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Vol 2 Issue 6
[MANGA REVIEWS]

THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES
— by Eric "Scanner" Luce

"You can really return us to Japan?! Excellent!" Shunpei exclaims. Selsia replies that their joy is still a little bit premature. The spell to send the three strangers home is quite difficult. The two elders express concern as well, although they are looking forward to at least one part of the spell. Ritsuko-chan explains to a confused Shunpei that Selsia will have to strip as part of the spell so that the parts of the spell can attach to her. Selsia is definitely not pleased with this part of the ritual. As she starts the spell, Shunpei keeps adding his commentary, annoying Selsia. She eventually gets angry enough to turn towards Shunpei and begin shouting at him. Unfortunately, as she does so she stops concentrating on the spell. It shatters into five parts and scatters around the world.
  Apparently, the five spell parts have flown hither and attached themselves to five other elves. No one knows where they are, though. So begins the search of our four main characters: to find all five spell parts and recombine them onto Selsia. To do this, though, they have to inspect every elf they come across to see if they have one of the spell parts on them, hence: THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES.

  The four main characters are:
  Ryuuzou Shunpei - 19 years old, blood type: B. He is an expert at martial arts. He also has an undying passion for curry rice, and one of his main goals (outside of finding and stripping elves so they can find the missing spell parts) is to find the best equivalent to curry rice in this fantasy world.
  Over time you come to find out that he can be a caring individual, although this is well-hidden by his oafish nature, his running mouth, and his general insensitivity. He also has a massive crush on Airi.
  Komiyama Airi - 24 years old, blood type: AB. An actress who has won a number of honors. She is best known for her unflappable cool and ability to see through any sort of disguise or act. To her, everything is a role of sorts. Frequently playing as the brains of the group. She uses her ability to play any part when it suits her, including when she needs to convince Shunpei to do something. Luckily for most people in the story, she tends to stick with honest roles and is a much more agreeable companion than Shunpei.
  Inoue Ritsuko - 17 years old, blood type: A. The quintessential military/weapons otaku. She was brought to this fantasy world complete with most of her arsenal, including one tank (which later becomes possesed by the ghost of a cat.) Other than that, she seems like your ordinary high school girl: she likes cute things, tends to think Shunpei is insensitive and is a really nice person. Unless you get her annoyed and then she will need to work off the stress. This usually involves landmines, lots of bullets, and some C4 if she has it around.
  Selsia Marikureeru (Pochi) - Common elf. She is the expert magician who can send our three people from Japan back home. In the first story, while regaining the various spell parts that will enable her to send them home she becomes sealed into the form of a dog. The second name, Pochi, is what Shunpei decides to call her dog-form. An unwilling partner in the exploits, it is her only way to get all the spell parts back together in order to send the three people back home and return to her Elf form.
  Until she is able to send them back home, though, she has to deal with Shunpei's abuse. The two of them actually seem to be perfect for each other. They are always quibbling over something. One gets the impression that over time something will come of this relationship.

  The manga does not actually cover how these three people from our world come to be in this fantasy universe. It concentrates (for the first three volumes at least) on gathering the spell parts so that they can be sent home. For this part, it and the TV series follow each other about as closely as can be expected for a story that tends to be whimsical and episodic in nature.
  The story at first seemed totally geared towards the author having a good time and drawing various cute babes (mostly elves). What the demographics, policies, and geography of this world are you almost never discover. It pretty much goes from chapter to chapter dealing with some new challenge, not always dealing with stripping some elf here or there.
  In the first story we meet the dark elf Kaabera, who apparently has been a rival to Selsia for some time. However, with Shunpei, and Ritsuko-chan's tank, they are more than a match for Kaabera and her troops. Shunpei readily defeats Kaabera and we discover that she has the first spell mark they are looking for. However, unlike in the tv series where the spell mark was on her eye, here it is actually on her breast. When it gets transferred to Selsia, though, it appears on her eye (in her dog form.) What is worse, to Selsia's dismay, the spell mark is covering her dog form, thus preventing her from changing back into her true form. She spends the next two volumes trapped looking like some strange sort of dog.
  The stories remain rather light and fun with a bit of fan service thrown in for good measure for the first three volumes. Starting with the fourth volume, though, it turns a bit more serious, with the appearance of an elf who has the desire and means to control all of the people and their souls throughout the whole world. Only our three heroes from a different world are unaffected by her control. (We even start to get a map of the place!)
  Even with this change, the story seems to keep a good bit of its humor. It remains a story that is quite enjoyable to read. All of the kanji in the actual dialog contain furigana, making the manga one that is approachable to most beginning readers of Japanese. Use of a dictionary will probably be necessary for certain parts of the dialogue, though.
  Throughout the story, one is kept guessing how it will evolve. It seems that a definite end is in the works, but what the end will be, and what it will do to the world these people are trapped in, is a good question. It does keep one wanting to read the next story and annoyed at the slow pace at which it is being produced.

  ELF WO KARUMONOTACHI (THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES)
Copyright © Yu Yagami, 1995-1996
Published by Dengeki Comics
4 volumes (and continuing)


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