Louie the Rune Soldier

(ADV Manga, 2004)
™ and © ADV Manga

Mizuno is a leading writer of serious sword–and–sorcery fantasy role–playing manga, notably Record of Lodoss War. Rune Soldier proves that he is also adept at humor.

Melissa (priestess), Genie (warrior), and Merrill (thief) are three female adventurers looking for a wizard for their team. Mylee, God of War, assigns them as companions to a male wizard–in–training, the hero Louie.

Hero? Louie is handsome but a notoriously lazy goofoff, in danger of flunking out of sorcerer college. But you don’t argue with your god. The three women adventurers must take Louie along on their quest for treasure and try to teach him how to become a noble hero instead of a tavern brawler; how to remain cool enough to use his magic against monsters and zombies instead of hotheadedly rushing in to clobber them with his fists (“Louie Punch!”).

Rune Soldier also exists as a 24–episode anime series, but there are differences. The mystery of Louie’s unknown parentage is played up more in the manga. The two versions complement, rather than duplicate, each other.

— Fred Patten

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