The tale in this new form of Star Wars storytelling was really cool. Edge of Balance makes the silly plant villains actually terrifying! Edge of Balance brought in some new characters that were interesting and written well. The plot that was mysterious and intriguing! I look forward to Vol. 2!

This Manga receives a B+

Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #JourneyToTheFallenStar

Edge of Balance by Justina Ireland & Shima Shinya. Art by Mizuki Sakakibara.

Set in the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace Disaster it follows Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi as she comes to terms with her role within the Jedi and the intentions and limitations of the Jedi as a whole in the wake of such a displacing event. To really shake things up and grant Lily the necessary perspective; enter unruly and inquisitive younglings, suspicious refugees and a certain demonic and carnivorous breed of plant life....

It's worth noting that this is a Manga. A longform comic in the Japanese style. Having not read many before I was immediately bowled over by the art. It is stunning. Not only that but it conveys such a sense of place and life that I'd strongly recommend you check it out. It may not be essential narratively but you get a feel for what it's like to live as a jedi during High Republic era. Fans that were compelled by the portrayal of living under imperial rule in @ruckawriter 's Guardian of the Whills will have a sense of what I mean.

The characters stand out with defined and unique personalities, something that's absolutely necessary in a publishing initiative chock-full of so many strong players. Lily's turmoil is refreshingly open and earnest which is in keeping with the traditions of the format. I'd also like to point out how genuinely creepy it is at times, tapping into that same Children of the Corn and Invasion of the Body Snatchers influence that I pointed out in my review @cavanscottwriter 's Marvel High Republic series. The book also invokes Japan's fear and reverence for forests which I found highly effective.

Roll on volume 2!

Edge of Balance is a wonderful addition to the High Republic era that is a more intimate story separate from the larger threads that we've been following. Lily is an up-and-coming Jedi that is so preoccupied with sticking to the "rules" that she finds it hard to often trust her instincts and see the larger picture of it all. Her character arc that is not entirely dissimilar from some of her counterparts, such as Vernestra Rwoh, in that she wants to be the best there ever was, but she quickly learns it's the difficulties, not the successes, that help one grow the most. It's also great to see another Wookiee Jedi in the mix, and I'm really looking forward to how this story ties into the Starlight Beacon!

Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance, Vol 1, geschreven door Shima Shinya en Justina Ireland en geïllustreerd door Mizuki Sakakibara en Nezu Usugumo is de eerste manga die een nieuw Star Wars verhaal vertelt. Eerder zagen we van Yen Press al adaptaties van Lost Stars en Leia Princess of Alderaan, en van VIZ Media adaptaties van The Legends of Luke Skywalker en Guardians of the Whills. The Edge of Balance is een geheel nieuw verhaal dat zich in het High Republic tijdperk afspeelt.

We volgen Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi die helpt bij de herlocatie van inwoners van Ta-Klah, wat tijdens de Great Disaster vernietigd is, naar de afgelegen planeet Banchii. Samen met haar mentor Jedi Master Arkoff, Jedi archivist Ru-Ru, younglings Viv’nia en Nima, en haar padawan Keerin Fionn is Lily verantwoordelijk voor de Jedi Temple op Banchii en het dorp waar de vluchtelingen opgevangen worden. Maar al snel blijkt dat men op Banchii niet helemaal veilig is. In het dorp verdwijnen willekeurige spullen, en wanneer de Drengir aanvallen is het aan Lily en haar mede Jedi om iedereen te beschermen.

De manga’s van VIZ media zijn in tegenstelling tot die van Yen Press qua structuur heel westers opgebouwd, je leest ze ”gewoon” van links naar rechts en voor naar achter, maar visueel voelen ze helemaal als een traditionele manga. Dat wil zeggen dat alle pagina’s zwart-wit en met grijstinten getekend zijn, en dat de stijl van de illustraties een Japanse sfeer heeft. Het uiterlijk van Lily zou niet misstaan in andere verhalen die zich op Aarde afspelen en haar twee lightsabers zijn zwaar geïnspireerd door katana’s, met ronde cross guards die ze tegen haar heupen draagt zodat het lijkt alsof de twee zwaarden naast haar hangen.

Het verhaal in The Edge of Balance speelt zicht tijdens de grotere gebeurtenissen in the High Republic af maar staat er redelijk los van, we zien vijanden uit dezelfde groep en enkele bekende gezichten, maar het merendeel van de personages is nieuw en Banchii is afgelegen genoeg dat het een verhaal is dat op eigen benen staat en geen grote galactische consequenties heeft maar zich meer richt op de ontwikkeling van deze nieuwe personages.

