Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring Volume 1 Review

Last year Yen Press debuted the Agents of the Four Seasons light novel by Kana Akatsuki (Violet Evergarden), which proved a delightful read. Today I’m here to take a look at the manga adaptation by Nappa Komatsuda, which has also been brought to the West by Yen Press.

Our story takes place in an alternate world where the four seasons are controlled by “Agents”, who live as an entity, neither human nor god. Each Agent is handled by an agency and lives in a specific town dedicated to their season, as well as living with an attendant who is tasked with keeping their mental state stable.

However, while the world usually goes through the four seasons we’re familiar with when we begin this book, they’ve been without Spring for ten years after their current Agent of Spring, Hinagiku, was kidnapped. After suddenly returning one day, she’s now set out to fulfil her duty of bringing Spring to the world.

The trouble is that Hinagiku was only six years old when she was kidnapped and due to it happening on a visit to the Agent of Winter, Rosei, there’s a lot of emotional baggage here. Can she fulfil her duty like this? And what about the other Agents who are also being targeted by the group that kidnapped Hinagiku in the first place?

While the original light novel was a deep dive into the mental state of Hinagiku, Rosei and Hinagiku’s attendant Sakura, the manga is instead purely focused on the first coming of Spring. To change seasons the Agent must travel across the land, bringing the season to towns and cities as they travel.

It’s in this first town called Ryugyu that Hinagiku and Sakura run into a child so young that she can’t even remember there ever being a Spring. Despite the dangerous conditions, she’s climbing the mountain in the middle of Winter to clear off snow from her mother’s grave. This was a part of the original novel that I found very emotional and I think mangaka Nappa Komatsuda (of which this is their first serialisation) has managed to depict what made that so moving well.

However, I feel in the transition between light novels and manga we have lost a lot of what gives this story so much depth. There are only three chapters included here (and a two-page prologue at the end of the book) and between the loss of internal monologues and cutback flashbacks to Hinagiku and Sakura’s past, it just doesn’t feel like we get to know these characters properly. This is not helped by the fact that Hinagiku speaks in very stuttery sentences, which makes sense when you have more context for what she went through while kidnapped but here can come off as irritating. People criticise Akatsuki’s work for being too detailed, but this is too far the other way.

As an accompaniment to the light novels, I do like this. The manga is serialised in the shojo magazine LaLa and has an art style that depicts a gentle atmosphere while portraying some at times intense scenes (mostly in the flashbacks, for now). Komatsuda has done a great job of bringing the characters to life, including showing off the detailed outfits they wear. I wouldn’t say it’s really adding anything to the story besides the art, but if you’re already reading the novels and looking to experience the story from another perspective, this is a good way to do that. I just wouldn’t recommend it as your first introduction to the work.

Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring Volume 1 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press and has been translated by Sergio Avila (who also worked on the light novels) with lettering by Chiho Christie. Due to sharing the same translator, this is a release that reads well and is consistent with the original work. Unfortunately, no real extras to speak of as there are no translation notes and no colour pages (despite the opening spread having been in colour for the magazine serialisation).

The manga is on-going in Japan with five volumes currently available. Here in English, Volume 2 is scheduled for a release in May with nothing else currently on the schedule. As mentioned Yen Press does also release the light novels as well if that’s more your preference.

Overall, Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring is a good accompaniment to the original light novels but not at all a good introduction to the series. There’s just too much missing compared to the original and that leaves the cast and story lacking that all-important depth which makes Agents of the Four Seasons so special.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.