[Manga Monday] +C (Plus Si) Sword and Cornett

I have relatively little experience with the realm of jousei manga, but I was somewhat under the impression that it was mostly romance and crap. Yugyoji Tama’s +C Sword and Cornett has made me majorly reconsider that. The monthly series takes the conventions of fantasy series and promptly chops them into pieces, choosing to focus instead on the political aspects of its world. It has all the potential to be pretentious crap, but instead, it ends up being a pleasantly entertaining read. Adventure, drama and even yaoi teases are executed well, compared to other fantasy and jousei series I’ve read. Its only potential problem is the lack of overall plot direction; while it’s not obviously aimless, its main conflict of “taking back the kingdom” doesn’t seem to be developing well.

The premise involves an illegitimate child, royalty, and murder. If that indicates to you that this isn’t your type of drama, I don’t blame you. I was skeptical, too, especially with the pretty boys and oh my gosh does that guy have a ribbon in his hair?!

That’s what convinced me to read this. Though the main character, Belca, is a little bland, Eco is strongly reminiscent of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle’s Fai/Fay/Fey (did they ever canonize the #$%@ing spelling?!) and is therefore awesome. It’s the characters and the execution that make the relatively uninspired royalty-conspiracy-whatever plot pretty neat. I mean, the crossdressing…

Belca’s journey as a fugitive is unpredictable and filled with interesting developments at every turn, and most of those developments involve a spiffy new character. Take that Noah guy, for example. He’s attractive, rich, good-hearted, aaaaand…

… he sets in motion some of the biggest plot revelations so far. (I’m not going to spoil how, but it’s fairly hard to see coming, and is one of the high points of the series.) The multiple plot threads have converged nicely, so far, and the series now stands at the brink of a major crossroads: will Belca be betrayed by yet another person? Or is everything another carefully layered plot to get the kingdom back? Though it’s all a little hard to follow, it’s worth trying to keep up with the multiple plotlines.

A key element that could have been horribly mishandled was the elements of racism and fighting for another race’s rights. Believe it or not, Belca isn’t initially the one being the hero and fighting for the Amontel’s rights: it’s his big brother Hector. It takes an incredibly long time for Belca to warm up to the idea of accepting the “monster” Amontel. This hesitancy on his part is what makes the subplot so engaging and believable, and not another attempt at cheap political drama/heartstring-pulling.

The occasionally gorgeous art is what rounds out +C as a worthwhile read. (I mean, EYE CANDY WHUUUUT.) It’s mature enough to keep older readers engages without being pretentious in any way. Though the main character is fairly bland and a few of the side characters are predictable, their chemistry drives the mildly aimless cookie-cutter plot in unique directions. Its longish chapters are worth keeping up with if you don’t mind your manga with a healthy dose of politics, suspense and slightly girly men.

CJ’s Rating: 8.5 out of 10 California rolls