I decided one of my projects for Zelda Month 2020 should be a follow up on talking about Zelda Manga. But also make sure you check out the Zelda post I made in October.
To be slightly more critical than I was last year, The Adventure of Link Mangas suffer from a desire to give the story proper villains. I guess some people assume the particular villain less nature of AoL can only work for a Video Game. But this genre has plenty of truly no villain stories like the third Pokemon movie or Frozen II or…. Ya know Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a pretty good comparison, on my most recent rewatch of the 2010 film I found myself more able to enjoy it. But still it’s issues mostly stem from the movie wanting to give the story a villain, and it seems like adaptations of the second Zelda game fall into a similar trap.
Another thing AoL Mangas do is give the first game’s Zelda a role in the story, that I don’t consider a problem however, I’m all for Video Game adaptations giving the MC a party of sorts to interact with like the Pokemon Anime has always done. And the weird Dynamic of having two Zelda at once by the end is worth exploring.
I now own a box set of most of the Akira Himekawa manga, I’m not sure I ever will read all of them, but I’ve started with A Link to The Past, I always knew I probably would like it, but it is different than I expected. The Dark World bosses are all given a backstory as transformed normal people that kind of gives this whole version of ALttP’s story a Magical Girl vibe. And Ganti is an even better character than I expected, they have me now shipping a Threesome between this Zelda, Link and Ganti. They also draw Link as such a Bishi Anime Boy in this, I think this Manga may be an overlooked step in how Link became so popular with the Gay community.
They made some similar adaptational choices to the Nintendo Power ALttP Comic, like Link’s Dark World beast form being a Wolf rather than a Rabbit (which would also become Game canon in Twilight Princess) and the Silver Arrow coming from it’s main OC rather than the cursed fairy. It’s also interesting to look at this particular ALttP Manga remembering it wasn't made till 2005, there is a glimpse of Gerudo Ganondorf. But it does also draw directly on the classic Instruction Manual and really doesn’t change anything to conform to OoT's retcons.
There is one more comment I want to make about the Nintendo Power ALttP Manga. In the game when you go to the Dark World counterpart of Sahasralah’s hut you find this shrubby looking thing that provides some interesting exposition. You don’t need to do this to beat the game, but it’s a detail that sticks in my memory. It’s something I would not fault an adaptation leaving out as indeed I don’t fault Himekawa for not including it, but I do love how Shoutarou Ishinomori incorporated it.
I think ALttP is by nature the best to make an interesting adaptation of, it has enough story that you don't have to constantly invent things to keep it interesting, but still enough blanks to allow writers to express their creative freedom. And as long as the art style uses the classic instruction manual as the starting point it’ll always have my favorite kind of Zelda Aesthetic.
I decided the next Himekawa Manga to read should be Four Swords, and I’m having trouble getting into it. It’s perfectly competent and I can easily see some fans liking it the best of them, and I do love the meta knowledge that they decided what personalities to give the four Links from watching them AI controlled in SSB Melee. But this story is simply not to my tastes as well as their ALttP is.
I had thought the other ALttP Manga didn’t even have a fan translation I could read, but it turns out if you know where to look the Ataru Cagiva Manga does have one.
This is the longest version and for that reason ought to be the most fleshed out. It unlike the others changes the start of Link’s adventure so it’s no longer in response to a telepathic message from Zelda. I like the little things the early games do to give Zelda agency, even in the 1985 original she has a certain agency that Princess Toadstool didn’t in that the player character's mission is carrinyg out a plan she laid. And in this game while there is a lot of backstory to parse, both distant and recent past, the Game proper begins because of Link’s (and his Uncle's) reaction to Zelda’s actions.
It looks like this one has also removed Sahasrahla. And instead of Ganti or Roam we get a Shonen style rival character. Nonetheless it has its own strengths and is worth reading.
Interestingly there is one thing that makes the Game of A Link To The Past more like what I look to Anime for then any of the Manga versions, and that’s how at the end Link’s wish when he touches The Triforce brings back everyone who died. These adaptations are afraid to do that, and instead make the endings more bittersweet, something the Games would start doing more and more with Ocarina of Time.
I do want to comment on the Yuu Mishouzaki Manga again. It’s by far the most unlike the Zelda we’re used to even among other Manga that had only the NES games to work with. But it’s interesting seeing such a radically different take. It ought to be interesting to those Tolkien fans who wish Tolkien had more Human-Elf pairing that went the other way gender wise. I love how the titular Zelda of this Manga knows about her mother’s affair with someone who wasn’t her father and is totally okay with it.
With Sailor Moon I talked once about how the Manga is kind of driven by a fantasy of a girl having it both ways, being a powerful heroine and a princess reduced by a Knight in shining armor at the same time. Well, this particular Zelda Manga I think was trying the same thing. Zelda is so powerful and bad@$$ at the beginning, but then talks at the end about how she was dreaming of Link rescuing her. It’s an interesting duality that so far, I’ve only seen Japanese media pull off in this way.
I then decided to start the Himekawa Oracle of Seasons Manga (it’s placement in the Box Set has me assuming it’s meant to precede Ages). Even though I’ve never played the Oracle Games I’ve always felt like they are the only post OoT games to recapture the vibe of the pre OoT games. And that’s why I think I might enjoy their Manga.
They give this Link an origin story I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have in the games. And as a Shadowmen nerd I can’t get over how much this first chapter reminds me of the beginning of The Three Musketeers with Link as D'artagnan. Upon finishing it they definitely left a lot of stuff out, I know little about the Game but I do know it’s the 8-bit debut of Malon who wasn’t in this Manga. It was pretty enjoyable.
If I decide I have more thoughts on Zelda Manga to share within the next month or so I’ll edit this post adding them here. In the meantime I may have other Zelda topics to discuss for Zelda month.
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