Part 1 Honestly out of all of the adaptations that I was gonna be experiencing when reading through these Legend of Zelda manga I never thought that Oracle of Seasons would be the one that would win me over the most of the bunch so far but thankfully it did and I am very happy with that. Not only did it still fit in the proper Zelda staples and elements of the universe while also feeling like a proper enough adaptation of the game but it also took things in a different direction then I was expecting leading to a genuinely really fun and entertaining read all the way through that definitely soared to the top to become my favorite of the bunch. And on top of that Oracle of Ages also managed to be great too what with it not being quite as good as Oracle of Seasons but also taking its own approach when it came to telling its story that was really interesting to see while also having plenty of great moments and all of the same great characteristics the series is known for as well making for yet another solid entry in this solid series. Unfortunately for me though the Oracle saga is now over which means we now have to move onto the next adaptation in this Zelda manga series and the one that I was getting to next wasnt necessarily one I was all too excited to jump into that entry being The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga....... Volume 1. Because apparently this game was just SO BIG it needed two parts. Honestly out of all of the manga adaptations in this series that The Legend of Zelda series had gotten this was one of the ones that I was least excited for. Thats not to say that I thought it was gonna be bad or that I hated it as I did enjoy both Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures whenever I played both of those a good couple of years back but they are also the kind of games that dont feel like they really would fit well in this kind of series. Yes they do still have the standard Zelda plot enemies items and all that jazz you would expect them to but they are also severely lacking when it comes to any proper story or character moments beyond what is initially presented to us since those games are primarily just multiplayer chaos and nothing more so it made me wonder how the hell were they going to adapt those two games into a manga let alone two volumes of one? Well I was about to find out by checking it out myself and now that I have read the first volume of this thing I gotta say as a whole its pretty good. It is definitely yet another drop in quality compared to the previous two manga adaptations not being nearly as fun entertaining or interesting when compared to the Oracle saga but it still manages to be pretty solid on its own either way giving us more of what we love out of these stories while also doing a good job at adapting the game so far and even with it throwing in its own twist on the formula that did make things more interesting to read through. The story is once again pretty much exactly what you would expect following along the Four Swords storyline pretty carefully and not having too many surprises or detours in said storyline to make it anymore interesting but it works well enough for what it is and the fans of the original game will still get a kick out of it regardless the characters are pretty good where the main four Links that we follow around this time are great with each one having mostly onenote personalities but each of these personalities are not only great to see in action but they bounce off each other wonderfully to make for a wonderful main team here although that cant be said for the rest of the characters because aside from Shadow Link none of the other characters here are really all that memorable lovable or interesting which was kind of disappointing the writing was pretty good to where most of it is what you would expect but they manage to provide enough funny moments and exaggerated lines of dialogue to where you cant help but smile reading through it all the same the art is great once again giving us a new art style to fit more in line with Four Swords that while not being nearly as good as the art styles from the previous mangas does fit well and has plenty of great looking panels and character expressions that can be seen throughout the whole thing and the action is also pretty good to to where it isnt anything nearly as amazing as what we got in some of the other manga but most of it is generally very fun action packed and entertaining which is all fine by me. However with all of that being said as I had already previously mentioned I didnt end up enjoying this part of this adaptation so far compared to the other ones we have already discussed and there are a couple reasons for that. For one thing most of what you get here is mostly what you would expect from one of these mangas both if you have played the original game and know this series really well not doing anything too new or amazing when compared to the previous mangas aside from the fact that there are four Links now which does help distinguish this story a lot more but still if you are one who is not that big of a fan of Four Swords Zelda or these kinds of stories in general you probably wont like this one either. What also doesnt help this books case at all is the fact that in general this entry just feels like it has a general drop in quality compared to the previous adaptations. I wouldnt say that anything here is bad at all as it is still being helmed by the same two people from before and they each still do a great job here with what they have to work with but everything here from the story to the characters to some of the action scenes all of it just feels like a downgrade compared to what we had before even in the Oracle saga and if you have read these books