Brundage no Mahou no Shiro Story by Ikuno Tachibana and Art by Yuuko Kasumi

Brundage no Mahou no Shiro Story by Ikuno Tachibana and Art by Yuuko Kasumi



Genre: Fantasy Shojo
Length: 1 Volume - 5 Chapters

Story (c) Ikuno Tachibana Art (c) Yuuko Kasumi

           The art was what drew me to this manga initially, its clean and pretty with a European style of clothing and architecture. The magician himself is very handsome though on the androgynous side, and the girl has big expressive eyes. Backgrounds were very well done and the hair was gorgeous. Still, it definitely wasn't with out flaws, though, often the stuffy suits and frilly shirts that the magician wears did not seem to fit him properly, in fact he looks much too skinny most of the time and just about always looks awkward just standing around. The action is hard to follow, as well, and often the ornate nature of the setting overwhelmed the characters living in it. Its mostly just lack of practice, but its also a little generic.
            Adrienne lives a strange life, brought to a castle by an ex-prince magician who only has any interest in a commoner like her because she was the one he saw when he asked his scrying pool who would be best to give him a child to pass his magic on to. The magician is arrogant and impossible, but having lived together for some time, Adrienne has come to love him,. Its getting more obvious by the day though that he doesn't feel the same. So Adrienne, fed up, asks for a version of him that is kind and gentle to the her in the mirror, but you should always be careful what you wish for when magic is involved...

Two pics only cuz I don't care about these two

            Truthfully, I found this manga very boring. Its based of a novel, and I hope that the original book is much better than this, because this is so bland. Especially the first chapter, where I'm supposed (?) to be rooting for her return to the one she loves but the man in this manga has no personality beyond being mean and I couldn't find any reason why she should like him at all except for the fact that she is stuck with him. It didn't help that the man's name was 'Donatian Charles' which just kept making me giggle every time she called him by his full name, and that was quite often. I'm not sure if its a case of Engrish or a not quite right translation (maybe a bit of both?) but it turned me off to his charms even further. The second chapter is a bit better than the first, more interesting things happen for sure and its much more comprehensible. Then the third and fourth chapters are back to nonsense, while the last chapter is so typical shojo that it's back to being really boring. As a fantasy story buff what bothered me most though was that the magic is rather vague, most of the time Donatian just snaps his fingers, and that really takes all the fun out of it. Magic is restrained, and this there's always the threat of someone getting hurt but it never actually happens, instead the most boring scenario happens and everyone is perfectly fine. Another threat that is often thrown around, is the threat of Donatian being a 'pervert' and such, considering that he kidnapped her just to get her pregnant is in fact a point that is brought up a lot, but there is no sexy in this at all. The dialog mentions it, one scene he suggests it, but, yet, there is only ever kisses, pretty tame ones at that. I expected more romance than that, but its just not given. Considering this has a source material, it is like when you find out a one season anime is actually based off a long running manga and you know that no ending will be satisfying. These chapters just sort of throw you into this world and give you an unflattering look at it before ending with out anything actually having happened. It almost seems like there should be more to it, but nope, nothing. In any case, adaptations should always interest you in the source material, and Brundage no Mahou no Shiro even failed on that point. Its all around weak, even the art is once you sit down and really look at it. I dislike giving really low scores, but I actually regret reading this.


1/5 Don't be fooled by the pretty art.