Following the journey of the flightless gargoyle Albert in a post-war world, The Gargoyle on the Ground is Still Dangerous is a lighthearted look at the maturation of a naive, sheltered champion and the people he learns from along the way.

The Gargoyle on the Ground is Still Dangerous starts out as a serious action manga, but quickly morphs into a beautiful mixture of whimsy and traditional slap-stick comedy. Having the story pick up at the end of a long, drawn-out battle seems counter-intuitive, but this story asks ‘what’s next’ for those acting under tyrannical rule. The title leads the us to the conclusion that this wingless gargoyle — the hero — still possesses a certain amount of battle prowess, even while it becomes clear that he is naive in the ways of survival, and generally about the ways of the world. This naivety is not baseless or over-inflated, and small flashbacks give us insight to the time before the war, revealing how he came upon his powers.

Albert, the ground-bound gargoyle and lead of the story, has been under Demon King Lannes’s tyrannical rule since his master/creator was killed 1,500 years ago. Robbed of his identity and his free will by a slavery enchantment, he became an emotionless killing machine in the wars of King Lannes. For 1,500 years, he fought and killed, aware of his actions and stained by his memories, but without the free will to refrain from acting on his orders. He was a young gargoyle when he was taken, something that added to his inability to fight against the spell that enslaved him, and his inexperience in the world prior to his capture led to his ignorance after the war ended. For most of his life, his nourishment was energy sent to him by the Demon King Lannes, and he didn’t have to worry about food or hunger. His survival from the trivialities of life was guaranteed, and the only adept skills he needed were those of facing an enemy head-on in battle. We learn early in the story that Albert wasn’t always bound to the ground, and had once had great wings, which were stolen from him in his final defense of King Lannes’s castle against Demon Queen Belia. Sensing Albert’s great strength and affinity for magic, she burned his wings off to slow him down and render him immobile. While his impairment ultimately led to the defeat of Demon King Lannes and granted him the freedom he so longed for, it also hinders his ability to find familial ties within his own species. The other gargoyles that he encounters in the story see Albert as a hindrance because of his lack of wings and call him trash — something we see Albert struggling with even as he moves forward undeterred.If there was any doubt that Albert was unsuited for the test of survival, it becomes abundantly clear once he comes to the aid of a young goblin named Daedalian and his traveling companion, a slime named Baum. Daedalian is considered by Albert to be a child, yet the knowledge of survival that he possesses far surpasses Albert’s. While Albert is certainly the savior of the young goblin and slime, the true hero of their meeting is Daedalian who, in very short succession, keeps Albert from making a series of fatal mistakes. Despite the ensuing hilarity of a 1,500-year-old gargoyle being educated by a child about the ways of the world, Albert still manages to see himself as the benevolent hero, taking care of and protecting the ones who are, in reality, saving him.

Anyone who loves a splash of adventure in their coming-of-age manga will love The Gargoyle on the Ground is Still Dangerous. The story isn’t bogged down by drawn out battle narratives, as it begins at the conclusion of a drawn-out war between opposing Demon rulers. Nothing about this story plays by the stereotypical rule set, and readers are sure to be delighted at the reversal of roles that comes with almost every interaction. Visually pleasing, endlessly humorous, with a flair for the medieval, The Gargoyle on the Ground is Still Dangerous is a must read for anyone who wonders what the aftermath of war is like for those who have never known peace.

Somehow, this fun medieval-style manga manages to avoid the tropes that normally afflict the genre and provide a renaissance flair to an atypical coming of age story.

Review by H.E.Kniat.