course. So, now that I have read the manga, can I say it managed to deliver on all fronts?........ ahhhhhhh....... kinda? I will say, this is definitely not the best adaptation in this series so far, not even close, as it does have its problems and doesn't go quite as far as you would expect to make it more interesting, but it still does end up being an entertaining read, giving you most of what you expect and want out of one of these Zelda adaptations, while having plenty of fun moments, some sweet action and all of the Zelda motifs that you could want to make it a good time from start to finish.

The story isn't anything all that special, more or less being yet another direct adaptation of the game with them obviously changing around some things to make the story much more concise and better, which does make it a fun story overall and one that does follow the events of the game very well, even though I do wish there was a little more to it, but more on that later, the characters are good, with Link being pretty good here, being the kind of courageous, brave and lovable dork that we love and expect out of him at this point, with this not being the best version of Link we have seen in this story so far, but he is still pretty fun to read about in his own way, and others here like Ezlo, Zelda and all of the characters that they encounter on their journey also end up being pretty solid as well, even if I wouldn't say I ended up falling in love with any of these characters here, which is to be expected, but still, the writing is pretty decent, to where a lot of the lines here are pretty cliche and forced for the kind of story this is, but there weren't too many points where I was getting annoyed or cringing at any of the dialogue shown, and it all helped in helping the story progress forward naturally and be funny on occasion, which helped it out in the end, the art is really good, to where like I mentioned earlier, it is much more cute, fun and goofy this time around, definitely aiming to look a lot more silly and appealing rather then being epic and intrigueing, which I am perfectly fine with, and I did end up growing to like it quite a bit, despite how it isn't my favorite art style that the series has had so far, and the action is also good too, to where it isn't anywhere near as good as plenty of the other adaptations that we have gotten so far, but there is enough of it to make for some exciting parts and some cool looking panels that makes it all worth reading and checking out at the end of the day.

But of course, this manga isn't without issue, as there are some that do drag it down enough for me to where I wouldn't say it is quite as good as a lot of the others that we have gotten here. For one thing, if you have read every other adaptation in this series so far, then there is nothing you will be shocked by here: it plays things very safe when it comes to a Zelda adaptation and gives you everything that you would expect, from the story to the characters to what happens within said story, so on and so forth. Naturally, this doesn't make the manga bad by any means, but it does make it so that those who weren't able to get into the other volumes of this series, or just didn't like them at all, then you probably wouldn't end up liking this one either. And speaking of the story, that also leads me to another problem that I did have with this manga, which is with how straightforward it is. It is as by the numbers as you can get for a video game adaptation, where it follows along the main quest with little to no diversions getting in the way of what really matters in the grand scheme of things, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does pale in comparison to some of the other manga we have had before this. Take the Oracle adaptations for example: while those two volumes also followed closely to the plot of the games they were based on, they also took liberties and tried new things, exploring different kinds of scenarios and ideas that had never been done in the series before, which made them way more interesting to read and made them some of my absolute favorite entries in this lineup of adaptations. This one though, in comparison, doesn't do any of that, and instead just plays things straight for the whole thing, which, again, isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just wish there was a little more going on here to where it would get me more hooked on the story and whatever happens in it. Aside from those few things though, along with the action scenes still being kinda weak, I still did end up enjoying this volume quite a bit, so it all ends up working out in the manga's favor.

Overall, despite a lack of major change and not doing anything too new or interesting with its story, The Minish Cap manga adaptation still managed to be a solid entry in this very solid series at the end of the day, giving fans of the original game a pretty accurate retelling of that game's story with plenty of fun moments to be seen throughout, while also giving us more of the things that we have loved about these other Zelda adaptations so far, which made it so that I had a good time with this book overall, what with its simple, yet still entertaining story, a set of good characters paired up with some pretty decent writing, a cute and fun art style that leads to plenty of fun and nice looking visuals throughout the whole book, and action scenes that, while not being anything too exciting, still know how to raise the stakes and make things more interesting for the reader, which ends up making them solid enough on their own for what they are too. I would recommend it for those that loved the original game, as well as for those who are huge fans of both the other Zelda adaptations and manga like this in general, as while this volume probably won't do anything to amaze or wow you like some of the other ones so far, it still does just enough right to where you will still probably end off the whole thing with a smile on your face by the time you are done reading it, which is all I could ask for at the end of the day. But anyways, since I can't think of anything else to say before the end of this review, I would just like to point out that there is a part in this book where, while being shrunken down, Link tries to sneak a peak up a girl's skirt to try to look at her panties............ *whaps Link on the head with a newspaper*, no, bad Link! You can't be doing that, that's not right!....... do you want to end up in horny jail? Cause there are already plenty of manga protagonists that have ended up in there, and trust me, you do NOT want to be put in there with the rest of them.

