Bestiarius (manga)

Bestiarius (闘獣士 ベスティアリウス) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masasumi Kakizaki. It was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from February 2011 to March 2015, and later in Shōnen Sunday S from December 2015 to December 2018. Its chapters were collected in seven tankōbon volumes.

Plot
Set in ancient Rome during the reign of the Roman Empire, the story is told in episodic arcs depicting death matches in the Colosseum, and centers on the life of the last living wyvern, Durandal, and his relationships with various arena fighters over the years.

The original one-shot manga, referred to as the "first episode", sets up the plot, setting, and characters seen throughout the rest of the manga series. It begins with a flashback depicting Durandal's homeland and species being massacred by the Roman empire. Durandal manages to defeat the army, and the last man to be killed asks Durandal to tell his four-year-old son Fin that he died with honor. Not long after this, Durandal is captured and imprisoned by another wave of Roman soldiers. They attempt to coerce Durandal into fighting in the Colosseum, which he refuses. During his time as prisoner, Durandal meets Fin and decides to become his surrogate father. He trains Fin to fight so he can survive as a gladiator warrior. The story skips to fifteen years later, where Fin is shown to be a strong and undefeatable gladiator, ensuring his survival. The cruel emperor, Domitianus, arranges a death match between Durandal and Fin, promising freedom to the winner. Durandal provokes Fin by admitting he killed Fin's father, and Fin manages to wound Durandal in anger. However instead of dealing a killing blow, he chooses to break Durandal's chains and free him. The two of them escape the arena and fly to Durandal's homeland. They spent three peaceful years together before being attacked by a large Roman army, at which point Fin is mortally slain

The remaining manga episode arcs take place simultaneously during the events of the first episode, and feature different characters imprisoned and forced to fight gladiator matches. Occasionally their relationships and interactions with Durandal and Fin are also featured.

Production
Masasumi Kakizaki stated that he always liked Rome from the Roman Empire era and wanted to make a work based on it. Kakizaki said that writing a realistic story of the Roman Empire would not be suited for a shōnen manga magazine, so he added dragons and other mythological creatures to the story to attract the specific audience. To make the creatures, he used an old book with illustrations of monsters and adapted them to his own art style. Kakizaki has been particularly influenced by films to make his works, and stated that Bestiarius is influenced by the 1959 film Ben-Hur.

Publication
Bestiarius, written and illustrated by Masasumi Kakizaki, was first published as two-part one-shot chapter in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from February 9–16, 2011; a "second episode" ran from August 7 to September 4, 2013;  a "third episode" ran from October 22, 2014, to March 4, 2015. the series was later transferred to Shōnen Sunday S, where it ran its last "fourth episode" from December 25, 2015, to December 25, 2018. Shogakukan published its chapters in seven tankōbon volumes, released from December 18, 2013, to February 18, 2019.

The manga has been licensed in France by Kazé, in Germany by Egmont, in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo, in Spain by Milky Way Ediciones and in Argentina by Editorial Ivrea.

Reception
Writing for Le Figaro, Valentin Paquot described Bestiarius as "clever mix between Gladiator and The Lord of the Rings", adding that Kakizaki graphically reinvents mythological creatures, giving them a dark and terrifying appearance of realism. He concluded: "Bestiarius, is in the lineage of Berserk, Lodoss and other titles in the pantheon of Fantasy. A manga to discover absolutely for fans of the genre."