Reimei no Arcana

Reimei no Arcana what can you say about this manga except that it pulled you on the feel train at times. What i have experienced through this manga is that life can pull on a crazy ride, and that fate has its ways of taking from you. I give Reimei no Arcana a true 10 due to the fact that it was probably the one shoujo manga that really kept me reading it due to the pure possibilities its gave my mind in the beginning with such a depressing outlook. This manga actually gave me hope that there is someone in the world out for me because if you have read this manga you know that love comes in many forms.

Story: I give it a 10

The reason i give the story a 10 is because of the possibilities i have mentioned above it gave way to many possibilities in my mind especially if you know what the girl has "wink wink".The story starts with a young princess named Nakaba being forced into a marriage to show a piece between the two countries, this is honestly what brought flavor the the story to me because of her background and her hair(you'll understand this if you read it). As the story progressed it became more of a love story and saddening as her "gift" only brought despair. So i give it a 9 because it really pulls your heartstrings and provides you with a sense of wanting more I mean i could honestly not stop reading once it i started, truly outstanding.

Art: Art gets a 9

The art was one thing that you was truly went great with in the story as i read i never once thought the art had anything wrong with it except for the jewelry, I personally thought they didn't emphasize the Jewelry enough it felt a bit plain to be when it was suppose to be this extravagant part of your outfit with what the characters were especially since they were royals. Other than the Jewelry the art really felt like it emphasized the middle ages perfectly with the cloths matching the time and nothing feeling modern. So art gets a 9.

Characters: A True 10

Characters there was honestly nothing wrong do with this. Nakaba a lovable, yet depressing at times, Caesar(beginning) cold princes who abuses Nakaba, and Loki a sub-person who serves Nakaba and would protect her from anything. As the story goes on these characters are truly ones that you will never forget. The character development was what gave them flavor they made you love the characters extremely because they were either so adorable or just so amazing and i mean their personalities were amazing. Honestly the reason the story was the most amazing because of so much growth of the characters like Prince Caesar you start out to know him as bully type but as you go on it gets into a more helpful/kind personality. So characters get a 10.

Enjoyment: Perfect 10

Nothing really i can say about enjoyment other than OUTSTANDING I just couldn't stop reading because it was so fun to read in my free time.

Overall: A rounded 10

Nothing i can say other than loved it and i miss it even with that sad yet perfect ending.

Reimei no Arcana, is surprisingly a very interesting read, i started it because i kinda of ran out of manga to read that was interesting me... It is a good story and while there is alot of racism present, in a fantasy world i feel it reflects the ancient societies, which makes it in a way both interesting and a little cliche.
The Story line while being serious has it's quirks and humour and also the sense of a bit of a romance... and seems to go in completely different directions then what you might think. It is a very nice manga that is good for a read of an almost typical fantasy/ scifi genre.

As somebody you already read the manga I have to say that I never read a manga like this!
When I started I thought this will be the usual "They hate each other then they will fall in love and everybody will be happy..END".
THIS IS NOT THAT TYPE OF MANGA!
There were many twists and shocking events.

Story 9/10
If they would not start with such a cliche then I would have given 10/10 for sure.
But even like this I love the whole story.
When I thought I know the final out come the author slapped me and I was in the dark once again. It's really great.
And at the end...I seriously cried a river! It was so shocking.

Art 10/10
I can't say much about the art just that it is Perfect.
It made the manga even more enjoyable and all of the characters (even the ver very side characters) were detailed.

Characters 10/9
As the manga starts it's not so special but in this case I would say the character development is the most important.
How Princess Nakaba becomes strong, how Prince Caesar becomes less tsundere-ish (lol) and how Loki changes.
Even the side characters have background and we can get know them a little bit.

Enjoyment 10/10
Most of the time I decide what point to give to a manga or anime based on the enjoyment.
After starting I couldn't stop to read this manga.
It's really captivating and although the start is kinda slow, but as the story goes on it will definitelly take you into it's world. (no escape until the end.. ;D)

Overall 10/10
I have nothing to say just that it's FANTASTIC!
Although there are parts that's predictable it is definitelly worth to give a shot.

Who to recommend?
If you are looking for a lovey-dovey manga, I suggest you not to read this.
Although the bond between Nakaba and Caesar are really beautiful and some of their interactions are sweet, overall the manga is not about this.

I would recommend this manga for those who like to see how the characters develop and for those who don't like predictable mangas.
It also stands on its ground as a historical manga so ppl who like that stuff could try this too!

I really enjoyed this manga and I think that it would make an excellent anime. It has a very adventurous vibe to it, as the setting shifts to different places and there is almost always action.

Nakaba -- the main heroine -- helps turn this into a kick-ass shojo. Her major sense of responsibility prevents her from turning into a damsel-in-distress. Since she is a princess of Seinen, she has a bunch of social and political duties that she must fulfill. She is also willing to use violence and force to reach her goals.

