Those Who Hunt Elves
Publisher ADVManga Writer Yu Yagami Artist Yu Yagami Country of origin Japan Length 21 volumes Year 1995
Those Who Hunt Elves GN 4
By David Rasmussen 19th Dec 04  Publisher - ADVManga Age - T for Teen (13+) Published in Japan (1996) By Yu Yagami ADVManga Staff Translator - Eiko McGregor Lead Translator/Translation Supervisor - Javier Lopez ADV Manga Translation Staff - Kay Bertrand, Amy Forsyth and Brendan Frayne Publishing Editor - Susan Itin Assistant Editor - Margart Scharold Ah. I've been holding off on reviewing this because it's a multiparter... meaning you'll need GN5 and probably 6 to complete this one... so I'll have to double time it and get those books already for review. Briefly since this is rather short and sweet. Wouldn't you know it? Just as the gang enters a town that is the hot spot for all those in the supernatural circles they end up being caught up in a rather James Bond slash MARVEL-esque situation as they witness the first acts of terror of a would be world conqueror and her plans of domination. Using dark magic to make people... well... burst into flames she now holds millions hostage with her power... unless of course the gang jumps in to stop her. Them and seemingly ANOTHER person who comes from their world (who is leading the fading resistance against her). Oh, and it looks like this new nemesis is benefiting quite well from technology from Earth... which probably means she has the means to send the gang back, which will probably be something we'll see somewhere down the line. But, for the time being, with one of the home team's number now a walking time-bomb, and their one Elf companion (formerly turned into a dog) now trapped in a book holding a bunch of other elves prisoner (seemingly all female though I didn't take a head count to see if any males were present)... oh, that was to save her life by the way so she shouldn't be so ungrateful... the odds are looking rather bleak to grim as to their getting out of this one in one piece, let alone see home again. So it looks like the elf hunting business has to be put on hold for a "save the world" mission, even if said mission kills them (which it probably will). Those Who Hunt Elves Breakdown the 4th What's Hot? - While in the middle of the ongoing storyline to find and strip female elves we suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a long term storyarc which pit's the gang against a world conquerer type. Well, I guess I shouldn't complain since a little diversion wouldn't hurt... especially since they were halfway through with the whole mystical symbol locating thing and something was needed to drag the story out for 21 books. So I don't have a problem with that, and the change of pace is welcome. What's Not? - It wasn't as fun as the previous books... in fact, for some reason, the book has taken a strange ratings drop! From the more mature rating of Older Teen (16+) it's downward spiraled to Teen (13+) and it's tamer now than before... and that's bad. I think I liked it better when it was more up there in ratings. Still, I guess that might come back after this storyarc... hopefully... otherwise I'm just baffled as to why it happened in the first place. Why do a title that was abit of the naughty and risky before only to have it go abit safer later? Moments to Remember? - Yeah. Even amidst the beginnings of a long storyarc with lots of chaos and madness there's still some memorable scenes. What to Ignore? - HOWEVER it looks like the days of elf stripping is just about over for now. Come to think of it the days of old which got the book an Older Teen (16+) rating is also over, and that's just sad. I guess I would like to ignore that, but I don't see how. Overall? - It's going to be a long storyarc so I better finally get to it and pick up some new volumes so we can continue onwards with this review. The series? Still good even with the ratings drop, so check it out.
-- David Rasmussen 19th Dec 04
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