Shattered memories... part one

Sup,

The year was 1998 and I was twelve years old. I went down to the local video shop and purchased a copy of 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' for my Nintendo64. Hell yeah! I remember being so excited about this game. It had been given so much hype you just couldn't help but be excited, and with good reason. This game had it all. Action, adventure, monsters, dungeons, sword fighting, saving the princess from the evil dark lord, and one of the most compelling story lines I have ever come across. I swear, over the years I have put more hours into Ocarina of Time than I have into any other game. I've completed it more times than I've watched all the Gundam series put together. I got all the bottles. I got all 100 golden Skulltulas. I defeated Ganondorf using the Gorons Hammer and wearing the Iron Boots.

Yes, like many gamers out there The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has a special place in my heart.

So the other week I was in the great British city of York and I just happen to stumble into a comic book store by the name of 'The Traveling Man'. To be honest, I was just browsing. Perusing the titles, not expecting much at all. Maybe a model kit, perhaps a new t-shirt, or maybe even a dvd or two. I wasn't prepared for what I found.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME - THE MANGA. Jesus Christ, talk about an impulse buy...

'Akira Himekawa' is the name of the manga company responsible for this abomination. It is made up of two women A. Honda and S. Nagano and I am quite sure that they have never even held an N64 controller, let alone played Ocarina of Time.

The protagonist of the Zelda series is the hero of time, known only as Link. He is himself a legend. One of the most memorable things about Link, other than his trademark green tunic and hat, is that Link has always been mute. He has never uttered a single word, unless you class those disgusting CDi games or that shocking late 80's cartoon. So it's reassuring to know that the two ladies did their research and gave Link a voice again, knowing that it had worked wonders for him in the past... Eugh...

Inside the cover one of the ladies writes:

'Link's adventure begins!! There are hardly ever any main characters that are so strong, cool and kind!...'

These qualities, among many others, come from the fact that Link has no voice. He never has had, so why oh why did they decide to change a winning formula? The voiceless hero is able to express himself via his little looks, his little gestures, his gasps and above all by his actions. Also, the fact that he is mute adds a sense of mystery to him, which in turn adds to the atmosphere. I'm sure this could of been achieved through comic panels. You know what they say, if its not broken...

The lady continues to write:

'...I poured lots of love (insert heart symbol) when I drew this manga!'

Insert lots of love? Hells bells. It's a cooking pot bubbling over with love. Now, I know that all the Zelda series, especially Ocarina of Time, has always had an underlying theme of love and romance. Everything does, from Stargate to King Kong, there will always be that ever present message of love. But that's not the sort of love I mean. So much 'love' has been poured onto this that it is cute. It is sickly cute. Ok, so it has been released by VizMedia on their VizKids label, but Christ, when was the Zelda series ever cute? Even 'The Wind Waker' on the Gamecube with its cartoon visuals and kooky humor was never 'cute'.
Don't get me wrong the art work is incredible. It's detailed beyond belief - at this point i'll have to take back what I said earlier about them not researching. The villages and towns have been lifted directly from the game. Items, weapons and characters look just like they should. But the whole thing has lost the darkness, the grittiness and the suspense that the game had. If I stopped playing the game I'd be on edge waiting for the next chance to play it. If I stopped reading and never went back to the novel then I really wouldn't care about the fate of Hyrule. It's been given a shot of 'that generic anime look'. And in doing so, parts of it look stupid.
I'm gonna leave part one here. In part two I'll be looking the length and the ways that such an epic adventure such as Ocarina of Time can be squashed down into two graphic novels. I'll also look at the actual story and some of the truly bizarre changes that have been made, and I'll take a look the similarities and differences that the manga has to the video game.

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