The Beast Player 1: A Review

The Beast Player 1 by Nahoko Uehashi & Itoe Takemoto (artist)

My Rating: 5 stars!

Cover Rating: 8/10 The cover is really pretty and the coloring is so soft and it feels like a painting.

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Publish Date: May 14th, 2024

Number of Pages: 190

Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Purchase: Kodansha

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Elin loves her brave and beautiful mother, a gifted beast doctor charged with the care of the Toda—the fearsome giant serpents that the kingdom’s warriors ride into battle. Their modest but happy life together is shattered when a mysterious illness fells the entire stable of the prized serpents overnight, and Elin’s mother is saddled with the blame. Before she knows it, Elin finds herself cast out from all she has ever known, alone in a faraway land, with only her mother’s words and the kindness of strangers to guide her. A sumptuous manga adaptation of the hit fantasy novel series, The Beast Player, by Nahoko Uehashi.

Opening Page:

Musings:

I love the unique world to be found in this manga. It has its own unique peoples and ways and it feels like your scratching the surface of something so much larger and you’ll only ever get to explore that smaller part of it.

Of course a huge part of what I love about this manga is the artwork. I find the pieces that have watercolor to be stunning. It really fits this world with dangerous yet useful creatures that make up a central part in the ways of the world in this story.

There is a prophecy of calamity relating to our little heroine Elin and a feeling that her innocence won’t remain to be as it is as she gets older due to what happens in the beginning of this manga. This is a story I wish that I was able to read so many more volumes of because I know there’s so much potential for depth. I feel that the story may become darker as it goes, but it also could potentially show that fate may not be totally as set in stone as it seems to be.

I really enjoyed this read and I look forward to so much more!

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! 

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