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A review by jandi
Beasts of Abigaile, Volume 1 by Spica Aoki
3.0
This review is for all 4 volumes.
Nina has just arrived to Ruberia, a small country with an economy based on roses, and hears about legends of werewolves. She dismisses them, until she is bit by a werewolf, turns into one herself, and is interned against her will in a prison-school. Quite an odd setup, but it manages to allow the supernatural elements to play in a school setting. Being shojo, Nina quickly is surrounded by gorgeous male werewolves, and is antagonized by most of them from the start.
The story moves very quickly (a little too quickly by the end), and it was enjoyable to unearth bit by bit all of the secrets in Ruberia. Nina is very kind, and risks her safety more than once to protect others, however, she does have a background in martial arts so she can fend for herself ... sometimes. There are still more damsel in distress moments than I would like, but she does stand up against the overwpowering male cliche, so there is that.
The art is quite interesting - the style is a little old fashioned, with hair styles and faces reminiscent of 80's manga, but fits the story well (although I still don't know what is going on with the moon hair ornament Nina wears that seems like a nod to Sailor Moon). And there are roses, lots of roses.
The design of the werewolves is strange - they get an extra set of ornamental dog ears that can be retracted, but they keep the human ears for hearing, yet they have better hearing than humans. And even though the faces are human too, they are described as having a wider field of vision than humans, closer to that of dogs (which makes no sense with the eyes placed where they are for humans). Yeah, that is what bothered me when reading a fantasy story about enslaved wolves as the basis of the economy of a fictional European country.
Unfortunately, the story is very rushed towards the end, the last volume has a torrent of revelations one after the other, and it is hard to process them, they just happen too quickly. It would definitely have benefitted from another volume or 2, although I understand it getting cut short was not the mangaka's fault.
Nina has just arrived to Ruberia, a small country with an economy based on roses, and hears about legends of werewolves. She dismisses them, until she is bit by a werewolf, turns into one herself, and is interned against her will in a prison-school. Quite an odd setup, but it manages to allow the supernatural elements to play in a school setting. Being shojo, Nina quickly is surrounded by gorgeous male werewolves, and is antagonized by most of them from the start.
The story moves very quickly (a little too quickly by the end), and it was enjoyable to unearth bit by bit all of the secrets in Ruberia. Nina is very kind, and risks her safety more than once to protect others, however, she does have a background in martial arts so she can fend for herself ... sometimes. There are still more damsel in distress moments than I would like, but she does stand up against the overwpowering male cliche, so there is that.
The art is quite interesting - the style is a little old fashioned, with hair styles and faces reminiscent of 80's manga, but fits the story well (although I still don't know what is going on with the moon hair ornament Nina wears that seems like a nod to Sailor Moon). And there are roses, lots of roses.
The design of the werewolves is strange - they get an extra set of ornamental dog ears that can be retracted, but they keep the human ears for hearing, yet they have better hearing than humans. And even though the faces are human too, they are described as having a wider field of vision than humans, closer to that of dogs (which makes no sense with the eyes placed where they are for humans). Yeah, that is what bothered me when reading a fantasy story about enslaved wolves as the basis of the economy of a fictional European country.
Unfortunately, the story is very rushed towards the end, the last volume has a torrent of revelations one after the other, and it is hard to process them, they just happen too quickly. It would definitely have benefitted from another volume or 2, although I understand it getting cut short was not the mangaka's fault.