Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok

[ShiroiHikari]

ADV has brought this manga to the States recently. is anyone else reading it?

[antefurem]

I want to~!

Loki is so adorably creepy... and who can resist Yamino... And Freyr... na-no-da!

Consider me one of the waiting for this manga to show up in the bookstore.

[Debitt]

*points to avatar* ^___^ I iz Heimdall fangirl. I have the manga in Japanese, but I'm not the greatest at reading them, so I don't have a very firms grasp on the manga's story, especially since the anime and the manga are different. @_@; Nontheless, I'm excited that they're bringing it to the States, MLR is uber kawaii!

[Spiritsword]

Hmm...kind of an old thread to bring back, but better than starting a new one. I've been reading Loki Rangnarok and vastly enjoying it--I own volumes 1 and 2 in English and bought 3 in Japanese just to look at the pretty pictures.

So now that it's out here in the US, has anybody been reading it? What do you think? For me, the best part by far is the artwork--so completely cute it's mind-numbing.

Any favorite characters, those who have read it? I like the three goddesses of fate: Skuld, Urd, Verdandi.

[Kawaiikneko]

Is there a series before it? Because I bought the first volume, read half of it and still had no clue what was going on. Its like they expected you to know the characters already...

[Spiritsword]

Yes, I'm pretty certain there was a series before it that was not released in the US. And I agree, it was difficult to get a feel for the characters that kept popping up. After two volumes I'm getting a better sense of it. Knowing some Norse mythology beforehand helped too.

We need our resident Sakura Kinoshita fangirl, Kokoro, to show up and give us details on the previous series!

[Kawaiikneko]

If I just had the name I could track it down online... *shifty eyes*

[Spiritsword]

I believe the first was simply Matantei Loki.

[Kawaiikneko]

ah thanks ^^ *zooms off*

[Debitt]

\^o^/ Yay, the Loki thread is revived! <3

Spiritsword is most correct - the first series, Matantei Loki, was originally published by Square-Enix/GanGan comics (even though recently Comic Blade has gotten the rights to publish Matantei Loki - hence, MLR is published with spiffy black covers while ML has spiffy white covers)...I still don't think they should have released the 2nd series before the first. =o= Fools.

At any rate, if you want a firmer grasp of what's going on in the 2nd series, maybe try looking into the MaLoki anime - I think they're releasing it sometime in the very near future. (I can't wait! x3) It isn't exactly like the manga, but it does give you the basic relationships between the characters and such, which is what I gather makes picking up the 2nd half of the manga so confusing. ^^;

As for characters...I'll always love Heimdall. He's such a creepy little psycho, it's hard not to appreciate his madness, though I'm also quite partial to Loki and Narukami-kun. x3

EDIT: decided to do a basic...character chart thingy. XD; There may be spoilers below, but I tried not to give away anything that wasn't already in the first 2 volumes of MLR.

Loki: Main character, banished to Earth (why Japan of all places still escapes me. XD; ) by Odin for reasons that I believe are revealed in the last book of the series. He runs the Enjaku Detective Agency...and his shikigami (the small pink floaty thing that follows him around) is called either Ecchan or Punyan-san (NOT Pmeow...how do you even SAY that? o_O)

Mayura: a girl who's obsessed with mysteries and detectives who follows Loki around and admires his detective skills. She's annoying and air-headed, but she's got a good heart. I think. She's not in any way related to Norse mythology, she's just there to look cute. XD Everyone likes her, and Freyr wants to take her as his bride. Freyr doesn't know what he's getting himself into.

Yamino-kun: Loki's attendant/butler/chauffer/cook/maid. [spoiler]Yamino is the Midgard Serpent Jormungand in disguise, Loki's 2nd son. In Norse mythology, the Midgard Serpent was chained underneath the sea, and there grew large enough to encircle the earth.[/spoiler]

Narukami-kun: The Norse god Thor. In the first series Narukami was originally sent by Odin to assassinate Loki, but decided against it when he realized that Loki wasn't evil - In Norse mythology, before Loki grew evil and was chained by Odin, he and Thor were close friends and there are quite a few stories of heroic deeds they preformed together. In both the manga and the anime, Narukami-kun gets trapped on earth and ends up attending high school, living in a one room apartment, and taking up countless part time jobs.

Heimdall: Heimdall was also sent by Odin to assassinate Loki, but unlike Narukami-kun he doesn't really have any intentions of giving up. Heimdall blames Loki for the loss of his right eye (note in Norse mythology it's Odin that has one eye and not Heimdall, and Odin's eye wasn't stolen by Loki) and wants revenge. Lots of revenge. Heimdall is freaking insane, lives with Freyr, and goes by the alias Higashiyama Kazumi (obviously a tribute to Higashiyama Kazuko, the co-author of Tactics).

Freyr: Freyr too was sent to kill Loki, and like Heimdall wishes to do it out of revenge for his sister Freya, who was also banished to Earth after she attempted to stand up for Loki. In the first series Freyr decides that, since Loki is a detective, he should be the natural enemy of a detective - a phantom thief (kaitou). Freyr isn't very bright. He has a flying mechanical pig named Gullinburusti (a golden boar given to him by the dwarves in Norse mythology) and a large flying ship that has a name that escapes me at the moment. XD;

Freya/Reiya: As afforementioned, Freya was also banished to earth in the form of a little girl. But unlike Loki, as her child form, Reiya, Freya has no memory of her position as a goddess. She does, however, frequently transform back into her adult self to go chase Loki about, attempt to wed the poor detective, and try to hitch cats to sleds.

