Madou no Keifu

nathandouglasdavis Oct 11, 2022

8

I'm gonna call this an 8/10 for now. For a while there, my soulcore was telling me to rate it at 9/10, but those feelings have lessened as I've started feeling a bit unimpressed by the way the story is being told. I suppose the story itself still isn't that bad or anything, but it can have some pretty abrupt shifts and it the way the narration will say things like "and little did they know that Zechs would one change the way mages were treated" can come across as kinda corny. I'm also hoping that Rosalind will be brought back into the storyline sometime soon, because it would suck if fe was just there for the introductory part of the story and nothin' else. I do think that the characterizations were well done. Zechs genuinely feels like fe has anger management issues, while still being kind-hearted deep inside. I like how Zechs isn't able to read or write as well, since that's not an impediment which I see very often in manga. Leon's depression and self-loathing are also very well portrayed. I'm not sure how I feel about Nia or many of the other secondary characters. They're alright. Their character designs are aesthetically pleasing and easily recognizable. [Reviewed at chapter 19]

MangaXexperts Aug 16, 2022

9

This fantasy manga is a real gem. The story of this manga is really good and the pacing of the plot is just perfect. At the start of this manga Main character has some personality issues due to his dark past but he gets a lot of character development and gets better. All characters are written well and each of them is memorable. Art of this manga is really clean and good looking. This manga is a must try for all fantasy genre fans. 

orpheusx9 Mar 28, 2022

6

TL;DR - A solid start so far, with a couple of nitpicks. This manga is also another breath of fresh air. It's not another isekai, no virtual reality or MMORPG with stupid, souped-up mechanics and cheats. To be fair, our main character Zechs is pretty overpowered. But it doesn't come without setbacks - he genuinely faces problems because of his hot temper and a really bad case of dyslexia (which seems to have more to it than meets the eye). One of the things this manga has done very well is build up characters and show genuine emotions. It's unfortunately pretty common in a lot of the new manga I've read recently to have characters that behave nonsensically and are totally cringy. But so far in this story, the characters behave like actual humans and their emotions are explored pretty thoroughly. I at first thought he'd be the main character, but Zechs' teacher was also explored pretty well as a character. Super relatable. Artwork is clean, very attractive. Chapters are longer too, making for a satisfying read. Having said all that, I think my nitpick so far is that one of the premises doesn't make much sense, that being that mages are treated as worse than dirt and considered the "lowest" social caste. You see, all throughout history, humans have always exploited systems and tools to build a better future for themselves. It seems unbelievable to me that something as useful and incredible as magic would be regarded so negatively and poorly by the general populace. By now tons of people should have seen the usefulness behind the power, making some of the social issues of the world difficult to believe. Alongside that, there are too many conflicts that were introduced too quickly - you've got a recent civil war over a formerly neutral region, so there's a bunch of racism against those people (and our MC, Zechs). There's also classism between nobles vs. peasants, and then (reverse?) elitism between mages and non-mages. Not that good stories don't have tons of things going on, but because everything was introduced in rapid succession, no particular issue was given any depth - it's there, just because. And so our first few antagonists have excuses to be "evil" just for the sake of being evil - feels pretty lazy. We are only 8 chapters in though, so maybe we'll see some more character and world-building. I'd like to eventually see antagonists that are more than just racist or classist... those are overused villain tropes.