#tetsuhiro nabeshima

[geekcavepodcast]

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman Trailer

Beryl Gardenant is a "humble old man" and sword instructor at a backwater village who once dreamed of glory as a master swordsman. One day, a famous former pupil of his brings him news, and suddenly Beryl is now a special instructor for the knights of the Liberion Order.

Based on the novel by Sigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman stars the voice talents of Hiroaki Hirata (Beryl Gardenant), Neo Toyama (Allucia Citrus), Yuuki Hirose (Curuni Crueciel), Hitomi Ueda (Surena Lysandra), Hinaki Yano (Ficelle Harbeller), Chiwa Saito (Lucy Diamond), and Kaito Ishikawa (Henblitz Drout). The series is directed by Akio Kazumi from scripts by Kunihiko Okada. Character design is by Satsuki Hayasaka.

[mikyapixie]

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐕 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐞

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

[demifiendrsa]

Bakemonogatari manga chapter 144 illustration by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 8 + Overall series impressions

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 February 2016

Art Notes: This is one of my absolute favorite light novel covers. It’s so pretty! Nabeshima really did improve a lot during this series, if you compare the first volume cover to this one.

Didn’t review volume 5-7 because I had nothing to say about them but I did want to review the “final” volume. I put it in quotes because there are some plot threads left unaddressed and the afterword states that it is not the final volume but a new volume hasn’t been released in years, Dengeki Bunko released a “complete edition” set on BookWalker which they usually don’t do if a series is ongoing and the author has gone on to other things (namely, the Spice & Wolf sequels) so it’s probably going to be left unfinished.

I remember reading the first volume and being so excited about this series because I have some fond memories of the Spice & Wolf anime and I heard that the series had some amazing developments and got better but I couldn’t shake this feeling of being underwhelmed throughout the entirety of the series. It’s not bad, really, but it’s painfully slow and the only characters that are particularly memorable and get development are the two leads. And I do like Fenesis and Kusla and enjoyed their development but I didn’t think that they worked as a romantic couple. All of the side characters are unmemorable and then there’s Weyland, who doesn’t ever stop saying inappropriate things to the female characters around him despite them clearly expressing their discomfort at his words. There were actually a lot of moments where characters would say something that about gender that would feel really out-dated and would take me out of the world instantly. There was some potential here but I don’t think it lived up to it. Someone who’s more into slow-paced stories would probably enjoy it more than I was able to.

I still have the spin-off volume, Shoujo wa Shoka no Umi de Nemuru before I can be truly done with this series.

[hatsumishinogu]

Magdala de Nemure Vol.8 (light novel)

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 4

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 September 2013

Art Notes: Nabeshima is a fairly plain artist but Fenesis’ character design is adorable and the covers are nice to look at and I enjoy some of the details put into the backgrounds on the images. There’s a colour illustration in this volume that I really like that has Fenesis with her hair pulled up and it’s really cute.

Seems like this series is finally starting to head where I want it to go as it starts to tell the reader a bit more about Fenesis’ past and develops her character more. I mean, I like Irene and Weyland but the past volumes have been quite boring and I do think that the series is at it’s best when it focuses on Kusla and Fenesis. I also appreciated the additions to the lore of the world in this volume. It was interesting.

I’m a half-way through this series but I still can’t say that I have much of an overall opinion of it. Sometimes it’s nice and sometimes it’s boring and it is much slower than I’m used to. Hopefully the series can fully win me over by the time it’s done. 

Again, I own every volume in this series so I kind of have to finish it but I don’t really have much to say about the volumes so, unless something changes next volume, I might end up giving up on individual volume reviews for this series and just give my overall opinions when I’m done. I’m not completely decided yet but that’s what I’m thinking I’ll do.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala no Nemure 3

