The Link's Awakening Manga...

...is amazing.

I think I've mentioned once or twice that Link's Awakening is among my favorite video games of all time, right? I know I haven't been posting too often, but I'm sure I've at least implied that. Quite frankly, the story and the music are the best in the series.

I have been aware of the existence of the Link's Awakening manga for a while now; I buried that information in the back of my mind long ago, when I was still browsing random pages on Zelda Wiki and managed to find the entry for it, a complete and utter noob to the series trying to learn more about the games I wished to someday own. It didn't interest me back then (I mean, it was going to be translated eventually like the other Zelda manga I was undoubtedly waiting for; duh).

As I stated in my previous post, I've been contributing to the Zelda Dungeon Wiki a lot recently, and yesterday I somehow stumbled upon this wiki's own entry about the Link's Awakening manga. With not much else to do, I decided to follow the link that was listed at the bottom of the page, which led to a translation on History of Hyrule.

ANDOHMYGODSITWASEPIC.

This manga managed to perfectly capture everything I loved about the game... and more.

Listen: I used to rant on and on about how incredible the manga series was. I thought they were perfect adaptions of these incredible games. In fact, one might say they were what made me become a Zelda fan – I bought the Ocarina of Time manga, Volume One, when I only owned The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, so I really hadn't cared much about the "Legend of Zelda" aspect of those two games' titles until I read the manga and became interested in previous installments. Actually, now that I think of it, I've been reading the manga since the very first volume released; as this post suggests, I waited until the day almost every volume came out, to get it on the first day or as soon as possible (such as the Christmas following OoT V2's release).

In recent years, I've reread most of the manga, and they're decidedly... cheesy. Oh, no, I still love them to death. The artwork's incredible, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to make a video game into a fully comprehensive story. Not just a story, even – a manga. I won't pretend to know a lot about manga, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of work put into them.

But... some parts are so cliché, they're cringe-worthy.

Link doesn't have a personality. Or, if he does, he's either annoyingly overconfident, annoyingly under-confident, or way too into the Hero stereotype with helping out people and destroying evil for him to be even somewhat believable. The only exception was Four Swords, where, of course, each of the Links had a defining personality to them – although Green was still our classically annoying sterotype. Plus, a lot of important or interesting plot points are skipped. Seriously, what happened to the Shadow Temple? That was my favorite Ocarina of Time Dungeon. On top of it all, there are tons of mistakes. I'm certain the Japanese writing is better, but still. (I think specifically of "Are you sure you should be telling tell me something so important, Zelda?" from Ocarina of Time Volume One... and the lines were mixed up once in The Minish Cap, twice in Four Swords Volume Two... and I thought for a good while that Ocarina of Time came out in 1996 because of an error...)

Now, back on topic, let's go to the Link's Awakening manga. I discovered that it was actually made by a different artist: Ataru Cagiva. The other mangas are written by Akira Himekawa, a collaboration of two women. I have no idea who Ataru Cagiva is or what his/her other projects might be, but their manga adaptation of one of my favorite games was beautiful.

I suppose one might still say that there were cheesy moments and Link's personality wasn't all that better: he still had that frustrating overconfidence. And, another thing I never really liked about the A Link to the Past official manga was Ghanti, a random OC who appeared to be added in for no reason other than the authors' enjoyment. I still can't figure out the reason behind Master Drona in the Link's Awakening manga. He just appears out of nowhere and wants to fight Link. Seriously, you couldn't have pulled out a mini-boss or something for that role? Why was a random pig-guy necessary? Felicia, Link's fairy companion, also got on my nerves occasionally, but from one point of view, I could kind of see why the author had added her; she held the instruments for Link, which is something that was never really explained in the game, and she was useful when Link needed someone to talk to. She also contributed to the feelings of betrayal that appeared later, and she heighten the emotion – but I'll talk about that more later. And the translators still made mistakes, just like VizKidz (Your dead! Spin Attcak!).

So, if there's still all these problems, what made Link's Awakening the best manga for me?

The emotion. The emotion is exactly why I loved Link's Awakening in the first place. I didn't cry in Skyward Sword, nor in Majora's Mask, nor in any other video game in existence – but I strongly recall, more than any other moment in Zelda history, reading the tablet in Southern Face Shrine in Link's Awakening. This was the real turning point of the game, where everything is revealed to be an illusion... and the point at which all is revealed is just so, so amazing...

This picture...

With this text...

"TO THE FINDER... THE ISLE OF KOHOLINT, IS BUT AN ILLUSION... HUMAN, MONSTER, SEA, SKY... A SCENE ON THE LID OF A SLEEPER'S EYE... AWAKE THE DREAMER, AND KOHOLINT WILL VANISH MUCH LIKE A BUBBLE ON A NEEDLE... CAST-AWAY, YOU SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH!"

