Hero Tales, Vol. 3

獣神演武 [Juushin Enbu] #3

by Hiromu Arakawa, Huang Jin Zhou

Sneaking into the palace and meeting with the emperor has given Taitou renewed hope for the country, but it has also drawn soldiers to Touyuu Temple. As Taitou and the others escape, Ryuushou stays behind to hold off the attackers. His sacrifice buys some time, but they don't get far before Taitou finds himself face-to-face with Keirou and a contingent of Genrou-Tou soldiers. Though Taitou's skills have improved, he is still no match for his rival. Once again, someone is left behind as Taitou makes his escape. As the number of victims in Hagun's wake grows, will Taitou's resolve falter or will he continue to move forward?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Shonen, Young Adult, Fiction

178 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2008

About the author

Hiromu Arakawa (author: 荒川弘) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 Hagane no renkinjutsushi).
Her real name is Hiromi Arakawa (荒川弘美).

Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm in Hokkaidō.
She thought of being a manga artist since she was little. After graduating high school, she took oil painting classes while working on her family's farm. During that time, she also created dōjinshi manga with her friends and drew yonkoma for a magazine. After eight years she moved to Tōkyō and started out as assistant writer for Hiroyuki Etō.
Her debut as manga artist is in 1999 with STRAY DOG. In 2001 she started working on her famous and award winning series Fullmetal Alchemist, that soon gets a successful anime adaptation.
Other works include Silver Spoon (銀の匙 Silver Spoon, Gin no saji Silver Spoon).

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time to amp up the action and court intrigue as we pass the halfway point of the series. The bad guys are really bad, and now some of the good guys are bad guying too. I'm on the verge of caring, but its all just soooo been there, done that.

Oh, and the dirty old man is back to sexually harass another woman for, you know, laughs.

[Cecillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly have absolutely no idea what is going on in this story anymore. Like it's a pretty cool series, the art is really great and there are some really cool panels, but I understand nothing. But not in a bad way if that's possible. I actually don't mind not understanding everything that's going on.

[Sunread26 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2024/...

Extrait :
Je continue d’avancer dans la série sans être très enthousiaste, difficile de faire mieux que FMA en même temps. Le combat final approche autant que la fin de la série. Je n’avais pas fait attention, mais la série est réalisée en partenariat avec Square Enix, le but était-il de proposer un jeu par la suite ? En tout cas, je préfère largement Arslan à Hero Tales pour l’instant (autre série de l’autrice, un peu dans le même genre).

Ce tome est le tome des bouleversements, des mises en suspens et des retournements de situations. Certains personnages semblent tourner leurs vestes, mais est-ce que ça sera réellement le cas au final ? Entre manipulation et autres moments, l’ennemi fait tout pour décontenancer le groupe de Taito, preuve qu’ils en ont quand même un peu peur. Ils en viennent même, pour certains, à prendre des initiatives pour aider Keiro, comme éliminer la concurrence. Après tout, on ne sait jamais, si celle-ci vient à joindre ses forces avec Taito, cela pourrait changer la donne. Par contre, Taito a fait une erreur en allant au sein du palais, puisqu’il est désormais pourchassé, et Keiro a été informé de sa présence ! Pour lui, seul la mort de Taito lui permettra de brandir l’épée affirmant sa capacité à régner. Malheureusement pour lui, je pense que même s’il venait à réussir, cela ne changerait rien. L’épée choisi celui qui en est digne (comme Excalibur), s’il ne l’est pas aujourd’hui en tuant déjà n’importe qui, alors il ne le sera jamais… Pour Taito, c’est différent, puisque son défaut de départ était d’être trop arrogant, naïf et surtout inexpérimenté. Donc il pourrait largement devenir capable de sortir l’épée de son fourreau, s’il ne perd pas de vue son objectif et qui il est.

C’est vraiment dommage que la série aille aussi vite, si cela avait été possible, on aurait pu avoir tellement plus de choses ! Par exemple, une part politique plus importante aux côtés de l’empereur et de Keiro. Les différents personnages pourraient aussi avoir plus de mises en avant, via des flashbacks ou d’autres moyens, pour les approfondir. Certains sont tellement mystérieux que cela donne envie d’en savoir plus, surtout ceux du côté de Keiro. Dans ce tome, c’est surtout le camp de Taito qui va morfler, pour montrer la différence de puissance entre les deux personnages, un premier affrontement. C’est logique et prévisible, mais en deux tomes, on peut dire que la prise de puissance de Taito sera impressionnante et rapide. Même s’il a encore quelques soutiens, je doute que le pouvoir de l’amitié l’aidera beaucoup, surtout que les autres n’ont pas l’air très puissant non plus. Ce qui est assez étrange, puisqu’ils connaissent tous leur condition et donc leur possible destin…

[...]

