Cavalier of the Abyss

Cavalier of the Abyss is the sequel to the Manhwa Immortal Regis. That being said it is HIGHLY recommended you read Immortal Regis first.


Story - 5/10

I am not going to lie , the first ~4 chapters or so really made me want to drop this Manhaw. The story starts with a completely unrelated plot to Immortal Regis, and introduces a "new" protagonist ( I will touch on this in the character section ). This may sound all fine and good but I found the transition really hard to get into , and that knocked the story score down a bit for me. What also knocked the story score down was the fact that it felt like filler. At the end of Immortal Regis you were left with all these questions that were not answered , and it really felt like nothing was accomplished over the 44 chapters of that series, you would expect Cavalier of the Abyss to try to answer these questions , which it does try to do , but it doesn't start to answer these questions until chapter 25 + , a major draw back for me.

Characters - 5/10

The new main character was really hard to support , as he just felt like a total rip off of Regis's main character.Infact I would go so far as to say all the new characters introduced were horribly executed , bland , and very boring. I believe readers in Korea also agree with this assessment because these characters essentially don't effect the plot at all.Eventually all these new characters get sidelined , at chapter 25 , are still sidelined now ( as of 6/29/2011 ) for a flash back arc about the original cast. This flash back arc is the only thing keeping me from giving the series a horrible score in story and characters.

Art - 7/10

A lot of the characters look a lot alike so that drags the score down. That is not to say they do not look good , and I like the enviroments a lot.

Enjoyment -3/10

I really felt like it was a chore to read this Manhwa, the series felt like filler , and honestly I felt bored reading it.

Overall -5/10

The series felt like nothing got accomplished, the plot was confusing at times , the new characters sucked so bad they were written out for a flash back arc ( 20+ chapters so far , monthly release means ~2 years of flash backs so far ). Art was good but a lot of characters looked the same , and the series felt like a chore to read. I do not recommend this series at all.

If you are reading this story you probably also read Immortal Regis first, don't make the same mistake i did that took me three chapters from Cavalier of the Abyss until i realised there was a prequel for this. But even after reading Immortal Regis and then RE-starting my reading of Cavalier of the Abyss ( let's call COA to make my writing easier) i still felt uneasy like: "is this really a sequel" or " i think this Ga On-bi author guy is screwing with us" because obviously the story has a HUGE year gap that WILL mess with your head, but don't worry, and please don't stop reading the story because when you reach chapter 41 that gap will be filled immensely and you will find yourself craving for this gap in time being filled more and more like you crave for dinner on a day you didn't have lunch, I don't know if the author had this idea when he wrote COA or if it was an accident, but let me call this a beautiful accident, because it will make you wait for the next chapter like nothing else on the week matter. So in overall the story is simply amazing in that way, because it gets your blood pumping and goosebumps from head to toe when you find out stuff that happened in that gap in time.

The art hasn't changed much from Immortal Regis, but the improvement is still noticeable, COA stands in that fine line that separates awesome and cute.

The characters are well made and each and everyone has an personality of their own, all the characters seem like they are main characters because of that, it's like anything can happen like the story got it's own life and the wheel starts spinning randomly and you don't know what will happen next. For example you are in a chapter and everythings is fine, and a few chapters next you find a character that looked really "main-character-like" dying or something else. It's like the characters are alive and the future of the story is a true mistery. Its amazing that way.

The enjoyment is simply amazing, you don't know what is going to happen but you wanna find out. The fight scenes are simply incredible lets thank JUDER for that, even the more ecchi scenes ( thank you JUDER-sensei), the characters each have their own vibe simply from the art, Jae Hyuk(Nex) really gives that vibe of "amazing above all" from the first time you set eyes on him, and everytime you look at him you will think: "that is a king-like character".

All in all Thank you Ga On-bi the story is simply a masterpiece and thats something that should only be said after the series is over, but it gives you that feeling as you read. In general when you look at the genre of this series you find: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Supernatural. but in truth there should also be: Tragedy, Romance, Ecchi, Mystery, Martial Arts and even (a little haha) Comedy. The story is unpredictable, characters have their own life and minds, and there are times you don't know who is the protagonist anymore. The art is Outstanding from the actions scenes to simply the "look" of the characters, it leaves you speechless. I fell in love with the whole series from Immortal Regis to Cavalier of the Abyss its worth reading again and again a hundred times over. Cavalier still hasn't ended but i still find myself re-reading from Immortal Regis and COA all over while i wait for the next chapters, COA since it is still on-going "gets" you that way. In my opinion we are looking at a masterpiece in development.

To start off with the basics, number One, yes this is a Manhwa which means it's read from left to right (confused the hell outta me when i first tried to read Immortal Regis). Secondly this is the sequel to Immortal Regis, so please read it first, otherwise nothing in this Manhwa will make any sense to you at all.

