Elio and Life on the Run
Author - Hosokawa Masami
Genre - Historical, Action
Setting
Erio sets it self apart from other series in the first few pages with a historical setting, it is set in Medieval Spain, to be more specifically in the 14th century. A century marked by the spread of the plague causing the death of millions of people. The series does reference the plague so it takes place after the onset of it and hints that the setting is probably late 14th century. There were a series of conflict within the empire in the aim for the throne during this period and again this is referenced in the series and is mostly going to be explored in the series plot in the future. It is a ready made setting with a lot of significant developments which the plot can revolve around and unlike Japanese historical manga which are relatively common, western ones are not so this setting feels fresh.
However, using this type of setting takes a lot of research which is hard work instead of just writing out a story without any basic construction on the world which is pretty much what happens in most manga. In Erio first chapter, the main character is in a prison. This is a problem because prison were not really used in medieval times as a sanction. In fact, shaming, fines and death were the common sanctions for criminal behaviour. Prisons were only used to hold the criminal in wait for his trial. The main character as revealed in the chapter killed his brother, homicide would usually be punished with death. He was presumably judged guilty and imprisoned instead of killed which was what usually happened. I can only see this as a slip up by the author.
Chapter (Spoiler Free)
The chapter itself is feels rather polished, highlighting the experience of Hosokawa Masami. I say this because the chapter fulfils the role of a first chapter. It establishes the premise and introduces the main characters and gives them basic characterisation and hints at things to build in the future. However, it does not seem well constructed and by that I mean the MC being in prison does not seem like it was needed. By this I mean it just explains Erio strength and is creates a background for his character but both these things could have been done without this initial prison. In addition, the way the Lala and Erio met is not the most natural but this is not a significant issue at least I do not see it.
There were some forced exposition from character dialogue that did not seem natural and stuck out like a sore thumb specifically one case in the first few pages.
Art
The art in the series is rather good, the backgrounds are well drawn. Series in champion do not tend to focus in polished art style but one of the key points of Masami is his polished art style.
What stood out for me was the character designs, especially the faces. Masami has always had a more realistic style in relation to faces, with clear nose bridges and detailed eyes. I say this because the eyes are most important facial characteristics in reading expressions and recognising faces. This is not particularly unique or new in any way but in Champion its the only series with this 'type' of artwork at the moment after Himawari which had similarly a more realistic style.
Panelling
The panelling of the initial chapters was stable action scenes were easy to follow as well as being intense and rather on point in choreography. I did not expect this to be a issue for Masami Hosokawa as he had previous experience in Sugarless, a fighting manga. In general this should not be an area with too many problems because of this prior experience from three previous weekly series, though the first one was a dud, the others both surpassed 100 chapters and were mild successes.
