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妖 / By The Sword #1
By The Sword Volume 1
It takes a special man to wield a special sword. Long ago, a half-breed swordsmith forged the Moegi, a magical sword now sought by the demon hunter Asagi. Asagi has searched the land high and low in the hope that this sword can handle his awesome might, which tends to destroy ordinary swords. He meets Kaede, a half-breed demon girl, who leads him to the Moegi. There's just one problem - only the nephew of the spirit trapped inside the blade can draw it from its sheath! Will Asagi find the nephew and make the sword his?
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
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55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 31, 2017
Ya know, I thought a manga called By The Sword would be right up my alley. Oh my gosh, was that a wrong assumption to make.
What's it about?:
This guy wants a magical demon sword and goes on a quest with a girl and a little demon.
Pros:
The art is pretty sweet.
It's sometimes pretty humorous.
The action scenes are good when they come up.
It's not a predictable one.
Cons:
The story is pretty much the most stereotypical manga storyline the creator could have come up with only he makes it more confusing than most manga (at least most of the manga I've read).
The characters... oh my gosh, it's so awful it almost makes me cry. They are all so d*** annoying throughout and there is absolutely nothing to these characters. This book doesn't even try to convince you to give a s*** about them, it tells you nothing about them except for what happens to them here.
For a book called something like By The Sword it's pretty f***ing boring. Maybe I've been spoiled by other manga titles with swords involved being able to tell a good and action packed story but yeah, this is mostly just the not worth caring about characters blabbing at each other with the occasional good action scene.
The ending is very... I don't know... it doesn't fit like they maybe should've added another chapter.
Overall:
This is pretty bad. I would have maybe enjoyed it if it wasn't the same d*** things we've seen in a bunch of other anime and/or manga several times only done better with characters worth giving a s*** about. I'm not trying to be particularly harsh but I can't help it. Plain and simple: it's probably the worst manga I've read. If you see this at the library and (like me) think about grabbing it because you think the name sounds cool, I would advise against it though I suppose a few things in this are praise worthy.
2/5
What's it about?:
This guy wants a magical demon sword and goes on a quest with a girl and a little demon.
Pros:
The art is pretty sweet.
It's sometimes pretty humorous.
The action scenes are good when they come up.
It's not a predictable one.
Cons:
The story is pretty much the most stereotypical manga storyline the creator could have come up with only he makes it more confusing than most manga (at least most of the manga I've read).
The characters... oh my gosh, it's so awful it almost makes me cry. They are all so d*** annoying throughout and there is absolutely nothing to these characters. This book doesn't even try to convince you to give a s*** about them, it tells you nothing about them except for what happens to them here.
For a book called something like By The Sword it's pretty f***ing boring. Maybe I've been spoiled by other manga titles with swords involved being able to tell a good and action packed story but yeah, this is mostly just the not worth caring about characters blabbing at each other with the occasional good action scene.
The ending is very... I don't know... it doesn't fit like they maybe should've added another chapter.
Overall:
This is pretty bad. I would have maybe enjoyed it if it wasn't the same d*** things we've seen in a bunch of other anime and/or manga several times only done better with characters worth giving a s*** about. I'm not trying to be particularly harsh but I can't help it. Plain and simple: it's probably the worst manga I've read. If you see this at the library and (like me) think about grabbing it because you think the name sounds cool, I would advise against it though I suppose a few things in this are praise worthy.
2/5
August 25, 2017
I've been reading and collecting manga/yaoi for a long time. I was thrilled when more works by my favorite author came out but unfortunetly publishers houses would open and close on a whim leaving series uncompleted. I think that's what happened with this one. I read v. 1 and 2 but never got further than that.
December 7, 2016
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
By The Sword wasn't what I was expecting - for better or worse. What we have here is a vapid story in a bog standard fantasy Japanese setting. The characters are all exceedingly stupid and most are pretty hard to like. The series has only two volumes - I get the impression that it wasn't well received and canceled early as a result.Story: Asagi is a demon hunter looking for the moegi - a special sword that is magically forged and won't break. When he meets a young half demon girl, Kaede, he also finds the moegi. Turns out, her father forged the weapon but he has been rendered nearly chibi size from a curse. Kaede wants to help her demon father get back to normal form. Asagi wants the sword to aid him in hunting bad demons. Problem is, when Asagi releases the Moegi, Kaede's father then possesses Kaede, much to Asagi's discomfort. They will go on a journey to find a way to release Kaede's father and help Asagi find his heritage.
The story is centered on humor - more slapstick than anything really intelligently written. As such, it is a light and fluffy read that you can't take too seriously. Coincidences abound and the 'evil' creatures are just as cute as the good ones. It's the sort of story that feels very '1990s manga' rather than the more sophisticated fare of the modern manga era.
The artwork is fine but again also feels very 1990s dated. Those expecting the undertones of Fake will be disappointed - there's no romance here and the female characters are incredibly annoying. Honestly, I couldn't even figure out what the purpose was of Kaede since she was written to be a 4 year old in the body of a teen and the only thing she does is a running joke of eating everything in sight.
Admittedly, I wasn't very enchanted by the first volume and didn't really feel compelled to seek out the second and final volume. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
May 18, 2017
This is about a quest to find a sword that here dad is trapped in. This is and adventure type book. I recommend this to all
November 30, 2012
2 part fantasy series from the author of Fake. Sadly doesn't get anywhere, but what there is is fun. The two demon hunters Asagi and Suoh do look like clones of Ryo and Dee (Fake) although there isn't any yaoi content in this series. We have a half-demon demon bounty hunter who gets a magic sword posessed by a fire demon. When he uses his sword the demon has to hop out of it and posess his daughter (guardian of the sword) and suddenly Asagi's companion on the road. She's a fiesty little thing that easts away all their profits. Series shows a lot of promise with interesting characters & story and excellent clean artwork, such a shame that it doesn't seem to go beyond a second volume. Amongst the demons enountered in this volume is a Kappa which is pretty cute.
March 6, 2015
I bought this book at the community thrift shop, and, admittedly, it was the first manga I had read. However, I enjoyed it: the characters were fun, and the basis of the manga was interesting. The graphics were of decent quality and it made sense. I wouldn't give it 5 stars because it was pretty predictable.
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June 17, 2010F MAT
v. 1
v. 1
manga
October 28, 2014It was interesting
April 7, 2015
The manga was sometimes confusing and unclear, but the mystic plot was intriguing, even though its not explained very well.
May 18, 2017
I liked how the author made her father small in tiny. I also liked hoe he made the guys she meets half human and half demon.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews