Saif Shakir - Legendz Volume 1

**WARNING SPOILERS**

Summary:

    

    Legendz, written by Rin Hirai, is about a game called Legendz which Ryudo Elementary School is obsessed with. This game allows a player to train their soul doll which is like a mythical creature, and the students can battle the soul dolls against one another. These soul dolls also have superpowers that allow them to become stronger when treated with more care. During the first part of this manga, the reader is introduced to Ririko Yasuhara who is a student attending Ryudo Elementary School, and she happens to be one of the best Legendz players in her class. Ririko is shown as a kind and caring character who has an immense passion for the game. Shunsuke Dekai is another student who is not as good at the game and often loses to Ririko. On Shunsuke’s way home from school, he meets Ken Kazaki who is a superfan of Legendz. Ken, a friendly nerd with an extreme passion for the game, treats his soul doll, Shiron, like a best friend. However, Shunsuke’s older brother, Hosuke, is a bully and is extremely competitive when it comes to Legendz. So when Hosuke hears that Shunsuke has not been winning against his classmates, he bullies Shunsuke into stealing Ririko’s Legendz device. Stealing the device from Ririko would allow Shunsuke to access her strong soul doll which increases his chances of winning against his opponents. When the next day comes, Shunsuke politely asks for Ririko’s device, but she does not give it to him. So Hosuke forcefully takes Ririko’s device, but luckily, Ken, who is attending the elementary school, decides to challenge him to a Legendz battle. During this challenge, Ken shows off all of his special moves and proves to be a strong Legendz player. Ending with Ken defeating Hosuke, and returning the Legendz device to Ririko giving Ken an impressive first impression. 

    The second part of this story is about the school's Legendz contest which would give the winner the golden soul doll. The golden soul doll gives the possessor the ability to have extreme amounts of power and strength. Hosuke wants this golden soul doll so he decides to recruit another boy named Taizo Henmi. Taizo is an arrogant, cheating Legendz player and only wins against all of his opponents because he changes the environment right before the match. If somebody were to change the environment, then there would be a high chance that the creature would be harmed, leading to a disadvantage for the person using it to fight. Taizo is put in the final rounds of the contest, and his last fight is with Ririko, so he changes the environment to affect the soul doll. When Ririko sees that her soul doll is tired and weak because of the environment, she drops out to prevent her soul doll from taking too much damage and possibly dying. However, Ken comes to the rescue again when he decides to fight using his soul figure, and he wins. However, when Ken is offered the golden soul figure he does not take it as he was pleased with his soul doll and did not want more power. 

    The third and fourth parts of the story are somewhat similar and feed off of each other. In the third part, Ken is introduced to the golden soul figure which only the strongest can possess, and he is chosen to have it. Unfortunately, a lot of other Legendz players want these talispods as they can give you insane amounts of strength in the game. Therefore, a group was formed and they all wanted to work together to take the golden soul. Throughout this story, the reader learns about how the people are plotting against them, and how they are going to attack Ken, and use him to get the golden soul figure. 

    During the fourth story, the reader is introduced to Eiji Yashiro who is the champion of Legendz, so obviously, Ken challenges him to a battle. Eiji defeats Ken in one move, and Ken starts to freak out as he finds somebody better than him. Ken works hard to train Shiron to be stronger, and to become the best. This makes Shiron extremely tired, but also powerful. When the day comes for Ken to battle Eiji, Eiji realizes that Shiron is extremely tired and needs rest. He makes sure that Ken does not play anymore with him, and he also tells him that he has to leave. This even makes Ken extremely sad, and Ken decides to finally take the golden talispod. However, he learns that his friend, Ririko, was taken away. If Ken did not hand over the golden soul then his friend would die. This manga ends with Ken going to save his friend, and it leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. 

Review:

    This manga was one of my favorites, and I enjoyed it a lot because it was extremely engaging, and it was never slow in the plot. I also found it unique the way that the author introduced Ken near the middle and the beginning of the section. Especially since Ken was the main character in the story, and was shown as a hero. Being introduced to Ken near the middle of the first part gave him a special mysteriousness which made me as a reader want to read more. In general, Ken’s personality was a perfect mix of being humble and also being confidence.

Rating

Overall, I think that I would rate this book a 10/10 because of its fantastic plot which left the reader on a cliffhanger, and the characters who portrayed important messages.