Serial Saturday: Dao of Magic Chapters 1-20 by Andries Louws

This week for Serial Saturday I’m back with another series. It’s Dao of Magic Chapters 1-20 by Andries Louws!

Plot: This story is about a Cultivator, who is later called Teach, that gets slapped down into a lower realm and ends up mucking around in that lower realm. It’s mostly a parody or satire on the whole Cultivation genre and it’s pretty hilarious. Honestly if you love the Xianxia or Xuanhuan genres at all, you’ll get a kick out of The Dao of Magic.

Characters: The cast is pretty bare bones to start, mostly consisting of Teach and a few others, like Lola the Bunny. Honestly my favorite character is probably Tess, if only because I enjoy sneaky rogue type characters and she’s a pretty good one. That said Lola comes close, because she’s cute and it’s not at all because I found it absolutely hilarious when Teach starts punting her. Nope, not at all.

Overall: For fans of the Cultivation genre you’ll love this series, so give it a shot.

For those who like: Xianxia, Xuanhuan, Cultivation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Great Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

TNT: Coiling Dragon Volume 05 by I Eat Tomatos

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering the fifth entry in the Epic Fantasy Xianxia series by I Eat Tomatos!

Plot Synopsis: Linley Baruch, Scion of the once world famous clan of Dragonblood Warriors, has experienced his first romance and heartbreak with Alice. After losing himself to depression and then experiencing enlightenment while carving a sculpture he reached Grandmaster status in Sculpting and the 7th level of Magecraft. He went back to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts where he encountered a battle between two Saint-Level beasts, one a great bear and the other a fearsome wyrm. Using the wyrms blood he quickened his own Dragonblood Warrior bloodline and became a true Dragonblood Warrior!

Plot: We start right there after Linley barely survives that transformation and the rest of the book is concerned with his return and the aftermath of that return back to his sworn brothers at the Ernst Institute. It’s an emotionally intense book, and while there’s little battle scenes after the last book that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I loved this volume, although I love the entire series.

Characters: We don’t get to meet anyone new really, except Cardinal Guillermo and Lampson who seem to be some great people so far.

Overall: An excellent entry, and further proof that Coiling Dragon matches and equals most Western Fantasies if not outdoes them.

Anime Sunday: Reikenzan Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering the series I was most worried about coming into this season of Anime. It’s all about my Reikenzan Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: A comet falling will bring about a great calamity, and in order to choose a child fated by the falling comet, the family of the “Reiken” clan with a long storied history is once again resuming its entrance examination process to find disciples.

Plot: You see that plot synopsis up there? It’s not alluded to at all in the first episode except in the fact that we see the beginning stages of some grand “Test”. I was super disappointed in the lack of world building for the series in this first episode.

Characters: Ouriku is an arrogant fellow and while we haven’t seen him do anything to suggest he’s got the skills to back it up, it’s not a farfetched guess to say he does.  The rest of the cast is incredibly small so far, but the most interesting character is the Innkeeper so far. Which says a lot about the blandness of this series.

Artwork: And while I had hoped Studio Deen had shaped up since I last watched a work made by them, the last one being the original Fate Stay/Night series from 2006, I was severely disappointed. The artwork is terrible and it’s obvious that the animators used every cheap trick in their skillset to avoid effort in creating this work. From the constant use of deformed characters to action happening offscreen I was disappointed in the artwork from the first second to the last.

Music: The only upside was that the music wasn’t terrible. That being said it’s nothing amazing either. But compared to the rest of the components that went into making this first episode you can see that at least a modicum of effort was expended in the musical score.

Overall: A highly disappointing first episode in what will probably a highly disappointing series. My hopes for I Shall Seal the Heavens getting an Anime adaptation have been crushed for the foreseeable future.

For those who like: Xianxia, Action, Comedy, Decent Music.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or wanted an epic story to get an epic adaptation.