Conflict is rampant in the series. You have political problems, relationship conflicts, racism problems, family problems, etc. At times, it can get a bit dark. But I think that just gives the story more depth.

This manga definitely has a lot of romance. But this isn't the "kissing-and-making-out" type romance. It's more of a "sweet" romance; the male leads go to great lengths to make her happy and are constantly concerned about her happiness. Both male leads have their strengths and weaknesses and are basically in no way unlikable. Romance is also, of course, very prominent in this manga.

This manga has the full package; it has a likable heroine, great plot(s), and sweet romance. I have yet to find an extremely annoying moment in this manga.

Wow. I wasn't expecting this, but then again, I almost never am. Whenever I get into a series, I was go in with an expectation that seems to have nothing to do with what actually happens. I saw this on a list of shojo arranged marriage mangas, and after reading Hapi Mari, I was wondering if there were any more with that dynamic. I got here and realized that while it did have elements of that in it, the plot really doesn't focus on romance at all. So if you were here for that, prepare for an actual plot.

The story is very good. I liked the world building and the unique setting, along with the important messages on discrimination. Sometimes it seemed unfinished or disconnected and seemed to drag, but it went well in the end. Most of the time, mangas can't make me cry (unless I've seen the drama or anime of it before, simply for the reason that I need moving visuals and voices most of the time, but this manga managed it. I cried throughout the last volume especially, though I also cried during some tragic romance moments (while listening to Rewrite the Stars, no less). This might just be because I'm too sensitive for my own good, though. :D Other than that, it's a very interesting fantasy-war-kingdom storyline with enough angst to keep me alive.

The art was gorgeous. Enough said. All the women were beautiful, men were handsome, and all of them had very different designs so they were easy to differentiate and appreciate. The author also managed to portray complex emotions just through facial expressions, which I really appreciated.

The characters were good. I had a few problems with Caeser's character, simply because he fell in love with Nakaba too easily, and Nakaba with him. After they fell in love, they felt natural, however. Loki, too, was a little iffy for me. As much as I love Loki, once they revealed his true feelings at the end (let me honest and tell you that I didn't see any of that coming) it didn't really make sense in the context and the way he carried everything out seemed completely against his love for Nakaba that had driven him to do the worst from the very beginning. He claimed to (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) have hated Nakaba at times, but that didn't really make sense to me since he was ready to sacrifice anything for her. Maybe that was just me who felt this way. I think his character could've been given a little bit more depth. (END SPOILER).

I enjoyed this way too much. There were cute SQUEEE romance moments, there were funny moments, there was enough angst to sate my angsty soul, and it served as a catharsis for me, to be honest.

All in all, it was great!

I would recommend this if: you like fantasy, you like warring-kingdom AUs, you secretly love it when characters you love die and stab holes in your heart, you like strong heroines, you're fascinated by magical powers/seeing the future

I would NOT recommend if: you're here looking for a plain romance, you wanted a classic arranged marriage AU, you wanted a jerk leading man, you came for a love triangle, you wanted a dumb or helpless leading lady, you don't like it when characters die, you don't like thinking about problems like discrimination, genocide, or sickness and death

This manga starts out kind of slow and does come off as the typical political enemies married for appearances turned "do-i-have-feelings-for-him/her?" and OF COURSE there is the typical love-trianglesque scenario. Which is why I am hesitant to give it a 10 out of 10.

But as you continue on in the later volumes, Reimei no Arcana really sucks you in. The characters are deep and intelligent (not the typical airheads or weak characters that seem wimpy or whiny), and the plot is twisted and makes you both hate, love and pity certain antagonists/protagonists.

It was a wonderfully written manga and truly does deserve a better (average reader) ranking, because it is a beautiful fantasy/political manga that explores the theme of love, scandal, discrimination and acceptance.

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to choosing what to read, since I hate leaving things unfinished. Hence I went into this manga with eyes and ears open, having read a LOT of reviews. I thought I knew roughly what to expect, but without having particularly high or low hopes. Boy was I disappointed.

Story: 5

Obviously this is a cliché story about an unwanted princess who is forced to marry the enemy kingdom's prince for the sake of peace. The princess discovers she has an innate ability that gives her enough power to take control of her life and kingdom. It's incredibly cliché, which would be okay if her development was executed well. But the story is... stupidly simple, only made to appear complicated. Even the princess' power - the Arcana of Time - is loosely defined in the first place, and complex actions that would be near-impossible in real life are overly simplified - like (SPOILERS!) the act of simply "giving" an entire country to someone else, or migrating an entire race... I mean, at one point our heroine princess even has two husbands through some bizarre logic made up for the sake of the plotline...!? (/SPOILERS!) It's convenient writing for the sake of complicating an incredibly basic plot line that wouldn't have any direction or closure otherwise.

