The story surrounds a guy called Eumenes who was originally thought to be Greek but then turned out to be adopted and was actually Scythian (did those people even exist, and did they create the scythe?). Anyhooo, he turns from master to slave and then to foreigner and THEN to secretary of the Macedonian state (which has Alexander as a prince). Meanwhile, he tries to dodge as many as life's punches as possible and enjoy following King Philip around in bloody battlefields and advising the man when he is allowed to. The end (up to where I read).

Firstly, if you had watched Alexander the Great (the movie), you may have assumed Eumenes to be Hephaestion (you know the guy that Alexander has everywhere and may have had a rather lewd relationship with). Well, that's what I thought! Am I the only one who rushed headfirst into this Manga, attracted by a supposed 'realistic' biography of Alexander the Great's conquering? No, and most likely, I won't be the last.

Is it WRONG to expect a Manga to feature a historically sound plot when it promotes the story as being based on history? Well, it turns out that I expected too bloody much because let's face it, Alexander the Great DID NOT have a snake tattoo coincidently above his left eye nor is Hephaestion a separate personality living within Alexander (Dissociative Identity Disorder much?) so WHY did I have to read this load of hullabaloo? Because the author felt like it, that's why.

The art, for all my ranting, was in tip-top shape until about volume number 5 where it got a bit 'general' if you know what I mean. But still after volume 5 (in comparison with other Manga), the art was in great shape. My only consistent criticism was that the faces of the characters were not fleshed out appropriately and at some points it looked like someone stuck on the faces on scenes where there was a lot of hand-throbbing detail. However, kudos (as the Greeks had once said) to the illustrator, their efforts have certainly been acknowledged.

However, that is not to say that we (the Readers) have forgiven the author for placing some rather questionable characters within the plot. For example, we see Queen Olympos screwing (rather vividly) a sweaty poet when Hephaestion-possessed-Alexander enters her boudoir; after he leaves, she kicks the sweaty guy out of her bed, calls in the guard outside her bedroom, tells him off for letting Hephaestion-possessed-Alexander into her room and then (rather crudely) screws him too. I mean where does that add to the rather fictitious situation? The fact that she's a whore (it's true, no one can deny it)? Well, I think the readers would have thought that anyhow due to the previous blatant scenes of intercourse between her and random men (not to mention some animals too).

In the end, I didn't quite enjoy this as much as I hoped, what's worse is that I read up to volume 8= a very badly spent waste of time. What I finally understood was that ALL based-on-the-truth promoting objects/mediums are as based-on-the-truth as mainstream media and political speeches (you connect the dots). If you're in it for Alexander, go read up on his history (even Wikipedia would be more accurate). And if you’re in it to try and act sophisticated because 'oooooh, you’re reading historical Manga' then go read actual historical Manga. Finally, if you're in it to enjoy yourself, I think you're the biggest loser out of the three (I don't mean the show either).

So ladies and gentlemen, please busy yourselves with some less summary-deceiving story and leave this 8-volume-plus Manga well enough alone.