Review of Guardians of the Far Frontier • Anime news in the United Kingdom

“I abandoned to the soldiers, and to their families and loved ones, they are nothing more than a coward and a murderer.” Ashath in Durant.

Ashath Fornerux is the only survivor of a devastating attack on his unit in the Borderlands. The young aristocrat, unfortunately, is assigned to be a “guardian of the Far Frontier” (or in other words, the back of Beyond). Traveling in the wild lands, he meets the other guardians as he went to their base of the castle: three women, Ishne, Lara and Shishiha and the wizard Durant thorny and simple. With Durant’s surprise, Ashath is honestly impressed by the wild nature of the desolate countryside – but when he tries to sleep, he suffers from terrible nightmares. And he does not hide from the other guardians who are bitterly ashamed of what happened to his men. “If only … they had punished me severely … maybe I could have had some tranquility.”

On one of their patrols, the Guardians go to the rescue of a girl who was kidnapped by the bandits – just to meet a terrifying monstrous creature that the bandits get rid of them. Durant uses his magic to defeat the beast but not before Ashath was injured. The rescue breaks the ice between them; Ashath tells Durant of his past and Durant takes care of his nightmares. Ashath also learns the extraordinary secrets of the three female guardians and the way in which Durant’s mentor saved him as a child from the gutters. He gradually relaxes around his new companions … To the extent that he confesses too much Durant, “I think I have fallen in love with you.” Durant sweeps him away like an aristocratic whim – but then an invitation comes for them from Lady Royle Gitelle, the girl who saved, in a ball. Durant is horrified. “I can’t dance!” He tells Ashath that (with a small suggestion of Ishne, Lara and Shishiha) he offers to teach him!

After being instructed by Ashath, Durant and Ashath go to the ball of trips – but while Ashath does not hide his true identity, the word soon spreads among the aristocratic guests who is the officer responsible for the death of his men. Gitelle is obviously attracted to Durant and dance together – but when he mentions Ashath’s fault, Durant defends Ashath. Later, the two men meet on the balcony and Ashath says to Durant: “More than anything else, I want to be where you are”, then kisses him.

But both men hide secret from each other: Durant never told Ashath the sad truth behind his exile at the border. And only now Ashath can lead to reveal the real reason why he was sent by his family in that disastrous mission. He lives in time borrowed – and it could already be too late to save him.

Mangoka Lily Hosino is probably better known for its distinctive drawings of characters for Pentuindrum and the titles of love and imagination of his boys. After a long break (who begins a family) he returned and Guardians of the Far Frontier It is his first manga BL to be published in many years. It is also about to collect the pieces of Otome Yokai ZakuroHis fantasy shojo manga was from Meiji (transformed into an anime). So (as a longtime fans) I couldn’t wait to read this new title very much!

Guardians of the Far Frontier He has many of the brands of Lily Hosino: men of beautiful appearance and young cute women (there is also a very nice creature similar to a mouse to look at). Men in their uniforms inspired by the early nineteenth century are particularly fascinating! The experience of the mangaka is evident in the way the story takes place and the characters are introduced; Everything flows in a legible way and which turns into the page. Why am I highlighting this? Because several fantasy works of other less experienced mangaka that I have read recently I still don’t have this flow or show this ability to know how much information must be inserted at certain points and how much you can leave out. The artistic style of Lily Hosino is also a great point for me (has recently made the drawings of the original characters for the soul series The stories of girls who could not be magicians, Crunchyroll Autumn 2024) as it seems ideal for fantasy settings. Ashath and Durant make a potential pair including so cheering, everyone weighed down by their emotional and scarred baggage by their past. It shows that in the right creative hands, what could simply be a standard fantasy rate can become fresh and involve.

The downside? The story envelops quite quickly and would have benefited from extra chapters. Having said that, everything is solved satisfactorily; It would have been nice to spend more time with all the guardians. It is a love for children, but the evaluation of the older teenagers seems unnecessarily cautious.

Guardians of the Far Frontier It is another addition to the love list of the growing boys from Kuma and Kuma (Denpa) must be applauded for having brought such a wide range of titles and mangaka to the West. I guess their best -selling titles are certainly mature rating as Yatamomo, Felice Vita Sopfosa AND The song of Yoru and ASA together with Lupo package By Billy Balibaly (Zanne) AND Quatia under the snow By Kanna Kii (Sea foreigner) – Although there are many other good BL titles to choose from. The other advantage with Kuma’s manga editions is the adorable dust jackets (that for Guardians of the Far Frontier It is opaque), good quality paper and adding a color image inside. The translation for Kuma is by Mike Wolfe and the letters is by Andrea Donohue; Both make it a good reading experience. This is certainly a title to read if you are looking for a compelling fantasy with a pinch of love for children!