Aqua Knight: v. 1 [Paperback]

Fans of the author's previous work, Battle Angel Alita, may be a little surprised by the subject of this manga. Instead of the dark, far future of 'Alita', we are introduced to a sunshiny, medieval-flavored fantasy realm at the edge of the world. A terrific change from most comics out there, I was quite impressed with Aqua Knight, and I'm waiting for future volumns. The characters are well-defined, for the most part, and provide an emotional element to the story which helps to drive it along. As a brief note for the uninitiated, the Japanese in general are quite comfortable depicting nudity, child or adult, and this is apparent in Aqua Knight. I personally feel that this does not detract from the book's merit in any way, I merely mention this in passing for the benefit of those who have not previosly experienced the manga art form, and would like to. In that case, or if you are already a fan, I can recommend this book as a good introduction.

This manga his hard to describe, and I think that's because of the different sensibilities between the Japanese and Americans. But here goes:

This work is by Yukito Kishiro, most recognized from his brilliant cyber-punk epic Battle Angel Alita. Aqua Knight bears incredibly little resemblance to Alita, so much so that if you didn't know ahead of time that it was done by the same person, you probably wouldn't be able to tell.

This is a much simpler story. In an aquatic fantasy world, a boy lives on a small island with his father. There doesn't appear to be anything on the island except for a lighthouse. They survive by eating fish, which they catch with the aid of a friendly killer whale.

Since it's only the boy and his father, the boy tends to run around half naked. Often the wrap around his waist flips up and we see his boy bits. This seems to bother some people. But I grew up in a neighborhood where all the families seemed to have boys, and since there were no girls in sight, some parents let their boys run around naked. The kids were too young to know the difference, and their parents were kind enough to not instill in them a sense of shame about their body at an early age. It's about innocence, and it's supposed to be funny.

The father is muscular and scarred and tan. With no women around, he's let his hair and beard grow, and the near lonliness has left him just a tad crazy. He's a good father to the boy, fulfilling what few needs the boy has on that tiny island, but the lack of civilization has left him a bit, well, uncivilized.

The boy finds a suit of armor under the water and, with the help of the killer whale, brings it home. The father explains that it's a knight's armor, and when they open it, inside is the first woman the boy has ever seen. The boy asks about her obvious physical differences, but being prepubescent his questions are innocent and his father answers them respectfully.

As the woman recovers, the boy talks to her and becomes interested in the world outside of his little island.

There are a lot of strange characters who show up by the end of this volume and in the rest of the series. They're all kind of crazy and wacky, and funny if you don't take them seriously. I'm willing to bet that Aqua Knight is more about Yukito Kishiro just wanting to do something fun, after the seriousness of Alita.

I loved Alita, but I felt that Yukito Kishiro's story telling, specifically his pacing and characterization were a bit weak in places. I think those weaknesses show up her as well. He will pause in the middle of a fight scene to explain how someone's weapons work, for instance. It can be a bit jarring.

But the strength is the artwork. His figures are amazing, dynamic and full of life. His action sequences are beautiful. But what impressed me most here were the zipotones. This is the most amazing grayscale work I've ever seen. Ever.

So if you pick up the book, and just sit back and relax, and don't take it too seriously, you'll have fun.

Kishiro did this work as a different direction to his work on Battle Angel. It was after all a new millenium and he wanted to start work with a positive outlook. So he made a fantastic fantasy world and overall a different story direction.

Sadly, as the lunacy after 9/11 proved, the start of the millenium and likely the last gasps of the "Picean Age" make "Battle Angel" a far more palatable fiction than "Aqua Knight"... So he had to close off the series and start again on "Battle Angel".

It's well worth a read of this. It shows how talented the author is in storytelling as well as art.

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