'Raven Saga, Vol. 1' - a webcomic that is all at once like multiple animated Disney films, Studio Ghibli films, and nineties anime shows. And like the spiritual sequel to multiple European fairy tales, both known and as yet unknown.
Basically, 'Raven Saga' is about Wen, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a secluded little farm in a wood with her kind but overprotective grandmother, Clarimonde, who forbids her from leaving the farm, past the stone markers at its gate. This is where Wen has spent her whole life, and of course she wants to go out and explore the world, and she grows frustrated over her grandma never telling her why she can't leave.
However, as circumstances almost mechanised by destiny would have it, Wen steps out of the farm in following a will-o'-the-wisp, unwittingly breaking a supernatural barrier around their home. A mysterious boy named Corliss and his talking swallow friend Theo arrive on the scene. Then Grandma Monde is kidnapped by another mysterious boy with ravens.
Together, Wen, Corliss and Theo travel the fairy tale world to find "the Court of the Stars" and "the Morning Star", and hopefully rescue Grandma. Wen is away from home for the first time, with Corliss as her protector (not so much guide, as he's got a terrible sense of direction; even she is better). She is both excited and scared, mostly for her grandma, and for what may lie ahead for her in an increasingly unpredictable world...
There is a lot more to it than that, but I don't wish to spoil too much. Just know that 'Raven Saga, Vol. 1' is full of charm and wonder, containing likeable characters, and mysteries that intrigue far more than frustrate as the volume progresses. The story is sweet and creative, yet no less foreboding, not to mention thrilling, and you can't wait to read what happens next.
Wen is a particularly lovely, sweet, wonderful, infectious, spritely and curious young heroine, who may seem naïve and helpless - for understandable reasons, as she's been sheltered all her life - but she proves to be capable and determined when the need rises. She will do anything to protect the people she cares about, and she misses her grandma terribly during her journey - her coming-of-age fairy tale. She gets happy and sad easily, and either way she won't give up on her objectives, and on other people, believing in the best of a world she hardly knows.
She's not worldly, but that doesn't mean she isn't smart. She reads books - she loves books, another reason to adore her.
Wen is like a fairy tale Disney Princess - the most obvious one - a source of inspiration - is Rapunzel - and I mean that as a compliment. She is rather a naïve and optimistic child, and no doubt she will grow and develop, and become stronger later on, with or without the men currently protecting her on her anime/fairy tale quest.
It is blatantly apparent that there is more to Wen than even she knows - how much has her grandmother been keeping from her? And why? And what does it have to do with ravens? And stars? - but it is yet another enticing mystery to the webcomic; to this blue-haired, yellow-eyed, sparkling gem of a fresh-faced heroine.
Flaws in 'Raven Saga, Vol. 1' include:
It ends on a cliffhanger too abruptly - darn Webtoon Unscrolled! - and there's no guarantee that any of the mysteries, big and small, left vague and shrouded in dark, undefined mists, will be revealed properly, let alone solved completely, in the next volume.
It is obvious that, typically, a romantic relationship is being planned and built between Wen and Corliss, her prince and white knight figure. She has no female friends yet, besides her grandmother.
And there is a very weird line of hers on page 220, regarding her group's journey: "It won't be a waste of time! We're getting somewhere, aren't we? Trust me... coming from someone going nowhere for the last ten years..." Uhhhhh, what? "going nowhere for the last ten years"? Wen is established to be sixteen at the beginning of the comic, and it has been stated many times that, for as long as she can remember, she has lived in her farm home alone with Monde, and has never been anywhere else until now. She never knew anyone else, either - not her parents, nobody. So what's the "going nowhere for the last ten years" about? Is it a typo? I genuinely implore anyone to explain this to me. Please.
But regardless, 'Raven Saga, Vol. 1' is so adorable, adoring, affectionate, passionate, engaging, dynamic and touching, as a cartoony, manga-esque (it's a webcomic, alright) adventure comic, containing fairy tale elements, that it is hard for me to resist.
It is, for lack of a better word, animated.
I recommend it for young adult audiences and older.
Looking for a happily ever after...?
We'll see if I will bother to continue the comic, in the next volume, in the future...
Final Score: 3.5/5
