Spear Hero Second Advance

Aneko Yusagi’s 2012 light novel series Rising of the Shield Hero, while not as macabre and gothic as something like Kentaru Miura’s Berserk, is nonetheless a morose story about a protagonist’s long battle for external and internal peace. The Reprise of the Spear Hero series that serves as a simultaneous sequel and reboot is a philosophical opposite side of the coin, painting many of the same characters in a more whimsical and affirmative light. The manga adaptation of the Spear Hero light novel series is a brisk, coherent summary that relates the primary points of the novels while emphasizing the story’s playful and satirical mood. The second volume of the Reprise of the Spear Hero manga by Neet & Aneko Yusagi continues to adapt the first Spear Hero novel plus add additional exclusive bonus content. One Peace Books will release the second manga volume on May 19 in print and digital formats.

The first volume of Neet’s manga adaptation of Reprise of the Spear Hero covered the first eight chapters of the initial novel. The second 160 page manga volume contains four chapters covering the novel’s chapters 9-13. These chapters are relatively uneventful, so unlike the first manga volume which climaxed with the fairly brief introduction of protagonist Motoyasu Kitamura’s first trio of “filolial” bird monster pets, the second manga largely revolves around the lengthy introduction of the second set of filolials, Yuki, Kou, and Sakura. The manga depicts Motoyasu obtaining three filolial eggs and continues until shortly after the three bird monsters transform into their humanoid appearances. The manga is largely faithful to the original novel. Much of the dialogue is taken verbatim from the original novel. Minor scenes and details are omitted from the manga including Motoyasu’s repeated run-ins with random street thugs and the explanation that Kou may be a filolial king. The manga adaptation also makes a very minor alteration to the original novel. Following his day of shopping in town, in the original novel, Motoyasu returns to the forest campground to meet Naofumi & Eclair while in the manga adaptation Naofumi & Eclair instead come to the town to rejoin Motoyasu.

The volume’s four manga chapters are supplemented by a dozen pages of four-panel gag manga by veteran “4-koma” manga creator Futaba Masumi. The “Easy to Understand Adventures of the Shield and Spear” comic strips aim to both catch up readers on the context of the Reprise of the Spear Hero storyline and poke fun at the characters and situations. The manga volume also includes a bonus 14-page prose story by Aneko Yusagi that adds additional details to the camp-out scene that occurs in chapter 11 of the original Spear Hero novel. The second Spear Hero manga is rounded out by two pages of character profiles.

The visual design of the manga is clean and sharp featuring screentone use that makes the book resemble monochrome anime. The original Japanese publication of chapter five printed its first four pages in color. Those pages are monochrome in the domestic publication; however, unaware readers likely won’t notice the alteration. Background art throughout is not extensive but is included routinely. Moreover, the background art is regularly detailed enough to significantly create a sense of environment and heighten immersion. Sound effects are consistently translated innocuously in panel. Both the visual art and the translated dialogue do a good job of evoking characterization. Yuki’s aloofness and Sakura’s fondness are subtly suggested by their framing and proximity to other characters. Kou’s boundless energy is clearly exhibited in his rambunctious posing. The dialogue translation likewise emphasizes characterization by stretching Sakura’s childlike inflection, giving Yuki curt, formal diction, and translating Motoyasu’s habitiual “desu-zo” suffix as “I say.” The English language translation is fluid and error-free. Japanese status honorables are treated distinctly as necessary. The heroes are referred to as “Mr.” rather than “-san” or “-sama,” yet Motoyasu continues to refer to Filo with the inflected moniker “Filo-tan.” The book contains just one expletive used as an adjective in the bonus 4-panel manga chapter. The manga contains no graphic nudity, sex, or violence, although the manga does contain obscured nudity.

As the entire Reprise of the Spear Hero series is intended for devoted fans of the Shield Hero saga, the second volume of the Reprise of the Spear Hero manga companion isn’t especially accessible to new readers. But being a second volume, that fact ought to be obvious. As its title implies, the manga is a pleasant, enjoyable companion piece to the novel for hardcore fans. More so than the first manga volume, since the second book adapts the middle of the first novel, the second manga exhibits greater emphasis on characterization and humor than the prior volume. Moreover, the manga provides a concise, summarized version of the story rendered in expressive, attractive illustrations. And the 4-koma bonus strips are an amusing self-critical meta-analysis of the story. Fans of the Shield Hero franchise should find this second spin-off manga volume satisfying.