Lemuria - the Empire of the Dead - - Ch. 1 - Catacombs of Burnt Offerings

[MangaDex]

 

[Momoehab]

Sorry for the poor quality...
I wasn't able to get better raws

 

[slysmy]

Sorry for the poor quality...
I wasn't able to get better raws

atleast it's readable unlike some other mangas i've seen...

anyway, this has potential, bookmarked.

 

[Ernergeycey]

i thought the mc was gonna think that the moon is a giant glowing food

 

[Ernergeycey]

Very interesting manga

 

[nueee]

Sankyu

 

[arkhangelzk]

Dark souls III fr, bro about to become the ashen one

 

[IdidNineEleven]

"I can't leave her behind in a place like this." What worth has her behind to you, hmm? O_O

This first chapter has nothing. Isekai manga normally explain and justify theirselves in the first chapter, which I think defines "Isekai" as a stereotype. In lacking that this manga is refreshing. But it merely removed Isekai's hook, failing to replace it. This first chapter needed more exposition. Not written or explained, but shown through course of the crypt. Why is the crypt to bright? There is a lack of shading on each page, the candles are like rocket engines. Why is the crypt so clean? There is a lack of texturing on the walls (Where is the noble cobweb? And the humble clump of dirt?) or at least the different pov of each panel fails to express the crypt. Maybe the crypt really is supposed to be clean? Why do the walls change from plain unplaned stone to brick? Where does this change occur? Why were there so many buckets beside the fountain if there are only undead lumbering about?

But now our protagonist is out of the crypt and into the woods, so the appearance (which makes the difference between manga a short story [or "LN") was just a facade. Even if you don't bother with its textual lore, Exanima did the same thing but better. Another user mentioned DaSIII. Could you imagine if the Undead Asylum of Dark Souls 1 was unnamed, unlored, and without the tutorial boss? That's what happened here, except you don't get to enjoy being the protagonist.

 

[74HC595]

But it merely removed Isekai's hook, failing to replace it

I see your point. I was hoping this might be closer to a grimdark fantasy (e.g. Berserk, Ubel Blatt) but he mentions hamburgers. I see many isekai stories that would be far better if the isekai wasn’t there at all, just make it a traditional fantasy setting. It seems like isekai is used to make the main character and his morality more relatable, if not to provide otherworldly knowledge. It just goes to show a lack of creativity in designing a setting whereby the main character’s morality can differ from those around him.

As for the lack of exposition, that isn’t necessarily a problem. If the author wants to leave the setting open-ended and leave us only with diegetic world-building, that can be fine. Great even, take something like Blame. But for that to work, the setting must still be finely crafted. No exposition shouldn't be because the world doesn’t have much to describe, but rather in spite of having much to describe.

Being out in the woods does feel like it’s leading to a more typical isekai or fantasy setting. Maybe it’s leading to a proper grimdark setting instead, but my hopes aren’t up there. On the other hand, being stuck in the crypt/dungeon is a litRPG trend that’s arguably even worse than the isekai demon king setup. Though without litRPG elements like levels and skills maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Damn why is it so hard to make a unique story instead of blending into the sea of forgettable cliched slop?

 

[IdidNineEleven]

Damn why is it so hard to make a unique story instead of blending into the sea of forgettable cliched slop?

I read Yani Neko recently and it supposed that writers use templates when writing "LNs" when making fun of one of its (Yani Neko's) characters. These writers put out as many of whats marketable as possible in order to increase their chances of randomly scoring a reader, or even better, randomly writing something good and becoming renowned. In other words it's a hustle. But compared to Uber or Doordash, these writers are dealing with art, so it is also grift. In making fun of the one character, Yani Neko has another, a mangaka, to look down on the grifter/hustler (or at least allow the reader to do so), dividing the market of manga into these ill-made "forgotten cliched slop" that largely descend from "Light Novels" on the one hand, and the sensibly written, morally superiour (<--this was somewhat sarcastic) manga on the other. I think there's also something to be said about the LN as a medium. They are written like scripts for something else, but also like a journal or one's diary. It's like they're written for the off-chance that they'll be adapted into something greater, probably manga. Or that could just come from how Japanese is as a language and it reads better for them than it does for me. Blah blah blah. This mangaka character works at home, making a part of it into their studio for production, while the template user commutes there to work part-time. This mirrors LNs and manga the products. Manga is consumed at home, and LNs are consumed while commuting on a train or at work or school, and so on. The last page on this upload says the same, "Vagrant Manga Label."