'Torue is a young bard looking to make a name for herself, when she encounters the monster hunter Ran at a sleepy village. Ran is a 'child of impurity' capable of slaying monsters called Karma; taking their evil into himself so it doesn't pollute the world. Ran is feared and shunned, but always puts his own life on the line to do good, so Torue decides to write a poem about him...'
The Poetry of Ran takes readers to a fantasy world where monsters called Karma can draw into themselves the souls of the dead, taking on all of the cruel and evil deeds a person has done. This energy transforms them into even more powerful, and twisted creatures that are more than regular warriors can handle. The become the targets of children of impurity, specially trained fighters who upon killing the Karma, take their evil into themselves to stop its spread.
The story begins in a small town, where a young bard named Torue is trying to earn some gold with an old ballad. Unfortunately, most of the people in the village either know the song, or just don't care, and she's struggling to get by. Torue doesn't know many songs, and is finding the bardic life tough. It's then that a huge pile of coins are dumped in front of her, as a thank you for her song by a mysterious hooded figure. Torue soon learns that this figure is a child of impurity, named Ran, and who's been hired to destroy the Karma that's been tormenting the village.
An outsider herself, Torue is shocked when she sees how the villagers treat Ran, a man who has come to risk his life in order to help them. Parents warn their children not to go near him, lest he somehow infect them with darkness, and some in the village question their leader as to why they even need him. Torue follows Ran, and spends some time talking with him on the village outskirts. She learns that Ran is lonely, that whilst he's a kind and caring man he's often treated with suspicion, and even outright hatred. He doesn't even know how to smile properly. Torue decides that she's going to travel with Ran, to give him a friend on his journey, and to compose songs and poetry of his brave adventures.
The first volume of The Poetry of Ran is split into three adventures, told across its four chapters. The first one is an origin for our characters, it deals with the meeting between Ran and Torue, and shows us how the two of them end up becoming friends travelling together. It starts small, and focuses on the character more than it does the monsters or the action. We spend much of the chapter with Torue and Ran sitting around a camp fire, sharing details about themselves and building a rapport. It's a nice intro to the world and the characters, and it means that when the action does start you're at least a little invested in these lonely, kind of broken people.
The second chapter takes us to one of the bigger cities in this world, Lillbit, where the children of impurity come to help suppress the power of the impurities they draw into themselves, as well as lessen the pain they experience. It's here that we meet another child of impurity, the elf Mina. Mina seems to be something of a friendly rival of Ran's, with her treating their work as a friendly competition where she competes to see if she can beat more Karma than she can. The competition seems to be a little one sided, with Ran not really appearing to care too much, but it's a fun dynamic between the two of them. It's in this chapter that we also learn that some Karma have been appearing in the middle of cities, and that some children of impurity have been killed fighting them.
Of course, we've not long learned of this when the city bells begin to toll, and a Karma appears. This horrible amalgam of insect and chameleon begins attacking the town, forcing Ran and Mina to have to jump into action in order to save people. We get hints at a bigger plot at play here, as a mysterious robed figure with a horrible skull-like face watches over things, making cryptically evil comments to himself about needing to wipe the children of impurity away.
The final two chapters deal with one story, of a huge dragon that has become a Karma. The monster is wiping out entire villages, killing hundreds. The Knights of the Black Wolf have been sent to try and stop the monster, but need Ran's help to do so. This is by far the best part of the book. It's big and epic, and Ran basically has to fight a kaiju. the Knights of the Black Wolf begin somewhat antagonistically towards him thanks to Jill, a fierce fights with an explosive hammer weapon, who wants to take down the monstrous Rampage herself to avenge her father, who died to it a decade ago.
Jill is an interesting character, a bit weird at times sure, but she seems to be focused on killing the monster and saving the day, so she's not all bad. Whilst she does treat Ran with little respect, and is quite dismissive of him she eventually comes to admit they need his help; and her and Ran leading the cavalry charge against the monster is a really awesome moment. As is how the creature is finally defeated.
However, before Ran can absorb the curse from the Rampage's corpse the mysterious figure appears once again, this time announcing his presence to our heroes. He takes the curse and uses it to create a monstrous creature of his own, something that looks similar to himself that he calls his kin. The book ends with the skull faced man announcing that Ragnarok is one step close. It's a hell of a cliffhanger for the volume, and absolutely makes me want to read the next one as soon as I can. A lot of manga series can take a few volumes before the big story really kicks in, but The Poetry of Ran seems to want to get readers hooked quickly, and this volume certainly does that.
My only slight criticism with the book is the focus on breasts. Torue has very large breasts, something that's made a point of on the third page of the book. Ran ends up staring at her chest a few times, and there's a point in the book where they're riding horses and the art depicts her breasts bouncing up and down, once again grabbing Ran's attention. It's not just her, however, as both Mina and Jill wear costumes that show off their chests, even if it's impractical for warriors to have little to no armour. When Jill meets Torue she picks up the smaller woman and hugs her into herself, smothering Torue's face with her breasts. It just feels a little bit much. I like breasts as much as the next person, but the repeated focus on them and use of them as humour does sometimes feel like it messes with the overall tone of the book a little.
Yuske Osawa's art is really nice, and everything is crisp and cleanly presented, with some cool character designs. Where the book really looks the best is in the monsters though. The first creature they fight is a nightmare manta ray type thing made up of bones and flesh with screaming skeletal faces. Osawa has spent some time designing some really cool creatures, monsters that draw upon familiar things, such as reptiles and insects, but mashes them together in horrible ways. I really like the small pieces that we get to see of the big bad too, and the designs for these creatures are as much something I'm looking forward to seeing as the story that revolves around them.
If you're looking for a cool fantasy action manga, one that has some fun characters and some extra heart to it, but also packs in the action, then The Poetry of Ran is absolutely one that you're going to want to check out.
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