Title: Reign of the Seven Spellblades Vol. 8
Author: Sakae Esuno, Bokuto Uno (Story), Ruria Miyuki (Characters)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 196
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Final Thoughts
In the previous volume’s review, I said there were many directions that this story could go… apparently, the direction chosen is the ending to the manga adaptation because welcome to the final volume of the Reign of the Seven Spellblades manga! That, honestly, came out of nowhere. I was expecting it to continue considering the light novel is still ongoing! Either that or I wasn’t truly paying attention but I would have thought this series would have stuck around for a lot longer than 8 volumes.
Be that as it may, I’ll leave the final volume for you all to read. Still, if you’ve been reading until now, you’ll know that they need to deal with Ophelia. There is character development for her as we see a bit of her origins, her relationship to Godfry and Carlos, why she decided to create her ultimate spell and fulfill the ultimate purpose of a mage (and we do see what that is… albeit… weird…). So, at least we got some backfill for her story before we wrapped things up.
Overall, I will say that this series was decent but cut short and, therefore, wasted so much potential. It’s called Reign of the SEVEN Spellblades and we haven’t even seen all seven of them. Oliver only got enough development to make him very intriguing but we never truly got the see the full potential of the character. The same could be said with the rest of the cast as well. Clearly, there is way more story to tell about Kimberly Academy; however, it appears that you will need to stick to the light novels to keep learning about this world.
I liked how it introduced us to Kimberly, gave off an anime-style Harry Potter vibe, and then twisted it into its own thing. Having some of the students be corrupt, the entire mythos of the underground beneath the academy, the forbidden acts carried out there, the goals of some of the teachers, and more… it all built this world where almost every character has their own agenda and Kimberly Academy was just the breeding ground to carry them out. As seen with Ophelia, she had her agenda set in stone with her past fueling it. Her power was more than just a curse to anyone who inhaled her scent… it was a curse for her that led her down this path.
Still, When I think back to the entirety of the series, I can remember fondly all of the good moments we experienced but that makes it twice as painful to know that it will not continue… at least in manga form. Sometimes, this is how it goes and a series ends up abruptly; however, it’s normally reserved for spinoffs (I’m looking at you That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation). Typically, a manga adaptation of a light novel or an original anime will continue until the source is covered… or at least covered enough. To halt it so soon makes me wonder what happened.
I truly enjoyed what we got; however, because of the nature of things, I cannot recommend this simply because it’s WAY incomplete. Because it stopped where it did, it leaves too many unanswered questions and, as such, it seems like the manga is just a sales tool for the light novel rather than an alternative way to experience and enjoy the story. Typically, that’s the anime adaptation’s job… to sell the source material. While, yes, I do want to know what happens afterward, unfortunately, my life doesn’t afford me the time to sit and read light novels. They take WAY longer to read and review than a volume of manga which is why I do so very few light novel reviews. This was supposed to be the perfect way for me to enjoy the story and, sorry to say, because it was cut short, I didn’t get what I was hoping for overall.
But again, what I did get, I enjoyed so I’m going to give this series two scores.
Score for What We Got: 3.75 / 5
Score for the Overall Package and Leaving us Hanging: 1.75 / 5
Overall Average Score: 2.75 / 5
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