Prince Freya vol 2 by Keiko Ishihara

Volume two picks up right where we left off, with Freya continuing her pursuit of the carriage escaping her castle.  She finds a terrible passenger inside. Mikal, one of the prince's royal guards, tries to save his prince (Freya) and is astonished at how good natured the prince (Freya) is about everything, having had previous run-ins with accidentally getting dirt on the prince and not having a favorable outcome. A scuffle in the forest forces Freya to overcome her fear of swords and wounding others. The group of royal guards comes to the castle of Lord Lars, a smarmy, severe man. Here, Freya befriends a scullery maid, and comes to her rescue when her integrity, and life, are questioned. It turns out, the entire thing was a distraction to pull Freya’s attention away from an invading force at a nearby fort. Freya and her retinue rush off to offer any assistance to the soldiers as they can, but this decision proves to have dire consequences for Freya.

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This series exists to rip my heart our, I’m pretty sure. The cliffhangers between chapters and volumes succeed at setting up emotionally provocative situations, and readers will demand the next volume.  Freya has had a tremendous amount of growth as a character over these two volumes, mainly because of all the terrible situations Ishihara keeps putting her into.  The permanence of events has this series more akin to Game of Thrones, and might be a nice manga recommendation for anyone into that type of epic fantasy. There is one scene in this volume with Freya in the bath, but her nakedness is not detailed, and nothing lewd happens. 

The art in volume two continues to be detailed and beautiful.  Scenes are drawn with great care, and character designs are quality.

VIZ rates this as Teen Plus for violence and death.  There is a bit of blood and dismemberment when the fighting does happen, and the mangaka doesn't shy away from killing off characters on the page, rather than off page as is normal for less violent series.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Fantasy, War