Characters: 7

The cast is as cliché as they come. I wasn't a big fan of the princess, but she was bearable and a host of minor characters kept me mostly interested. Loki, the princess' battle butler, was probably the main reason I kept coming back to the manga despite all my obvious issues with it (and I actually shipped the prince with the princess, not Loki). As a character he's written very tragically and right from the get go it's hard to tell who commands his true allegiance. Is it truly to the princess, who he protects with his heart, body and soul? There's a LOT of convoluted drama involving him, which crops up again and again throughout the story. While he doesn't necessarily appear to develop, I wasn't disappointed and liked the conclusion to his character development. I would suggest you only read this manga if you are drawn to Loki's story, but THAT in itself would be cruel - I know a LOT (if not most?) of readers have had an issue with his storyline.

Art: 6

It's usually pretty decent. Being nit-picky... a couple of characters look similar (Caesar and Adel, anyone?), the fight scenes were badly done, and there were some weird character design choices. But yeah: usually it's pretty decent, and the cover art is gorgeous.

Overall: 4

I'm being pretty harsh, especially considering the story, art and character ratings I've given so far in this review, but I can't in good conscience give a higher score. This is probably the worst manga I've ever read.

Reimei no Arcana is a one-of-a-kind manga. Instead of following the average, archetypal shoujo manga plot, the author has created an excellent work by effectively using plot-twists, great character development, and deep, underlying meaning/foreshadowing within most chapters.

The Plot ~
The plot is well written. I admit that at times in the manga, I felt that I could "see the ending!" only to find that a plot twist--or a major event that affects the entire manga--was put into play the very next chapter. The plot twists and transitions within the story were masterfully executed, and was neither too complex nor simple for the reader to be frustrated and belittled likewise.

The Characters ~
I admit that the characters surprised me the most, probably even more so than the plot.

The prince Ceasar is a male tsundere who eventually does legitimately love his wife, Nakaba. I hated his first few chapters, but as the story progressed, I moved on to pitying him, then to liking him overall. His character changes alot more, and I feel that at times he finally grew a pair and manned up. (in my mind I was like "YES! AMEN BROTHER!")

Princess Nakaba was a character that I found to be likable from the get go. She has a headstrong personality and at times, acts coy, even kuudere-ish. At any rate, in the later chapters, her actions had me slamming my fist on the table going "MMMMM!! YES! Wonderful!" Her personality drives her to do whatever is possible to help the people that she loves and wishes to protect. She made me wonder who was really more of a man between the Ceaser-Nakaba couple.

The Art ~
On the whole, I am not a very big fan of shoujo art. However, this will be the exception--if shoujo art is more like this, than I will most likely read more shoujo manga.

The art is drawn masterfully and the characters do not appear too "pretty" and/or slanted as shoujo/shounen characters have appeared in the past. (Modern Shoujo art?) I felt that the art accurately represented the scenes and that the simple backgrounds gave off a degree of "softness" that hurt my eye less.

Overall ~
This is a great work. If Twisted Romance and Power struggles are for you, than this manga is excellent! Although even if you are not a fan of such, this is a read I advise regardless of your taste...

4.5 / 5 Stars for the ever entertaining, and currently ongoing Reimei no Arcana.

~Jayex~

I know people have said that the characters are too usual and annoying, and the plot is boring, etc. I suppose you'll hear that for everything, because there will always be people who don't like certain stories. However, in my opinion, this is an excellent manga. I do not find the characters too regular at all, and certainly not annoying. In fact, I think they are rather complex. I have found myself getting involved in them, and relating to their emotions; especially Nakaba and Loki. Nakaba is not the usual clumsy-but-happy heroine, nor the strong-and-bitter type. She is more like a real person. Loki is amazing and pitiable at the same time. Caesar is spoiled and a total jerk, but we see some softness as he tries to figure out how to act towards Nakaba.
As for the plot, if you are expecting epic battle scenes because it's fantasy, you will be disappointed. There are fight scenes and some cool acrobatic moves, and flashbacks involving weapons and people dying. However, the point of the story (so far) focuses more on the relationships between characters, some mystery as Nakaba finds out what happened in the past, and suspense as she gets premonitions about the future.
The other criticism I heard was that the setting wasn't fleshed out visually. I honestly didn't notice this at all until I read that, but I guess it's true. The artwork (which is beautiful, by the way) focuses on the characters more than the scenery. If scenery is your thing, you might be let down, but if you're like me, the story is more important than seeing the entire castle in which the characters walk. Your preference.
Overall, I really love this story. It's extremely intriguing and involving. Maybe everyone else already has, but I still haven't figured out who I think Nakaba should end up with. I've come up with ideas of what will happen, but there are so many possibilities, I'll just have to wait and see.