3 out of 5

In the same way I have trouble explaining to casual video gamers how Dark Soul differs from other open world RPGs, when I try to explain to casual comic book readers how manga can differ from US / UK comics – besides more general cultural differences – I come away just sounding like I’m describing genre: okay, so it’s fantasy, or maybe there’s a focus on gaming. The interweaving of anime influence into the relative mainstream has muddied the conversation further.

A title like Steel of the Celestial Shadows rather typifies the difference, though, in a way that can’t be exactly captured by a description of the plot: samurai Konosuke lives in disgrace, unable to hold a blade – as all metal crumples at his touch. In ‘Celestial Shadows,’ he’s on his last legs, unable to secure a job as a samurai who can’t wield a sword, and thus becomes very skeptical of Tsuki, a woman who truly rushes into his life and wants to marry.

That suggest a little bit of mystery; an odd couple romance. Neither of which is inaccurate. It’s how manga wields its focus that tends to make it different: we will just accept as fact that metal bends itself into unusable shapes when Konosuke interacts with it; while Tsuki’s interest is curious, we will also accept it as “real” within the context of the tale. And it’s not that we won’t get some type of description for the Why of the metal, or more on Tsuki’s background, but we will first spend a tankobon poking at Konosuke’s day-to-day life, his memories of his mother. We’ll do some meet-cuteing as the couple comes to trust one another. There’s action here as well, with Konosuke beset upon by samurais who he’s pissed off in one way or another, and one related to the curiosity of Tsuki’s sudden appearance, but they’re told somewhat as part of the day-to-day structure.

In short (and obviously making a very general statement about a huge industry), whether you’re living in a world with man-eating Titans, or whisked away to live in an RPG, or you have some mystical malady which causes samurai swords to bend in half in your presence, manga tends to treat all of this as just another part of the characters’ days. Answers will come, but they’re not dangled as chapter ending cliffhangers, or bait for another volume, which is the US / UK tendency: base everything around the hook, instead of creating the world around the hook and letting the story arrive at it when it makes sense.

Steel of the Celestial Shadows works incredibly exactly because of this type of story structure. It’s not wholly interesting why this happens to Konosuke – like, it will be magic tied to some larger system of spirits or something – but it is interesting to see how it impacts someone just trying to live their life.

Matsuura’s artwork is interesting: characters are very simplified, but they crop camera angles to get a lot of drama and emotion out of scenes. Going up close with action normally confuses me in manga, but it works there as well because scenes are choreographed effectively and the geography is normally established well enough that we can follow. The pacing works when the story is both quiet and loud; it’s not flashy, but it’s very functional. The writing itself – or as it’s translated – is a bit tropey, which becomes rather cringe for the romance. While I mentioned above that manga tends to be written to just accept things as they happen, the way Tsuki is introduced feels a little too… cute, as though Daruma really just wanted to get to the odd couple stuff and so kind of rushed us there. With manga still needing to be in the business of luring in readers, I understand this was likely shorthanded to get us to some of the tankobon-ending dramatics, but I think some tactical time jumps could’ve been used to make their meeting feel a bit more natural.

Steel of the Celestial Shadows is just getting going. Its slow start helps to make that ramp up more immersive, and I hope Daruma has the room to continue that style so we can get away from its more cliched storytelling elements.