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A review by readingwithmerb
The King's Beast, Vol. 1 by Rei Tōma
4.0
Ooof what a big kick in the feels. Rei Toma is back with a vengeance! I think this is possibly set in the world of Dawn of the Arcana? We have the Ajin again, and the story follows the horrific racism and slavery in this world. Our antagonist this time is an Ajin herself, and she is disguising herself as a male in order to become the Prince’s personal servant, in order to avenge her brothers death. But when she does gain the position, she quickly realizes the Prince was never responsible for her brother’s death, and in fact is still mourning his murder.
This was pretty dark, but I felt dealt with pretty delicately. Most of this first volume was just establishing Rangetsu’s past and trauma, and slowly getting her to a place where she can begin to trust Prince Tenyou. The scenes mirroring the kindness Prince Tenyou showed her brother and now her were so bloody bitter sweet. I honestly got close to tearing up. I’m not sure how I feel about the romance, there seems to be a considerable age gap, but we don’t know Rangetsu’s age so I’m a little weary. I also worry this will be like The Water’s Gods Bride, where I never felt like the love interest became fleshed out enough for me to care. Hopefully the Prince is a bit more fleshed out in this one as the story progresses. Also, it goes without saying with Toma that the art was amazing, it is always 5 stars in quality for me.
This was pretty dark, but I felt dealt with pretty delicately. Most of this first volume was just establishing Rangetsu’s past and trauma, and slowly getting her to a place where she can begin to trust Prince Tenyou. The scenes mirroring the kindness Prince Tenyou showed her brother and now her were so bloody bitter sweet. I honestly got close to tearing up. I’m not sure how I feel about the romance, there seems to be a considerable age gap, but we don’t know Rangetsu’s age so I’m a little weary. I also worry this will be like The Water’s Gods Bride, where I never felt like the love interest became fleshed out enough for me to care. Hopefully the Prince is a bit more fleshed out in this one as the story progresses. Also, it goes without saying with Toma that the art was amazing, it is always 5 stars in quality for me.