vrijdag 24 januari 2014

The Lost Canvas Chronicles volume 4

In the latest instalment of this series by Shiori Teshirogo, that details adventures of the 12 golden saints of The Lost Canvas anime, the spotlight goes to... MANIGOLDO!



Yes, the incarnation of the Cancer saint of the 18th century, and on the contrary to later and other editions, this guy ain`t a sadistical murderer.  He is rash, he is arrogant, but he is also fiercely loyal to his master, the previous Cancer saint and now Pope of the Sanctuary, Sage.

In this volume Manigoldo and Pisces Albafica have been sent to Venice to investigate a criminial organisation called Nero.  However, when facing them, it turns out that their mysterious leader Avide can use the same techniques as the Cancer saint, and it is revealed he is the former student of the Altar saint Hakurei, twin brother of the Pope.  They encounter also a mysterious boy, Gioca, and are faced by black saints from Death Queen island, namely silver editions this time with the Whale, Crow and Hound saints, as well as an undisclosed one we don`t get to see his armour from but whom had been dispatched by Albafica.

Avide himself wears the black version of the Altar cloth, and after Manigoldo does his `dramatic entrance technique` (appearing out of thin air and dropping on the table like he did with the Twin Gods in the anime) he reveals to the young crab that while his master dedicated his life to serving others and restoring their armours in Jamir, he wanted to serve only himself by gathering money and souls, the respective currencies in the normal world and the afterlife.

Gioca in the meantime is revealed to having a strong cosmo and turns out to be actually a girl in disguise, and a last decendant of Death Queen Islands warden line that guarded the world from the black saints by enthralling them with a mask, the same mask Guilty, the master of Phoenix Ikki, wore.  In the end the mask is returned to the Island but without Gioca, so we can conclude she isn`t related to the later cruel master of the badass bronze saint.

While Albafica deals with the black silver saints Crow, Hound and the undisclosed one, Manigoldo, having swiftly dispatched the Whale, faces and defeats the leader of the organisation, but at the edge of the Pit to Underworld, and having faced his master Hakurei, Avide throzs himself voluntarily into death as he regrets nothing of all the things he did.

It was a great read and a bit `different` from the first three instalments, as this focusses even more on the master / student relationship like the Degel instalment, but bridges the three way connection between the twins and their respective students, one a loyal Gold saint and dedicated follower of Athena, the other a fallen promise out for personal gain.

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