The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords+ (2005)

[ゼルダの伝説：４つの剣士+]

Volume 2

Author/Artist: Akira Himekawa
Publisher: Tentomushi Comics

Synopsis:
Green, Red and Blue journey to Death Mountain, where the treacherous Vio and Shadow Link await.

Story/Characters:
As the plot thickens, Vio proves to be the most interesting of the four Links, but I also have to say that I'm pretty fond of Shadow Link's character arc. We get a lot of time for the big fight with Vaati, but by comparison the inevitable final battle with Ganon feels like an afterthought. At least in Oracle of Ages we had the interesting wrinkle of an incomplete revival that left him a beast of uncontrolled malevolent power with no intellect behind it. Tingle blights this volume as his appearances always do. He feels entirely superfluous and complicates things more than he helps, but I guess that's Tingle for you. Link's overall journey in character development is fairly satisfying, making for a solid conclusion to the story.

Art:
The art continues with the same standard set by the previous volume. We get some good fight scenes, particularly the long battle with Vaati. (For those of you disappointed how short the fights are in most of these Himekawa Zelda stories, you should enjoy the more protracted treatment.)

Other:
We get a number of comedic shorts after the end of the story, ranging from 4-koma to one- and two-page gag comics. It's amusing but not quite laugh-out-loud funny.

Conclusion:
The second half is even stronger than the first, but it does owe a fair bit to all the establishment provided by the prior entry. I was left satisfied and definitely recommend giving this one a read.

Rating:
Read It