then you probably know what I mean. Even how this adaptation changes up what we got in the original game here too isnt really all that interesting mostly just being a series of situations that the four Links get into until the last couple of chapters when the four of them get separated and now have to try to reunite while also learning some important lessons along the way. Those last few chapters are definitely the best part of the whole package but they dont necessarily save it too much from everything else despite it all still being great. Then again though this is only Part 1 of this particular adaptation so who knows maybe they are saving all of the good stuff for Part 2 so we will just have to wait and see. But anyways there is one more quick little complaint that I wanna bring up before I get to the final thoughts that being that it can be hard to tell which Link is which sometimes. To the mangas credit they do a great job at making each Link feel distinct enough to where you can figure out which is which most of the time but sometimes it can be kind of confusing especially given the fact that you have no colors to base anything off of here. Again though thats only a very little complaint so it isnt really anything too important. Overall despite a general drop in quality compared to the previous adaptations as well as it having most of the typical problems you would expect from one of these manga Part 1 of the Four Swords adaptation was still really solid all around giving us a simple yet still pretty satisfying start to this chapter in the Legend of Zelda universe while also giving us plenty more of what we love from the series and some new choices and directions that the series takes which we have also never seen before at this point which made it so that I had a really good time reading it all around what with its simple yet still fun and entertaining enough story a set of great main characters and some.... not as good side characters paired up with some pretty good writing all around mostly the same great art as always and plenty of fun action scenes throughout that will keep you entertained and reading all the way up to the very end. I would recommend it for those that are huge fans of the original Four Swords games as well as those who are big fans of Zelda and these kinds of stories in general as while it may not reach the same heights as that of some of the other adaptations so far it still does enough write to where you will still be able to enjoy a lot of what it has to offer which is all I care about at the end of the day. But anyway before I go ahead and end off the review can we talk about how there is a fourthwall breaking joke in this manga? Seriously theres a part where one of the Links addresses the reader directly which I definitely was not expecting from a series like this at any point. Lets hope thats the extent of where they will take that kind of humor though or else this series will end up becoming shitty and that would be terrible. Part 2 About two weeks ago I went ahead and took a look at Part 1 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation after already having read through a good chunk of these Zelda adaptations all made by the same authors and for what its worth it was pretty good. I wouldnt say it was quite as enjoyable or well puttogether as a good handful of the other manga adaptations that we have gotten for this franchise so far but it still managed to stick the landing for the most part as not just an adaptation of Four Swords but also as a manga all on its own with a pretty good story a pretty good set of characters paired with some solid enough writing plenty more of that same great artwork that we have come to expect from this series while also looking different enough compared to previous adaptations and enough sweet action here that will please any fan of both this series and the games that they are based on. Not to mention it was also a pretty solid start to this twopart journey which speaking of now that it has been two weeks I figured it was about time that I should finally get off of my ass and....... get back on it again so that I could read Part 2 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation. Im gonna be real with you all I honestly didnt have much of an idea about what I was going to get into when going into this particular chapter of this saga. Yes I did read through Part 1 and still remembered quite a bit about it but I didnt remember enough of the specifics to where I would have a good idea of what I was going to think of this part when deciding to read it for myself although I did at least remember it not being quite up to par with some of the other previous manga adaptations. Of course though that also couldve been because of the fact that it was only Part 1 of a two part story and now that I was finally getting to Part 2 I expected things to get much more crazy adventurous actionpacked and sillier then ever before while also managing to bring this whole tale to a close in the most epic and natural way that one of these Zelda manga would be able to and thankfully it managed to do just that. As a whole I wouldnt say it is any better or worse then Part 1 which means that it is also on the lower level when it comes to the Zelda adaptations that we have gotten so far but it still managed to give me pretty much all I couldve asked for from an end to this story bringing everything together in a nice set of four bows while also giving us more of what we love and appreciate from this series that does end up making it yet another very solid read from start to finish. The story is once again more of what you would expect picking up pretty much right where the last part left off while also resolving the cliffhangers that we were left