Reading Collective Reading of VAGRANT SOLDIER ARES by Ryu Keum Cheo

[kkck]

Don't take me wrong, I love the development and frankly, ever since mikail was revealed to be a prince of a foreign nation it seemed pretty likely that he would go into combat with ares at some point. I just didn't expect it to be this huge a development. And it came right after showing the red eye swordsman as some vagrant without a nation who didn't care about darak or his brother. I honestly thought that at some point they would fight a final battle at a grand stage and now I don't see how that is possible. Unless it turns out the red eye swordsman is working with some even greater nation with a greater army. But that would be kinda repetitive to some degree. Unless he is working for mikael? But then mikael did swore he would help ares defeat the red eye swordsman... perhaps the promise is irrelevant at this point though. I doubt the red eye swordsman would fight for someone so much weaker than himself....

 

[ukimix]

My notes on vol 21-24. I know it's earlier for notes on those volumes, so I wrote them in spoiler tags to prevent spoiling kkck reading.

Spoiler

Bittersweet feelings about the final fight between Mikael and Ares. The fight reminded me of the same bittersweet sensation I had when I saw the fight between Kiron and Red Eye. In that occasion the fight weren't epic simply because Kiron was handicapped. On this occasion, we see a Mikael that can lose and can be weaker that an Ares at his high level, on the physical and power side, but that easily played with Ares mind all the time. His final fight was that choreographed by Mikael that I can feel Ares was handicapped (so to say, to keep the analogy) from his intelligence in comparison to Mikael. So I wonder, now at the end of vol 24, if the story will finally include a fight that doesn’t let me that bittersweet taste. An epic fight, as kkck could say. (It only rests Ares vs Red Eye…)

The mini-arc about 101 and Diane, the lady who cared about his last days was, imo, completely unnecessary. In particular the assassination of Diane, why was it included in the story? Did it tell us something else about Rikion or about Mikael that we wouldn't have known in before? That was, to me, violence with out purpose, something I completely dislike. Now, I would have wanted for Ares vs Mkael that kind of cruelty or merciless or violence unfolded in that mini-arc.

Coming back to Mikael, I can understand how a cruel and heartless tyrant as Mikael can feel affection or love for someone else, in this case, for his friends Ares and Barona. But, first at all, I can feel any sympathy for him, given the use he did of children in his crazy enterprise and other atrocities he commit with the people. And I'm not sure if the author wanted that us, readers, would feel some kind of sympathy for him; if he wanted that, he failed as for it has to do with me. And, I also couldn’t believe non for a second that Ares would accept to be Mikael’s friend again, as Mikael seemed to be expecting to happen. Did he really think that was going to happen? Then he was mad of his head.

Anyway, Mikael is a monster with great fighting and battle power and with a great mind. He is the most complex and powerful character of this story. Compared to him, Ares is like an adolescent trying to understand the world he lives in, and struggling with the pain he feels with every new discover he does. Their final fight was only about Mikael, was choreographed by him, for his purpose and because of his motives. Ares was just a toy or a tool used by him.

I will go for the last 2 volumes to see how it ends.

---------- Post added September 30, 2013 at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was September 29, 2013 at 10:36 PM ----------

My notes on Vol 25 and 26:

Spoiler

Those two last volumes were like wanting to listen Led Zeppeling and having to content oneself with The New Kis on the Block. I feel the author gets out or resources for the main plot. Ares wanted to avenge his master. After the war against Mikael, the logical continuation would have been simply seeing Ares going for him, likely with the help of Barona and some other friend. Instead, the author chose for us the framework of a bounty hunters persecution with teams like playing in a tourney, which has many holes to say the least.

Why all of a sudden there is a client paying to capture Red Eye, and why didn’t happen before? The guy was not cultivating flowers during the last years. And why Ares decided to join the bounty hunters? On other hand, why the Red Eye swordsman appears having disciples? He had been portrayed as a lonely, travelling swordsman, but now we see he decided to become a master and we have no clue why; there is no connection with the red eye clan at all, and nothing that could help us to understand that change.

But what is worst, why the Red Eye swordsman decided to look for Ares? If we choose to believe the explanation given by Barona: “in beating Ares, you wanted to prove yourself you are better than Kiron”, we should have to believe that the Red Eye swordsman was urged to prove it and that the news of Ares being a war hero triggered his search for Ares. But that would make of the Red Eye not the classy assassin who was wandering and collecting swords through the world, but rather an insecure guy who wanted to be sure about his real power. Not a character that I would enjoy to be honest.

