Aventura: Volume 1

Rating All Ages Genre manga Publisher Del Rey External Links Official Aventura Website

For those who haven’t grown tired of rip offs of Harry Potter, Aventura may just be the manga for you. Sure, it isn’t exactly like that famous boy wizard, but this manga does take place in a magic school. The main character is a young boy who has entered the swordsmanship class of Lewin Randitt. He doesn't really want to be a swordsman; in fact, he wants to practice magic. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any skill in magic and is a laughingstock of the swordsman class because he 1. can't use magic 2. has a rusty sword and 3. has weirdly colored hair. Well, come on, they're kids, they have to make fun of some physical feature as well. It doesn't take long for Lewin to become frustrated with his life at the school, and this shows in his trouble-making attitude. There is one teacher that seems to have taken a dislike to him, Qualfer, mostly due to Lewin's disregard for the rules. But when Lewin meets two elves -- Chris Cottenburg and Soela Evenport -- he begins to have more confidence in himself and his abilities. The happiness is short-lived, however, when the school is attacked by skeleton warriors. How will Chris and Lewin survive the attack? And who exactly is Qualfer?

Well, none of these questions are actually answered in this volume of the manga, because, see, it's a cliff hanger. There is plenty of character development as we learn the backstory of Lewin, but Lewin himself is somewhat flat. He fits the typical mode of 'boy hero' in manga. How? Well, like many heroes, he's estranged from the rest of the crowd due to his abilities (or lack thereof). He is a jokester and troublemaker. Despite being put down by other characters, he strives to prove himself to be the best and strongest. He has a strange ability that doesn't fit into what he is studying. One or both of his parents are deceased. He pretty much sounds like a lot of shonen manga characters, but is most comparable to Naruto. It would be nice to see a little divergence from the typical mold, but that probably won't happen in this manga. The side characters also fit their respective roles of sidekick and badass teacher. It would be nice if the following volumes go more into the background of the high-elf Chris, and maybe even introduce more elves. I'd like to see why Chris had such low self-esteem (as well as Soela). I expect Lewin, despite his clumsy nature and supposed lack of skill, become one of the best swordsmen/wizards of all time; after all, he is the main character. As of now, we don't know anything about the side characters besides that Chris and Soela both suffer from low self-esteem and that suddenly changes when they meet Lewin. How? Well like so many heroes, Lewin's nature and the fact that he never gives up inspires people. It's just one of those things. I would have liked more focus on Lewin, maybe instead of starting at the school, we could have started when he was living at his grandmother's. Why not show his childhood a little and then explain how he became such a troublemaker? Maybe he had been taunted even as a child? I'm sure this will come out later in the series, but the beginning is probably the best place to introduce the faults and background of the main character, at least.

The art in the manga is very detailed and like a shojo manga. The men are all bishies, and the girls all have the big sparkly eyes. Everything about the characters is drawn out, even to the last strand of hair. The only time it changes is for comedic effect, which doesn't happen that often. But it's not just the people; the backgrounds are done well when they are present. For the most part, though, the majority of the detail is focused on the characters and the background is kept minimal. This is pretty important as the pages tend to be cluttered. During fight scenes especially it's hard to focus on what's happening and who is hitting who. I've had to go over pages several times just to figure out what the heck happened, even with the simplest actions.

If you're looking for a new shonen manga that is highly detailed then this might be a good manga. The first volumes always tend to be slow, but Aventura has some promise. Despite its lack of originality and character depth, the manga has great art and has some promising stories that could happen in the future.