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PREFACE

In a world unlike any you have ever seen, people live in a dark age ruled by fear and powerful monsters called Vandels. Only one force can stand up to the Vandels and give humanity a fighting chance: the Busters. Using skill and magic the Busters fight and help bring peace and security to all. 

Young Beet is enamored of the Zenon Warriors, a local Buster gang, and spends his days following in their shadows. Both blessed and cursed with the ability to be awake for three days straight (followed by a whole day of sleep) the peculiar child makes a contract with the Busters and sets off to serve justice and save the world. But in the aftermath of one tragic night Beet finds himself alone on his quest and even more determined to become the best Vandel Buster there is.

MANGA VISION TEST

ARTWORK: I always think of this bold drawing style as being particularly shonen. Everything is dark lines and stark spaces that pop off the page adding to the excitement of the story. I don’t always care for the exaggerated weird faces the characters make but it doesn't detract too much from my enjoyment. The monsters (Vandels) really make me think of other series like Dragonball Z, Ultimate Muscle, and such.  Don’t expect super scary or slimy tentacle-y things to fight. This is definitely a young boy’s mind translated well onto paper.

SOUND EFFECTS: The effects have all been translated into English and are often quite large in the frame.  However, sparing use keeps them from overpowering the action (most of the time). The world Beet and his companions inhabit is largely silent.  All you get is the occasional significant noise or sound to get your attention. Even the battles are not cluttered up with written garbage. I found it a nice change from the overly wordy effects some series prefer.

EDITS:  There is nothing obvious missing from Beet and if anything was edited it was probably gore or violence but I have a feeling that since it was meant for a younger audience you are probably getting it all.

EXTRAS: I really liked the author/ artist note at the beginning where Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada briefly set up that the world inhabited by Beet is vastly different from our own. This is backed up even further by the “Beet the World” guide at the back where they take the time to break down terms, weapons, even the Buster Guild for the reader to understand. It’s very clear a lot went into to creating the world of Beet and it’s really nice to be able to get a good look at things you may or may not have considered about how the world works.

BOOK REPORT  

STORY: Since the world Beet inhabits has so many monsters and other things not found in our own realm, it takes a while to really let go and get into the story. You have to take quite a bit at face value until you read the guide at the back as far as what’s going on. The story is definitely tight but Riku Sanjo jumps perhaps too far into the action too early at the expense of exposition. It was well worth the second reading and spending a few minutes in the guide to get the full gist of the story.

TRANSLATION: As usual, Viz does an admirable job of letting characters speak naturally. As a child Beet “sounds” like one, even when he is trying to act like a grown up. The Zenon Warriors are a bit too fond of rambling explanations but the aura of medial knights on a quest that surrounds them helps carry it off. The Vandels, as expected, expound dramatically- but what else would you expect from hideous, evil demon-monster things!

CHARACTERS: Beet is a boy with energy to burn. He has the ability to stay awake for three days and nights- working, playing, or fighting monsters. The down side is that on his day to sleep he will collapse anywhere, even in the middle of a battle. Growing up in the Dark Age as an orphan Beet hasn’t had an easy life but his devotion to the ideals of peace and justice drive him to take the dangerous job as a Buster, especially when his idols the Zenon Warriors disappear without a trace, under mysterious circumstances. He vanishes himself for three years before turning up suddenly in his home village: ready to fight for justice.

Paola was raised alongside Beet by her innkeeper parents. She is a friend, companion, and tormentor to the impetuous Beet. Paola is willful and strong and exceptionally devoted to her family and friends. When her village is set upon by Vandels and her father injured, she makes her own contract with the Busters and does her best to keep her town safe, while earning the money she needs to support her family. When Beet returns after his three year absence she is overwhelmed at the changes in her childhood friend.

Beltorze, also called the King of Tragedy, is a powerful Vandel. He tracks down the Zenon Warriors and tries to destroy them by exploiting their greatest weakness- Beet. He wants to rule the world but the internal conflicts of the Vandels have mired his ambition in petty squabbling. Destroying a famous band of Vandel Busters like Zenon’s group will help put his domination plans back on the right path, if he succeeds.

Zenon, Laio, Cruss, Alside, Bluezam are the five men known collectively as the Zenon Warriors. They travel the countryside destroying Vandels and making the world safer despite the poor treatment they receive from various villagers. These strong fighters each possess a mystical weapon called a Saiga. Pure energy of the spirit Saiga can manifest as a physical weapon like a lance, shield, or sword and is carried (in energy form) inside the Buster’s body until needed. In their last known battle the Zenon Warriors faced off against their greatest enemy Beltorze and vanished without a trace. Only Beet knows their true fate and he’s not telling.

FANSERVICE: The fanservice for Beet comes mainly in the form of the guide to Beet the World at the end of the manga. Here you get to see what the author and artist were thinking about as they formed the characters and the world around them. There is a little information about many things, though I was disappointed by the lack of character profiles. Those would have been really more useful than the heavy-duty Saiga info and the Buster branding system, at least for the first volume but in any case, it gives you a real glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes and all the things to consider when making a manga.

FOOTNOTES:

It took two readings and some time with the guide to really draw me into the world of Beet the Vandel Buster but when I finally caught onto everything I enjoyed myself. For a manga aimed at the young adult male population I found it surprisingly complicated, not that there weren’t plenty of tedium breaking battle scenes, but the purpose of Beet appears to be more than to simply move the character from one battle to the next. He has a goal, a purpose in life, and a personality. Add into the mix a strong, independent female figure and it make for a fun, exciting read.

I both like and dislike the bold drawing style. I like it because it had strength and energy, things feel exciting and there is good flow. I dislike it however, because of the tendency towards exaggerated expressions and unpleasant creatures. Squished faces and tongues hanging out really don’t add a thing to the story for me.

It’s clear that both Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada cared a great deal about this project. They created a well fleshed world and despite jumping too far into the action and losing the exposition made a cohesive story that you want to keep reading.

For me, Beet was a bit outside my usual shonen reading tastes. I prefer a sports manga to a battle one but I found enough points of interest to keep reading. The inclusion of Paola as a strong, independent woman, who is taking care of her family at a very young age, made this a worthwhile read for me. Too often girls get relegated to sideline- lovesick- pansies who want to be taken care of and worshipped. I’m all for putting women on pedestals but I think they should earn the right to be there first. Paola does that and more. I’m looking forward to reading further volumes and watching both her and Beet progress on their journey. I hope I won’t be disappointed.

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