Metaphor: ReFantazio’s manga adaptation is weirdly different — and comedic

As soon as I saw Metaphor: ReFantazio was getting a manga adaptation, I figured this would be a good option for folks who don’t have the time or patience to play an RPG that could easily take 80 hours to complete (or in my case, well over 100 hours, what with all the side quests I embarked upon). But based on the first issue, which you can read for free on Manga Plus, this adaptation is going to be a lot… sillier.

It’s not just that the manga makes several changes to the story, but there’s that too. The whole tone of the book is different. After the initial sense of whiplash, I decided I liked it, but it does require some mental adjustment. In the game, the main character often speaks with a strange sense of formality and emotional distance; he’s one of the least developed characters in the game, which makes sense, as he’s a cypher onto which the player can project themselves easily. That’s pretty classic for a video game.

In the manga, I was shocked to see the main character saying “shut up” to his fairy friend Gallica right out of the gate. Harsh! He turns out to be more goofball than jerk, though, with tons of vibrant facial expressions and little quips that the protagonist of the game never had.

The biggest change in the book is to Strohl’s character. In the game, he’s almost as understated and withdrawn as the protagonist; he’s a noble who has lost his lands and family, but still believes in the idea of nobility and living up to it. The manga turns that thinly sketched concept into comedic caricature, having Strohl constantly shout at people that his noble blood requires him to help “commoners” at all costs. He repeatedly flings himself into near-death situations, most of which are invented purely for the manga, in order to prove he’s the noblest noble ever.

The manga’s first issue meanders through some plot points that never happen in the game at all and then suddenly ends with the king’s funeral, an event that does happen in-game and is a major turning point in the story’s first act. I was kind of surprised the manga got to it so quickly. (For comparison’s sake, the funeral scene happens about two hours into this 20-hour cutscene compilation of the game.) But stranger still, the manga doesn’t ever introduce Hulkenberg, instead giving her biggest early moments to Strohl; in the game, Hulkenberg is there from the very beginning, way before Strohl shows up. I don’t mind the manga making these changes in the interest of streamlining a very complex RPG plot, and having fewer characters right out of the gate doubtless helps with that, but it’s still strange to see so many major events unfolding without Hulkenberg present.

But it’s really the decision to make all the characters into emotive goofballs that’s throwing me, and ultimately making me wonder if the game could have been improved with some of these elements. I don’t need Strohl and the main character to be as exaggerated in their actions as they are in the manga, where the characterization is clearly done for the sake of quick narrative shorthand. But it actually would have been nice to see a bit more personality out of the two of them, especially in the slow early hours of the game before you accrue some of the more entertaining party members (such as Heismay). It’s definitely entertaining to see an unexpectedly different spin on the story and I’ll be curious how the rest of the issues adapt the forthcoming adventures.