Frau Faust vols. 1 & 2

Seven volumes in and Kore Yamazaki’s “The Ancient Magus’ Bride” remains one of the most entertaining titles I read.  It’s mix of excellent characterization, meticulous worldbuilding, and imaginative storytelling is something I continue to look forward to with each volume.  While you would think that the mangaka would have her hands full with this title alone, Yamazaki has also found the time to deliver another at the same time.  Her work ethic is commendable to be sure, but the main thing about these first two volumes of “Frau Faust” is how they show that B-grade Yamazaki still has its charms.

In case you’re wondering, the “Faust” bit of the title isn’t some cheeky allusion to the story about the man who sold his soul to the devil for wealth and power.  “Frau Faust” is a reinterpretation of that tale, positing that the Faust of legend was actually a woman who we’re introduced to right away.  No sooner has Johanna Faust arrived at a bustling rural village she finds out the local church is warded against her presence and encounters a young book thief.  After assisting him with a little sleight of hand, she finds out that his name is Marion and he was just trying to get back the books which originally belonged to his family.  Marion has the same kind of thirst for knowledge that Johanna does, which leads the two to an unlikely partnership as she enlists the boy in her quest to reassemble the demon she made a pact with all those years ago.

The biggest issue I have with this series so far is that the world it takes place in feels kind of slight.  I realize it’s probably unfair of me to compare this to the worldbuilding seen over in Yamazaki’s other series, but despite containing immortals and demons the world of “Frau Faust” feels quite ordinary.  You never really get the sense that there’s another secret and more dangerous world lurking beneath the surface of this one that the best stories about magic convey.  This world feels like the kind of late-Renaissance-era place I’ve seen in plenty of other works of fiction.  It just has a few more supernatural aspects to it than you’d expect.

What ultimately makes these first two volumes an engaging read are the characters themselves.  Though she may have sold her soul to a demon, Johanna is still a very lively and cunning presence.  She relishes the challenges that are placed before her and proves to be quite capable of overcoming them with a helping hand or two.  Sometimes the arm attached to said hand may need to be twisted a bit in order to be convinced to help out, but a woman who has made a pact with a demon has gotta do what a woman who has made a pact with a demon has gotta do.

Marion’s character is a familiar type who fulfills his role as the point-of-view character well enough.  He gets thrown into more interesting situations in the second volume so hopefully that’s a sign he’ll develop into a more interesting character as the series goes on.  More interesting are Nico, Johanna’s “daughter” who she created herself and the two church inquisitors, Vito and Lorenzo, who keep crossing paths with our protagonist.  Yamazaki clearly has plans for Lorenzo as he keeps finding himself in tricky situations with Johanna and Nico.  The inquisitor’s conviction that Johanna’s pact with a demon renders all of her work evil looks to be something that’s going to be chipped away at over the course of the series.

Johanna’s encounters wind up becoming more interesting with the second volume.  The first volume’s second story has her dealing with the consequences of an experiment from many years ago and that plays out about as you’d expect.  Vol. 2 has her coming across one of her demon’s parts in the possession of the church.  While a heist would seem to be in order, there’s also the matter of the many missing vagrants that the town has seen over the past few months and the sudden public appearance of the bishop’s daughter who was once gravely ill.  Not only do we get more insight into Johanna’s history but there’s also some delicious schadenfreude to be had as the church’s iniquities become apparent here.

Vol. 1 also contains a 35-page story unrelated to the title itself.  “The Invisible Museum” is about a young girl whose parents are recently divorced and who is looking for a part time job so she can move out.  One day on the way home from school she wanders by a mysterious museum that has no visible exhibits.  Before she can leave, its curator offers her the job of tracking down a missing butterfly.  She agrees to this only to find out that the job of butterfly catcher is slightly more life-threatening than initially advertised.

This reads like a one-shot that was meant to start off a series.  Not only does this tale capture the feeling of stepping into a strange new world better than the main story, it also manages to pack a surprising amount of depth into its protagonist, Asaki, as she confronts some hard truths about herself along the way.  It makes for a nice one-shot, though I’m not sure how well it would’ve fared as an ongoing series.  Repetition would set in fairly quick if it was just about Asaki tracking down the missing creature of the week.

So I’m glad Yamazaki decided to go with “Frau Faust” instead.  Its world may be fairly standard issue, but it’s inhabited by memorable characters with a strong protagonist and features some interesting stories too.  Particularly in the second volume as it leaves off on a cliffhanger that threatens to reveal some of the other forces standing in Johanna’s way.  It’s all worth checking out… after you’re caught up on “The Ancient Magus’ Bride,” of course.