Aqua Knight, Vol. 2 Paperback – January 9, 2002

Another awesome story by Yuki to Kishiro.

In volume 1 of Aqua Knight we met Ashika, the young island boy, and Ruliya, an Aqua Knight. Ashika and the the mysterious sphere that powered the lighthouse were kidnapped by the insane Alcantara and his minions. Ruliya set out after them and encountered Tagmec, the knight of Parca (which seems to be a mythical land of the dead) who gave Ruliya the sword of Parca.The first third of volume 2 focuses on Ashika and his captors. It explains a little of their history, but mostly it just reinforces that Alcantara is a loon. The bulk of this volume focuses on Ruliya who is brought to Castle Zondac, which floats on the ocean in the middle of nowhere. Something about the castle puts Ruliya's mind in a haze and she can't remember her quest. We learn a bit about her history and her parents. Eventually she breaks the spell and must fight the demon knight Lord Basso, using the Sword of Parca in battle for the first time.The artwork is amazing. Yukito Kishiro's figures in motion are the best in the industry. The grayscale zipotone is used masterfully, better than any other black-and-white book out there, manga or otherwise.But the weak point is the pacing. Ashika, who I assumed was the main character, only gets half the space of Ruliya. This wouln't bother me so much if it were broken up, focussing on Ashika then Ruliya then Ashika again then Ruliya again, etc. But the bulk of the story is just one solid lump of Ruliya in the castle.I think that Kishiro sacrificed pacing for art. He focuses more on the pictures, using a lot of double page spreads and careful staging, and he lets the story get away from him. I felt this way when reading his seminal piece Battle Angel Alita, but it's more noticeable here where he follows multiple characters. I feel like the story could have been told just as effectively in less pages.But I could be wrong. Maybe everthing that Ruliya went through becomes important in volume 3.