Combined with this hauntingly gorgeous music...



...makes my favorite Zelda moment.

Now, to return to the topic... The manga captured this beautifully. The reason I liked Link's Awakening Manga Link more than any of the others was because of his emotions. He reacted as any normal person would – confusion, anger, feelings of betrayal toward those who had been helping him, and those who had known. I felt one of the best moments was when Link actually tried to escape the island along with Marin on a raft. I really felt that that was a realistic decision someone would make.

...And the whole time Link read that tablet, the music was going through my head...

I'm also going to throw out that I loved the "Messenger of Awakening" title. That should have totally been in the game. I think Link was developed very well, where he starts off completely willing to save the island, from going to denying his destiny, to deciding that it is fate after all.

Another great improvement over Akira Himekawa's manga – there was actually some action! The dungeons all felt rushed in the mangas, where as here, Link was shown fighting not only bosses, but also weaker enemies, even around Koholint Island's overworld while travelling.

Another great point: the characters. ...Besides Link, since I already mentioned that I loved him. When I first started reading it, I wasn't expecting a much different experience than the other Zelda mangas. In fact, the first volume wasn't anything spectacular, although I did still enjoy it more than the other mangas. It wasn't until the second volume where I started thinking about how amazing it was.

But if there's one thing I thought when I started reading, it was that Marin is absolutely adorable.

Okay, okay, um, that's not a good reason to love a character, I suppose... no matter how true it is. Nevertheless, I liked her and Tarin (well... mostly her) and I thought they were portrayed rather well, considering their lack of screen time. I don't know why Tarin didn't turn into a Racoon, though. And personally, Marin and Link's farewell could have been even more emotional. As a side note, I also felt that Felicia and Link's relationship was rather... forced. I didn't feel much change with their attitudes toward one another, until Link outright stated that he felt differently about Felicia than when they first met. I think that the readers should be able to tell on their own that something's changing between them, without having it told to us (although, I must admit, I'm utterly guilty of that in many of my own works of fiction; it's so much easier to just come out and say it). Perhaps if they'd started sharing smiles, or inside jokes, or even simple signs of friendship... or, you know, some touchy-feely moment of some sort. Even so, the characters and plot were very well-done.

Honestly, I loved it all. I can't get enough of this manga.

...It NEEDS an official translation. I'd pay any price for a physical copy of this manga.

I think that's all I'll say about it for tonight – it's 1:30 in the morning. I stayed up for an hour writing this. I'm just on a complete and utter Link's Awakening high right now. I can't stop thinking about how awesome that game is, haha. I'm really sorry about this long, somewhat rambling entry, but I really wanted to talk about this! ^^ I have not had the chance to read over this yet, so there are likely many mistakes and horribly worded sentences. It's also probably rather disorganized. I'll hopefully get around to editing tomorrow; I really want to go to bed now...

Thank you for reading, and as always, have a good day, my nonexistent readers!

MC Update - Gods. I fail at observation/map reading/solving puzzles. To an extent.

First off, Roy is a total, complete, OVERPOWERED CHARACTER IN SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE!!!! Plus, the game FAVORS HIM! I SWEAR! I would have won every round against my sister if it weren't for LUCK. When we turned off items, I continuously pwned her as Young Link... but WITH items... I failed. Epicly.

*sigh* Oh, and all our pictures on that game are corrupted. ...At least the whole game data isn't. :D And another Wind Waker file was lost. This one was in Tower of the Gods. And I had been working on it too. :( Now the only one left on that memory card is Noob's. ...It's named Linky and in the Forsaken Fortress. XD

So now it's like I haven't even completed one DUNGEON on Wind Waker. >.<

........

Anyway.... Sorry. That was my Super Smash Bros. Melee rant from earlier tonight, because Rowan kept pwning all the Zelda characters as Roy. It was frustrating me. At least I got my revenge when items were taken out of the equation.

On to the update now? XD

So. Minish Cap. Yeah. Where to begin? Well, probably wherever my last update left off, but I don't even remember where that is.

...
...
...


*looks up* XD

Oh! Power Bracelets! Riiiight.

