King of Wolves (aka Ohrou) Vol. #01

By Jarred Pine     November 22, 2005
Release Date: May 11, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Writer: Buronson / Artist: Kentaro Miura
Translated by:Kumar Sivasubramanian
Adapted by:

What They Say
A bright-spirited young historical scholar, Iba, disappears while on a lone expedition to study the ancient Silk Road. A year later his girlfriend, Kyoko, sets out for the Silk Road in order to find clues that will help to unravel the mystery of Iba's disappearance. When she arrives, she finds the charm she gave Iba for protection and moments later she is sucked into a black vortex and loses consciousness. Koyoko awakes to find herself in a very different place and discovers that that Iba is not only alive but is a warrior-slave under the reign of Genghis Khan in 13th century Mongolia! At last, when Iba and Kyoko reunite, they find that there are a series of fates, crueler than the ones they have already endured, awaiting them...

The Review
Buronson. Miura. Together. Unfortunately it is for only one volume, but both of them make the best use of their time in creating about as epic of a story as it could get within 200 pages.


Packaging:
The cover features the original Japanese tankoubon artwork with Iba scowling from behind his sword. The English logo appears in front of the original Japanese logo, and the creators’ names appear in Japanese with the English as well. The theme and layout of the book definitely matches DH’s Berserk release. The book is shrink-wrapped with an “Explicit Content” warning sticker on the cover itself. The print reproduction is solid, especially consider the age of the title and Miura’s heavy line work. There is a volume header and title page, but no chapters as this is one continuous story.

Art:
Created around the time when Kentaro Miura was working on the Berserk prototype, there are a lot of familiar designs here that no doubt served as practice for his upcoming hit manga. The 13th century Mongol Empire setting really allows his artwork and unique fantasy style to show. The landscapes are vast, battlefields covered with numerous soldiers, and it is funny to see more of his refined horse artwork that I always found was so interesting.

Character designs feature a lot of the brute style of men with large jaw lines and wonderful etching for shading of the facial features. The action artwork is incredible, very clean and nicely directed in interesting panel layouts. The one aspect that is a bit rough are the gorier parts that feature just a lot of scribbled line work instead of the very detailed work that Miura excelled at later on. There is also quite a bit of female nudity in this title, giving the title its mature rating.

Text/SFX:
SFX are not translated, which is the unfortunate norm for Dark Horse titles it seems. Despite that, the translation is very solid, complete with historical editor’s notes in the margins to help explain the significance of who the characters are and the period they are in.

Contents (Watch out spoilers ahead):
The fact alone that Fist of the North Star's Buronson and Berserk's Kentaro Miura got together to work on a manga is enough to make the head spin. When they get together to create a manga featuring time travel, the Mongol Empire, gladiator fighting, war battles, and a historical twist on Ghengis Khan all packed togther in ONE volume...well, my head just exploded. With King of Wolves, two of manga's most epic and grand storytellers get together to create an entertaining historical escapist fantasy title that should please fans of the creators, but may leave others feeling a bit dizzy.

The frantically paced story follows Iba, a kendo master and Chinese history scholar, and his girlfriend Kyoko as they traverse time from 1989 all the way back to the 13th century and into the arms of the Mongol Empire. Iba is even asked to have company with the great Ghengis Khan himself, but the reason is an historical twist beyond outlandish proportions. In Buronson’s historical fantasy land of Xixia, Ghengis Khan is actually famous 12th century samurai Yoshitsune Minamoto! This former feudal lord supposedly died during battle in the year 1189, but in this story his death was actually that of a body double and the real Lord fled to create a new powerful land with the Mongol Empire. A lot of Khan’s origins are unknown to scholar’s, so Buronson has decided here to have a little fun with it.

With his wife and child dead, Yoshitsune (or Ghenghis Khan) is only concerned about the creation of this great empire. He decides to make Iba a general in the army, as his great sword skills make him a formidable opponent. However, Yoshitsune is brewing a plan of his own unknowingly to Iba. He will take Iba and Kyoko’s future child away from them as the next full-blooded Japanese ruler of the Mongol Empire. Once Iba figures out Yoshitsune’s plans, he will have to decide whether to slay Yoshitsune and alter the course of history (as Ghengis Khan is not supposed to die for another 15 years or so) or stay the course and allow his child and wife to be taken from them, as well as possibly his own life!

To get the most out of King of Wolves is to completely allow yourself to be consumed with the total escapist fantasy that Buronson creates. This is historical fiction that I’m sure would make historical scholars guffaw madly, but it is a fun twist on history that provides a stage for Miura to create his unique fantasy-inspired landscapes and brutal action sequences. The story has a pretty epic feel for only being one volume in length, which is its greatest weakness. The pace moves at breakneck speed, but given the short amount of time allowed I think Buronson and Miura made the most of it.

Comments
King of Wolves is pure escapist fantasy that is illustrated wonderfully by Kentaro Miura, whose art style really fits Buronson’s epic style of storytelling and the 13th century Central Asia setting. The historical fiction twist is pretty laughable, but is an entertaining twist nonetheless. Being a one-shot manga, it does suffer from pacing issues that one would expect, especially when as many elements are crammed into it as Buronson can get away with. At almost $13, it’s hard to recommend this title to everyone, but fans of Buronson and Miura should get a kick of it, as I did. I'm definitely hoping that Dark Horse will release "Oh Rou Den", the one-shot follow up to this title.