But that's enough isekai - let's look at a fantasy story from one of the better (and deeply underrated mangaka) of our time!
WORLD END SOLTE (Saihate no Solte), by Satoshi Mizukami. First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2022.
PLOT:
Solte is tired. She's tired of missing her parents, who disappeared years ago on a quest to clean their world of magical pollution. She's tired of being betrayed by the adults who are supposed to care for her. She's tired of feeling powerless. Instead, she's determined to travel on her own deep into the magical realm, all the way to the land of the dead. Along the way she's joined by an immortal swordsman with a death wish, her uncle (now transformed into a human-sized mole), and a chatty fairy who swears she's met and traveled with them all before.
STORY:
I thought I was mentally prepared for World End Solte. After all, I read all of Lucifer & the Biscuit Hammer. I read a little bit of Spirit Circle. I have at least some idea of what to expect when Satoshi Mizukami makes a manga and was excited to see him work in a new genre.
What I didn't expect was a coming of age journey that involves magical kaiju, slavery, magical girl transformations, and time loops. To say it's chaotic would be an understatement and I'm not entirely sure he's juggling all of these introductions and world-building in the most graceful manner.
Nonetheless, I persevered because of Solte. She's a character that will feel familiar to Mizukami fans: a street-smart, stubborn, scrappy young girl whose independent streak masks the pain of losing her parents so young and distrust of authority after being betrayed by guardians one too many times. She's so beautifully and fully realized right out of the gate and she's what keeps this story from flying completely off the rails. That being said, she's still a little girl. She possesses all the curiosity and bravado of a grade-schooler, and even if she would never admit to it she is grateful for her oddball companions. That stuff definitely feels familiar and it's the sort of emotion that Mizukami is good at writing.
ART:
The characters are rendered in Mizukami's usual style: wide eyes, wobbly mouths, drawn with sharp linework but not a lot of fussiness. The big exception to this is Selen the fairy (and the magical girl-style transformation she renders onto Solte), which is wild and whimsical in a way that works with her exuberant, eccentric personality. For the most part, the setting is pretty down to earth, the sort of pre-industrial country homes, rolling hills, and bustling cities that could exist anywhere.
The only time he lets loose is whenever character interact directly with magic or magical creatures. "Magical pollution" behaves like bubbles where the usual rules of time, space, and life don't apply. The countryside can burst into giant mushrooms and people can be transformed into scuttling, talking cushion-like creatures. It's weirdly funny at points, but it's also legitimately discomfiting. Of course, there's plenty of fighting and that's something Mizukami has always excelled at. His use of perspective, dramatic poses, and swirls and bursts of magical energy really sell the reader on the speed and intensity of these moments without losing track of all the people involved.
RATING:
This series is published by Seven Seas. This series is ongoing in Japan with 2 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.
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