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geekwayne's review
3.0
'Kamen Volume 1' by Gunya Mihara is an interesting manga and the first part of a larger story. Fortunately the first part is a pretty interesting story.
When a mysterious masked man shows up among a group of prisoners in a fortress, there is a bit of confusion and fear of him. The fact that he can't talk doesn't help him with his captors or fellow prisoners. General Simba has her own ideas of what to do with the prisoners, but has to fight her uncle and some of the other soldiers. When the strange masked man exhibits some interesting skills, things get even more complicated. Add in an advancing army, and we get a good setup for the next volume.
It reminded me of a samurai film or a spaghetti Western. Lots of characters with their own motivations and a potentially silent hero to show a different path. With the exception of the masked character, it plays out along the lines it seems to be meant to. I'm looking forward to volume 2 to see if that changes. The art is pretty good and there are a ton of characters. Sometimes, it's a bit hard to figure out who's who, but there is a character list at the back of the volume.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors, Gen Manga Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
When a mysterious masked man shows up among a group of prisoners in a fortress, there is a bit of confusion and fear of him. The fact that he can't talk doesn't help him with his captors or fellow prisoners. General Simba has her own ideas of what to do with the prisoners, but has to fight her uncle and some of the other soldiers. When the strange masked man exhibits some interesting skills, things get even more complicated. Add in an advancing army, and we get a good setup for the next volume.
It reminded me of a samurai film or a spaghetti Western. Lots of characters with their own motivations and a potentially silent hero to show a different path. With the exception of the masked character, it plays out along the lines it seems to be meant to. I'm looking forward to volume 2 to see if that changes. The art is pretty good and there are a ton of characters. Sometimes, it's a bit hard to figure out who's who, but there is a character list at the back of the volume.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors, Gen Manga Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
hsienhsien27's review
4.0
This is an Advanced Readers Copy received From Netgalley
The last volume of manga I remember reading was probably Gantz, I never finished it, but it was indeed a fantastic journey of blood, guts, and, um, sweat too. I never read too many manga that focused on a sort of old Japan, with the samurai and the folk tales, and this one was one of those. I think the only thing that I have read, that was close to this, was a novel called Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi. They both share that same surreal type of story with a magical hero in an old, feudal Japan.
Kamen starts off with an unnamed man, waking up in an unknown land with a mask on his face. The mask talks, but he doesn't, and it seems to lead him to his decisions, but so far, he always seems to do the opposite. So that proves that the mask is more like Navi from Legend of Zelda? Except, if he removes it, he dies. Eventually he catches himself in between a war between two towns and he has no choice but to stay behind this mask, that seems to give him super strength, and slowly weave the answers to his existence.
The pacing of the story was great, but the story isn't much different from any other fantasy, shonen, but not in a bad way. For me it was refreshing, maybe even a bit nostalgic, reminding me of the manga 666 Satan, also known as O-Parts Hunter. So far, this hero isn't particularly flawed, like the 666 Satan one, but his mystery is his flaw, and he has no choice but to follow whatever is in his path, to discover what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future.
The artwork is great, but again, it's no different from any other Shonen manga, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Kamen will be great for those who are fans of Shonen manga, fans of Naruto, 666 Satan (the creators of these two are actually twin brothers, hence the similarity), Moribito, and basically anyone who loves manga and graphic novels.
Rating: 4/5
The last volume of manga I remember reading was probably Gantz, I never finished it, but it was indeed a fantastic journey of blood, guts, and, um, sweat too. I never read too many manga that focused on a sort of old Japan, with the samurai and the folk tales, and this one was one of those. I think the only thing that I have read, that was close to this, was a novel called Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi. They both share that same surreal type of story with a magical hero in an old, feudal Japan.
Kamen starts off with an unnamed man, waking up in an unknown land with a mask on his face. The mask talks, but he doesn't, and it seems to lead him to his decisions, but so far, he always seems to do the opposite. So that proves that the mask is more like Navi from Legend of Zelda? Except, if he removes it, he dies. Eventually he catches himself in between a war between two towns and he has no choice but to stay behind this mask, that seems to give him super strength, and slowly weave the answers to his existence.
The pacing of the story was great, but the story isn't much different from any other fantasy, shonen, but not in a bad way. For me it was refreshing, maybe even a bit nostalgic, reminding me of the manga 666 Satan, also known as O-Parts Hunter. So far, this hero isn't particularly flawed, like the 666 Satan one, but his mystery is his flaw, and he has no choice but to follow whatever is in his path, to discover what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future.
The artwork is great, but again, it's no different from any other Shonen manga, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Kamen will be great for those who are fans of Shonen manga, fans of Naruto, 666 Satan (the creators of these two are actually twin brothers, hence the similarity), Moribito, and basically anyone who loves manga and graphic novels.
Rating: 4/5
whitecat5000's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
This had me interested from start to finish. It looks like there is only one more volume. I wonder how it will end?
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