Book #25

[Malachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the day of the picori festival and link wanted to sword fighting. A strange man won ,but he didn't want money he wanted the light force. The light force was sealed up, but he would anything for it he started to turn Zelda into stone. Vaati is to strong for link and if he doesn't beat him Zelda will be stone forever. Link gets the picori blade and brawls out with Vaati and with the strength of link and the picori blade they defeated Vaati and Zelda was brought back to life.

I took this book because I'm a fan of manga and legend of Zelda is one of my favorites.

I continued and finished the book because I got really good and very interesting and I really like adventure and fantasy.

I think that Fahad would like this book because I know that he really likes the legend of Zelda.

[Matisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever, adorable little one-volume manga based off of the game. The authors do their best to give Link a character, and the panels that are stylized after the actual game POV are cute. At times it made me want to actually be playing Minish Cap instead, for sure, but I still had a good time with this interpretation of the material, too.

[Athaliah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's about Link the main character looking for these special gems to restore a special sword. The princess has been turned to stone and the sword is the only way to unstone her. Link goes to the Picori world to get the special stones. Then the Person who stoned her disguise as the father. But he is beaten by Link and He was actually a picori then goes back to his world.

[Reckless Serenade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ezero me ha resultado un personaje muy divertido.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friggin' adorbs.

Not like the game at all (Link talks, the cheeky monkey) but soooo cute!

[Tarra McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One word: hilarious

[Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a sweet book, and I know that I've said that for every single Legend of Zelda manga so far, but I don't care, it applies to this as well. I liked how the story was both so similar and also so different from every other Zelda game. We have the usual "Link gets shoved into the position of a hero and he has to save Princess Zelda," but then we have a story that focuses so much about these mysterious creatures, the Picori. We got to follow Link along as he visited different groups of Picori across Hyrule so he can fix the Sacred Blade to save Zelda and defeat Vaati. I really liked how cartoonish and whimsical the art style was, and I also like how lighthearted everything managed to be even though the conflict itself was pretty serious. When it comes to LOZ villains, Vaati in this story was not nearly as dangerous or evil as someone like Ganondorf, or Vaati in other games, or Zant, or literally anyone else (except for maybe Lady Maude). But I still really liked him and his background and story.

My favorite aspect of the book was definitely the Picori themselves and getting to explore their villages. They were all really sweet and overly cheery, sort of like the Koroks in Breath of the Wild. In general the Picori remind me of the Koroks, both in personality but in way of life. They also reminded me a lot of Gelflings from the Dark Crystal universe, whom are also split up in tribes that live in different natural settings. Obviously the first group of Picori we meet are in the Minish Woods, while the BOTW Koroks are in the Korok Forest, so they live in similar settings and their way of life is both so connected to nature and the natural elements of their settings. Obviously Picori live all throughout Hyrule, but they still live in similar ways and have a connection to Hyrule that not many of the other creatures/races of people of Hyrule have. Besides the Forest Picori we met the Mountain Picori and those Town Picori, who were my favorite. I enjoyed seeing little Link run around the town being chased after various animals, including a child, and it was hilarious. I also liked seeing the Picori in the library and I thought that Librari was really adorable. The only other Picori character who I thought was better was Festari, which I don't think I need to explain.

