Manga Review: Classical Medley Volume One

[Jason]

Title: Classical Medley
Volume: One
Mangaka: Sanae Kana
Originally serialized in: Flex Comics
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy, Action
Published by: CMX
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99/US

It takes only a few lines before you get a sugar rush from the cutesy names of the characters in this manga: Prince Soprano, his bodyguard Alto, his moon-dragon Mezzo (Classical Medley, get it?). The storyline fortunately does rise a bit above the cringe-inducing naming scheme. Soprano and Alto are more than just bodyguard and prince, they’re best friends. At fifteen, Alto is a very accomplished young warrior, part of the king’s quintet of knights, and Soprano is, well, you get Soprano is good at being a pampered prince and used to not really having to do much or think for himself.

Invited to a ceremony by his king father, Soprano and Alto meet with the king and his sorceress wife, Soprano’s mother, to renew the seal on a monster known as Sinistra. The priest who meets them there isn’t the bishop,but rather his son, stepping in for his sick father. For the expositional sake of the audience, Soprano hasn’t paid attention in school and he doesn’t know the “oldest fairytale of them all”, a tale at the root of their country, or so Alto explains.

There were two orbs, the orb of darkness, Sinistra, and the orb of light, Diritta. Diritta locked away Sinistra eventually, to end its evil ways. Sinistra is sealed in the basement of the palace and Diritta is now a necklace that each king of Classical inherits to guard. It’s the hundredth anniversary of that event (apparently these people don’t have a real sense of history if they think that’s old).

Naturally, things go wrong. Sinistra embeds itself in the king, while Diritta makes a home in Alto, and the game is afoot. Alto, Soprano and Mezzo barely escape, thanks to the queen who faces down the possessed king. On the run, Alto and Mezzo are trying to get Soprano to his oldest brother, Grave, so he can help save the king. In the meantime, the king has managed to enthral his wife, his bodyguards and the quintet, the king’s private guard, setting them after the prince and his friends. Alto knows he has to disguise the prince, so obviously let’s put him in a dress because that isn’t a cliché. Hunted through the kingdom, Alto is discovering what it is to control Diritta while the Sinistra is busy trying to completely regain its power.

The storyline isn’t bad, a stock fantasy idea that’s been done before. The real problem here is the art, and you know it the moment you see the chibi cover. The art doesn’t fit this story at all. If you weren’t told Soprano and Alto were fifteen, you’d place them at age seven or eight. The king and his wife look like they’re fifteen. Everyone looks like a bunch of grade-schoolers running around. The faces are cute enough, if you ignore Soprano’s hair (honestly, I thought he had Spock ears and couldn’t figure out why he was the only one), but the bodies… well, let’s just say there is no anatomy at all. There’s just straight lined limbs with no definition, except for the queen with her bigger-than-your head-boobs. No, really. There’s a frame with one of the quintet’s head and the queen’s side boob and it’s no contest.

CMX strips out the sound effects and puts in the English translations, for those who like to know that stuff. Barring the queen’s outfits, this would do well for the younger audiences, but an older reader is more likely to find Classical Medley an atonal dissidence.

Reviewer: D.M. Evans
Proofer/Editor: Lissa Pattillo