Het artwork is erg indrukwekkend, de gezichtsuitdrukkingen spreken boekdelen, de personages zijn allemaal uniek en makkelijk van elkaar te onderscheiden en de achtergronden en omgevingen zijn ontzettend gedetailleerd zonder dat de panelen onoverzichtelijk worden, wat een uitdaging is bij zwart-wit illustraties. Gedachtes van personages staan niet in ballonnen maar zweven naast het personage wat verwarring met gesproken tekst onmogelijk maakt en wat het makkelijk maakt om snel te snappen wat er gaande is.

The Edge of Balance, Volume 1 telt ongeveer 140 pagina’s en sluit het eerste gedeelte van het verhaal af, maar laat een cliffhanger open voor Volume 2, wat volgens de planning in januari van volgend jaar gepubliceerd zal worden. Naast het hoofdverhaal worden we ook getrakteerd op een korter bonusverhaal getiteld ”The Banchiians”, waarin Lily en haar vrienden een mysterie proberen op te lossen waarbij ze kennis maken met de oorspronkelijke inwoners van Banchii. Dit super schattige verhaal is geïllustreerd door Nezu Usugumo en introduceert een nieuwe alien soort in de Star Wars wereld en is zeker het lezen waard.

The Edge of Balance is wat mij betreft een erg leuke toevoeging aan het High Republic verhaal, geen verplichte kost maar een interessant uitstapje met personages met diepgang. Ik kijk erg uit naar Volume 2 en kan Volume 1 zeker aanraden aan mensen die graag manga’s of comics lezen. En voor mensen die nog nooit eerder een stripverhaal gelezen hebben maar zich tot dusver goed vermaken met de High Republic publicaties is dit wellicht een leuke manier om kennis te maken met het medium.

Yet another wonderful installment into Star Wars' The High Republic! Lily is a Jedi helping to resettle refugees on Banchii after The Great Hyperspace Disaster when she is confronted with a terrifying threat!! This story was simple enough to easily follow, but also features important conversations about growth and duty, furthering the conversation on the Jedi's complexities in The High Republic. While this may not feel like an essential SWTHR read like the main novels, it definitely adds a valuable story to this time period and gives us exciting new characters I can't wait to follow!

The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Volume 1 – Manga Review

The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Volume 1 follows Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi as she helps run a Jedi outpost on a refugee planet following the Great Disaster!

The High Republic‘s first foray into manga is here with the wonderful first volume of The Edge of Balance! While this isn’t the first time Star Wars has branched out into the medium (see the classic manga adaptations of the Original Trilogy and The Phantom Menace as well as recent adaptations of animation like Rebels, books such as Guardians of the Whills, and Lost Stars for example), but this is the first time that new era of The High Republic has taken its turn in manga format. Once again teaming up with VIZ Media, responsible for the recent Star Wars manga output, the 144 page manga The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Volume 1 brings together talented writers Shima Shinya and Justina Ireland (A Test of Courage, Out of the Shadows) as well as art and character designs by Mizuki Sakakibara (Tiger & Bunny, Marvel’s Exiles). It also features a bonus chapter at the end of the volume written by Shima Shiny with storyboard by Mizuki Sakakibara and art from Nezu Usugumo!

Not long after the Great Disaster and the case of the Hyperspace Emergences by the Nihil that caused a catastrophic amount of damage to many planets and systems throughout the galaxy, we find Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi aboard a small starship accompanied by the Wookiee Jedi Master Arkoff. Their current task: to escort a group of refugees from the Great Disaster from the planet of Hon-Tallos to the nice farming planet of Banchii. The Jedi have also set up a temple outpost on Banchii to help with the displaced citizens of the galaxy. Along with Lily and Arkoff, the temple also serves as the home to Jedi Archivist Ru-Ru as well as Lily’s Padawan Keerin Fionn, and younglings Viv’nia and Nima training to become Padawans. After dropping off the new arrivals to the planet, Lily takes to training Keerin and the younglings as part of their daily routine, with Arkoff occasionally chiming in to deliver lessons to Lily herself as she continues to realize that despite being a Jedi Knight she still has much to learn. Not long after their arrival on Banchii, the younglings start to get restless as they know they’re “stuck” out on a farm planet while most of the other Jedi are either hunting down the feared Drengir or having a good time prepping for the upcoming Republic Fair. If it’s excitement and adventure they want, though, they don’t have far to look when the citizens of the planet come to them with tales of uprooted farmland, missing items, and the occasional broken potted plant. Being that it’s so close to harvest season, the Jedi decide to take a look around the forested surroundings to see if they can ascertain what’s going on. What they don’t notice immediately are the entities hidden in the land … watching, waiting, ready to strike at just the right time!