I want to talk about our good pal Ezlo, who was certainly something else. I can say with 99% accuracy that this book would not have been nearly as enjoyable as it was if Ezlo hadn't been in it. He was super sassy, morally gray, hilariously harsh on Link, and he complains about every single thing. He reminds me of cranky villagers from Animal Crossing, which is one of my favorite villager personalities. The one thing I will say about Ezlo is that I wish he was given another name, because I couldn't help but think of Elmo and Enzo's, which is a restaurant in my town. It was sort of hard to take him seriously when everything his name was mentioned I thought of a red muppet and a literal pizza place, but I'm not complaining. It only made it better, if you ask me. It was pretty obvious from the start that there was more to Ezlo than he was letting on, and Link, who doesn't have the Triforce of Wisdom for a reason, didn't start to second guess him until a fair way into the book.

I want to circle back to Vaati again, and although I like him I also thought he was the weakest part of the story. Ignoring his backstory, I thought from the moment he was introduced that he was way to tame of a villain. He wasn't really malicious or wanted to hurt anyone, he just was overly ambitious who took things a bit too far. He wasn't even the person causing most of the havoc- he just let out some dark spirits and let them do their things. When he came across Ezlo and Link looking for the same thing he was, instead of trying to kill them or at the very least trying to set their progress back, he just kind of left. Jumping forward to the end of the story, I did really like the final fight scene although the battle lasted LITERALLY FIVE PAGES starting when Link first attacked. Ezlo makes a big deal about how Link needs the sword to defeat Vaati, but then Link doesn't do anything. Vaati just tries to absorb so much magic and stuff until it backfires. I did like the art of the final battle- I like Vaati's final form in the book, and even though it isn't exactly how it is in the game, it still has details that reference it. Once the battle was over I feel like Vaati was forgiven way too easily. I get that he isn't THAT evil, he just got drunk on power and ambition, but I still think there should have been some more consequences for him other than simply being embarrassed and ashamed of his actions.

Overall I really loved this book, and besides some issues I had with Vaati I really liked the story. I loved the art, the settings, all of the characters, and I enjoyed even the smallest moments om the story. I really enjoyed the Four Swords books, and I'm glad that this one was also really great. I am getting sad that I'm getting towards the end of this series, but I have been thoroughly enjoying it and at this point even if the last two books are atrocious it still wouldn't drag it down. Now I'm patiently waiting for this game to come to switch so I can experience Ezlo's sassiness first-hand.

[Valentina Bellettini · Rating 2 out of 5]

