Plunderer vol 1 by Suu Minazuki

As her mother is pulled into the abyss, Hina is given this task: find the Fabled Ace, a war hero from centuries ago, and give him an orb with great power. Hina spends the next several years walking all over known creation looking for him.  This helps her with her "count" - the magical number emblazoned on everyone that goes up or down depending on what they do.  Everyone has a different reason for their count going up, and Hina gets hers to go up by walking.  Despite having walked across the world, Hina is still very sheltered when it comes to the way thing work.  When a man in a cafe tries to swindle her of her count and the orb her mother left her, who else comes to her rescue but the Fabled Ace she's been searching for! But, aside from saving her, Licht is not as altruistic as she hoped he would be.  

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The mechanic of Counts in this story gives this world a unique element, and it was fun to figure out what each character's count was for.  However, this title has lots of fan service (gratuitous shots of girls' bodies), and the Fabled Ace is a bit of a horndog who likes to stick his face between ladies' legs at any opportunity. So far, there is no nudity, so the inappropriateness just extends to actions and illustrations.  Despite this, there are plenty of little mysteries and hints at character depth that could lead into a much more developed world as the series progresses.The end of this volume becomes more serious with Licht and a few more characters where we delve into the history of the world, some of the conflicts that landed us where we are now, and they mystery of The Abyss, which is not actually known to kill those it swallows.  I have a hunch that as we continue, the horndoggedness might get phased out more, but the illustrative fan-service might be here to stay.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Tags: Rating: 7/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Fantasy