If I’m being quite honest, by the time I was around halfway through The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Volume 1 I had already deemed it one of the best High Republic stories so far. That was absolutely solidified by the end of the volume. Shinya and Ireland have crafted a classic tale of Star Wars adventure full of excitement, fun, and plenty of moments of learning. Getting to know the new people of Banchii and their society was a lot of fun, especially in a world full of massive established societies as this was still a relatively newer group of individuals learning to live new lives after being displaced by horrible circumstances. The action and mystery of the story doesn’t really kick in until closer to the second half, but when it does it actually becomes one of the most entertaining, selfless, and epic Jedi series of events ever put to page. Watching the Jedi of the Banchii temple work together and use their wits, as well as ability and trust in the Force, to overcome their obstacles is a wonderful spectacle that demands to be seen.

The most interesting part of this manga was following Lily on her daily training with the younger ones. She does a good job teaching her padawan and the two younglings, but it’s the constant learning that Lily does herself that makes the story so good. So often she teaches and stubbornly stays in her own thoughts and opinions, but Arkoff constantly pushes through her stubbornness to help her realize that she has much to learn and a lot of that learning can come from the questions and open mindedness of the younglings. Her thoughts on what it means to be a Jedi often have their boundaries pushed by the inquisitive nature of Viv’nia and Nima. If you’re a fan of the scene in Attack of the Clones where Yoda has the younglings help Obi-Wan look for his lost planet of Kamino then you will surely enjoy this book.

Mizuki Sakakibara’s character designs and art are just as wonderful as the writing of the manga. The designs at once feel both very obviously manga style characters, but also very obviously and beautifully rooted in the Star Wars universe. It’s a nice and unique look at the galaxy at large that feels just different enough from the movie, animation, and comics to set it as its own beautiful piece of Star Wars art. The main standout in the designs is most definitely Lily’s samurai inspired lightsaber hilts and how they fit into their holsters to look like sheathed samurai blades. Another very beautiful standout in this story is the way the lightsabers really dance across the page during use and battle, flowing across the panels like sweet wisps of wind.

Along with the characters, Sakakibara also knocks it out of the park with the stunning depictions of nature, farmland, and architecture of the ships and buildings that inhabit the world of Banchii, really making it stand as its own planet that will go on in time as a new staple in the galaxy. Avoiding specific spoilers, I’d also like to make a special shout out to just how stunning and gorgeous the creatures are that make a second half appearance. As a fan of creatures and monsters, Sakakibara has crafted one of my all time favorite designs in the overall Star Wars universe.

Last, but not least, following the roughly 120 page The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Volume 1, is the bonus chapter titled The Banchiians! It’s a short 20 page story that takes place sometime during the main volume of this book and follows Lily, her Padawan Keerin, and younglings Viv’nia and Nima as they search for answers to some of the village’s misfortunes and worries. They stumble upon a small cave full of traps, though not deadly at all and way too small to do damage, as they realize that the refugees are far from the only inhabitants of Banchii! It’s a very sweet, short, and incredibly cute story and a perfect way to end the first High Republic manga volume. With Shinya back on story and Sakakibara on storyboard detail, it’s Nezu Usugumo who takes up the mantle of art this time to create another unique and beautiful looking tale to accompany this wonderful book.

All in all, The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Vol. 1 is a beautiful, fun, intricately detailed, and very welcome addition to the High Republic family of stories and characters. It stands up proudly with the rest of the books and comics we’ve had so far and solidifies its place as part of the time period just as well as everything else so far. A nice ending, with a slight cliffhanger and a tease that the story will be continued in volume 2 leads this to be just the beginning of the story of these wonderful and fun characters living on Banchii and I can’t wait to see where it takes them next!

