The Bottom Line
A hunky soldier encounters a Nephilim and discovers its secret: By day, it's a boy, by night it takes on its true female form. Trouble is, now that he's seen Abel the Nephilim, Guy is next up on Abel's "must-kill" list.
The whole male / female identity dichotomy, a disappearing race of warriors with Biblical roots, a civil war and the constant threat of death are all fertile grounds for drama and character development, but Hamasaki instead settles for gratuitous fanservice for female readers and plot holes that you could drive a semi-truck through.
Pros
- Fairly nice artwork with lots of attractive male and female characters
- A mix of fantasy and adventure with lots of romantic sizzle and a touch of humor
Cons
- Some of the romance scenes seem gratuitously sexual and inadvertently silly
- Abel never seems plausible as a warrior, even in his male form
- Political subplot seems incidental and never very engaging
Description
- Original Title: Nephilim (Japan)
- Author & Artist: Anna Hamasaki
- Publishers:
Aurora Publishing (US)
Asashi Sonorama Co. Ltd. / Asahi Shimbun (Japan) - ISBN: 978-1934496152
- Cover Price: $10.95 US
- Age Rating:
OT – Older Teens, Age 16+
for violence, sexually suggestive situations
More about content ratings. - Manga Genres:
- Shojo (Girls) Manga
- Romance
- Fantasy / Magic
- Action / Adventure
- US Publication Date: May 2008
Japan Publication Date: 2005 - Book Description: 192 pages, black and white illustrations
Guide Review - Nephilim Volume 1
A mysterious tribe of warriors are distinguished by a single, striking characteristic: they are male by day and female by night. So when dashing Imperial soldier Guyfeis encounters Abel the Nephilim bathing by moonlight, he's bewitched by the nude nymph's feminine beauty. Unfortunately, all Nephilim live by a solemn rule: They must kill anyone who sees them in their true form.
So while Guy continues on his way, he's followed by Abel, who keeps telling him that she's going to kill him. But it's pretty much all talk, since Abel fails at her mission over and over again. I started to wonder how the Nephilim earned a reputation as fierce and cunning warriors when Abel comes across as so weak and so easily defeated in both her male and female form.
That's just one of many implausible plot holes that you'll endure when you read Nephilim Volume 1. Hamasaki seems to care very little that her story has sloppy pacing and shallow character development. Potentially fertile ground for drama, such as a civil war, the tragic history of the Nephilim and Abel's male / female identities are treated as incidental, rather than pivotal elements of the story. There are brief flashes of humor, but the only thing that matters is stringing together scenes that will lead to the next sexually-charged encounter between Guy and Abel.
It's not enough for Guy to rescue Abel from a situation where she's lost her clothes (oopsy), he has to drag her back to his room and tie her to the bed (double oopsy). Add in gratuitous bare chest shots and Guy making bedroom eyes on every other page and you've pretty much got paint-by-numbers fanservice for femmes.
Given all the male-centric fanservice out there, it Nephilim is at least appealing to female fans, but equal opportunity pandering at the expense of plot is still pandering. Strictly for fans of bodice-ripping fantasy.
