Gamma Draconis by Benoist Simmat

Gamma Draconis Reviews

• 
  Javier

  De nuevo un manga creado por Eldo Yoshimizu, de quien ya disfrutara con
  Hen Kai Pan y que en esta ocasión trabaja junto a un guionista (Benoist Simmat), lo cual se agradece en el desarrollo de la trama. Sin llegar a la explosión artística de aquella, publicada posteriormente, se trata de una historia bastante pulpera que incluye sociedades secretas, ocultismo, invocaciones demoníacas, espectaculares tiroteos y mucha acción. Se lee en un suspiro y me lo pasé genial con ella, a ver si Héroes de Papel o alguien se anima a publicarla en España. Le doy tres estrellas y media.
• 
  Rhea Nathan

  I'm relatively new to manga so don't quite know how to review it, but I thoroughly enjoyed this story and bought a copy for my brother too.
  
  The art style was really pleasant; as a novice I tend to speed through the text like it's a book but the art forced me to slow down and look for context clues to the mystery being solved in the story.
  
  The plot may not have been particularly groundbreaking but combined with the art it is very enjoyable - the ending allows for a follow up book but I liked that this could be read as a single story without having to commit yourself to buying lots of issues.
  
  
• 
  Nadia Costa

  L'idée d'un manga 'de fusion' avec un scenario français et illustré par un dessinateur japonais suscite la curiosité. Quand à côté de ceci, s'y croise les thèmes de la grande finance, de l'ésotérisme et du transhumanisme, on a les ingrédients parfaits pour mes genres favorits en science fiction - dystopie dominé par le capitalisme "big tech" des FAAMG, magie et mondes parallèles.
  L' action et l'aventure sont très bien rendus par le dessin fins et dynamique de Yoshimizu.
  L'histoire si dense en thèmes d'interet est par contre trop légère dans son conte rendu final. Peut-être du au format de livre unique. Cette histoire et ses intrigues méritent une continuité et le modèle de série serait très pertinent. J'éspère que le Lézard Noir et ses auteurs poursuivront le project dans un avenir proche.
  La fin est ouverte donc il y de l'espoir....et j'y mettrai une étoile supplémentaire.
• 
  Martin

  A group of dark wizard/high financiers get their hands on an especially powerful artifact and begin using it to kill the people who get in their way. The only people standing in their way are a Japanese college student and a French police officer. The two women face off against magic-enhanced cyborgs, machine gun-toting thugs, and the most powerful spellcasters on Earth, yet somehow prevail. One of the two women does have a magic charm, but other than that, it is never explained how they avoid getting shot, split by a sword, and/or blasted.
  
  Not particularly well-written or drawn. It's the sort of lazy manga, in which the text explains much of the action, as the visuals do not tell the story without ample descriptive text.
  
  There's nothing more to this than a good premise.
• 
  Preethi

  I loved it so so much! This is the crime-action-thriller manga I've been craving since discovering
  Hard-Boiled Stories from the Cat Bar. It's set in France, England, and Japan, and also has a nice dose of the occult to make things extra interesting.
• 
  Craig

  A occult crime story that some how manages to make crime and occult rituals boring. This story looked great and was an exciting premise, but the story lacked compelling characters and a story that felt original. There were some plot points that were just abandoned and some issues with what I think was translation. I’m not too upset since this book was half off when I got it, but it wasn’t my favorite.
• 
  Debo

  I’ll be brutally honest: the art style is amazing, but the plot is horseshit :D very half baked, the occultism feels like it wasn’t thought through (Dan Brown wrote Occultism better and that is just embarrassing), the ending sucks ass in the bad way, character developments are pretty much zero, the villains are cardboard cut outs and no pretty humanoid robots are gonna make up for that.
  
  CNs: violence, death
• 
  T.

  This gritty and fast-paced supernatural action manga stitches in thin slices of British, French, and Japanese occultism to patch together a jarring but fun jet-setting mashup. ***Minor spoiler***: Please give us a Nashima and Mia spin-off series.
• 
  Jack Vinson

  Aiko finds herself enmeshed in a strange intrigue of good-vs-evil in the occult, discovering that she might be a connection between both sides. Good thing she has friends in the right places.
  
  Lots of black ink used on these pages.
• 
  I L

  Occult storyline. Transhumanism. Interdimensional doorways. Evil FAANG corporations. French-Japanese noir. Jet set detectives. Antiquities heists. Vintage late 80s Japanese manga aesthetics. All I can say is, yes, all of it, please.
• 
  Lyn Killerup

  Quick and easy read. Not the most interesting story but I guess I think occult stories are a bit overdone and this story doesn’t add anything interesting to the genre. Still, beautiful art and I did enjoy it.
• 
  Rob McMonigal

  A young woman gets in over her head as her research leads her down a dark occult trail in this crime thriller manga. A quick read, but a fun one with some cool splash pages that help set the supernatural feel of the overall plot.
• 
  Katie Jane

  Loved the story; would love a sequel and expansion of this world. The tone is great as is the potential (?) love story forming between Janne and Aiko. Great beach or weekend read.
• 
  Jeik Dion

  Even though I absolutely love Eldo Yoshimizu's art, His storytelling felt disconnected in this book. The story also didn't work at all for me. Kind of disappointed by this one.
• 
  Max Freese

  A cool action thriller that's heavy on the magic and occult. The amazing artwork makes up for the slightly generic story. Would make a great anime OVA.
• 
  Magnus Frederiksen

  Den var väl ok. Storyn är spännande men berättandet kändes som upphackat. Lite hafsigt på sina ställen. Svår att komma in i. Men slutet gav puls.
• 
  Nicoletta 🧿

  3,5 ⭐️
• 
  Craig Childs

  "The cursed path of binding magic with technology… a new kind of alchemist."
  
  Julian Bedford is a rich financier in London who is secretly stealing artifacts with purported magical powers in an attempt to summon a demon that will provide him with omnipotence and eternal life…
  
  Aiko Moriyama is a Japanese graduate student studying at Sorbonne in Paris. Ostensibly, she is researching her thesis on how Eastern and Western cultures viewed occult powers during the Middle Ages. In reality, she is preparing to be initiated into an secret society whose aim is to safeguard ancient magic from being manipulated for nefarious purposes…
  
  This is Hard Case Crime's second foray into manga action comics. However, I would consider this more of a sci-fi/ fantasy/ horror comic than crime. The art by Eldo Yoshimizu is more pedestrian than the previous series Ryuko, but the story by Benoist Simmat is more fun and coherent.
  
  In the spirit of a Robert Langdon thriller, Aiko visits real-world libraries and abbeys to piece together Julian's fantastic schemes based on historical clues. In this manner, the book weaves in references to several well-known occult and alchemical texts such as the Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet), the Utsuro-bune, and the writings and relics of John Dee from the 16th century. In fact, my favorite parts are the scenes in England and France before the action moves to the more traditional manga setting of Kobe, Japan.
  
  The back half of the book layers many science fiction tropes into the mix -- nanotechnology, the multiverse, and genetically engineered mutants. Over the top but entertaining, nonetheless.
• 
  Mag

  C’était prometteur mais en fait c’était bof