Manga 1219 Koudelka

For the ones that don't know,the mange is supossed to be a sequel for the ps1 game of the same name,but its events became "non-canon" because of the events the shadow hearts trilogy for the ps2.

The manga itself is a nice little additiion to the franchise on general,a nice well-made story,the enviroment fits well with kouldelka/shadow hearts universe and really looks like something it would happen after the end of the game.

The manga fails in some aspect though and one is its art.Ok,that was little harsh,it doesn't really "fail",just doesn't represent the franchise. The art is very "cute" looking and very "cartoony",like your ... normal everyday shounen. The oroginal game had "realistic" art and the scenary was considerably gruesome,with boddies pilled in the floor,blood splats and such and showed some rather "shocking" moments like a suicide scene with a shotgun. This manga doesn't even come close of showing this imagery and in fact is quite "wholesome".

When I first started reading Koudelka, I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. I thought "oh, okay, strange girl who escapes from a sanatorium... SANATORIUM, yeah *-*" [yeah, I'm crazy about those things XD]

Story - (8/10)
So, ok. Koudelka is about a girl who escapes from a sanatorium and has some strange powers. She doesn't know anything about her past or her abilities. But then she meets Joshua, a little boy who lives alone in an abandoned church in a small city after his mother passes away. After that meeting, both start to discover things about their ... past.
The very first chapters are placed in the small city where Joshua lives, but after some problems he and Koudelka end up at where he used to live with his mother, in Paris.
So, the story is not new, especially what comes after they go to Paris, when you read you go like "oh, I've seen that before, it's going to happen this and that..."; but still it's good; you can't compare with other stories about the same genre, like FMA or Shaman King. I'd say it's a mix of other series [and Moulin Rouge as well], and I liked how it worked out.
The only problem is that the manga is only 3 volumes long. So, yeah, for such an intense plot you'll feel that another 1 or 2 volumes are missing.

Art - (9/10)
Nothing to complain about. As an artist, I enjoyed the art, although it's a bit too much polluted and sometimes you get confused. But I loved the eyes, and the clothes! If you liked the dresses from Moulin Rouge, you are going to enjoy this manga for sure.
Although the women are super cute/beautiful, the men are... I wouldn't say ugly, but very characteristic and plausible.

Character - (8/10)
All the characters have their own issues and reasons for doing everything they do in the series. Which is great, because nobody wants to see a character coming out from nowhere. Still, I think in the end they rushed a bit the story, what makes you feel [again] it shouldn't be 3 volumes long. But all the characters are charismatic, especially the courtesans Koudelka and Joshua meet in Paris.

Enjoyment - (10/10)
I gave a 10 for enjoyment because I really, really liked the story. I could feel what the characters where felling, and cheer for them - something I was not expecting to happen when I first read the synopsis.

Overall - (9/10)
It's a pretty story, if you like the genre you should check it out. It's a short manga, so you won't feel you wasted your time even if you don't like it. Koudelka is a beautiful story about accepting who you are and how you can change your future with your attitudes. It's also a story about letting go your past, so you can build up your future.
I didn't gave it a 10 just because I thought it was too short. But I think that if I felt that, was because it somehow catched my attetion.


[This was my first review, I hope you liked it! ^^' and sorry about some grammar mistakes, English is my second language, so I'm still practising my review skills.]

Koudelka is a story with great potential that just kind of falls short, mostly in part due to the pacing and the overall length of the manga. I like the ideas that it has going for it, I just feel as though the manga needed maybe 3 to 4 times the length in order to fully flesh them out.

The story starts off as a simple "oh no mysterious girl has amnesia" story, but it quickly devolves more into sci-fi/fantasy tropes. Some parts of the story can feel a bit cliche, but I still had fun with those moments. What I do have a problem ... with is just how rushed everything was.

I'm no expert on this manga, but it feels as though it got axed straight from the start, which might contribute to the rushed pacing of the story overall. The author tries to contain so much, yet with only 15 chapters, each story arc probably only lasts 3-4 chapters, and things just sort of happen that you have to accept.

There are a lot of ideas and elements within the story that seem interesting, and the story actually does conclude in a satisfying way, which I found surprising considering how much actually happened in the story. At some points I felt as though things might get too expansive, but all things considered the author actually does tie in most things pretty well, which I thought was impressive.

Is this worth a read? I say yes, especially if you are a fan of that late 90s/early 2000s artstyle (think Trigun). It's only 15 chapters, and although the chapters are a bit lengthier than average (around 33 pages on average), this manga will only take about an hour to read.

If you want a very expansive and intricate story that sort of has a similar tone, try Pandora Hearts.
If you love the style of this manga, maybe try Trigun.

Overall, I give this a 6/10. Solid and worth a read, but not worth going out of your way for.