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Saturday, 27 January 2007 |
 | | ▪ | PUBLISHED BY: | | BLU MANGA | | | ▪ | ART/AUTHOR: | | KAI TSURUGI | | | | ▪ | FORMAT/COLOR: | | JAPANESE FORMAT / BW | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 200 | | | ▪ | RATED: | | MATURE | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 10/26/2006 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 01/28/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Black Knight is a blossoming fantasy about forbidden love, court intrigue, dashing knights and a kingdom in peril. In this next volume of the verdant romantic fantasy, Prince Chris is adjusting to his life as an adult and as a man in love with his darkly alluring Black Knight. However, unrest looms ever larger in the kingdom as conspiracies and traitors are unearthed. Soon Chris is forced to make a difficult choice. He can either let a handsome man he barely knows take him as a pretend hostage to discover who the traitors are, or stay peaceably in his kingdom and let war mongers gather. Eager to prove his worthiness, Chris is willing yet his family and his lover object to the danger he is willing to be thrown into. Torn between royal obligations and the sways of the heart, which will Chris choose?
This is a manga series that has a strong plot, layers of political intrigue and various competing relationships. A number of yaoi tend to go with very superficial plots, a lot more style over substance. Black Knight is a manga with both style and substance. The art designs are lush and strongly akin to that of shojo fantasy; a lot of beautiful men and dream-like landscapes of castles and kingdoms.
Since it does have so much layered political intrigue, the pacing does get bogged down at times with some thick narrative moments to fill readers in. If the series were longer, the author likely would have found ways to intersperse the necessary information more readily. It nevertheless creates a much more involving piece than the average yaoi manga and overall is a creative and enjoyable series in and of itself as the story would work just as well no matter what the gender or the orientation of the main characters are. It’s romantic and a successful period piece.
Bonus features in this manga include a full color page at the beginning of the book and a side story going back to when the king first struggled to build his kingdom. This side story is quite the extra as it takes up over a third of the book! Lots of interesting background information and relationship foundation is shown as well as the budding romance between the king and the woman who might be his queen.
IN SUMMARY:
True love and royal duty compete in this lush romantic fantasy manga. |
