Olympos Manga Review by Anime and Video Games

Olympos is a manga about Aki's creative imagination involving Greek mythology.  Ganymede, a Greek prince, has been transported to a miniature garden by the Sun god Apollo.  For centuries, Ganymede has tried to escape by searching for the exit: trying to fight Apollo, or by killing himself.  

The exit is no where to be found, no matter how far the prince walks.  Efforts to fight Apollo ends with Ganymede failing and Apollo mocking him.  Ganymede simply passes out whenever he takes his "life" and ends up waking up in the same garden some time later.  Unfortunately, Ganymede is immortal.

Interesting

 Surprisingly, this manga turned out to be a couple of short stories involving either Ganymede, Apollo, or Hades.  Instead of one huge manga focused on Ganymede, I learned more about Aki's versions of the Greek gods.  I was honestly expecting some love story to happen between Ganymede and Apollo but the story focused on a friendship/enemy set up between the two.  As horrible as Apollo was to Ganymede, Ganymede realized that Apollo is someone he can talk to.  Apollo also begins to understand mortals to an extent towards the end of the manga.  

Pretty

 Olympos is a beautiful manga, who's cover attracted me while I looked at the dozens of manga available at Barnes N' Noble book store.  Aki, displays the Greek gods: Apollo, Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon prettier than they are represented in Greek mythology (Apollo even makes a few amusing jokes about how he should be more manly).  

Greek mythology buffs might be turned off by the bishounen representations of the gods or the loose Greek mythology.  The manga ends abruptly but left me thinking about a possible conclusion.  The notes by Aki throughout the manga made me think even further about the story.  In the future I would love to go look at other manga made by Aki.

Of Anime and Video Games