The High Republic: The Edge of Balance Vol. 1 is full of wonder, intrigue, and beautiful moments of teaching and learning as Lily and the rest of the Jedi outpost learn to live amongst the new citizens of Banchii in a post Great Disaster world! It’s a beautiful new story that demands to be read, so hop in your Jedi Vector and fly down to your local bookstore to pick up a copy today!

https://tatooinetimes.com/star-wars-reviews/the-high-republic-the-edge-of-balance-volume-1-manga-review/

Conclusion of my review: I love the multimedia storytelling in the High Republic - novels and comics for all age groups, VR games, audio dramas and now also manga. There's something for everybody and even though I'm lukewarm on the manga medium, Vol. 1 of THE EDGE OF BALANCE convinced me with its characters and its efficient worldbuilding. I'm already looking forward to Volume 2.

(Full review at blog)

As a manga reader, I’ve been hoping for an original Star Wars manga for years and it was definitely worth the wait! The characters are interesting, the setting is unique with so much potential, and I have a general feeling the story is going to be great. Mizuki Sakakibara’s artwork is flawless and I feel like the artwork suits the tone of the story very well. My only complaint is Edge of Balance isn’t structured like a normal manga (reads front to back rather than back to front,) which I understand could be because Edge of Balance may be an entry to manga for some audiences, but that’s one of the characteristics of manga I enjoy so I was a little disappointed in that aspect. Regardless, I’m excited for Volume II and can’t wait for its release next year!

It seems unbelievable that it took Star Wars this long to get an original manga story.

There have been adaptations of The Legend of Luke Skywalker, Leia: Princess of Alderaan,

Lost Stars and Guardians of the Whills, but Star Wars canon gets its first manga story designed for that specific medium with Shima Shinya and Justina Ireland’s The High Republic: The Edge of Balance.

Manga feels like a very natural fit for a Star Wars story. Beyond the Japanese roots of Star Wars itself, the medium allows for the same kind of dynamic movement we see in comic books, but with a unique visual style. Mizuki Sakakibara’s art lends a beautiful touch, visually conveying the balance the story finds between the philosophical aspects of communing with the Force, and the more action heavy side of things that we’ve come to expect from Star Wars.

Set initially after the Hyperspace Disaster, The Edge of Balance is focused not on the core worlds and the heart of the action as the novels are, but rather on the frontier world of Banchii, where settlers and refugees are being relocated in the hopes of starting over. Leading the resettlement effort is Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi. Accompanied by her Padawan Keerin, her mentor Master Arkoff, and two younglings named Viv’nia and Nima, Lily strives to maintain that balance between training the next generation of Jedi, and fulfilling her duty to the order, while also doing right by the people under her care.

Idyllic as Banchii may seem, it is not immune from the threats haunting the rest of the galaxy. Soon after arriving with the last of the settlers, the community is faced with a Drengir infestation and attack. Unable to figure out how the Drengir even got there, Lily spearheads an investigation, aided not only by the Jedi of the Banchii temple, but by newly-arrived settlement medic Dr. Silar. Also there to provide some insight is Master Stellan Gios, who stops by to shed some light on the issue, and bring news from the wider galaxy.

Character-wise, Stellan Gios is the only connective tissue between The Edge of Balanceand the rest of the High Republic. While I appreciate his presence on a personal level, I also acknowledge the strength of allowing this series to tell a story completely apart from the rest. This is the golden age of the Jedi after all. Why not branch out as far as possible?

As a protagonist, Lily Tora-Asi joins the ranks of some of the High Republic’s greats. Despite her young age, she consistently strives to do the best by those around her, pushing through her own trauma related to the Hyperspace Disaster. Though she wasn’t on Valo when the Nihil attacked, it’s hard to believe the weight of the lives lost won’t press on her in some way. Especially when they’re being related to her by Stellan, the Hero of Valo himself.

In a lot of ways, Lily is reminiscent of Vernestra Rwoh – another character of Ireland’s. It’s not just that both of them are very young, and are not only knights, but masters with padawans. It’s also not that they have extremely cool lightsaber designs (Lily wields two lightsabers with beautiful circular crossguards). Rather, it’s because both of them take on a very heavy burden of responsibility, their own needs taking a backseat to those who may have need of them. Many have expressed concern at Vernestra crashing and burning, and I’d venture to say we should worry about Lily as well.

Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger that answers as many questions as it brings up, connects the story to the conflict as a whole and makes the wait for volume 2 feel that much longer.

The Edge of Balance vol. 1 is available now.

Special thanks to Viz Media for the advance copy for review purposes.