Manga Review: Magus of the Library 1 by Mitsu Izumi
On a fantasy world with a vaguely “Middle Eastern” culture, the invention of the printing press was relatively recent, so public libraries themselves are a new and exciting thing. The village of Amun has only had a library for a few years, the merchant Ossei Menes becoming its caretaker for the prestige it gives him. Unfortunately, Amun is also large enough to have a “slum” where the poor people live, and Mr. Menes has banned slum-dwellers from using the library.
One particular slum-dweller who would very much like to use the library is the boy we will come to know as Theo Fumis. He has unusually pale skin and hair for the region, and most notably long, pointed ears unlike anyone else in town. His sister Tifa works multiple jobs to afford the fees for sending Theo to the local school, but the other students bully him for his appearance and poverty. The other slum children bully Theo for his appearance and because he’s going to school rather than having to work menial jobs like them.
Things change when four kafna (librarians) arrive from the Central Library in the great city of Aftzaak. One of them, Sedona, takes a personal interest in the unusual boy. Theo shows a love of books, some rare talents, and when a crisis arrives, courage. He is rewarded with newfound respect by the townsfolk, access to the library won for all slum-dwellers, and an invitation to come to Aftzaak when he’s old enough. Years pass, and he is finally ready to head off, for this is his story, the tale of the Magus of the library!
The major motif of the story is the love of books and library work. We get lessons in how books were invented and their proper care and repair. But at a deeper level, the story is about the ills of prejudice and the joys of different people working together. The most popular adventure novel series in-universe is Shagrazzat the Pirate, which is basically One Piece localized to their world. The Central Library promotes the series because it shows diverse people from all over the world working together towards their goals.
Ossei Menes is the antagonist in this volume because of his prejudices against children (excepting his daughter, but only when she is obedient), the poor, and people of other ethnicities. For the last, he claims that he’s not against such people because of hate, but because when ethnicities mix, there’s friction and trouble so it’s best if they’re apart. He also is too concerned with his own prestige, causing him to make a dangerous purchase for bragging rights. By the end of the prologue, he’s willing to admit that he was wrong about Theo, at least.
The art is very nice, with some lovely shadow puppet effects from time to time.
There’s also a bit of metafiction going on. The manga is supposedly an adaptation of an in-universe biography of Theo written years later, then translated into Japanese. Not sure if that’s going to be relevant later.
This volume tells a mostly self-contained story, and future installments will be very different in setting, if not tone
Content note: ethnic prejudice, bullying. Fourth-graders on up should be fine, but might need a little vocabulary help. Future volumes apparently will be more appropriate for middle-schoolers up.
Recommended for youngsters who love books and reading.
