Witcher: Ronin (2022)

The ‘Witcher: Ronin’ is a manga that reimagines the world of Witcher and Geralt in the middile of Edo-period Japan. Even going as far as rebranding the famed Witcher as a ronin who hunts Yokai and Oni rather than the ghastly beasts of Eastern European lore that he is usually pitted against. However, there is still enough here for fans of the games or novels to recognize that this is a Witcher story through and through. This manga does a wonderful job of paying homage to the Ukiyo-e art style that took over in Edo Japan with more muted colors on the backgrounds and certain characters while having the focal point of a scene have vibrant colors that make the action filled panels really pop compared to everything else. Since Yokai and Oni in Japanese folklore are spirits rather than monsters, this story had Geralt fighting more sentient enemies than he is used to. The sentience of some creatures, and the effort to show how human they are, is often my favorite part of the games and novels and it was just as enjoyable here. The biggest knock against this story, is that I could not recommend it to anyone who is not a Witcher fan. There is not enough in this one volume to have an enjoyable story outside of the fact that it is referencing a story that has already been told. With no news of a volume 2 in over a year, it is more than likely that we will never see the retelling of Geralt’s adventures in ‘Witcher: Ronin’ making it just an enjoyable alternate universe piece for fans of Geralt and his not so merry adventures. 

Overall Score: 7/10