PANDEMONIUM: MAJUTSUSHI NO MURA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

MANGA FantasyTsunousagi

REVIEWS

• 

  TheGruesomeGoblin

  100/100
  A well crafted story about anthropomorphic animal outcasts living in a rough world with fantastic art.

  

  Pandemonium by Shou Shibamoto is a treat. As a two volume long manga, admittedly I didn't really give it much thought when I first saw it. But it looked like something out of the ordinary so I decided to give it a read. Wasn't really what I was expecting, at all.

  

  It's a story about a world of anthropomorphic animal beings, and in this world, there's a village of mutated outcasts called the Wizard's Village named as such because it's believed by everybody else that they possess the ability of magic. They keep to themselves and put distance between them and those who dwell outside. Until one day, our protagonist who happens to be an outsider, Mr. Zipher arrives with a mysterious large box in his possession...

  While what caught my eye was the manga's art style, the story is absolutely great. Twelve chapters isn't a whole lot, yet the story is interesting enough to make me want to see more of this honestly kind of dismal world. Because even putting this village of outcasts sequestered from the rest of the world aside, the towns on the surface have a tendency of ending up being reduced to nothing but cinders by some unknown phenomena called "Straight Thunders" falling from the sky.

  

  Additionally, the "Variants" (the mutated residents of the Wizard Village) all look really neat. Some look weird, some look intimidating, but in all actuality they just want to be left to themselves. But this wish seems to go unanswered as rumors of a "Wizard Village" bearing unworldly magic seems to continue spreading throughout the outside world...

  

  It goes to say that this manga is unexpectedly dark. A settlement of mutated exiles living cut off from the outside world, communities of the outside world are occasionally just spontaneously destroyed, and desperation for a solution forces outsiders to come to the "Wizard Village" in hopes of acquiring their magic. Our somewhat suspicious protagonist Mr. Zipher comes to the "Wizard Village" in hopes of asking to be helped out with their magic...

  Zipher's problem being a rather sad one, and one that is incapable of being fixed by magic... and his arrival both directly as well as indirectly leads to a whole lot of problems for the village.

  

  Concluding, there isn't a huge amount more I can say without spoiling the actual plot of Pandemonium. The art's great and eye catching, the characters are neat looking, it's dark but not overly so, the main character has flaws but has his reasons for his actions, and it's not either too short or too long. I would have certainly went for more, but in twelve chapters, the story of Zipher's visit to the "Wizard Village" was satisfyingly complete.

  A 10 out of 10. Easily one of my favorite "short" manga.

  
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• 

  Benkei

  86/100
  Spoiler-free review of Pandemonium. The search of love in a devastated world.

  ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Considerations ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ ● __This is a spoiler-free review.__ ●__ 80+ in my rating means really good.__ ● I've got to read this work on a friend's recommendation. I didn't look too much into the synopsis and just started reading. ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ In a world devastated by unnatural catastrophes, Zipher looks for a faraway magical land. He carries a mysterious box, and on his long journey, as he gets close to collapsing from exhaustion, he meets a variant called Domika, who rescues him. __The story of Pandemonium is really good.__ There are many plot twists, dramas, and conflicts. The drama was really well done; there were moments in which I really felt touched while reading this work. It's a very different experience because __the story isn't about humans__, but in my opinion, that adds to the work's charm. ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The Art Style ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The art style is the first thing that I noticed when reading Pandemonium. __It's just absurdly good.__ Different from any kind of manga or manhwa that I've read in the past. It resembles some American novels. It is __amazing__ to look at. (Promo image) ‎ Character designs are amazing; each one has a different trait and a different animal inspiration. I purposely started analyzing when they showed multiple characters to see if I could find resemblances or copy and paste style, but I couldn't. __Everything is very unique and beautiful.__ (Look at this cutie) Background, minor details, and shadows are also well done. __There's nothing for me to complain about in this department. __ ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ There are a fair number of characters in this work. I felt like every character added something different to the story. We have ones that are more rational, ones that are more explosive, ones that are shy, and so on. __Everyone mixes well and delivers a good narrative__, supporting the main drama and development. As always, I like to pay special attention to the main character. Zipher is really good as a main character. His journey is well explained, showing his past to validate his present actions and mentality. Through the work, I felt really fond of him. ‎ ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Conclusion ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point: __Read it.__ Pandemonium is a short work (12 chapters). And you can pick why you would like to read it; it's a __really good drama__, with plot twists and emotional moments. __Amazing art style__ that differs from conventional manga or manhwas. Whatever your reason for reading it,__ I am pretty sure the majority of people will like this work.__
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• 

