Creative Staff:
Original Story: Taro Hitsuji
Art: Yuzuriha
Character Design: Kiyotaka Haimura
Storyboards: Taisuke Umeki
Translation: Jan Mitsuko Cash
Letterer: Phil Christie
What They Say:
For as long as he can remember, Rintarou Magami has been able to do everything perfectly-but life as a genius is boring. That’s why when he hears about a battle to determine King Arthur’s successor, he decides to have a little fun and join forces with the weakest candidate, Luna Artur. The only problem: Luna already sold her Excalibur for cash! As the nighttime battles of swords and sorcery intensify, will Rintarou regret backing such an utter scumbag?
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
King Authur’s descendants are competing for the right to be the successor to his throne. Each of these descendants has a unique version of Excalibur. And they also could summon a Jack, one of the knights of the Round Table who served under King Arthur. This might sound a bit familiar to fans of the widely popular Fate series. Luna Artur is one of the descendants is one of the participants but is taking such an absurd approach to this competition. She doesn’t take the competition seriously. She sold her Excalibur and has her Jack, Sir Kay, doing escort jobs and she takes all the money for herself.
She might not be taking this competition seriously but the other descendants sure are. One of her rivals, Felicia is a by the rules lad and wants to beat Luna at her very best. She is astonished when she finds out how laidback Luna has been regarding the competition. She allied with another competitor but strongly wishes to take on Luna herself.
I wish there was more seen to Rintarou. He prescribes himself as a natural-born genius with a grim past but there isn’t much development with that aspect beyond a couple of panels. He says he wants to join up with Luna because he is bored with his regular life. But there needs to be something more to him. He may be a natural-born genius but how does it connect to the magical world.
This volume is best in its use of slapstick humor. Luna doesn’t care about the rules created by others and dances to the beat of her own tune. She loudly proclaims that “I am the rules” when others try to bound her down with the expectations of society. She uses Rintarou as a scapegoat when a teacher is lecturing her. Her math teacher is using advance-college math problems to embarrass high school students to prove his superiority. Everything turns out well in the end as Rintarou can solve his problems without breaking a sweat.
Kay has no luck in being seen as a serious warrior and is portrayed as a laughing stock loser. She has to work in several questionable odd jobs that leave her unprepared for battle. She arrives to battle with the most controversial outfit for the occasion. One of her part-time jobs is working as an idol in Luna’s school so that Luna can become student council president.
In Summary
This is a wonderful farcical parody of the Fate series. There may not be champions from all over the world as this series want to stick to Old England. It limits its scope to focus on Old England but doesn’t utilize that setting to the fullest extent possible. The Jacks are described as part of King Authur’s court but there isn’t much about them. This also applies to Avalonia. Avalonia is presented as this magical city and the background for this tournament but there should be more elegance to it. A lot is going in this book that leaves much to be answered. There are great details on Luna but it briefly touches on all other aspects. It immediately drops into the middle of the competition without an explanation of why a tournament is being held.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: July 21st, 2020
MSRP: $13.00 / $17.00 CAN
