Fire Emblem: Sword of the Conqueror (2002)

[ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣]

Volume 2

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

Synopsis:
Al and his companions turn the tables on the treacherous Youzen.

Story/Characters:
We wrap up the business in Worde and while I was interested in Lord Ranward's contribution to the character dynamics, I should've known better than to get attached to a parental figure in a Fire Emblem story. (Normally, I'd avoid mentioning something like this as a spoiler, but it's actually pretty inconsequential and entirely predictable.) Moving on to our next location, we're introduced to Celdia, who has a somewhat interesting thing going with Gant. Gant's backstory with Tina is actually fairly interesting, so I'll give the author credit for that. We also get a recurring antagonist in the form of the Bernian dragon knight Zeed. Although fairly standard for the character type, he's at least a change of pace from the villains we've been dealing with so far.

Art:
The art continues to be competent with decent action sequences. Oddly, the artist seems to have a better handle on the proportions of Tina's face as a kid in the flashback than he does with her as a (semi-)grownup.

Other:
We get character sheets for Celdia and Zeed, the map, and a couple omake, one being a continuation of the K City series and the other about Yamada's playthrough of FE6.

Conclusion:
Both in terms of story and art, this is an improvement over the first volume. I liked Gant and Tina's backstory enough that I'll bump with one up to a read. Not a must-read, but you probably won't mind giving it a shot.

Rating:
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