In Dawn of the Arcana, a shojo manga written by Rei Toma, Princess Nakaba has been given to the enemy country Belquat and is forced to marry Prince Caesar. Though given as a peace offering it is made clear that Nakaba is essentially a hostage, "a lamb", and it is not expected that she'll survive being sent to this foreign, hostile land. Her only friend is her servant Loki, a dog-eared Ajin who is sworn to protect his princess. But that will not be an easy task, with disdain coming at Nakaba from all sides, and a mysterious power that is slowly awakening within her. Dawn of the Arcana is published by Viz Media.
Shojo Beat Manga Dawn of the Arcana
Toma has quite a bit to set up in this world: the warring countries, royal politics, and the demi-humans, Ajin. Luckily Toma does an nice job of giving us the basic background information quickly so that we can feel comfortable in the world and get into the story. More information about political positions and the society is slowly given to the us as we read our way through the volume, so by the end we've begun to comprehend where all of our characters stand in this world.
Because so much time must be spent building up this foreign world and the fantasy elements, the characters suffer a little. By the end of the volume I didn't feel particularly close to any of the characters - but I was intrigued by them. Prince Caesar acts cold, but seems to be growing attached to his new wife. And Princess Nakaba, while forced into this situation and continually demeaned, doesn't go down without a fight. I was immediately delighted when she slapped her servant for threatening her husband...and then punched Caesar herself.
There are also plenty of potential plot twists that are hinted at. Caesar's mother wants him to vie for the throne, while Caesar wants nothing to do with it. And Caesar was in love with his brother's fiance....who is also in love with him. There is also something strange about Nakaba, and her visions of the past the come when she passes out. And of course, there is the overall hatred and threat of war between the two countries. But while this shows the potential for a deeply interesting story, everything is so barely touched upon that you can't quite feel invested yet.
Toma throws in some mildly humorous moments from time to time, like Prince Caesar's sarcastic avoidance of praise to his reluctant wife, or a flashback with a dopy looking baby Nakaba. While cute, Dawn of the Arcana could have done without these bits; the real draw is the romance and the intriguing drama, and the attempts at comedy only detract from that.
Manga Art by Rei Toma
Toma's character designs are attractive and interesting, and in early scenes she even gives unique faces to some members of the crowd. And when action does occur, as in Nakaba's quick knife fight with her husband, I'm pleased to say that I can actually follow what's happening. But the backgrounds are bland, with Toma's overuse of white space being glaringly apparent, and this unfortunately can make the page awfully boring to look at.
Dawn of the Arcana Volume 1
With so much set up needed, it's no wonder that Dawn of the Arcana is off to a slow start, and Toma does give us the premise for an interesting realm and good characters. But scenes like the flashback into Caesar's childhood are what stirred up my empathy and compassion, and it's a pity that there wasn't room for more of them. As it stands, volume one of this manga doesn't leave me feeling particularly engaged with the story or characters. Less need for exposition in the next volume may help bring the focus to the characters, but readers might not care quite enough by the end of the this book to go out of their way to see.
Dawn of the Arcana volume 1 gets 3/5.
- ISBN: 9781421541044
- Viz Media
- MSRP: $9.99 US
- 192 pages
- Released December 6, 2011
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