Shippuu Tengoku: Kaze no Klonoa

(WARNING: This review may contain some spoilers. Also, this is my first attempt at a review. So, without further ado...)


Klonoa, Klonoa, Klonoa... what a strange turn this series had. From two wonderful 2.5D platforming games that told a lighthearted yet serious story, to go to... well, this. Eventually meeting it's own doom close to this time.

Honestly, i feel incredibly confused about it. I like first couple games this series started with. But what happened later on is just... ugh.
But regardless of that, what exactly *is* Klonoa? Well, let me tell you about it...



SERIES INTRODUCTION:
It all began in 1997. Namco published a game called 'Klonoa: Door to Phantomile' for the Playstation 1. The game was about a fluffy cat/rabbit hybrid called Klonoa.

Klonoa is a young, brave and innocent kid who travels through other dream worlds and who wields a golden ring (Known as the Wind Ring) as it's main weapon. While becoming known as the 'Dream Traveler' as the series progressed.

The series was critically praised in japan. And with that, it was sailed overseas. Unfortunately, sales and popularity were very low outside of japan. Almost to the point where they didn't even bother to bring it over here to the west anymore...


Well, that's that for the introduction of the series. So, forward about to five years later. The date is April 26th, 2002. The first chapter of this manga got released. ...Ehm... yeah... How about i just tell you about this manga on a new paragraph?



THIS MANGA:
Shippuu Tengoku Kaze no Klonoa, Or... known as Heavenly wind Tamer, Klonoa of the Wind, is a shounen manga drawn by Hiroshi Katou, and published by Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic.

Okay. If you hadn't noticed my score beforehand, i gave it a '4'.
Don't get me wrong, i love this series. Door to Phantomile and Lunatea's Veil are among one of my favourite platformers out there. And the idea for a Klonoa manga doesn't seem bad at all. In fact, it would work in wonders! So much material to work with. But it just... *sigh*

Let me tell you in detail about this, along with my score. Starting with...



THE STORY [4/10]:
Okay. Here goes... So, what is the story about? Well... a whole bunch of nonsense.
It starts off with a Postman Moo noticing the *mailbox* in Breezegale has suddenly disappeared. Klonoa decides to help the Moo find it he just screws and messes around a bit on his own until they find it. Turns out... *it was him who made it disappear all along*.

...And that is just the first chapter. I'm not kidding. No actual seriousness is in here. Klonoa destroys the city in the next chapter while trying to protect it from monsters, tries to fly in the next even though he can't, tries too desperate to be a hero... and this goes on for nearly 14 chapters!

It's just almost utter nonsense. Where's Ghadius trying to completely corrupt all of Phantomile? Where's Sorrow trying to make himself reknown to Lunatea? Anything that has that same amount of energy and awesomeness for story telling? None of that is here!

At the end of it, it actually tries a bit to become more "serious", but even then... it still doesn't, it really is a half-assed attempt at humor throughout. (Not all of it, but a major part of the humor is just like this) If the story itself doesn't ever take itself seriously, then how should i?

And no, "It's a comedy manga" doesn't really cut it for me. Take the original 'Dragon Ball' for example. It blends humor, fighting, and actual story perfectly into one. Even the main two Klonoa games do it! So what happened?



THE ART [6/10]:
If i'm honest... the art wasn't really all that bad. But it's just all over the place.

For one moment, it can look pretty cartoonish. That's fine. It kind of fits.

Then in the next few panels suddenly switch it up to really chibi-ish. Okay. A bit of a sudden change there, but...

And then suddenly the next page is completely seinen and full of detail! What??

I know a lot of anime and manga have this kind of 'style change'. But i think it was just too ridiculous and way too frequent for my taste in a series like this. It kind of ruins the mood. (Not that it really had any in the story to begin with, but still)



THE CHARACTERS [4/10]:
*Sigh* Remember how i referred to Klonoa as "young, brave and innocent" before?

Well, throw that out of the window. In this, Klonoa is clumsy, obsessed with being a hero, too enthusiastic, depressed, crossdressing, desperate, stupid... To quote the wikia on this: "as a complete idiot" which... actually kind of hurt for me to hear that. How could they do this to such a character?

Well, that's a good sign to start with. Klonoa being portrayed as a really awkward fellow, but what about all the other characters? A few other examples? Well... it's not much better.

Guntz: An airheaded bounty hunter who can't even walk right without carrying two incredibly oversized guns. ...What? (In the original series, he was a legendary bounty hunter with a short temper who tries to get revenge on his father's death. Although aggressive and arrogant, he is shown to actually be able to become friends with others.)

Pango: Although still friendly and a hero, he goes completely insane just from being called 'a turtle', even if it is by accident. (In the original series, he's a Pangolin who's been trying to find a cure for his son's illness. Here he just does nothing much.)

Garlen: A complete goofball who actually... doesn't seem all that bad of a person now...? (In the original, he was literally one of the main villains throughout the series who would sacrifice others for his own benefit, or even kill other people with no issue. Wanting to rule the world in his own hand!)

Leorina: Gives swimming lessons. That's about it. (In the original, she was once a priestess-in-training from La-Lakoosha, and later on became a sky pirate who tried to uncover the Kingdom of Sorrow on her own.)

Joka: Huh? Oh right, he was in this! (In the original, he was a loyal henchman to Ghadius. Known to be mischievous, violent and desperate. Having no issue to kill others during his actions. In this he just... exists. Literally. That's it.)

It's such a step-down from what most of the characters from the franchise were. Although, to give this manga credit... Chipple is still like he's supposed be, and Lolo is still about as sweet as i expected.



ENJOYMENT [5/10]:
In my opinion, it isn't necessarily *awful* to read through, but still, it was very much... ehh.

The pacing is all over the place. Some story parts drag out quite a bit. But at the same time, some were pretty short. This is both good, but also bad. It was a bit distracting at times.

While some jokes may have made me laugh, most just made me cringe. Or even made me just put the manga down for a moment and facepalm.

So yeah, it wasn't all that great. But... i have faced worse things. I just wish i could've enjoyed this a bit more.



OVERALL [4/10]:
In my opinion... i honestly don't like this manga all that much. I feel like it's pretty disappointing that it turned out to be this.

It could've been so much more to me. It's about the Klonoa series, with infinite possibilities! In fact, i really enjoyed the main games as a kid. I really did!

But as it is, this manga is just underwhelming to me at both a humor manga and an actual story.