Manga: Frau Faust

Frau Faust Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

From the creator of The Ancient Magus' Bride comes a supernatural action manga in the vein of Fullmetal Alchemist! With electrifying art and a gripping story, Frau Faust reimagines the protagonist of the classic tale who makes a deal with the devil as a tenacious female scholar. 

More than a century after an eccentric scholar made an infamous deal with a devil, the story of Faust has passed into legend. However, the true Faust is not the stuffy, professorial man known in fairy tales, but a charismatic, bespectacled woman named Johanna Faust, who happens to still be alive. Searching for pieces of her long-lost demon, Johanna passes through a provincial town, where she saves a young boy named Marion from a criminal’s fate. In exchange, she asks a simple favor of Marion, but Marion soon finds himself intrigued by the peculiar Doctor Faust and joins her on her journey. Thus begins the strange and wonderful adventures of Frau Faust!

I wasn't 100% sure what to expect with this new series, but this wasn't it...and I mean that in a good way! It was actually such a fun read and after meeting all the characters in this volume, and being introduced to the world and settings...I'm so excited to see where this series is going to go! I'm expecting good things for sure! 

I liked the fairy tail vibe to the storytelling on the opening page, and the storytelling throughout to be honest! Faust cracked me up, her character was brilliant and a little bit crazy! I'm intrigued as to what the real story is when it comes to her and Mephisto! We get a lot of hints but I need mooooreeee! I want to know so much more about their relationship! I'm really loving her as an MC, she's intelligent and a little bit badass in a nerdy, intelligent way! 

Marion is a fellow book nerd and loveable for that very fact! He wants to learn...and he may or may not run away screaming at some point in the future! Bless him. As for Mephisto? Full disclosure, when I read "Mephisto" my brain went to good ol' Mepphy from Blue Exorcist, but this Mephisto is a more dark and mysterious than that. Poor guys missing his head, and things are really rough for him. Then at the end of the volume...well it would seem he's been a very bad boy. Nico...she's a lot of fun and I'm hoping we'll see more of her. 

I really liked the art, the characters are well drawn with hints of cute when they pull certain expressions. There's a nice amount of detail to the settings too, enough to create an atmosphere anyway! The setting's based on Germany or a past Germany as far as I can tell. Not sure on anything more specific. Either way we're definitely in a different time period. 

This first volume moves at a nice pace while filling in some of Faust's history. There's little hints and tidbits of intrigue that are dropped throughout the volume for you think about and guess at what they're hinting...there's some veeerrrryy ominous hints in there too! It's all added up to make me super intrigued and I have so many questions that I need answers for! 

The cliffhanger ending made me want to scream because you can't just drop a bomb like that and then say "see you next volume"! So cruel. I'm so intrigued to see where this story is going to go. So far it's interesting and has well and truly hooked me in. I have questions upon questions and while I'm making some guesses and theories...I need answers. Solid, concrete answers! I'm trying to piece together Faust and Mephisto's history with the tidbits dropped and that ending...but I'm coming up with multiple possibilities and I just want to know. 

There's a really nice amount of detail to the world, the mythology of it and the history, not to mention character backgrounds too! The creator is building a really intriguing and rich world so far! We also have a quest vibe going on as Faust is trying to find all Mephisto's missing pieces, so we've got a combination of mystery and quest! I really like how it's coming together, it has the potential to go quite dark too. I'm not sure if it will though. 

The characters have a nice amount of depth for a first volume, and room to explore them more. The story is intriguing and definitely makes you want to know more, and it's sprinkled with humour. It's a solid first volume! 

I just have one problem. The bonus story. Sure, it's interesting...but I don't see how it has any bearing on the main story, it seemed to be one of those stories with a moral/lesson to be learned and I couldn't work out the purpose for it. I would have given this volume 5 stars if not for it. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that the bonus story really had nothing to do with the main story and it was pretty lengthy for a bonus story. It was at least the length of one of the main chapters and took up space a fourth chapter could have had and I really don't understand it's inclusion. There's no mention of it in the authors bit at the end either...so I'm assuming it has nothing to do with the story although it could be linked I suppose...and I just haven't worked out the connection. But I marked the volume down because of it...sorry!