Dragons, revenge, action, this is what Yuki Monji's series – The Legend of the Immortal Chandrahas – offers – whose Kana editions publish this month the first of three volumes. This classic shonen is based on an original atmosphere and a very pleasant drawing. And despite a narrative bias that may be disconcerting at first, this first opus is convincing and makes you want to follow the epic of the Chandrahas.
The legend of the immortal Chandrahas: dragon hunt or manhunt?
They were 7 invincible heroes with immense power who repelled the scourge of men: dragons. Legend has it as ignorant gods that an eighth hero was betrayed by his friends and erased from history. Fifteen years have passed since those glorious events. The dragons have not yet disappeared and Arjuna says the immortal, the forgotten hero, decides to take revenge. His steps lead him to the Himalayas, a young girl, descendant of one of the seven heroes. Abandoned by her father, she serves as a slave for a band of dragon hunters. Initially tempted to eliminate her because of her blood, Arjuna discovers that the girl is also animated by the same spirit of revenge, against her father. An unexpected alliance is forged between them that quickly proves essential. Their powers will not be too much to triumph over the seven legendary warriors. 
An atmospheric manga
This story of revenge, betrayal, classic in its subject is enhanced by the tone given to it by Yuki Monji. Indeed, he places his story in an Indian, oriental setting that is rarely encountered in the world of manga. It offers a synthesis between the atmosphere of Prince of Persia and the universe of the Indian film saga The Legend of Baahubali. The costumes, the landscapes, the architecture, very successful, participate greatly in the change of scenery of the reader. The faces of the characters, the colors of the hair, therefore match perfectly with this setting. : an Indian world, mixed, at the crossroads of influences. The legend of the immortal Chandrahas also benefits from a sense of the grandiose perfectly transcribed by the brush of the mangaka. The title has full pages, double page, extremely dynamic. Some are at the service of epic action scenes, others illustrate the grandeur of the universe in the image of giant statues with the effigy of Chahandras. This Homeric staging is also based on a very good integration of artistic codes and references. Yuki Monji draws his inspiration as much from The Lord of the Rings as from Chambara or Tiger and Dragon. It retains symbolic elements that it integrates into an extremely coherent general environment.
The legend of the immortal Chandrahas: a delicate set-up, a frantic pace
This series faces a central narrative difficulty. How to fit an extremely dense story in only 3 volumes? Yuki Monji opted for an in medias res narrative. The reader is immersed directly in the action and the keys to understanding the universe are delivered very quickly. This process can create a feeling of confusion at the beginning of the reading. There is no real introduction or rather a smoothed introduction in parallel with the hero's quest.But after about thirty pages, all the threads of the story come together and thereafter, the plot follows easily. And that's good because The legend of the immortal Chandrahas does not suffer from any downtime and provides real pleasure. Indeed, it benefits first of all from the very good construction of the characters, heroes as enemies. In a few boxes, their character, their motivation are posed which makes credible the confrontation to come. The narrative is also not stingy in action scenes. The fights against the heroes, against the dragons, are linked quickly without being repetitive. They are thus creative and rely on particular and sometimes surprising powers. Another quality is the brutality of the fighting: the limbs fly in all directions, the bodies are shredded. Without falling into gratuitous blood, however, the author respects the central theme of his story: revenge. 
Many interesting questions
The story lays the foundations for a world rich in mysteries not yet cleared up. First, there are the powers of the heroes and their origin. At the end of this first volume, we only had a glimpse of the strength of the 7 heroes. Each has its own style which presages epic duels.Similarly, the author has been careful not to reveal the motivations of their betrayal, the reasons for the abandonment of the Himalayas. At the end of this first part, the doubt still remains: who are really the heroes of this story? Finally, we must highlight the halo of strangeness hovering around dragons. Land creatures, bipeds and quadrupeds, their heads are protected by a bone helmet. Fierce, powerful, they impress as soon as they appear. Receptacles of all fears, they are the cement that founds the power of the heroes. But where do they come from, what do they want? Why are they called dragons? Do they have anything to do with the power of heroes? Many questions are piling up. Without revolutionizing the genre, The Legend of the Immortal Chandrahas remains a dynamic introduction, rich in unresolved questions carried by an atypical universe. Let us hope that the author, in the last two volumes, answers all the mysteries.