I'll post more about Odin, Spica, the Norns, Hel, Fenrir, and Utgard-sama later. XD;

[Spiritsword]

Yay! It's Kokoro! I was waiting for our resident Sakura Kinoshita fangirl to come and bail me out with her vast knowledge. Thanks Kokoro! Those character synopses are great--as I missed the first series I've been able to fill in some blanks but your info helps a lot. Norse mythology is extremely interesting to me to begin with, and with the added cuteness of Sakura Kinoshita's art it makes this an awesome and intriguing series. That is very cool that the anime is going to be released. I'm definitely going to have to check it out.

Freya and her cat sleigh cracks me up.

[Debitt]

XD; I rather liked Loki in the cat sleigh as well. "Loki-sama...what are you doing?!"

Funny thing is...I had a slight interest in Norse mythology before Loki. But I shamefully admit that after seeing the anime series and reading the manga, I went online and read everything I could find about it. Which actually cleared up a few questions I had about the series, so happy day! ^o^/

As promised, info about the characters I forgot to mention in the last post. Lots of spoilers, probably.

Fenrir: Fenrir is the small black dog that lives at the Enjaku Detective Agency and pals around with Ecchan. He's Loki's eldest son, and in his true form he's an enormous wolf. Fenrir was previously chained by links (whose name escapes me) that cannot be broken. [spoiler]However, Hel, Loki's daughter, frees him before he appears in the series.[/spoiler] Fenrir has a bit of a father complex. He's a perfect angel when around Loki, but in Loki's absence he's a spoiled brat who revels in his ability to pick on Jormungand.

Hel: Hel is Loki's daughter and the youngest of his three children. In Norse mythology she is a half dead/rotting, half living woman who is the ruler of the "underworld", Niffelheim. XD; Luckily in MaLoki she appears to be 100% living. Hel first appears when she attempts to murder Loki, whom she claims abandoned her.

The Norns: The Norns are the three goddesses of fate and destiny. Urd, the eldest, presides over the past. Verdandi, the middle sister, presides over the present and has the ability to harnass the power of alchemy. Skuld, the youngest, presides over the future and has the ability to summon and command monsters. Skuld also happens to have a slight fangirl crush on Loki. Which is kinda weird. o.O The Norns were also sent by Odin to assassinate Loki - I think they give it the most tries too, but obviously don't succeed.

Odin: In Norse mythology, Odin is called the All-Father, and could probably be best equated to the Zeus of Greek mythology. In MaLoki he appears as a long-haired, incredibly vindictive god with one white eye who wants Loki out of the way. Badly. He also has a nasty habit of playing off the other god's weaknesses to get what he wants. Odin first physically appears in vol. 3, so there's not much more I can say about him. =3

Spica: One of Loki's wives (he had 2 in mythology, but the other one seems nonexistant in MaLoki), Spica's real name is Angrboda, and she's the mother of Loki's 3 children. She first appeared in the Ragnarok series, so there's not much else known about her at this point. =3 But things get interesting.

Utgard-sama: Utgard Loki is Loki's silver-haired double and the king of the giants (odd, since he's about as tall as Loki. XD; ). In mythology I believe he and Loki were two different beings, however in MaLoki, Utgard-sama is Loki's past self. He also makes his first appearance in the Ragnarok series, but things get interesting with him, too.

Kotarou/Kou-chan: Kotarou is Mayura's extremely rich and good-looking friend from school who likes pretty girls. A lot. He really doesn't have anything to do with mythology, but he's there. XD;

[Spiritsword]

Wow, thanks again for the great character synopses, Kokoro! You're awesome!

And the info on Norse mythology is fun too.

[Kami]

O_O WOW. Thanks Kokoro-sama ! ^_^ I had read MaLokiRagnarok and -Kinda- got it, but I got mad seeing as that was the 2nd series and everyone would've understood better about the characters. Now I understand everything ! XD Thanks !

-Kami

[Debitt]

*bows* ^.^ you're all very welcome~

[mechana2015]

I'm now thinking of startng on this series...

[Debitt]

If anyone's interested, I've found a liscensing company based in Singapore that's publishing BOTH Loki series in English.

http://www.chuangyi.com.sg/english/index.htm

It's legit, it's just based out of a different country. ^_^ Right now they have Matantei Loki books 1-3 released, and the entire Matantei Loki Ragnarok series. I'm definitely switching from ADV, since the release date for MLR vol. 3 is now DECEMBER instead of the orignal JULY release date. >/ *stomps off grumbling about stupid ADV*

[Spiritsword]

Thanks for the tip, Kokoro! Yes, it seems like the Ragnarok series is being released very slowly over here in the US. Maybe I should look into this other company, but I'd like to know how good the translations are. Let me know if you preview them.

[Debitt]

I have ADV's translation and the Japanese version of MLR vol. 1 sitting in front of me right now as I look over the previews on this site. From what I can tell so far, they're on par with ADV, though I've heard that some of their translations are better. XD; Unfortunately it doesn't look like they left the honorifics in. Ah well. </Japanese nerd>

[Spiritsword]

Cool, thanks Kokoro. Yeah, it would be nice if the honorifics were in there, but if the translation's on par with ADV's version that sounds pretty good to me.