The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2017)

[ゼルダの伝説：トワイライトプリンセス]

Volume 2

Author/Artist: Akira Himekawa
Publisher: Tentomushi Comics

Synopsis:
Link finds himself transformed into a wolf and must forge an unsteady alliance with the imp Midna.

Story/Characters:
I was a little worried that we would start to see the usual rushed pacing of Himekawa Zelda stories, but I'm happy to see that they're taking their time with this one and actually going beyond the source material to flesh out the characters and story. I would've liked it if Link was unable to communicate verbally to Midna in his wolf form, but I can understand that they were made to converse regularly for convenience's sake. I do like how Midna plays the part of this temptress baiting link with the lure of the Twilight Realm. Yes, we know she isn't evil, but she has a bit of moral greyness to her and she's grown a mean streak in her bitterness that layers her character and gives her relationship with Link some rocky ground to build from. One thing that disappointed me about the original game was how little characterization Zelda got. I wanted to like her, but there just wasn't enough there to really get all that invested. We get a little more to work with here, but she's going to be stuck playing second fiddle to Midna and Ilia. Speaking of Ilia, it's very interesting that the Bulblin King has taken an interest in her and is offering her a place as his queen. (She takes it about as well as you'd imagine.) The forest temple section is rather well-handled. It says something when the pseudo-gag character miniboss gets some quality characterization. Also, I like how Link rejects his destiny as the chosen hero, tying into his tragic backstory.

Art:
The art continues to impress with a lot of dark and moody atmosphere you'd expect from the setting and some really nice action set pieces. Midna is highly expressive and quite entertaining to watch.

Other:
We get a couple bonus illustrations at the end of the volume, one of Zelda as a child and one of OoT Link passing the baton to the current incarnation.

Conclusion:
The promising start from the first volume get continued nicely here with a lot of good characterization that really shows what the Himekawa team can do when allowed the space to really work. As a big fan of the source material, I'm thrilled to see justice being done in such a big way. It's definitely worth owning in my book.

Rating:
Own It