E' piuttosto raro che io valuti una lettura con una o due stelle, ma è cosa ancor più rara che io dia un giudizio tale quando si tratta di Zelda. Le opere di Miyamoto e soci (questo è un titolo sviluppato dalla Capcom) sono magiche, epiche, appassionanti; se le Akira Himekawa sono comunque riuscite ad essere all'altezza con la conversione manga di "Ocarina of Time", "Majora's Mask" e "Four Swords +", non si può dire che qui abbiano fatto lo stesso.
La storia di "Minish Cap" narra del giovanissimo Link che, come sempre, deve salvare la sua amica Principessa Zelda, stavolta tramutata in una statua di pietra a seguito di un sortilegio del mago Vaati. Il malvagio si è liberato di lei per agire incontrastato nel recupero della Forza di Luce, oggetto sacro capace di conferire l'onnipotenza, e credendo fosse custodito nello scrigno della famiglia reale, Vaati ne ha rotto il sigillo della Spada Sacra, ma con il solo risultato di liberare tutte le forze del male in esso imprigionate. Mentre il mondo di Hyrule si popola di mostri d'ogni genere, Vaati riprende la ricerca della Forza di Luce, e Link intraprende la sua avventura per salvare Zelda riforgiando la Spada Sacra, l'unico oggetto capace di spezzare la maledizione; secondo delle antiche leggende, infatti, la Spada Sacra fu forgiata dai Picori, ovvero gnomi grandi quanto un pollice che aiutano gli umani nel quotidiano senza farsi vedere (un po' come Arrietty di Miyazaki!), gli stessi esseri che in un'era remota aiutarono l'eroe a contrastare le forze del male donandogli proprio quella spada magica. I Picori vivono nelle Minish Woods (la foresta dei Minish) e si dice che solo i bambini siano in grado di vederli...
Una volta raggiunta la foresta, Link s'imbatte in una strana creatura, un cappuccio parlante di nome Ezlo che dice di sapere parecchie cose sui Picori, ad esempio che per scovarli occorre essere minuscoli, così suggerisce a Link di salire sopra a un ceppo lì vicino, dove a seguito di qualche parola magica il nostro eroe si rimpicciolisce! Quando trova i Picori, scopre che per riparare la Spada Sacra occorre recuperare i quattro elementi (terra, acqua, fuoco e vento) sparsi per Hyrule.
Questa la trama che trapela dal manga così come dal videogioco, ma per quanto riguarda il manga, in realtà, già dalle prime pagine partiamo male. Leggiamo: "Ti hanno mai narrato dei Picori?" ed è un'introduzione di un solo foglio, messa lì senza criterio, perché nel foglio subito dopo vediamo che Link e il suo parente sono in tutt'altre faccende affaccendati, dunque di chi era quella voce narrante? Ho persino controllato su delle scan online se il manga iniziava davvero in questo modo e non ci sono pagine mancanti, è proprio così che comincia la storia! Mi ha dato una così brutta impressione che sono andata a caricare il gioco presente nel mio 3DS (grazie al "Programma Ambasciatori Nintendo" l'ho ricevuto in omaggio, tra gli altri giochi, per aver acquistato il 3DS prima del taglio del prezzo) e perché avevo ricordi confusi, visto che il gioco è del 2004 e uscì per Gameboy Advance; ebbene, se la storia fosse almeno iniziata come nel videogioco, ossia con l'antica leggenda della Spada Minish forgiata dai Picori... nel manga è nominata in seguito ma non è la stessa cosa; una gestione "spartana" della trama che crea anche confusione.
Della storia mi è subito sembrato strano anche il fatto che il fabbro fosse il nonno di Link; ho controllato, e infatti nell'originale si parla di zio (mamma mia quanto sono precisina quando si tratta di Zelda...!) che in realtà Link non deve prepararsi per combattere, quindi non viene bocciato (le Akira Himekawa gli fanno pure fare la parte dello "sfigato"), e in generale hanno dato a Link e Zelda un'interpretazione del carattere che non mi è piaciuta proprio: Link che non crede all'esistenza dei Picori?! Dov'è finito il suo cuore puro? Poi approfitta del suo essere minuscolo per guardare sotto la gonna di una ragazza; questo non è Link! E chi è quella Zelda capricciosa che pur di convincere Link ad accompagnarla alla festa del paese si mette a lagnare e piangere?! E va bene che nel genere manga è tipica la presenza di qualche "sipario comico", ma questi non sono gli eroi che conosciamo noi appassionati! Mi ricordavo una Zelda vivace, un po' maschiaccio e ribelle perché sfugge al comportamento consono a una principessa, ma non una così viziata e capricciosa come ci viene mostrata nel manga!
Un altro aspetto che è un peccato non sia stato mantenuto, è la particolarità della lingua Minish: quando Link incontra per la prima volta i Picori, le due razze non riescono a capirsi. Mentre seguivo il manga ho provato a leggere al contrario le frasi pronunciate dai Picori: non avevano comunque senso, ma mi ha ricordato il giapponese. Nel videogioco, infatti, da brava otaku sono andata a controllare per poi (ri)scoprire che i Picori parlano italiano al contrario, e a quanto pare i traduttori hanno sorvolato questo dettaglio lasciando il linguaggio com'era nel manga originale (ossia il giapponese al contrario). Riguardo all'edizione della J-pop c'è da dire che sono presenti anche degli errori di stampa.
Come già visto negli altri manga della serie proposti dalle Akira Himekawa, anche in questo volume la storia scorre fin troppo in fretta quando si tratta di dungeon, boss, e oggetti speciali che poi entrano nell'arsenale d'armi di Link; in questo manga la presenza di tali elementi è ancora più scarna. D'un tratto vediamo Link in un dungeon che ottiene quello straordinario oggetto chiamato Giara Magica, poi lo vediamo con il Bastone Sottosopra, e sempre più a mo' di sketch, eccolo indossare i Guantoni Talpa! Ma che tristezza, non c'è un benché minimo di approfondimento e nemmeno una situazione che mostri come ognuno di questi oggetti sia importante per il proseguimento dell'avventura.
Durante la mia esperienza videoludica di Minish Cap, ricordo il tempo che dedicai alla ricerca dei cosiddetti "Frammenti di Felicità", amuleti spezzati da fondere con la giusta (e smarrita) metà. Era una fase di gioco lunga e impegnativa, perché si accumulavano pezzi senza trovare la controparte mancante, e ce n'erano un'infinità! Pur essendo una sub-quest era appassionante anche perché rivelava degli approfondimenti sui vari personaggi; nel manga, invece, la fusione dei frammenti si presenta solo un paio di volte, cosicché non nasce lo stesso entusiasmo.
E' proprio questo ciò che manca al manga: entusiasmo, phatos, coinvolgimento. E' del tutto assente la magia che si respirava nel videogioco, quella sensazione di trovarsi in un altro mondo quando in realtà è lo stesso ma visto al microscopio, dove ti sembra essere una formica che passeggia tra ghiande e bottoni giganti, arrampicandoti nelle coste dei libri e temendo la polvere, col rischio d'affogare in quello che sembra un lago ma in realtà è solo una piccola pozzanghera, sfuggendo a gatti e pulcini che ti scambiano per cibo. Veramente ci sarebbero anche questi siparietti, ma nel videogioco era più intenso, aveva più spazio ed era vissuto costantemente come caratteristica principale della storia (un altro esempio, controllare tutto ciò che ti circonda alla ricerca di sentieri e piccole casette a cui si accede solo in forma Minish).
Nella storia cartacea sono poi sbandierati dei messaggi positivi talmente scontati e banali che fanno cadere le braccia. Mi si era creata una certa aspettativa sulla vicenda della farfalla che canta (non ricordo se fosse presente anche nel videogioco; in questo caso non ho controllato perché dovrei rifare tutta l'avventura!) ma alla fine si conclude in poche pagine e le solite battute melense.
Le Akira Himekawa ci regalano però degli extra, 6 pagine che riguardano il passato di Vaati. Beh, non fanno né caldo né freddo; non era meglio dedicare quelle pagine alla storia vera e propria?
Si salvano solo i disegni, ma si era visto di meglio con "Ocarina of Time" e "Majora's Mask".


