Another action-packed thirteenth volume of “Seraph of the End – Vampire Reign” as vampires from another region have come to confront Ferid but also Krul Tepes. Meanwhile, what secret is lurking within Yoichi? All this and more!
© 2015 Kore Yamazaki. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Frau Faust vol. 1
STORY AND ART BY: Kore Yamazaki
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Kodansha
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Kodansha
RATED: 13+
RELEASE DATE: September 26, 2017
From the creator of The Ancient Magus’ Bride comes a supernatural action manga in the vein of Fullmetal Alchemist! With electrifying art and a gripping story, Frau Faust reimagines the protagonist of the classic tale who makes a deal with the devil as a tenacious female scholar.
More than a century after an eccentric scholar made an infamous deal with a devil, the story of Faust has passed into legend. However, the true Faust is not the stuffy, professorial man known in fairy tales, but a charismatic, bespectacled woman named Johanna Faust, who happens to still be alive. Searching for pieces of her long-lost demon, Johanna passes through a provincial town, where she saves a young boy named Marion from a criminal’s fate. In exchange, she asks a simple favor of Marion, but Marion soon finds himself intrigued by the peculiar Doctor Faust and joins her on her journey. Thus begins the strange and wonderful adventures of Frau Faust!
Back in the 1500’s, a German legend about a scholar named Faust who made a pact with the Devil remained pervasive for centuries to come.
Based on the Johann Georg Faust, an alchemist, astrologer and magician of the German Renaissance, decades after his death, books were written about Faust and because of the mystery if Faust really lived, when or how he died, the man’s name lives on.
The legend is as follows, Faust who was highly successful was dissatisfied with life and so he made a pact with the devil named Mephistopheles in exchange for his soul, he would have unlimited knowledge and pleasures. The story was reworked by Goethe in the late 1700’s and “Faust” was made into a tragic play which would become Goethe’s magnum opus and the greatest work of German literature.
For mangaka Kore Yamazaki, the author is a big fan of mythology and would work on a manga series titled “Frau Faust” and in this story, making Faust a woman instead of a man.
The manga begins with a story of the legend of Faust being read by a woman named Johanna. A storekeeper yells that a boy has stolen a book from him and he bumps into Johanna.
Johanna manages to save the boy from punishment but takes him to his mother. As Johanna talks the boy named Marion, she learns that he was stealing the books that were originally his and was taken and sold by debt collectors.
Feeling bad for him, she offers to teach Marion. But looking through his stack of books, he sees “The Life of Dr. Faust” and Johanna is shocked that the events of Faust were made into a book.
That night, as Johanna is searching for her dog, an inquisitor comes and impales her with a sword. The inquisitor calls Johanna, Dr. Faust and that he smelled the scent of a demon on her.
As Marion is shocked that Johanna is Faust, she heals quickly and tells the inquisitor that her goal is to crush her demon. But as mephisto shows up, he transports Johanna and Marion to another location.
About to wipe off Marion’s memories of finding out her true identity, he tells her that despite her being a monster or a cursed individual, he wants to learn from her and wants her to continue to be his teacher.
Which leads Faust to take Marion to her home with her loved one’s waiting for her. But there are secrets surrounding the town she lives in, what is planted there and why people are getting sick or dying.
Meanwhile, the inquisitor manages to track the two down. What will happen to both Faust and Marion?
Also, included is a second story titled “The Invisible Museum” about a teenage student named Asaki, and the director of the musuem wants her to find a butterfly that has escaped her box at the Invisible Museum. But what happens when Asaki confronts it?
For the first volume of “Frau Faust”, it’s a very interesting story inspired by the German legend of Faust. As Kore Yamazaki is heavily into mythology and legends, writing about Faust and giving the character a different spin, by making her a female and also creating various other creations by her. Meanwhile, having Inquisitors that want her dead.
Johanna Faust is seeking missing parts of her demon and now she must go on a journey, a long with a boy who has a thirst for knowledge that wants to learn from her and help her with her mission.
Artwork by Kore Yamazaki is good and with open scenery full of detail.
The first volume is more character-building chapters and establishing Johanna Faust and Marion but also other characters close to Faust, but also showing how much her life is in difficult, considering her pact made with a demon to find his missing pieces of her demon.
So far, an entertaining story plus a secondary story titled “Imaginary Museum”. But both stories are interesting, very different from each other but a fresh unique spin on the German legend, Faust.