Fire Emblem: Sword of the Conqueror (2002)

[ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣]

Volume 1

Author: Hiroshi Izawa
Artist: Kotaro Yamada
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
A young swordsman sets out in search of the Fire Emblem amid the invasion of the Lycian League by the Bern Empire.

Story/Characters:
This is an original story running parallel to the plot of FE6. It's fairly standard shounen fare. Our protagonist Al is exactly the sort of shounen protagonist I hate, lots of fire in the belly but dumber than a bag of rocks. I guess in a franchise that leans heavily on character archetypes, it shouldn't be surprising that not a lot of creative ground is broken with the cast. Tina is a typical tsundere princess, Gant is the loyal muscle and the villains might as well have moustaches to twirl. Chapter 3 features Chad, a thief from the game, and you'll probably find that moments with the game characters to be the best part of the series. Doesn't say much for the original cast, but this always seems to be the case for these spinoffs.

Art:
The art is decent but not amazing. It does what it needs to do. Action set pieces are generally well done but faces can be wonky at times.

Other:
One thing I like is that they have character sheets for the cast at the end of some chapters. In this volume we get Al, Gant and Tina. There's also a map of the continent, some notes about Al from the author and an omake page calling for readers to send in fanart and such.

Conclusion:
If you're a big fan of the Elibe FE games, you might be interested in this take on the universe, but it's nothing outstanding on any level. Take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50