Red-Haired Ash Reads

Wanted!
4 stars – It was really good

This is a western about a wanted criminal named Gill Bastar who has a high bounty because he keeps killing those who come after him. He only kills people who shoot at him first though so he believes the bounty is unwarranted. After being attacked by a bounty hunter and killing him, Gill finds himself being followed by the ghost of the bounty hunter. While at first it is just annoying, the ghost causes problems when he takes over Gill’s body and puts him in the path of the famous hitman Sino Phoenix, who has been hired to hunt Gill. 

I enjoyed this story a lot. It was a fun western story with a likable hero. I liked how he didn’t want to kill people and was just defending himself. He was goofy and fun as well, which made the whole story fun. 

Future Present from God
3 stars – I liked it

This is a story about Branco, a pickpocket, who finds out God is real and that he can influence your fate with a magical book and pen. This was an amusing story with God causing all kinds of problems for Branco and making a spelling error that almost caused a massive incident. 

Ikki Yako
3 stars – I liked it

This is the story of a cowardly monk named Ikki who is traveling trying to find his missing mentor. He instead meets a guardian deity of a temple and has to deal with a man-eating spirit. This was short and enjoyable, even if the ending reveal was a bit sad. I liked the cowardly monk who finally steps up in the end though. 

Monsters 
3 stars – I liked it

This was an interesting story about a missing dragon horn and a samurai who can defeat a dragon. Ryuma the samurai was an interesting character who just wants to eat a good meal and move on, but when he finds himself being accused of murder and summoning a dragon he fights to reveal the truth. I was not surprised by the twist in this because any character who looks like that is clearly shady. Overall, a very enjoy samurai monster story. 

Romance Dawn
4 stars – It was really good

This is one of the original Romance Dawn stories Oda wrote that is one of the prototypes for One Piece. This version has Luffy setting out to build a crew of peacemain pirates, aka pirates who go on adventures preying on the morganeer pirates who pillage and loot. Luffy meets Ann (who looks a lot like Nami) who has been captured by pirate captain Spiel the Hexagon because he wanted her bird. As you can imagine, this ends in a fight and Luffy wins with his rubber ability. 

I really enjoyed reading this early version of One Piece and seeing what has changed and what didn’t. Also this is a pretty contained story and ends in a way that more chapters aren’t necessary, which I think is surprising for an early OP story. 

*ARC provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.*

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