Orient

OK. When I founded that Magi´s author realased a new manga i didn´t expected too much. Maybe because it reminds me of Edens Zero or Samurai 8, which taught me that the fact that a person makes a good manga doesn´t means that everythinh it does is good. But I had a big surprise reading Orient.

The story is about the Edo Japanese period dominated by Onis and Kishins (basucally, demons, samurais, swords, magic, that kind of stuff) and a guy called Musashi and his friend Kojiro (I still loving that references to characters of the context that Ohtaka works)

STORY: 6
This is the weakest point of Orient. The problem isn´t that is cliche, but is very simple. Is just, the kind of stuf you´ll find in every manga, and its SO SIMILLAR to Magi in factors like the use of magic and the adventures. In fact, the magic system is pretty similar to all the shonens. But, for the other side, Orient is a light and simple reading of a shonen manga, and is starting to getting better from chapter 40. The battles aren´t a masterpiece, but they´re not bad. They have a good balance between power and strategy for a shonen, and they are long and enjoyable (the battle from chapter one, which is supposed to have a duration of a few pages like in every shonen has a duration of 5 CHAPTERS OF 30 OR MORE PAGES). The battles are not easy to win, and, in the most of causes, Musashi and his friends lost important battles only for learn, earning experience and try again. This. added to a comedy that doesn´t feels forced and a NULL fanservice (seriously, in manga industries is hard, VERY HARD, to find a series without nude woman everywhere), makes Orient stands out in rhythm between the new shonen manga series.

ART: 8
I don´t mind some characters have the same design that others from Magi, because it only shows in the faces of some characters. But the facial expressions are so similar between them. In the other side, the weapons are pretty well drawed: you can see the light effects on the metal, and the extremely ornate and collored clothing and hair. The battles can be well done when the situation warrants. But another negative point is the simplicity of the design in Onis and Kishins, looking just like deformed joint masses.

CHARACTERS: 8
Simple but not annoying. Between the MCs is a relation it´s a fluid relationship that doesn´t consist in only repeating things like "the magic of friendship". I´d like to add the learning and evolution is having Musashi in the manga, learning about his mistakes and trying to correct them, thing you don´t often see in a shonen. For now, we have a pretty little cast for a modern manga, but I hope it gets bigger

ENJOYMENT: 8
If you´re searching an SHONEN GENERIC MANGA (generic doesn´t means bad, it means normal), you´ll enjoy it