Warning: Rant ahead
First of all, let me preface this review by applauding the scanlation group Barcarolle for their dedication in seeing this project to the end. Although they had planned on quitting scanlation some time ago, they remained committed to completing this one project [among a few others].This review is not meant as an indictment of their work or their efforts.
So on to my review, and just where do I begin? Take this review as a criticism of Bronze no Tenshi and Saito Chiho in general. I’ve only read four or five of her works that have been scanlated and looking at her overall body of work, I can see that’s she very prolific - sometimes more so than many of her more popular contemporaries (though it’s not really saying much). If she keeps getting work, then she must be doing something right. Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t deviated from her formula of badly written romance.
Much like her other shoujos, Bronze no Tenshi is bland, empty, and superficial. Moreover, there’s no payoff at the end (as usual). I’m going to go out on a ledge and guess that there’s not much historical accuracy to this story (like another review mentioned), and from what I’ve gleaned from the internet, Saito Chiho uses the premise of the real affair as a starting point and builds on the rest.
Bronze no Tenshi starts off nicely enough when we are first introduced to a seemingly indifferent, but beautiful Natalia who immediately captures the heart of poet and court upstart, Alexander Pushkin. After a very fervent courtship on the part of Pushkin, Natalia eventually relents and marries the handsome poet. Unfortunately for him, Natalia doesn’t seem to hold Pushkin in the same regard as he holds for her, and the introductoin of the handsome soldier George D’Anthes is a sign of worse to come. I’m sure you can see what’s coming next. The rest of the story is spent building on the growing attraction between Natalia and D’Anthes while court politics and financial ruin continue to plague Pushkin. Without spoiling much else, let’s say things build to a very explosive climax. I would like to say that the story ends nicely and that we get some type of closure or that you feel any type of sympathy for what happens to any of our characters.
Unfortunately none of that holds true by the time you get to the end. For one, you find it hard to like the female heroine, much less sympathize with her plight. There’s no depth to her at all; she lacks passion, wit, and humor. History paints Natalia Pushkin as a figure so charming and charismatic that she even captured the attention of the tsar, but you’d be hard-pressed to see any of that here. Although I preferred D’Anthes to Pushkin, you couldn’t help but feel for the poor sap because despite his misfortunes, he was a dedicated lover to Natalia.
There’s also some tragedy written in here, and though Saito Chiho conveniently eliminates one problem, she doesn’t do much to tie up other loose ends. She didn’t give anyone a happy ending with this manga, and you get the sense that she doesn’t like writing happy endings because she’s attempting to remove herself from the pack of romance writers by taking the road less traveled and leaving things more or less open-ended. If she were a skillful enough manga-ka to create a story that was compelling enough to warrant an open ending, I wouldn’t be complaining, but she’s not.
First time Saito Chiho readers might like this, but if you’ve read one of them, you’ve read them all. Amount of people I’d recommend this manga to: 0. I apologize for the long review, but if you’ve taken the time to read this, then you’ll thank me for having saved you the time of actually venturing towards anything written by Saito Chiho.
End rant/review/