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[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully fun one-shot manga volume that covers the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. It's a lighthearted adventure with the young hero Link, as he goes through Hyrule seeking out the four elements necessary to restore the sacred sword (not the Master Sword, that's in another timeline!) to full power after it was destroyed by the game's villain.

Like all of the Legend of Zelda games, Link goes through the Hero's Journey, but in this manga, it's from the perspective of a child and aimed toward children. That's in contrast to Ocaraina of Time and Twilight Princess, which are darker and aimed for teens. As such, there's an optimism and push to your best, to aim for a better result, a message that your striving will all work out in the end. There's also a great deal of funny moments, with Elzo, Link's partner for the adventure, regularly making amusing quips and observations. The art is cute, as befitting the type of story and audience. There are cute little chibi skits that appeal to humor, and of course the Picori (a helpful type of fairy) are all drawn to be adorable.

The flaws - there is a definite commitment to hit the notes of the original game relatively quickly. There's not too much focus on emotional growth or on making combat exciting for the reader. Still, it's fun to read and enjoyable. Whether as an adult or as a child, it's a nice, clean, straightforward adventure with a happy ending.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 8, adapting a 2005 Game Boy Advance game.
When the mysterious mage Vaati turns Princess Zelda to stone, young Link must shrink down to enter the world of the Picori to reforge a powerful sword and defeat the villain.

Despite being Book 8 of this series, this book has the least continuity with the rest of the books of any of them so far (and that's saying something). Even Vaati, who was a wind demon in the last book (Four Swords - Part 2) is a totally different character here.
The overall look and tone of the book is also geared more to younger readers too, feeling more like a fairytale than a fantasy adventure. So, best to think of this as a standalone adventure aimed at a younger audience, rather than part of the larger Legend of Zelda series (not that there's much continuity anyway).

