Noblesse
Today we shed the spotlight on an absolute classic: Noblesse, by Son Je Ho (story) and Lee Kwang Su (art). It’s an action-packed WebToon with various supernatural beings running the show. This mammoth of a series is completed (yay!) and ran for a staggering 543 episodes. Yes, you read that right.
Our hero, Cadis Etrama di Raizel (Rai, for short), just woke up after his 820-year-long nap. He is ready to begin his new life as a student in Ye Ran Academy, where his faithful friend and servant Frankenstein has been waiting and preparing for his return. Some human students befriend Rai and it seems like he might be able to enjoy the quiet, normal existence he wanted. Alas, unknown enemies from the so-called ‘Union’ alongside the kids’ proneness for finding themselves in trouble, quickly upset their peaceful days.
The story takes off on its own so I won’t spoil anything beyond this short intro for you. Obviously Rai and his servant ain’t exactly human if you catch my drift. There’s vampires, modified humans, and even werewolves. If supernatural action and absurdly intense fight scenes are your thing, you’re in luck, go binge this! It gets you super fired up.
The details
In all honesty, I cannot fathom how people managed to wait 11 years for this to finish. Thank whatever supreme being you worship it’s complete. Intense fight scenes and having to wait to find out who’s still alive? Way too painful. Frankenstein being awesome only to be cut off by a cliffhanger? Pure evil!
Side note, let’s take a moment to appreciate the humongous amount of work the creators put in to make this happen. They spent 11+ years working on this, that’s a damn long time.
When you consider its length, it’s not surprising how much the art changed throughout the series. Hands down, it’s one of the things that made a huge impression on me. Reading the whole thing in a few days makes the differences even more striking. From episode 1 to episode 50, and then to episode 500, the artist grew and improved his style so much. So, if the art in the first chapters throws you off, don’t worry, it literally gets better with every panel.
The characters were by far one of the strongest suits of this series. You’ll fall in love with them many times over before it’s finished, and come to appreciate all their quirks. From Rai and his ramen, to Frankenstein and his moments of deliciously unhinged monologues, it’s literally pure gold.
The verdict
Join in for the action! So many fight scenes! As you’d expect, each new arc brings new, stronger villains, and the stakes keep getting higher. The way the power-creep is justified, story-wise, actually makes sense, and is absolute HYPE. The baddies have distinct personalities and motivations instead of some vague must-take-over-world-be-evil-kill-stuff-aaaarghblarg.
The brand of offbeat humour in Noblesse was unexpected and absolutely brilliant. One of the things that gets played up for laughs a lot is the fact that Rai, having spent so long in slumber, doesn’t exactly *get* technology. Rai Vs Electronic Door, 0-5. You’ll come to recognise and love the trademark way the tone suddenly shifts from super high-stakes-serious to ridiculous and then back.
One thing to note, if you’re the type who needs romance in everything: this series does not oblige. We see some crushes but there’s no romance plot, subplot, or background smooching whatsoever.
The only negative thing I’ll note is the horrendous ‘official‘ translation. This is actually a common problem for the first batch of series that got translated when the English version launched, and Noblesse was among them. The good news: It’s not as bad as others, and it’s far from making it unreadable (like The Gamer). The bad: the constant mistakes do get grating and unfortunately, unlike the art, it doesn’t get better.
Overall, unless action is really not your cup of tea, I’d recommend to go binge this asap. Chrunchyroll seem to have an anime adaptation for Noblesse in the works, so get in ahead of the curve! Also, all I can say is finally, this WebToon screams animation material. Come back and comment to let me which RK member was your favourite later ;).