on and ending everything off in the most epic way one of these stories can all of which manages to work really well here and is very fun and energetic in the traditional Zelda way which was good to see the characters were all still pretty good where Link and his three colorcoded buddies are still great here not only once again taking the spotlight most of the time but also having plenty more personality and fun moments here compared to Part 1 while also having several bits of character development that improves their characters as well but also just like with Part 1 there arent really that many other characters that get much focus other then Shadow Link and maaaaaaaaaybe Vaati but that is it which is still kinda lame the writing is still fairly solid giving us a lot of the heroic and prophetic dialog that you would expect which is all good to read along with plenty of action lines too but it also does feel a lot more SaturdayMorningCartoony a lot of the time too which Im pretty sure the first part was also like but it was definitely more noticeable here which I wasnt too big of a fan of the art is still great once again keeping up the same visual style from Part 1 while also plenty of great looking panels and designs for some of these characters and more epic moments especially when more action is involved and speaking of which the action is also really good too featuring plenty more incredible moments and plenty more actionpacked scenes that are great to go through even if some of them like the writing can also feel like it came from a Saturday morning cartoon as well. And of course much like with the first part I also did have a good couple of issues with it too to where none of them end up ruining the final product of course but plenty of people would probably take notice of these problems when reading this for themselves too. For starters once again we have an entry in this series that is pretty damn generic by Zelda standards not doing too much out of the norm for both an adaptation or a manga on its own with the one exception to this being with some parts involving Vio the purple Link and Shadow Link but the rest of it is all pretty standard stuff especially when compared to some of the changes made with some of the other Zelda adaptations. Sure I was still able to enjoy the whole thing regardless of how typical and predictable it was in plenty of cases but needless to say if you are one who is not that big of a fan of these manga or these kinds of stories in general you probably wouldnt end up liking this one either. And speaking of the story there is also one part of said story that we do get to see here which while being a nice twist and all is also not executed in the best way possible. There is this one part of the manga where after battling with the Links throughout this entire adaptation Shadow Link has a change of heart after having a conversation with Zelda and he ends up helping the other Links defeat Vaati in the end and to save the day all of which is pretty nice but the problem with it is that it feels like it comes completely out of nowhere Throughout this entire adaptation Shadow Link has been nothing but an evil and cocky asshole who has tried to kill the Links and cause harm to millions on multiple occasions but now he wants to be good all of a sudden? Yeah I know there is that conversation with Zelda he had but come on piss off nobody is gonna completely change their entire purpose in life around just because of one conversation that they have with somebody that they captured earlier that week. I wouldve expected this manga about this boy splitting into four different people to be more realistic then this Overall despite not having anything too surprising in it while also having some weird plot holes and plot moments that does somewhat bring it down Part 2 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation is once again not quite as strong as some of the other adaptations that we have had so far but still manages to be really good all on its own too giving us a cliche yet fitting ending to this adaptation along with all of the charm action and epic moments that we have come to expect from both these manga and Zelda in general which made it so that I had a pretty good time with it what with its simple yet still fun and enjoyable story a set of really good characters that are paired up with some really good writing from time to time plenty of that same great art work that gets you to really love this world and its characters that much more and plenty of sweet action scenes inbetween all of that to make things more exciting enjoyable and entertaining for those that want to see Link slash the fuck out of any big monsters that comes his way. I would recommend it for those that were big fans of Part 1 of this adaptation as well as for those that loved the other manga adaptations for Zelda so far or the Zelda series in general as while it may not be as satisfying interesting or fulfilling to read as some of the other manga in this series we have gone through so far it should still give you everything you have come to want and expect out of this series to where you can still walk away from reading it with a smile on your face which is all I can ask for at the end of the day............... and besides it is a hell of a lot better of a story for Four Swords then the actual Four Swords game managed to give us Although if there was one thing I could give the original game over this manga it would be the fact that they dont have Tingle coming in and interrupting things quite as often as they do here. Seriously this is the first manga in the series to actually feature Tingle and I was hoping I could get through all of them without seeing this fucker but apparently I cant have nice things.