by Lorska on December 8th, 2011, 6:41am

---

User rating of this review - N/A out of 5
Story/Plot - 4 out of 5
Characters - 5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 4 out of 5
Enjoyment - 5 out of 5
Overall - 4.5 out of 5

Click here for series information

Plot/Story
The story is set in a fantasy empire, roughly at the late medieval times.
There are currently no wars going on, but a disease named "Troy"/"Troi" endangers the population.
Among them are the "Sisters", who try to cure this disease since centuries, and the "Gazelles", a mysterious organization, with unknow purpose which tries to spread "Troy" through the whole country. They attack members of the "Sisters" and employ mercaneries and assassins.
"Troy", also called the "Vanishing Disease", is nearly undetectable until it comes to seizures, where the whole body starts to vanish, until the whole person is gone. the "Sisters" are people who have a high resistance against this disease and take the most part of the disease on themselves, shortening their own life-span, but still leaving the disease active on the "healed" person. "Troy" spreads through touching, so the "Sisters", as well the infected have to live without touching other humans directly.

The story begins in Turm, a small town where Elraine, a "Sister" cures an infected, and - after the treatment - goes into seizures. Seeing her collapsing, a boy named Kiri touches her and stops her symptoms. Later she finds out that as long as he keeps touching her (e.g. by holding hands), her seizures don't start again, so she is bound to stay in touch with him if she intends to live. Burdened by having a boy attached to her hand and chased by the "Gazelles" she tries to get Kiri to the "Sister's" HQ, to finally stop "Troy", for him beeing the first person in centuries who is completely immune to "Troy".

A fantasy adventure with everything one needs: a damsel in distress, a boy with an unnatural ability, an evil organization, and the goal to save the empire, here from a disease. The only bad point is the axed ending.


Characters
Elraine - a member of the "Sisters", an idol within the organization, who has cured many people, but now has reached the limit of her resistance against "Troy" and is bound to hold hands with Kiri. She is honest, doesn't want to trouble other people, and is willing to die for finding a way to cure "Troy". Despite this fact she does not want to die, and is happy to be able to live on. Whenever someone indicates her and Kiri being together she denies it loudly, and gets regularly deporessed when reminded, that she has to be attached to him, because it is really embarassing for her.

Kiri - an optimistic, smart and skilled boy who has an ability that prevents getting infected by diseases, and enhances physical abilities when connected to other people. He didn't know what to do with his life before meeting Elraine, but is very interested and skilled in arts, although his taste is a bit questionable. He doesn't want to involve other people in his own problems, and does not intend to give up once he decides to do something. He is also very encouraging, but is obnoxious to his past with Sui, who is his friend.

Sui - a battle-loving girl and the friend of Kiri. She is the strongest person in and around Turm and fights with a metal hula hoop. Despite the fact that she is occaisonally violent, she is sometimes very girlish and childish. She follows Elraine and Kiri because she is looking for stronger opponents, but mostly only brings trouble for the two of them.

One could add more and more characters, but it's more fun to discover them by oneself. All characters are adorable, everyone has his serious and funny sides, there is no "perfect" character, everone has his flaws, and mostly they are really hilarious. Kiri and Elraine are very sweet, and the characters are so different and spicy, that it is really fun to read.

Drawing Style
The scenes are mostly well drawn, occaisonally very detailed, especially structures, and landscapes, and only the important thing is drawn in one panel. Sometimes it is a bit hard to identify something in the picture, but thats rare. In addition everything is drawn differently: every character and place has his/its distinguishable feature and art.


Enjoyment
The story and the characters really suck you in. It is really funny most time, and touching when it gets serious. Both Kiri and Elraine are adorable, it is fun to watch the whole story and even funnier to see what Elraine is thinking. The art makes it easy to read, and also makes it enjoyable just to look at the panorama presented. The narration style is easy to follow, the facial expressions reach from dead-serious to downright-hilarious, only the actions comes a bit short for shounen. But you won't have time to complain about this, because the next joke is waiting just on the next page.

Overall
If you like fantasy, adventure and lots of comedy, then this is a must-read. You definatley won't get bored. The only requirement is that you shoud be able to handle the axed ending, because it is a huge destruction of potential. But until you get there, fun is waiting for you as well a beautiful and detailed setting, refreshing characters, and a sweet "couple". It is not your typical shounen, but it can be easily read by boys and girls.
Who knows, perhabs some time in the future, we can see the continuation of this wonderful manga, but even if not, you can definately enjoy this!

---