Forum - View topicRednal's Reviews: Maid War Chronicle Volume 1 by RAN
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Rednal
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The following review is not sponsored or endorsed by ANN, and does not necessarily reflect the views of ANN and/or any members of its staff.
Maid War Chronicle Volume 1 Mangaka: RAN US Publisher: Del Rey Books ISBN: 978-0-345-51246-8 Price: $10.99 (US) Overview: Maid War Chronicle, put simply, is pretty much exactly what the title suggests it should be; it's a chronicle about a war, and it features maids. It is by no stretch of the imagination particularly unique, groundbreaking, or notable. On the other hand, it isn't all that bad, either, especially if the only maids you've managed to find on the bookshelves lately are from He Is My Master. Characters: Some guys are closet perverts, trying to keep the girls oblivious to their ecchi minds. Some guys are accidental perverts, like Keitaro Urashima, who constantly fall into embarassing situations. And some guys are active perverts, literally jumping at the girl and intentionally groping her. Or them. Prince Alex is definitely one of that last category, a kid of twelve or so who's just managed to lose his kingdom. To be fair, that doesn't seem to be his fault. But, as he says, tea-time with beautiful maids is more important than his Kingdom. On the other hand, Kingdoms are important, too. After some consideration, he decides to form the Order of the Maid, giving his various guardians an official excuse to be Maid Knights (oddly, this isn't half as silly as it ought to be), get them some Holy Weapons, and start trying to save his life properly. He's very reminiscent of Laharl from the Disgaea series, actually, but with an interest in maids. A large interest. The story focuses primarily on Cacao, an ex-circus performer who was scouted by the Prince to be one of his maids, and she has arguably the most useful Holy Weapon; some sort of sword/axe that is never quite described properly. As of this volume, the other characters have not been elaborated on too much, though there is a jungle-girl who gets along well with animals and quiet super-genius named Mint. It should be noted that this series follows the idea of having a theme for character names, and despite the occasional similarity to Galaxy Angel (there's also a Vanilla, for example), only Cacao has really been fleshed out a lot so far. Several important male characters do appear, though, including one guy who reminds me very strongly of that hyperactive Gamers Mascot guy from Lucky Star, and those scenes are actually quite fun. Rating: B. Nobody truly memorable or original, but the characters themselves aren't bad, and it's nice to see some tough, muscled guys instead of just maids. Art: The art of Maid War Chronicle is nice, with good designs for both the male and female characters. The backgrounds, when present, are detailed fairly well, and some of the individual panels for the characters in the more dramatic moments are actually quite nice to see. MWC isn't a book series that focuses on just having pretty maids; at times, they actually do manage to look like tough, competent individuals, and I have to admit that it's a nice change from moe-blobs. I like cute girls who can be tough when needed, yet still look good when playing strip rock-paper-scissors. Which actually happens, mind you. Rating: B. Not notable, but I don't see much to complain about. It's easy on the eyes (especially the maids), and the guy's clearly got some talent. And a good staff, more likely than not. Story: It's exactly what the title says it is. It's a story of a war that features maids, and you know, the first volume isn't really enough to grasp the whole story. Unless it's a one-shot type of story. But MWC does have some tough male characters, rather than focusing only on girls (even the enemy army is led by dudes, not bikini-armored elf chicks, which wouldn't actually be very surprising if it were to happen), and you do have to wonder how a Prince who thinks that having beautiful maids is more important than his Kingdom is ever going to grow up enough to actually get that Kingdom back and become a good ruler. To put it another way, if you get into the story at all, you'll probably want to finish it. Rating: C+. You've probably seen most (or all) of it before, but they're done solidly here, and there are a few fun twists every now and then. Once again, having more than beautiful girls seems to work well for it. Final Word: This isn't the most amazing book I've ever read, but it's a long ways from the worst. A lot of what RAN does works fairly well, and he manages to put in enough interesting things to keep you from getting bored. A solid example of taking what we're familiar with and making it still be good. Final Rating: B. |
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