Finally caught up on my first long form ongoing manga. Most manga I've read before this have either been fairly short or I gave up after a couple volumes.
I bought vol 1 on a whim just over a month ago, after having said I struggle to get into manga series that are too long.
Now I'm 22 volumes deep and having to wait for each chapter and volume. I've been way more ridiculously obsessed with this series than I thought I'd be.
Alternative takes on mythology and historical figures is just my kind of jam.
Je crois que maintenant c’est établi, Valkyrie Apocalypse est un divertissement des plus efficaces sachant parfaitement exploiter les mythologies invoqués par les personnages qui se battent dans l’arène. A chaque duel, c’est un régal !
Et cette fois, c’est un duel d’épéiste ! L’auteur aime varier les plaisirs et changer les dynamiques à chaque affrontement ce que je salue et apprécie vraiment. Il reprend certes le même schéma scénaristiques consistant à présenter le passé et les particularités des personnages au milieu des combats pour faire des pauses dans leur affrontement et laisser le spectateur reprendre son souffle, mais qu’est-ce que c’est bien fait.
Le focus se porte sur Susanoo cette fois, personnage de la mythologie japonaise que j’avais découvert autrefois dans l’animé Blue Seed. C’est chouette de plonger dans cette mythologie après avoir écumé les autres et on ne peut qu’apprécier d’avoir en face une autre figure légendaire mais mortelle : avec le génie de l’ère de la fin des samouraïs, Soji Okita. Cela donne une affrontement nippono-nippon au sommet.
La mise en scène de ce dernier est aussi tranchante que les armes qu’ils portent. J’ai été éblouie par celle de Susanoo d’un côté et fascinée par les capacités surhumaines de l’autre qui le transforment presque en démon, ce qui est incroyable. Cela donne un combat passionnant et superbement dessiné. J’ai adoré la représentation de la vitesse et vivacité de leurs échanges au point qu’on en sent l’air vibrer et qu’on les voit disparaître sous nos yeux. Le dessinateur rend parfaitement la sensation de cette vitesse folle et de la difficulté à les suivre.
Puis, le récit du passé de Susanoo, comme d’habitude, humanise à merveille ce dernier et l’éloigne de la figure inaccessible qu’on a des dieux, un procédé que j’apprécie beaucoup. De la même façon, j’adore aller dans les coulisses et voir ce que mijotent certains dieux. C’est distillé sobrement de tomes en tomes et il faut suivre pour ne rien oublier, mais ça fille bien les chocottes si ça se réalise. J’ai donc doublement hâte de poursuivre !
Une poursuite toujours aussi réussie de ces affrontements divins-humains qui prend enfin place dans un cadre 100% japonais qui ne peut que séduire les lecteurs de mangas. J’ai doublement apprécié que ce soit par le choix des personnages et leur histoire, que par la mise en scène si dynamique de ce duel d’épéiste. L’un des combats que j’apprécie le plus à ce jour par sa forme.
The battle between the Godslayer and the Manslayer has finally begun. Sword fights can often be difficult to fully capture on paper, but the manga presents it as effectively as possible, making each clash feel sharp and intense. That said, I did feel that the fight became slightly repetitive and a bit boring at certain points, especially with the heavy focus on stance-by-stance exchanges.
In the middle of the round, we get an unexpected and exciting face-off involving Odin, Buddha, and Beelzebub. Fortunately, Thor steps in before things escalate further, asking everyone to stop fighting until the matches are over out of respect for the warriors who have already lost their lives in Ragnarok. It was a powerful moment that reminded everyone of the true weight of these battles.
Beelzebub also mentions a forbidden book that speaks about Odin’s plan to bring back the Primordial Gods, adding a major layer of mystery and future tension to the story. In response, Buddha finally reveals the source of his knowledge, which makes the larger plot feel even more intriguing.
We also get Susanoo’s backstory, which I found quite interesting. I’m not sure how much of it aligns with real mythology, but in the story, he is deeply impressed by the human mastery of swordsmanship—an art refined through years of dedication and practice. Because of this admiration, he even chooses to live among humans in disguise to study the sword, following the conditions set by his sister, one of the Noble Gods.
The fight itself continues with each warrior countering the other stance by stance, but the final stance revealed in this volume is especially devastating. Its sheer power is enough to seemingly collapse a major portion of Bakumatsu-era Edo, which in turn makes Okita’s eyes glow an even deeper red than usual, ending the volume on a thrilling note.
OH YEAH. THIS IS EATING. this battle is heating TF up like.... i think both of the swordsmen and how they are kinda two sides of the same coin like. its so good. author was COOKING with this one. loved susano's backstory like bro was really in it for the love of the sword. he didn't want to be a god but truly understand what it means to wield a sword. its fucking honorable. but i think my favorite part was the odin shit. like what the FUCK does this dude have planned. i know its gonna be crazy and i wonder how the other gods are going to react. LETS PUSH FOWARD AND CONTINUE OUR BATTLE!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A great battle granted I do wish they would save some of the over all plot stuff to between fights as it was little frustrating to be removed form the fight between Susanoo and Soji just for a brief meeting between Buddha, Odin, and Beelzebub. Granted that meeting did have some interesting hints at something bigger being at play but I just wished they would have saved it for after the fights like they usually do as it does drag the pace down a little.
Compared to the previous transitory volume, this was much better. The fight between Okita Soji and Susanoo finally begins. I've always liked Susanoo (I even used him as a character in my own book) and the samurai in general. Swordfighting was amazing in this chapter and as usual, it is great to learn more about these historical/mythological figures. Aaand as usual, I'm cheering for humanity even though Susanoo is really cool