Henkyou no Roukishi Bard Loen

First I would like to excuse my self for any mistake I will make while writing my review because I am not enough skilled in English to write like in my native tong. To begin with this is an absolute work of art. I don't recall a time that I got more affected by a manga/anime. I have watched/read countless anime/manga during the last 10 years of my life. To explain my point of view I would like to describe all the emotion I experience during the wonderful time I passed reading this masterpiece. It came first with a light naive joy from the first chapter then to suddenly a sadness that consume my hearth. This sadness turned into a deep-rooted hatred. This hatred that consume me for a couple chapter calmed down slowly while the story unfolded beside my eyes. The hatred I felt finished with an emotion that I didn't know existed. I couldn't find words that can describe this emotion. It is an emotion that mixed sadness accomplishment and void. I felt so bad but at the same time so good. I felt sadness and joy. Hatred and compassion. It touched my hearth so much that I stopped reading the chapter to write this. I want to give my praise to the author, the drawing team, the publisher and the translation team that could give me this chill in my back. I just have to say one thing to finish this little review. To anyone that has worked on this masterpiece I give you the deepest thanks. Thank you very much be proud of what you have done.

A fantasy story that's not isekai or have any overpowered characters? Is such a thing possible? Well, here you got an example. No spoilers, by the way.

The story starts well after the heroic stage of the main character has ended. Once he is old and battered by the life he has lived, decides to travel to find his final resting place.

For those fearing an extremely introspective manga, like I was before I read it, I can say, do not worry. It explores plenty of action scenes (To be honest, I was surprised, I expected a cooking fantasy manga).

The story is quite well paced, the first twists of the storyline are resolved quite quickly actually. It goes to the point. Any time a problem is presented, the reasonable course of action is explained and taken, no pointless exposition or emotional bait.

The art is quite good, even very good I'd say. The physical conflicts are well represented. You know who hit who and when, it's not just sword swinging with appropiate results. Backgrounds are well defined, no plain whites if it can be avoided.

The main character has it's own ideas about honor, violence and vengeance, and most do not match with a modern point of view. This is not a manga where the main character intends to play the part of the hero. He IS a hero, by the standards of a medieval society. No modern morality bullshit. Secondary characters are colorful and different, and because the wandering nature of the main character, they come and go all the time.

I was actually surprised by the quality of this work overall. It's strange it does not have any review for a work four years old as of now.

I absolutely recommend it to seinen and fantasy fans. I hope you'll like it.