There are two volumes from beginning to end, Ran Shi is a small high fantasy manga about a warrior named Ran. More specifically, the comic begins with Lan arriving in a small village. At the request of the village chief, Lan saves them from a giant monster named “Karma”. However, even though Lan came to their aid, he was treated poorly by the villagers because he was an “Unclean Son,” a type of warrior who fought against karma at least in part by bearing the curse. Although this has been proven to be untrue, many people seem to (mistakenly) believe that this makes impure children somehow contagious, and therefore they are often ostracized. But a local bard named Torue didn’t care. Thinking it would inspire a great song, she quickly decides to follow Ran, who soon must face his greatest (literal and figurative) enemy yet.
If you care more about awesome battles with monsters than a satisfying story, Ran Shi Will be an interesting read for you. More on this later, but Ran Shi The illustrations are beautiful, and the comic often features some truly amazing fight scenes. Not to mention the enemies – the aforementioned Karma – who are both brilliantly designed and drawn. But aside from these battles, almost nothing happens in this comic. In many ways, this is just Lan dealing with boss rushes, with only a small amount of lore between each fight. What little story this comic can say (if it can be said to have a story at all) is heavily rushed and underdeveloped in order to give more time to the battles. But admittedly, given the length of this comic, it’s not surprising that the story is so weak.
While it’s not impossible to create a satisfyingly complete comic in two volumes (or less), you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t tell you that it’s often an uphill battle. Yes, some comics have done this. But the truth is, in two volumes, there’s only so much you really have time to accomplish, and it’s almost inevitable that something will slip through the cracks at some point. People can’t help but feel this when they read Ran Shi, the concept of which is clearly better suited to being a full-length story – maybe Battle Shonen , or something like that – rather than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it two volumes. Plus, there are some fun bits of world-building sprinkled throughout Ran Shi—If this comic were longer, there would be a breadcrumb trail that feels like it could easily lead to somewhere interesting. This world-building ends up being wasted, however, as the length of the comic doesn’t really give it time to do anything meaningful. Essentially what I’m getting here is Ran Shi It feels incomplete.
The comic’s cardboard cutout cast emphasizes how rushed and incomplete the story is, but none of it stands out. While this is also true for a handful of supporting characters introduced throughout the manga, this is especially true for protagonists Ran and Torae. Granted, there’s at least some tangible effort to make Lan feel like a unique character, given that he has a backstory and some quirks. But none of these are particularly unique or attractive, so he can’t help but seem ordinary. As for Tiger Guard, she mostly just uses her boobs and follows Ran. She may sing more than she talks, but that doesn’t matter because, as a warrior, she has little to do but observe. But she made it clear from the beginning that she wanted to watch Ran’s adventures, so her idleness isn’t necessarily surprising, nor would I say it was a waste. It just means she never really spends any time in the spotlight, so by the end, readers still barely know her.
Despite the comic’s many shortcomings, it has incredible assets artistically. The level of detail in the backgrounds, townscapes, and karma in particular is simply jaw-dropping. The characters are well drawn too, don’t get me wrong – and their designs are pretty solid too. But it’s the larger-scale elements—the stunning architecture and nightmarish karma—that allow writers and illustrators to Osawa Yusuke Give full play to his creativity.
This comic has little impact, and if it weren’t for the beautiful, detailed art, I wouldn’t find it compelling at all, for better or for worse. It’s a perfectly middle-of-the-road high fantasy that probably won’t be on anyone’s all-time favorites list, but it’s also unlikely to be listed as the worst the genre has ever seen. That being said, the art is well worth a look – and since the comic is so short and unclear, I can imagine someone ending up reading the entire book simply because they just want to admire the art.