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 April 2013

This volume focuses on the group’s preperations before they leave for their journey to Kazan and it centers around Weyland. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this volume too interesting outside of a couple of scenes but I am enjoying seeing Kusla’s and Fenesis’ relationship develop. The slow pacing is kind of killing me. I do think that the slow pacing will end up helping with developing the characters but it is making me kind of bored while I read it. I actually felt suddenly felt sleepy every time I opened up this volume and that’s not good (I was reading Baccano and Otaria at the same time as this and didn’t have the same issue with them). I wonder if I need to slow down my reading of this series to give the volumes more room to breathe before I start the next one. Perhaps it’s just not a series that’s suited to my style of reading.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 2

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 October 2012

This time, the story was focused on Irene, who was briefly introduced in the last volume but made a strong impression. Unfortunately, even though she had a lot of focus in this volume it didn’t feel like she showed up or interacted with the main characters much. It felt like we learnt about her more from what other people said rather than having the characters converse with her. It was a pretty good volume, overall and Kusla and Fenesis still have a strong dynamic, though I would like for Fenesis to gain some independence in the future, since the relationship feels somewhat unbalanced as-is. I mean, Fenesis definitely has her own personality and strengths that she brings to the table but this volume has a scene early on where Kusla tries to teach Fenesis to look after herself more and he definitely feels like the more experienced one in their relationship. It’d be nice to see this dynamic change a little as Fenesis grows, especially as Kusla isn’t great at looking after himself either.

I’ll be reading volume 3 soon-ish. My current plan is Sword Oratoria 7 > Mondaiji 5 > Bakarina 7 > Magdala 3 I might change things around a bit or end up reading something earlier than I was planning to but that’s the basic plan.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 1

Official English Title: May Your Soul Rest in Magdala

Author: Isuna Hasekura (Author of Ookami to Koushinryou/Spice & Wolf)

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 July 2012

This was a solid fantasy story that focused on alchemy and I like Fenesis a lot. This looks it’s going to be something a slow burn, plot-wise so I think it’s going to be hard for me to form an impression for a few volumes but I enjoyed this one. Recommended for people with an interest in alchemy.

Story:

Genre: Alchemy, Fantasy, M/F romance

Kusla is an alchemist who was sentenced to work in a forgery near a warzone after he was caught attempting to burn some ancient saint bones. There he reunites with fellow alchemist and frenemy Weyland and meets Fenesis, a girl supposedly sent by the Knights to watch over them.

Content warnings: there’s a scene with non-consensual breast groping played mostly for laughs.

I’m... not really sure what to say about this volume. I enjoyed it but it’s kind of hard to talk about. It had a lot of slow build-up and I found the climax to be a bit rushed but the parts that were just about alchemy were really interesting. I do think that some of explanations were a bit stale and hard to follow but you can tell that the author did their research. I also enjoyed the scenes where Kusla and Fenesis got closer. I think this series is going to be too hard to really form much of an impression on just yet but I enjoyed this volume and look forward to the next one.

Character:

I must confess that I had a hard time getting a handle on Kusla as a character. He’s just a very unorthodox protagonist that I’m not used to but, when I did figure him out, he ended up being pretty interesting. Fenesis is a very charming character who I’m looking forward to getting to know more over the course of the series and her relationship with Kusla is interesting, though I’m not sure I really buy them as a potential romantic pair yet and I’m sure that’s what the series going for. I’m not too sure about Weyland yet, either. He didn’t make a good first impression on me at all when he groped Fenesis’ breasts but I might be coming around to him a little and he does have an interesting dynamic with Kusla. None of the side characters are particularly memorable aside from Irene, the head of the blacksmith guild at the town where the series is set in. She only appears for one scene but I want to know more about her.

Adaptation Notes:

The manga adaptation is complete at 4 volumes and is illustrated by Ako Arisaka. It’s unfortunately very rushed with many events being cut out (they even cut out Irene’s introduction) but it’s enjoyable enough and manages to show off the charm of the original series. The art is good but nothing special.

Recommended for:

If you’re interested in alchemy, definitely read this. Otherwise, if you enjoy plots with a slow build-up and an interesting setting, you’d probably like this.

I own all 8 volumes of this series as well as what appears to be a one-shot set in the same universe so I’ll be reading them all over the course of the next few months.

[hatsumishinogu]

Magdala de Nemure Vol.7 (light novel)