A Howl of the Heart Volume 1 Review

Spoiler warning!

Tenyo and Uru are Crimson Wolves, specially trained warriors fighting to defend the Crimson South from the forces of the Azure North in the divided empire once called Luxian. But Uru falls in battle and two years later, Tenyo has still not recovered from his death; the two shared a bond deeper than comrades-in-arms. Having sworn to avenge Uru’s death, he infiltrates enemy territory, determined to find and kill their general, Kakezuki. But when he comes face-to-face with Kakezuki, he freezes, unable to believe his eyes: the enemy general looks exactly like dead Uru – and when he speaks, his voice sounds exactly like that of his dead lover.

Captured by the enemy, Tenyo is taken to the capital of the Azure North where he’s forced to fight against a tiger in the arena in a sacred execution ritual. But Kakezuki intervenes, crying out triumphantly that he’s seen Tenyo’s moves before and leaps into the arena to confront him. Forced onto the defensive by this swift attack, Tenyo eventually transpierces Kakezuki’s body with his spear – but the general doesn’t bleed or fall to the ground, merely laughing the wound off, saying, “I’m what they call an immortal vessel.”

Tenyo is devastated and loses all will to fight as the realization sinks in: Uru was ‘revived’ and made into a monster. Nothing of Uru remains except for his mortal shell. However, instead of being executed, Tenyo gets to meet Toka, the sorceror and creator of the immortal vessels. Toka tells Tenyo that it’s possible that Uru’s memories still exist – because the fight in the arena obviously revived some of them. He proposes that Tenyo should pretend to be an immortal vessel and remain at Kakezuki’s side, to find out if being together will awaken more of his memories. However, Tenyo soon sees how badly the other immortal vessels are treated and when he’s taken to fight alongside the army of immortal vessels against an invading tribe, he also begins to understand why the Azure North wants to invade the more prosperous South. But there comes a moment when Tenyo can’t help observing aloud after Kakezuki has made a throwaway comment that it was just the same thing Uru would have said and Kakezuki rounds on him, demanding, “Who was he to you?”

A Howl of the Heart is based on that very potent concept: the dead loved one who returns but not as they were before. Ayato Miyoshi tells us in the illustrated afterword that she wanted to write a Chinese-inspired fantasy BL and that, given the world-building involved, it needed to be more than one volume (this series is ongoing at three volumes). In spite of her long career in BL manga (since 2011) this is the first title to receive a print edition in English (a couple of others are available on Renta) which is a shame as the mangaka’s art is very accomplished and her storytelling is compelling. The backgrounds are beautifully drawn and evoke the Chinese-inspired fantasy atmosphere very effectively (what a difference it makes when the landscapes and interiors are created as well as these are)! The characters are drawn with skill and care too and often one or even two pages will contain panels with minimal dialogue but reactions which convey a great deal, with hardly a word being spoken.

Square Enix Manga have brought this new series out in trade paperback format which really does justice to the art work; there’s a colour page at the front as well, although the paper here is not the white very high-quality paper to be found in Cherry Magic?! or A Man and His Cat. However, those titles tend to have a much shorter page count per volume whereas this has a generous 240 pages, so I’m not complaining!

The translation, which reads well, is by Melanie Kardas and the lettering is skillfully done, as always, by Bianca Pistillo. There’s a very interesting page of translation notes at the end which sheds light on the Chinese roots and meanings of some of the names, followed by a one-page preview of Volume 2 (which comes out in July). And there’s also a bonus chapter ‘Back to the Room’ (the room shared by Tenyo and Kakezuki, of course, because this is BL, after all!)

As Tenyo discovers more about Kakezuki, Toka and the Azure North, new mysteries about the immortal vessels are revealed which only complicate the predicament Tenyo finds himself in and sharpen his resolve to try to restore Uru’s mind and soul to his physical body. This first volume is a captivating start to a Chinese-flavoured fantasy BL manga which is bound to appeal to danmei fans, especially because of its attractive art.

Read a free preview at the publisher’s website here.

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).

©Ayato Miyoshi/SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.