  TrishaCat

  90/100
  Gorgeous furry tragedy with plot twist after plot twist

  Pandemonium: Wizard Village is an often overlooked seinen webcomic later published manga (much like the prolific manga One Punch Man) oddly written in left-to-right format despite being a Japanese work. Webcomics typically vary heavily in quality and a good many, due to the format of webcomics and how uploading them tend to work, have the issue of having stories that are thought up as the comic progresses rather than being planned out beforehand leading to many plotholes that could have otherwise been prevented. Fortunately, Pandemonium avoids this issue and the mangaka, Sho Shibamoto, uploaded whole chapters after many months of work and the end product shows great amount of planning in the execution of its story.

  The story is a tragic mystery and drama about a box-carrying cat by the name of Zipher that travels off a great distance in search of a "wizard village" composed of people known as variants, who are a strange group feared by the rest of the world said to have strange magical powers. He fails to find this village before collapsing out of exhaustion but luckily manages to get rescued and brought to the village by one such variant where he is nursed back to health. The story does incredibly well to present an engaging and interesting world full of wonder and mystery. What lies inside of Zipher's box, why did he want to find this village and what secrets do these variants and the village hold hold?

  Many mystery stories have the problem of bringing up questions but never answering them, and for the most part, Pandemonium successfully answers all of the questions and plot-points it brings up. Every little detail and facet of the story is important and time is never wasted on the trivial. Despite this, Pandemonium never feels rushed and doesn't give up subtlety when necessary; it tells exactly what it needs to before moving onto the next event.

  The characters of Pandemonium aren't skimped out on either; everyone from Zipher himself to his variant rescuer Domika to the variant village chief Ainu all are made to feel like real people with their own distinct fleshed out personalities that explain the reason for why they act the way they do. Zipher has a troubled past does his best to show kindness and appreciation for others, but he never forgets his truer more selfish interests and can sometimes act almost irrationally out of fear and a lack of acceptance. Domika is sweet and caring and very attached to her village but has a curiosity about the outside world that makes her go out of her way to discover more about it. And I could go on. The characters are very well thought out and almost never act outside of character.

  The strong characters help the many events in this story matter all the more and come off as strong and impactful to the reader; because the characters are so well thought out one might be more inclined to care about what happens to them, and in a story full of tragedy this is extremely important. And boy is Pandemonium tragic...To avoid spoilers I will just say that its very much comparable to anime such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica in how the story is delivered. Almost every chapter has some great reveal and/or great tragedy that occurs in it that changes the very way one may view a character or answer some important question about the village itself or why someone did something or why anything for that matter. The story is not for those who don't want to feel sad. Although the story is not tragic simply for the sake of being tragic, and there are a good few themes explored such as the dangers of blind belief and the (perhaps overdone) theme of the escalation of a lie.

  As much as like I to praise the story and so badly wanted to give this a 10/10, its not without fault. As I stated, there is a theme present in the story that goes over how lies can escalate and make things worse and, while executed in this story, that has been done before many many many times before it. The story also brings up a mystery revolving around mysterious "straight thunders" that have caused trouble throughout the world that is never fully explained and may leave some readers a tad disappointed. Though this should be about the only plot point that isn't answered and the reader should still wind up satisfied.

  One other thing that is worth noting is that Sho Shibamoto's artwork is gorgeous and very unique for a manga; its not in black and white but rather makes use of various shades of brown and black to give it a very dark and rustic look, all while still looking fresh, new, and modern despite that old-style color scheme. There is also much detail in the environments and nearly everything looks just a little wrong; nearly everything is dirty and damaged and the details make this come out really well. The character artwork itself is very expressive, making character emotions very easy to read and some story events come off as all the more dramatic for just how overboard at times the expressions might seem. This might be in part due to all the characters being some form of anthropomorphic animal, as its easier for such characters to have very exaggerated faces without losing the feel of realism presented within the story.

  Overall, Pandemonium is a fantastic manga deserving of more love that presents a well thought out dramatic story of tragedy and woe, filled with characters that are both relatable and interesting, and has artwork that shines above the rest. While not imperfect, Pandemonium is nearly flawless and deserves the attention of anyone who just so happens to run across it.

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