[King Haddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to talk tropes. The tropes in Volumes 3 and 4 (mostly 3, though).

Hero Tales, as I said in my last review, isn't shy on tropes. They're everywhere.

• The protagonist who's obviously got to be secretly related to the emperor because 1). he's adopted, 2). he has dreams about the palace, 3). he vaguely remembers what the palace's configuration is like, and 4). he and the emperor look freaking so much the same we could play Prince and the Pauper.

• The other main character who talks about never knowing his parents before, obviously giving us the storytelling set-up wherein he can meet his real parent... the main baddie.

• The student studying under an extremely wise teacher... a teacher who gets killed before the student masters EVERYTHING from the teacher.

• The drama of watching a very close friend in the good guys' team sacrifice himself, staying behind in the midst of danger,knowing he'll probably die in his attempt to hold the danger at bay long enough that the others may flee.

• The punch-in-the-gut of watching one of the "good guys" on a team become a traitor.

• Oh yeah and we've got to have a terrible moment where we kill the protagonist's father!

And that's just talking about Volume 3 - not all the other tropes resplendent throughout the full manga.

These are all fairly common storytelling devices, tropes which have been used over and over and over again in fictional tales. The thing is... when these are done right, they can be extremely iconic and lovable moments. There can be great power in a main character learning they're related to the bad guy... let's never forget the electric shock that passed over Star Wars fans the moment they first heard Darth Vader proclaim, Luke, I am your father!" Likewise, there can be extremely intense emotions in scenes of selfless sacrifice. Gandalf turns around to fight the Balrog, and in doing so sacrifices himself so the other members of the Fellowship may escape. The most powerful and memorable moment of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is another such instance in which the sacrifice trope takes great storytelling effect.

Tropes AREN'T bad or lazy things to put in fiction.

Sometimes they're indicators of a stale, lazy plot. I can get tired of "dramatic" family relation reveals in movies because they've BEEN DONE BEFORE.

But when tropes are done RIGHT? They can become powerful moments within the story.

They can be moments in which writers actually make something MEMORABLE.

That's what I feel like Hero Tales does. It's a story that's fully aware of the fact it's using tropes, and thus takes them with full gusto, just to give us a good time with a fun ride-of-a-story.

In and of itself, it's not surprising that Taitou and Taigatei could be related, or that Ryuukou and Keirou could be related. In and of itself, it shouldn't be surprising that Ryuukou stayed behind to fight so Taitou and Housei could escape. In and of itself, it shouldn't be surprising that Ryuukou - despite all odds - survived this encounter.

But that doesn't make the ride any less fun.

After all, for things like this, tag-teaming tropes makes Hero Tales MORE emotionally effective.

What we get is a story in which Taitou and Ryuukou start off as completely separate personalities. Ryuukou is a by-the-books, Lawful Good, stickler. He's orderly, disciplined, self-controlled, respectful, thoughtful. Taitou is the opposite. He's hot-headed, emotional, impulsive, reckless... and when things don't go his way, he stubbornly MAKES them go his way. Yet despite clashing heads at the start of their journey, Taitou and Ryuukou develop a friendship. Taitou teases Ryuukou; Ryuukou drops honorifics and adopts familiarity in his language with Taitou; they call each other friends. They're avatars of the two stars closest to one another in the constellation: they're MEANT to be together.

By building this friendship, the moment Ryuukou decides to sacrifice himself becomes more effective (this isn't even taking into account other storytelling elements that make this scene better, too, like the ongoing plot point of whether or not Taitou's companions are "destined" to come to ruin "because of him"). We've created a solid friendship; it makes this sacrifice hurt. And because we know what Taitou's usual stubborness can be like, the pain he feels when he thinks he's lost Ryuukou hurts worse. We as readers can feel stunned to watch the protagonist GIVE UP. Someone who's never given up before, who's fought hard, who's yelled at Ryuukou for giving up, is now the person too emotionally exhausted to continue. The self-sacrifice trope thus is given a really great effect.

And BECAUSE we get that sacrifice element, and BECAUSE we have that wonderful tropish return... it makes the betrayal all the more impacting.

This was the moment that hurt me hard.

The end of Volume 3.

I've read many betrayals in fiction before. Of course I have.