Anyway, I DID end up asking Sydney, lolz. She's BETTER than a walkthrough, because she can just give me a HINT rather than complete answers. Apparently, there's ANOTHER entrance into Lake Hylia! O: So she led me to that (it was through Lon Lon Ranch) and I took it from there. After that... I met Librari. Who I decided I hated. That tends to happen with me - I meet a video game character and immediately decide whether they are under the title of "HATE," "LIKE," "ANNOYING," or "EPIC." Link is in two categories - like and epic. Zelda too. XD Oh, and Ashei from Twilight Princess. She's just awesome. And maybe Midna, too. MAYBE. But most of my partners are under the "hate" or "annoying" category, simply because you're around them so much that they get frustrating and tiring. Except Navi. She's sooooooo annoying within the first five minutes of the game that she's in a category all her own, BELOW hate. :P Did I ever mention how she told me to go to the Bottom of the Well when I was IN the dang Well? Yeah...

I get off topic too easily. Sheesh. Back to the main post... what was it? Librari. Well, he's "HATE" because he dumped me in a dungeon without letting me prepare! >.< I got flippers at the end though. Yayz.

Okay, okay, then I swam to dropletts temple. Within the first, like, five rooms, however... I found the boss key. And I knew EXACTLY where the boss room was.

So I was freaking out at this point, thinking I'd either cheated the game, done something wrong, or that there would be an extremely unexpected twist coming up. You do NOT have a Zelda dungeon that's five rooms long.

As it turns out, it wasn't any of the above. Not cheating, nothing wrong, and nothing sufficiently unexpected. Just that the second half of the dungeon was behind the boss room doors. :P

I fought the boss: a giant Octorok. It took me FOREVER to figure how to kill him... I thought you'd have to get behind him to whack him or something, but apparently you're supposed to hit the rocks back at him with your sword...

SO.

After that, I got the THIRD ELEMENT!!!! It was the WATER ELEMENT! :D So exciting.

Then I had to sneak into the castle to infuse the sword with the new element for my third clone. :P But, geez, those guards... their voices, when they screamed "HEY!" just scared me for some reason. Could be because I was alone at night with everyone else in the house asleep, just sitting on my bed playing the game with headphones on... XD

Then I went to find a king dude in a graveyard! It was fun!

Then I received a GOLDEN KINSTONE! O: He told me to take it to "source of all flow."

Now... here's when my epic fail comes in. Summarizing it, btw, because I gtg...

I was REALLY smart, and thought "source of all flow... WATERFALL!" I felt so proud of myself for figuring that out.

I went there, to Veil Falls... but had no clue what to do.

So I decided "Maybe I'm wrong..." So I randomly picked up the Minish Cap manga and read it. Guess what? At the part with the king, he oh-so-bluntly states, "Take this kinstone to Veil Falls."

I'm in Veil Falls.

*more convinced that I'm right...*

THEN I went to the smith dude's house. He tells me to go to Veil Falls, TOO!!!!

*TOTALLY convinced I'm right...*

...But no idea what to do.

I happened to go to Sydney's house, so I dejectedly and reluctantly asked her where to take the kinstone.

She tells me Veil Falls.

Okay, I was SOOOOOOOO RIGHT.

I ask her what to do there.

...She doesn't remember... >.<

FORTUNATELY, her BROTHER, Hunter, remembered! :D ...He showed me a DIFFERENT route into the waterfall that I COMPLETELY missed.

Thus the reason I can't read maps/observe things. To an extent. Because I totally PWNED THAT SOURCE OF FLOW THING! XD

That's all for tonight. I found the wall thingy I'm supposed to fuse the golden kinstone with, so I guess I'm on my way to the wind tribe and the final element. And my eleventh (or tenth... I forget) Zelda game completion. ;)

So goodnight. Again.

*STILL LOOKING FOR FANFIC IDEAS* :P

LA Update - Roc's Feather? Well, I'd prefer a cape, but...

When I saw Sydney JadeHammer, one of my best friends and fellow Zelda/Poke fans, yesterday, I could not help but tell her about my adventures in Link's Awakening. I went into excrutiating detail (okay, perhaps not) how I geniusly figured out how to get the Magic Powder (sure, it took nearly an HOUR, but...) and saved Tarin. Then I told her about the first dungeon, and, of course, my first item (which I failed at getting the first time). What's the first items? It's called Roc's Feather, and it lets you JUMP (on top of Goombas, too :P)!

When I got to this point, Sydney, who is an enormous Minish Cap fan (she adores Minish Link for some reason, and I don't even have the game, though she does xD), said, "Oh, Roc's Cape?"

Me: "Uh, no. FEATHER, Sydney. Get it right! Roc's FEATHER."

"On Minish Cap, there's Roc's Cape. I'm guessing it's the same thing. Roc's Feather lets you fly, right?"

"Wait... FLY?"

She told me about this awesome Minish Cap item that apparently lets you fly. All I got is this stupid feather that lets you jump just a LITTLE. O.o

Anyway.

