Customer Reviews

Dragon Knights, Vol. 3

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first volume of “Dragon Knights” introduced us to the powerful yet amusingly dense Dragon Knights in the tradition of “Slayers”, with oddball humor and witty sarcasm. The second volume took a different and darker turn with the story while allowing the comedy to take a well-deserved rest with an occasional appearance. The third volume of the series draws on the strengths of these two volumes and finds a well-executed balance between the series’ lightheartedness and sense of menace.

With volume three, the battle for Nadil’s head is growing ever closer, but the Dragon Knights first have to face the troubles from within their own protected fortress. A yokai (full demon) has somehow manages to penetrate the fortress’ protective barrier. The fortune teller Cesia, who herself is a yokai protected by Lord Lykouleon’s magic, is facing growing tension as a yokai working for the Dragon Lords. And deep below the castle, a magic of deception hides a mystery that no one can yet explain fully. All this while, the Dragon Knights try to satisfy their own desires (namely eating, killings demons, etc.).

Like volume two, the tone of volume three is a lot darker than the tone of volume one. For example, a side story that was hilarious in volume one takes a dark turn in volume three with some sinister imagery and haunting dialogue. In fact the change in atmosphere is so unexpected that readers might wonder whether the first volume was an accident. Still, despite the dark mood of volume three, there is still some funny and quirky lines to be found; it’s not in every manga series that a character comments about another character being absent for an entire manga chapter. And surprisingly, the balance between the dark and flippant tone is executed very well, almost to the point where the reader doesn’t really care what previous volumes were like. And with the story beginning to develop, “Dragon Knights” will make sure that reader stick around for future volumes to come.

Overall, “Dragon Knights” is definitely one of those more obscure series that manga fans will want to check out. “Slayers” fans will definitely want to look into this series, although with the witty humor no longer the center of focus they shouldn’t hold expectations for a series too reminiscent of “Slayers”. Either way, “Dragon Knights” shouldn’t be missed.

The first half of Dragon Knights: Volume Three is confusing. Some characters are discussing Cesia. Cesia is a yokai. A yokai has penetrated the castle defenses. Cesia has some kind of amulet that protects her from - what? Is she a spy? Who is she really working for? There is some kind of Peter Pan boy named Zoma who rides what looks exactly like a Pokemen. At least the story doesn't jump back and forth from the past to the present like Volume Two.

The second half gets a lot more interesting. The Dragon Queen Raseleane has more of a role than just sitting and looking beautiful as if she was posing for a portrait. I really liked when the group of Rath, Raseleane, and Alfeegi (god, that name is bad!) discover a hidden stairwell that is not in the castle plans.

In Mineko Ohkami's third Dragon Knights book, a few surpries come up; like Alfeegi finding those hidden stairs that no one can figure out where they really lead to. Rath and the others finally get back to Draqueen, and in pops Cesia again, which really surprises the three Dragon Knights, but kinda ticks them off on the same level! I liked this book; it starts to turn new corners, and really gets you thinking again (just like the other books so far!). Mineko Ohkami does a very good job at making you guess, and getting your head to spin with a truck-load of quetions and builds up your curiousity the second you start reading the first book! My sister and I are already on book 11, and just CANNOT wait for book 12 to come out in Feb, of '04 (/next month; hee hee <3, I'm soooo happy!)Not to give anything away for those of you who haven't read it, but, Rath and Zoma kind of 'bond' in this book, and a playful, but REALLY nasty-like character-guy-person pops in, too, named 'Bierrez'... All in all, this is a great series to get stuck on, (if you like Manga/Fantasy Comedy-type graphic novels...) and it's real easy to, also; as soon as you get done with the first 'chapter' in the first book, you literally fall in love with the main story, characters, and all of their weird background stories of their own!.... It's even esay to love modt of the villians, 'cuz you can pretty much NEVER tell who's on what side!!! (it can get very aggravating, but I absolutly love every second of it!). Plus, Rath is still the cutest thing ever; no surprise, though. (So is Queen Raseleane; she's in there a few times, too!) (P.S.: I like to talk!!! When I love something this much, I just HAVE to say a lot, and I absoulutly LOVE this series, so.... *shrugs shoulders*; My younger sis and I are total anime/ manga freaks!) Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!!!

Out of any of the Dragon Knights manga I have (2-8), this is really my favorite. I mean, the whole "Game of Life" thing cracked me up, & Raseleane actually gets to do something! And Bierrez pops up, too^ ^

This is a really great volume in Dragon Knights. If you started reading this series, you should keep going... starting with #3!