As a Fire Emblem fan, I really needed to read this. Fire emblem Hasha no Tsurugi is a side story for Fire Emblem Binding Blade (a GBA game) who changes the main protagonist, from Roy, to Al.
The story follows the journey of Al, a brave 15 years old kid who gets involved in a war that will affect all the continent (not world, continent)
First, the premise of the history is a cliche, a boy with a strong sense of justice who travel with his friends and save the world-sorry, continent. Still, you shouldn't judge this for the premise, but, the development, i mean, a lot (if not all) of the fire emblem games have the premise of saving the world of dark forces.
The first chapters are the adventures of Al where he meets friends and allies. Later, when he meets Roy (star of the original story) the story takes the direction of the original story of the game, with differences by focusing the story on Al and giving more background to his past. Something that i like, is the relation between characters (Important in the games) the history sometimes take a break, make some jokes and play with the characters.
So, I give the story a 6/10. My biggest problem is the rhythm of the story, sometimes it feels slow, but in other parts all goes too quickly (especially at the end).
Writing about the art, well, it's prety good, and some pages looks like some kind of wallpaper, but, it's a bit generic. There were a few moments when i could not differentiate between certain characters. So, i give the art a 7/10.
Then, characters, you will probably like them... mayority. Almost everyone have a background history with some chapters to fill it. The characters from the original game don't have anything, they are just there... So, i give characters a 7/10. I forgive the problems with the original game characters because you can see their stories on the game. But, some original Hasha no Tsurugi characters are no very well used.
Finally, enjoyment, this is personal. A big 8/10 i really like the new characters, the appearance of the original game characters, the "record" at the end (Typical of the series) and more.
So, in overall, i give this manga a 7/10.