Set in a Japanese middle school (equivalent to junior high in the US) during the nineties, Magic: the Gathering is a hot 
 new card game. Hajime Kano plays in every spare moment between his studies. He’s determined to be the best. Best in his class. Best at Magic: the Gathering. But his school rival, Emi Sawatari retains the top spot in school! When Hajime travels to a new game store, he’s horrified to find Emi there playing Magic and dominating the competition. He challenges her to a three-round game. He quickly wins the first round, but after swapping cards with her sideboard, Emi wins the second round. They don’t start the tie breaking round though because Hajime dropped a die, and they both dive under the table to retrieve it and touch hands. Embarrassed, Emi rushes out of the shop, leaving her deck behind.
When Hajime tries to return her deck at school, Emi freaks out and asks if he told anyone she was at the game store or that she plays. Turns out, she doesn’t want anyone to know because she thinks it will ruin her respected honor student persona, so she plays in secret. It isn’t long before Hajime challenges her to a rematch, and their competition is renewed. The rest of the book features their growing relationship while explaining some of Magic’s metagame information.
Although Magic: the Gathering was first released in 1993, it wasn’t released in Japanese until 1996 with the set Fourth Edition. So, this story is set shortly after that in 1998. I know a little bit about early Magic history and the metagame, but not a lot of specifics. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the story. So often, a story about a fantasy-based game will take on those fantastical elements; however, there was none of that in this story. Except for the occasional illustrative flare to make a scene more dramatic!
The energy and excitement of the characters felt real, and the author and illustrator both did a fantastic job capturing the intensity of those emotions throughout. The black and white illustrations were nicely detailed and made good use of shading and texture to give each panel depth. It was a little harder to recognize the colors of cards, which is essential to gameplay, but overall, the dialogue made it clear what was happening. I also liked that they were able to utilize the original art and design of the cards to make it feel more authentic.
Outside of the card game, this felt like a rivals-to-friends romcom. From hardcore nerds into Magic history and metagaming to slice of life readers, this series will appeal to a wide range of readers and would do well in high school and public libraries.
Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga Vol. 01
By Katsura Ise
Art by Takuma Yokota
VIZ, 2024
ISBN: 9781974747214
Company Age Rating:Â Teen Plus
Related media:Â Game to Comic
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
