YEN PRESS
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Natsume Akatsuki
ART: Masaaki Kiasa
CHARACTER DESIGNS: Kakao Lanthanum
TRANSLATION: Noboru Akimoto
LETTERS: Brandon Bovia
ISBN: 978-1-9753-0609-0; paperback (September 2019); Rated “OT” for “Older Teen”
180pp, B&W with some color pages, $13.00 U.S., $17.00 CAN
Combatants Will Be Dispatched! is a Japanese light novel series, written by Natsume Akatsuki and illustrated by Kakao Lanthanum. A manga adaptation, drawn by Masaaki Kiasa, has been serialized in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine, Monthly Comic Alive, since March 2018. Yen Press is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a series of graphic novels.
Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 5) introduces Agent Six. He has spent his career as a “combat agent” and as an evil minion in service of the Kisaragi Corporation, an evil giant conglomerate with plans to take over the world. Six has been slapping down superheroes, but now, Kisaragi has a new task for him.
Via its teleportation technology, Six will travel to a fantasy world – and invade it! Traveling with Six is Alice Kisaragi, a “pretty-girl” and “high-spec” android. Together Six and Alice initiate the first phase of their invasion – partner with the locals. Before he knows it, however, Six is serving the Kingdom of Grace and is leading a troop of misfits that includes an irascible royal guard, an “artificial battle chimera,” and a wheel-chair bound magic user. And they will help him take on demon-hordes.
[This volume includes an “Extra Episode;” an illustrated “Afterword;” and an original Combatants Will Be Dispatched! short story by Natsume Akatsuki.]
The Combatants Will Be Dispatched! manga is another new-to-me title. I had not heard of the light novel series or of its manga adaptation until I received a review copy of the latter from my Yen Press rep.
Combatants Will Be Dispatched! Graphic Novel Volume 1, upon first glance, did not impress me. However, there was this small voice in my head that said, “You might like this.” Still, I avoided reading Vol. 1 for a bit. Silly me – I just finished reading it and I enjoyed it way more than I ever thought I would.
Creator and writer Natsume Akatsuki has fashioned a cast of funny, eccentric, self-centered, randy, and occasionally obnoxious characters that are endearing when placed in the right setting. This fantasy world, a medievalist type that one might find in a role-playing game, is just the right setting.
Artist Masaaki Kiasa delivers storytelling that reminds me of the graphical storytelling of Kenjiro Hata in his comic fantasy manga, Hayate the Combat Butler. Combatants Will Be Dispatched! has a tone similar to Hayate's, a mixture of breezy comedy, fantasy, and scheming, but lovable characters. I can't wait to read more because I want to see what happens next.
8 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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