Since it's lighter in tone and more kid-friendly in style than the other Manga books in this series, I definitely enjoyed it less than I have done the others. But that's not to say that it's bad really. This is still a perfectly enjoyable Hyrule-based adventure, just a different flavour.

All that said, I do have to raise a bit of a 'Yikes' at the scene where tiny shrunken Link uses the opportunity to look up a woman's skirt. Not cool dude, not cool.

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[Philmore Olazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far the most lighthearted Zelda adaptation.

Here Link is a young boy friends with Princes Zelda. One day during a festival, the kingdom is attacked by the wizard, Vaati, who's looking for the Triforce, leaving Zelda petrified.

Link swears to save his friend and the kingdom and must travel to find the legendary Picori, who can only be seen by children, to reforge a magic sword capable of defeating Vaati.

The story captures the essence of the game and showcases many of the gameplay elements in a fun way. But it quickly forgets about them to continue the telling.

Link is by far my favorite part of the story, his pure heart is what keeps him going throughout the adventure.

Overall it suffers from the same problem other Zelda books have, it's too short to tell such a long story.

[Blaine Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on the Minish Cap. I felt like this story was paced so nicely. I didn’t ever feel it was rushed. I feel that Link collecting all the elements was very fleshed out. Ezlo, who is also in the game, made such a great companion in this manga. It was really nice to have details revealed in conversations between Ezlo and link. I have only one complaint about this book. There are two panels in this book, which go side by side, which felt very out of place. Felt out of place in the story and just out of place for the Legend of Zelda. For me this just left a bad taste in my mouth. Anyway, I did find what they did with Vaati at the end interesting, especially when comparing it to the video game.

[CarterMan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing it had a compelling story and likable characters. The story's main characters are Elzo the talking hat and Link, Elzo under goes lots of character development while link mostly stays the same but plays a huge part in the climax. The story has many different settings and landscapes including Hyrule, The forest and the sky lands. The villain and the ending are both very underwhelming, Also the villain only shows up at the start and the end. And that is why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guter Manga auf der Basis eines tollen Spiels. Die Story ist gut umgesetzt und man sieht sogar alle vier Dungeons, nur dass das Ende jedes einzelnen gut geändert wurde, um in der Buchform Sinn zu ergeben. Außerdem ist alles so süß gezeichnet. Für Zelda-Fans klar zu empfehlen.

Good manga based on a great game. The story is well realised and you even get to see all four dungeons, except that the ending of each one has been changed to make sense in book form as well. Plus, everything is so cutely drawn. Clearly recommended for Zelda fans.

[ChaosStrolling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read! I love the Picori (especially the priest) and the message of not letting power destroy your morals.
I’m curious about Vaati being mentioned again after the previous book. Ezlo is a great character, both as a cap and a mage. There were a couple of scenes that felt very video gamey and a little rushed, but it was still enjoyable. I absolutely hated Link looking up a girl’s skirt, it felt so out of place. The ending was so good though that I got emotional. The extra stories at the end were also sweet.

[Tracey Dyck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read very many graphic novels, but sometimes a super fast read is in order. And I don't play very many Legend of Zelda games (or any games at all, for that matter), but Link is cute. What can I say.

WHAT I LIKED:

-Super cute drawing style
-Link! Zelda! The Picori! All adorable. <3
-Very fast-paced
-Satisfying conclusion

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
-Like I said, very fast-paced. It's just the nature of graphic novels, though.

All in all, a fun use of my afternoon. :)

[J-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Wednesday, I got Dying Light 2: Stay Human which is a survival horror game. I’ve barely played the game, so it is a little scary right now because I am so under leveled. During a moment where I needed to calm myself down, I paused the game and started reading this cute story since it was one of the closest books on my shelf. When I was a kid, I never played this game.... At least, I don’t remember playing this game. Regardless, this story was cute and just what I needed today!!!

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This self-contained Link story is probably my least gripping one of the series. (It's volume #8) Nothing is wrong with it at all....nothing really but I found myself struggling to care about a relationship with Link and his hat. heh heh Art was good as always but it just seemed like a more forgettable romp throughout Hyrule. But with that said, the story did have a great flow and never slowed down.