Breath of the Wild BotW Manga?

[Echolight]

Many Zelda titles have been adapted into manga. Twilight Princess is still currently being created, the eighth vol coming out in March this year. But what if they decided to draw a BotW manga series? With the openness of the world, it could go several directions, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

What do you think? Is it a good idea to make a BotW manga?

 

[twilitfalchion]

They’d have to work within a more focused narrative, picking and choosing specific plot bits from the game to condense the story’s size for the length of a manga, but I think it would work. And it could work really well, if they put the effort into it. I wouldn’t mind if they took creative liberties with it either.

I’d read it, definitely.

 

[Spirit]

I'm sure they'll make one eventually. They seem to be on a mission to do them all anyway.

I'm not a fan of the Zelda mangas I've read, they change far too much to the point where rhe story is barely similar and it bugs me. It wouldn't be so bad if their changes were to my tastes but I really don't like their decisions.

I imagine a BotW manga would be the same, I'd flip through it in a store but I'd not buy it.

 

[Princess Niki]

I think it would be interesting if they were to do it someday but I would rather have Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword first.

 

[Fraxinus]

As anime-style BotW is in its writing, molding it to linear storytelling in manga format might be extremely uncomfortable. You'd have to put a lot of narration to Link's aimless exploring as well, and probably give a bunch of random NPC interaction along the way so its not just 90% of Link running around murdering things. You think about how the other Zelda manga completely abridge dungeons to be mostly just fighting the boss, and you gotta wonder how they actually would handle exploration for BotW. I'm sure it's within consideration, but it'd probably be as weird as the A Link to the Past manga where they'd have to introduce an entirely separate sub-story in order to propel things forward organically.

I would likely get it as I do collect the Zelda manga, but I don't rush to get new publications of it.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I've never read any of the Zelda manga but I'd like to at some point. I think BotW would be pretty cool adapted to manga visually, but it'd be hard to fill in a plot when there are very few main characters who are alive. I'm sure they'd come up with something interesting though.

 

[Magolor04726]

It really depends. I would definitely consider reading it, but whether or not it would be good is hard to say. (Even if it's kind of bad, I'll probably still say it's good because I have a hard time saying anything bad about anything anyone else has made.)

 

[GrooseIsLoose]

I've tried all zelda manga and I dropped them 1/10 . They were all pretty bad, except for the TP manga which I rate a 4/10. Unless they find a good mangaka and a good plot, this will lead to a disappointment as well.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Zelda game plots don't really translate well into direct manga adaptation, but BotW's largely background storytelling especially doesn't seem like it would. Were I writing it, I'd create a new story within BotW's setting.

 

[Link&Midna]

I'm sure they'll make one eventually. They seem to be on a mission to do them all anyway.

Not really, the authors of the mainstream Zelda manga (Akira Himekawa) only wrote Twilight Princess because the fans were requesting it (there was a children's TP manga planned but it ended up getting cancelled, but since people still wanted one Himekawa approached Nintendo and asked for permission to make a more "edgy" version). Before then, they hadn't written a Zelda manga in 7 years, so there's no guarantee that they will continue to do so after TP (it's already complete in Japan, actually), especially considering TP only happened due to fans requesting it.

They also mentioned on their Instagram that they wanted to do a story with the dragon at the end of the MM manga (not sure what it would even be about because he died, like, right after he was introduced). But I'd love to see a BOTW manga regardless, or just any Zelda manga from them honestly.

 

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

I'm not very much of a manga person, but I have read a couple of the Zelda ones because Zelda. One thing that I've noticed is they have a tendency to just hop straight to dungeons without much in between. A BotW manga would be probably be different, with a larger space for exploration between goals. Less on the destination, more on the journey. I think that could be really cool, allowing more room for character depth/inflection and humor. It would be really interesting to see what'd they do with Link as a character, as he tries to discover who he is and where he is supposed to be.

 

[Hero-of-Time777]

I'm actually kind of nervous and scared about it. When I think about the things those mangaka can do to the characters, their relationships, the weird-ass random pairings they can make up (like Shad x Ilia in the Twilight Princess manga) ugh...it makes me feel like throwing up... I love the Breath of the Wild characters so much, they are sacred, and I have no hope, really, that the Himekawa manga version will honor them as such. The only Zelda manga I liked from them was that Skyward Sword one-shot in Hyrule Historia. That's it.

 

[Link&Midna]

I'm actually kind of nervous and scared about it. When I think about the things those mangaka can do to the characters, their relationships, the weird-ass random pairings they can make up (like Shad x Ilia in the Twilight Princess manga) ugh...it makes me feel like throwing up... I love the Breath of the Wild characters so much, they are sacred, and I have no hope, really, that the Himekawa manga version will honor them as such. The only Zelda manga I liked from them was that Skyward Sword one-shot in Hyrule Historia. That's it.

Regarding Shad and Ilia... I agree that was weird, but it was still only onesided and didn't end up being canon. I however still wasn't a fan of it because it really made Shad out to be kind of creepy instead of a likeable guy, plus since I was a hardcore Ilinka shipper at the time. I think it did make the book more interesting all things considered but it was kind of jarring so I see where you're coming from.

 

[Hero-of-Time777]

Regarding Shad and Ilia... I agree that was weird, but it was still only onesided and didn't end up being canon. I however still wasn't a fan of it because it really made Shad out to be kind of creepy instead of a likeable guy, plus since I was a hardcore Ilinka shipper at the time. I think it did make the book more interesting all things considered but it was kind of jarring so I see where you're coming from.

It's not that bad, just an example of what I mean by "random". I liked more Ilia's asspulled Beauty and the Beast relationship with King Bulblin. Him liking her is actually a good excuse to explain why Ilia was kept longer in the game and not dumped immediately in Kakariko like the other kidnapped kids. And it provides more motivation for Bulblin turning to the side of good at the end.

 

[Link&Midna]

I liked more Ilia's asspulled Beauty and the Beast relationship with King Bulblin. Him liking her is actually a good excuse to explain why Ilia was kept longer in the game and not dumped immediately in Kakariko like the other kidnapped kids. And it provides more motivation for Bulblin turning to the side of good at the end.

That was actually hilarious, it's one of my favorite scenes just because it's so goddamn funny. "What is this feeling I got when you touched me??!?!?" "It'S CaLLEd kIndNeSs" ROFL. But cheesiness aside I think their dynamic was pretty neat- and I like how it gave Ilia more of a role in the story. Bublia for life