Overview.
Like stated this is the sequel to Immortal Regis, but i'll be the first to say that it feels nothing like it until your a good 5-10 chapters in, your introduced to new characters, right off the bat, not given much of any kind of background to understand anything, and you wont see any old characters in for a few chapters as well.

Based in the World of Chaos a new King has risen, Nex. the world is in disarray, new pacts have been made by the once powerful four clans, and everything makes perfectly no sense.

I wont go into any more detail than that at this point because.....well it wont make any sense anyways.

STORY:
Originally my rating for this Manhwa was actually a 7 being weighted down by a rather confusing and hectic story, but i will say after re-catching myself up it's starting to pull together a little bit better, and could possible look to be pulled even higher seeing as how this Manhwa is still quite new and in the works.

The story is actually quite compelling after about the 7th to 8th chapter when things actually start to get explained a little and you know a little more about the characters and what the hell is going on. It's really interesting and "exotic" i guess would be a good way to look at it, although not truly original, the base has been quite used, but Cavalier manages to pull through and keep you watching just enough to want to know whats going on. It's got a little bit more romance thrown in this time around(which i'm a bit of a fan of) and the action is still there plenty. Once you get a decent way in you'll be reacquainted with the past caste and the story will finally start to unfold allowing you to actually appreciate the work behind the confusing as hell start.

Stiory: Originally 6
Currently 7
Room to grow

ART:
This is one of the places i'll say Cavalier really shines. Everything looks stunning, not to mention the amount of detail put into the surroundings, and the background, nothing is left out. The character design is much the same as Immortal Regis, which you wont be seeing me complain about. You can tell that alot of work is put into the drawing , every faucet of emotion is perfect, so much detail put into the clothing and simple things like doors, signs, and your everyday "scribble it in place" drawings. One of the things i really like about the art in Cavalier is it's "Sharp" nothing is rounded out not really flowing, which sounds odd, but the fact that it's sharp like it is makes everything pop when your reading and it flows amazingly well.

ART: Always a 9+ and prolly wont be changing

CHARACTER:
This is a hard spot to really rate right off the bat, because like i said your introduced to bran new characters right off the bat, and before your really given a chance to know them there throw aside (i doubt permanently, but they've yet to be brought back), nearly the entire starting caste is pushed aside after a few chapters. But then something quite amazing happens, your reintroduced to the majority of Immortal Regis's caste, and it manages to pull together better. But this time around a little less attention is places on Jae Hyuk, and Serin, and spreads out to the subcharacters a bit more.

Cavalier also manages to dive pretty heavy into the romance side of the characters, without destroying how you look at them, the way each character reacts to one another is perfect and even a return characters from Immortal fit in nicely. Each character does a great job of complementing each other without taking to much from themselves overall nicely done.

Character: Originally 7
Currently 8

ENJOYMENT:
Really gotta say i do enjoy the read, mainly because i'm still hooked from Immortal Regis, i want to know what happens next, i want to see the fights, the love interest, i want to finally see the story play out to it completion so i can look at is and go, OK it makes sense now.

Enjoyment: simple 8 it's compelling enough to pull me in, but not enough to make me look 3 times a day to see if there's a new chapter.


Overall

Seven. "why seven" some of you might be asking, it seems solid enough atm, and i seem to like is so why seven. Well yes it's true the story has pulled together a little more than originally and i do very much enjoy the read, but for a sequel it's just not living up to Immoral Currently. The story is a bit slower and a little lacking in comparison, character development and build are still pretty good as well as the art(very nice on the eyes). It's just currently lacking in the most important area, the story, it's just not quite there yet, but like i said it's still got room to grow, and i will say it's starting to pick up a little bit.

P.S. i will more than likely completely change this review in a couple months when Cavalier is a little more backed and solid.

first off i know every one reading this after having read immortal regis is totally confused. however dont let this put you off, its best to give the story the benefit of the doubt. and after about twenty chapters the story does begin to make sense. when reading a story like this i personnaly keep thinking how i would have liked the story to have gone differently or whatever, however if like me you also begin to feel put off because of this, dont! you have to remember we are not the story tellers but the listeners to the story, its best not to think to much about other routes a story could take and just acccept what you are given. how ever that being said i have a habit of replacing words and sentences in a manga or manhwa with ones that make the story in my opinion better, so listening to my opinions isnt allways going to be accurate.

after reading up to chapter 27 i can conclude by saying the following;

the story is confusing but very interesting none the less. the art in my oppinion has taken a step up from immortal regis. the characters are... ehm still not entirely ssure of the charactes yet but this is still a young manga so give it some thime. i have to say so far i am enjoying this story a great deal and would advise it to anyone who likes complicated and interesting storries!