Heading into the second Volume of 7th Garden, our lore opens up more, but not too overwhelming. Really enjoying the story, and having just found out it is only 8 Volumes, I think I am going to try to finish it soon. Highlights: -Vulpes expresses gratitude to Maria (Vyrde) for still being alive (definitely more to the story there) before leaving. He doesn't have time for her right now. - Awyn wakes up to meet a new person, Iola, who claims to be Vyrde's niece. She is also wearing headphones, which starts to shatter the illusion that we are not in a medieval setting. Iola promises to help where she can. - Vyrde knows that there is an angel in the nearby Kingdom of Irreign, and teleports her and Awyn there to begin to find it. (Leaving Iola and the other servants to watch over Marie) - Irreign does have problems of its own. It is ruled by a woman known as Ornichelle, who is known by many as "The Demon Queen" because she keeps most of the wealth and supplies for the wealthy and upper class, having the lower class fall farther and farther into poverty. - We learn that Ornichelle is being guided by 4th Angel Leiru, and that gets her killed... which turns Leiru's sights on Princess Elizabeth... - When we get to the inevitable confrontation between Awyn/Vryde and Elizabeth/Leiru, we get to see two things: 1) Leiru is exactly like the angels that Vryde talks about: manipulative and controlling. 2) Awyn (who reminds me of so many other anime/manga protagonists) is willing to sacrifice his own being to save people while killing the angel. He convinces Vryde to switch to full offense (not protecting him at all) so that he can break through the armor of Leiru, killing the angel, but also releasing Elizabeth from her control. - Either way, we end with the death of the "first" angel, giving Vryde a powerup (I think)
Enjoying the title so far... apparently there is no anime for this. Oh well... on to the next Volume! Recommend.
7th Garden Tome 2 – Mitsu Izuni (Japon, 89) – 2017 – Delcourt Dans une monde où l’univers est un jardin, il est bien normal que le héros soit jardinier. 7 Anges… Autant de cibles à abattre pour Vydre. C’est elle le premier « Fallen Angel » la Golden Nephilim. On ne l’endort pas ! Elle a ses griefs et sa colère… L’ange dit que tout les démons semble être nocifs. Mais Vydre a été châtiée car elle a prit le parti des humains… Très bien écrit très oral, j’entends les voix Japonaises … Awyn et Vydre font une opération spécial rescue de noble. Ils finissent par être arrêtés… Mais un nouvel être céleste débarque et corrompt… La Noble change de camp pour massacrer Vydre & Awyn… Le démon ayant toujours le mauvais rôle aux yeux du citoyen lambda. Les combats ont de l’ampleur; Phoenix ++
Finally finished the 2nd volume. The action doesn't get better and the main character will get on your nerves. He is the worst cookie cutter goody tutu. With melodrama and support characters you don't care for.
The only saving grace was the Demon Girl. Maybe it gets better volume 3?
We get away from Awyn's garden for most of this volume. Instead, the fight in the previous one draws to a conclusion, only for Vyrde to drag him off for another one. We continue getting clues as to what happened to Vyrde.
We meet another angel, who's horrible. I really don't understand the ideology here. The angels are clearly awful, and really aren't better than Vyrde, who is supposedly the only demon here. I don't get it, mostly because it seems obvious to me that the others aren't really angels? But if that's supposed to be a revelation later down the line, then why is it so obvious? There must be something deeper going on here, and I really don't understand what's happening with that.
We meet an interesting friend of Vyrde's. The reasons behind the angels actions has me intrigued, but only a little. The side character we met here was nice—a younger girl who's being pushed into her sisters crimes—but mostly I want to see more of Marie. I like her a lot, and the dynamic she has with Awyn.
I really do enjoy the contrast of good and evil, aside from the whole angel thing. Seeing the bright world of Awyn's garden and home, and then the darkness of Vyrde and the underlying dark side that Awyn is hiding. I want to see more depth of that as well.
I'm rather enjoying this series so far, surprisingly. I want to read more.
A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!