[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1 Introduction: A long time ago in China. Riho is on a journey in search of her father's revenge,
Riho is on a quest to avenge her father's death, when she meets Tarren, a hermit from the Jyusenkai, a world in another dimension from earth, who is chasing a rebel army that has defied the emperor.
For some reason, Riho is attracted to Takujin, who says he doesn't trust anyone, and decides to travel with him...?
If you like friends, justice, bonds, fate...
A generally fulfilling, yet somewhat head-scratching, finale
(Note: full spoilers for this volume + previous ones below.)
After several volumes consisting mostly of fight scenes, we finally arrive at the end. The bad guys defeated, our heroes are finally able to move forward from their pasts and are ready to take on the future. LiFang and TuoRen have fulfilled the wishes of their past selves, and finally put the 仁獣 to rest. And then they...split up?
After a long series following the lonely orphan LiFang as he finds a new family in TuoRen and the 仙界人, post-final battle he decides to just...leave? I was so confused when I got to this part; it felt like it came out of left field. I can understand him going back to his wanderer roots, but not alone. Like, you're not even going to go with him, TuoRen? You'd rather return to the 樹仙界, filled with people who hate you for being alive? I was expecting one of two scenarios: either one, LiFang and TuoRen decide to stay on Earth and travel the land, helping folks out, or two, both return to the 樹仙界 for a while to help the people rebuild, and then either settle down or return to Earth to wander.
And yet the author chose to go down this third path, which I honestly did not feel was adequately set up from a character perspective. LiFang's entire character arc was finding companionship again and learning to rely on said companions while being the guy who wants to spend his life helping others, so it felt incredibly out of left-field for him to just up and say, "nah, I'm not gonna go back with you guys and my fated companion to your war-torn land to help rebuild, I'm just gonna wander around here for a decade plus before I see any of you again" and then just leave. It was neat eventually getting to see a more adult LiFang for sure, but...not like this.
And speaking of "fated companions", perhaps it's just me, but this series was the hardest I've been BL-baited in a long while. I swear, I can't tell if the author was just afraid of committing (which seems unlikely, given their other series, G Defend, first published about three years before 仁獣芳烈伝, is a full-on BL series) or had no idea about some of the signals they were giving off (again, seems unrealistic). I was honestly a bit disappointed our two protagonists go through everything they can do and the best they can come to is a tepid 相棒. The author even leaned in on the joke in one of the extras, where she had LiFang kissing TuoRen out of a mistaken idea of 樹仙界 customs (which TuoRen was definitely okay with), but alas.
Despite all this complaining, I did like this volume and the series overall; I was just taken by surprise, I suppose. I would like to re-read this series one day with adjusted expectations and see what I think, especially keeping an eye out for character moments for LiFang that might better justify his decision to part ways with the group at the end.