So all those changes in the development of the main characters were made simply because the story burned all its fuel in the war against Mikael. The good story, I think there is one, ends with the dead of Mikael.

Now that part of the story could have been even better if Ares wouldn’t have been hesitating about what to do against Mikael, and much more, if the author wouldn’t have tried to persuade us that Mikael, after all he did, had a good side. Which lead me back to those panels in the last volume in which Ares prays to Mikael to be more powerful, or Barona tells Ares “Mikael is with you”, or Mikael the spirit comes to help Ares in his final fight… Sorry but I don’t buy it.

In the end, to me, it was a funny reading until Mikael's dead. The arc about the war was epic, despite of a weak ending. And before that I could enjoy many fights and minor plot lines.

I want to thanks to Zellogan, natli, kkck and all the others for sharing your impressions and letting me share mines! I hope you have had fun in participating in this collective reading.

---------- Post added October 01, 2013 at 02:21 AM ---------- Previous post was September 30, 2013 at 04:21 PM ----------

My favorite characters would be Icarus and Mikael. I think the story about Mikael was good, specially the idea of the twist from being Are's friend to become a world conqueror, idea that the author didn't explode in all its potential. Icarus is a solid character all the time. The battle between them both, namely the saga about Chronos vs Isiris was really entertaining and intriguing. I guess, in the end the good part is much more a story about a war between two kingdoms than a story about individual fights between warriors.

 

[natli]

Spoilers ahead!

Now that part of the story could have been even better if Ares wouldn’t have been hesitating about what to do against Mikael, and much more, if the author wouldn’t have tried to persuade us that Mikael, after all he did, had a good side.

~

This! The change from 'Leaf Swordsman' to 'world conqueror' was masterfully done. Mikael was a bastard and he should have stayed that way. Now, Mikael appearing as a ghost/memory to help Ares was ok. Mikael had a bond with Ares, which never disappeared. It made his character all the more complex and interesting. But. Mikael covering his guard who fell asleep guarding him and Mikael telling Sandra she should find another life for herself - complete failure. Out of character for a cruel and tyrannical person like him. Those were his pawns and he never hesistated to use people.

You're right that the Red-eye fight was written out of sense of duty. Mikael stole the spotlight. But again the author created a great character - Kirus. I wanted to see more of him. And where is Baroona's flashback? I was waiting for that ;.;

That being said it was a great read. I think it definitely deserves an anime and it's a shame it's not well known.

 

[kkck]

Ok, I finally get a chance to write on the ending.... Kinda as expected, the fight with the red eye swordsman was kinda boring. The earth did not split beneath their feet and frankly it was a tad disappointing that ares appeared that much weaker than him at this point. I guess it was the only option the author had to actually add some tension to the whole thing without adding a bomb that would destroy the world if ares did not kill the red eye swordsman. Even the bit with his disciple was disappointing, there was no tension whatsoever between him and ares. The only mildly interesting thing about him was his disinterest in his master which is not something which remains interesting for long (which it didn't).

I loved how the mikael thing played out though. It kinda made sense. I loved seeing the safe with the presents he got from the gang back when he just left temple. I wonder why mikael felt so compelled to actually go to war. He had his nightmares and obviously wanted to rule... but why? What possessed him to actually go fight such a huge war? Was he brainwashed by his family? Was he just insane? I would argue the story's main flaw is that there was never a really practical motivation for mikael to go this far.

 

[ukimix]

I loved how the mikael thing played out though. It kinda made sense. I loved seeing the safe with the presents he got from the gang back when he just left temple. I wonder why mikael felt so compelled to actually go to war. He had his nightmares and obviously wanted to rule... but why? What possessed him to actually go fight such a huge war? Was he brainwashed by his family? Was he just insane? I would argue the story's main flaw is that there was never a really practical motivation for mikael to go this far.

Let me disagree on this. Wouldn't work for you the fact that he wanted to rule the world? He's a conqueror. Such a very popular feature of human beings in fantasy stories and in our real world. It's like a basic of some personalities. Power, love, fear, revenge... those kind of deep feelings move the human world as ultimate reasons for human actions. I think the story covered in a decent way that feature of Mikael's personality. All what he did was done because he loved power. For instance, his nightmares could be explained as effects of a process of silence that other human side he has (the one who tried to help Ares), a process which had to be undertook to become the heartless tyrant he became.