Age Rating: Teen+
Genre: Action, Supernatural
Price: $7.99
A Match Made in Hell - When the sale for Nora's form is released he becomes Cerberus, the vicious dog of disaster. But, Nora can only use magic when Kazuma grants him permission...and Kazuma doesn't grant permission easily. The Dark Liege wants the two to team up and crack down on renegade demon factions in the human world, but how can they do that if they can't even get along?
At first glance, this title seems to be mashup of other popular Shonen manga; Inuyasha, Death Note, Bleach, and just about every other shonen supernatural series ever written. But, it's hard to be original in this day and age, with so many titles having come before, that the best way around this problem is to make the characters interesting, and this title definitely succeeds there.
The title starts off with short introductions of the characters to get to the action fast. Nora, a demon has had his powers sealed by the Dark Liege, who then makes a contract with Kazuma Magari to make Nora his familiar. She asks Kazuma to train Nora, and help the Dark Legion to stop renegade demons who want to wreck havok on the world. Kazuma agrees after seeing what Nora is capable of. The rest of the volume finishes the set up for the series.
While the plot seems generic, it's the characters that make this title worth reading. Kazuma comes off as the bored genius who doesn't care about anything that doesn't affect him directly, at first. But we see quickly that he has a strong sense of responsibility. He won't let any innocents get involved with their battles. Nora is a little more simplistic. He is the disobedient demon who needs to be reeled in like an unruly puppy. He doesn't want to listen to anyone, and causes destruction with little thought of the consequences when he uses his magic. Just like a puppy.
It's the interaction of these two that's really enjoyable. They are constantly at odds with each other, and never really agree to work together, even by the end of the volume. Usually in a manga like this, the protagonists will have decided to work together despite their differences. Not here. Kazuma keeps the Master-pet relationship all the way to the end, even calling Nora his pet dog. There's no sense of equality. Kazuma has taken on the mantle of training Nora, and he is determined to do so, even if it causes him great pain. These two are not going to be buddies any time soon as is usually seen in manga. And that's not a bad thing.
The art isn't anything spectacular. Kazuma looks like a taller Hikaru from Hikaru no Go. There isn't a lot of detail. Everything is very simplisticly rendered, except for Nora in his released form of Cerberus. It's obvious that a lot of time went into his design, and he is one of the highlights of the series. It's what made me want to read the first volume.
Nora isn't going to be for everyone. The derivative plot and characters will no doubt turn some people off. The dog jokes with Nora do get a little tiresome by the end, especially the "whipped dog" joke, but some of the self-referential material makes up for it. Overall, I found Nora to be a fun, light read, and will continue to follow it to see if it can keep my attention.
Review copy provided by Publisher
7.5