Tales of the Tendo Family Volume 1

Review Date: 2024 March 29 20:53

Reviewed by: Joe

Released by: One Peace Books

Publishing Country: USA

Author: Ken Saito

Age Rating:

Page Count: 192

ISBN-13: 9781642733242

ISBN-10: 1642733245

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Summary

Masato, a son of the Tendo family, is meant to marry Hojo Ran, the daughter of a baron. There's just one problem: she's a fake. The real Ran has fled after hearing that few make it out of the Tendo family alive. In her place is a young woman who says she will die if it means saving someone else's life.

Review

Tales of the Tendo family is a historical-romance, shojo manga offering from One Peace Books. The story and art is by Ken Saito, who is best known for the series The Name of the Flower.



Tales of the Tendo Family is set in the Meiji Period. It tells the story of a girl who poses as the beautiful young noble Hojo Ran, who in turn is seeking to escape a marriage into the notoriously bloody Tendo family.

The scene is set quickly with our nameless girl being brought into the wealthy Tendo family. We're introduced to the romantic interest, Masato who is a tall and dashing young man in uniform. The story then unfolds, but lacks the depth and drama to grip you. The girl comes across as a bit of an air head and her motivations for impersonating Hojo Ran could have been explored more to build our interest in the story.

The artwork is drawn to a high standard. There's some lovely use of digital screentone which you'll first notice on the characters' clothes, but if you look closer at scenes it's been expertly applied on shadows too. However most of the panels are either close shots of the upper torso or from the shoulders above without much scenery or interaction around the sets. This makes everything feel up close and personal, but it also makes it feel a bit claustrophobic. By Chapter 4 it breaks out of this and the overall composition feels better, like the artist has warmed up a bit.
The potential love interest Masato seems like a mean rich kid. The girl is drawn to him, but we're not really sure why because it appears that he's just using the girl for his own means. It's a classic toxic relationship with enough red flags to put you off the story. It might take another volume to warm up, but for now volume 1 hasn't really grabbed me.

The manga release has been handled with care and attention by the good people at One Peace Books. They've added little touches like the upper class members of the Tendo family using a more elaborate type face when the speak.

I wanted to like Tales of the Tendo Family. The premise is interesting but it feels clunky. The chalk and cheese contrast of the two characters, should work, but it feels derivative. Along with the toxic relationship elements and the repetitive composition, I feel other titles do this sort thing a lot better. Maybe it'll pick up next volume.

Rating: 6/10

Links

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