I'm downloading an Oracle game now! Yeah, I know. I haven't beat Link's Awakening yet, but... I can't help it. :P I don't know which one, though. I want Seasons first to see how alike the manga is when you play Seasons then Ages, but I'd also like to see the differences when you play Ages then Seasons... if that made sense. I'm even confusing myself. -.-

I'll probably get Ages, though. Rowan wants Ages. And I want to see if Raven is actually in there.


OOH! Btw, about the update, I beat the first boss. Here's a picture of him. :P



He was HARD to beat. It gave me MAJOR deja vu to the third boss of LttP... what's his name again? Oh well. They're almost IDENTICAL! It was kind of depressing, since I hated that boss. And I hated this one. Took me FOREVER to keep from falling off the sides of the room. -.-

Now I'm in the second dungeon (after becoming an assassin! That part was TOTALLY my favorite!), and I just got the Power Bracelets. I'm missing the nightmare key... so I'm not sure what to do...

A short update...

I have exactly... one minute to write this entire post. O.o

Well, let's see, I played Wind Waker last night, beat that impossible Wind Temple. Surprisingly, I found A Link to the Past manga at the store, even though it wasn't February when I found it. Um, I still haven't bought the GAME a Link to the Past, sadly. And, uh, I've been playing TP a LOT, and I did a Karkario Village Graveyard glitch...

Um, gtg! Bye! xD

Best. Manga. EVER!

I just figured out that Minish Cap Link is actually Toon Link - the same Link I know and love so much in Wind Waker AND Phantom Hourglass ANNNND the awesomeful Spirit Tracks I've been waiting for! Sweetness! He is SOOO cute in manga form! :D

Um, anyway, the last line is the BEST.

"Vaati, just shut up and cut the cake."

XD I love it! If you're a Zelda fan, you'll really understand why that's so hilarious. Vaati is the bad guy... that's why I love that.

Huh... but MC sounds a LOT like Phantom Hourglass... Zelda turns to stone... have to find elements to make a sword (Picori blade in this one... but I will still think of it as Phantom Sword, lol...), blah blah blah....

Less than a week for ST!!!!

IT'S DECEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! Just like I'd been waiting for. Yay!

The Minish Cap manga came out today (yeah, I know, I said December 2nd, but it's actually the first, lol...)! I can't WAIT to go to the bookstore to get it. Best of all, Vanessa DreamHaven gave me a gift card there for my birthday! It's what I bought Four Swords Part 2 with, and it's what I'm planning on buying MC and a Link to the Past when it comes out in February.

Now Spirit Tracks is less than a week away - only six days! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh............. I CAN'T WAIT! It's KILLING ME! I don't want to play Twilight Princess and Wind Waker and Majora's Mask forever (that's all I've been playing lately, lol)!

December 7th better come soon!

Come on December, hurry up already!!!

Ugh, why do all the awesome things have to come out DECEMBER? Could they have released them just ONE month earlier? Seriously, how hard can that be?

But... sigh... I have to wait just a FEW more weeks for Spirit Tracks and the Minish Cap manga to come out. Ugh. Just recently, I saw another advertisment on the Nintendo Channel on my Wii for ST, and oh my gosh, was I surprised! That combined with what I learned from The Hylia totally stunned me.

ZELDA DIES!

What the heck! How can you have a ZELDA game when ZELDA is DEAD?!?! Really! I think that Nintendo has gone crazy...

And the other thing I'm waiting for is the Minish Cap manga, so I'm heading to the bookstore December 2nd! And then I gotta wait for December 7th for Spirit Tracks... aww...

Zelda manga!

If you read my profile, you would know that some of my favorite books are Zelda manga by Akira Himekawa. Well, just this Saturday I got the newest one, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords part 1. I totally was expecting ot enjoy reading it, and possibly have a few laughs (They're quite humorous), but it was more than that: it was hilarious! My sister and I fought over who would read it (I won... I bought the book with MY money, not her!). Red Link is so hilarious! I got Sydney to read it today. She usually isn't into Zelda all that much (she prefers Pokemon and Wizard101) but she loved it, too! And she agreed: Red Link is the cutest. I used to think I would like the blue Link, because that's my favorite color, but after seeing his personality, um, I don't think so! Lol, I like Red Link a LOT. Crazy about these mangas. Come on people, READ THEM! They are AWESOME! I own everyone single solitary one of them that are out yet. Can't wait for October to read part 2 of the Four Swords! Then comes the Minish Cap, and then a Link to the Past... I hope that's not the last one, but in the way that the list at the back of my book looks, it might be. :(