Arata: The Legend (Arata Kangatari) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yuu Watase (Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres) and it’s licensed by Viz Media.
Story: First let’s start off in the world known as Amawakuni, where there's a boy named Arata that is to be the successor to an ancient clan named the Hime Clan, and every 60 years there is a ceremony to crown a new governing princess that is chosen from the Hime Clan but because of their lack of females, they dressed Arata as a girl to pose as the new princess until they find a replace for him.
In the middle of the ceremony the Twelve Shinshō, the wielders of special swords called Hayagami betrayed the current princess, Kikuri and killed her and in the situation they found out that Arata was a male, so they framed the murder on him. Amidst the heavy confusion Arata manages to escape from the armies of people after him into the Kando Forest.
Now in modern Japan, there is a high school student named Arata Hinohara who is in a new high school, and everything was going great for him: making friends and doing great in class. However all of that ends when his old high school bully Masato Kadowaki ends up in the same school. When he finally thinks things can get worse, with the whole school basically against him, he goes to an alley following a weird voice and sees a portal that then he proceeds to enter.
After a while Arata Hinohara appears from a tree to find the other Arata’s friend looking for him but something isn’t right Due to the power of the Kando Forest, he seems to have switched bodies with the other Arata and ended up in the magic world of Amawakuni. So he has armys chasing him to kill him, and later on he’s able to communicate with the other Arata so during these times they exchange information with each other. But in the end, both Aratas have a long journey ahead of them.
Review: Arata: The Legend tells a story of a series of unfortunate events lead up to a story of fantasy and amazement.This manga an interesting one to say the least. Arata: The Legend tells a story of a series of unfortunate events lead up to a story of fantasy and amazement. Due to story taking place on two seperate worlds, It has a lot of content in the first volume, and the story is really fantasy based with it's use of gods and magic.
The characters are really fleshed out and have a lot of depth, the level of background information very easily lets you connect with the characters and feel what they feel when they are interacting with the world around them. So if you’re interested or like a good fantasy read with a good amount of depth in the mix, Aarata: The Legend is worth the read.