But RIGHT BEFORE the betrayal was Taitou, ecstatic beyond belief, repeatedly screaming Housei's name to tell him "RYUUKOU IS BACK!!!"

But RIGHT BEFORE the betrayal was Taitou, uncharacteristically given up, exactly because he thought Ryuukou was dead.

But RIGHT BEFORE the betrayal was the emotional moment of Ryuukou sacrificing himself for TAITOU!

We contrast the emotional moment of the most selfless act of devotion to Taitou... back-to-back with the worst of betrayals... from the same character.

Most of the time, I'm cackling at betrayals in fiction. I love when they're juicy. I love when they're rude. I love when they're cruel. It's rare for me to feel stabbed in the heart myself, to feel as though I was betrayed as well. But given as we went directly from watching Ryuukou seemingly give up his life to Taitou... to betraying Taitou for the enemy... I felt the pain in the moment, too.

That. THAT. Is how you write a good trope.

Hero Tales might ride on plot devices many of us have seen before. But that doesn't mean it can't be its own bundle of fun. Personally, I love the fact that lots of these trope moments are giving tropes their good glory. It's fun to analyze. And from a reader's point of view... it's an all around good time diving into action, adventure, emotion, and drama.

[Matthew White Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume only gets a star boosting because this volumes thickens the plot by pitting protagonists against each other. Hiromu Awakawa's action scenes are as dramatic and thrilling here as they were in Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA), but FDA'S characters still have more depth.

Overall, I'm shocked by the generic storytelling this series has been coasting on so far. It packs none of the emotional punch of FMA, lacks originality and seems to have been a project Arakawa might have taken on for cash. Her art is incredible, however.

[Shin Donghae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seperti biasa, artwork Arakawa sensei sungguh luar biasa. Namun pacing serial ini terasa agak aneh, bergerak terlalu cepat. Sbg contoh chara development seperti karakter Ryouko dan kemunculan lima prajurit Goshin (dalam sekejap sdh muncul semuanya hha). Mungkin karena ini hanya 5 jilid? :))

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taitou’s escape from the Imperial palace continues. While he actually had the unexpected effect on bringing the plight of the empire to Taigatei, the boy emperor, Taitou’s escape is going to cost him in a huge way. Keirou and his men are not going to let Taitou escape easily, using both brute force and manipulation to either kill off or turn Taitou’s companions against him. On the face of it, Keirou almost seems to have noble ideals. The current government is corrupt and he is out to bring it down and put up a better one. While there is no doubt that there is corruption and Taigatei isn’t being a leader, Keirou’s actions are very violent and I’m not entirely sure he’s not part of the corruption (it’s hard to tell who is, really. The story is a bit muddy there).

Ryuushou and Ryuukou both end up left behind as Taitou flees. This whole volume is about the cost of his escape and what it means to be one of the stars in the first place. Taitou and Housei are separated from Laila and Rinmei. Taitou has lost all drive and Laila isn’t faring very well either and it all leads down to at least one betrayal.

It’s a hard book to review without giving too much away. It’s also a very hard book to follow sometimes. The storyline is occasionally muddy (I think this is based off a legend that Japanese readers might already know) and the names are atrociously difficult in this since there are just so many, most of them have two different names that get used interchangeably and they are all very close to one another (Ryuushou & Ryuukou for example). Arakawa’s art is still lovely but I’m really disappointed in the fact that the bad guy (from Taitou’s pov) looks exactly like Bradley from FMA with a scar on his face. I have mixed feelings about this one. I like it but it really could be stronger. It relies on a lot of fight scenes and less storytelling.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Hero Tales Volume three by Hiromu Arakawa's theme is that although many things have happened like some people using their lives for a reason like to save or help you, you shouldn't become all down. You should stand up and not let their lives be wasted or something to get all depressed for. I think another theme that the author had in this book was to listen to the advice that the people around you give because the main character Taitou didn't. He might've been able to aviod a battle with his real father the general who has the star of Tonrou so they are destined to fight each other. I find this book's ending interesting for Taitou's father is still in power, Ryuukou who had been with Taitou on his journey suddenly switched sides to his father's, and the last two star bearers are revealed.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Program BUBU

Pertama kali dibeli dan dibaca pada tanggal 11 Juli 2011.

[Elisa Tarancón · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sin duda, en este volumen baja un poco la intensidad (o al menos a mí me lo pareció). Veremos qué nos depara el 4º...

[Abby Ang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is amazing but the pacing feels a bit off, like it's moving too fast