But, tell me, have you heard about Ragna Crimson? No? Well, I'm here to tell you a little bit of the story and who knows, maybe this will arouse your curiosity. After all, this is your chance to step into a new literary fantasy world and let your imagination run wild. In addition, it is also important to warn that it may contain a little spoiler. But, this is all in order to arouse your curiosity to be able to delight in this adventure.
In a fantasy world where humanity is on the brink and surrounded by dragons, warriors known as dragon hunters are the only thing standing between safety and extinction. Dragon hunters use silver weapons to kill dragons and collect their rewards. Ragna is one of those hunters, but not a particularly good one. It follows young prodigy Leonica, who is one of the greatest dragon hunters alive.
However, as the dragon's threat suddenly increases, he borrows the power of an unexpected ally who shows him what would happen if he remained weak: he would watch Leonica die in his arms. Armed with this new power and fueled by the fear of losing Leonica, he leaves her behind and sets out to kill every dragon in his path – no matter how powerful they may be.
It was written and designed by Daiki Kobayashi, with translation by Stephen Paul and lyrics by Eric Erbes. It is serialized by Square Enix Manga and this first volume includes chapters 1-3.
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Content Index
About Ragna Crimson.
Ragna Crimson is a strange mix of expected and unexpected in the realm of dark/gritty fantasy tales.
In many ways, its premise and execution are all too familiar.
A fantasy setting where humanity is about to be wiped out by massive monsters that devour hapless innocents by the dozen in suitably bloody fashion with only a few beleaguered and outnumbered defenders to protect them? I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that it brings to mind another series that is extremely popular right now. Even the monster's weakness - silver weapons - is unique in the sense that it applies specifically to dragons, and even then that's nothing particularly unique.
There's even a pretty familiar feel of pacing action and terror to the scenes, often along the lines of, "Well, things might be bad, but we're sticking together for now!" [Two seconds later] "Oh no, things are exponentially worse!"
So you could dismiss this as another “it also worked” in the realm of dark fantasy action horror work and get it wrong, at least initially. But there are some unique qualities that help your setup stand out from the pack.
Silver Weapons in Ragna Crimson.
First of all, the very early transition from “using silver weapons” to “the hero becoming one with his weapon” is a nice twist. The way silver manifests itself around Ragna is a great visual and is thematically much more distinct; having a kind of living cloud of vines coming out of the body is definitely more interesting than swinging a traditional blade. Ragna quickly goes from “bumbling squire” to “s-tier xianxia hero” in the blink of an eye, and that gives dragon fighting a different flavor than a more traditional fantasy story could have.
Acquiring your new power is equally exciting. I'll try to avoid major spoilers, but the main hook itself is solid enough even without being terribly original. The real meat of this is the time spent investing in the emotional aspect of Ragna's potency increase.
I think Daiki does a tremendous job instilling the reader with a sense of how important this moment is for Ragna and what the cost of failure is. To be blunt, Ragna becomes one of the most powerful beings on the scene, and it still feels like the stakes couldn't be higher, which in my opinion is evidence of strong writing and effective pacing.
artistic fidelity
The visual emotion and artistic fidelity of the manga is beyond excellent. Each frame is a painting, to use a well-known phrase. Daiki Kobayashi's line of work is wonderfully crisp and everything has a level of precision and edge that fits the source material perfectly.
I would go further and say that Daiki's art is surprisingly good - I've become so used to the fidelity of the art that I almost forgot to slow down and appreciate the care that went into each panel. Terrifying pictures of the Crimson King on a throne or Ragna overlooking the dark forest below him practically hum with tangible dread. Furthermore, while haunting visions of Leorica's fate and draconic demise at the hands of Ragna come to life with palpable innards. When Ragna Crimson starts, it's a non-stop guitar solo and it's hard not to agree with his rhythms.
Comic Language – Ragna
Likewise, comic language is easily adapted. Aggressive panels and thunderous sound effects make each action scene come to life as soon as it leaves the page. Moments that are more ethereal and supernatural are appropriately disorienting and dark! And while framing for action sequences is executed with deft clarity. But, I found myself rereading certain sequences and diving into them again, from off-meta commentary from the body to blood dragon executions. Daiki Kobayashi is working in several different spaces and at no time does he seem unprepared for the situation.
This is not to say that art is entirely without its drawbacks. The character designs are… good. They are well! I wouldn't say any of the cast particularly stand out, save maybe King Crimson in the crown outfit. While not exactly generic, I wasn't particularly enamored with the design work in this regard. It's all functional, of course, but aside from some exciting dragon monsters, there's not much to write home about.
Scenario
The setting also looks very ill-defined and loose. We learned some city names, that there are dragons and dragon hunters and that things are bad; there's not much to do other than that. After all, it's not hard to see why: the narrative is clearly prioritizing kinetic action sequences, and geography lessons and political graphics have taken a back seat to the raw spectacle of what's happening right now.
But it sure would have been nice to know a little more about what's going on in the world or who some of the people involved are, because watching a few dozen people get eaten whole by a dragon! Or hearing that nine of the ten remaining cities are burning left me replying, “…okay.” Maybe Daiki is planning to develop the world-building later, but I would have preferred to be even a little more rooted in the environment before the blood started to flow.
