Author: Kara Woo
Manhwa-ga: Kara Woo
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: June 2008

Synopsis: “With the help of Eun-Gyo and No-Ah, the “princess” Nak-Rang escapes her captors. But just when they think they’re out of the woods, the high priest Ho-Dong stops them at the edge of the dried-up Mother Lake. There, a battle ensues… and a miracle occurs!”

Eun-Gyo, a schoolgirl travelled to this world from present day, and No-Ah, help the “princess” Nak-Rang escape from her captors. Free from the small town, whose inhabitants are under a spell that leaves them bound in children form, Nak-Rang has hopes of finally being able to grow into an adult. Suddenly under attack, the group must survive while at the same time discover the mystery of the Seven Blade sword.

Some different elements come together in volume two of Legend. Eun-Gyo and No-Ah gain a new member to their small little travelling band and via the appearance of spirits in connection to the legendary, Seven Blade sword, Eun-Gyo’s relevance continues to mount. Despite these parts of the story that receive the main focus, I found more interest in the individual characters. What are the true intentions of their dark haired follower and will No-Ah be reunited with his cute little sister? I almost cared about Eun-Gyo until a spastic, and rather out of nowhere, overreaction near the end of the book left me a little lacking in interest to her plights.

I really enjoyed the artwork in Legend, in particular the artist’s style of inking and use of black fill ins. Occasionally some of the smaller characters suffered from big-eyed, big-headed proportions that seemed off but overall, I liked how the characters were drawn anatomy wise. The characters are rendered lively and are all attractive in a way only shoujo-style mangas and manhwas can do so well. I didn’t find the cover artwork very appealing so I was happy that I enjoyed the interior artwork more.

Overall, Legend was a pretty entertaining look into this magical world. It’s another schoolgirl-travels-to-ancient-world story but manages to have a charm of its own, mostly due to the artwork. I’m curious to see what lies in store for the characters, and despite some of the weaker writing moments, the series could prove promising.

Review written June 2nd, 2008 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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About the Author: Lissa Pattillo

Lissa Pattillo is the owner and editor of Kuriousity.ca. Residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia she takes great joy in collecting all manners of manga genres, regretting that there's never enough time in the day to review or share them all. Along with reviews, Lissa is responsible for all the news postings to the website and works full time as a web and graphic designer.