Brunhild the Dragonslayer, Vol. 1

竜殺しのブリュンヒルド [Brunhild the Dragonslayer] (Comic) #1

by Takeru Kirishima (Adaptor), Yuiko Agarizaki, Aoaso (artist)

Eden is a place of perfection, protected from outside harm by the silver dragon. In this idyllic land, the dragon raises a human girl found on the island's shores as his own. But when the dragon's life is mercilessly snuffed out by human machinations, the girl must choose whether to heed his dying wish and stay the course of righteousness…or walk a path of vengeance.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy

212 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2023

About the author

Takeru Kirishima (桐嶋 たける)

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise was promising and the art is beautiful, however, there are several problematic aspects that I find disturbing. I'll go into more detail next, but overall a minor is sexualized as an adult, pseudo-incest is wanted by said minor, and bestiality is said to be accepted on the 'good' island.

Firstly, they try to skirt around her being a minor by saying that because she ate the god blessed food she matured faster and her mind is "comparable to that of an adult". This does not change the fact that she is TWELVE YEARS OLD when they show sexualized images of her body and she confesses her romantic love for her father figure. They could have easily just made the time skip longer so that she was an adult.

Next, the minor loves the dragon, her pseudo-father, romantically. She even calls him her father later on. The dragon does deny her, saying its taboo for "romantic love between a parent and child" on Eden, but not 4 pages later he says it might be allowed in eternity/heaven. wtf? Despite the dragon repeatedly stating how he sees her as a daughter, after another time skip (where she is now 16) she is said to sing love songs to the dragon every night and melts the hearts of the animals of Eden "and perhaps even the dragon's too.." I despise this. Their clearly insinuating that the pair are romantically in love despite the familial relation and earlier opposition.

Lastly, while she is professing her love she mentions that on Eden "even a human and wolf can be united." No. just no.

Perhaps they did the romantic thing because they thought the girl needed a better reason to want revenge, to which I would say wanting revenge for a parent is plenty of reason that has been done plenty of times. If they really wanted it to be romantic they could have had another human on the island that raised her so there wouldn't be a parental relationship between her and the dragon. And again, the time skip could have been long enough for her to be an actual adult. Perhaps they thought it had to be romantic reason for wanting to eat the dragon for revenge, but I think wanting her parent to not leave her could have worked fine. Her mind may have cracked with grief and anger, people aren't exactly reasonably at that point.

Also, she totally could have eaten a scale to help fight the humans as a dragon.

[Othy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intense opening manga that is all set-up. And that set-up is very compelling. There is a great mythos set up here, and it is interesting to see a dragon with a philosophy that mingles Christianity with Buddhism (though more on the Christian side). I hope the battles of philosophy continue and that the story doesn't degrade into pure battle, but I think the story here shows enough promise that future installments will continue these themes!

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A child washes up on the island of Eden, which is guarded by a dragon. She accidentally consumes his blood and gains his powers. He feeds her the fruit from the tree of knowledge too. She grows up faster than normally, but she doesn’t share the dragon’s faith in God. He doesn’t fear death; he expects to die eventually, because humans keep attacking his island, and then he’ll be salvaged by God. But she doesn’t want him to die. His attempt to show her the human world makes her hate them, as they boast killing dragons.

And then the humans come with greater force than ever, and her life shatters. But she doesn’t die. So she swears vengeance on humans. The first person she needs to kill is closer to her than she could’ve imagined.

This was a bit preachy, slightly icky, and not very interesting, but the art was good. I don’t understand the title, as Brunhilde turns into a dragon who kills humans, but maybe the story will evolve into a different direction in following volumes. I won’t continue with this though.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Paws & Pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5?

It was interesting and then it got weird, and then interesting again so idk how I feel about it

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just depressing. Not my vibe.

[leafy! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredible art but everything else turned out to be a huge letdown at best, and problematic and deeply disturbing at worst.

[Ophelia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Real rating: 1.5

Overall.... Cool concept and plot, but the way it was executed I didn't enjoy. The dragon is overly religious, and it's clearly heavily inspired by christianity. I would prefer if the tree of knowledge was called something else, if the afterlife wasn't clearly supposed to be heaven, and maybe if God wasn't just God and was a new, more creative deity. It sexualizes a minor (12, and shows her having a big chest and bottom when she turns from dragon to human) just because she "has the intellect of an adult" BUT SHE'S STILL 12. Also has one-sided incest because Brunhild (the girl) falls in love with the dragon who is her FATHER FIGURE. Adding onto that, it supports bestiality since he's a DRAGON. Sure, he has a human form, where human x dragon could work out, but they are still related, and she also says that "a wolf and human can be together on Eden" so it still supports bestiality through that line. The animals on the island also don't have human consciousness either, so the wolf couldn't consent. That incest part was not needed for the story whatsoever. it could have showed how she wanted him to live and how she loved him in a PLATONIC WAY. Some parts did hook me, such as her turning revengeful when she was taught to be kind, how she loses faith in God, and how (spoiler) her biological dad is the leader of the dragonslayers, but the problematic content is hard to ignore and I cant get past it personally. Also wish it had warnings, because I bought this on impulse because the art was pretty and I thought that the dragon took care of her PLATONICALLY.

[☽｡⋆ Shells (jlreads_) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I AM GAGGED.

The positive note 📝 the story is very compelling. I really liked the mixing of the Christian story in this, in addition to the dragons, which may quite bother a few or many Christians as Dragons in the scripture are on the opposite side (please do correct me if I'm wrong).

Anyway, the plot was simply intriguing to me. The relationship which I THOUGHT WAS WHOLESOME WAS NOT ALL. That's where the parts I hated so much.

Supposedly a 5⭐️ but because of that, it's now a 4⭐️🙈


Thank you Yen Press for the e-arc copy via Edelweiss ✨️

[Kathleen Burdett-Baez · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book seemed like genesis reimagined. along with that. it also has some points that can be disturbing like in the Bible of procreation. other than the procrastination, I like the book. I haven't decided if I want to read more because I think that part is over when completing this book.

[devynreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

[Jessica]

Thanks for that completely unnecessary one-sided incest 🤢

[Hannah Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. I couldn't put it down, but I also didn't wont to finish it all at once. I wanted it to last a little longer. Now I need to get my hands on vol. 2

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

No thanks

[Cassiereads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was thoroughly enjoying it until she had to go and profess her love for her father figure 🫠